Halifaxtiger

I am told (although this has to be verified) that Dan Bewley and Jack Smith have been given permission to miss the Colts meeting on the Isle of Wight on Tuesday by Belle Vue. Can someone tell me the difference between that and what Peterborough have done because I can't see one. Presumably whatever punishment Peterborough and Holder get (if any) will be applied to Belle Vue as well. This is just not on. Isle of Wight work extremely hard to ensure promotion of speedway on the Island and are then treated with contempt by another club.

In actual fact, Leander is right. You can't compare the two. My comment was a response to the remark that you can't miss a meeting even with a club's permission. Quite clearly, you can.

Steve Worrall did the other night for the birth of his child. I think there's huge difference between a rider just not turning up and one who is given permission by his club to be absent. In the first, it is completely down to him, absolutely no-one else. In the second, the club must bear the overwhelming responsibility for him not being there because they have agreed to it. It is almost akin to the difference between an employee going AWOL and one being granted leave. To me, Rathbone takes most of the can. Holder might deserve a ban and/or fine, but nothing to the extent that his brother does.

I think you have a very fair point here, but lets not forget Jack was given permission to miss meetings by his promoter, Chris wasn't. As such, Jack can simply point to that. If we are looking at blame in Jack's case, that must principally lie with the Peterborough promotion.

It was. Heeps was pretty impressive during the whole meeting but he was beatable, and there was only one place Mountain was going to finish. However, they gated in front and stayed there. Slightly subdued afternoon at EWR with racing not quite up to the usual standard. Scunny were inconsistent and the weakness of having a high scoring reserve was shown up today when he didn't high score. I also thought the referee's decision in heat 14 was absolutely correct (and had a very good view) and that Aarnio was lucky to be in the second running of that race because it seemed to me he baled out on both occasions. Douglas unlucky when Schleen (whoever that bloke in the box is, get rid of him) hit him; it shouldn't need a fall for a rider to be excluded.

Not quite certain what weather forecast you are looking at.

After some of the riders comments about Peterborough last Sunday (Craig Cook, for instance) it is extremely clear (although I have known it for a very long time) that what riders like from a track and what fans like are often very different. Problem is, the way I see it in more cases than not riders get what they want.

No, it wasn't. Given the apparent weakness of the opposition, the missing Fricke and Tungate and, most of all, the weather (it was chucking it down as I pulled of the M60) that was hardly surprising.

Not often I get it right. The Aces are weakened considerably without Fricke and especially Tungate. No rider on his average is a replacement for just how good he can be at NSS. Having said that, take nothing away from the Stars. This was a performance full of fight and determination. ​I can think of one or two. They have simply been shown up to be what they are by other riders. Remarkably, the racing improved after the rain - albeit the light, misty kind - came down after heat 10 as it had been a bit gate and go before that (to be fair, the track was very wet). Dan showed a bit of inexperience in heat 14 by going so wide he ended up in the quagmire near the fence and went from first to last but otherwise another good performance. Bjerre was imperious again and a word for Jack Smith - a real battling effort. Cookie, sadly, still looks out of sorts. As everyone has said though, big thanks to the riders for carrying on in difficult conditions without a complaint

At the track. Its pretty wet but the rain has stopped. Can't see a postponement if there is no more. I think this will be tighter than some might suggest.

Try and get Hoggy involved. Its no coincidence that he wasn't there for that PR disaster against Sheffield.

You're both dead right but, lets face it, some are more neutral than others. I quite fancy the Eastern Russia track.... The Sheffield track has been a lot better recently, its reasonably well located and it can offer the size and corporate facilities that a meeting of this quality needs. My preference would be Belle Vue, because it offers all the advantages that Sheffield does but is more neutral and can run on a Saturday night, which is surely better than a late Sunday afternoon. It has to be recognised, though, that at Sheffield the home crowd would turn up in usual (if not increased) numbers. That's not necessarily the case at the NSS.

Workington did it, disastrously, the other week. 45 minutes for three heats. Heat 10 at 90 minutes so they decided to take an interval, pushing the meeting over 2 hours. One race then they had a sun break. Thing is some delays can't be helped (and that does possibly include sun breaks). But if that is the case, everything possible must be done to make sure there are no others. People go to speedway to watch speedway, not to stand around getting cold, bored and frustrated.

Ok, so Cook, Worrall and Bewley have home advantage. They'll all be competing against each other (although its unlikely Bewley will ride), and its 1 per team. Much better than all 4 in one team not competing against each other. I'm with Buxton Tiger and I fail to see why it can't be a Saturday night. Surely having it in a superb stadium with a fantastic track that is as neutral as possible is the best that can be hoped for ?

I really didn't notice the difference when they did ride so it can't have been that bad.

Either that or you are going deaf, Gem

Thanks only to the brilliant Dan Bewley, there will be a lot worse. His contribution turned a true and complete disaster into something just about worth watching.

He is a championship No 1 and there isn't much of a difference. Thing is, though, he was utterly pathetic and I hope he was heavily fined. With the Grand Monarch in charge, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. That score really doesn't go anywhere near justifying just how important he was to this meeting. He fought for every point and his brilliant passing moves turned a ruin of a match into something almost worth watching. Star of the show by miles. Thomas and Lambert weren't interested, Garrity was worse and we had to put with Peter York and his inane drivel, for heavens sake. One interesting point : McGregor apparently refused permission for a sun break which caused several toys to be thrown out in the pits.

The chap at the car park entrance said that the speedway is off tonight but they have put on a circus instead......

I think we have been living with them from March. Its rare indeed you see a meeting without them.

Looking at the Met Office forecast, there areonly light showers in the morning and a 30-40% of late showers early evening. XC weather (which is usually more accurate) has no rain at all. I suppose they could do a King's Lynn and say that the weather has been bad and the forecast is poor when it hasn't and isn't.

I was at STMP and I'd describe the track as very poor rather than unfit. Massive crowd that night, the only time I have ever watched speedway from the 3rd bend there. Speaking of opening nights, I was at Barrow in 1985. KO Cup 2nd leg v Exeter. The facilities were spartan to say the least and the pits had apparently blown away in a high wind during the preceding week. It was absolutely freezing and the first few heats took ages. Then the lights went out. This was traced to the generator which had failed, but it was fine because the tractor could be used. Someone ran across the centre green, jumped on the tractor and proceeded to drive it away only for it stop. Cue man with petrol can. Tractor on its way, lights on, ragged cheer. One race later, huge bang, lights out, meeting abandoned. It might be bizarre, but its a meeting I'll never forget and one that I don't remember with anger, regret or disappointment.

The problem is most people don't just go to speedway for the sport itself but to actually see their team. I think its an acknowledged fact that in most cases if a track closes those who attended simply drift away from the sport rather than going elsewhere. If its not your team - in other words it is packed with guests - it will almost certainly put people off going, especially those travelling. I support the guest system, but in recent seasons it has become nothing less than ridiculous with meetings without them becoming almost non existent in the top two divisions. In most sports, winning counts hugely for a paying spectator. Such is the passion for the team that watching them lose is so depressing it is better not to go. In my experience, this applies to speedway more than most. No, televised meetings aren't better than live ones. The only thing is if a meeting is crap if you are at home you can just turn it off.

Kent v Mildenhall 04/05/14. In 750 or so meetings since 2004, still the worst I have seen anywhere.

Slightly bigger than normal but well down on last week I thought. If it counts for anything, I went because of how good it was last week. Daresay I'm not alone.