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I would just like to wish Len and his family a well earned, long, healthy and happy retirement. He has been an ever present during my time as a speedway supporter. He must surely rank amongst the true icons of British Speedway promoters, and I was delighted to see him inducted into the Speedway Hall of Fame this season at Central Park. At 89 years young, he is a truly remarkable man, and I am forever indebted to him for the speedway entertainment he has provided to me over the years. Thank you Len.

How can you reconcile those two statements? How can you claim to know more about the Rye House campaign than those running it? Our 'optimism' is based on simple fact, not blind faith. There HAVE been new, important discussions and a new attitude towards possibly incorporating speedway in the redevelopment. These are facts. Now I clearly stated that a door had been opened, not that we already have success. You sit on the sidelines offering your pitifully ill-informed comments. All it does is steadily destroy your credibility, not ours. Yes we could fail but certainly if we took your approach we would, It would be appreciated if people like you could keep their damaging opinions to themselves rather than try to pass yourself off as some all-knowing authority. It's hard enough dealing with the authorities and new landlord without having tom deal with those supposed speedway supporters undermining it. It would be easy to suspect that you actually want it to fail.

Rye House is far from dead. Important meetings have been taking place and real progress is being made regarding how the track can be restored. It's not exactly a new age of co-operation but at least key figures are now talking rather than simply stonewalling. There is still a very long road but the door to it is no longer locked and bolted.

Len might be a stubborn old goat but i doubt any promotor had done more for the sport than he has. The levels of drive and enthusiasm would be worth a fortune if bottled and crazy as it sounds at 89 still had plenty of vision for the future. Enjoy your well earned retirement Len. The sport you are leaving may be far worse than when you left it but its definitely not a reflection on your efforts or actions.

Provincial League Riders Champion. Not a bad standard for the era. Hackney and Rye House probably wouldn’t have survived as long as they did without him as promoter and he put far more into the sport in terms of both money and effort than he ever took out.

Woffy has a British wife, It's all about money, and who can blame them. If I could of got 6x more by doing the same job in Poland, it would of been bye bye Britain.

He didn't forget his riders and the ones that had ridden for him. Pre season he organised Skiing groups and took them as a party to his resort. I know riders enjoyed these trips and were grateful to be allowed to be included even though they didn't ride for him at that time. He cared for other promotions as well. When Newcastle left Somerset on our southern tour we used to travel on to a hotel in Swindon on the Friday night. If the weather or track was dodgy for their Saturday night, he always agreed to let us know straightaway early on the Saturday morning, so we could go up the road home and not have the wasted journey across London. In addition it meant the mechanics and riders could just drive straight home without prepping the bikes in less than favourable hotel carparks. It is this sort of consideration that is now very rare between promotions in the sport at present.

Basically we will have the same as usual,, the cast offs no one else wants,,,plus Danny and Drew.

Stadium as far as I know owned by the Council but run on a lease basis. I'm sure the local council find having a successful sports team in the town very good for the towns image, also bringing money into the local community. Matt Ford and those Pesky Pirates wether you love them or loathe them are the blueprint holders for a successful team and business.

Hope this doesn't happen to you guys haha

Surprised someone hasn’t lost their bottle and run one over to be honest. Just a matter of time before there’s a flattened leg.

That’s not what the article says. He said he was retiring from Kent Speedway, not all of speedway. My guess is he has phrased this carefully to allow him to reappear somewhere else. He’s only 89 after all. Far too young to retire

Ashfield has a lot more banking on the bends than Poole.

My understanding is that Len promoted at Kent on behalf of the then stadium owner Roger Cearnes (don't think I've spelled that right!). Therefore, no rent would have been necessary. No doubt ARC are now wanting the speedway promotion to pay rent - perhaps what they are asking is excessive - only the two parties concerned will know that.

Be careful using French terminology, you may offend someone or they may think it isn't funny!!

Start Marshalls need to be much more consistent and in line with every club in the league like in Poland. No lining up at an angle other than 90 degrees to the tapes. Front wheel one inch from tapes, which need to be taut. If a rider moves they will hit the tapes and be exc. if they roll back, the will be exc.

It’s been said but unconfirmed that the new owner of Central Park has upped the rent for speedway significantly which has caused this issue.

Scotty tried it for half a season and it didn't work for him. I'll disagree with you it's not turning their back on UK speedway it's about being a professional who wants to progress as far as possible in his chosen career. You wouldn't stay with the same company who year after year struggled to keep their head above water if you could enhance your career with a more forward thinking and financially stronger company. It not Bewley, Lambert's or Tai's fault that UK speedway has a trash operation that attracts zero investment from outside. Three very talented and professional riders who deserve to succeed and earn a few quid on the way.

The skies were black before the night sky came over & it looked like it was gonna chuck it down when I was queueing up to get in. Even though forecast said no rain it looked very different so I guess that's why no water was put down.

Me too Steve. Plus reading the translation of the Swedish report, it seems he had plenty of trouble with authorities and promoters

Looking forward to the final trophy meetings of the season this week. I'm updating the 1st leg of the meeting tomorrow night, hoping Glasgow can take a good lead into the 2nd leg. For anyone not attending the meeting, hope you can join me on the updates site at 7:30pm tomorrow night. https://speedwayupdates.proboards.com/thread/20612/poole-champ-final-l1-30pm?page=1&scrollTo=418885

Setting off from Long Eaton at 620am on the train, arrives into Poole 1240. Change at Gloucester & Dorchester. Thought I'd leave earlier than normal to make sure I get there for the start!

It was thanks. I knew ir began with a P, and ironically at the next GP in Prague I was stood next to him in the big square in the City Centre. Thanks again.

Good luck with any potential return for the Rockets.

What does it even mean? Or is best not to know..

Good luck Tigers , would have come up but COP26 put paid to that

If not for you that's how you feel.. nothing matches being there live but find it a good second place this season

It used to be awful, I remember going to a GP qualifier there and it was terrible, much improved now though.

Flight was £75 return. Train in comparison was over £200. We are dossing at airport but not likely to get any sleep. We are in the grandstand. Come and join us so we can make some noise.

Fantastic rider first saw him in 1972 always round the boards on full throttle and not shy of pulling the odd wheelie RIP wonderful memories.

They can't sell Birmingham or Poole as both stadium's are only lease holders both belong to the council.

OK see you there, might join you for a hot dog.

#inthegafferwetrust

Absolutely! Thats why I posted the comment!!

Poole track is in the best condition it has been in for a long while. Smooth and allowing for plenty of passing.

White boots - yes. Scottish Open - no. On his only Scottish Open appearance he scored 2, October 1963. Scores at Meadowbank were 6,7,12,9,13,2,10, between 1961 and 1964. He scored 9 in the PL Final of the World Championship in 1963, that was impressive in a very strong field. Of course he won the Provincial Riders Championship at Belle Vue in 1962, passing Wayne Briggs in the final. He scored 2 maximums at Exeter against Edinburgh.

Like to know where your getting your information from? It's a 100% better than earlier in the season.

Well they seem to have agreed terms,so what’s the problem?

some folk are just annoying sorry just enthusiastic

Rode there 3 times in 1960.

The new U24 Ekstraliga competition will consist of 8 teams. There will be 16 rounds in 2 parts. At the end of the season we will know the Team U24 Ekstraliga Champion. In the main part of the season, each team will meet each opponent twice, once on their own track and on the opponent's track. The final part will be played in the knockout system with the participation of the two best teams (match and rematch). The U24 Ekstraliga schedule will be given in a separate announcement. In U24 Ekstraliga matches, teams will participate in teams of 6 to 8 players. Only U24 players from the Ekstraliga team on the match day may be entered into the team composition, except for players who obtained an individual average of 1,400 or more in the season preceding the season before the match. In the case of players competing in the lower leagues in the previous season, the average will be converted in accordance with the regulations. The current list of competitors entitled to start in U24 Ekstraliga will be published in the announcements. In each team with numbers 1 - 7 or 9 - 15, entries will have to be: at least 2 national competitors without international licenses at least 2 competitors with a license issued by a federation other than PZM Only youth runners (U21) may be entered with the starting numbers 6 and 7 as well as 14 and 15. National or foreign players can be entered with the number 8 for the visiting team and 16 for the host team. The players will not be able to take part in the PGE Ekstraliga match and the U24 Ekstraliga match on the same day. "Guests" players cannot be entered in the team composition. However, the rules of replacing a player will function in the competition: only with the first, second or third average of the reserve team (similar to PGE Ekstraliga, the sick leave will have to be issued for them for at least 15 days). The so-called ZZ will not apply to U21 players with numbers 6, 7, 8 and 14, 15, 16. The matches will be played according to the 15-speed system and the running table from the PGE Ekstraliga games.

The new play-off format in 2022 as been published- Google translated. From the 2022 season, a new tournament system will apply in PGE Ekstraliga. The Regulations of the Polish Team Championship 2022 have been published. What does it mean in practice? More matches - instead of 64, there will be 70 of them, and above all, not 4, but 6 teams participating in the final round, which will consist of 3 parts. 1. The knockout system will be played in the form of two-legged matches, in which the teams will meet once on the own track and on the opponent's track. 2. The tiebreaker victory will be decided in the following order: 1) greater sum of match points, 2) greater sum of running points, 3) higher position in the final table after the main part of the competition. The winning team will be the team that won the tie-breaker under the rules in 1-3 above. The other two-legged team is defeated. 3. In all rounds of the final part, the host of the first game will be the team ranked lower in the table after the main part of the competition. 4. The following teams meet in the 1st and 2nd round of the competition: 1) (a) first with sixth in the table after the main part, 2) (b) second to fifth in the table after the main part, 3) (c) third to fourth in the table after the main part. 5. Teams which, according to the rules set out in para. 2 won the tie in the 1st and 2nd round of the final part, will be classified according to the sum of match points scored in these rounds, and if the match points are equal - according to the running points; if match and running points are equal, the order in the classification is determined by the higher position of the team in the final table after the main part of the competition. 6. Teams which, pursuant to the rules specified in para. 2 who lost the tie in the 1st and 2nd round of the final part, will be classified according to the sum of match points scored in these rounds, and if the match points are equal - according to the running points; if match and running points are equal, the order in the classification is determined by the higher position of the team in the final table after the main part of the competition. 7. In the 3rd and 4th round of the final part of the competition: 1) (d) the first team in the classification referred to in paragraph 1. 5, with the first team in the classification referred to in paragraph 6, 2) (e) second to third team in the classification referred to in paragraph 5, 8. In the 5th and 6th final round of the competition: 1) (f) The winning teams of (d) and (e) - see par. 7 points 1) and 2), 2) (g) defeated teams of (d) and (e) - see clause 7 points 1) and 2), the terms "victorious" and "defeated" refer to the principles set out in paragraph 2. 9. The final classification of the teams in the competition will be as follows: 1) the first places will be taken by the winning team from (f) - see paragraph 8 point 1), 2) the defeated team from (f) will take second place - see paragraph 8 point 1), 3) the third place will be taken by the winning team from (g) - see paragraph 8 point 2), 4) fourth place will be taken by the defeated team from (g) - see paragraph 8 point 2), 5) the fifth place will be taken by the second team in the classification referred to in sec. 6, 6) the third team in the classification referred to in sec. 6, 7) the seventh and eighth place will be taken by the teams in the order of places taken after the main part of the competition, subject to the provisions of Art. 703 paragraph 8. edit this basically says Play-offs ( 2 legs) round 1 1 v 6 2 v 5 3 v 4 round 2 1(after round 1) v best loser 2 (after round 1) v 3 ( after round 1) round 3 winner 1 v winner 2 loser 1 v loser 2

Main sponsors and Dickson are on board again for next season. So far so good for me.

I led to believe it's the same at other tracks they own, but I maybe wrong.

Agree with what you say but the world cup win certainly went under the radar, nothing in the majority of news/media outlets. I always thought Woffinden could have used his position as world champion more to have promoted the sport over here, hes one rider who has the personality and would have been seen as cool by the younger generations, Doyle has shown far more loyalty to to UK speedway than our own riders and was only really forced out by the unfortunate situation at Swindon.

Don't Kent and Brum have the same landlord?

Nicholls is riding the best he has for years. I'd have him over a couple of those named as he's leader and lower average

Chris Harris did the same thing at Lakeside. He seemed as far back as the Dartford tunnel!

It seems perfectly simple to me, a rider should have 2 minutes to be at the start ready to race, if they touch the tapes they are excluded, what's difficult about that? Any of the other starting shenanigans are always up to interpretation, so why have them. So what if a rider gets a flyer or anticipates the start, this used to add a bit of unpredictability into proceedings, I still remember Jason Gage beating Hans Nielsen at Peterborough because he got a flyer... and Andy Meredith out trapping Hans at Coventry with Nielsen making a right pickle of trying to get round him. From the Speedway I've seen in this country, this season, the starts haven't really been an issue, I don't know if anything has changed but it doesn't seem as bad as in previous years. Watching some Swedish Speedway on the other hand and some of their starts have been terrible and you can almost guarantee the first race of every TV match will be called back... such an anti-climax.

So sad to hear this. Zenon was one of my first speedway heroes as a kid at Waterden Rd. A spectacular rider and such a nice guy. I still have the yellow NGK Spark plugs cap he handed to me through the bars of the Hackney pits..A treasured possession. RIP Zenon, you will always be Poland's number 1 in my eyes.