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With the end of the season just around the corner I would like to thank Sue and her very special team for the magnificent service that they provide. For many many years we've maybe taken the updates site for granted, but believe me each and every texter and updater, and Sue's right hand people are really appreciated. Thank you guys

Everyone knows we were fortunate, if thats the right way to put it,' with the injuries to the other teams riders at critical times. All credit must go to both Somerset and KIngs Lynn for taking the semi and Final to the last races. I am in no doubt we almost quite literally rode our luck.

Agreed. It was a point made very eloquently several months ago in the Speedway Star by GP race director Phil Morris. One of the real positives speedway has over other motorsports is that there is general parity over the equipment used...and so rider skill is paramount. I've no doubt Tai Woffinden has the very best gear, so too will all the rest of the top riders. As they have done throughout speedway history. It isn't the case that Woffinden has a Ferrari, whilst the rest have Saubers (or whatever the current crappy F1 team is?!). Even if it were the case, he has earned the right to have the best equipment by being the best rider. Does anyone think Jawa, GM or the top tuners were falling over themselves to help him ahead of his first title in 2013 when he was a rank outsider going in? No chance. He's dedicated, he backed himself and he's reaping the rewards. One of the aspects of him that I admire most is that he has the ability to really be as one with the machine. In contrast to say, a Nicki Pedersen, who really has to fight with the bike, at his best Tai Woffinden really flows with his machine as if they are one and the same.

What was most annoying about that meeting was that after all the efforts to return the track back a decent condition, it was the actions of a few riders... namely Palm Toft (Scun) and Ostergaard (Peterboro) that put an end to the meeting. Rider power at its best.. my biggest gripe about the sport.

How dare you!!!!! - mentioning Cami brown in the same post as all those Tigers' greats

Are we gonna have to put up with this carp until next March! and they wonder why people get sick of (some) Poole fans.

An argument that makes absolutely no sense at all. Equipment is irrelevant as they have the same access as their rivals in whatever era they were in... in terms of speedway anyway. In fact it could easily be argued that far more riders have top notch equipment these days than in the past.

Regarding the comets fixture pile up, how about this, comets were the 1st to qualify for the shield then had to wait to see who it is against, the comets were the 1st to qualify for the KO cup and had to wait to see who we were against, and finally the comets are the 1st to qualify for the playoffs and we are still waiting to see who we ride against, Who are in the wrong now ps what happens if the weekend of the 27 + 28th and the following few days are wet ??

I would suggest that if you don't enjoy watching Woffy, Zmarzlik,Emil or the likes of Bewley and Lambert, then the issue isnt that the riders are not as exvitimg as they used to be but that you no longer enjoy the sport. Which then baffles me as to why you would spend time on a speedway forum. My favourite riders will always be Ross, Mort, PC, Smudger and the Moran brothers. But it doesn't stop me from enjoying the riders of today. I'm sure Bewitcher would argue that Ermolenko is the most exciting rider of all time. But he's not going to argue that that makes modern riders dull, or that Ronnie Correy was better than Greg Hancock

Matt Ford will stay unless a buyer can be found.

I didn't think the SoN averages were particularly valuable, especially as they don't include bonus points but some were using them to justify a riders inclusion. Had Poland used Zmarzlik rather than Dudek, they may have won. I don't particularly like him as a rider nor do I think that he'll ever make a World Championship podium again, but Hampel was 2nd in the rankings in 2015 when he got injured after 3 GP's. He finished higher in the SEC in 2018 than Sayfutdinov & Lindback. Only being Polish has meant he hasn't got a permanent WC pick.

Welcome back THJ..........you make good reading....or there again it's scary stuff for us Comets devotees. Three finals with no time to arrange them all.....with important team members not going to be available? It should never be like this............but speedway is in a league of it's own when it comes to self destruction.

Main talking point has to be the removal of Chapman and Godfrey

This is the point, nobody is criticising it. The point is though, if the league was split up more back in those days, lets say with an 8 team top league and the other teams in lower leagues it wouldn't be remembered as being anywhere near as strong.

Woah Woah Woah, steady on here! All modern riders are dull compared to Sudden Sam.. and as for Hancock being compared to Rocket Ronnie, Greg isn't fit to clean his boots

Throwing money at the wrong riders even less so. I dont think the throwing money at riders really applies outside the top two. We allegedly said no to Lunna for this season as he asked for more money to cover his increased flight costs as we were changing race days to Fridays. The problems for this season were there from day one when the manager chucked it after the first meeting. That unsettled Worrall who went on a woeful run of form, in part at being under constant pressure in 13 & 15 to make up for the shortfall in points from Harris. Lewis Kerr and Vissing thankfully covered our arse in the early meetings but both started to tail off in early June. As well as yielding little points at the top of the team, the same was true at the bottom as Jack Thomas struggled with the big step up from NL and Sarjeant often could have got the same points sitting in the house, particularly at home. The home thrashing by Workington and unforgiveable defeat to an average Edinburgh in May underlined the fragility of the 1-7, but wasnt a surprise if you attended the home meetings to that point. It was widely speculated we tried to replace Harris in May and June to no avail. He was embarrassing at points, with unreliable machinery and perhaps worst of all, a lack of fight. An already poor season got worse when Paul Starke tried to ride through injury in May & June, and Kerr got injured at the end of June. It meant r/r required Sarjeant to take at least two of his rides, and he couldnt even cover his own rides. The team had no chance of making the playoffs until Kerr and Worrall made way for Cook and Nathan Greaves in mid July. Despite only riding 8 meetings Cook had an immediate impact and Harris finally started scoring. It was enough for us to scrape into the playoffs with that holy grail of away wins but ultimately not enough to make the final. Stewart Dickson wont be there next year so the mental policy of having a stellar top five and whoever will fit for the reserves hopefully cant happen again. Its never worked for us previously. The marquee signing of Harris promised much but delivered little and can only be described a spectacular failure, as Sarjeant too. Whatever the league structure for 2019, we know what hasnt worked, its time to learn from it and not make those same signing mistakes again. A bit of continuity may also serve us better than another sweep out.

You want 10+ riders? Simple. Merge the two leagues and use exactly the same ridrrs as rode in the UK this year and have a race format where the number ones meet only once. All of a sudden, the likes of Josh Bates and Stefan Nielsen become third heatleaders. So most number ones are nailed on 10 point riders. It doesn't make the league any stronger. It would actually be weaker teams than we have now.

THJ , your ideas have a lot of merit , but for something like that to work , the governing body ( especially the second half of your season ) has to take charge and take away the organising of fixtures from the clubs . They have to implement the fixture list to suit the competion not the clubs themselves . If riders are missing for whatever reason , too bad deal with it .

Before we start looking ahead to 2019 as we dont know the league structure or points limit we will be involved with , it's time to look back on what was a generally frustrating 2018 . Rightly or wrongly installed as title favourites , things didnt quite go to plan as well as we hoped . The championship shield section looked to be at our mercy after victory at Armadale , but the home thumping by Workington cost us qualification and served notice that we werent as good as we were beginning to think we were . We then contrived to throw away a KO Cup tie against Edinburgh which we were in complete control of , while the league campaign had it's ups and downs . Strong enough at home , but generally disappointing away from Ashfield . We did make it into the play offs only to come up just short against our Cumbrian nemesis . As for the riders - Craig Cook - easily the best rider in the league and a joy to watch . Would even say he's better round Ashfield than Shane Parker in his pomp . Chris Harris - much excitement at his signing last winter , but overall he has been a big disappointment . Claus Vissing - started the season well , but his form definitely dipped as the season progressed . Paul Starke - again started the season well before he got injured in the home meeting against Sheffield at the beginning of May , Took a long time to get over that and his scoring suffered , but he did return to sonething like his old self towards the end of the campaign . James Sarjeant - we hoped he would turn out to be the free scoring reserve every title challenger needs , but that never looked like happening . Jack Thomas - all riders stepping up from the NL can struggle , but there is definite potential there . Nathan Greaves - got injured too soon after signing to be judged fairly . Ritchie Worrall - been fantastic for us since arriving from Somerset , but this season he just didnt look the same rider . Lewis Kerr - the shining light of early season meetings , unfortunate his season was cruelly brought to an early end . A season of just coming up short when it mattered , we shall see what 2019 brings .

You could be right, Poole had no Holder all season!!....

Here's some (all within my 50+ years of spectating)! Brian Brett, Peter Craven, Nigel Boocock, Eric Boocock, Ray Wilson, Terry Betts, Kenny Carter, Simon Wigg, Malcolm Simmons, John Louis, Dave Jessup, Les Collins, Kelvin Tatum And before you ask, by gold medals I meant World Individual Speedway titles, those things which Tai has more of (3) than the others It was common place for riders to maintain their bikes themselves, or with the help of a mechanic - a far cry from what Tai has at his disposal

Very happy Robert Lambert steps up, more invaluable experience for the guy.

oooops, i was very wrong, Lambert is staying in Lublin and will ride in Ekstraliga in 2019 confirmation -

To the victor go the spoils, and that includes bragging rights

Let's just hope his recovery goes well, and he is in good shape come tapes up in 2019 ....

There should be a mandate for all clubs to finish there league season by the end of august leaving all of September for play offs and any cup action when normally you would expect the weather to be a little more helpful and October should only be used as an emergency fall back period it makes sense to try and draw fans in with prospects of warmer weather and daylight travelling. Yes you are correct it is a shambles but when have the BSPA done anything to improve the sport regarding fixtures which after accepting they then want to get them cancelled because it suits there individual needs as opposed to doing what is right and proper thing to do

At least the Wucky fans knew what Tosh was trying to say in the Workington have meetings on Friday & Saturday but just got them wrong way round. Probably thought Workington would get their way & ride on their "main" "alternative" night first. Now awaiting replies or likes from the "sister witches" or "scarra". See you soon, weather permitting, on the 26th, 27th or 28th.

Woffinden is certainly the best rider since his first title. But in a room of ugly people, there has to be the prettiest one.

Think you are right however there looked to be more fans in total at the Workington meeting than the Glasgow one. From where I was in the pits it didn't look like there was over 600 fans in at Ashfield and they seemed somewhat subdued, but appreciate it is deceiving, and there must have been double the fans travelled to Derwent Park than went the other way. It needs to be said both clubs have a good away following and it does make for a better meeting when you have fans from both sides cheering their side on Regards THJ

Well some plans for 2019 must already be in place as some riders are already being contacted!!!

Horse and Cart, Cart and Horse - If Harris had put in proper commitment at Rye House then maybe just maybe the club would have kept the number of fans from the previous year and then the club would not have closed and then he would have earned more. But without tracks there is NO earnings for riders so promote your sport lads or get a part-time job to support your hobby. NO RIDER HAS A DIVINE RIGHT TO RIDE FULL TIME UNLESS THE SPORT MAKES ENOUGH MONEY TO SUPPORT THEM TO DO SO (i.e Grasstrack)

As it stands at present if Ty doesn't reach the number of points required in the Lakeside league match to take his average above 7 then he will potentially need to go home to race in the Australian championships and if he does need to go home along with Mason then both will be deemed to be with-holing their services and Workington will receive a facility as per the rule book. So rider average or average + 5% at home for each rider. However the added problem to this is most riders have packed up for the season so the choice of guest is severely limited and of course next year the two returning Aussie riders (should they qualify) will receive 28 day bans for the start of next season. However there will be (sorry Jenga) ""more to follow" on this as I can see it developing further and the league match has to run no matter how meaningless people perceive this meeting to be. Eh!!! considering the Scottish Cup was a "meaningless match" on Friday the 5th of October and then Glasgow flatly refused to come to Workington on Saturday the 6th of October "surely" it would have made more sense to have the Play Off matches that weekend, especially when it was warm and sunny allowing Workington another weekend to fit their fixtures in, or at least the 6th at Derwent Park and the one meeting on Sunday the 14th at Ashfield rather than Glasgow prevaricating and procrastinating trying to "buy time" for an injured rider, on an ever diminishing time scale, but alas time stops for no man and certainly cant be bought. Isn't Karma a bitch!!!. Pity the match wasn't run the previous week in the sunshine without the track pre-soaking and who knows the result may have been totally different as the weather had a major bearing on both meetings in my opinion. However on a glorious late Autumn day up at Ashfield which was more like a "Tatty Field" with deep wet shale on a heavily rutted surface, that at one point, this wet shale built up and stuck so fast behind Rasser's spark plug that it pushed the cap off causing his engine failure, and caused most of the riders no amount of problems with the "grippy" surface. Then back to Derwent Park that due to its clay make up meant that the surface was really slick and resulted in a "gater's" paradise with all the riders chasing the same line which definitely impacted on the result But then again as this only happens in British speedway LOL here's an daft idea!!! Due to Glasgow not accepting any of the dates proposed by Workington and they will potentially be the main reason "the actual league match didn't go ahead" and "Worky who would undoubtedly face sanctions for not finishing their matches in a competition in which they reached the final without having to have completed all their league matches" Glasgow can meet any sanctions or fines levied eh? now that's fair isn't it? Regards THJ

Tbh i thought it read like an essay someone had churned out for a school project. I sincerely hope noone paid for it. It reccomended a marketing strategy imo at least a decade out of date, albeit that representing an improvement on status quo. And contradicted itself by stressing the importance of improving skills by racing atvthe highest level, then recommending further dilution of the top flight strength. How that would help the likes of Lambert and Bewley I have no idea. And the idea of removing both guest and r/r facilities in case of injuries. Going to be great for crowds when a visiting number 1 Is replaced by a NL reserve...

I've asked that question too , but it seems not . Had to be a rider from a non qualifying team , even if one of the top 4 is out . That only applies to your title play off final though

I am surprised you would want Iversen back after the playoff farce. The most important night in the history of KL and he accepts a meeting in Poland !! Cost you the championship.

No qualms about your above comment MPT was the main reason we are out of k/o cup for his performance at Scunthorpe as much the same reason for Ostergaard in the home meeting they both had shockers but congratulations on reaching the final as you proved to be the better side over the two legs and deserve to be there.

Danny has just tweeted that he's had his operation, all went well, surgeons happy.

Selling any Speedway track as a going concern will be like selling a shop currently sat in any one of hundreds of dilapidated high streets, precincts and parades around the country... You will be selling that business surrounded by dusty window fronted shops displaying signs saying 'closed', 'for rent' or 'for sale'.. With several more, who are still open, displaying 'everything must go' and 'closing down' signs. With the actual building itself, in line with virtually every other building adjacent, having an interior and exterior that's hardly changed in the past fifty years.. And if you do consider purchasing the business, your planned opening hours, a fundamental part of your business plan, have to be agreed to by the businesses adjacent and by your employees who will tell you when they are available... Hardly going to inspire you to invest in a location or business like that is it..?

Depends on the league structure and points limit. If its one league Cook wont be back. If its a vastly reduced points limit in the Championship he also wont be back. No easy answers here. I would already have asked Harris and Sarjeant for their Kevlars back.

Quite clearly your opinions are totally correct and there is no need for me or anyone else to have any different opinions I thank you for your educating me in this matter, and I look forward to digesting your opinions on further subjects

I was never a fan of predominantly white leathers, but I thought that the Gulf/Weslake leathers (mostly white, with orange and blue trim) used by a few (Gordon Kennett and Steve Weatherley etc) looked cool! Steve

I wonder though Phil if those that dont want a points limit now is because they are the ones that could dominate as it stands now Guy Nicholls has probably spent more on new plant for his Tru business this month that Matt Fords full asking price for Poole So far he hasnt been inclined to buy a club largely due to the restrictions in place If there were none he may do it and then Id guess perhaps some of those advocating a free reign would not be so keen

Incorrect. As long as you can obtain a loan fee for a rider on your retained list, they must have a value. Indeed, the true value of any rider could be calculated using averages and average working lives, adjusted for a drop out rate for those that choose not to ride in UK anymore. For example, a rider heading towards retirement, but likely to race in UK would be worth 1 times or perhaps 2 times their loan fee. A similar rider in his early 30s might be worth 4 or 5 times. The lure of the Zloty or Swedish Crown hasn't gone on long enough for any British riders to turn their backs on UK permanently so who's to say that, even though Robert Lambert is likely to commit less to UK, and concentrate of Poland and Sweden, that he wouldn't look to come "home" in years to come? Indeed, who's to say that Tai will never race in UK again? So, if the gamble is that they'll return, then whoever is holding their registration will either get or save a loan fee. Which then means they too have a value. There are plenty of riders who are very unlikely to come back to UK, Hancock, Hampel, Janowski, Pedersen etc, so they are the nil value ones, but Holder (C), AJ, Lindback, Lindgren (F), Zagar etc may well return which will earn - or save - someone something. My view is that it's a horrible system, perpetuated by Championship League who need to sell riders to make the books balance, but it's not illegal, as no one is forced to ride anywhere they don't want to, and it does create an asset class for teams holding registrations.

The same can be said of riders like Mauger.He always made sure he was on the best,but that is surely part of being a class rider.Rickardsson was the same.Doesn’t mean they were lesser riders.The opposite is the case

He has never debated with Gavan, he just tells him to go find a Ipswich thread!

get rid of the play offs and have meaningful matches for all teams up to end of September. (Matches cannot be postponed on a whim!). October for challenges etc as required.

That might entail Buster asking Andy Meredith for advice on how to prepare a track to provide entertaining racing. I can't see it happening though.

Will the ref from mondays get a ban for the wrong call in excluding parm toff lol

Rob will tell you himself if it wasn't for the stocks and other revenue streams at the EWR there would be no Speedway; all of the other interests subsidise the Speedway, the best of it is RG gets vilified on here at times but to be fair he is a true Speedway fan and only wants the best for the sport. Regards THJ

Catching a few recent meetings on the box, noticed the age demographic of the average fan. Perhaps a novel idea would be for the sport to team up with local undertakers and funeral directors.