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It's unfair to criticize the GRA over bar prices at Perry Barr. They also think that these are too high but they have no option but to charge what their London masters say that they have to charge. The GRA now only operates Belle Vue and Perry Barr as has been said, but they are not an independent organisation - they are owned by a larger London group called RCP, but as far as Perry Barr is concerned, the GRA management and staff have been more than helpful and co-operative towards the speedway club in every respect. Perry Barr Stadium is owned by the City Council but leased to the GRA. Part of the grandstand is a Grade 2 listed building and there is a covenant on the stadium which states that it must be used only as a sports venue. The stadium was a gift to the City made by Lord Alexander in 1888, and it's original name was The Alexander Stadium and was the domain of Birchfield Harriers Athletic Club until the late 1970's when the City Council constructed their present home - originally styled "The New Alexander Stadium." The Council planned to sell the old stadium to Sainsburys at the time, but were prevented from doing this because the Alexander family would not agree to lifting the covenant. The old stadium, then derelict, was leased to The Perry Barr Greyhound Club in 1985, and the Greyhound Club was sold to the GRA in 2002. The original speedway/Athletics track was 402 yards slightly shorter than Belle Vue (Hyde Road) and Norwich but very similar in shape to both of them. The new dog track constructed in 1986, covered the home straight and the two bends of the old speedway circuit, but extended further over what used to be concrete terracing on the back straight, and the new speedway track, laid in 2007, inside the dog track of course, was of a very similar shape to the original although with much shorter straights. For anyone with an interest in local history, at the high point of the rear of the central part of the grandstand can be seen the leaping deer emblem of Birchfield Harriers surmounted by the club's motto "Fleet and Free." Here endeth the history lesson!!!

Must the the most stupid post ever .... I'm completely lost for words that won't get me a ban

Excellent again from Kasper away from home, just need him to have a good home meeting or two to get his confidence up around Lynn. There is obviously talent there. Can’t be displeased with an away draw to start the league campaign. Both teams will probably feel they could have won it.

I think the way to get over this is to have no crashes at all.A crash don't help anyone,especially someone who has just got over a bad crash.

Yes we all are aware of that and Aces fans are very lucky to have it but the rest of us don't and some like to keep reminding us that there track is better than ours especially some people who have an anti Wolves agenda.I am not a Wolves fan but i have always enjoyed my trips to Monmore and will continue to do so.

Kent were robbed by poor refereeing,thats all. Plymouths Campos and Andrews clearly bringing down Kent riders. The referee let the Andrews incident go, much to everyones surprise. Even the Andrews family said 'Rich got away with that one' Campos was leading,locked up,and was on his way down, when Jenkins,on his inside had nowhere to go. Most folk near me had to change their programmes as it was so obvious. Zero from Kemps rides didnt help, but I do think Len was right to go with R/R.. Plymouth were riding to the best of their ability and could do little more. Kent are far better, especially as Kemp would have scored freely,I am sure.Very impressed with Ablitt.Only very hard riding from Stoneman cost him more points.I liked what I saw of Gilkes,aggressive and controlled. Dont be too hard on your riders or management. Its not often that a referee has such an impact on a result. Oh and before anyone says I am biased, I am a Poole fan, who goes to Plymouth regularly as its the closest track to my home in Torquay. I just like to see justice served whether its for or against my side.

Did you bang your head, that would explain a lot .....

One suspects that’s what skidder is waiting for, the opportunity to hammer somebody else and take the attention off Poole’s issues.

Hoping both sets of fans have an enjoyable evening and all rider's put on a show.

Agree, and suppose 2.5 points a match is a five point swing in your direction. Which is better than the 'Audi badge' 0000

Ooooh Harris looks to of recovered nicely , can see another tight match, a point would be good, 3 better go witches

Apart from belle Vue,,, I think fans of nearly all other clubs would like a track the same as the showground as their home track. Don't think I've ever seen a poor meeting there

Last year we had the shale issues which they told us was resolved, it's beginning to look like the shale be used is total crap...………..yet again!! You have got to have decent material to provide decent racing, decent racing equals happy supporters and more of them, it's not rocket science but I am starting to have my doubts that the promotion either care or just don't grasp the basics

Many think its laughable but that's just a clear indictment of the state of these boards today. It's a shadow of its former self. At no point have I wished injury. At no point have I said Dan wants to crash or that I would like him too. Once again, some people just fail to grasp the concept of reading between the lines.

I couldn’t believe that anyone would write something like that unless I saw it with my own eyes. Shocking.

I see dan ford reaction to the meeting on pirates defeat on Friday but not a mention of the state of the track . I find that strange ?

I too was at this meeting ,ledwith seemed to be trying to hard his bikes never looked set up for the small track there was a few bizarre referring decisions but I think Plymouth just about deserved to win on the night,but Kent with all there riders are going to be very hard to handle for anyone where Len has got those two boys at reserve from god only knows but they are very impressive especially Gilkes he could go as far as he wants the last time I saw a team that strong was the scunthorpe team including woffinden,auty,Becker and Dennis.im looking forward to seeing their result against Belle Vue today I totally get why they did r/r on Friday on any other day they would have won.good luck to Kent for the rest of the season the fans will have a great time watching them this season.

Danny's inability to score round Brough and anywhere else for that matter at Championship level, will I am sure tell him something. It certainly will be damaging his confidence and maybe he should make the call himself to move back down a league where he can win races and make some money! I tend to agree with TG that Simon Lambert will make good, but hopefully in the near future.

Remember all other fans commenting on the Scorpions pages last year for being unfair . Well I witnessed Danny all last season home and away ,I gave him the benefit of the doubt returning from injury etc .But when you see a rider de throttle to miss the first bend on so many occasions to be in a safe position is beyond me . If he wants to ride Speedway that's fine but the rest of the guys are racing and competing ,that's why when supporters pay good money they expect effort and commitment. Ive seen Speedway for 40 plus yrs and some of my favourite ride back at the old Hull Vikings were Peter Scully and Mike Hampson not the greatest riders but always give 100 % effort

Kingy comes across as a decent guy but my memories of him as a Lions rider are of someone who lacked steel in pressure situations. He frequently came up short in crunch heats (heat 15 if selected) when he often only had to deliver individually and not team ride. This opinion is based on observations at Premiership and not Championship level but there isn't exactly a gulf between the two leagues since many of the riders are the same! (This could only happen in speedway. Been meaning to check if Jamie Vardy isn't sneekely turning out for the Forest or Derby occassionly).

Oh but you are! And despite the fact that several other Panthers fans have tried to set you straight, you're still banging on. It's not Panthers' stadium - so they can't just go changing anything to the infrastructure, especially under the current EoES management. Anyway, you'd find it hard to find many Panthers fans complaining about the configuration of the track. The surface - yes (sometimes). The riders - often! Management - again often! But the stadium, track configuration and facilities? Nope. And the vast majority of visiting fans seem to enjoy their visits to our place too. By the way, if, as I suspect, your fingers are poised over your keyboard to dash off a reply with something about how all speedway clubs need to look forward and try to make improvements blah blah blah; maybe so, but that's a general speedway thing. This is a Peterborough Panthers (v Poole) thread.

It’s discretionary, basically Peter Adams asked CVS and he said it was ok. It’s not always given as I know of one rider who - should he have not ridden straight away - R/R was denied.

Where’s odsal boy still doing the ironing

I'll not even entertain the first paragraph because I don't want you to keep digging that hole, you might never get out. As regards the EoES: for 30 years on a regular weekly basis we were the prime valued user of the site with only the annual agricultural show otherwise taking place that I can recall. A change of administration with different priorities in a shrinking showground being sold off for housing, the consequent reduction in access roads, the Arena springing up and much more use of the site gave the perception (and fixtures, health and safety issues would probably bear that out) that speedway is now an afterthought and source of regular, if not particulary significant income. Annoyance isn't the right word but they certainly wag the dog as no home fixtures from July 15 to Sept 2 indicate. The product has been dummed down for years, that's why people talk about survival. The tracks were always fine but the rider quality has got worse. You can have your most perfect track in the world but if you're not putting out riders of sufficient quality to do it justice then the product will be poor. That's the key that we wasted over the Sky years which is why speedway is continuing down the Hahnenkamm.

I have never liked rider-replacement - but it is infinitely preferable to guest riders, and both have become easy options in a variety of circumstances which would never be tolerated in any other well-run professional sport. The excuse of "not enough riders" just doesn't wash - the promoters themselves have created this situation by allowing so many riders to ride for more than one team - a thoughtlessly pointless rule which has delivered no benefits whatsoever and has only created a scenario of some riders being able to double their earnings at the expense of fellow riders whom they have denied the chance to earn anything at all. So many riders now seem to consider it a God-given right that they can ride for two teams so there is absolutely no chance of this daft and embarrassing rule ever being rescinded - the riders just wouldn't stand for it. Apart from 30 or so riders being deprived of a team place because 30 of their colleagues MUST have two teams, the knock-on effect has been to force the better National League riders to stay in the National League instead of progressing upwards as should be the case. Understandably, many of them will take the view that why should they not pick up more cash from scoring a dozen or more points per meeting as a National League rider when the alternative is only scoring 2/3 and earning peanuts in a higher league and always being in danger of the chop at the same time? Perhaps one day (the day that will convince me that the age of miracles has not passed) speedway will re-structure itself with properly defined teams in each division, and one man-one-team, with promoters forced to develop their own extra riders for use when a team man in injured, with no guests and no rider-replacement. Every other sport does this - and supporters accept that injuries and loss of form are all part and parcel of their particular sport - so why should promoters think that speedway must be so different?

I'm not one to agree with what Rob did, but however, he certainly isn't ready for Championship racing. National League would help him but not sure if he'd be allowed to compete in that level. Riders look good in practice on their own, as Jedd did, but when there's 3 other riders by you, its a totally different ball game

2 great meetings racing wise. Well done all 13 riders enjoyed that

Just so you know, some of us knew exactly what you meant.others don't read posts properly.

Whatever has been done seems to have worked. A new stadium would have been nice but I’ll take exciting racing over that any day of the week.

Yep. Keep reading Speedway Updates.

I was looking at his points a few mins ago, and was thinking the same thing. Looking a bargain on a 4.00. Looks like it was the Bjerre and Worrall show for the Aces tonight.

Luke Becker looks like he could well be the signing of the season. Showing great promise ...

Fair play to Belle Vue not mentioning Adams in all this and just saying there was some “confusion”. Well done.

I can't believe this -- Spud is clearly flying, yet they give Barker one of his rides? If Peterborough lose this, the team manager should shoot himself. Before the fans do.

Totally agree. The star is meant to be the reference record of the sport. I wouldn't entertain it, even if it was free.

Lynn have gone for strength in depth and they will get slaughtered at most tracks. Panthers should not be comparing themselves to Lynn.

Only sings when they are winning

Where's Wally?

Us old timers may just about tolerate a 20 minute delay for no apparent reason whatsoever - but sadly, 'the young' probably won't and speedway will continue on it's suicidal path. I enjoyed the meeting up until then, the watering breaks were clearly essential, but long breaks such as the one after heat 14 are becoming toxic. Continuity is lost and everything falls flat. Like the very long advert breaks on tv, you can forget what your'e watching.

All he had do is keep the lid on the box no dust then

I did my ligaments in the ankle about 18 months ago playing football. Broke the bone as well. 8 months out. So totally get you point of view. For 3 to 4 months after I've never been so nervous on a football pitch. It affected everything I did. Until someone rolled my ankle again and it stood up to it. Back to the player I was 18 months previous. The demons had gone. I knew my ankle could take it again. Thank you, like Phil, for posting fairly. Much appreciated

7.30

There will be 2 bumper crowd and there will be 2 well prepared surfaces. But only 1 will provide top racing. And I've just left it.

It's a nice thought, but back in the old days, Birchfield Harriers were always obstructive towards the speedway despite the Brummies being a major source of income for them. Speedway could and should have been back there from 1961 onwards but the Harriers put forward every conceivable reason to refuse to do a deal - even when the would be promoters Doug Ellis and Phil Hart offered to pay the rates for them (which the Harriers claimed had been tripled by the Council.) The new Alexander is a beautiful stadium, but I for one, wouldn't like to have to be beholden to Birchfield Harriers in the way that we were in the 1950's. One of their favourite tricks was to suddenly hold an athletics meeting on a Saturday afternoon (when the speedway race night was Saturdays) and then deliberately drag it out so that there was not enough time to prepare the track properly for speedway.

or maybe even just keep signing 2 pointers on a temporary basis, until we find a decent one, but one things for sure,,, the conversation about it 'round the dinner table' won't be easy.

He was very much the same when he was number 1 for Newcastle I was pretty disappointed with him in all honesty now I don’t think brough Park is his favourite track but I thought he would dominate so much more than he did, especially in the big races.

I'm right here Phil, just sat eating my slice of humble pie :-) And i borrowed my iron to Josh Bates, he made good use of it tonight.

Quite right. It’s common to swap reserves in heats seven and eight. Clegg (or any other stronger reserve in any other team) should be in heats 8, 12 and 14.

Imo Peterborough have a beautiful track

I’ve been to Peterborough umpteen times since my first visit in 1991 and would never describe it as gate and go. It wasn’t even before the widening in 2001. I’m sure all tracks would benefit from being wider but if you were doing a list of UK circuits in order of priority of the need to be widened then the EoES would be way, way down the list.