daveallan81

I had another look at this and with nothing better to fill my time I played out the full SGP season using the Euros formula. Semi-final and final results are based on head-to-heads during the 20 heats, one 'point' awarded to each head-to-head winner. If two riders are tied, the head-to-head result is the tie-breaker. If 3 or more are tied then it's decided on points scored. Countback a la GP with race wins etc is not used. Woffinden 130 Hancock 120 Hampel 119 Iversen 119 Pedersen 114 Ward 101 Sayfutdinov 98 Zagar 98 Kasprzak 81 Lindgren 79 Gollob 77 Holder 74 Jonsson 66 Vaculik 62 Lindback 51 Full PDF file here http://www.dropbox.c...ypothetical.pdf Real GP: Woffinden won. 20 heats only GP: Woffinden won. Hypothetical Euro-style GP: Woffinden won. There's a pattern forming there I just can't quite put my finger on...

Projecting a points total if the GP were using the Euro formula borders on the impossible. For example, Ward and Jonsson finished 1/2 in New Zealand but neither made the final, whereas Hampel, who wouldn't have qualified for the semi having finished 7th, won his semi and the final itself. Strip out all points for the semi's and final and here's what you get. Actual score shown next, then percentage of points scored in semis & finals: TAI WOFFINDEN 124 (151) (17.9%) GREG HANCOCK 111 (129) (14.0%) JAROSLAW HAMPEL 111 (142) (21.8%) NIELS-KRISTIAN IVERSEN 111 (132) (15.9%) NICKI PEDERSEN 109 (121) (9.9%) MATEJ ZAGAR 93 (110) (15.5%) DARCY WARD 91 (106) (14.2%) EMIL SAYFUTDINOV 89 (114) (21.9%) KRZYSZTOF KASPRZAK 81 (89) (9.0%) FREDRICK LINDGREN 79 (83) (4.8%) TOMASZ GOLLOB 74 (89) (16.9%) CHRIS HOLDER 68 (82) (17.1%) ANDREAS JONSSON 64 (64) (0.0%) MARTIN VACULIK 61 (62) (1.6%) ANTONIO LINDBACK 51 (51) (0.0%)

A shameless bump back up the order for this one. After a hiatus I'm back on the trail of SJL results and information as laid out in the original post. I've received some terrific help so far but still lots of gaps to be plugged. If you can assist, contact me at the address above.

My memories of Kevin Armitage are mainly from his very brief spell as a Tiger in 1985 which didn't go too well. He was indeed of the 'any colour of leathers as long as they're black' brigade. I think he retired at the end of 85, I can't find any mention of him in my 86 files. Glasgow used 22 riders in official competition in 1983 with 18 of them appearing in less than half the total matches. McMillan, Lawson, Reid and Caffrey were the 'perfect 4'

BLRC http://www.dropbox.com/s/tz8g3f98xqs3wqb/19831015BLRC.pdf Halifax v Poole http://www.dropbox.com/s/qp76q9llvt268di/19830618HALVPOOLE.pdf Poole v Halifax http://www.dropbox.com/s/8hro8gt91qhis6d/19830518POOLEVHAL.pdf

I've only got Stars complete for 83 & 84, plus a smattering of others, so if this query had been about any other season I'd probably have been no help! I use my own Excel templates to compile the PDF files - one produces the racecard and one produces the Speedway Star-style report, which some people prefer.

Belle Vue v Poole http://www.dropbox.com/s/4ohrdt70icghuub/19830619BVvPOOLE.pdf Pride Of The East http://www.dropbox.com/s/nmbc2nk0diqafm2/19831029KLYNNPOTE.pdf

16th August 1984.

Thursday 3rd May 1984 Wimbledon 46 Sheffield 32 This was reported in Speedway Star as a League Cup tie but it was a BL match. It's also on a results sheet I've had for ages as a League Cup tie. Racecard & report here http://www.dropbox.com/s/bmnxsvfe5fzyqiq/19840503WimbvShef.pdf

http://www.dropbox.com/s/qx9zeza6ok3itl4/19830411ScunvGlas.pdf Here's the racecard and results sheet for the meeting in question. Heat 6 had some argy bargy with Crabtree and McKinna seemingly excluded in separate incidents but no further mention of it in despatches. Not sure what you've got going down with Armitage but he only took 3 rides,wasn't in heat 16 (and neither was Steve), and the time of the race he won was bettered by 6 others on the night! Harry retired after the Middlesbrough match on 8th April. He took a heavy fall in the previous weeks opening meeting and was clearly under par against the Boro, scoring just 3 from 6. According to Dick Barrie reporting in the same weeks Speedway Star Harry 'took the brunt of the crowd's discontent after the Middlesbrough defeat' which was true, although it must be said if John Walmsley hadn't fallen while leading THREE times the home Tigers would surely have prevailed. But it was Harry who the fans made the scapegoat. It's also reported he sold all his equipment to Kenny McKinna. With Martin McKinna sidelined with chicken pox, Tigers' were forced to draft in a local junior to compete at Mildenhall on the Sunday and Scunny on the Monday. Harry made a one-off return in a second-half race later in the season but retired again afterwards. Here's the 83 Tigers http://www.dropbox.com/s/8frdwrpwivmml4t/Craighead%20Park%201983%20Team%20Picture%2015th%20May%20v%20Edinburgh.jpg

I found this recently on the Easy Tiger forum, Kestrels v Glasgow from 1981: http://www.vimeo.com/66895456

They actually had five bites at settling this - sorry I don't have the racecards. 15/09 1st Leg Coventry 41 - 37 Belle Vue 04/10 2nd Leg Rained Off 18/10 2nd Leg Belle Vue 41 - 37 Coventry (staged as double header with Cradley, Heathens match was rained off) 24/10 Replay 1st Leg Coventry 46 - 32 Belle Vue (This match also counted for British League points) 01/11 Replay 2nd Leg Belle Vue 40 - 38 Coventry (staged as double header with Cradley, Heathens won 41-37)

Click on the link in the 'Competition' column where it says 'British Elite/Premier/National League in...' and it should take you to a match report of the meeting shown in the 'Winner' column. Use the same method to view Raiders matches here http://speedwayresul...gue&season=2012 Or, and I had forgotten about this, try the BSPA archives for 2012 here, it will certainly answer your riders' names question but not the guests http://www.speedwayg...archives12.html Speedway Updates have an archive section: Lakeside 2012 http://speedwayupdates.proboards.com/board/237/lakeside-hammers-2012 Rockets 2012 http://speedwayupdates.proboards.com/board/330/rye-house-rockets-2012 Raiders 2012 http://speedwayupdates.proboards.com/board/314/rye-house-raiders-2012

Your attempts were noble, good sir (who I believe was making his debut for a certain team that night, or have I grabbed the wrong end of the bison?) and much good will come of the marked white helmet colour race win. Keep those old programmes, and you could do worse than take a meander through the http://www.speedwayresearcher.org.uk/ website. Then put the kettle on, get the boxes from the attic, and check the results of as many programmes as you can. You know you want to...

Try here: Rye House http://speedwayresults.com/teams.php?country=GB&name=Rye House Rockets&season=2012 Lakeside http://speedwayresults.com/teams.php?country=GB&name=Lakeside Hammers&season=2012

Harry MacLean had retired by then, David Cassels rode at No. 4. The fact your race winner was marked in white may just answer my question though. Speedway Star reports result as McMillan, Crabtree, Hollingworth, Powell with Lawson excluded on 2 mins. I wondered if Powell was a replacement for Cassels in Y/B, then Jimmy Mac was brought in on a TS when Steve blew out on 2 mins.

I've been playing around with Excel racecards all season and I thought I'd offer the most recent draft up for the final. Both legs are in the one workbook with teams and meeting details as known completed. Changes can be made as required, and to switch a rider to RR just pop RR in the appropriate info cell. Each meeting is across 3 tabs - riders scorechart, meeting racecard and a stats page with gates totals, riders' totals in order with maximum/paid indicator, a rider replacement tracker if in operation, and the top 3 race times. The 2nd Leg stats page carries an aggregate score tracker. Two versions available: For Excel 2007 and newer users http://www.dropbox.c...2013 FINAL.xlsx For 97-2003 users http://www.dropbox.c...2013 FINAL.xlsx The only difference between the two files is the colour conditional formatting is not available on the older version as it doesn't support it. Workbooks are designed to be viewed in full screen mode on a 'square' screen (eg 1024 x 768) widescreen users may need to adjust size using excel zoom function. I've been using this version of the workbook for a month or so and I'm 99% sure everything is in working order. There's a couple of things need improvement but that's for next season now. You can view the season long evolution of the workbook here http://www.dropbox.c...mqi3/sbZoQUYaPj I hope everyone enjoys the final, and thanks to all the contributors to the Swedish threads this season. And a big thanks to Dave Goddard on the mike for a sterling job as always.

Indeed I have, and several of the contributors. As I said it really needs people who were at the meetings in question and who are armed with a marked programme. I have Speedway Stars for seasons 83 & 84, and a 1985 file compiled from Star/Mail results. I also have the 1986 yearbook to work from. Plus of course most of the meeting programmes, but many of the aways were completed using the Star results. The files for these seasons are destined for Speedway Researcher, so I'd like to get them as accurate and complete as possible before publishing.

Cheers, chaps, no problem. I highly recommend the Coventry section on Researcher for format-related queries, a tremendous collection of detailed files presented in 'race card' form. http://www.speedwayresearcher.org.uk/coventry.html

I believe this is what you're after. Taken from Speedway Researcher: 1 4 1 4 2 5 2 5 3 6 3 6 1 7 1 8 4 8 4 7 3 6 2 5 2 5 3 6 3 6 1 4 2 7 2 7 5 8 5 8 1 4 3 6 2 5 1 4 3 7 3 7 6 8 6 8 1 4 2 5 3 6 3 6 2 5 2 5 1 4 1 4

Can anyone confirm times of heats 1-10 at Eskilstuna last night? They were all recorded as 60.0 on official scoring. Thanks.

Boring statistic time - there were no heat winners from gate 1 in either meeting tonight.

Alden didn't ride again - heat 11 went with 3 only. His left foot was heavily bandaged when we last saw him going into the ambulance. Delay was for track grading, a grippy spot on bend 2 (that caused the crash) seemed to be the problem.

Andy Grahame's entry in the 1980 yearbook reads: "Despite several injuries qualified for both the Gauloises National League Riders' Championship and Gauntlet British League Championship Finals - the first rider in history to do so." His NL average with Milton Keynes was 9.47 from 27 matches, his BL average with Birmingham was 7.68 from 25 matches. Billy Sanders, who left the Brummies for Ipswich at the start of September, averaged 9.32 from his 26 matches.

There may be more to the earlier musical analogy than you think. I've been in and around the club/pub cabaret scene for over 25 years in a multitude of guises from performer to roadie and there are undoubtedly parallels to speedway. The clubs were at their peak in the seventies to the extent that if you weren't in the queue at 7 o'clock there was a good chance you weren't getting a seat. In many towns across the country it was THE place to be of a weekend. When I entered the game in the mid-eighties things had taken a dip but you could still easily find work 3/4 nights a week, more if you were a true top liner. Many acts were full-time performers, no need for a day job, and they commanded wages that the ordinary working man could only dream about. As the eighties rolled over to the nineties it was plain to see that crowds were fading away. The clubs became more unfashionable with what we term the 'younger generation' as they saw the fare on offer as something for their mums and dads. The majority of promoters/convenors did little to address this. Crowds continued to dwindle and work for acts began to dry up. Where once you could easily make a living on your own doorstep, you were now having to travel much further afield to keep the diary full. The faces in the crowd got older and older, fewer and fewer and still it was bingo and a singer. Fast forward to today and you're lucky to have a gig a week in your diary. Thursday/Friday/Sunday nights are all but gone, and clubs and pubs have closed down in their thousands. You can blame the smoking ban, cheap supermarket booze, the recession, whatever takes your fancy but the bottom line is they failed to move with the times and many have now paid the ultimate price. There are those who survive, indeed prosper, and those are the places that adapted to demand, changed the bill, promoted to the younger crowd and tried at least to keep it fresh. But by and large you stand on the stage looking out a smattering of faces, most of them in their 50's and 60's, all waiting for their bingo card and yet another rendition from the Tony Orlando songbook. You can swap out 99% of the above and replace it with speedway - riders having to race across two, even three leagues to make any sort of living. Deserted stadiums populated only with those who have been traipsing along for years. Little effort (apparently) being made to modernise and refresh the entertainment on offer, and those that try do so in the fear that they will isolate their remaining crowd, such is the thinness of the line they are walking financially. The £10 notion is an honourable one but it is completely unworkable. Based on figures provided by the management at Glasgow they would have to double their average gate to break even. You'd have to be either wildly optimistic or clinically insane to believe that will happen. The sport has had myriad opportunities to build a solid base for it's future but chose not to do so for whatever reason and, like the club and pub circuit, has largely had it's day. Like the acts who once commanded £400 a night but now work for a third of that just to do what they love, riders have to realise, or be made to realise, that the money at UK level isn't there any more. Address that issue and you might, just might, save the sport in some form in this country. Over the years I've heard many convenors tell me their answer to dragging their social club out of the mire. The one that has always remained with me came from arguably one of the most successful clubs still operating in the West of Scotland - "Never pander to the minority". Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned there. Perhaps not. Perhaps it's too late to make any difference.