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What was wrong with the Track at the Showground, last season ? Did it really need the major overall that Buster appears to be giving it ? Buster spends ages going around and around at Saddlebow and all he has created is the worst track at Lynn we have ever seen ( in terms of racing)

And since when have refs ever been consistent, especially Carrington. But a decent meeting with a fair result, the crowd was magnificent easily our best of the season so far with a fairly full grandstand and the fifty fifty winner got £290, another season best. Supporters hut had a few programmes left but the turnstiles sold out and not a speck of dust all night on a quite warm evening which shows it can be done if prepared properly.

Well as long as it's because of that and not because he is poorly again, that's the main thing

Buster's computer say's no

Enjoyed the meeting there are would say a decent crowd around around the 750-800 mark which at prices you'd pay at some Championship Tracks (more than Leicester and Eastbourne for me to get in to as an OAP) ; is cracking for NL so unless Len is paying well above NL pay-rates someone is milking it, although no idea what rent he has to pay for that very luxurious Stand and Restaurant. The track (and its my 4th visit) just doesn't cut it for me, not sure whether they need to sort the cambers out or get some more even dirt on it but seeing good level riders having to cling on when hitting grip on 2nd bend and rut on 3rd bend when they have had all winter to blade and grade seems a lack of attention to me. I'd contrast with Stoke who have a fraction of the crowd and income who have gone the extra mile and produced a stunning race strip since they changed curator last season and Leicester/Peterborough who have also invested time and effort in to track preparation. Excellent Team Kent have and very enthusiastic support but they deserve better track and lower prices in my opinion. Can't be right that I can see Richard Lawson for £14 on Friday and Rob Ledwith for £15 on Monday at much lower level???..

I agree that Kerr should be at two but I can’t imagine this isn’t something that everyone has agreed on. Also agree about being a little disappointing after being eight up but in mitigation the two strongest looking Premiership teams have lost at Peterborough this year and both Riss and Jorgensen were way below their usual standard tonight for various reasons so I’m not going to worry about it too much. The bigger concern for me and speedway in general is that one of the best racetracks we have hasnbeen altered and doesn’t seem to offer that outside line any more. One line round the inside is no good to anybody.

I even thought of making the non-world finalist world final a little more specific, and narrow it down to riders of a specific year. Good to see some names already mentioned, but leaving out the 70's and 80's, let's look at riders who were active in1969 who never made a World Final (reserve spot included). 1 - Tommy Roper 2 - Dave Younghusband 3 - Garry Middleton 4 - Sandor Levai 5 -George Hunter 6 - Bob Kilby 7 - Odd Fossengen 8 - Roy Trigg 9 - Geoff Mudge 10 - Chris Pusey 11 - Charlie Monk 12 - Jan Holub 13 - Tony Clarke 14 - Norman Hunter 15 - Bruce Cribb 16 - Oyvind S. Berg I would pay to watch that line-up today... Steve

Don't talk rubbish, there was virtually no dust. The tiny amount of dust in the last couple of heats due to the delays was normal for any track starting to dry out. Complete over exageration saying riders couldn't see.You can't find anything to criticise about the racing so make this crap up. The 20 minute delay wasn't ideal but I can't believe such a big deal is being made of it. Instead of writing about the great racing lets all complain about a 20 minute delay .As others have said, it wasn't raining, it wasnt cold, it was a beautiful sunny day.

And when he does he just calls us clueless!

Very dominant display against one of the fancied teams this year just shows how many tonkings this side will dish out this year. Only Jenkins starting the year slowly and Gilkes over trying prevented the 60 mark being beaten. Couldn't make the opener and unlikely to bother with a Central Park visit now until Mildenhall come to town at the end of May.

Couldn't believe when Danny was announced for heat 15 as he wasn't nominated as one of the four for heat 14. Should've been Krystian & Jake in 15. Hawkins was joking before heat 14 that the supporters had a good record in picking heat 14 riders, score 9-3 before last night, maybe he should let them pick heat 15 as well.

Lawson needs a haircut and he will drop seconds off his times

We don't have a sponsorship licence thingy.

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

A good meeting but I can't help feeling that the track doesn't suit the home team. We have riders who like to use the dirt line on the outside but unfortunately there isn't one. We are not gating well and this track is a gaters paradise currently and also we are crying out for a big hitting No1.

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

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.

From a neutral fan (Cov fan) it is smooth and fast but just one line on the inside and if you go off that you go backwards.

Nonsense imo. If Buster had allowed Craig coloured sponsors then he'd of had a game with the other 6 rider's. Buster in this case 100% right, and Craig has made himself 110% poorer.

It would surprise me!!

Reading16 N Laurence did not ride Sam Norris 3222 adam Sheppard 22ef1 rhys Laker 1010 IOW 20 Jamie Sealey 0 2f Chris Watts 131 Ben Ilsney 01 Chad Whirtzfeld 3333 Heat 1 Norris Sheppard Watts Sealey 5-1 70.12 heat 2 Whirtzfeld Sheppard Laker Ilsney 3-3 68.21 heat 3 Whirtzfeld Norris Ilsney Laker 2-4 68.30 heat 4 Watts Sealey Laker Sheppard ef 1-5 71.86 heat 5 Whirtzfeld Norris Watts Laker 2-4 68.71 heat 6 Whirtzfeld Norris Sheppard Sealey F 3-3 70.66 sorry if spelt names wrong.

Honestly I know you have put this tongue in cheek as a PT but I seriously doubt it will ever be back... There are to many things stacked against it... I would have loved to run this year just to see what the council would have done with the track as 2 or so meters of each straight were supposed to be starting to get ripped up today to facilitate the widening of the pitch... I will call down to DP Saturday to take a look but the whole thing is genuinely tragic... Regards THJ

If travelling is a significant factor in your Speedway career your not going far IMO.

You're very quiet on the Swindon v Ippo thread Gav?! Nothing to say about the defeat? No excuses?!

Nope well technically it was a quarter final. The Full KOC draw is CHAMPIONSHIP KO CUP FIRST ROUND Birmingham v Eastbourne Eastbourne v Birmingham Agg: Somerset v Redcar Redcar v Somerset Agg: Sheffield v Glasgow Glasgow v Sheffield Agg: Edinburgh, Scunthorpe, Berwick, Leicester and Newcastle received Byes QUARTER-FINALS Edinburgh v Scunthorpe Scunthorpe v Edinburgh Agg: Newcastle v Berwick Berwick v Newcastle Agg: Leicester v Birmingham/Eastbourne Birmingham/Eastbourne v Leicester Agg: Sheffield/Glasgow v Somerset/Redcar Somerset/Redcar v Sheffield/Glasgow Agg: SEMI-FINALS TBC v TBC TBC v TBC Agg: TBC v TBC TBC v TBC Agg: FINAL TBC v TBC TBC v TBC Agg:

Heat 1: no time (awarded) 2: 53.9 3: 53.1 4: 53.4 5: 51.4 6: 51.1 7 :53.6 8: no time (awarded) 9: 52.1 10: 53.8 11: 53.9 12: 53.8 13: 53.1 14: 55.9 14: 53.3 Hope that helps Sandking072

Not sure where Thomas is based, probably closer to Leicester than Glasgow. Wouldn’t be surprised if that was a factor.

Scunthorpe didn't have rider replacement, an interval, a heat 14 vote or an argument over riders. Had that been the case, they would have been well over 2 hours and had a dust bowl, and as Bewitcher has accurately stated delay is often substantially down to the referee. The racing did improve later on at Sheffield(if you could see it) but that hasn't cut much ice with those who have stated they will not go again due to the state of both the track and their clothes. I doubt that anyone who went yesterday and saw an excellent meeting with no dust will have the same thoughts.

How about a World Final of non-World Finallists? Obviously only riders eligible when there was a World Final. I'll have a crack... 1. Bobby Schwartz 2. Alan Grahame 3. Ron Preston 4. Mike Faria 5. Preben Eriksen 6. Bob Kilby 7. Andy Grahame 8. Steve Bastable 9. Peter Ravn 10. Peter Nahlin 11. Bobby Ott 12. Gary Guglielmi 13. Bruce Cribb 14. Lars Gunnestad 15. Neil Collins 16. Mike Bast Hmmm...passable for a Star of Anglia or the like perhaps?

Why are they allowing trainee refs to officiate premier league meetings no wonder why there was so many shambolic decisions at the tapes!! In the programme I'm sure it said Carrington but have since found out it wasn't him!! Disgraceful I know we've all got to start somewhere but.... Is he going to pay for Tungates engine or Bjeres missed points?

I think he was talking about his own performance, 8 from his last 3 rides but you could also argue that it ended well for Peterborough considering they were 8 points down after heat 6.

Only concern for me if i was an Eastbourne fan would be Lawson's time keeping, late to P&P, late to this meeting, there must be a growing feeling that he is going to miss a home meeting somewhere by not allowing enough travel time.

It was very disappointing for Eastbourne that neither Gordon, Kelly or Ron turned out for 'The Eagles' in 1983 having all putting in superlative performances the previous season. There was a very interesting interview with Ron in an edition of 'Backtrack' some years ago (I'll hunt it out) but if memory serves he decided not to return to the UK because he was involved in setting up his own speedway in the States. He rode with a knee injury picked up while at Poole which, if I recall, always caused him some issues. A great talent and lost too early in the UK.

I'd certainly usually be of the opinion that two hours is the maximum time for a meeting. Yesterday, though, given superb weather, good company, a cracking meeting and absolutely no reason to get home promptly it didn't seem to matter much. Better than a freezing cold midweek meeting when you have to get up for work the next day. Having said that, the delay at heat 15 - which caused much of the damage - was apparently due to a squabble over the line up. Given that Belle Vue's place in the PSC final was assured by then, it should never had happened because it made no difference who was riding. There was a lot more watering than normal. Andy Meredith told me that he intended to water after every two heats (he did the same at the Colts meeting on Friday) and after heat 4 did just that. If he hadn't, we would have had a dustbowl and it was only because he was unaware of the daft heat 15 delay that we got the dust in that race. Better a few minutes more on the clock than being covered in crap and unable to see the racing (that's precisely what happened at Sheffield the day before and they have been savagely criticised for it). To give Belle Vue credit, Neil Drummond did announce why there was a delay and Chase the Ace was thrown into the breach to keep the crowd entertained. At many places, neither the announcement nor the floor show would have happened.

While some Stars fans will take positives from this result I think it's a little disappointing. 8 points up, against a team running 3 points under the team average. Should not jave ended a draw and again proved critical at the back end of the meeting by having Eric Riss complete his night by heat 11. Riss has to be at No4 or No5 and Kerr at No2. I just don't get why the management ain't picking this up, it's ridiculous.

Yep. Keep reading Speedway Updates.

Oh dear lord!

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.

Where’s odsal boy still doing the ironing

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?

He may have underestimated how the serious injury has affected him, the problem with Speedway is if you are not 100% committed you will most likely get another injury as is often the case. Think Luke will know himself that he is doing nobody in favours especially to himself, nice lad but I can't see anything improving anytime soon.

Danny has actually only scored 4 points from 15 rides in the 4 Championship Shield / Championship fixtures he has ridden. He is also not a newcomer so should be expected to average more than 2.

Craig was advised that all his personal sponsors had to be in black and white. The only coloured one on Ipswich is Tru Plant and I can’t see any on the Lynn kevlars. Troy can do what he wants as he isn’t a Chapman rider.

Some people make their mind up before the event. I can only speak as i find, see and hear with my eyes and ears. Eastbourne v Birmingham Some dust but not excessive in hot sun. Track graded and watered every 3 heats. Had a walk on track after meeting, actually a lot of dirt on it as some stunning outside passes late in meeting indicated. Massive free car park, well marshalled and full to overflowing Crowd excellent, no complaints from anyone I heard about dust. Real buzz about the place and lots of children and families.Nice touch to have community team people outside turnstiles helping whittle queues down and point out which ones cash and card. Meeting Parade started no more than 10 past 3, first race went off at 3.15 Presentation excellent from the Cardiff GP guy, lots of crowd interaction and rider/management interviews etc, liked proper Parade, minutes silence for Colin Goody; home riders ride round stock car track after every race up close to fans.Excellent programme, good read and lots of quality articles and pictures. To say Officials and Riders not bothered is just a joke, some good competitive racing, Heat 14 re-run 3-4 times as neither Ashley or Wood would give an inch, some excellent from the back rides by Wood and Lawson for them and Shanes for us, Paco and Ulrich started well and passes almost every race. All Eastie pit crews in snazzy t-shirts and all Officials and track staff kitted out in team gear, hardly suggests "not bothered" attitude. Great viewing access in Pits after meeting.Good food and loads of outlets. Not seen Laurence so animated in a long time by Heat 14 and some Refs decisions debatable. Still a lot of folks in Pits and mingling round 30 mins after end of meeting. Complaints (if you can call them that) - young start marshall seemed to make a few mistakes, I missed my easter egg for grandchildren and late due to traffic (my fault), toilets a bit tired but clean.PA a bit loud but no excuse for not hearing results and times. Staying down in South for meeting at Kent on Monday - hope woofers not going may be a few specs of dust. We have to enjoy our speedway while with can with some many tracks closing or reporting difficulties, great to hear big crowds at Scunny and BV Colts too....

So after all the hand-wringing and gleeful doom-mongering from people only taking a passing interest in what has been going on with the Abbey Stadium saga, believe it or not the opening night on the modified track went pretty well. Not that that would be of much interest to some of the idiots on here. Firts half of the meeting might as well have been on the old track it was so dull, but in the 2nd half the racing got better and better. Crucially, there were no signs of it cutting up or becoming tricky to ride at all. Credit to Ron Russell and everyone else for putting in the hours to get it ready, especially as it sounds like Tuesday’s test didn’t quite go to plan. Particularly pleasing to see it go well in front of a huge crowd. Proof that there are still plenty of people out there who want to come out and pay to watch speedway. Hopefully some of the more casual attendees last night were sent home happy after watching a great few last heats racing, a tight score line and a tense finish, and are planning to come again soon based on the evenings entertainment. Thankfully this forum barely represents 1% of most speedway crowds. Reading some comments on here you’d think everyone would be avoiding the meeting for fear that the track would be unridable, and those that did attend would have been sent home disappointed after watching another National Stadium disaster unfold. Thankfully most attendees don’t think like that, they just want to turn up and watch some blokes bang handlebars for 4 laps at a time with a close score line and hopefully a home win. It’s not that complicated. The big crowd did create its own problems with getting in which the promotion really need to sort out. The car park was full by 10 past 7 (not a lot they can do about that admittedly), but the queues for the turnstiles were huge, with only two of them open, and there was no signage (that I could see) saying where people should go. I assumed as with previous years, pre booked tickets should go through the cabin at the top, but that apparently wasn’t the case, and it was being used as a normal turnstile, which I assume everyone queuing up for the main turnstiles didn’t realise. They were also telling everyone in the queues that they would be delaying the meeting by a few minutes to get everyone in, only for the tapes to go up 30 seconds later. Thankfully it sounds like Lampart got a late memo about the situation and decided to lay the bike down to buy everyone another 5 minutes. That aside though it was a decent evening. It shows that with some decent weather, the crowds are still there and not everyone has been put off by the daft rules or politics of the sport, we just need to try and make them come back as often as possible. Again, it backs up my theory that as long as the club is running with healthy attendances, it’s much harder for Osbourne to come up with excuses for not sorting the stadium out and trying to get rid of us completely. Well done to the club for getting the meeting on with their hands effectively tied behind their back until the very last minute.

Yeah running costs a arm and leg these days hahahah. Yeah your right though you are the only person who attends or has attended Birmingham speedway who has other hobbies because were all a bunch of saddos who only have speedway in our lives. You clearly have a issue with Birmingham speedway for what ever reason and to be honest it rather unhelpful and harming. It is also not true .It costs no extra to sit in the grandstand my father sometimes does both if it gets a bit nippy after the interval. Its costs £50 a season if you would like a table of 6 reserving and that is for the whole season which works out to around 60p a meeting per person roughly. There are plenty of other tables and seats where you can sit for no extra charge. So your moaning about the cost of food you dont even consume unless you go to perry barr that is for some reason bit odd that. To be honest i dont actually believe anything you have said so what sports stadiums lets you bring your own food and drink in please ? To be honest my Dad and his pal always bring a flask and i always bring food and juice for my young boy and no one has ever said anything. As for the price of beer if you want a cheap pint pop to the weatherspoons over the road but the vast majority of people go to watch the speedway .

Before the days of "press releases" (which turned press reporters into press repeaters) we used to have these people called investigative journalists who would sniff out local stories and print the results in the local rag for all to see. Why don't some of you Worky fans get on to the sports reporter of the News and Star (might I suggest jon.colman@newsquest.co.uk) and suggest to him that, for once, rather than waiting for the news to come to him, he might consider getting his finger out and going out to discover what the hell is happening to Workington Comets.

This meeting could be decided by the form of Sedgeman. It was a risk to sign him and Edinburgh are not the first, or will be the last, to try and give him the opportunity to get his career restarted and he has not so far this season.The beauty of Monarchs/Diamonds meetings is that the are both capable of winning at each others tracks. A few years ago I think that happened in a cup meeting. I think we just won at Armadale, and the Monarchs, after getting an early TS ride, went on and took the tie. Could be close is our 3 heatleaders are on form with Max throwing in a good contribution. Here's hoping. Don't forget to stay behind and see a cracking mini meeting between the Gems and the Dales Devils in a NJL meeting.

It's a wolves/brummies love in (and I'm a brummie), the presentation is akin to a primary school play and content is dire. embarrassing nearly as bad as the NL Cup draw in a mug

Think you will find that Craig asked to be away from Worky when he went to Edinburgh.... You know after the fall.out with the promotion when he was sold to Edinburgh... That's not you making stuff up again Jenga is it? Doh!!! Regards THJ