Halifaxtiger

Good news indeed. A couple of pints with the Big Taximan (closet bandit), one of Mr Anderson's incomparable burgers and a Berwick win

Not for the first time, AF, you have said it for me. Its a case that a fan should not get the feeling that he is being ripped off and there is far too much of that with crap tracks, lousy food, sub-standard presentation, stinking toilets - the list is endless. I'd say the difference between a wrapround and an insert is one is inside the old programme, the other is outside. To be fair, its not just Edinburgh, they all do it and indeed the wrapround last night was better than most. AF is right, though. Its about not leaving the fan with the opinion that he is being cheated. Giving them a few pieces of paper with a programme way out (or even a fortnight out) of date at full price is a rip off. Why not say that the programme is an old one with an insert before people buy it? Then again, we both know why. I have been told that programmes cost twice as much to buy as to print and your costing above is pretty consistent with that. Why not just charge the cost price for the programme and insert - say £1.50 ? Then there's no loss to the promotion and the fan would realise that he was getting a discount because it was out of date.

And how many stick to that pay rate ? I'll certainly accept your word on this, but I have been told several times that Buxton have paid over it in the past. What a rider expects and what he gets are two entirely different things. The rich clubs might need the poor clubs (although the same thing applies vice versa) but I see no reason why the bar should be set at the lowest possible level just to suit those who are not as successful off track. This is a matter of compromise, and in my experience it is the poorer ones who are far less willing to accept that.

I use this weather site : http://www.xcweather.co.uk/forecast/Berwick When those drongos at the Met Office were predicting heavy rain at Armadale last night they said it would stay dry, and it did. XC says rain to stop around 4pm, so I think that fingers crossed we might be on for some racing

I think that's pretty much spot on The only thing I would say is that even with 5 riders and a 6pt tactical ride against Comets still should have won with the lead they had built up. I suspect every Workington supporter who came out of STMP was disappointed, even if they might have settled for a point before hand. I wasn't. For me, it was a cracker of a meeting. With the forecast as it is I am not sure you need the rain dance

Little harsh (the comment about the Edinburgh match is pretty much spot on). They have won a at least a couple of away matches and are within a good shout of the top six. I'd say that what looked like a good team on paper hasn't come up to expectations. About the opposite of Edinburgh, in fact.

I think that's said with the benefit of hindsight. I can't find the prediction thread but if memory serves me correctly there weren't many who left them out of the top 6.

................and that's exactly what you would do if you had the finances that Cradley have. In fact, its what (almost) every other club in the EL, PL & NL would do (and indeed do do). All Cradley have done is build the best possible team they can with the aim of being successful on track and in doing so have used the considerable financial muscle their success off track has created. What on earth is wrong with that ? Answer is, it doesn't. But every season you get teams who are better than others for a number of reasons, not just the potential of the line ups at the start. They is often a huge disparity by June despite the level playing field in March and I witnessed that last night at Edinburgh. The 30 points isn't Cradley's fault, either. Some of their results have been reasonably close; none of Scunthorpe's have. As to sticking to the pay rates, I suspect there's only one team in the NL that does that. Ok, lets dump the likes of those you have named along with Atkin, Armstrong, Halsey, Lambert, Jacobs, Cockle and Nielsen, replace them with 3pt novices and watch the stand alone clubs go bust one by one and double up teams pull out because their losses are too great. When we people understand that NL speedway is a business, a business that must be viable (or at least sustainable) and that to ensure that that is the case the product must be attractive enough to pull in paying spectators. People simply will not pay to watch junior meetings (ask yourself why all Scunthorpe's away meetings are suddenly becoming double headers) so its a matter of compromise: get the youngsters in, but get some more experienced and capable ones in too. In my view, most of the NL clubs have done precisely that.

The match I saw there was pretty dreadful (before GB says it, the company was not). Where tracks are concerned, three of the best meetings I have seen have been at Glasgow, Belle Vue & Redcar. In all three cases the racing was good but what greatly enhanced them as a spectacle was that the scores were close. That's not saying much. Leicester's deserved reputation is an awful one. Chasing back wheels is as good as a pass if you know there is at least a chance of passing. If there isn't, its not much better than them being strung out.

Glad you saw that Mr B because I thought my eyes were deceiving me - he almost ran out in front of them, and I saw Deek have a word afterwards. Whoever he is, he shouldn't be on the centre green ever again. Workington won't be the only side to get stuffed at Armadale but they were poor. Maybe the collapse at Redcar had something to do with it but the high expectations for the side at the start of the year have fallen somewhat flat. One last point : I was annoyed at paying full price for a programme that was two weeks old, had an insert and wasn't even a Workington one. That's just a rip off and promotions who complain about fans switching to race sheets from the internet should look at their own practices before mouthing off.

Beware of met office forecasts. At 3pm this afternoon they said it would be 'heavy rain' at armadale at this time. Just taken my coat off because I am too hot.

After five heats or so this looked like it was going to be a nightmare meeting - a gate and go hammering with no interest bar the amount of dust. It turned into a cracker, the sort of match that has everyone coming back for more. It had the lot - some cracking racing, a knife edge finish, an amazing come back and even the likes of a starting gate breakdown and some (almost) harmless handbags on the terraces. Credit to redcar for never giving up and workington for their part in a thoroughly entertaining spectacle.

I agree Lambert and Cook over Harris & Stead for me too.

I'd have said Morton & Collins too. Niemi & Simmons at Wimbledon in the early 80's were pretty handy. Best team ride I have ever seen, though, was at Scunny in 2005 - Richie Dennis & Grant Hayes.

Park Road, Barrow. Only went there once but I'll never forget it. Now SBA, Plymouth. Beautiful area, great track, top fans.

All personal opinion but....... Leicester I agree on.......but Kent is worse. You can't pass on the banking at Redcar (particularly the outside) because the track preparation is poor. When Glyn Taylor was there, you most certainly could and I'd say it went from one of the best racing tracks to one of the worst when Havelock took over. Its been better recently but still nothing like it was. Buxton certainly isn't narrow but I don't go there because the track is awful. Weymouth was small and narrow - the first bend was particularly scary - but I still liked it. I never went to Trelawny but as far as I am concerned Plymouth is one of the best.The first bends there are like no other track in the country. Somerset is also one of the best, Scunthorpe is the best. Birmingham simply hasn't been as good as it used to be. The three best meetings I have seen this season have been at Belle Vue, Lakeside and Glasgow In my experience the quality of the racing is more about preparation than size or shape.

I'd agree with that. It was too slick and dry. That is a real shame because STMP, prepared properly, is as good a racing track as anywhere. One person deserves credit for the running of the meeting: the referee, Jim Lawrence. He kept things going at a brisk pace and it was all over in 90 minutes with an interval. One or two others could learn from that.

i was there that day and amazingly he only broke an ankle thanks to the fact that he landed on the dog track.

I will always call it as I see it. I prefer to be praiseworthy but if I am critical so be it. I doubt if I will be back this season. That's principally because its a long way to go on a Monday night but also because what I saw last time was awful. Why would I want to do that again when there has been no sign of improvement ? I agree with Nikko. The stadium is fantastic, the best in the country. Get someone in who is going to put on a show and get rid of those who are running it into the ground.

I'd agree with pretty much every word of this One of the more annoying things about my visit at Easter was how long the meeting was taking.When it became clear that the curfew might be breached, things speeded up spectacularly.

I don't think its dangerous, its just rubbish (to be fair, Cityrebel is usually pretty straight in his opinions). I went a couple of times last season and it was awful then and when I went at Easter it was just as bad if not worse. The chalk base was showing after a few heats, there was no racing whatsoever and the meeting took 3 hours to run. What's worse, there was (and maybe still is) a question mark about rider safety because the medical staff refused to bring the ambulance onto the track when there was a crash in heat 11. I use it now as an example of everything that is bad with speedway on match days.

I'm not sure that's completely true. A team that usually holds its own at home but offers excellent entertainment on the track can do well. I know that Mildenhall in 2007 increased their gates by 15% on the previous season despite a bottom half of the table position, several home defeats and a less than powerful line up. The thing was it was (and still is) one of the best racing tracks in the country. Glasgow yesterday is also a case in point. Two teams at the bottom of the PL table produced an excellent match with a narrow home win thrown in. I have little doubt if they have most of their meetings like that, they'll do OK. Kent's real problem to me is not the team but the track. Its nothing less than appalling and, in my view, the worst in the country. Even if they had a winning team, I still wouldn't go.

I think you are dead right. Workington is always one of my favourite places for an away trip (might surprise some, but it is). The run up there is through the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District (easily the best one I do) and then there's the Waverley & the Henry Bessemer for overnight stays and cheap beer (about half what I paid in East Anglia) and good food. The track has usually been pretty good under previous promotions although, like some, I was put off by Denham's constant carping. The current promotion have really upped the game where that's concerned, with little but positivity. I like Steve Whitehead & John Walsh doing the presentation and given that its £14 for parking (outside the stadium) entry and programme its as cheap as most NL clubs. The equivalent at Glasgow is £20.50. Bit more shale on the track and it seems to me that the Comets have got it all just about spot on. I'll certainly be coming back a couple more times at least. If you read the Sheffield threads about Wells, that's exactly what they thought about him. I think its simply the impression that he gives rather than fact. I am a Barker fan and on Saturday everyone saw why.

It is truly said that violence is the haven of the unintelligent. Take care of yourself and yours. Priceless.

'Glamorous'