BEATTHEBOOKIEBOB

Who? Gary Lineker?

Thanks Martin for the information - Deflating way to lose out on the title - Thankfully cars and vans much more reliable these days - Back then a lot of the guys would put the bike in a frame on the back of the car - Remember seeng Bobby Beaton and Graham back in the day, not sure about Frank - I had the great pleasure of meeting Ivan when I was down at Lydd in 2000 - I would go there with one of my sons on sundays for his practise and racing and like most fathers did we helped out on the track by track grading, carrying red flags, painting the boards etc - On one occasion I was track raking at speed and someone shouted ‘Ivan’s here’ and everything stopped and I thought what is going on - we all walked back to the pits and there he was - the great man - apparently he knew the club patron and had asked to come along and see us all - Ivan started talking to us but I think pretty much everyone was starstruck so I thought it best to interact with him and it seemed to put him at ease and afterwards ( and I will never forget this) he came walking across to me with his arm outstretched to shake my hand - it just seemed unreal - and we spoke one to one and I apologised for booing him years before which made my friends laugh but he laughed and then kindly said he took all the boos as a mark of respect - He was the consummate professional with immaculate leathers and bikes - a great man - Lovely to be able to share the story -

Don’t remember this incident and am intrigued to know the reason why the Hull riders did not turn up - the remaining 4 plus Graeme Stapleton I remember well and thus can see why they kept the score tight -

Good to read that although a hole has appeared on bend 4 management are looking into it

And those nappies have got to be paid for

Pleased you enjoyed your trips to Wimbledon - Tricky track as you would have seen and very different to Workington - If you got out in front and rode the right line it was very hard to get passed - I well remember Trevor Hedge in the KO Cup Final v Belle Vue shooting out of gate four and he was away and gone followed by (Slim) Jim Tebby our number 6 and regardless of whatever he tried to do Ivan Mauger could not get past Jim so a 5-1 in the first race - We went on to win the first leg by ten points and although we lost the second leg we kept the lead overall and picked up the cup against a strong Belle Vue team - good memories - When I go up to Birmingham the eating area behind the glass reminds me of the old main stand at Plough Lane - At Wimbledon I used to go outside on the 4th bend and like many of us I used to love the great smell of the Castrol oil - I did manage to visit Derwent Park a few years ago and remember Chris Schramm was in your team and riding at reserve - good atmosphere from the crowd - think it was a Saturday night and the following day I travelled by train across to Brough Park changing at Carlisle - different track shape but again a crowd that loved their speedway - hope they can carry on after this season - Some very happy memories so thank you too -

Hope you are right Waco but previous week the blue groove on turn one after just 4 heats returned and was not properly sorted - Not seen that in previous meetings this year but saw plenty of it in National League days - Will probably give the Birmingham fixture a miss and see what the forum has to say about the track - Hope to then be back for the rest of all fixtures - Hope all goes well and good racing -

Talking to a Kent Royals rider on Tuesday and he was looking forward to their next meeting away at Berwick on Saturday 4th september so the answer to question 2 is yes as is the answer to question 1 according to the Mildenhall website - Kent’s last 5 home matches are in the National League starting on 21 september and going through October - Must say I am looking forward to those meetings with the youngsters gaining much needed track time - Hope the weather holds up

Jason’s National League club, Mildenhall, similar to Beaumont Park IMO - maybe he’s used to the shape and banking and feels more confident

Thank you Hammer 1969 for the link - I have listened to it and indeed hope all debts are paid off in due course - And for the many that go I hope the Eagles come back next year - I class myself as a fan but have not been down to Arlington for about 3 years - I used to go regularly years ago following Wimbledon’s closure but gradually stopped as I found other speedway tracks offering better racing - trips to proper racetracks like Peterborough, Scunthorpe, Redcar, Perry Barr, and the king of them all the NSS - and this year regularly going to Central Park where until the last two meetings the racing has been really good especially when Scotty and Paul Starke miss the gate - I do however follow and cheer for the Eagles at away meetings - If racing does return next year I for one would like to see the track re-designed - Anyone else think it should be re-designed? - Or are fans happy with the current shape? -

You certainly packed a lot in that weekend and without some of the more modern roads and in a car of that time - I would guess you were both pretty tired on the Monday following - I started going to Wimbledon around that time and visited Hackney and West Ham but had no transport so never got to Crayford nor Canterbury - Afraid I cannot help with your grass tracking at Iwade but hope another of us old uns on here can shed some light - Interestingly when I was looking at google maps the other day it showed another large track at Iwade very close to the large and small training tracks currently in use leading me to wonder if this was the track in use at that time - again maybe someone can help out with this info - was good reminiscing with you - Hope you can get speedway restarted in Workington - That was some team in their last year -

Hi Singy - I was at Iwade training track (one mile from Sittingbourne and the Kent Kings) yesterday where one of my sons was practising with others - Heard some good news that Northside would be doing training sessions next month and we were invited to take part - sadly I think it will be too far for us but hope this will be just the sort of news to warm the hearts of all the Workington fans - Will leave you to take it from there - good luck

Only match scheduled in the evening 30th august is Wolves v Belle Vue, all 6 clubs involved 6th september, 2 matches on 13th september, and only Peterborough v Sheffield scheduled for 20th september so unless more rain offs we know two of the matches to be screened it would seem -

Thanks Fromafar very much for the quick response - just hope they can sort something out -

Tried the link an hour ago as well as the Eagles website and have just tried both again all without success - what was Lee saying?

I felt that too and with time slipping away the kids coming out after heat 14 was one of those WTF moments - and yet a really quick replacement of the air fence panel after the heat 12 crash which I timed at 4 minutes and drew applause from the crowd - yup it was a strange one overall -

And a good call by the Edinburgh team manager to pick Kye Thomson for heat 15 - Referee also had a sense of humour - in the first running of heat two Dan Gilkes and Nathan Greaves had a coming together which resulted in Dan high siding and Nathan being sent into the bouncy castle on the bend - cue the announcer who said ‘the race will be re-run with all 4 riders but the referee has disqualified the rider in white (Luke Crang) for not having a dirt deflector - cue confused faces in the grandstand - then onto heat 7 where the tapes went up and three riders got away ok but not Kye Thomson who conked out at the start and walked the bike off the track whereupon race 8 followed and the announcement came ‘rider replacement for William Lawson will be Kye Thomson but the referee will allow him extra time as he was involved in the previous race’ - cue mild laughter from the grandstand -

For the neutral Premier League speedway fan the season is building up to an exciting set of play offs with Wolves, Peterborough, Sheffield, and Belle Vue looking most likely to be the top four - Cases can be made for each club and I hope we can get to the play offs with no more injuries and with Jye Etheridge and possibly Ully returning - Roll on september and I hope Eurosport give the build up to the play offs they deserve - Good luck to all -

Maximum seven rides for Nathan Grieves methinks which may swing it the way of the Monarchs - Hoping for a good close safe match 45-45

Might be a bit wobbly with a bad back and a broken wrist - Get well soon Ully

Hope you have an enjoyable time tomorrow - Plenty of seated space in the grandstand - Sit where you like - Decent sized car park - Cooked food on offer about 10 yards in on the right or if you fancy a pizza nip up the outside steps to the bar - Keep your ears open as PA system pretty naff and plastic seats can be a pain in the butt as the evening wears on - Hope and expect the racing to be as close and competitive as in recent weeks - One last tip as you have been to Dover today - Do check your boot for migrants before you set off home

I’m sure Kent would love to have another crack at Glasgow with their improved team but that match took place a few weeks ago sadly - Tomorrow’s visitors are Edinburgh

This should be a cracker with the news of Batch’s signing alongside the promotion of Jake Mulford to the Championship team pitted against an Eastbourne side who must try and win the bulk of their remaining matches to have any chance of reaching the play-offs - Pretty even on paper but really looking forward to the real thing - weather forecast looks good - should be a bumper crowd

Well that was well worth the entrance fee - some really good closely fought speedway with the result in doubt right up until heat 14 - some superb passes - a healthy crowd though thought more would be there it being school holidays - Eastbourne will be encouraged by the all round team effort and Kent will prove difficult to beat at home now with three solid heat leaders -

Jake Mulford’s first and Nathan Abilitt’s second matches in their starts for Championship sides - Two promising young British riders who we hope have successful speedway careers - It won’t be easy for either at this stage and grade but let us hope they stay injury free and progress - Good luck to them both