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Scorpians won't win anything ,however Scorpions might.

It's not too hard to defend a lead at Saddlebow these days

I wish all Clubs well in making a profit. In the case of Kent who have a lovely stadium and decent support, it is a shame that they have seen fit to raise admission prices to above the level of some CL Teams and provide a track that is in desperate need of some TLC and attention and in the case of the 2nd turn downright dangerous. If Len could see for to employing a proper track man for a few hundred quid a meeting I'm sure the majority of kent fans would love it.

To be fair to Bellego he had scored 4+1 after three rides, the same as Rory and the match was pretty much won. I would have thought the lad needed races at Foxhall tbh. Seems that Hawkins golfing buddies are getting preferential treatment, not sure that's good for team spirit...

You like coming on here blowing smoke out your arse every time you get a prediction right, be nice if you came on saying how wrong you were every time you make a wrong prediction? For an ipswich fan to go on how you do is embarrasing, when was the last time Ipswich won a major trophy? Its a shame you dont spend as much time on Ipswich threads rather than Pooles .

Speedway seems to be a sport where you seem to find your true level, regardless of age starting, after about five years.. Not many ride for five years or so then clearly go up a level... Jason Doyle and David Norris are two for me that I remember becoming 'very good' after a few years of 'average' performances... Not too many others I can remember doing the same If you have rode for 8 years and are still an average NL rider then that is pretty much where your ability level is I would suggest..

Just in case there may still be someone who hasn't seen Jack Lee's 1949 movie, there is a showing on Talking Pictures TV today at 16:20 (CEST). Freeview HD & SDTV: channel 81, Virgin Media UK: channel 445, Sky: channel 328, Freesat: channel 306.

I'm special,, my nurse told me

As Jordan Palin is only 15, he can only ride NL this year. As has been said, he lives fairly local(within an hour) & has been at the EWR some 4 or 5 years now under the tutorialage of Wane Carter so knows the ins & outs of Scunthorpe Speedway & the family. Once he turns 16(in 2020) he will be available to ride for both Scunthorpe & Belle Vue but I would, personally, let him develop for 2 years, at the least, in the NL for the Colts.

What the flaky Pole Woryna who put a few points on his average? Did you predict Poole would win the league when they were riding poor early doors and you were taking the mick out of them? Thought not. Guess they had the last laugh ey!

I always allow extra time and most meets am there in stadium an hour at least before tapes up. As I have said a few times in this thread, it took me 2 hours longer than normal to arrive at Stadium from south of Birmingham. I and many others and a fair few from Birmingham arrived later than we normally would due to M25/M23 issues. I spoke to fans from London (ex Dons) outside who had taken 4 hours to get there; from South London. Please give the Club some credit for thinking of fans who are late through no fault of their own. There are a good 80-100 people outside there at 5 to 3 who would probably would not have come back if they had not delayed start by no more than 10 mins to let us in, if a few inside have an issue with that I hope they are never delayed when they come to see their Team at Birmingham. Good customer service should be seen as being thoughtful and considerate, and that's what it was. Good Friday was a great day for Speedway everywhere with big crowds at all venues, I really do wonder if some actually want it to die just to preserve their illogical preferences.

'Plenty of dust' is what they had at Poole on Friday and Sheffield on Sunday. It means that spectators clothes were covered and viewing was obscured. With the possible exception of heat 15, that simply wasn't the case at Belle Vue on Monday where it was minimal at worst. It is certainly indicative that there is not one single post on here, the Belle Vue facebook page or anywhere else complaining about it. As a hardened speedway fan, I think meetings should be finished in two hours. Had this been a midweek match on a freezing night with work the following day I would have been the first to complain, but it wasn't. The thing is the time taken to run a meeting is only relevant to the sport if it deters any paying customer from attending again. Given the overall package offered by the Aces on Monday - the quality of the racing, the superb presentation, pricing etc - coupled with the excellent weather, I don't think one single person would have been put off. In fact, I'd say quite the opposite. Taking also into account the excellent Colts meeting on Friday, I'd say Belle Vue are getting close to Isle of Wight standards for customer focus and that's a massive step in the right direction. All this compares sharply with the comments on facebook about Sheffield on Sunday (a meeting that took 45 minutes less) and the anger displayed on the 3rd/4th bends where I was standing. The dreadful standard of that meeting plus the appalling state of the track will be a disaster for them where future attendances are concerned.

As an Aces fan, in the same era as me, you probably didnt see him ride much. He missed the 1981 Poole BL meeting, and also the 82 Eastborne meeting. He had a couple of rides in the 1981 test match at Hyde Rd, but missed the 1982 test. So the only full meeting (well, nearly) I saw him ride was as a guest for Reading in 1982, where he scored 3 points from 4 rides i think. I did always rate him though, as his high average in 1982 meant had a high grade in Speedway Scene board game, in which I endlessly replayed the 1982 season as a speedway mad child! Wiki states he retired due to the death of a friend, which I assume may have been Denny Pyeatt? In world championship, seems the closest he got to making it out of the Amricn final was in late 1979 (1980 qualifiers) where he fnished 4th after finishing last in run off. Not sure why he didnt ride in it in 1981 or 1982. I didnt realise he was part of the 1980/1981 WTC squads where US finished runners up, nor that he should have rideen in 1979 world pairs but got stranded at heathrow (according again to wiki).

You have a "PM" John.

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.

asking for a friend is jenga becoming as tedious as odsal boy

What’s weird about it? I think you have an agenda with Gavan and it is certainly shining through

Why don't you meet Len on site and explain to him where he is going wrong with the track surface, materials and shape?

David East, also known as Shawn Moran rode in a couple of meetings for Hull at the end of 1979.

We can see why now why promotions are calling off meetings early. If there is a doubt of rain and the promotion call off early then they don’t incur costs so it could make the difference between surviving the season or not. sadly this is how desperate the sport has become now for survival. The downburst was fairly heavy but short and wouldn’t have been an issue tonight. With Leicester being their closest rivals they will want to maximise the option to ensure fans turn out for it.

Is it just me or is Jenga like Thrush He's irritating

Danish GP and SEC qualification meeting outrup April 20th

Maybe we could start a list of riders who didn't ride under their real names. Igor Baranov and Kid Bodie come to mind. Raymond Arthur (Billy) Bales, Edwin Vernon (Chum) Taylor and of course Squire Francis (Split) Waterman are others.

Bravo to all at Swindon....241 for the BT meeting. http://www.swindon-speedway.com/news.php?extend.3237

hindsight is an amazing thing. The weather forecasts all predicted almost 9 mm of rain in a 4 to 5 hour period and the costs promoters face with late call offs is large with no income coming in ….. this was the Brummies local derby and a big crowd was predicted …..how many would have been turned off coming with the forecasts on radio stations and tv alone ??? Promoters can't win can they ?

Swindon’s top four will need to score 40 to give us a chance anywhere on the road. The Ipswich reserves should carry them to a 6 point win.

The crazy rules tart? Plenty in Speedway that title could belong too

Not talking about the team, we’re discussing an individual. Just wonder if everyone would be so complacent if it was the opposition No 1 who was delayed for whatever reason.

Has musielak ridden Ipswich before? Think he will decide if Swindon win or not

He did start at Eastie , would have had a second season if the rules hadn't changed in the NL. If the rumour was in the bar, must be true though

I asked this as we are in a 3 team group. Actually first question I asked was why are we in a 3 team group, as I would have though Northern/Borders Group that Workington were in should have been the 3 team Group not the Southern Group as that was going to include Leicester. I never got a sensible answer to that other than Southern group is 3 new Teams (2 up 1 down) The answer I was given re 2nd place is that it'll be based on highest points and if level aggregate t or - between 2 x 4 Team Groups as only the winner of the Southern Group would go through. That seems very unfair to me , but we and the others in our Group are "new boys" so I reckon we have to sit quietly in the corner and let Mr Bates and Mr Godfrey walk all over us and be grateful for being in their league...

Think it’s Cook issue not Busters. Buster would sign him in a heartbeat so long as it was on a wage that suited him. If Cook wants to price himself out and lay down his own terms then it’s only him that is doing himself out of a top flight place. i can see him in somebody’s line up soon once the averages allow. My guess is it will be the team that pays him the most.

One thing that we do have that's far superior to Leicester and that's a race track! We will see far moreentertaining/competitive speedway throughout the season....and that's what I pay my money for !  At no point did i mention about the racing or quality of it . But what I will say is having been to Redcar, Leicester, Sheffield , Belle Vue & Wolves over the weekend there was just as much passing at Leicester as all the others apart from Belle Vue. Stewart has done wonders over the winter with the track & you can really race on it this season if you are brave enough to put the bike in the dirt. The Sheffield meeting was dire & it was criminal they didn’t water during the interval in 20 + degree heat.

Both Barry and Lawson will be big let downs on most away tracks,, we need a rider that can win races on away tracks. We can already see Heeps and Allen are going to have good seasons,,, so to me it makes it an even better choice to strengthen,,,, it would instantly turn our team from play off possible to play off definates and would push Swindon all the way But maybe its just the way I think,

Sadly, I think you are right! A passable Star of Anglia, but certainly no Spring Classic! Although, they are well before my time and based on nothing more than anecdotes among fans, I was surprised to see Charlie Monk and Norman Hunter as riders who never made the big night too. Perhaps to maintain the underwhelming feeling, a list of the worst riders ever to reach the World Final?

Tyburn Gallows, even if he was a complete nutcase!

Fair point and it’s difficult to disagree with your last point in particular. Thats why every man and his dog knew that both King and Heeps were certain starters in whatever division we found ourselves in. As it’s turned out retaining Heeps was a good call (so far), but he was a lucky boy to be given another chance

Programmes like all other things in life have a value - what that value is wholly depends on what someone is willing to pay for an item e.g. 45,000 Cardiff GP programmes from say 2010 they may not have an high value but is no-one is willing to sell their copy then anyone wishing to sell theirs will receive an higher price than it is worth just for the fact that it may be the only copy of this programme for sale and someone wants a copy of their own.

Just re-read the interview that he gave in an edition of 'Backtrack' some years ago. Yes, Ron, was very upset by what happened to Denny as were many of the Americans at the time. On his return to the States he began to promote a yearly Denny Pyeatt Memorial Meeting at a track that Ron had opened at El Centro. He admits however that although he should have continued to race for a further two years he felt that he was "burned out after ten years of racing" although he had no regrets. At the time of the interview (2004) he was in the process of developing a 2.5 mile paved track, speedway track, motorcross, drag strips, trails, campground, water-park on an 1100-acres huge piece of property in Imperial County. I saw him ride many times for "the Eagles" and was a class act.

There are numerous occasions when football matches have been delayed if the visiting team is stuck in traffic

I would label josh bates a character and maybe we need a few more like josh to make our sport a little more interesting, love him or hate him you certainly get your moneys worth when he's on track.

Norwich? Certainly East Anglia anyway. I believe Jack loved his time with Glasgow but the travelling just took its toll in the end. Can most likely travel to Leicester and home again in the time it took home to get to Scotland.

Or to dry his hair maybe

To be fair, the other meetings thus far have been run quickly and efficiently and this just had the usual organisational and big crowd issues, coupled with lack of urgency in running problems associated with a Bank Holiday meeting at the EoES. On a normal night it will not be like that so don't base your view of returning on what went on yesterday.

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)

Old Bob.. I remember you well from your views on the Lakeside Hammers forum, your negativity about the sport and Jon Cook in particular was renowned. Im glad to see you bring that to Eastbourne threads on this site now, please keep posting though, all views are valid..

Seems that speedway 2019 is no different from speedway 2018 in respect of timekeeping. Even the home riders cannot get to the track on time, let alone the spectators! There are enough reasons (excuses) for delaying hte meeting once it has strated without delaying the start because of late arriving spectators and riders. I always thought the referee was in charge of the meeting , not he home promoter. Shouldn't the 2 minute warning have been sounded at 15:00 hours for all 4 riders for heat 1 ? Still a mickey mouse sport ... although the promotion at Eastbourne do seem to be trying. Maybe the Speedway Star should publish the ACTUAL start and finish times of each meeting and run a " league table " of tracks who manage to complete their 15 minutes of racing in 90 minutes (thats 5 minutes per heat and a 15 minute interval after heat 10 to buy a cuppa. )

Lowering the points limit didn't exactly help matters, all it has done is water the product down even more meaning teams are introducing young riders or in Luke's case an injured rider returning who are not ready for this level. They are given team places based on average rather than ability , it will do more harm than good in the long run.

Really don't get the furore over team suits. I couldn't care less and actually used to like seeing all the different leathers riders wore. They can have team race jackets and helmet colours - now I sometimes find it hard to tell who's who on track. It does nothing to increase the crowd, which will continue to reduce unless there is more entertainment on offer, in a better environment, than 15 races.

It was 2008 when speedway began its current decline. Before that is was having something of a minor revival, with radio 5 even running a report on how Speedway had become "cool" at one point. Then, with crowds relatively healthy, the introduced low points limits and "cost cutting" measures time after time, and each time they did it the crowds dropped. So, each time the crowds dropped, they did it again. So they dropped again. It always amazes me when people say that the future is about cost cutting. That is what caused the trouble in the first place.