FAST GATER

This appointment makes me think that Andre Compton may not be retiring just yet as he would have made an excellent team manager IMO,Newcastle prehaps for him or injury cover for the season for the Tigers.

Any news on whether PK wants to give it another season IMO all was not well last season and it was not just the fact that he was "past it" as many claimed.I think that the injury he suffered the year before took longer than even he expected to shake off and i am lead to believe that did not recieve the backup from his pit crew at vital times .Think if he wishes to continue then he should be given a chance to go out in some form of ( whether with Wolves or another EL team) glory which a rider of his statue deserves IMO .

He was one of the most complete riders that i have ever seen and a pleasure to watch hard but fair but I always say just a little too brave for his own good .One of those riders I could watch all day sheer class and riders like Joe are what is missing from the sport today IMO.

Gets my vote

I would suspect that Andre will retire for good this time ,nothing to prove and lucky to escape serious injury who could blame him prehaps management or young rider training maybe his best course of action .

Joe Owen speaking to Tom Owen "don't let Jacko gate YOU will never catch HIM" I was there and the diffence between Joe and Jacko was Joe was a little too brave for his own good .Would not argue with stats but it is not as clean cut as they may lead you to believe but that's just IMO.

John Jackson and Joe Owen not much between then in their day but more recent Stoney

Fiddling while Rome burns springs to mind nothing will ever change complete waste of time :sad:

Many thanks for the service you provide

Can't resist anymore although this subject has been done to death it is IMO vital to the sport that something is done about engine costs in the long term.I say long term because that is how it has to be tackled what ever is decided and unlike most things in s/way a yearly knee jerk reaction .IMO it needs to start from the bottom NL is the training ground and developement league of the sport so let be used to start the reduction in costs of engines what ever the solution is. The biggest problem with s/way is that those that make the decisions have vested interests and appear to have no vision for the sport ,the word "can't" is the most over used word when change is considered IMO.I don't have the answers because I don't know all the facts but I do know that you can't please all the people all the time so some where along the line there are going to be unhappy parties . For what is worth I would give the NL two years( subject to new engine units i e Jawa or GM stock engines or mods to existing units etc) notice that present engines would be outlawed ,this would give time for anyone who has invested recently to get reasonable use out of their purchase .The othe two leagues would have thee years (one extra ) and the GP's five years in total as IMO that race series and it's costs have no direct effect on our domestic leagues. Sadly nothing new just some personal thoughts but one thing I will say is that I have nothing against engine tuners or the present engine manufacturers .They may well be casualties but they are not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts at the end of the day and like s/way they may need to adapt and change to retain their involvement in the sport .Nothing stays the same for ever s/way may think it can but it is sadly mistaken IMO.

Joe Owen Neil Collins John Jackson Louis Carr Steve Finch Phil Collins Chris Morton

Maybe at PL level would make sense and be more affordable to who ever ran it ,till the dozers move in there is always hope if nothing else !

Might replace Compton don't think he will be back after that nasty accident and who could blame him at his age with nothing to prove either .

I only asked as I may have missed him saying that next season will be his last , IMO most of his problems seem to be with machinery and he is still as committed as ever. Prehaps a change of pit crew or tuner or both is in order there is IMO life in the old dog yet and he and Hancock are exceptional and it will be a sad day for the sport when they both hang their kevlars up .

Do we know next season is PK last ?

Wonder if he will ride again at all really nasty crash may feel he has had a lucky escape ,hope not he was really riding well at the time.

I think you are right the team suffered from points not scored in Comptons absence ,will he be back this season or at all after that serious spill I wonder , I hope so but would fully understand if he called it a day for good this time.

Think you maybe right there he has nothing to prove and it was a very nasty crash,pity because he was riding almost a well as at his peak when it happened .

So do I PK got 17 from 7 starts in Sweden last week ,maybe the change of team was just what the doctor ordered including three wins in his last three rides did not run out of steam in that match .When you ride a bike with like he can it's so little effort that's why he has lasted so long ,he makes it look so easy .

Could not agree more with what you say would love PK to race for as long as he can ,I was and am great S/Sam fan and believe that only the catalogue of injuries catching up with him ended his career .

IMO PK has no intentions of retirement because it would appear that he is struggling with machinery but he himself looks comfortable on the bike just lacks speed at times .A rider of his age and experience would ( and will know) when it is purely down to him or his age,no one can go on forever( he is not sliding off all the time like Sudden Sam was in the end) but IMO he is riding well just something is missing at times.A good rider on a bad bike has no chance in modern s/way as it is all about power which ever track they are riding .Speedway is all about confidence and state of mind and if you are not happy with your setup etc then even PK is going to struggle as we have seen.I believe he will be back for at least 2015 and maybe beyound who knows ?

I take your point but he should have scored more than he did on Monday,he had some bad luck in a couple of races I have nothing but admiration for him as a rider but his EL scoring is baffling to say the least .

If you see most riders just before race they enter a certain mode , because the starts in s/way are so crucial and they need some thing to settle their nerves and pepare for the race .How much use gardening is at the end of the day I am not sure but it is something to do while you wait if nothing else ,this is a highly charged time for riders the pressure is huge I can assure you. It would be almost impossible to go out and sit 3/4 inches off the tapes for what seems an eternity .Instead of moaning try and look at how different rider go through their routines it is quite amazing how they are all quite different I find it rather entertaining .

I just have no problem with gardening it is part and parcel of the sport and has always happened in the 40yrs I have watched it one way or another.We lost the tape touching and rolling it has not IMO made the sport better to watch the same riders win races as would if the rules had not been changed.I don't want a meeting going on for hours but I also don't want to watch a match that's over 45 mins either .

I have no issue with the riders gardening IMO it is a way of settling down before the start but I agree that they should go back to the tapes after false starts ,without stopping.