lucifer sam

Not far off for Oxford. I would go for 1985, rather than 1986. 1985 was the first league championship for 21 years. The first time (for a whole generation who hadn't been around in 1964) is always special. 1986 was an even more successful year, but the weather meant it finished in anti-climax. In contrast, the final home meeting of 1985 was the KO Cup Final with Oxford beating Ipswich in a last-heat decider - which I would rate as the best-ever meeting at Cowley.

Janowski's average is 8.00 for Oxford Spires. For the same reason Crump came back on 8.00 at Ipswich in 2021 - no average set within the qualifying period.

Yup, the 8-day-rule is not used for NL riders and I think it's a decent rule, because otherwise it could restrict bookings for younger riders. It's good that Luke can ride for Jake, expect for fixture clashes.

Eight day rule for guest doesn't apply to NL riders. Same as Ben Morley guesting at Plymouth in consecutive weeks last year, before he then signed for them later in the season. All in the rulebook.

It wasn't the most charming way of putting it, but when you looked at the replay, Worrall was right. There was room for Ben Trigger to keep going around the outside but instead he shut off.

Kent would have lined-up as follows: 1. Ben Morley 2. Rhys Naylor R/R 3. Matt Marson (G) 4. Tom Woolley (C) 5. Nathan Ablitt 6. Ashton Vale 7. Connor King There was no Number 8 (aka Additional Rider) as far as I'm aware.

Nice try, but even Ben Barker admitted on BSF that there were riders on both sides who wanted it off, while Lee Kilby who was in the changing rooms when the decision was made described it as "95%". Face it, Plymouth made a very, very late call-off yesterday when the track was much too soft to allow racing and had been like that for some time. Greg Blair called out the "efforts" of the Plymouth promotion (or rather lack of them) on BSN. And no sign of an apology on the Plymouth website either or how they intend to refund customers.

His comments have come back to well and truly bite him on the bum!

As I said, Mr Trigger, those in glass houses. Today, Oxford called off nice and early, while Plymouth called off around 45 minutes past the start-time when arguably it could have been called off much earlier in the day. But it's a nightmare situation for every club at the moment - such a difficult situation for all promoters.

Steve, thanks for the kind comments about the programme. The idea is to have a varied programme, with plenty of interesting stuff to read. We're not in it to win any awards, although it was nice when only the (excellent) Edinburgh programmes were placed ahead of us last season. PS I know you're a long way away, but hoping you make it down at some point - we do have a couple of Friday meetings on the way (August 25 and September 1) if that helps!

So tonight starts 8pm Polish time (7pm UK time)?

Looks like it is a double header!

I imagine the family made the most of the break But it wasn't just a jolly in their case, but a visa requirement. Wolves knew the situation and agreed not to ride that day... until they were forced to!

He didn't go on holiday - that was Ryan Douglas and your precious Steve Worrall. Sam's partner had visa requirements that meant he needed to leave the UK.

New dates: Tuesday, August 8th - Oxford v Kent Sunday, August 20th - Kent v Oxford

We had a little wager in 2004 on whether Oxford or Swindon would finish higher. It was Oxford, and fair play to Bob, who promptly handed over £50 to the Ben Fund.

Those in glass houses, Mr. Trigger! At least Oxford take sensible options in trying to get meetings on - none which end up with the fire brigade being called! As for yesterday, there was no rain at all until 5pm and the heavy rain didn't come until after 6pm. You can't call a meeting off simply on the strength of the forecast alone, when we all know how unreliable British weather forecasts are, especially at this time of year when the weather is so changeable. Had it been belting down with rain all day, and also been forecast to rain in the evening, I'm sure they would have been an earlier call-off, as there was Oxford v Swindon right at the start of the season which was called off in the morning, but that wasn't the case. Oxford have got on at least two meetings (Cheetahs v Poole and Chargers v Leicester) when some internet "weather experts" said otherwise, and supporters know that Oxford will always put on every effort to put the meeting on. Last night didn't work out, while in other instances it has.

You need a trip to specsavers. Harris booed for the rest of the meeting - while Jenkins was the hero of the night, clearly not 100% after Harris wiped him out but continued in the meeting and took vital points in 12 and 14. Vissing also sent Jordan flying in Heat 14, as finally the ref took his red and white specs off and excluded a Glasgow rider. Brilliant backs-to-the-wall stuff from Oxford, while Glasgow chucked away a golden opportunity.

I believe it would be 4.00 (his Championship average) x 2 = 8.00.

Exactly. Neither team misses out. It's an extra race. It was the first time I'd seen one in the flesh on Friday and it's very exciting. I don't think there's any losers in this case.

Meeting of the British Speedway season - will be hard to top. Close meeting, superb racing and it came down to a Superheat. British Speedway bosses are often criticised, but this is a great innovation - and gives fans an extra exciting race for their money. Who would complain about that?

What a daft comment! Far more than drizzle. I was at the meeting - it didn't have a chance of progressing any further. Still raining heavily when we left, with no sign of it stopping. Fair play to the riders for cracking on without complaint with the first four races (not sure if you'd have got that with more experienced riders). Sadly, the heavy rain (there'd only be a bit before tapes up) returned with a vengeance. Most of the riders actually wanted to continue, but it just wasn't safe.

The official Green Sheet Averages match my own figures - e.g. with Nicholls third and Masters fourth. So the mistake in the official scorechart was spotted and corrected.

Hugely impressed with the set up at Northside! Good racetrack, spacious pits and excellent viewing for spectators. Very impressive performance from the Chargers - for me, the man of the match was Jody Scott who combined for two 5-1s in the opening three races - including beating Connor Bailey in Heat 1 - to put Chargers in firm control. Had a chat with former Oxford skipper Craig Branney after the meeting. He led Oxford Academy to the Conference League in 2005. Craig was impressed by the last to first by Henry Atkins around the outside on the opening two laps in Heat 13. He said that he knew such a move was possible, but it was the first time a rider had stuck to the outside to roar around all three other riders in that manner. Top performances from Ryan Kinsley and Jacob Clouting too - even when put 15 metres behind for tape touching, Jacob battled to a point. He looks like a trump card now that he's at reserve for Chargers. Sam Woods did what he always does - put in 100% effort each race and he fully deserved his 3+1 tally. Alfie Bowtell's exclusion post-race in Heat 11 (which cost him a paid maximum) didn't seem quite right. While the rulebook does state that riders must wear a race-jacket, shirt or suit displaying their racing number, it doesn’t clarify whether this is an excludable offence. There have been other incidents of riders competing without an appropriate race-jacket – some very recently (e.g. Ryan Douglas guesting for King's Lynn) – but they haven’t resulted in an exclusion. Ultimately it didn't make any difference, but it's one of this cases where there needs to be both consistency and common sense applied.

When it was two missing Danes for Glasgow, a single white cloud in the forecast was enough to call off the meeting against Oxford. When it's Scunny who are missing a Dane, several cats and dogs in the forecast are permitted