iainb

A fiver?

Sometimes I think it's hard to recognise true greatness while it's happening in front of you. I remember Gary Havelock commenting on sky, I think, when TRick secured his 4th title that he had joined the greats of the sport and was a serious contender to Ivan Mauger, Tai's obviously not in that league yet, but I believe he will be. Also look at what Lewis Hamilton is currently doing, who'd have thought he'd be equaling Fangio's achievements At the risk of offending BV fans I would suggest that if Tai was riding in PC's era he'd be more akin to Olsen or Mauger but if PC were riding in Tai's era he'd be nothing more than a Chris Harris also ran who keeps forever missing the stars but good club man... That's not too say that Harris wouldn't have cleaned up in PC's era

It's just too damn expensive, who'd pay £17 to go see something they have zero interest in, not me. Run weekends, slash the price to a tenner

You... And no doubt, hundreds of others

If you take that approach then what is the point in running any event at all? Surely that's the point of competitive sport and the against all odds come backs, yes they're few and far between but they do happen, Liverpool European Cup victory, even in Speedway, I remember watching a Peterborough vs Ipswich match many years ago when Peterborough needed 4 or 5 5-1's from the remaining races and they did it, the one where Chris Louis got excluded for fencing somebody at the start, and then there was the Peterborough come back Vs Reading in the play of final... So it does happen, which is why I'm not a fan of the heat 10 result stands rule. If you did call all matches before they'd even been ridden it would certainly help with fixture congestion though!

I hope I'm not being naive but I really don't want to believe that is true, I think what is nearer the truth is that some riders in their inability to accept defeat claim they have been beaten in fixed races

Yes... They've got the FRN right, just needs to be the right N! Surely it's time to switch to Friday, Saturday and Sunday and if riders don't want to do that they can find other jobs to do

I seem to recall Preben Eriksen had a nice set of orange leathers... And an even better van 

Can anybody remember the reasons why there was "one big league" tried before 20 or so years ago? Hasn't it already been tried and failed? Why would you do the same again expecting a different result. I have often taken noobs i work with along to Speedway as they're curious as to the thing I'm into... And I've always been lucky! You're always running the chance of attending a disaster meeting and that's the trouble with Speedway, you go to most other sports and you know exactly what you're going to get at Speedway it can be anything to lack of medical cover to floodlight failure and all of the numerous disasters waiting to happen in between that makes attending akin to a game of Russian roulette It is the way it's done at the moment, they're just not interested, you don't see many kids at speedway actually watching the racing, they're there because the parents want to go and can't/don't sort babysitting out, they're often just left to cause a nuisance to all the other full price paying punters. BUT today more than ever there is a chance to get kids engaged with the use of technology, all bikes should be fitted with transponders and linked to some kind of interactive app that the kids can have on their phones that they can play with other kids at the same event, with colourful cartoon like characatures of the riders with collectables such as a selfie with particular riders etc. etc. Trouble is it's probably far too late for the sport to fund such a thing these days

Taken to its Nth degree what you're suggesting is a once home and once away league campaign. Back in the day I used to look forward to a double header, a chance to see 2 Speedway meetings at a knock down price, this was back in the day when it was affordable... And it wasn't the same team back to back and when they could race 2 meetings without constant delays. I do seem to remember a "double header" taking place where just the 1 match was ridden and it counted for both competitions, can't remember who or when though, it must have been pretty recently as this never happened back in the day

I can't believe the panthers management are still patting themselves on the back for (and I am guessing) being fortunate enough to have the EoES provide temporary lighting. And for Peterborough to stage Lakeside @ Rye House's home leg Vs Peterborough tracking 4 guests and R/R just takes doubling up/down, R/R and guesting to a whole new lower level

Brilliant Ales Dryml 7 though?!?

Not after a world final though... I want to know who all these characters were that were riding at world level? He doesn't have to, doing that would be futile because we all know that because of the nature of the sport with so many variables that it's possible to win a 20 heat format meeting without winning a race, tapes exclusion, falls, ef's all come into play

Can you tell me who the "characters" were back in the good old days? And what made them characters for you?

SWINDON