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Not so strange once you understand how riven with self interest speedway is.

The first match which James Wright missed through his injury was Birmingham's offiicial opening fixture on April 19th. Therefore, since last night's match at Plymouth was 27 days later, the Brummies were perfectly well entitled to hire a guest in line with Wright's average, and would indeed if they wished, also be able to use a similar guest in this evening's home match against Edinburgh, after which, the 28 day dispensation period would expire. In the light of this, I don't see how anyone can claim that Birmingham have breached any rules. Plymouth's Team Manager is widely regarded as a very astute man who rarely misses a trick, but in hindsight, he probably blundered in opting to use rider replacement for Howarth rather than employ a guest, so he will probably be pilloried for it! In truth though, he was still able to use Plymouth's best on the night riders, Worrall (twice), Barker, and Gilkes in all of Howarth's scheduled races, so it was hardly Mr May's fault that these lads only managed four points collectively in their extra races.. To suggest that Birmingham only won the match because Plymouth were so poor is insulting. The Brummies won through some determined teamwork which helped overcome the first race loss through injury, of Stefan Nielsen - and although some of the usual contributors to this forum will continue to look for excuses as to why Birmingham won a match which they were confidently expected to lose, I think it was a thoroughly deserved win from a team which has not deserved the criticism it has received in recent times. Well done Brummies and thanks Plymouth for an enjoyable match.

Is Eddie Kennett available?

Were you at the track or watching BSN? Don't know how you could tell from the stand but on TV Steve was nowhere near the fence when he got off his bike, hence it then bounced on top of the fence. Lawson took his line, nothing to do with Danyon.

Really pleased actually, Ben brings a lot to the team, no jokes please.

Tow a caravan, leave a calor gas cylinder In the road and you are guaranteed free parking! Road tax is optional as well.

All ties over two legs = no tac subs

The race night issue certainly did not help, the club lost a huge amount of money at the end of 2018, had they been able to complete their fixtures at home they might have been in a better position to maybe work with Rye House the following season in order to carry on in the short term. Fact is, it seems there was no reason to stop the racing at Arena after 2018 as the site has remained untouched since, it would have been better to have the site used than sitting there doing nothing.

Worrall bailed out very early... I would have thought a rider of his calibre should have been able to save that, I've seen riders touching the air fence on the 1st and 2nd bends at Poole as that's the only racing line later on, so why he bailed out so early on turn 3 is a mystery

Maybe agree to disagree, my feeling is he could have shut the throttle off but he is a racer so not in his nature.

Maybe riders need to take that into account too.

Some of us support more than 1 local team in different sports, mind you maybe I should have stayed at home and watched the stream! Good effort that from an under strength Bears team and much better than I expected. If the Bears can get a decent performing guest on Saturday they have a chance to go through although I still have Poole as favourites given how they ride our track.

It was a racing incident, Steve came off so was cause of the stoppage. There was no contact between any of the riders just all going for it full throttle. Should he just have shut off because a Poole rider was trying to pass him?

Danyon did nothing wrong. Lawson tried to come across him he stood his ground, Lawson went bit wider because of that and Steve bailed out

Wolves Speedway owners are in talks over a potential new home after the team was given notice to leave Monmore Green. Under-threat Wolves has been told its tenancy agreement will not be extended beyond the end of this year, leaving the riders homeless after nearly a century of racing at its historic home, in Sutherland Avenue, Wolverhampton, which it shares with greyhound racing. The club is remaining tight-lipped over the unnamed location, but team promoter Chris Van Straaten told the Express & Star: "There is a site which we are investigating, but it is the very early stages of consideration and we're unable to say any more at the moment. "We have had a lot of interest and have received a lot of help from MP Pat McFadden, councillors and others. We are working towards a site and we're quite confident about and hopefully it will come to fruition within the next few months."

I would suggest our youngsters getting experience abroad is anything but pointless.

An Amateur League? With Bowtell, Morley, Atkins etc riding? I think not.......!

It should be comfortable but not as comfortable as some think.

But there's no riders around......

Maybe not running meetings when so many riders are missing might be "in the best interests of the sport"...

Will there be a TS option? Thought in these matches much like play offs or KO cups be no TS

R/R swing it massively in Poole's favour imo, both versions! Be hoping danyon hits his Poole form and will have 3 form riders to take the rides

Lucky if we hear the sound of silence. Now let's hear how bad plymouth were to get BEAT by Birmingham.

We had dates available. If we didn't want to race, why did we manage to arrange races with Poole in the playoffs? Surely that would be the competition we'd want to win more, and be awkward about dates... Yet we managed to provide a banged up 7 regardless. If we could provide 7 for that, I don't see why we'd make it a problem for the cup. So it doesn't make sense to me that we were the awkward ones. We are the most flexible team on dates. We own our track and I don't know of any local restrictions. Regardless, the real fault is with the speedway authorities for not organising things properly at a central level. It shouldn't be up to any club to dictate things. Set the date, tell the teams to turn up, or forfeit. Easy!

Yes I thought be one of Poole riders to go but as said above because he bailed out so far from fence I don't know if ref thought he could've stayed on. Not saying that he could but might've influenced refs decision

The sensible decision would be to back off , then he wouldn't have a damaged bike and Poole would have go t a 3-3.

Steve came off as other riders left him no room and they were altogether. He had no choice. Lawson's fault more than Steve's imo.

Ryan Kinsley paid 11 tonight for Oxford , would have been far better with Joe Thompson than Clegg and Ablitt

Ooops...

That’s the only glimmer of hope IMO

This is a track that should suit Rew. Good from an Ipswich point of view that’s he’s getting a look at the place before we visit.

You know Danny King will have a good meeting, he will want to show we kept the wrong one.

I'm not sure if you can bet on the Champ. I know Bet 365 doesn't cover that league.

Don’t bank on it.!!

Seems strange redcar can switch from fridays to saturdays at will,when comets tried from sat to fri a certain chairman said no !

Playing devils advocate though, just because a lot of riders would seemingly be available, doesn’t mean they would in fact be willing to take the booking. Their bikes might be in pieces, the distance to get to Plymouth could be another factor. I personally wouldn’t drop Starke, he is often such a battler and no rider is immune from having a poor run of form. This meeting shows just how much of a fine line often exists in sport, Plymouth we’re 0.08 off from fitting Bowtell in, would have uttered last night on its head.

Yes I would agree there especially going with r/r whereas r/r for Poole some would view as a bonus as both Cooks can be used. Hopefully we can rack up a decent score to defend on Saturday.

Spending money bringing rider like Turner over is ludicrous if that is the case.

Higher league taking priority yes I do think that's right

To be fair , I think the g council were at best luke warm towards the sport but the local MP , Jackie Doyle- Price was very supportive and even attended a couple of meetings but there was little she could do on her own.

Turner protected, Trigger protected, Barker walks on water. The core of the Plymouth team is rotten and even with some track experts the morale will stay low. Mark Phillips defiance is both admiral and foolhardy.

Is Sam Hulk's lad?

Looking like we’ll need our first guest of the year this weekend with Connor racing for The Bears. We really are back in British Speedway now

Just to clarify Appendix 1a which starts on page 30 of these Regs https://www.fim-moto.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Documents/2023/2023_FIM_Track_Racing_Appendices_-_08.05.2023.pdf?t=1684245011 is indeed an area which doesn`t cover GP`s- the racing rules bit which does cover GP`s comes well before that under section 10 starting on page 22 of the same regs.

And also not a lot riding on Oxford Vs Plymouth considering we are already doing the SFs!

Really,try telling the young rider that.

Yeah, I've got a strong feeling that JJ won have done the business in either Heat 13 or 15, but we'll never know. Terrific meeting between two committed sides, with plenty of incident, while the questionable refereeing calls just about balanced out, although the harshest one was to excluded Sam Woods as he was pushing around for a point in Heat 8 - slightly perplexed by that one, since a winning time was given, suggesting the race was never stopped! Oxford Chargers want to win, but it's not the be-all and end-all. It's good enough to have a talented and strong side that provide entertainment and are progressing to become the Cheetahs of the future, which has already started this season, with three Chargers in the Cheetahs. I thought Jody Scott was brilliant yesterday - he didn't allow Alfie Bowtell a way through in Heat 10 to join Henry for a 5-1 that created yet another flip in the fortunes of the meeting. That was a stunning ride from Jody, and then he made no mistakes to win Heat 14 as well. Jody is another Cheetah of the future. Sorry I didn't manage to say hello during the meeting yesterday, Mimmo, hope you're doing well.

Whether or not this change is successful will depend on the rule being properly enforced. I notice that Wolverhampton had a two minute clock all last season but referees and riders paid scant attention to it and riders were regularly continuing to "garden" after the time had expired and I can recall only one instance when a rider was excluded for exceeding the time limit. Referees need to put their foot down and rigidly stick to the letter of the rule. There might be a brief time of chaos and howls of protest from riders, but they would soon get the message. Personally, I'd be strongly in favour of NO RESERVE replacement for excluded riders too!

Are you seriously moaning about 45 seconds being wasted?