Grachan

Interesting thing about the link is that it no longer mentions the speedway as a leisure facility, whereas it did at the time of posting.

It didn't take long. I looked it up several years ago, when they were doing the initial selling, and I'm pretty sure I did post it at the time. Do you have an attitude problem in real life or is it just on the internet?

Actually, the website for the original sales for the homes listed the speedway stadium as a local amenity and a positive selling point. I know, because I looked.

What's crazy about that rule, of course, is that you can have fifth place in the Polish final being ineligible while fourth place in, for example, the Croatian Championship, would qualify.

Another possible precedent is Andrew Silver, who came back for Rye House. Silver in the second tier is probably about the same level as Crump in the top tier. As I recall, he ended up as a high-scoring reserve and scored one maximum during the year.

Commonwealth countries have to follow the same immigration rules as non-commonwealth countries. Also, it will make no difference if people have worked here before. These rules are already in place though, with, for example, Australian riders. I can't see it making any difference. I hope not, anyway. The only likely impact will be on riders from the EU, who will have to follow the same rules as non-EU riders.

I'm guessing they would come on a sporting and creative visa, which is probably different to the normal working visas. They did crack down on overseas speedway riders a few years back.

He says on twitter that he is "scratching an itch".

A good point. I remember Shawn Moran making a comeback and realising he had "lost his bottle", so he retired again.

Is the main issue not that planning has been granted which should, at least, keep the current stadium secure even if a new one doesn't get built? I don't live in Swindon, so I may be wrong, but, surely, the council have done their job on this. Without them Swindon Speedway would probably have closed down 10 years ago. I don't know if a new stadium will ever get built, but the continuation of Swindon has to be the main priority.

Anyone remember The Golden Greats at Coventry? What a lovely day it was, getting all nostalgic over the old boys from the past riding round. A lovely day of fond memories and jokes about grey hairs and paunches from Dave Lanning. Jason Crump is older than most of the riders were when they rode in that meeting. He is also quite a few years older than his father Phil was when he made a comeback at Swindon and averaged about 4 points per meeting without bonus points. I'd like to see Jason do well, as he was one of my favourite riders, although there are a lot of things pointing against it. It will be great to see him ride though, just like seeing Peter Collins riding in the Golden Greats was.

I don't see how the track was perfect for him and yet nobody else could apparently ride it. If he was handed any advantage at all it was probably through his engine, rather than the track. Muller was a worthy champion though. And, yes, I was there. I was also at the 1976 final and Muller was pretty sensational in that one, too, coming close to getting 11 points. Hardly the form of someone who had done little to enhance his speedway reputation. Also, if you watch the Ivan Mauger documentary, Ivan's wife talks about how Ivan used to get very stressed about trying to do things that Muller was doing - so he can't have been that bad. He was also, perhaps, fortunate that his home country World Final fitted nicely after Penhall retiring and Nielsen/Gundersen still not quite ready for World domination. But, in that final, he was so dominant that you cannot dispute his legitimacy. Also, before the final, the general consensus on our bus was that Muller was favourite to win, and, when my friend got him in the sweepstake, everyone groaned and tried to swap with him. The venue itself was an odd one, though. Not so much the stadium itself, but its location. I went on a Speedway tour and, initially, we were put into people's houses, with the bus parked in a cul-de-sac. Some people (mainly Belle Vue fans as I remember) refused to leave the bus and insisted we were put in a hotel. Eventually we were moved to a town somewhere - I don't even know what town it was! - and put in a hotel, which, I recall, was a long way from the track.

Exactly what I was thinking. Phil definitely under-performed on the World stage after 1976.

My memory might be playing tricks on me, but from what I remember, didn't Rasmussen have a British wife or something like that, which was used to deem it acceptable? I think it was the signing of Shroek that was the really controversial one - strange though it seems now.

Possibly better, but not much better. What Jason had, that Phil didn't, was the world championship winning mentality. I'm not so sure he'll have that now.