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All this stuff is in the past, it's the future we should be worrying about.

I would argue that Częstochowa have on paper a stronger team than leszno and both Częstochowa reserves are better than slauderbach, the problem is Częstochowa are badly under performing, who is the better rider Doyle or Lidsey ? You would have said Doyle at the start of season but lidsey has out performed Doyle, that’s not the league’s fault, infact lidsey who wasn’t even put in the team at the start of the year has out performed every Częstochowa rider apart from madsen

I'm not Ford's biggest fan and certainly don't agree with some of the suspect antics he's carried out over the years, BUT he's now doing everything he can to save Poole Speedway. So no matter who you are or what you think give the guy some credit. Losing our beloved team would be a huge loss, not only to me personally but to UK speedway. We've lost enough teams in recent years for goodness sake!!

I bet you’re fun at parties. Change the record

It's the Speedway equivalent of Football's "I'd like to see him do that away at Stoke City on a cold Tuesday night in December"...

That’s Shovler for you, unless he has ridden for Poole he is no good.

The good thing is that Ford will work very hard to try and ensure the Pirates survive otherwise any hope that one day he can sell them (might be a long shot anyway these days) will be gone

Do you really think he will even be riding round Monmore in a couple of seasons!!! Poland and world speedway is all about fast starting and fast bikes these days .IMO

That’s cause they perform, they took a gamble with lidsey which paid off, kolodziej is past his best but still performs, slauderbach is not one of the top reserves, smektala could of struggled when he left the reserve berth, a lot of ifs there but they have all worked, Częstochowa have lindgren and Doyle who have both underperformed badly

Unless it’s Poole,it’s always a dull meeting for Shovler.

Knowing how this night has gone for Czestochowa. Leszno will probably get a 5-1 in the re-run

No. Not saying that just saying you cannot discount him. Particularly when comparing him to Ivan you have to take into account that Ronnie had been a top world class rider for some 15-16 years before Ian won his first World Final. For me the best three ever riders have been Fundin, Mauger and Rickardsson. But Ronnie absolutely deserves his place among the legends.

Absolutely no way could you discount Ronnie Moore. If anything he was the most consistent of the “big five” not just meeting to meeting but race to race. Also remember he started a bit before the others so might very well have had 2-3 titles before Fundin, Craven and Briggs really got started at top world level. And he didn’t have things easy before either with the likes of Jack Young around. These discussions are always so enjoyable.

13+1 in his first ever Swedish league match ....

Some positive news about Peter. Initially unconscious but regained consciousness He has full movement and can feel his arms and legs.

There have been pandemics before, and there has been planning for them - for many years in fact. But for some reason this time, governments are taking panicky knee-jerk reactions to every development, even though these are in many cases entirely predictable. And the UK government has been amongst the worst for its inconsistency.

We've not had Covid before. Every government is making it up as they go along.

At least he has raced, his form last season was as good as any Brit,deserves his chance IMO.Good luck to him.

Wouldn’t go near him with a barge pole usually. Over a few weeks however, and in good form, e/w I could be tempted. No value in Zmarzlik (5/2), Madsen (3/1) or Sayfutdinov (7/2) for me. Tai is at 8/1, I can see him raising his game for the GPs but again I don’t think anything under 10s is worth the punt. Stuck a quid on Tai at 100/1 the year he won his first world title. Definitely one of those “if only I’d stuck a tenner on” bets...

Change the Channel.

Not so sure about Laguta, bit of a start tart... Having said that there's no "trick" tracks this year so I think going on current Polish form could be a wise move

The block pass appears to be very much 'de rigueur' in Poland. . Maybe 'Hold the Line' should be the song played before the race to remind the riders?

Lidsey's doing well again tonight..

How bad is Lindgren tonight!!

47

so far both the tapes and the teams have been uneven

This is sad to watch Doyle ride like this. Leszno boys a few bike lengths in front before he's even got out of the start. One of my favourite riders but if we're being honest it's British racing that still makes him look like top dog in the sport.

Hopefully the announcer playing 'Jump' before that start was deliberate. ..

Why was that not called back,Blue jumped far more than Pawlicki did.

Przedpelski got away with that one.

That was a good race heat 3 that's how speedway should be - well done

All in hindsight now Steve but Hans against Erik now in combat would be awesome .Two great champions going against each other both at the peak of there powers but it was spoiled by Erik's dreadful injury both LEGEND riders. After a number of years got to realise just how good Nielsen was doubted it myself hold my hands up but his brilliance over a period persuaded me.

just like ladies walking field which was left to the people of poole but when the opportunity came a long it was gone

I do think from 1968 / 1974, / Ivan would of dominated a series I, still think Briggs and others would of won certain other rounds though. 1984 onwards Nielsen with Gundo sniffing about Gundersen was better had his number certainly on a one off meting Hans would of loved a GP series still think Erik would of liked a series format ( ie knowing he could beat the Great Hans.

Teams confirmed in Czestochowa. Czesztochowa 9 Holta 10 Doyle 11 Lindgren 12 Przedpelski 13 Madsen 14 Swidnicki 15 Miskowiak 16 Kowalski Leszno 1 Sayfutdinov 2 Kolodziej 3 Smektala 4 Lidsey 5 Piotr Pawlicki 6 Kubera 7 Szlauderbach

Speedway as a 'professional' sport has produced so many farces over years, it would make a great soap opera. Having no team to support helps me deal with this. I've had plenty of disappointments with the sport, i am now battle hardened to it. I still enjoy the racing and the social side of it, Scunthorpe on Sunday was a perfect example of this. Speedway isn't worth taking too seriously.

Just going back a bit further- I reckon Ove Fundin would have dominated in the fifties and sixties under a GP system- how do you reckon he would have stacked up re Moore, Briggo and Craven under such a system. Do you in fact think those three could ever have topped Ove as World Champ under GP- think Ove tended to be the most consistent over a whole season . I do think however that its unfortunate that its possible to become World Champ under GP without winning a single GP meeting (e.g. Mark Loram).

It might be the ultimate fence sit, but beyond Muller and Szczakiel I can't see any one off World Champion who wouldn't have been capable of winning in a GP system (Havelock perhaps, but he was red hot in 92) and no GP World Champs that couldn't have taken a one off World Championship. The GP's certainly make sure the cream rises to the top, but the one-offs had a good record on that front too. The different systems require a different approach, so whereas a riders would build towards September to be at their mechanical, mental and physical peak, they have to be consistently on it right from the start now. To pick two examples, riders like Mike Lee and Erik Gundersen could be in (relatively) patchy form at the start of the year, but be absolutely on it by the business end of the season in the one-off era. I don't doubt that both would have been much more "dialled in" (to borrow a fashionable term) from the get go under a GP system.

A brief look at 1968 reveals the following comparisons between Mauger and Briggs that year. In all World Championship meetings up to and including the final, plus individual meetings on British tracks: Ivan rode in 22 meetings, Barry rode in 15. Ivan scored a total of 261 points for an average of 11.86 out of 15.00; Barry scored 182 for an average of 12.13 out of 15.00. There were 9 meetings in which they competed against each other and in these: Ivan scored 103 points, average 11.44 out of 15.00. Barry scored 97, average 10.78. Barry won the last two meetings of the season in which they both competed, The Laurels at Wimbledon and the BLRC at Belle Vue. Ivan won 4 of the 9 meetings in which they met, all of them World Championship events, at Newcastle (QR), Wimbledon (British Final), West Ham (British Nordic Final) and Gothenburg (Final). Ivan's average was deflated by his scores in meetings at Wimbledon (Internationale) 4 points, Hackney (Superama) 10, Wroclaw (European Final) 10, Leicester (East Midlands Open) 6, Coventry (Brandonapolis) 10, Wimbledon (The Laurels) 10 and Coatbridge (Scottish Open) 2. Barry's lower scoring meetings were at West Ham (British Nordic Final) 6, Wroclaw (European Final) 9 and Leicester (East Midlands Open) 2 (after a first ride fall).

It's a credit to those who built it. However, go to a big meeting like the CL Pairs, stand on the grass banking, in the dark like a sardine, with barely any extra toilet or catering facilities and it's horrific. It's quite frightening on that grass when it gets damp and little or no public lighting. It's great for their normal crowds up to high hundreds, even then lack of toilets and catering can be an issue. Not suitable for big Events without massive increase in portaloos and catering.

He did. It wasn’t Karpov

I was trying to be concise Dave... for a change... but you know the craic... the thing had been on the slide from MP coming in... I'll leave it there... if ya ken what a mean... Regards THJ

As long as they race I don't mind, another rubbish stirring post with love from Irrevelance from Birmingham....

Read my words again. I said driving clubs out of business wasn’t going to be good for the sport , I didn’t say Ford was making all rules for the future of the sport rather than his own club. If you are going to quote someone quote them verbatim instead of your own interpretation of it . You do this all the time as a distraction when we get down to questions you dont want to answer,.

It's always been a totalitarian state people always notice it more in times of stress

I agree with that. Right decision by the ref

Bingo, you got it. That was the point. Delay things so the hospitals wouldn’t be overwhelmed. Flatten the curve was the mantra

You’re making yourself look silly. Grachan has rightly given the back story on where the name for the ‘Rebels’ came from. After some of the killings in the US a few years back where somebody was wearing the confederate flag, this was dropped by the Somerset promotion to fall in line with the crest of Somerset, which is also used by the Cricket club and many other things throughout Somerset.

I think EIA needs a reminder of what was going on around that time.Ford was unhappy that Coventry had managed to keep Shamek at reserve for so long, IMO they used the very same criteria that Ford himself used many times (ie they played Ford at his own game)and he didn't like it .Pawlicki's 16 +1 did for Poole on the second leg meeting and Ford reacted by taking in his firework display, turning off the hot water to the visitors shower room & removing the Champagne from the bar area. Hardly the reaction expected from a mature person. Then came the sudden rapidly arranged meeting by a select few who connived a change in the conversion factor for lower league riders moving up, effectively screwing up bees deals for two riders already in place. I've seen comments that the teams shouldn't be selected before the AGM but we all know that it was the accepted way of doing things for years ,and probably stilll is now. We also had the re assessment of Pawlicki's average, another very unfair decision. Despite all the protests to the contrary it seems blatantly obvious that Ford was the Prime Mover in all that went on in the winter of discontent, & to add insult to injury he then proceded to register Kildemand as a poole rider whilst the bees were in the middle of a team shuffle mid season 2011. Kildemand went public and stated that he had no knowledge of his transfer to Poole as he hadn't even spoken to Ford. But it did have the desired effect as it stopped Coventry using him again.Those are just some of the moves of a very underhanded & bitter man.

Plenty of validity .. i was showed the text messages being sent at the time .. The dispute was about Ford being bitter after losing the final and then going out of his way to make sure Cov never could track the side they wanted . Pure bitterness and revenge at the expense of sport . .Boro sadly just got caught in the crossfire . That winter cause untold damage to the sport