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Hi Rob, it's nice to hear a little reminder of how a nomadic team turned out to be such a success for Rye House, I'd actually forgotten that. I would like to assure you that at Reading we are certainly not in this to make money, none of us have ever taken a penny, not in "wages", expenses or anything else. It's more a case of spending our own (we are not wealthy people), as an example last years pit board and website included 3 "sponsor's names" that were paid for by 2 of us out of our pockets. We take no gate receipts, and as you said, money comes in from sponsorship, fundraising and club members who donate a small amount each month. Also we have a land and property professional who is a Speedway enthusiast and is every bit as keen as we are, constantly looking for what he considers to be suitable land (he is obviously far more knowledgeable than we are) and speaking to land owners and planning departments. We all know this has all been done by various people in various locations across the country with varying results but our attitude is that nobody else is gonna do this in Reading so we'll keep trying for the foreseeable. I get what you mean when you say you can't be sure what peoples motives are or how serious they are, but I hope this reasures you that our intentions are honourable! I hope one day I can say our venture was as successful as yours...

A very young age to pass. I remember the impact he made at Ipswich when he came in late season in 1986! Good servant to Coventry and Sheffield! 1989 World Final at Munich when he found a very fast line by sticking his front wheel over the inside line creating a tremendous amount of grip in a Scalextric rail like way! 1991 or 92 Fours final at Peterborough when 3 riders crashed down the back straight in front of him and he then tried to jump over them. The subsequent interview on Anglia TV when he was upset by fans who claimed he was an "idiot" and his "I think the riders are going a bit crazy today!" statement was classic stuff!

Its Matt who is putting the 1-7 together for 2020!! Danny is the spokesperson.

Wish there was a 'shocked' emoji to respond to a post. 55 is very young. RIP Roman.

You can look at the programme cover on the Speedway Championships website, all the riders are listed on that cover. Also, how we know we are correct in the finishing three they are listed in this 1934 programme. 1931 Lamont, Tauser, Bellissent 1932 Wilkinson, Bellissent, Killmeyer 1933 Meynier, Wilkinson, Lamont.

Beg to differ regarding your comparison of Silver and Wright.

Good luck with finding a new home, be great to see Reading, Oxford and Swindon doing battle again

Kurtz & Hume or Kurtz & bowtell would create a solid line up of 1 3 & 5 as well as 2 solid second strings in Kurtz & Nielsen with 2 deserves that can score points too.

Surely todd Kurtz would be a good signing?

Not at all the 100 Edinburgh fans would try to get in through the the pits gate and wouldn't buy anything unlike the Glasgow fans. The use of the word customers was deliberate

I was briefly involved in a serious attempt to relaunch the Rockets last year. The situation is far more optimistic than people might think. We had agreement to run at one point before a change of mind by BMR. Looking on now from the sidelines and having seen the demolition work at the stadium I suspect once the work is completed that speedway will be back. It's far too easy to spread doom and gloom on this forum, often based on honest opinion but lacking in direct knowledge or involvement. If you do have such knowledge then I will bow to it. If not, it does no good to spread despair at the situation. I'd say it all depends on the exit of BMR from the stadium and the kart people wanting to put their new asset to its most logical use.. Now, back to matters Kentish.

News from Bandits' HQ tonight: POWERED BY!... We are delighted to announce your new ‘Powered by’ sponsor for the 2020 season! Please welcome onboard Keenwood Karpets of South Road Wooler. Keenwood Karpets have backed the Bandits for a couple of seasons, and company directors Paul Wood and Gary Flint (your FTS Bandits team manager) have pledged their backing to the club for the upcoming season! Paul adds, ‘We have backed the Bandits over the last few seasons and when the opportunity became available to take the ‘Powered by’ package, myself and Gary were very keen to commit. From a business perspective, the Bandits are the biggest professional sports team between Edinburgh and Newcastle and it makes great sense to us to associate our company with the club. The Bandits social media presence and website generate lots of traffic and is always professionally maintained and the awareness of the club in the local area is only going from strength to strength.’ Keenwood Karpets supply all types of flooring for your home and also your commercial environments. Pop along to the showroom at South Road in Wooler and check out a wide range of Carpets, Vinyls, LVT, Beds and Furniture all at the right prices. Stay tuned this week for even more sponsorship news and all of the latest from Bandit country as we look forward to an exciting 2020 season!

And Cradley rode at Stoke in the top league... And Coventry rode at Leicester in the NL It does take itself very seriously doesn't it? Pity it's operating model doesn't do the same.. Lets face it, loads of meetings will take place next year with 'select' sides, particularly at NL level as the higher leagues get priority, so does it really matter what the body colour says? Letting developing riders have more rides has to be nothing but a good thing surely? And if you can keep an old name in the public eye then so much the better for anyone's future quest in trying to find a permanent home you would think..

Is it that rough over there that you can even pre book fights

Yet again its just short sighted from the BSPA. The NL is dangling by a thread and with Plymouth likely to attempt a step up again next season, Kent to discover how viable two side are and standalone teams like IOW & Mildenhall to find out how workable a reduced fixture list is things are far from certain. To then prevent the possibility of Reading, Exeter or any other nomad team that has the funding from joining the league when clubs are folding far faster than they are opening is yet another showing of ineptitude by the powers that be.

Just heard from Reg Fearman , who got an e-mail from Bert Harkins , that Doug passed away age 90, another Provincial League stalwart gone. Reg rode against him many times and always felt he was a tough but fair competitor. R.I.P. Doug

Boycey, Darcy and Crump are all Matt's eyes and ears in OZ - even Leigh Adams and Rod Colquhoun too!

Best to walk away from them Chris. You made a genuine mistake while trying to help them. Clearly best not to try. Plenty of other places to talk here.

RIP Roman and thanks for the thrills while you were at Sheffield

They dont have a website . Are you aware this is a speedway forum ?

I think probably boysie or even Darcy could be the eyes and ears now

I don't know. His autobiography, Speedway Walkabout, was published in the 1970s. He, of course, repeats the claim in that. I don't know if he had any earlier books published, though he did have a regular column in the Speedway News before the War, so he probably first mentioned it there. I'll do some research.....

Now 102 !!!

Geography has been a problem to some for a number of years. I was at a football match some time ago when a joker on the terraces cried out "oi ref get back to Wales" when this comment invoked much laughter he indignantly responded "whats the matter he comes from Slough doesn't he"

That was in 1938 Just found a report from April 1904 Automobile Club of Victoria held recent motor races at Sandown Racecourse Mr J.R. Crook of Aspendale holds place of honour having won the first Motor-Car race held by the club and the first contest of the kind in the State Mr C.Mayman received the prize for the motorcycle competition A few weeks later they were to hold a sports meeting for members only at Maribyrnong Racecourse including a Roadster Motorcycle handicap of 2 miles and a Motorcycle handicap also of 2 miles

Further to our research into the beginnings of the sport I came across an interesting item which attempted to explain It states that the sport developed from road racing, but the sport was generally out in the sticks. In Sydney they wanted to bring it closer to the public because at the time few people had transport and public transport was also not good to take spectators to the 'venue'. Applications were made time and again to have roads closed off near Sydney but were always refused by the council. So they asked Victoria Park racecourse if they could use their track and permission was given as long as a share of the proceeds was given to charity. This meeting proved such a success that a second was held. After each meeting the sale of motorcycles increased tremendously. This led to the construction of a dirt track at Penrith on land owned by the railway. It was also a success and on the back of this US riders including Paul Anderson,Paul Remali, etc were invited over. The invitations were made possible by the number of sales by local dealerships. The supply of motorcycles couldn't keep up with demand. The concrete track at Marouba was built and a cinder track at Royal Agricultutal Showground and other tracks followed such as Wentworth Oval, Pratten Park,Newcastle and Maitland. Mentions a number of early riders including Tommy Benstead and Billy Conaulty who have previously been mentioned, but not a word about Hoskins !!! Not done an extensive search, but found a meeting at Victoria Park from 1910.....

Are we talking about the former Premier League Riders Champion, James Wright? Last time I can recall a rider coming in out of the cold after a long lay off like this was Andrew Silver at Rye House in 2009. If I recall, he ended up with an average well above 4.00 and he wasn't half the rider that James Wright was. If "Rizzla" Wright has been allocated a 4.00 average then that's a bargain.

Ah sorry getting my ex Peterborough riders mixed up!

Tomorrow’s penultimate round from Mildura gets underway at 8.30am UK time with updates from speedway updates and Sue( the boss !!).

What's the Mitcham Midget upto these days get him signed up at reserve

Now, what do we reckon on the Kings' chances in the CL?

When I went to watch Posh at The Dell the Soton fans were singing dirty northern b******* - it made me chuckle as I'd never though of myself as a northerner

The likes of Bowtell/Morley/Wood have all had recent Championship team places. They shouldn't simply be dismissed as 'N/L riders'!! Lets not forget we are looking at a 2nd string and reserve (or 2 reserves?) at Championship level - not Premiership!!

I’m out of touch when it comes to who is a good prospect and who isn’t these days. Since Rye House closed my interest has dwindled (it was heading that way before we closed in fairness). But there seems, and always has been this way, to be the opinion that being Australian makes a rider better than a Brit automatically. Some are, some aren’t.

They couldn't even run a double header in 4 hours last year, there's no way they'll be able to do a triple header! also when you consider a 15 minute walk each way to and from the car park and as Gemini says probably a lengthy queue to get in with their 2 "turnstiles". Another example of how out of touch the promoters are on what it's actually like to attend a Speedway meeting these days

Think Blackburn walked away due to becoming a parent and getting injured again. He is the sort of talent that could jump back on a bike in a year or 2 and pick up his development where he left off. I was hoping Zach may of been on Kent's team sheet as he has the relationship with Paul Hurry. I believe he has remained active on the grass so another who would instantly do a job at this level should he find the desire to have another go.

I remember reading some years ago an article about Billy Hamill. This was in his days at Brandon so was probably 2002-3. From memory, he had a plan to set up equipment on the centre green which I assume was "talking" to a transponder on his bike. The idea was that, in practice, he could measure his speed at all points on the circuit such that he could then determine his performance throughout the lap. Having measured many laps and experimenting with different lines etc. he could then determine the optimum way to ride the circuit. I wish I could tell you the end of the story, but I never heard anymore about it. Sounds like a good plan though, eh? And that was getting on for 20 years ago.

They’ve shut this idea down because the BSPA want to shut down the wholeness league! Their idea is clearly a 2 tier concept with a genuine training league like the MDL so why would they effectively let Reading step up from the MDL to the NL when they want to shut down the NL anyway?! The name thing is all a cover ploy to stop a new team entering a league that they don’t want to exist.

Stupid idea to hold it at Leicester for all the reasons False dawn said earlier. Even if the meeting ran smoothly you'd be hard pushed to walk back to the shopping centre and actually drive your car out of the centre within 4 hours, bearing in mind there will be a massive queue.

A Race/Bingo night has been arranged for Friday 7th Feb with a 7pm start at the South Gosforth CIU Club. New signings Nick Skorja, Connor Mountain and Ondrej Smetana will be in attendance and there will be a Hog Roast supplied by Rob. Tickets available via the Supporters Group. http://www.newcastlediamonds.co/news/article.asp?id=101072&fbclid=IwAR3tTJqwySFxZSb-KL8Eg61B6TDysfbSFH8JhQ-6AY6zgaolil0MlsshYGE

Is he even any good?

Sorry to bang on about this but I've been discussing this with my other half. The more we talked, the less I can understand the thinking that went into this policy. Despite the many and various bad opinions of the ruling body, often voiced at length on here, I do try, at least, to have some empathy for it's position. But sorry, on this occasion, I have not the first idea of the logic behind this crazy stance by those in charge. If the promoters, collectively, are trying to destroy racing in the third tier, this is a good first step.

Just because Poole are looking at the Australian performances doesn't mean they'll end up with more Aussies in their starting (or finishing) 1-7!!!!

I would have thought that a league with the word development in it's title, would welcome any opportunity for more youngsters to enter the sport. And retaining a homeless fan base, albeit a small one, is surely desirable.

So Leicester have got the championship fours after Cardiff, will be interesting where they will park all the bikes and Van's?

Beaumont Sports Complex is still active though and isn't that the company that runs the site? I would guess the other dissolved companies were to do with the speedway promotion side of things?

Was at the king power yesterday and noticed they had upgraded to led floodlights. Wonder what happened to the old ones, they could have come in useful for the lions.

In this day and age, if it can't be recycled, it shouldn't be made.

Other than Sam Hagon and possibly Eli Meadows the 15 year old cupboard looks pretty sparse at the moment and if you look at SDL/MDL very little to frankly enthuse over from what I saw at Birmingham during MDL in 2019. Moto X may be a sensible route to go and one thing Leicester have ability to do is offer pretty much unlimited practise.

£35 ticket for 2 meetings and approx 40 races is a bargain