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Why do you feel the need to make things personal? Even if he did bring it up previously (some time ago) you don’t need to take great glee in using it to try and win an argument. I suggest you stick to speedway and like LC stop trying to wind him up!

so in fact doyley was criticizing his manager then

Rosco had the choice not to list Lampart in the 4 for the vote.......

Don't forget to take a flip chart, power point presentation, some throat lozenges and an oxygen tank because you will talk until you are blue in the face an beyond before Len Silver ever admits he got something wrong.

Tobiasz is a class act.

Proper speedway Nige! Haven’t been to the Foxhole since they widened it and I really must make the effort.

What a cracking race

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

Jake Allen looks like he could be the signing of the season. So far proving to be a steal on a 4.56.

Exactly. Sonetimes I think riders would be much better off keeping their gobs shut and just riding their bikes.

Well it wasn’t given a lot of thought was it, but to be fair most of the rule book fits that category as well.

I can see home wins for both, would take a point if offered just now anything more is a bonus. Can't make it tomorrow due to work but safe meeting to the 14 riders and a Glasgow win would be nice, but as i say realistically a point is all we will get.

Why. It works, and would cost someone a fair amount of money to change it to an alternative 'fair' system. There's a reason why it hasn't been challenged, and that is because it works in reality. Bigger things to fix in speedway to help it survive.

Tommy Jansson breaking the Hackney track record on my first visit at the 1976 Superama is still my first clear memory of Waterden Road. As my elder brother when he started to go speedway was a Hawk supporter there was always much fun to be have when Wimbledon and hackney raced against each other.

Coming up from Torquay for the derbies, plus Berwick on Saturday. Looking forward to a rare visit to all 3 tracks. Going to test my loyalties. Ive always had a soft spot for Edinburgh,since the Meadowbank days. However, I do now sponsor a Glasgow rider! Simply going to enjoy all the meetings,regardless of results.

Good race Arch. Cheers for that It's the new Heeps MK2

Really? You watched that film and got annoyed by the politics? I didn't even notice that there were any politics in it.

Nice of you to get personal shows your level Yes I said the Poole 1-7 was rubbish last season before a wheel was turned and I was right..... the fact they won the league didn’t make me look foolish at all. They made a host of changes and won the league fair play to them..... would they have won the league if the kept the original 1-7 .... of course not.... so my claims that the original 1-7 was poor was correct.... in no way was I made to look a twit..... Oh and just so you know I was the one who left and we both have new partners so thanks for your concern

In fairness Ayres hasn't been in that long and offers entertainment whilst Wilson offers a lot to lesser advanced riders. The others i 100% agree with but its promotions fault for signing the wasters time and time again. Ive never been bothered about age just progression and value to the league so add Extance, Rutherford and RTD to the list of going nowhere riders.

Last year Peterborough went through to the semi-finals from the three team group as 9 match points from 4 matches (2.25) was a better record than the 13 from 6 (2.16) of the other two runners-up.

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

His main sponsor won't allow that!!

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.

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.

Disappointing to let Swindon get a point. When you’re at home and a reserve scores 16 points you should be getting at least 50 as a team. Bellego looking a very weak link currently - shame as he looked good first couple of meetings and then his speed, gating and confidence has just fallen off a cliff. Although he got an important race win late on in the meeting bomber was not for tonight - couldn’t hold on early meeting when the track was heavier. King very poor. KP did ok gotta watch them jump starts though, and not surprised batch was angry with him, from my view on the second bend his left turn on batch looked pretty psycho! Lawson did ok don’t anyone would dispute Swindon have superior heat leaders and he held his own. Heeps looked quick again - strange to be only be given 3 rides... Jake Allen take a bow! Musielak very impressive on his first visit to Foxhall.

It was lampart last week the blokes an idiot

Think Rosco will stick with him tbh he is far better than he is currently riding . Rosco will help him find his form just like in previous seasons hopefully anyway . I know you always have to hate a rider for swindon i take it you have selected Zach now then.I look forward for your constant hate campaign against him.

Absolutely agree with all that. Reduced points limit has ruled out decent youngsters still progressing while others mentioned continue to be regurgitated.

I get what your saying Dave, it has been going on for 'donkeys ears',,, but with the sport being in its ellement of glory, maybe some things need to change.

You don't have to understand it. Whether it is legal or not, it has worked in speedway for many decades without any major serious problems. There are tribunals to resolve issues that occur and an appeal procedure. Nobody is forced to ride where they don't want to ride, and in the case of transfers between clubs, the rider has to agree to be bought and is entitled to a percentage of the transaction, and if he stays with the same promotion for over 10 years he can be awarded a testimonial meeting keeping the takings from such a meeting. Do you understand that ?

I do sympathise,but by the same token I am reluctant to attend a meeting if there is a cloud in the sky nowadays, mainly because the riders just don’t want know if conditions aren’t perfect.That has a lot to do with poor attendances in regard to weather conditions.

...and apparently, if I recall, the announcer was giving out mis-information as regards some of the competing/non competing riders to add confusion to the proceedings. Ken Tozer?

Graham started a thread on this in July 2005. There are a couple of clips on youtube.

Might be for you, but not for everyone. You do know you can still pay on the gate, so why would you want to buy on line ?

Having read so many adverse comments about the track at Kent on this forum, I am proposing to go onto the track after Bank Holiday Monday's meeting if I can get permission to do it. I have not observed "ruts" on bend 3 but have seen a lot of grip on bend 2 which many riders use when passing opponents...for me that is a good thing, not bad...But I will ( hopefully) have a look at close quarters if I am allowed..

My cat doesn't go out in the rain

Your post I quoted had you talking about Poole. I have to put with your rubbish on the Poole threads, maybe I will stick on Ippo threads and say negative things and how rubbish they are and then you will see how annoying it is!! It will serve you right

I am an ex-Hammers fan going back to the days when West Ham raced at Custom House and I now have no Hammers to support ( except for this coming Bank Holiday at Kent). Mostly because of the comfortable facilities at Kent, which at my age is very important, I am becoming a regular there. Like most onlookers, I am not a track expert.....but I do watch when riders are in action. At Kent I see the vast majority of riders able to ride for 4 laps at full throttle and I'm pretty sure this would not be possible if the track was as bad as I read about on this forum. Maybe Victor Meldrew had a good idea when he suggested that a meeting with Len Silver to discuss the track failings by the experts on here would be a good idea.

Good to see Jacob has been back on his bike, training at Gdansk. Can't be far off a return. What will we do? A team with Masters, Schlein, Thorssell, Morris and Becker looks very strong, with Kyle dropping to reserve at some point probably. Can see Scott ending up at Peterborough

You missed pete smith who had over a 9 point average in 1969 a lot more than some mentioned

Despite the injection of the 2.00 kids, 10% of the NL is still made up by 30 somethings & tired old faces that have been knocking around this league for a decade & a half. Ledwith 47, Wallinger 35, Priest 33, Wilson 33, Ayres 32, Halsey 30, Campos 29, Widman 29 etc.

I thought that was over the transfer fee. Redcar agreed to sell him and we agreed to buy him, but Redcar wanted more than we were prepared to pay so a tribunal set the fee, which I assume was somewhere in the middle. In my example above Redcar would have refused to sell him point blank for any amount. Something which a tribunal couldn't force them to do.

Trouble is, thus has bitten promoters in the past due to running out of dates later in the year and cramming fixtures in, also in dodgy weather. It can also be self defeating because next time if they say it is on but forecast shows it might rain people will also decide not to bother.

Maybe your idea of ‘Special’ is seeing a young lad travel halfway across the World only to then be sacked after 2 meets. Now that must qualify as ‘special treatment.

Is it only ‘Special’ when there is overtaking involved.? Can we not enjoy a race where a rider defends a lead ?

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..

Going same era, but omitting anyone who rode as a reserve 1. Mike Bast 2. Bobby Schwartz 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. Marc Courtney 14. Andrew Silver 15. Neil Collins 16. Joe Owen Really wanted to fit Buzz burrows in as well.

Yes I do think there is a fine line between building a strong side and too strong a side. All within the rules of course and no complaints there, those 2 reserves will be amongst the best 2 pointers in the League and very clever to pick them up when Eastbourne moved up as they had been regulars there, but with the top 5 they have and those 2 reserves look very strong, prospect of Jenkins and Spooner at reserve already in May. That and the issues with the track, turn 2 looks in desperate need of modification and 3 not much better means "tonkings" and long drawn out meetings will negate some newcomers from going back and that's a shame then there is the elephant in the room "the curfew". I sincerely hope that Kent can find a way to move up as they would grace CL with their set up and if they could just sort the track out. Enthusiastic crowd who deserve professional grade racing. Although Len knows he can make a nice buck in NL with much lower pay scales.

It would help if Lasse was at reserve, where he would have been originally before Buster carved up the team ...

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???..