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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.

Looking at those "ten years ago" pictures of various riders, on the SGB web page, the main changes seem to be addition of facial hair. From being smart and clean-cut looking, some of them now have more resemblance to bin-men on their days off. If you can grow a proper beard, like Nicolai Klindt, then by all means go for it. But too many of the others ought to buy a razor and use it.

i would be happy if you could show me the humour in my post ! there is nothing funny about what has happened @ northside .

1934 Rye, Case, Killmeyer 1935 Rye, Murphy, Bellissent. That's all, there were no more than these five annual world championships from 1931 to 1935 in Paris. In 1936 the FIM took over and staged the first officially sanctioned world championship final at Wembley.

You have them......Speedway Champions site is accurate......

No idea! I presume they want you to book your ticket, so they know the numbers for the buffet, but as far as payment is concerned II don't know. The Supporters Club are the ones organising it.

Well thats a shame . A huge over reaction but your choice .

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.

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

Speedway Champions as far as I'm concerned is correct, we had many discussions between us several years ago and we think we have it right. I have the programme from 1934 and it is the FOURTH world championship held there.

I was just going to say the same thing you beat me to it

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"

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.....

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 !!).

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

It's possible for video to run at a different speed to 'real time' so, yes, it is possible for minor changes in recording or playback speed to significantly change the apparent duration of a race. The other things that influence variations in timings are human reaction time, and even policy on when to start or stop the watch. I was taught to start as the first rider moved after the tapes rose, not as the tapes began to rise, and to stop it as the front wheel spindle crosses the line. We're talking fractions of a second but with the sport foolishly using timings taken to the nearest 100th of a second it is significant. Even taking times to a tenth of a second on manual timing is questionable given human reaction times and indeed even how responsive to the start/stop button a watch is. Having done the job myself there's a very good reason why I don't bother with race times when completing my programme ;-) Transponders are the way forward, but even then technology can cause problems. I was announcing at a then rare evening meeting at Eastbourne. They used a photo electric cell for timing. As soon as the last rider entered the final lap you had to remember to switch it on, then the first rider to hit the line would stop the clock. The track record went about four times in the first half a dozen heats. Charlie Dugard used to keep a close eye on stand-in announcers for good reason and would sit with me in the box just to make sure I could keep he standard up. After the track record had gone yet again he told me to 'adjust' the remaining times. "We don't want them injuring themselves going for the track record". I still wonder if it was down to the track being different at night or I wasn't operating the equipment properly. It was probably the latter.

This is speedway, someone with a stopwatch will do. If that fails then use the second hand on the time keeper’s watch.

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

Can only think it's the 2 day format that putting people off.

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.

I don’t think championship standard riders will have any problems, riders like Ayres, perks, Hume, Morley, Bowen etc absolutely flew around there last season. The adverse camber on bends 3/4 seems to be sorted now. For me the only thing that needs doing to improve racing is to widen the back straight, this would make the exit of bend 2 faster as some riders have to lock up slightly if they go too wide in the bend. This work was definitely in Lens thoughts but whether he will have time at the end of his ski season to do it remains to be seen. Have a look on google earth & you will see what I mean.

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.

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?

https://mol.im/a/7861567 Really - I find it hard to believe!

Just nice to read opinions on the 2020 Panthers lineup instead of all this off topic BS

It’s a great shape of track but with too Narrow straights which makes the corner entries Really tight but If they banked All the corners a bit more And got rid of the negative cambers which means you can race into the bends a lot faster Without fear and probably create a lot more racing lines

False dawn the stadium it self is excellent ,,comfortable with plenty of seating under cover and a great view of the whole track..the problems I have mentioned do cause the odd crash,but the racing is fast and can be good,, and they have solved the problem of the curfew in the main,by having the parade before the meeting start time,,Hope this helps....

Disappointing to see some of the top Aussies such as Doyley and Batch, Josh G, Schleiny, Morra, Heeps, Allen, not in. Adams always showed and won many titles.

I am going to Cardiff. I love the fours. I'm fairly local to Leicester. But this decision seems to make very little sense to me. Running the fours anywhere on the Cardiff Sunday, with the possible exception of Somerset, seems slightly odd to me. Logistically, for the fans, how does this make sense.? Is the supporters coach from say Eastbourne, going to return home a day late, via Leicester? Why destroy the concept of the "fours weekend" by combining it with the GP weekend. And the hosting track. So Peterborough is not available (?). But even though it's convenient for me, Leicester would seem to have some severe limitations. Car parking for the fans is an issue. I got caught out at the Ben meeting last year. The supermarket parking we use every week has a strict 4 hour limit. And let''s not have any more discussion about the legality of the imposition of fines. If you get a parking fine, do you really want to challenge it or risk ignoring it? The car park is "policed" by comparing video images of you entering and leaving. If you can't leave because everyone else is at the same time, that's cuts no ice. I know. So you can't park there for the fours. You will not get out of the car park within the four hour limit unless you leave the meeting early. I don't know much about the accommodation of riders vans and pit space but I suspect that they will both be tight. And despite my misgivings, should this meeting be heavily supported, will the stadium house that many supporters comfortably?

Doesn't matter.... it's not our choice to who rides and when they offically announced is it? We won't know that "Rider A" or "Rider B" fitted perfectly into the points limit but "A" wanted £300 a point and £2000 start money. Whereas "B" will never ride for the club again after past issues. We won't know that "Rider C" could only do half a season We won't know that "Rider D" has a lower average but fits into the team as is well liked by the club and gets on well with his team mates. What we will know is that 7 riders have eventually been selected to be a 2020 Witch for the right reasons for the club.

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

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.

We’ve seen risks taken on ex-motocross and they pay off and I think that’s what we’re seeing here. Rather than looking at who’s the best in the MDL and signing them up.