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Been raining in Paisley for a couple of hours now , but i'm not worried as its a nice bit of natural watering , as long as it stops soon . A few of us meeting in the Horseshoe at half 12 to raise a glass or two in memory of Falkirkbandit ( wee Marty ) . Rest in peace wee man , we had some great times on speedway trips

Having no team suits is crap. Having that ancient marching music is an embarrassment and totally cringworthy.

Dejavu again, no fault of the promotion though. Why is it, we always seem to be playing catch up, some clubs will actually have had 3 league meetings (weather permitting) before our first league meeting. Should be all clubs start their league fixtures in the same week, not a month in advance of other clubs.

Aldershot, Ballymena, Barrow, Belle Vue Hyde Road, Birmingham Perry Barr, Bristol Eastville, Coatbridge, Coventry, Cradley Heath, Eastbourne, Edinburgh Old Meadowbank, Exeter, Glasgow White City, Glasgow Hampden Park, Glasgow Blantyre Stadium, Hackney, Halifax, Hull, Ipswich, King’s Lynn, Leicester, Liverpool, Long Eaton, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, New Cross, Newport, Norwich, Oxford, Poole, Rayleigh, Reading Tilehurst, Reading Smallmead, Rye House 1 (1957 track), St Austell, Sheffield, Southampton, Stoke Hanley, Sunderland, Swindon, Wembley, West Ham, Weymouth, White City, Wimbledon, Wolverhampton, Workington 47 tracks listed, can anyone add to these?

That's shocking , not like its a rearranged fixture , he should be at Ashfield . I remember Peter Waite sacking a rider for doing the same thing a few years back , and he was actually Polish . Makes it a better meeting cause r/r will score about half a dozen points more than Andersson would have , but its still a nonsense .

Does he? I'd of thought he'd have got rid of that to save a few bob.

I see that Dan scored 11 points out of 12 in Sweden riding for Vargarna in the Vetlanda Cup. augurs well for the future

Don't panic, it's all in the plan Only one rider practicing after meeting, do they not care? Don't they want to improve?

No good to us though is it. Needs to be riding like that when wearing a Poole race bib.

That was an absolute privilege watching The Brummies at Loomer Rd this evening.I even bumped into the legendary Potters supporter,Vog!

Highly speculative that he would be a prolific scorer, seems on the downward slide unlike Stevie who improves year on year. I would have thought Somerset would have suited him too. Worrall seemed really up for it this season as his scores, at home at least certainly bear some evidence of this. With a high home average and a moderate away one he would probably have climbed to about 8 this year. Don't think Hougaard has ever achieved that.

Redcar "Cubs" v Newcastle "Gems" scorecard. A good competitive first meeting of the season for both clubs. Kyran Lyden replaced Cubs regular Alex Goldsbrough who was ill on the day. Two special maximum men in Gavin Parr in the 500's and Archie Freeman in the 125/150 class. Pity that the machine problems of the Gems No 1 Josh probably cost the Gems a possible away victory. Good advert for the NJL.

Hougaard for Worrall is laughable Steve had started the season flying and on a low average that he looked like improving he will be nigh on impossible to replace. Nobody is saying he is a world champion just on an average that he looked like improving on and to replace that with someone else who could improve isnt easy and it certainly wouldnt be Hougaard!! As an example Howarth at Wolves looks on a low average , same for Ellis at Swindon. If either of those got injured i would say they would be more difficult to replace than either Thorsell or Morris for example.

I agree about the scoring system, it was one of British speedway's best ever ideas which worked really well, then they went and spoilt it by giving the home team three points for any win. Hopefully one day they'll put it back to how it was.

Personally I think it's wrong/unfair that swindon are allowed to race Thursdays. If anything happens to any of the riders (hope it doesnt) and they need to have a guest they will have a bigger pool of riders to choose from unlike the rest who are limited because of set nights. Tnoughts

Oh dear. Getting comments like that from orion and being liked by the squeaky clean Midland Red.

team kevlars i think unlikely to be brought back at poole this season as purely a cost cutting decision,most clubs are anticipating a very tough financial yr in the speedway world not just poole,early season financial targets almost certainly already missed.I prefer team kevlars but can easily get by without them!

They also had race bibs as well which according to a lot of posters is out dated

We have a main sponsor in Volvo Cars. I would like to think this is a one off for our 70th aniversary year. The walk on music is good, brings back memories for the older fans, its also very uplifting, far better than Pirates of the carribean imo. But maybe as a compromise they could change back to team kevlars but keep the bibs and keep the music.

We are a ragamuffin side now I sit in stand by the start line and we are awful compered to Swindon last Wednesday !!!

When was even showed with out doubt that she was not fit to defend herself ? that was all about opinion ...quite clearly the court thought otherwise as they returned not guilty verdicts once all the facts come to light .having bad morals and being found guilty of rape are two different things completely something that you and the likes Webster fail to understand The bottom is some girl thought It was fun to get off with some footballers then cry rape in the morning and try to cash in on it ...if that is your high morals your welcome to them .

Oh the irony

Hopefully lessons have been learned but there is not a promotion out there that have not done this at one point or another. Sooner or later the penny will drop that it is an entertainment business and not win at all cost business to the detriment of the paying public. Or will they as they don't seem to care about the paying public. I was at Berwick last week and the track prep was spot on , gave both teams a chance to attack it result being a fantastic speedway meeting it is not rocket science.

Sneaking into a hotel illegally, and jumping on after your mate with a female not fit to defend herself, is alright in your eyes is it. Specsavers for you then. Some of us have higher, or just have, some morals unlike some.

Like everyone else Ivan had to learn how to ride Brough when he first came. With long straights and tight corners you have to have great skill to slide in with power and already be broadside ready for the drive out of the next bend. In those days it rode like a Diamond, and Ivan spent hours after the first meetings throwing in the bike from even just past the starting gate, which was one hell of a slide. He often filled his fuel tank full(bigger in those days I believe) and would on his own ride probably 20 laps flat out trying to get it right. He was of course physically very fit, and a lot of other riders at the time could only watch him as their fitness was no good for such durations, He experimented with bikes that he bought when he first arrived until he found the frame and setup that he preferred. Him and his then German mechanic would load up his Bedford snub nose van and head off to buy bikes, and go to other tracks to get extra rides. He was fanatical to get it right. I remember when Peter Kelly lived beside him in Manchester, he told me that if he met him say a Xmas time the conversation was always speedway nothing else, he was so driven. The track in those days was even narrower, with straights always about the legal minimum of 8 metres as it is now, and the corners were tight, possibly be about 10 to 12 metres wide. After we opened up in 1997, the corners were 10m on corners 1and 2 and about 12m on corners 3 and 4. In the late 90's we took 2 metres off the inside kerb of both ends, and that is the shape and sizes that we have now. The 3rd and 4 bends have always been 2 m wider that the 1st and second. The track probably got its 'rough' name over time by others that couldn't ride it, and because with a powered broadside hitting similar positions every lap, the wear must be considerably harder/more. Say a track like Somerest with a wide track. multiple race lines and constantly drifting rather sideways power, the condition of the track is going to be smoother for longer. Nowadays and in the recent past the track is nowhere near 'rough' as delusional Redcar fans would have you believe, but does have by choice more dirt on it to get better grip. That is the riders choice to give them more overtaking options. There must be something right about Brough with 4 world Champions to our claim, Mauger, Olsen, Michanek and Nicki. We'll not count Brian Anderson as we got him for 6 weeks after he won the U21 title.