Leaderboard

So if a rider has alcohol on his breathe and is tested after the meeting and fails - no action? A bike is tested and found to be over size after the meeting - no action? Sorry. I don't care who "moves on" and its not because its Poole, there is absolutely no justice in the way the rules are structured and how this has been handled.

It’s over and done with Scunthorpe have accepted it so should everybody on here.

Isn't it refreshing to have had these two matches, each with packed stadiums, and no back-biting or moaning from any direction? Two big -- huge, by today's standards -- travelling supports, no complaints about refereeing or accusations about team tactics, just great backing for their riders and appreciation for the opposition. Well done everybody!

Standard 3,0,0,3 he’s usually first or last 😆

Has there ever been a rider who generated so much hassle while possessing so little ability?

It’s not about people accepting the result, it’s about what can be done to prevent such instances again and making sure the authorities have things in place accordingly.

There weren't any payment issues this year

But they do have things in place... It's called the referee with rules for them to follow, and implement... The ref either just didn't see that the rules were broken, or maybe didn't understand the rule given the "on the line/over the line" ambiguity... What bafffles me more is why an appeal got held when, as was said in the statement, the result couldn't be changed anyway... What a complete waste of time if that was the only course of (non) action that could be allowed....

The story is about an exhibition in the village of Arlington which features the stadium. It is an historical thing - nothing about future of speedway at that site.

But people want to know who was at fault. Your options are: 1. It was Poole, it always is. 2. It was Zach. He deliberately rode a tight line/crossed the white line to gain an advantage. 3. It was the referee who, with the aid of the replays, came to the wrong decision. 4. It the rule as written by the SCB. 1. Don't be silly 2. I don't believe Zach took to the centre green on purpose. Nor did he gain an advantage. Picko let him by with a view to trying to slow down Richard Lawson and get MPT into 3rd place. 3. The referee interpreted an ambiguous rule and came to a decision on that basis. 4. The SCB in its own post meeting announcement said they declared a breach of the rule after they'd reviewed it. So it was ambiguous.

I support your thinking for the most part. However, inherent in the SCB statement is the strong implication that they declared a breach of the rule only after they'd reviewed the rule in question. In other words, at the time of the breach it wasn't clear (maybe) that the rule was clear enough for the referee to come to same conclusion. Reading this one way means that the SCB has thrown the referee under the bus and used other rules to prevent a change to the announced result. As I've said elsewhere, the SCB could simply have said the rule contained some ambiguity and that the referee ruled on the basis of his interpretation at the time. I think there would have been a much greater acceptance of the result standing.

Wasn't there originally an maximum age stipulation for Doubling Up?? Maybe I am wrong, but I seem to remember it was Scott Nicholls who challenged it... It used to be only a max two per team also wasn't it?.. And then, of course, promoters saw the benefits of sharing rider costs, whilst now employing a level of riders previously unaffordable, so the floodgates opened .😁

So you are saying that on the line constitutes crossing the line? Other than by just writing out the regulations again can you evidence that that is the SCB's interpretation? Eg is it documented anywhere ? Is that the interpretation that referees are trained against and is communicated to clubs and riders? And let's not go to the point about which part of the wheel has crossed the line. I suspect we all take that as the part of the tyre in contact with the ground, but that isn't what it says. I understand that you may think I'm being pedantic, but regulations should be able to withstand the scrutiny of a pedant! Plus, I don't want such an occurrence to happen again. I'm going to Belle Vue on Friday. Given that the inner edge is of a completely different construction at the NSS, I hope the referee, clubs and riders have been fully briefed and are clear about what crossing the inner edge of the track actually means. The SCB could clarify this today and give certainty, and I'm pretty sure the regulations will be modified for next season.

100%... The "talent pool" is thin enough already, as is shown by the weakest team each season, therefore stretching it to seven teams currently can only dilute it further... And bringing in two compulsory U21's will already do that given the lack of U21 talent who are not riding in Poland and are not Scandinavian.. A six team league this season has one team clearly adrift before a wheel was turned, and a seven team league the year before had two... Wasn't the plan to make the top tier clearly stronger than the second? If so, sticking with six teams would be the more logical way of delivering this.. If Eastbourne do come back, starting on Fridays/Saturdays in the second tier would seem to be the best "first step" to see how that goes..

Don’t think this will be too far off 🤝

If it is for u21s then why not u24s? That would open up way more possibilities for clubs to recruit decent young riders. I have no issue with the poles giving us more riders for experience but riders under 21 narrows it down massively

I agree - it's not about development but about giving young poles more experience so they turn into better riders for Poland. I think the dictate has come from them and they must be wondering why, after all the money thrown at Polish speedway, they've still only had two world champions in the last 50 years. Stipulating u21 is pure ageism and if I was denied a team spot, as Joe Thompson reflected upon recently, I'd be considering a case under the equality act. what they should be doing is counting race experience like pilots hours and using that to offer development places, if it's about development.

If it is to be Eastbourne, I hope that gets confirmed sooner rather than later. What we don’t want, is this dragging on all winter again and getting confirmed on the eve of the new season leaving yet another team hastily cobbling together the scraps left on the table. Eastbourne or anyone else that comes in to the top flight, need to be protected and the others need to play their part here by not quickly hoovering up all the top number 1’s. Help a newcomer by directing a top rider their way to help them be competitive while they settle in, even if they all have to contribute financially themselves. Northampton got away with it this year with a decent crowd sticking with them until the end, not sure that would be the case at Eastbourne.

Personally speaking, i don't think much blame can be put upon the referee, it's a poorly written rule that is open to so much on the spot analysis, hard to spot in the split second it took place and has any photo actually proven that ZC crossed the line, bearing in mind the rulebook does not clarify which is the edge of the track and how much of the wheel has to cross it to mean an offence. I'd say the rule should be rewritten along the lines of the wider part of the whiteline is the marking for the inside of the track, if both tyres touch the inner edge of the white line or further onto the offtrack area then an exclusion will be given unless it was due to taking avoiding action etc.

You're having a laugh.

Did Berwick host a development meeting this year? Or was it second halves that (NJL) that covered them? Just thinking if they had a stars of tomorrow meeting & gave fans the opportunity of taking a selfie with the KOC trophy, may have helped the attendance? Also a good reason not to race the BSN & KOC finals so late in the season. I imagine crowds would be up for the following meeting (if they had one)?

Flint's rolling away average is 8.00 and was only bettered by six riders who did the whole 2026 season. I'd also argue that he still has improvement in him too.

A chance to meet the Cup-Winners and touch the trophy -- everyone is welcome this Saturday night in the Black & Gold, 7 for 7.30. Rider interviews by Greg Blair, music later from Steve Hayward. Admission free, but donations towards Jack Smith's hip operation will be accepted the door. An End of Term Party to end the best of terms!

I said the same thing to my lad earlier... With the two victories in the fastest two times of the night!!!

I went to Sheffield which was the first time ive been there for about 35 years and the 3rd and 4th bends were hundreds of Aces fans which created an atmosphere that was like nothing I’ve seen at club speedway for years…it made for a memorable meeting which in many ways was like a throwback for when the actual racing itself wasn’t fantastic but the crowd and the atmosphere made it into a great night…in many ways that was what made speedway great and it was fantastic to get a night like that in this day and age

You need to give your head a wobble regarding Poole,it’s getting tedious.

We need a strong reserve at the right points in the season who will interchange over the year with a similar rider at No2. More experienced riders would be more suited like Connor Mountain etc. Its very difficult to get right though, remember Sedgmen! I agree we need to do better than this year. Freddy was inconsistent, Hagon was inconsistent and Mario was not so Super often leaving us without a hope of gaining a heat advantage.

Hypothetically, if Artem and Emil were in the GP series, where would they each finish? I think they would have both been in the title race.

How many want to ride in Uk is questionable.

Health and Safety probably comes into it.

Let's get the facts right here. The promised transport was booked but unforeseen circumstances meant they couldn't do it anymore. Mr.Bain went out of his way to organise secondary transport but, at that point, the rider in question had spat his dummy out. It's the riders responsibility to get themselves to their desired location. Why should the promotion organise a transport for a charity/testimonial meeting or whatever you want to call it

Zischke is at Scunthorpe for 2027 so I’d rule him out of the team building plans. Heard Dan T and Rowe both agreed terms for 2027

It was doubling down that was the issue 😁

One thing to consider is that many of the U21s riding in the Ekstraliga in previous years would have come in on very high assessed averages for an inexperienced rider. - 24 of the 33 riders who raced any meetings as an U21 this season in Poland would get an average of 6.00 or higher - The likes of Paluch, Bednar and Parnitskyi would come on over 7.50 averages. Maybe U21 riders did want to come over but British promoters did not want them as their averages were way too high to justify it. With the new U21 system and no average to worry about it might change things.

Lambert wouldn't get nominated for qualifiers, etc. if he took a German or Polish licence - but would he actually need it? He'll likely be top 7 for the foreseeable and if he isn't (i.e., injury), he'd probably get a wildcard anyway. It'll be a while before Lambert needs to go through GP qualifiers surely?

I get your point, we're a league desperate for raised levels. But let's be honest, the majority of our own U21s are NOT top league standard. So why should we expect the same from foreign U21s. What the BSPL are enforcing here, is another back door way of reducing costs, overall a lowering of standards. We'll also see (as I understand, the U21s don't have to be reserves) the bigger clubs will have the best U21s while poor (crap) clubs will just use them at No6/No7. The gulf from the top to bottom of the league will be huge. With the Premiership currently made up of only 6 clubs, we could end up with (being harsh here) the crap clubs being whacked at home week in week out, let alone away. That's just not good for anybody.

lemo not ruled him out, but id probably say klindt will be the guest

Doesn't look like it Discretion and Review Timeframe: A referee has full discretion to review an incident before the result is officially declared. They can consult with assistant officials, review track side evidence, or take a moment to evaluate a crash before making their final call, but that power effectively freezes once the result is locked into the official score sheet. [1, 2, 3] The Post-Meeting Appeal Process: If a team believes a rule was broken or a gross misjudgment occurred, they cannot force the referee to change it during the meeting. Instead, the club must lodge a formal, written appeal with the SCB after the meeting concludes. However, even during an official post-meeting appeal, changing the actual recorded on-track result is incredibly rare due to anti-retrospective rules.

Holy Christ, that wouldn't have got the occasional fan to turn up if it was. They were proper intimidating on a Bank Holiday Monday. Sam Ermolenko couldn't ride Cradley until 91 when he became almost unbeatable around Dudley Wood until closed, Simon Cross broke his back in 90, he was never quite the same after that. Both at their peak would have been duel. In the mid 90's when time Hamill & Hancock were at the top of their game, Cradley were better at Monmore v/s Wolves than they were at Dudley Wood. Andy's Philips & Graham were also tidier around Monmore than Dudley Wood and Scott Smith would inadvertently take some Wolves rider out at some point so going around him wasn't an option, not that overtaking him on the inside was difficult.

The last accounts that I can find are as at 31st January 2024. Highlights are: Total assets less current liabilities of £625000 including cash at bank of £435000. Reserves of £933000. Member funds of £625000.

Yes he is a top man, always liked him especially when he rode for Poole in the distant past.

In lemo we trust

They can be quite snappy down south.

I still can't work out why the SCB had this meeting, and published there findings, if they were never going to reverse the result in the first place

Zischke is going to be busy next year riding for Glasgow, Workington and Scunthorpe 🤣

They’re the best team in the league and finished well ahead of my beloved Lions in the regular season. We all love the play offs, but the team finishing top of the pile when everyone has played everyone really ought to be champions. That goes for any sport.

Nice touch by the Comets management with a message on the electronic sign at the Ramsey brow junction at the end of the A66. Saying thank you to the fans and sponsors supporting the comets in 2026 😄🏁🔵⚪

Small part of an interview with Jamie Courtney on BBC Radio Oxford lunchtime news today. He confirms its Championship for Oxford in 2027. Full interview will be on the Heat 16 podcast at 6pm tonight. You can listen again afterwards on BBC Sounds.

Is there a pile of Gerhard engines in the other corner?

Yes your owners have the money but for any business man you can't just throw large amounts of money at things without standing back wondering if it's worth it 🤔