East End Fan

That is a very interesting point that had passed me by. Seems to show that they are not very interested in Speedway, or, even worse, anti speedway

I am truly gutted by the news about Kent. Is it something I've done ? Every club I have supported has closed down. There its obviously far more to this end at Kent than has been disclosed. With Roger Cearns owning the stadium and also the Speedway it was a great arrangement. That is no longer the case. I draw the conclusion that there is a problem with ownership. Why did Len suddenly retire ? My Speedway visits next year will be few and far between with Ipswich or Oxford as my choices. Long way to go. And not much to talk about on this forum.

I think he rode for Exeter in the 60's and I first saw him in action as a promoter at Hackney when West Ham used to go there. He was always near the start line and jumped up and down a lot. My next encounter has been at Sittingbourne, but he was in the background. Put on a good show though and if it is true that he has left, it will not be good for the club. I wish him all the best if he does retire.

Speedway for a tenner is a reality. Loads of comments on this subject from time to time and the final home meeting at Kent on Tuesday is up for grabs at a tenner. Announced last week at the stadium.

As I see it, the whole fixture chaos that currently exists is entirely down to the weather and no one can control that. Seems to me that our club are doing their best to solve an insoluble problem so, whatever they do is wrong. As things stand I doubt if all the fixtures will be run. As for the Leicester match, I am looking forward to seeing the Thompson twins and Vinnie Foord, for me the essence of what Speedway is all about. New kids full, of enthusiasm and learning their trade. It's what I love the most.

Where did that news come from ?

Dear Old Bob. Even when they get it right, he has to make them wrong.

The Berwick meeting started out on a perfect track after several dry days in the lead up. Totally different situation that is obvious to anyone with an eye on the weather. Constant rain every day, on and off and when the meeting was cancelled late this afternoon, I, for one, was not surprised. But dear Old Bob just HAS to have a dig at the club. Has Herne Bay been dry and sunny all week ? I don't think so..

I agree with that 100%. It was obvious to me that if the rain had arrived when it was forecast ( about 8pm), the meeting would have been run on a perfectly dry and well prepared track. But, as is often the case, the weather forecast was not accurate. An impossible situation and the referee decided to run no matter how wet it got. Many other would have called it off even before heat 10....as it should have been.

It was a credit to every rider. I have never seen the like of it. I think the ref' should have called a halt at heat 8 when Vinnie Foord had what looked like an engine failure and was ridden into by the following rider, probably because he could not see. And the stupid criticism on this column of riders who missed races when it was obvious to those of us in the grandstand that machinery was the reason. Mulford kept trying to race but his bike gave loads of trouble, probably wet through. Every rider a Hero in my book.

I actually believe that the policy of running a team in the NL in order to discover new talent for the main Kings team is exactly the right thing to do. The fact that 5 or 6 meetings earlier in the year were rained off created a situation with huge problems. Clever Dick cannot explain how HE would have solved the situation, only says it was a mistake to run two teams with the wisdom of hind sight. Astonishingly, judging from the meeting against Berwick Bullets, in spite of the difficulties, the process of discovering new talent actually worked and those of us in the stadium were blown away by Vinnie Foord's first two rides on the track, but then wrecked his bike. To suggest that he wouldn't ride for fear of serious injury insults him in the extreme and Old Bob should br ashamed of himself. Did he attend this match ? I doubt it.

What a stupid criticism. These NL matches in late season have been caused by rain offs earlier, not by choice. What would Clever Dick Bob have done ? I was at last night's meeting and when I arrived the track looked to be in excellent condition and when racing started we saw some super stuff from Gilkes and new boy Vinnie Foord. Then rain started to fall, but the meeting went on with no delays until Vinnie Foord suddenly stopped going into the corner. It looked like his bike packed up and he was hit by the rider following. All 4 went down but thankfully they all got up and the referee continued the meeting, much to my surprise. IMO it should have been cancelled at that point but Well Done to all the riders who carried on doing their best in the pouring rain and the worst conditions I have ever seen. I guess the referee was dry in his box.

This defines what is wrong with our sport. A promoter sets up a double header meeting and charges the extra costs that MUST be involved and he is accused of being a "Robber". in daylight too. Wake up fans at Leicester. If you do not allow your promoter to earn a profit. you WILL lose your Speedway. Any business which continually loses money will always close down. We are extremely lucky in Speedway that quite a few of our promoters regularly prop up their clubs with personal money only to find severe criticism from the local fans if the team loses a match. This forum is full of such people.

Sings is quite right when he says that it is the families of riders who are to be congratulated. However I have only ever seen Kent mention how grateful they are to have such a crop of potentially good young riders, never claiming, so far as I have seen, that they are responsible for their development. Personally I think that the policies followed by Kent seem to uncover fresh talent. Gilkes and Mulford are excellent examples. Even Kings critic Sings must agree with that.

Would love to hear how you would have planned the fixtures for the Kent Royals ? Or would you not have had the Royals in your plans at all ? Sensible, but the club would not have produced Jake Mulford, and now, Vinnie Foord. But I suppose both of these kids would have waited for 2022 ? Oh, yes, and Spooner has suddenly taken a turn for the better too. Or maybe you hadn't noticed. Oh, I forgot Danny Gilkes. Where did he spring from ?