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I’m sitting with egg on my face over Flint. I was critical of him earlier this season, but what an end to the season he’s having. His pass in heat five on Palovaara and Palm Toft - two in the one bend - was literally world class. Then, in heat fourteen, it was all or nothing and he delivered. Even watching the meeting back on BSN, you could see him in the pits, motivating team mates like Perry. You could see how much it meant to him after the meeting too.

Good too see the Track prep with a racing line on the inside if riders wanted to use it it has been missing lately.Howarth used it too great effect.

I'm sure, as always, there are two sides to every story. Based on the statement Fraser made on socials, I just hope he is ok and has support around him.

Shout out to Edinburgh fans too. They roared when Thomson and Grahn crossed the line in heat eight. They made noises all night; not only from their usual fourth bend spot, but on the back straight too. I was at Ibrox on Thursday night for the Genk match and the atmosphere at Ashfield last night was much better.

It was a local derby, scenes like this should be encouraged. If Edinburgh had won they would have reacted in the same way, and rightfully so. Another point to take into consideration is that it was probably 50% celebration and 50% relief for a lot of people. We were woeful in the first leg, a date we should never of agreed to. If Edinburgh had a half decent team they could have put 60 on the board that night. This coupled with the bizarre decisions made it a night of high emotion. What we seen at the end was that pouring out. I’ll put money on that not one single Glasgow fan cares whether some people don’t like to see people celebrating a last heat decider to qualify for a final. When you don’t celebrate beating your nearest and dearest what is the point of sport?

Ian, you’re a poster whose opinion I often agree with and find insightful, but I’m afraid we disagree on this. We’re at a time when a large portion of modern riders win a race and head straight back to the pits instead of acknowledging. We should embrace celebration. From a Glasgow perspective, we spend big and carry the weight of that expectation; mostly from ourselves. We were battered at Armadale in the first leg and three days ago, we flopped against a depleted Poole side. Mid-meeting last night, that was Edinburgh’s to lose. What followed was remarkable; literally riding the boards speedway from Harris, tag teaming Palovaara with Howarth before Flint, Perry and Palm Toft bobbed and weaved, miraculously without a fall. Then, a 5-1 in the final to win it by the smallest of margins against our arch rivals. We make no apologies for going overboard. Leon Flint’s response to winning heat fourteen and subsequent celebrations after the last heat represented how we all felt.

While maybe slightly over excited we scraped though to the final where we only lead the tie after heat 15 against our closest rivals after what was basically 3 do or die heats. The tension in the packed stadium was extremly high and it just released.

Where's yer Blobby? 🤡

I don't like to see it, not in a qualifier, yes be happy, high five each other, whatever, but all this over the top stuff for winning a semi, not for me. Leicester did it last season and I didn't like it, especially when they were sunk without a trace in the final, they did it again, to a lesser extent last Monday, I just think it sends out the wrong signals, a signal of job done, when the job is far from over! You don't see serial winners Poole doing that kind of thing, in fact you don't really see it much in any other sports. Like when sprinters win qualifiers and they try to look like they're not even out of breath after the race, they're not jumping up and down like they've won the Olympics. It's almost as bad as people celebrating "winning" a silver or bronze medal

A fantastic night of racing. Ebbed and flowed and did look like Edinburgh had enough of a lead late on. But full credit to every Tigers rider, each point mattered and was fantastic to see Max having a score he deserves for the effort he puts in. Bomber is absolute box office, and Leon, Dan, Kyle and Freddy fought for every point. Tremendous effort. Really hope Villads is able to get fit and is back for the final. He clearly wasn't fit before his first heat crash and it's a credit to him that he tried to race on. He'll go far in this sport as he's so quick and seems fearless. Top notch signing. Huge thanks to the riders, management and fans of both sides. Made it an enthralling match with a Hollywood ending for the Tigers. Track staff deserve a round of applause because it was a fair and fast track for all. Really hope we can give more superb performances and win the playoffs as the racing has been awesome this season.

Or all meetings were not completed before the playoffs

Celebration Police 😁

Enjoy the match!

What night of action. Will cover the negatives first. The bizarre decision on the re-run in heat 1. Any explanation over the tannoy would have been good. Just gave enough time for the rider to get sorted like it was some youth meeting. The human error of putting the red lights on, sure it could happen to anyone but that was amateur stuff. Both incidents benefitted the away team. Track still wasn’t at its best. Lots more dirt than Tuesday but probably little clay put in to bind it. Now the positives. Glasgow winning in the last heat decider over two legs on our home patch was simply phenomenal. The atmosphere was electric. Always great when a big travelling crowd come through and make a lot of noise. The place was buzzing, the tension built and built till the amazing heat 15. Tigers top end was always going to be strong. BSN’s great coverage. A semi final being run in relatively warm and dry conditions, let’s hope the final isn’t decided in a swamp. Well done to all involved.

Hopefully, the weather will be kind for both legs.

Definitely. Plenty of top riders who were also characters too. Sadly lacking nowadays.

Used to love Ipswich coming to visit. The battles between Kenny and Sigalos and Billy Sanders live long in the memory. Great times.

Common sense picks. Fricke - Only fair considering he would've qualified in the old format. Laguta - Didn't get a chance to defend his WC. Sayfutdinov - Still one of the best riders in the World. Vaculik - One bad season doesn't make him a bad rider, Prague GP probably see's him get a WC imo. If no Russian's then swap them for Doyle (Tried and tested with something still to offer the GP's) and Drabik who has been ultra consistent this year for all of his clubs.

Remove semi-finals and finals from the sport and it’s the final nail in the coffin for speedway. Regardless of what you feel is justice, such as finishing top of the league or an individual competition, you’re proposing we remove the prospect of a climatic showdown. This is a spectator sport; let’s not try to remove the spectacle of drama. Let’s reward consistency, not with the trophy, but with a place in the semi-final or final and let’s reward the trophy to the rider or team who has the nerve, bottle and mentality to be a “winner”. I can’t believe that’s been suggested. Entertainment out the window with that suggestion. Mental. We’re trying to improve the sport.

We’ve had a nice summer

https://classicspeedwaymemories.webador.co.uk/ My website has now reached 50,000 page views for which many thanks. The October "issue" will be my last having more or less written myself to a standstill. I started it just after the wonderful Classic Speedway magazine folded as I had a few unpublished articles in the pipeline.. and it lasted for nearly three years. Thanks for your support. Best regards Doug

The fixture congestion has very little to do with the Play-offs (IMO), it has all to do with the gaps in the fixtures from May-August. Fill those gaps when racing can take place and you get rid of the congestion in September/October when the weather is a damn site more "iffy" than May-August. BTW, I don't like the Play-offs either. I also don't like Semi Finals and a Final in an individual meeting either. Top of the League/Top Scorer after 20 heats should be crowned Champion in my book. But (sadly) Play-offs are here to stay.

In an ideal world the sport would be big enough worldwide to support riders racing for one team full stop. That’s flying pigs territory though. I understand your point about doubling up but there’s no other sport to my knowledge where a competitor is competing for multiple teams in the same week, racing with and then against the same rider tooth and nail from one night to the next. It’s shambolic really. First we need to get rid of doubling up (except between the “development” league and the “professional” league), the next step after that would be to work towards guests being scrapped too.

Tiger was a top man . Ex Halifax Dukes alongside King Kenny and Demon Doug Wyer .

Having read the preview for the Sheffield Ipswich meeting, it was blatantly obvious that little effort was going to be made from an Ipswich perspective. “Should put on a show for the paying public” etc etc, but Ipswich have far bigger fish to fry and the reality is it’s natural to hold back and not risk injury with a grand final less than a fortnight away. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the Ipswich riders were on some sort of staggered guarantee for that meeting, helped by the sponsor. From the managers comments, they certainly had little interest in exerting themselves.