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SCB 2018 rule that “riders must remain astride their machine when ‘gardening’ at the start-line. As we saw/heard last night in the first meeting of the season at Belle Vue, 3 riders excluded having got off their bikes to prepare their start position. Riders/managers complaining of this rule. I believe rule possibly brought in to speed meetings up. But it doesn’t. Riders in my opinion should be able to prepare their start position, have a cup of tea or what ever within the 2 minutes allotted time. As in Poland a digital clock should be placed by the start, the referee starts the 2min. count down and if a rider not ready, then he is excluded. This system should be in place for all leagues in all countries. Same rule everywhere.

Especially the shorter ones?

Sad but true on all count JC. . .and I still have the Shell suits! :-) We may not have seen eye to eye on some occasions but there is no doubt that you were a forward thinker who had great ideas to move the sport into a new direction and bring it up to date. The atmosphere that we all generate in that amazing era was 2nd to none and one of the best times I can remember in speedway.

He has saved plenty by ensuring his team look will look like the Poundland Pirates

JPB replaced by both teams on the same day he walks.........don't let the door hit you on the @rse on your way out

Looks like a swift and excellent resolution to the issue from Coventry. From what i have seen Connor is far more professionally setup than JPB was and i feel will provide more consistent results from the number 1 jacket. Add in that he is familiar with riding alongside Armstrong & Ruddick from his Mildenhall days and i feel that this move will actually make Coventry stronger in the long term.

As usual it's a knee jerk reaction to appease the vociferous minority who whinge about a complete triviality such as 'gardening'. As said, 2 minute warning, ready to race when clock hits zero, no more gardening at that point. Oh so simple.

You’ve got to feel sorry for Tungate who has no chance of gardening astride his bike

You can be prepared as you like and just have absolutely no luck on any given night, it happens although fortunately not very often. Panning the poor chap is pretty harsh but not unexpected on this platform.....Belle Vue fans know what Tungate can do and won't be too concerned.

I feel sorry for any new promotion team at Lynn, as I think it is hard to meet the expectations of fans who supported the club during that era... and for good reason. The parade track rolling out to the intro of 'welcome to the jungle' always made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck, and everyone involved (from fans to riders) were emotionally immersed in the club. 9 titles in 4 years (from memory) is as good as it gets and shows what the club was all about back then. Unfortunately since then the club has lost yourself, Rob Lyon and me and personally I do not believe any have been appropriately replaced... although not through lack of trying as I did recently read a job advertisement for a centre green announcer who must like wearing illuminus shell suits

Didn't finish a race all night? That doesn't happen to the best riders, who are usually the best prepared.

Teams will be getting a bit fed up at being let down by this lad. He's not gone out of his way to make friends in the sport and I'm sure he won't be missed (especially in Sheffield, Glasgow and Coventry).

Jury is out for me regarding Holder. Very busy start to the season with Poole Fri, Torun Sat, Sheffield Sun. Obviously it would have been Wolves Mon too! Dont think he will rock the boat too much as a testimonial is around the corner. Feel sure he would prefer it at Poole. I dont see him as being a real top line NO.1 anymore. Happy to be proved wrong though. Not overly bothered, as long as Poole do well. Happy to see all our riders chip in with some decent scores. Whatever unfolds, I hope everyone enjoys their speedway and there not any controversial moves later on!

If a rider keeps gardening just before two minutes is up, its a choice to ignore the start marshall. So he’s earned an exclusion. Very simple.

Just did. Ha ha

Exclude them under the 2 minutes then, if it's expired.

Jordan Tyrer, Saul Bulley, or for experience go for David Speight. There is, also, your mate, Mason Searsby who are all not fixed up yet.

My all time favourite rider.

I can understand why people don't want to spend their money, it's their money, they do what they want with it If I really liked a drink, for example, and they changed the ingredients in the drink, and I didn't like it anymore, I wouldn't keep buying it just because it was my favourite before, I would stop, same theory applies for sports teams, music, just about anything, so I can see where these people are coming from, me however, I know I will still love watching the speedway on a Sunday night And think it's still worth the money

Sounds like a typical first meeting some riders better than expected others no so good, mechanical gremlins that need ironing out overall a good night's entertainment. It isn't what happens on the first meeting that define your season.

Re the gardening - it serves no purpose to insist the rider remains on the bike. The 2 minutes is 2 minutes whether they are on the bike or doing a dance around it...

Jenga in talking sh*te shocker but its only banter isn't it. On another subject breaking news Jenga has found another brain cell to go with the one he already had , Joined up writing should now be achievable with lots of practice. Hopefully in years to come the dribbling will stop fully which should save a fortune in washing powder cleaning his bibs.

What a load of old tosh as usual, well happy with the performance from the Robins also for the Aces Bewley/Tungate had bike problems.Zach has just comeback from a serious back injury these meetings are there to blow away the cobwebs and get ready for the league programme.

This early season competition(Zloty Kask) has the added importance of doubling up as qualification for the grand prix and SEC qualification rounds. semis are on April 10th in Gdansk,Poznan and Ostrow with the final in Pila on Thursday 19th April seeded to the final are Janowski, Prem Pawlicki, Dudek and Zmarzlik . .1. Individual World Championship Grand Prix - 6 competitors: places 1 to 5 from the finals of the Golden Helmet '18 - 5 competitors GKSŻ nomination - 1 player 2. Individual European Championship - 6 competitors: Places from 1 to 5 from the final 'ZK '18 - 6 competitors GKSŻ nomination - 1 player Gdańsk: 1. Michał Szczepaniak (Zdunek Wybrzeże Gdańsk) 2. Krystian Pieszczek (MRGARDEN GKM Grudziądz) 3. Oskar Fajfer (Zdunek Wybrzeże Gdańsk) 4. Krzysztof Buczkowski (MRGARDEN GKM Grudziądz) 5. Szymon Woźniak (Cash Broker Stal Gorzów) 6. Tomasz Gapiński (Euro Finannce Polonia Piła) 7. Krzysztof Kasprzak (Cash Broker Stal Gorzów) 8. Mirosław Jabłoński (Car Gwarant Start Gniezno) 9. Piotr Pawlicki (Fogo Unia Leszno) 10. Kacper Gomólski (Falubaz Zielona Góra) 11. Dominik Kubera (Fogo Unia Leszno) 12. Dawid Lampart (Speed Car Motor Lublin) 13. Paweł Przedpełski (Get Well Toruń) 14. Jakub Jamróg (Grupa Azoty Unia Tarnów) 15. Igor Kopeć-Sobczyński (Get Well Toruń) 16. Artur Mroczka (Grupa Azoty Unia Tarnów) R1. Dominik Kossakowski (Zdunek Wybrzeże Gdańsk) R2. Wiktor Lampart (Speed Car Motor Lublin) Poznań 1. Mateusz Borowicz (PSŻ Poznań) 2. Bartosz Smektała (Fogo Unia Leszno) 3. Rafał Karczmarz (Cash Broker Stal Gorzów) 4. Janusz Kołodziej (Fogo Unia Leszno) 5. Robert Miśkowiak (Orzeł Łódź) 6. Damian Dróżdż (Betard Sparta Wrocław) 7. Norbert Kościuch (Orzeł Łódź) 8. Maksym Drabik (Betard Sparta Wrocław) 9. Marcel Kajzer (PSŻ Poznań) 10. Oskar Polis (OK Kolejarz Opole) 11. Daniel Jeleniewski (Speed Car Motor Lublin) 12. Sebastian Ułamek (OK Kolejarz Opole) 13. Daniel Kaczmarek (Get Well Toruń) 14. Kacper Woryna (ROW Rybnik) 15. Sebastian Niedźwiedź (Falubaz Zielona Góra) 16. Artur Czaja (ROW Rybnik) R1. Wiktor Trofimow (Fogo Unia Leszno) R2. Michał Łopaczewski (PSŻ Poznań) Ostrów 1. Kamil Brzozowski (MDM Komputery TŻ Ostrovia) 2. Marcin Jędrzejewski (Arge Speedway Wanda Kraków) 3. Patryk Dolny (MDM Komputery TŻ Ostrovia) 4. Ernest Koza (Arge Speedway Wanda Kraków) 5. Tomasz Jędrzejak (Stal Rzeszów) 6. Grzegorz Zengota (Falubaz Zielona Góra) 7. Piotr Protasiewicz (Falubaz Zielona Góra) 8. Patryk Rolnicki (Grupa Azoty Unia Tarnów) 9. Jarosław Hampel (Fogo Unia Leszno) 10. Adrian Gała (Car Gwarant Start Gniezno) 11. Damian Baliński (Stainer Unia Kolejarz Rawicz) 12. Marcin Nowak (Car Gwarant Start Gniezno) 13. Adrian Miedziński (forBET Włókniarz Częstochowa) 14. Mateusz Szczepaniak (ROW Rybnik) 15. Tobiasz Musielak (forBET Włókniarz Częstochowa) 16. Adrian Cyfer (Euro Finannce Polonia Piła) R1. Zbigniew Suchecki (MDM Komputery TŻ Ostrovia) R2. Oskar Bober (Speed Car Motor Lublin) 4 qualifiers from each semi with 1st reserve from Poznan and 2nd reserve from Ostrow

Just checked the final greensheets 5.12 from 2016 (didnt complete enough 2017 meetings for revised average) So perhaps not reserve but certainly not a No1

Couldn't agree more! Roynon has in the past performed really well at Brough even though I do recall he has had at least one spill with his enthusiasm to wind it on full blast on the outside line. He would undoubtedly be a gamble, but George has in the past proved doubters wrong with his ability to take calculated risks. If it is Roynon, I'm sure his team mates and the crowd will be very supportive and give him every opportunity to shine as our Number 1

Would rather splash the cash on flying Woryna & Szczepaniak in every week from Poland. Instead of spending money on race suits and having poor riders riding poorly in them.

JC, Micman I can feel the man love coming through. You are of course right. The bar was set back then. Sadly the standard has fallen way below that level, but of course, as always. Buster knows best. Still here we are new year, a new kid ( well You know what I mean) on the block. Hopes are high. Can They deliver..... Over to you Buster its time to walk the walk.

Start marshals need to be tougher and so do the refs too. However I'm not sure why riders can't 'garden' stood up, on the bike, doing hand stands or whatever they like as long as they are in contact with the bike and within the 2 minutes.

Shocked to hear of JPB's retirement from the sport. He seemed to be a rider with heaps of talent and one of the promising youngsters with a big future ahead of him. Wish him all the best for the future in whatever line he chooses to pursue. Also, it seems the fans who gave David Mason stick for signing Mitchel Davey and Tom Bacon instead of JPB now owe him an apology. Appears, as surmised by some, the Brummies management were perhaps aware of something many of us weren't. The new season would have got off to a bad start if we had been hit with the last minute withdrawal of Jack, especially following the calamity last year with the Ritchings and Hay retirements.

Yep yr right, it is old fashioned. I never recalled any gardening in the early 70's and 80's, so why now ?

COVENTRY have moved quickly to snap up Connor Mountain as their new No.1 – after being forced into an eve-of-season change of plan. The Bees had been set to go into the campaign, which starts at Birmingham next Wednesday (March 28), with 17-year-old Jack Parkinson-Blackburn at the top of the order. But it was announced on Monday that the former British Youth Champion was taking time out of the sport, and will not be taking up his team places with either Coventry or Championship club Glasgow. Bees therefore rapidly re-established contact with Mountain, who had shown an interest in joining the club earlier in the winter. The 20-year-old suffered a broken back in 2016 but recovered to enjoy his best season in the sport last year, posting a 9.06 average for Mildenhall and progressing at Championship level with Ipswich. Promoter Mick Horton said: “Connor approached me several weeks ago about joining us, but unfortunately for him we’d just completed our team at that stage. “It was a shame for him that he missed out, but thankfully for us he was still available when the situation changed with the events of late. “Connor is without doubt a recognised No.1 in the National League, and we’re very pleased to have him on board. “He jumped at the chance of joining us, and he’ll be with us at Birmingham next Wednesday although we will need a guest at Belle Vue on Good Friday as he’s already committed with Ipswich on that day. “As a club we’d also like to wish Jack all the best. It’s clearly something he needs to sort out himself, and I’m sure he will be bouncing back in the near future.” With press and practice last weekend having been postponed due to the weather, Coventry are one of several clubs whose riders have been short of time on the circuit ahead of the official start of the season. Horton added: “We’re desperately trying to get some track time at Leicester but it’s not easy at the moment, the track has taken on a lot of water and they’re working hard on it as we speak.”

So when it looks like the panthers riders are trying to lower their averages in the first few meetings, they are not, they are actually that bad.

I have to agree - I had written him off before a wheel had turned. One swallow does not make a summer but if he can keep it up - he may not be replaced early doors

Well done to Mitchell davey. Hope you keep clear of injuries this year and get some reward for your perseverance

Mmmmmmm.... Atmosphere at a high octane, adrenaline fuelled sporting event? No doubt infused by fans' noise and engagement to what they are watching? Now that there is a 'novel' idea..... Wonder if it will ever catch on? Who knows, if it does, maybe some fans would go back the next time to sample some more of the same?.... Nah... What am I thinking?....

Tungate had mechanical problems in every race apart from heat 5, when he failed to make the 2 minutes and was excluded. Bewley showed his talent by easily beating Morris in heat 5 when he also had the fastest time of the night. Worrall and Fricke were impressive, Cook was only beaten by Morris and Batchelor and Drozdz and Etheridge were both on the pace and scored their averages on their debuts. I think that both will be good signings although we shall have a better idea about Drozdz when he has had a few away meetings. Batchelor continued to show his liking for the NSS and obviously enjoyed denying Worrall and Fricke their respective maximum and paid maximum in heat 15. Bellego and to a lesser extent Musielak, were good value and should do well this year. Morris failed to win a race and never looked like doing so. Davey did well at the the NSS in several NL visits last year so it was no surprise that he was on the pace and the better of the Swindon reserves on the night. However, Wajtknecht did enough in his first match back after injury to show he will be ok. Overall, it would have been nice to have a bigger lead to take to Swindon but you've got to be satisfied when Tungate fails to score and you still win by 6. It's always difficult to judge in early season meetings but if Rohan can sort out his mechanical gremlins there's no reason why we can't get the overall win and maybe even the win at Swindon.

May be historic and impressive by modern standards but no competition for the great London stadia like Wimbledon or the old Belle Vue.

Heat 4 from tonight :

Unbelievable comments on here regarding Tungate from people who probably didn't even attend the meeting. Bike problems all night , didnt finish a race , it happens to the best of riders especially so early in the season

I think KK's door is bolted shut

We don't know the circumstances of the desicion so nothing can be ruled out.

No idea why they haven’t arranged a challenge for Thursday. Ok the weather has been poor of late but nobody knew that would be the case when the fixtures were sorted. CL admitted he tried to arrange a meeting with a Premiership team but none could agree. Did it have to be a Premiership team? Why not do similar to what Lakeside have done and started with the Billy Sanders memorial with a field including the 7 Witches? would have at least given them semi competitive laps before the real stuff starts Good Friday. Not exactly overloaded with fixtures this year either compared to previous years so it’s a strange decision.

It is as bad, ask flappy

Newcastle, Redcar, Berwick. This Panthers side isn't as bad as it look on paper.

Doesn't give us long to find a 2 pointer. I expect we may use Ryan McDonald for the first meeting, although it will be tough against the strong Monarch reserves

Sick of listening to idiots (young and old) ranting and hijacking this thread. Here are some facts. Birmingham are being vilified (by some) for trying to use the rules in their favour. (Well DUH!) when no-one REALLY knows which rider they have been trying to sign, its all supposition. Even if it is the rider in question it would appear that they have only tried to stay within the rules. Something that many other sports would recognise. (Cricket and Rugby spring to mind.) Birmingham have been vilified for not bringing youngsters on. Well, I could of course point out that recently we had the youngest team in the league and (possibly) of all time. But that was under previous management so does not point to what the current management are doing. The current management have joined the MDL to bring on juniors and have stated that is a big aim of theirs. This despite the severe restrictions placed upon Birmingham via the planning permision. This should be applauded. But here is the crux of the matter for me. Why should any team in the NL (with the exception of Belle Vue) spend money and time and effort on developing ANY rider when they are not allowed to profit from such investment. Until the NL is allowed to gain assetts via such investment then they have NO incentive to develop any rider. Why spend that money and then let the boys from the higher leagues just step in and gain an assett without having developed that rider. Its wrong and does not help supporters to become emotionally attached to their team. The incentive is to sign Riders that have all ready developed and shown form at this level.

The only time Sam was ever owed money it was only a small amount for a CL guest booking and I was told by everybody to just forget about it as it would cause him problems. Everybody except Tim Stone who said chase it up, I tried to contact the promoter several times with no luck so wrote to the SCB saying that it was a matter of principal and I would put it through the small claims court if I hadn't received the money in 30 days. Cheque in the post within the week! I do think riders don't chase money as they should because they fear that word will get around and they won't get rides in future. I would suggest the only promoters who wouldn't employ a rider because he asked for his due money wouldn't be worth riding for anyway. On the other hand you have riders who will sign for clubs who are known to pay late for extra points money over those who do pay on the nail, makes no sense to me but it happens. It is interesting that the promoters who are accused of being too tight with their money by the fans are often the ones who settle the wage bill.

No, you have stated what your opinions are and as ever try to bludgeon the rest into submission. Most give up because there are far better things to do than deal with you. Who did die and make you god? If "99% of folk agree" you must have spoken to a hell of of a lot of people. That is a breathakingly arrogant comment. Anyway, if the majority of people here genuinely think speedway's just the same as ever and hasn't declined it says a hell of a lot about those posting here.

Some great pictures and the Saturday night under flood lights is brilliant. Looked like good crowds on both days. Thank you for sharing these. Unfortunately I was unable to make it to Berlin on this occasion and really missed the action. For those who have never been it is worth giving it a go and if you can get to one on the European meetings you will not be disappointed. I would also like to thank Conkers and Iris for always providing updates, reports photo and video etc. and other valuable information, it is greatly appreciated and the best reporting you can get.