old bob at herne bay

So it’s Saturday night championship racing at Hoddesdon in 2019 for the Rye House Hammers.

Sadly I was at this speedway meeting on Monday.Not one I care to remember ... a real bore. It was very poor value for money - the entertainment was completely ruined by the lack of machine control shown by riders O Keefe , Edwards and Brennan. These young lads need further training before being put on display to the paying public. The time wasting tactics by the Eastbourne rider Powell was disgraceful.The Eastbourne team “manager” should have taken action and spoken to Powell immediately to remind him that he is there to entertain the paying public and not act like a silly schoolboy having a tantrum. If 2 hours isn’t enough time to run 15 heats of one minute duration, it’s not a sport I will pay to watch. Sadly I see the same nonsense of poor presentation at Lakeside.

Interesting reading this thread alleging Workington riders are owed money. If that’s really the case they would have done speedway supporters a favour by with holding their services - allowing the use of guests. As a lakeside fan I can say that aside from Mason Campton and the Captain Ty Procter none of the other Comets showed any enthusiasm to race on Friday. Personally I was very disappointed in the riding of Dan Bewley having heard and seen so much of him this season. The Workington “team manager” made no changes at all throughout the meeting, and coupled with the usual lacklustre presentation by Lakeside made the evening one to forget. It does not surprise me to see attendances are clearly down on what they used to be at Lakeside in 2016. The “ product” to use the modern term is clearly stale.

Having watched DVDs of wold championship speedway from the70's and 80's and watching the starting techniques that existed then - i see nothing wrong wiht allowing the riders to roll creep push the tapes and the ref letting the tapes up when he feels like it . IF the rider breaks the tape you are EXCLUDED (no 15m handicap nonsense) I am absolutely fed up with the riders dictating the rules of the sport to the detriment of the entertainment of the public. Why dont they provide the b****y riders with shovels at the start so they can dig the b***Y track up to their satisfaction ?????? Meetings take TOO long to complete only 15 heats - Gardening and Track Grading are two of the main reasons I rarely go to a speedway meeting nowadays. If they tarmac the start or even better concrete the start areas it would put an end to all this nonsense.

You have forgotten the “new members only” 2.5% discount .

For the best interests of speedway, Ford has been given special dispensation to sign C Holder and Batchelor.

Pick somenone from the crowd ? Take your crash helmets. You canot get less than zero. Once again "premeirship" or "elite" league whatever its called never ceases to amaze.

So Team GB are 4th in the World. Better than Australia. Better than Denmark - both of whom could not manage to qualify for the final. Well done Team GB. As for the strange tattooed lad Mr T. Woffinden I have no problem with his decision not to race for his adopted country - but if he continues to publicly "diss" (I think that's the modern word) the GB team and the GB fans - he should have his GB licence revoked.

This is more about guaranteeing rider availability than cutting costs - would be nice to see regular teams of 7 riders - rather than R/R and Guests. Costs appear to be the same as last year as admission prices remain the same.

What would Tatum''s CMA be in 2017 for the NL . That would be the sort of stunt that might draw some much needed attendees to an NL side at Lakeside ?

Thank you

No Danny or James is a big loss to the crowd pulling power and "traxcitement" as Len used to call it. Don't think I could stomach the new el dropouts from Lakeside beating us at Central Park. Especially as they another of the former Kent Kings in Ben named at number one. Looking like we are going to have a mediocre season in 2017 .. I just don't see who will deliver the backup to Luke?

Is this the site for the Lakeside Hammers? Cannot find them listed in the el listings - seems the Hammers are racing at Hoddesdon this season ?

Surprised we aren't sing R/R again to be honest - its the cheapest option.

As for who was available and prepared to come - only Mr. J Cook knows the answers. He told the fans after heat 4 of the Swindon meeting that he had plans to cover AJ depending on the opposition in the semi finals, and all would be revealed the following Monday. Subsequently, a mystery Polish rider had been spoken to ... but this was shelved because AJ had made a rapid recovery and could well be available for the 2nd leg at Belle Vue. Apparently, if the mystery Polish rider rode in the first leg we would have hd to ride him in the second leg! You couldn't make it up ... but Mr Cook can .. and he has. I meant to type after heat 14 not 4 !

If he told Chris Morton he wouldnt be riding after Wednesday's meeting BV could have booked a guest ...... another selfish rider who doesn't give a tuppenny damn about those who pay his wages (the fans)

Matt's squad idea already tried by his best pal Jon Cook at Lakeside ...... Kennett Swiderski and Dennis Jonsson in the " squad" ... worked oh so well.......

Cannot help but agree with "The Voice of Reason" on this sudden closure of a fans forum, which allegedly was never read by the promoters at Lakeside Speedway. Agents provocateur however posted on there under cover of being just "fans " of speedway without allegiance to the promotion. Maybe the webmaster had enough of the wrangling with the promoters irritation on comments that they didn't like... on a forum they allegedly didn't read ? Still I wish the promotion well in what is probably their last at Purfleet ? I'll read all about it in the Speedway Star.

Well done to both teams for creating a close result tonight for the TV cameras.

Doubt that Lee Richardson will be there ... he's still drying out his mud soaked kevlars after his stonking performance in the KO Cup at Belle Vue. BSPA should drop all "super seven" events from next season. The riders aren't interested and the BSPA are just milking the public by charging these exorbitant prices.

With Eastbourne looking to race on a Friday next season we have Monday BV Wolves Wednesday Poole Thursday Swindon Peterboro Ippo Friday Lakesiders Easto and Cov Seems to me that with some persuasion/enducement if Wolves and Bcv could would moveto any of Weds Thurs or Fridays, then the el 2011 could reatins ALL weds thurs Fridays for el racing throughout the season. Any rider unable to sign a LEGALLY BINDING contract for these dates would recieve a €5000 fine for each meeting missed. A way forward to ensure riders turn up to all meetings ? Old Bob