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Might help if he wasn't so aggressive and insulting to other posters!

I think NQ is OK, Tatum is very knowledgeable and has become good at the job and paired with Nigel Pearson they are a great team. Seems like I'm the odd one out but I like Pearson, he is enthusiastic and knows the sport and is far better than anybody else currently commentating Speedway in my opinion. The only one I really don't like on TV is Sam Ermolenko who can ruin a meeting for me. The best sport on TV recently has been Bristish Superbikes and that is on Eurosport so could be they'll do a decent job. No idea who films BSB but it must be expensive as the quality is excellent and they don't miss much.

A bit like yourself then,

Well, perhaps he should think before he posts what he does. Never seems to comment on any matches or join in discussions just insults anyone who dares to mention Poole in less than glowing terms. Deserves all he gets back.

Actually far from me to defend Starmans posts, but the replies are basically mob bullying of the guy.

Nigel does a good job in delivering an image of a fast, high octane, adrenaline rush sport.. Talking low and slow won't help that image... Lots of things are simply not fit for purpose in UK Speedway.. I would suggest Nigel and Kelvin are not one of them...

57.3?

Very well done. Proud of the Bears Now LETS GET IT ON

Good to see Craig back on track tonight at Berwick and doing what he does best. 9 from 3 rides so far.

MY decade as the Daily Express speedway correspondent included the Spring Classic when John Davis won. The then Sports Editor, Fleet Street legend Ken Lawrence, was there with me on a Thursday night and my report, and a later rewrite, were carried on the back page in every edition. Ken was always prepared to give speedway a good show. Also had the back page when Michael Lee won his WC in Gothenburg. But in their infinite wisdom the BSPA scheduled the following year's SC on Maundy Thursday... the day before Good Friday. At that time national newspapers were not published on Good Friday. Ken and the DE were not amused. And their involvement in what was a star-studded event was doomed from there on in. Why sponsor an event you cannot report on?

Nice to meet David Howe and family in Berwick now getting his hands dirty as Jyes mechanic.

On my way on the Choo Choo, this is going to be epic . C'mon the Bandits then c'mon the Tigers

YOU may be the only one on here, although I doubt it, but Nigel is very highly rated at BT, Sky, BSI, Talksport, etc. Natalie does a good job because she knows her subject. During my time at the SGPs the likes of Charlie Webster and now Kiri didn't have a clue. But why does it have to be a female, and I am certainly not being sexist. Chris Louis and Brando are far better because they can talk the lingo to the riders.

How can virtually the same riders produce better racing just because the league has a different name? I didn't realise Rowe Atkins Stoneman etc must be so much more attractive a proposition that Fricke Doyle and Iversen.....

People have no idea what Craig's problems are, what help he might or might not be receiving and how it might or might not affect his ability to race. I suggest it would be better in those circumstances not to comment on his situation or prognosis but instead to give him as much time and space as he needs to get himself back to a stage where he can return. That might just be days or much longer but when he does return it would be good to see more understanding and support. Many, many people suffer from different types of mental illness. It is no different than physical illness, it is not their fault and there should be no stigma attached to it. The body can only cope with certain degrees of stress and the mind is no different.

I was thinking of mentioning Ivor Brown myself-the man all non Cradley Heath fans loved to hate. Always good box office, always called upon for Open meetings. On a side note loved the old Harum-Scarum Provincial League-great racing and great personalities.

Seems like you wouldn’t approve of anyone.

Thank god that tripe is over. A complete bore fest from heat one through to the final. Zmarzliks now to lose. Madsen completely imploded under the pressure. Emil blew the final big time. zzzzzzzzzzz!

Nah, Zagar doesn't add anything to the GP's...

So you are basically saying it's okay. wowsers

How do you know Ippo won’t win at Poole? Not many thought Wolves would win this week. With Iversen on board they may be big spoilers.

I was their and i have to say i have seen alot worse on dry tracks , at the end of the day certain riders just couldnt ride a track that wasnt to there liking, as for entertainment i enjoyed the whole evening, starting with being told meeting delayed because " one of the scunny buses is running late" to the owner saying sorry to the crowd for getting beat and as a visitor i will be back .

We missed out on the play offs because we took a chance on Steve and Dan recovering from their injuries and getting back to their pre injury form. It didn't work out, although Dan is now almost there. I doubt many fans would not have wanted us to include them in the original team selection and the management obviously thought likewise. We missed out on the play offs because we held on to Wells for far too long. He should have been replaced before his average dropped and that was a management mistake. However, as Superace has said and despite the above, we would have been in the play offs if Fricke had not been injured prior to the Wolverhampton meeting. There were no suitable guests available from Ipswich, the only team not riding that day and we lost to Wolverhampton by 4 points with r/r for Fricke scoring just 4. Nothing is certain in life or speedway but I am sure Fricke would have scored at least enough points to gives us the win. As for promoting the club , the management can always do more but it is far from easy with limited financial resources and to compete for media space against Manchester United and City and the other local league clubs, plus the local rugby and cricket clubs. They do try to maintain a high profile on social media, they tried the initiative of giving everyone who attended one of the meetings a voucher for £5 to be used at any other meeting and it seems to me that crowds are increasing.

21/07 Edinburgh Press Charity Gala Sports Night scratch races - ANY OUTRIGHT WINNER? Appears to have been demonstration races between three riders only. 16/07 High Beech v Bishops Stortford - DATE & RESULT 16/07 Rained off (programme) 16/07 Hull - date only - did anything take place? Speedway World advertised an ‘open’ meeting the week before, but no match reports in weekly magazines suggest nothing was staged. EDITED to add: The Hull Daily Mail, 15th July 1949, carried an announcement saying 'Hull Speedway Ltd regret they have been unable to arrange a match for this week. Next home match v Exeter on July 23'. 21/05 Rayleigh World Championship QR - Tie between Alan Hunt & Will Lowther - ANY OUTRIGHT WINNER? Hunt and Lowther tied for first place (Speedway News) 15/05 Rye House Best Pairs - CONFIRM DATE & WINNERS 15/05 Winners Ken Smith & Harold Bull 12points, 2nd= Reg Fearman & Ken Osborne and George Bason & Ernie Saunders 10 points (Speedway World) 05/06 Rye House Whitsun Trophy - CONFIRM DATE & WINNER 05/06 16 heats, 2 semi-finals and a final, won by Alan Briggs from Allan Kidd, Stan Bedford and Harold Bull in 67.2 (programme) 15/05 Southampton - practice - winner: Welch - CONFIRM DATE, EVENT NAME & WINNER Should this be 15/03? Speedway Echo reported that ‘in the recent trials Cecil Bailey carried all before him in his races’. There was no mention of Welch, or of a competition, in that report. 08/08 Wimbledon World Championship QR - Tie between Aub Lawson & George Wilks - ANY OUTRIGHT WINNER? Lawson beat Wilks in a run-off, 70.4 (programme)

Southampton 1949 15/05 Southampton - practice - winner: Welch - CONFIRM DATE, EVENT NAME & WINNER Did you mean 15/03 ? The 29/03 programme refers to a practice meeting on 17/03 so I reckon that would be the date. 29/03 Southampton Charles Knott Trophy - winner ? Oakley - Date correct, Winner Bob Oakley 13pts 10/05 Southampton North v South 36-48 - Date & result confirmed 05/07 Southampton World Championship QR - winner Fred Tuck - Date correct, Winner Fred Tuck 14pts 16/08 Southampton Inter-Track Best Pairs - winners May & Boyd - Date correct, Winners Charlie May & Jim Boyd 23pts (May 10, Boyd 13) 04/10 Southampton Leg Trailers v Foot Forward 34-50 - Date & result confirmed 11/10 Southampton Pre-War v Post-War 43-41 - Date & result confirmed

Good God is this still going on? Poole lost. Well done to Wolves. Move on.

California Queries 17/4 was a team challenge: East 47 West 52 (Wokingham Times 22/4) followed by a 5 race second half (4 heats with winners to final). The May 1 programme notes Peck 15 points (Sims 12, Harrison 12, Nailor 12, Leonard 11) as the top point scorers on 17 April - this includes second half races making it likely (but not 100% certain) that Peck won the second half 19/6 CT was held over three rounds. Th filled in programme I have shows no evidence of a run-off and the prog for round 2 says: "top point scorers from round 1: Jackson and Newell 12, runners-up..." 25/9 Previous two programmes advertised future dates as 25/9 and 16/10. 2 Oct: CT Champ R3 (prog dated 2 Oct) so it looks as if this was simply rescheduled for a week later than originally planned. Incidentally overall result: Newell 41, Sims 33, Jackson 32, Peck 30, Harrison 29, Davies 23 (2 rnds), Leonard 21 (2 rnds)

Heeps makes a huge difference to this Ipswich team, particularly at Foxhall. Made a huge effort last winter to get himself in much better shape and it’s paid dividends as he’s had a very good season. Should walk the ROTY award regardless of what happens in the play off meetings.

Sure is. I always thought, Eastbournes top 4, would score well enough, around Redcar, to keep it close. Eastbourne must be favourites now, with their home advantage, (not much of that at Redcar). Should still be close though. I have always said, that race track, against trick track (sorry technical track), trick track wins, on aggregate.

Shout out to Tom Wooly who did a great job in ht 11, leading Kennet for almost a lap, giving Riss a chance to build up a lead. Not afraid to mix it, and can hold his own. As to the rest of the team, all battled well good to see Jordon back on form, but we badly missed Charles. Would have liked a few more points, I was hoping for 14, so it could be a close finish.

I think that overstepped the mark ..

What Charlie (How important was it for you to win that race) Webster, no thanks

Great little film here from Nicolai Klindt.

You would think that if a rider says they have these types of mental issues that there would be a similar situation to concussion of not being permitted to race until they seek proper medical help and are assessed on there level of illness, especially as Cook withdrew from a meeting siting this as a reason

So no thread on this one so far. Poole back to full strength (?)with what seems like a couple of dodgy reserves. What will be the Stars line-up? Will Cook be riding? Is he safe with himself and other riders? Is Lambert fully fit? Who knows as nothing official yet on either website. All we do know is that BT have switched their live meeting to Panthers v Robins which is not unsurprising as they,ve already shown Stars v Pirates earlier in the season. Thoughts?

Really enjoyed the second match, some good banter in hospitality between Glasgow and Berwick fans, well done to bandits on the 2 wins , very strong at home, we are carrying too many passengers, need Starkey back and should have kept Sarge, shame we missed out on a point. Thanks for a fab evening .

Any person watching speedway for the first time would wonder what the fuss was about. Terrible entertainment.

He's talking rubbish. Doyle only has Swindon meetings and a couple of GPs left. He's done in Poland and Sweden. Probably his quietest spell of the season.

Your spot on about entertainment value and I suppose the trouble is those that don't enjoy what they are seeing just stop going rather than come on here and argue the toss.

Was raining up until lunchtime and then dry it had been wet all week what i wondered was Were the covers down prior to yesterday or was the damage already done. It is what it is but i agree it is a shambles and my enthusiasm is at an all time low to the extent i can't be arsed going tonight which is unheard of for a Berwick trip.

I’m still wondering and gutted as to how we managed to miss out on the top 4! The fans will miss out on exciting meetings and it is a massive financial blow for the club. Not getting to the finals will cost tens of thousands of pounds and loss this season will be telephone numbers again. I no it’s not just one thing that’s gone wrong and riders have not done the business so have to take some of the blame but there’s something not right at bv and there seems to be little or no ambition and a strange acceptance of failure. Falling crowds at bv and in speedway are a big problem and the way the sport is run is a joke but there no promotion of the club to fight back. Management seem slow to react to poor rider performances and incapable of attracting new improving replacements. Yes we need to change the team but should also seriously look at the way the club is run, which is very poor. Will that happen only time will tell?

And not Harris?

that daily rain , is that a new newspaper ?

Agree. I’m not being critical of Wolves as CVS runs a good stadium and credit where’s its due BUT Monmore is really a trick track and stadium good as it is...is not as good as NSS.

Well said. its always the same posters ‘baiting’ for a reaction then complain when he does. Very childish.

Thank you for your expert opinion Doctor. (Sigh)

By removing the top 15 riders from the challenge you are reducing the quality of the final 15 for the following year's GP. What is the point of that ? Do you want Pavlic, Smolinski, Bjerre, Cook or Bomber in the GP's because there is no Iversen, Zagar, Vaculik to race against. Non could win a GP in the current top 15 but Zagar and Iversen can.

And if it is lost to the sport then indeed you will be also forever , the only good thing to come out of it

Its not only the net viewers (watching live + time shift) that is the issue. The demographics are terrible for potential "big brand advertisers" We are all to old, to working class, to poor and to retired. Its not an attractive combination for advertising agencies to take a punt on for their clients.