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It really is quite simple. Glasgow, led by Cook, pushed off early, no doubt as a way of a bit of spiteful get back at the digs offered over the mic by Eastbourne. THAT should have been the end of it with perhaps a warning to Cook and the other riders. Cook was clearly leaving the track, as you do when the red flag is shown on the parade until the marshal instigated the next incident by needlessly and recklessly stepping in front of Cook. Cook responded, a bit of argy bargy and what would have been the end of it... Until Paul Dugard then takes it upon himself to escalate things further and charge up to Cook and stick his face right into him, no idea what was said, but that caused Cook to throw the first punch. Nobody comes out of it with any credit, but effectively the 'incidents' all ended and were started again by different protagonists. It may not seem savory but reality is, it's great for speedway. Absolutely fantastic in fact. Who wants to miss the next time Cook/Glasgow come to Eastbourne, or indeed even when Eastbourne visit Glasgow next?

Bl**dy hell - SharpenRake must have doubled his post count on this thread alone. Amazing since he wasn't even at the meeting. C. Cook is obviously the most guilty - no argument. Others have some level of guilt e.g. Kennett. But the marshall was trying to do his job and pointed to Cook to go one way but when Cook didn't he then tried to shuffle backwards and got hit by the bike and then the rider, so the marshall was deffo not guilty or responsible. TheScotsman - the voice of reason and justice.

It's called the Precipitation Index Schlein Scale. You'll often hear the acronym used when it's raining ...

The one thing nobody has even mentioned is that neither of the 3 Glasgow riders should have been on the racetrack, the introductions are done first, then both sides go out on the warm up lap when its safe too do so, not when they felt like it .

Since I was not at the meeting I did not feel I could have an opinion but a number of people have mentioned that the Eastbourne management should have told the Glasgow riders how the presentations are done at Arlington. I have been watching Speedway since 1957 and at every track I have been to where the riders and their bikes are on track it has been standard practice for the Away team to be introduced, then the Home team is introduced and then the two captains come forward to toss for gate positions. I fail to understand how any rider would not know that none of the bikes leave the area where the introductions are being made until after ALL the riders have been introduced. I personally suspect that both sides were trying to wind each other up and got annoyed about what the opposition were doing. The SCB needs to send out a clear message that this sort of behaviour will not be tolerated by slapping some heavy fines on the riders involved and also on the management of both sides for failing to control their riders and staff.

Well now I have seen the video - storm in a teacup. No idea what the flag marshall was playing at - does he no know that speedway bikes have no brakes ? Cook looked caught in two minds how to avoid the marshall but the marshall seemed intent on committing suicide. Needs further training. Then some silly so and so in black shirt and trousers with a beard comes running up to Craig Cook, a rider in helmet and full racegear and throws a punch. Lucky he didnt break his hand - crash helmets are very hard. I then see two Eastbourne riders numbers 1 and 7 I think come dashing down the track to join in - what was that all about ???? Wasn't as good I was expecting to be honest - better action when Wolves were visitors years ago.

You are right to question if just asking people to turn up is good enough (its not) and certainly when they do come the promoters priority is to put on a good show which makes folk want to come back time and time again. However some things are beyond reasonable control in a sport strapped for cash and subject to a high degree of unknown outside influences Regarding the Redcar fixture, the medical cover was the same which has proven more than adequate for the vast majority of all other meetings held over many seasons. It would be accurate to say this was an exceptional set of circumstances which no doubt caused as much concern with the promoters as it did the fans. but a great shame it did indeed occur. As for the tractor, it was a working tractor for most of the day, it had worked in the morning and it worked over lunch, it became a problem pending the third & final watering prior to the start of the meeting. Yes this did ultimately cause a delay of 30 minutes for the second fixture v Stoke which even if it had been able to start on time, due to the severe volume of rain that fell it would not have been possible to complete 6 or 7 races at most before the meeting would have been abandoned. In summary, If we expect the promoters to be able to predict a spate of crashes requiring exceptional demand on the medical team, tractor breakdowns (on equipment that normally works fine) and know how on how to stop heavy rain falling, then maybe they should spend their time picking winning lottery numbers and patenting anti rain dances rather than worry about promoting speedway.

Surely any rider coming back from an injury will test it out in their first meeting back. Even if Adam top scores for Birmingham and goes to sleep happy - it wouldn't be unheard of for him or any rider to wake up in pain and not feel ok to ride again that evening. Jeez they are human not robots.

Who says the team is expensive with too higher cost which continue to rise? Crowds have been good to a point this season, however recent home meetings have been held on "none" race days and during summer holidays, these two factors are more likely the cause for lower attendences than any other. That said It is important the promoters look beyond the speedway bubble of current fans/followers and reach out to other groups in order to attract larger gates which although is something easier said than done is nevertheless paramount to the future health of the club/sport. One thing worth considering is working on publicising not only what is going on(fixtures) but also where the stadium is (not just the stadium name) a case of Promote, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE in sufficient detail. Meanwhile, congratulations to the current promoters/team managers for putting together two teams who continue to perform better than anything we have seen in Leicester for many a year and for being determined not to let standards drop on the track through the various challenges presented by injury and retirement etc. You are doing a great job. keep it going & the followers will come (back)

It has been mentioned plenty of times, just ignored by those that want to blame the marshal

I`m pretty sure it`s been mentioned about 20 times

I think Craig is looking at the track as he comes round the corner with not much speed because he is heading to leave the track and doesn’t see the Marshall till the last minute when he suddenly sees him not expecting to see him there which angers him think if the Marshall didn’t get in the way then nothing would have happened craig Claus and Kyle would have went straight to the pits as the gate was open because it’s where everybody came running from

Watching Kings Lynn twice in quick succession & now Wolves doesn’t help. Why you run both A & B fixtures against teams before even riding the A fixture of others is equally crazy.

Loved cooks little side step on kennels charge and leave his leg out tripping Kennett up. Cook then proceeded to jump on Kennet striking him. Brilliant. And BTW I bet the same ppl moaning about all this are the same ppl from the 70s,80s and 90s who use to love a good punch up at the speedway. And of the day. Eastie will get a fine. Glasgow will get a fine, cook will get a fine, vissing will get a fine, kennett will get a fine and then all of them will move on being best mates

Fans on this forum do a great job of "promoting" the sport. Don't think I would ever go to a meeting if I was to base my judgement on most of the posts on here.

Crap post.

He could have a reaction to racing tonight so it’s possible he isn’t quite fit enough. However it would look really dodgy if he rides tonight and does ok and then pulls out tomorrow. I’m guessing as long as there are no complications tonight he will be fine Thursday.

I only went once and it was brilliant. Just going to the stadium was a experience. Like being on the moon with the stadium a oasis

Having now had sight of the longer video allied to observations of others present, it is clear that what ultimately happened was down to Eastbourne staff and hangers on confronting and then attacking Cook.

So, having reviewed the short video clip it seems to me the riders could clearly see the marshall with his red flag (which means stop in a controlled manner) but the leading rider thought he knew best and would ride around the marshall. The marshall, thinking the rider did not understand the simple instruction (or see him) foolishly moved across to make himself impossible to avoid. The highly paid professional then deliberately attacked the volunteer marshall with a shoulder charge. Open and shut case for me.

Have just watch that GP, what a meeting that has to rate as the best ever from start to finish.Fantastic.

Christ. They should cancel it out of pity. Will Torun get 25?

They must have short memories, all 3 were at Eastbourne on 18th May and there were no problems, issues or mistakes then. In the 15 years that I have been watching speedway at Arlington, I do not recall ever seeing anyone ride off before the introductions have been concluded. Fair play to Rasmus Jensen, who remained stationery and must have wondered what the hell was going on.

Thank heavens for that! Unlucky for you.

Why the hell do people have to go on about speedway bikes having "no brakes"? Just because they don't, doesn't mean you can't stop the ruddy things! If you look at the video posted by Dugard, there was PLENTY of time for Cook to slow down - as he should have done. He didn't make any attempt to slow down until he was right on top of the marshal. Of course, that's assuming he was looking where he was going (and saw the marshal waving a large piece of red cloth in broad daylight). Even though he wasn't racing, he certainly should have been watching. No, I'm not saying Cook deliberately rode into him, but it looks to me that he thought the marshal wouldn't get in his way, which under the circumstances, would be foolish to assume. Whenever you are operating a motor vehicle, you don't just assume that people are going to jump out of the way, particularly in a situation like this. Okay, the marshal may have been better not stepping in front of him, but you know, in most situations, the rider would have at least attempted to slow to a crawl at least. The other riders on track didn't seem to have any any problems slowing down and stopping, did they? Steve

Were you at the meeting or double standards? #justasking

I'm not sure how anyone can defend Cook, but it makes for entertaining reading! The problem was started by Cook not SM.

Wouldnt it just! Having said that I reckon 99% of Glasgow fans and 99% of Eastbourne fans could happily sit down and watch together with nothing more than some light hearted banter!....Unless it all kicked off, and then i would get the hell out of there!

lets just all rewind for a moment and think who started the on track action , bearing in mind that the home team has the right to make the track to their advantage that is acceptable . hot day , plenty of water or hot day plenty of dust ... worky visited glasgow when rickey wells was number one for us . the track was swimming but glasgow wanted to carry on .this can be seen on the glasgow site and its well into the meeting and swimming . kennets actions were in my eyes in defence of fellow eastbourne staff/riders .. also WHO SWUNG THE FIRST PUNCH .

You should know by now, it never rains at sunny Armadale. Therefore, even the slightest spit has to be classed as "torrential"

Looks to me like the red flag man was at fault then the tw*t that run over and put his face into cooks who wouldn't defend themselves

Very admirable and I'm sure you would therefore agree that the actions of the Eastbourne staff riders hangers on were totally out of order following the Cook/marshall incident?

He certainly went in for the head butt but completely missed . Thats a fact and its clear to see in the 2.30 minute video thats doing the rounds. Be interesting to see what happened when Kennett attacked Cook but sadly the crowded area prevents that. attempting to head butt someone whilst wearing a hard hat is cowardly, pathetic and absolutely disgraceful regardless of being provoked.

More like pacifying them. There was a little sawduct put down and the tractor did about 5 laps round the track.

From the video it looked like he saw a fracas and thought,"I'll have some of that" and ran across from the infamous parade

It certainly does , after all look at all the mis-information we got on Saturday night about head butts etc.

Have we seen anything that said that they were happy to walk away entirely? The first news item I can find (Nov 18) says "Keith Chapman, the BSPA Chairman and Owner of King’s Lynn Speedway, has agreed a commercial deal with Ged to buy the Peterborough Panthers in time for the 2019 season. The agreement will see Ged and his loyal track team continue to run the Club in the Premiership." Still no sign of walking away in December when it started to go pear shaped "But we know what we’re here for business-wise, we’ll be going out to bring some silverware back to Peterborough once again and now it’s vital that the supporters do their bit and come out on a Thursday night to back us – and bring some friends along, because we’ll definitely have some exciting racing!” As we all know, it went seriously wrong in January when realisation struck "THE sale of Peterborough Speedway Club is now complete and due to unforeseen circumstances the Club have released Chris Harris from his 2019 contract. It is common that with new ownership (of the club) comes a different business model, and it has been identified that to operate at Premiership level, some cost measures are now required." It was at this point that Johnson became the mouthpiece, Pratt came in and Rathbone/Watson went AWOL. From what Neil has said then it doesn't appear to be an amicable agreed divorce so if you can find different then I'd be happy to read it.

GO ON COOKIE LAD, SMASH UM' UP BOY Speedway as it should be, that's entertainment

There could be a non disclosure clause in the Sale of the Club contract which stops them saying anything in public.

If Ellis is fit to ride on wed, he has to ride thursday.

What was Cook doing on a bike when the intros were only half way through. Being disrespectful. Red light on by the ref. Flag man told to stop him. Cook ran him over then shoulder charged him. A guy went up and told Cook he was out of order. Got a punch in the head for his troubles. Then the fracas started. Can only lay the whole sorry mess on Cooks shoulders. Should be banned for the rest of the season and fined.

Is it standard practice at Arlington for the visitors to do their practice starts whilst the home team are still being introduced ? If not why was this allowed to happen? If they'd waited until the introductions were over none of this would've happened

Kennett might be in as much trouble as cook. The steward appears to be trying to usher cook away from the pit gate but is confrontational in the process. Why does he stand his ground rather than run alongside the bike? I can see both clubs being reprimanded given the number of people getting involved.

So after all of the talk it turns out to be just a few handbags. Completely tame compared to events back in the 90's involving Eastbourne, particularly against Wolverhampton.

Fuming that we're agreeing again, but totally agree. All this guff about red lights, riders having no options but to ride away from supposed danger areas etc etc. The pit return is half way down the straight at arlington for a start so they would have had to go back across the intro area to leave anyway. And also, forget the red lights, as Shov alluded to, when have you ever seen a team act like utter nobs and steam off on their practise laps while the introductions were still ongoing. Childish behaviour at best.

the twit that walked over and tried to put on the riders helmet, that was already being worn by the rider was the biggest problem without him it would have died down

Wishing you a safe journey and I hope you have a great evening!

I normally park in One Stop and never had any issues as its safe and easy to access, find it helps leaving a speedway programme or similar on front seat in case some over officious parking attendant appears but most Wednesdays they seem to assume anyone over 4 hours is at Speedway. Highly unlikely you'll be more than 4 hours anyway.

If you are not an accountant or financial advisor why are you flying hot air balloons for a living? Oh you are, what does the world look like from up there?

I think we are seeing the end of Peterborough Speedway. A lot of bad luck but still think ultimately Ged and Neil were shafted and what is more I think that was always the plan. .