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Been doing some digging and looks as if Boothby took out a questionable couple of loans from Tallaght Financial Ltd recently. Not a good sign. On the surface you would expect Oxford finances to be healthy. Good crowds (although they have wained somewhat through this season). If they can’t afford to pay riders on the basis of that, something is definitely wrong behind the scenes. I would suggest all is not well in the Boothby camp. Where is @Bojangles, he seems to know what’s going on behind the scenes?

Unfortunately he is not back for Saturday, which is a shame as I suspect he would love the Workington track, our only benefits that his average would be 6.86 available for a guest or R,/R but I would rather see how Villads would go

Superb memories loved the British final at Coventry. Right up there with the Fours at Peterborough. Two of the best days out they were.

They'd just have a facility for him the whole year... I was thinking more Poole, they still seem to love him down there and that's probably more his level these days

Waiting for tales of all the great meetings/memories from the Manchester dog track to flood this topic 😂

To the South West? 2.00 I would think....😁 A new regulation... The launch of the Polish RS Scheme in the UK..😁

Brandon wouldn't have served up a race like that... It was always a strange thing for me that what always looked a great shaped track, and always seemed so well prepared, offered up little in passing opportunities... A good many races were "close" but not many actually had too many passes.. Riders like Tatum, Smith and Havelock, who could gate well, and ride very fast when out in front, always seemed to do well at Coventry... Whereas riders like Loram and Screen often tended to have to fight for every single point, riding every inch of the track to often make zero impact on the rider in front.. The Overseas finals were also similar, some very close racing but not many of those races manifesting themselves into passing opportunities... Was it the camber that wasn't banked enough? As the bends seemed quite wide., Or maybe the level of dirt on the track? But it did often seem quite well covered.... The Sunday occasions were great though, especially when Havvy had a bad day and you were stood near the Bradford fans.... 😁

i can remember going to British finals at Coventry, there was one in particular that stands out...coming through the turn stiles and then walking that bit to the stadium, it was rammed and nowadays H & S would be in clover, anyway there was one guy who sorted it all out, pointing and shouting at people to do this and t'other....a speedway character called soldier boy, I think was his name.

Could maybe see Magic heading to the south coast with an average like that... what would it convert to?

Did anyone used to go to the old Kings Lynn talk in's hosted by Bill Barker these again were great affairs, Bill should have been on the stage a constant stream of one liners and quips, he took over with Malc Simmonds and they then had a major fall out a year later and Bill soldiered on alone. He used to walk round the terraces to sell raffle tickets to help fund the purchase of Mark Loram, first year he took over we had a powerhouse team with Bo Peterson, Lance King, Richard Knight and John Davis. Peterson went from unbeatable around Lynn to terrible, King started off showing what a talent he was but a couple of bad injuries set him back middle part of the year, Richard Knight was a stalwart but never good enough to beat the top men but he was loved by his biggest fan Nutter who used to spend all day in the second bend bar, John Davis would have been better suited to long track as he just couldn't hug the line and every race he would be on the fence by the second bend and everyone else would have gone underneath him, he had top equipment but his riding style wasn't suited for Speedway. Fantastic days again all pre internet when you would turn up and a couple of riders would be announced to the crowd and someone would ask Bill "Why can't we get Han's Nielson " and Bill would reply " Because we can't afford him you (insert expletive).

Happy Days - the final of the british final this year was agreat race imagine that at Brandon in fromt of 12k+

Yep I used to go 85-90 late teens with one of my oldest friends and his dad , his dad was a complete loon behind the wheel and we would have 5-10 near death experiences on the trip from Norfolk to the Midlands. As you say 10k plus every time packed to the rafters great atmosphere and 8-10 likely winners, Havelock, Morton, PC, Silver, Carter, Evitts, Paul Thorpe, Wiggy, Tatum and others no doubt who I have forgotten. After the meeting it would be a hole shot out of the field car park with 3-4 thousand cars all chasing the same spot , my mates dad would be going mental and would normally be in three near fights before we got out of the car park brilliant days sadly gone forever I fear.

Looking forward to this one, be a tough test for the comets but hopefully we can have the beating of the tigers. Looking forward to seeing Nagel around the arena, that’s if he’s riding. I see he’s missing Edinburgh on Friday representing Denmark so hopefully he’s back for Saturday.

I went 87-90 and they were sunday afternoons - full house event 12k+ in attendance - I have a picture of the full stadium for one of them - sadly the Gps reduced the british Final to a bit of a rump competetion. I also went to the British GP at Brandon in 2000 - again sold out etc - great event - Martin Dugard the wildcard won it!

Another blockbuster meeting at the Northside Arena against a strong Glasgow outfit who hold a narrow lead for the bonus point after Workington put up a good fight at Ashfield. Make no mistake Glasgow will be out to take all the points back North even though their play off position is secure. Glasgow have a power packed top five although Nagels to my knowledge has never been to Northside before i,m sure he will be amongst the points on Saturday. Hopefully Vinnie will be fit to take his place in the team after a fall at Oxford last Sunday. Oh and dont forget its back to a 3pm start this week. Good luck Worky!!

I recall my Dad taking me to the 1975 final. We had to walk around the track (there was viewing all round then) twice to find a suitable gap in the crowd for viewing. Nigel Boocock was in attendance for photo opportunities to sit on his bike next to him. Ah, nostalgia is just not what it was!

Thats a shame. I wanted Parnitskyi to win it but much rather him win with the main opposition riding. I well know "you have to be in it to win it", but still leaves a question "would he have won it if Przyjemski had have been riding.

I remember them being on a Wednesday night at Coventry

Looks like the injured Przyjemski will be missing the final round which should give a great chance to Parnitskyi to win it.

The British finals were for me not to be missed - sundays - packed out and some frantic racing!

Brandon had aura. Coventry had aura. Poole have aura. Belle Vue have aura. Ipswich starting to have aura. The league had aura make speedway great again

i am merely playing devils advocate...I have also heard some of the rumours doing the rounds. Still hoping they are wrong.

just watched a random meeting from back in the day. My favourite place to visit was always Brandon, and Poole was always the top team when I was growing up (now belle Vue 😜) how great would it be for Coventry to return to top league and Poole to return to the top flight to. speedway could be great again

Taken from the Speedway Riders Index 1929-2022: Bernie Lewis LAGROSSE Born: 2 August 1939, Christchurch, New Zealand. Died: 30 June 2007. Career record: (1965) Glasgow; (1968-70) Berwick. NOTE: This rider originally rode under his real name of Bernie Lagrosse for Glasgow in 1965 but, when he returned in 1968, Trevor Redmond took some riders to Wales and said if anyone volunteered to be a Welshman for the night, there would be a bonus in it. Lagrosse agreed and Roy Williams was born!

Count yourselves lucky. A lot of Poole fans love going to Glasgow for that reason.