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Shame if Ablitt will not ride again, he looked very good in those matches that I saw. But the Mulford boy looks even better. Spectacular in the extreme and was certainly the reason for Kent's win over Belle Vue IMO. I am told he is very good on Grass which brings to mind the bad news I head this morning that James Shanes has had a very bad Grass accident with some very serious injuries. Whatever our allegiances, everyone on this forum will wish him a full and speedy recovery.. That's for sure.

Odds when the Jigsaw says 8-10 years it means the age recommendation not length of time to complete

Let's face it, if it was really bad we would be up to 50 pages by now of people slating it. As it's reasonably quiet I think we all know the track was alright!!

24 hours between races is a lot different to 10 minutes.

What a load of twaddle,,, just look at the averages,,, Tungate is higher,,, He has a better average because he is worse,, doh.

Because he appealed even murderers can appeal you are a bit of a drama queen are we not.

Jason Doyle thanked us last night and said track was great.

Over a two legged affair i would be reasonably confident though Crazy.

He doesnt need more racing because the issue is in his head. He isn't going to ride himself out of it. Woffinden was right. Its mental and frankly dan needs to grow a pair of balls. He has started to ride within himself and is timid on the track. I can see it and so can a multi world champion. I appreciate he is coming back from big injuries but unfortunately this is a tough motorsport and the best way to recover is to attack it. I was slandered on here earlier in the season for daring to suggest he needed a crash that would test his body, it would cope and he would be back where he needs to be mentally. Hes always been fragile dan. From that first head injury up at Newcastle. Motorsport is a mans game and until he shakes this crash out of his psyche he is going to become a very average rider and that is what we are seeing right now. Cant gate. No track craft because he isn't in the right place mentally. What he needs is a psychologist to help him overcome it, not more rides. May be an unpopular opinion but that is the way I see it.

Talking in general Rob.. Too much of a comfort zone for these lads is built by having the option to drop down.. Dan has left the second tier behind (or at least he should have), but no doubt next year his average will once again allow him to drop back down again and make him a desirable rider for some lower order team.. Woffy did it right by getting out, no point being a big fish in a tiny pond as that isn't a truly reflection of where you are in the bigger picture, therefore these lads need to face proper pressure every week rather than riding in front of 1000 or so with no one too bothered who wins... Riding under real pressure from fans and owners can only focus the mind more acutely.. I think some lads get far too much praise, far too early, without actually doing anything but beating mediocre domestic rivals, which can give a far too highly inflated reputation... After four or five seasons of racing I would suggest you are not too far away from where your true level is so if your still doubling up, your probably not going to make it to the top level as you really should have moved on..

I blame the wife . She was moaning that she wanted to go out, telling me to hurry up..

Dear lord! Anything and everything happens in the playoffs. Def not as predictable as you're making out!

Loads at Sheffield on Sunday; as usual. One guy on the apex of the 3rd and 4th bends, who looks like he has a penchant towards home made meat and potato pies (yum) went the full length f the centre green to assist in repairing the air fence on bend 2 after Rasmus Jensen hit it. Once sorted the riders were put on 2 minutes for the rerum as he was tidying up, but he still legged it back across one of the biggest centre greens in British speedway to be in position before tapes up. And was raking as soon as the riders had left the track after that and each heat. Well done that man. Excellent commitment to the cause.

Best decision maker was the Office manager Angela Price who is no longer at BSPA.

He hinted at a return to British Speedway - I don’t recall him hinting at Poole. He did also say it was dependent on a visa which he hasn’t looked into. I’m not sure he would be eligible to get a visa currently either.

Doyley would have not have been riding flat out to pass Klindt if the track was bad. Bumpy in places yes but definitely not a boring meeting at all. I thought it was a good watch and I love a good Poole bash as much as the next person!

Christ I'd never resign myself to closure, why don't they talk to the current management and see what the plan is?

Cooks appeal will not be until at least November, Buster will not allow it. If guilty he will be banned for two weeks over Christmas.

Would she come in on a 3 or 2 average?

Be careful, or you may have to go away too!

Newman had three rides. He had to come out in heat 14. He was swapped out in heat 8.

Bernt (Bernie) Persson!!!!!!! The best that Cradley ever had in it's entire history. He carried them through the lean times in the BL and managed to get to World #2 in '72 to boot! As we sang many a night that Indianerna wants him but he can't go back there in the good old days at Dudley Wood! World Class before Cradley fans knew what that was in a Cradley bib and then had the Dan McCormick years even until today!!!!!!!!!!

Get rid of her Bald, no point in feeling sorry for her and treating her like one of the family

Zippos are good lighters though....

After recent performances this isnt the foregone conclusion that most will see it as - although perhaps it should be The riding order changes again and this time to hiw quite a few have called for since the reserve switches. It may only last a shirt time though as Danny looks set to take over at 1 from September unless there is quite a swing from Thursdays scores Any win will do for me even by the odd point!

Think he will be back.

Did Graham Plant not wear a scarf?

Think he needs British speedway as his career has fallen so far down to what it was.

Wood is a bit of an inigima, can be great or total rubbish, ,,apparently injured,,,or on good or terrible bikes..must be a problem for both promoters..What happens next ...?.?

Buster had another attack of CTD ( Compulsive Tractor Disorder) Getting worse as he was going backwards for some of the time.

I thought the bargain was lot 152 a container full of speedway mags and newspapers for £160 - trouble is how will you get it home

I watched it today and thought it was an entertaining meeting. Not much passing after the first two bends but close racing and the close score made it enjoyable to watch.

Was a good match last night, everyone would wish for more passing, but there was enough close racing, and hardly any strung out heats, the close score also made it a decent match, both sides had riders slightly under performing but also big contributions from some too. Poole still favourites imo, but not much in it.

it's pretty clear what has happened at Cradley and on this occasion Mr Mark Robinson is 100% right. The Patchett / Pearson Promotion has been happy to leech off the fantastic support for as long as they can and made a big killing off it. They then managed to get their stooges on to the Supporters Trust and access to what was left of their "fighting fund" for use to support planning applications etc. They used that money to cover costs this season. They have absolutely NO INTEREST in Cradley Heath Speedway now other than as a credit on their Bank Statements. The "well is nearly dry" and they will vanish It is an absolutely crying shame that a great name will vanish and this time will be a lot more difficult to ever get back. As a Brummies fan I know how long it took us to rise from the Ashes, we had a legend like Brian Buck fighting our corner, Pearson and Patchett are not fit to be mentioned in the same breath

Not at all, I was planning on commenting or starting a thread for last night if nothing else to say how impressive Nathan Stoneman looked (how is he on a 4.5 average?!). Good performances from Luke Harris and Harry McGurk too. I don't think there's too many Cradley fans on here; I'm not sure about the various Facebook groups that exist - I left most of them as I didn't have the time to keep up! The noises coming out of the club are that we will be in a similar situation in the Winter to every other recent year waiting on the availability of Monmore and the league structure before being able to make too many decisions. Not sure how many times the management/club can go through that until motivation runs out while a permanent home appears no closer on the horizon. I'd say it's obvious we wouldn't have come to the tapes this season if other NL teams hadn't have dropped out therefore reducing the amount of meetings. I'm trying to get the kids to as many of the remaining meetings as possible, we haven't been to Belle Vue yet so that's in the diary next week and then what will be will be I guess

GAZ Just ignore him . Every track has one and to be fair some ex tracks have more than one

He has been having a good MSDL season along with amateur stuff and has beaten Mulford as stated, O'Keefe, Laurence, Chattin etc who are all riders on the fringes but equally have never made it stick at NL level. He looked a little awkward / tentative in the early stages last night which caused the early falls and then night was over and completed laps hoping to pick up any gifted points. A lot of first time visitors struggle at Central Park hence the merry go round of guests although Jake Mulford along with others did not so shows what i know.

This has got nothing to do with Auty, and is nothing to do with trolling. You just keep claiming that people say things that they didnt, and then you get butthurt when we respond with the truth.

We all could! There were so many different masks (and goggles) that riders wore. Wasn't just Mich who wore a scarf; Fundin, Sjosten, Crutcher etc were a lot earlier.

It's not just the enjoyment of playing the game, but the social side of it for me. I've made some great friends through it tbh and talk to them pretty much on a daily basis. So many laughs have been had through the game and there are certainly some characters amongst the players. The game itself once you get into it is incredibly addictive. Similar to speedway promoter in the fact it is pretty basic but you could play it for hours on end. Sign up and give it a go

Going. Glug. Glug. Swindon by 14. At least.

You obviously don't watch too closely if you didn't know why the extended grading was done after ht12.

If you deliberately post to wind people up then don't moan when you get flak back! If you can't take it don't dish it out !

I think you will find that if the case was we wanted to beat the Gems that bad we would not have put Dave Pye in and instead got a guest of a higher caliber. Dave is not in our declared 3 man 500cc squad but Im very happy to use him as he has shown 100% commitment when asked to ride. We also had young Brandon Woblewski in who unfortunately his points don't count because of hi Polish passport. Would I have give him a ride if winning was everything ? Young Kyran Lyden would have taken the no 1 spot instead of Elliot Kelly but he didn't have a bike and as The Gems had already approached Ben to guest for Joe Alcock if Joe was unfit it seemed logical to get Ben a ride for the Cubs. If you would like me to go in to a few things that you have no idea about please feel free to PM me and I will happily discuss. Best Regards Gavin Parr ( Cubs team manager )

Interesting to read one time Motor Cycle News reporter Andrew Edwards suggesting that John Berry's resignation as Director of Speedway was an "opportunity lost. John could have moved speedway up to another level" It's a question I intend putting to Martin Rogers and would be interesting in reading his thoughts on the matter. On another matter in the same edition Troy Pratt talks about his role in Eastenders. How speedway could do with that sort of publcity now...prime time storyline on BBC1!

YOU obviously didn't know him...

Yorkie's side of the story, as told in Backtrack issue 55: An advert in the Speedway Star grabbed York’s attention. He explains: “There was a job advert for the grandiose title of Director Of Operations For British Speedway. I thought to myself: ‘What the hell is that?’. I then picked up the Speedway Mail and saw the same advert again. “So I phoned up Charles Ochiltree (BSPA President) and asked what it was. He explained it was, in effect, the manager of the BSPA. “I didn’t really want to do that. I wanted to be promotions manager and have a roadshow and tell everyone what a fabulous sport we have. I had all these contacts at the BBC and I wanted to use them. I thought: ‘I’ll apply for this, and then drop in the promotions bit.’ “A lot of people applied - they got it down to about ten candidates. I was invited to the function room at John Harrhy’s place (near Coventry Speedway). Normally in an interview, you have two or three people, but I had all the promoters from both leagues, about 40 people, firing questions at me! “I explained what I wanted to do. During a coffee break, a few promoters came up to me and said it was a really good idea. “Eric Boothroyd told me the final decision would be made at the BSPA conference in Tenerife, but that it was between two of us – John Berry and myself. “John Berry phoned me and said: ‘Look, if you back off putting in for the manager’s job, then I’ll ensure that you are taken on as the promotions manager, because that’s what you really want isn’t it?’ I told him: ‘Yes it is’. “So the conference took place and I had a phone call from John to say: ‘It’s happening. I’m the manager, you’re the promotions manager, and I’ll talk to you about terms and conditions when I get back.’ "Two days later the phone went again. It was Eric Boothroyd (now installed as BSPA chairman). He said: ‘John Berry has walked out and you’re it’. I said: ‘What do you mean, exactly, I’m it?’. ‘You’re the new BSPA manager.’”

Whilst John Berry was a very good promoter and clearly a great thinker about the sport, he was absolutely the wrong sort of person to be running the BSPA. He fell out with people at the drop of a hat and didn't talk to them for years, didn't tolerate fools glady and could be incredibly caustic. All very well when you're running your own show, but absolutely not the patient diplomatic qualities needed for dealing with different interests and building consensus. I suspect he'd have quickly got frustrated with the job and fallen out with everyone. Plus we've really only heard his perspective about those events down the years. His books and various articles were undoubtedly amongst the better reads in the speedway vernacular, but I'm sure there's another side to the story which largely seems to have gone untold, although it was hinted about in the Ian Thomas autobiography which was also a surprisingly good read.

PETER was never a promoter and likely to get the sort of control that JB sought and, indeed, expected.

There is an excellent interview with Richard Clarke of Speedway Star in the current edition of Backtrack magazine which includes concerns about sales in line with the general decline of speedway. However I believe there may be a way of boosting interest. Given that speedway fans spend almost as much time watching tractors circling the track as they do actually watching racing, wouldn't it be an idea for Speedway Star to merge with one the tractor magazines? 'Speedway Star & Tractor Weekly'. It has a ring to it. This will bring added interest to the evening as Instead of whinging and complaining about the tractor breaks, fans would thumb through the mag and try and identify the tractor type and engage with fellow fans on the terrace. Backtrack magazine could also engage with this idea with vintage features on the tractors we fondly remember going round and round in the 70’s and 80’s. Naturally the mag would be renamed Backtractor. Just an idea.