Bryce

It was indeed a very poor crowd. The smallest I've seen at Rye by quite a margin. One thing I did find amusing was the way they zoomed through the first ten heats before taking a track grading break. It was almost as if they didn't trust the lights to stay on or something.

The sport needs an appropriate sponsor to hi-light what it's all about. I suggest Billy Smart's Circus.

I have a horrible suspicion that tonight's farce may be the final death knell for many supporters, if not for the Hammers as an entity. I hope JCF's imaginary train journey was better than my actual one. No direct trains to London because of engineering works. Had to change at Broxbourne, and the first train when we got there was cancelled too. Just got home after a long incredibly frustrating day. Not speedway's finest hour. Another low which may be the end of a desperately sad season.

The track may have been small, but it definitely wasn't s##t. The primary grumble Hammers fans are having regarding Rye House is that the standard of racing it allows is much poorer than what we had at the Arena. This does not mean we aren't grateful to still have a team. We are thankful of the help Rye House have given to us.

It's normally £70 or more. Last night was a very low crowd and that was reflected in the lack of 50/50 ticket sales

It's ironic that the Arena Essex track got a lot of criticism regarding the quality of racing. Those of us that were regulars know that it was usually far better than it was ever given credit for. Alas, Rye House is a long way from being anywhere near as good as Arena was. It's a real gate and go affair. It's fast, yes, but passing moves are few and far between.

That was a horrible looking crash last night. I feared the worst when Richard starting frantically yelling for help for Ty. Such a relief to see Ty walk back to the pits eventually. As a Hammers fan of course I'm unhappy with the result, but full credit has to go to the Comets for a great performance even after they were down to 5 men. Still, it's not over yet so hopefully we can bounce back today and pinch the trophy from the Comets grasp. I can't help but feel that losing our home track advantage has been very costly to Lakeside. If we end up not winning anything I certainly wouldn't begrudge the Comets some silverware. Like us, their fans have had a long long wait for some glory.

I wouldn't be shocked if the meaningless league fixture gets used for manipulation of rider averages with next year in mind. Let's just hope both sides get through the match injury free.

club website has just posted an update insisting the meeting is on. Massive optimism or pure desperation?

I was just listening to a Doctor Who podcast in which a Michael Grade interview was being discussed. As part of the discussion he was asked about how vociferous Doctor Who fans could be. He was quoted as saying that they were the most involved apart from the speedway lobby. He said that in the 80s they regularly had to fudge the vote results for SPOTY because otherwise a speedway rider would win every year. So the head of BBC 1 in the 80s has confirmed speedway was deliberately sidelined.

BBC Breakfast showed a clip of the racing, Tai's crash, and a brief interview with Woffinden this morning.

Wow, BBC Breakfast just showed a brief clip and interview of Woffinden from last night. That has to be progress.

Speedway has been going for 90 years. In all that time, no Brit has ever won 3 individual world championships. If Tai does so, he deserves to be lauded as the most successful Brit of all time.

Andy Young is the man who does rider interviews over the tannoy. Richard is Mr Lawson, the Hammers rider.

No matter who you support, no matter who you dislike in speedway, you just have to take your hat off to Chris Harris for that ride. Once again he produces something magical to create yet another wonderful play off memory. Credit to the Rebels too for going so close under difficult circumstances.

I admit to feeling quite emotional when Richard Lawson won that last heat on Friday. It wouldn't have been right for a non Hammer to win the last ever race at the Arena. It was always a venue with terrible facilities, but it was never a bad race track despite the often unfair critics it seemed to attract. As Cityrebel says, Ward was amazing around the place, as was Andreas Jonsson. So many great races and memories. I shall miss the many familiar faces that were what really made the place feel like home. It was nice to see a few of those last night at Rye House, but it was also very poignant how many regulars were not present. As Jon Cook said on Friday, it was a dump, but it was our dump.

For those of us who don't drive, the last train back into London is at 11.50. Surely even Lakeside can finish the meeting in time for that?

I travel to 90% of matches on two buses. Takes anything between an hour and 90 minutes from Romford. On the odd occasion my son is able to attend he drives us, taking more than half off the total journey time. There are a group of 5 or 6 of us that use the buses to every home match. Ironically if the club were to move to another part of Essex we'd probably be unable to attend. Of course, i'm not silly enough to think that half a dozen fans would be considered when such decisions are made. Rye House is actually quite handy for non drivers because of the proximity of the train station. Romford into Liverpool St and out again to Rye House usually takes a little over an hour.

Likewise, I've heard nothing official about a move to Rye House. Believe it when it happens, until then it's just speculation.

I've no idea if he will or not. There used to be a rule about being signed off for a set period of time, but whether that applies or not is anyone's guess, especially since we don't know what the illness is. We all know the rules in speedway are somewhat fluid depending on who is being affected by them.

Apparently he is ill. No details have been given as to what the illness is.

Thurrock Hotel is 5 minutes away the other side of the m25 roundabout. I believe they offer a discount to speedway customers too. There is a link to the hotel website on the Hammers site.

Surely if we're talking rivalries, Penhall and Carter has to be right up there. There was genuine dislike between the two. Kenny never missed an opportunity to comment on his "flash superstar" rival. In more recent times Greg Hancock and Nikki Pedersen have clashed more than once. Who can forget that rugby tackle on Nikki by Greg whilst he was still on his bike? That was more reckless and dangerous than many of Nikki's supposedly dirty moves in races.

The way Bruce rode that night he was going to be world champion come what may. The last bend swoops to take Olsen and Knudsen on the line are the stuff of speedway legend. Had he been required to beat Carter in the last heat I feel certain he would have done. Stancl was never going to be a threat.

meeting now off