Al Stewart

You shouldn't be too harsh, the point is to let everyone know asap, but most importantly stop visiting riders and fans travelling. George let Edinburgh know early enough, which is very much appreciated. I was on a bus into town, Matthew Wethers had driven up his driveway but no further, etc. Of course once we've been told it spreads like wildfire.

He's never ridden Armadale. Unfortunately Garrity now confirmed as not riding.

But it would have been far better without the stupid jokers. All teams might have used them but don't forget Poland got an additional Gollob ride out of theirs as well. They were only so far behind because they had gate 1 early on. Without the jokers it might then have come down to the final race deciding the World Cup, and we would not have had eg Davey Watt choosing to drop to the back to get his team 6 down. It's not cheating, it the consequences of pathetic rules. I can't think of anything so poor in any other sport. Speedway's rulemakers have so little faith in the innate excitement of their own sport that they create cynical rules which virtually guarantee a close contest, but not a fair one. The racing was great but it's hard to enjoy it when the rules are so dreadful.

Once again speedway's pitiful rules get in the way of fairness and enjoyment of the event. How can anyone justify the home team being allowed to bring in the world champion on double points to replace a duffer, just because they have done badly so far? Pathetic, again.

Bad luck if you went.

I don't think so. All you have to do with a joker is get 3 extra points. You can't do any better than that, there's no point in delaying on the off-chance you might get another shot at it. Handed an obvious free gift chance with Holder the first time, he didn't do it. He is totally clueless.

I accept the point that there should be reasonable recompense, of course, and obviously pandorum's post sensibly covers the situation. I don't agree with the statement that nobody owes anybody anything though. It is more than just a commercial situation. Riders earning a fortune should at least show some signs of considering the paying public (as should promoters and administrators).

The principle of not appearing, and letting down the fans who arranged to go to the meeting in the hope of seeing him, is not an acceptable one for any reason whatsoever.

There is no justification whatever for that average. What's the point in bringing in new rolling average rules to try to get a grip on average fiddling - then handing out farcical assessed averages based on a whim. He has been here before and has never stopped racing so he should be on a converted average from his previous stint.

Thanks very much for your efforts in posting these results. Pity not all of the Vikings made it over.

Having spotted the post about wikipedia that seems to answer it.

Does anyone know how progressive totals are calculated? Do points scored in the final count?

Remind me how he knew he was going to get a second chance to use the joker?

Nothing against the Aussies who I like but I am delighted the joker scored nil. Now it becames a fair contest. And Boyce should be sacked.

I agree. He might get away with it but he was gambling on his riders continuing to do badly. A meeting with three teams battling for two places really shows up the stupidity of having the joker rule, when it can be the deciding factor in qualifying.

What is the point in having the stupid Joker rule if a thicko like Boyce doesn't use it when it is obvious that he should? He was the guy who didn't tell Jason to throttle back last year and stop giving the Poles a joker chance. It's about time he was sacked. Or better still, ditch the joker rule.

Are the lineups for the other rounds a state secret?

A reminder of how good the ITV coverage of Speedway was in the 70s and 80s.

Robin and Ross Martakies were brothers, both wrote about speedway.

Motherwell's colours were black and white as you say, and Len's brother was Stan Williams who rode mainly at Sheffield - couldn't say if he was clerk of the course at Newport though.

I have just received some very bad news from Muir Templeton, that his uncle Willie is extremely unwell with cancer of the marrow and hasn't been given long to live. He is in Ward 7, Victoria Hospital, Fife if anyone wanted to make contact. Willie Templeton as most will know was an Edinburgh Monarch, a Glasgow Tiger and a Berwick Bandit between the early fifties and the late seventies, and was guest of honour at the Scottish VSRA dinner in February. He seemed at that time to be fit and well.

I was at Wembley too having done a bunk rather rudely from a friend's wedding celebrations in Southampton. Earlier I had attended the famous Poland v Russia match at Halifax in which Zenon Plech made his UK debut. Great stuff.

Speedway doesn't recruit anyone, people come to the sport to watch / compete of their own accord and no-one would ever be turned away. It has long been a mystery why hardly anyone other than white people take an interest in speedway but it is nevertheless a fact. Interests and abilities differ between races in all sorts of ways.

As always your comments are very interesting, especially good to hear about Andrew who I must confess I thought might do even better on current form. I've put this quote in the Monarchs' programme for those who are not internet types to enjoy.

This is far too harsh and understates the difficulty of racing on continental tracks against riders who know the circuits.