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They still come is various shapes and sizes. Obviously it helps to be shorter for balance etc but you would not call Adam Ellis short or Anders Rowe.

May be bonus points should be the deciding factor, rather than heat wins. Afterall in a Golden Heat second and third outweighs a first place. Just a thought

could be good or embarrassing for speedway

I can't quite agree with that statement as we ultimately withdrew all our sponsorship in the sport as a result of the spiralling costs which over a very short time just became ridiculous . In the sport we went from half a dozen riders using Japs with the rest on two valve Jawas all of which could be home serviced by the average( Journey man) rider or an informed individual .You had Ivan & Co on works engines but to a large extent the rest of the riders operated at an affordable level . Enter first the two valve Piper Conversion ( not a huge cost ) then the Street conversion ( half the cost of a new engine from memory ) Weslake ,four valve Jawa and Godden in the mix as well all in a matter of a few years . Riders being as we know are influenced very easily chopped and changed at a whime ,we spent upwards of over 25k( on engines alone ) in three yrs and this was in the seventies . Imo that period is when the dynamics of the sport changed the riders took control to a large extent part of their reasoning was the inceased cost of being competitive .Up until this point the average rider didn't have a tuner lucky to have two bikes and went to a primary job the next morning .This was when the the sport was at it's peak now it has all but dropped of a cliff your and your average rider wants to make a full time living out of it !

The team that started my love of speedway was Bradford Northern at Odsal stadium. My dad used to take me from the age of 6 onwards. We used to stand on the first bend and got splattered by the shale on every lap. And that smell !!! Nothing like it . My team included Alan Knapkin, Dave Baugh , Alf Wells . Robin Adlington , Dave Schofield, Alan Bridgett, Sid Sheldrick ( in his white leathers) as well as others . Also the mercurial and sadly missed Gary Petersen. Wonderful days that started it off. Still love the sport now though that’s tested a lot more these days but that’s a different discussion.

Yes As long as we don’t adopt their program lay out

Here is an out there scenario, think of Ryan gosling taking over Wrexham football Club and having it filmed and a documentary made by Netflix. Harry redknapp taking over a speedway club (Northampton) and having it filmed for a documentary series on Netflix bringing in much needed revenue and exposure for the sport, a bit too out there ??

Another reason why Ipswich is well run, all riders very social with the fans and will stop and chat and take photos after meetings, not just in the van and go. Even Doyle and Emil who are too boys give a lot of time to fans. When Ipswich won the title I would bet if you speak to a lot of fans it was so positive because it’s like a family club and everyone has time for each other, win together and lose together.

Not when you can name somebody in your top five and not give them a ride.

The riders in the past did, big Arthur Browning is another, or little Steve Schofield, but the modern day riders are a very different shape/size

Absolutely correct, speedway riders come in all shapes and sizes, you dont have to be Dan Bewley size to become a decent speedway rider.

I like the Polish scope for race line up changes but I'm not keen on the 2 nominateds at the end of the meeting I prefer our heat 15 nominees... so yes and no 😁

Simple Question.Yes or No Personally, I like it much more for Team Manager to get involved and think about.Can help keep the match in the balance and interesting.

Who is Nigel?

You're contradicting yourself. If it's OK to rank a football team higher in a 3-3 draw because the team who are about to miss out will hypothetically play harder at the end to get a goal and make more entertainment, then the same thing applies in Speedway. If the riders are about to tie on 9 points, then the guy who hasn't had a race win will ride harder to get an extra point, and create more entertainment. You defeated your own point. The fairest result for any drawn contest is always a draw. But when we need an actual winner we have to invent a tie-break to split two competetors who by all other standards are exactly equal. It's the same whether it's football away goals, speedway race wins, or Shirley Ballas getting an extra vote. What was more unfair than Italy winning football's Euros after only being in the final by virtue of winning a dressing room coin toss with Russia?

There were no him and cradley though ,he had his issues with the 3 because in his eyes they were creaming money off the cradley name but even if that was the case and I didn’t see it that way that’s no reason to carry that on with the heathens next generation, or Workington or anywhere else he choose to pick on

Yes but that was in the old days, when a lot of it was riders skill on a bike, now most bikes are equal and it's the weight of the rider what makes a difference . Unfortunately in the last few months Mr cairns has grown a lot, which may or may not go against him

That is fine because it makes the team playing away from home try and score so you get a better game of football instead of just defending all game. Speedway is a different sport. Let's take your points score of 9 from your last post. Basically you are saying a 3 and a 1 is better than two 2's as the heat win will be ranked higher. Why is a 3 and a 1 better than two 2's but two 4-2 are better than a 5-1 and a 3-3 (surely by your logic the 5-1 should be ranked higher).

Championship all day long for me

You know, the rule could be a lot stupider. They could do it based on the fastest heat time. Like they do for some tiebreaker in SGP. That's dumb!

The bond between the fans and riders has been lost, this 100%. that is down to riders doubling up and down, fans no longer have their rider for there team it is basically watching a rider that just happens to have your teams colours on, I know riders are self employed but previously they only raced for 1 team per season with occasional guest appearances.

Did you ever see Michael Lee ride

I get the impression him and people at Cradley parted on bad terms (this goes back to when they were at Monmore), hence he seems to want revenge. He's been very vocal in his criticism of the sport and tbe BSPL in particular and, while much of what he says has merit, he's not always the most diplomatic

Were your work colleagues ever bothered when in Champions League football a team won 2-0 at home and lost 3-1 away, and went through to the final even though the aggregate scores were 3-3?

I can understand Oxford wanting to drop out of a league rather than doing all three, but I'm wondering, do Oxford fans approve of dropping out of Premiership and just doing Chmapionship, or would you have prefered to drop out of Championship and just entered Premiership?