Al Stewart

Looking at the team Newcastle put out, the performances of some of those who did ride, and the length of time taken to run the meeting, you have to seriously worry about what the attendance will be for next Sunday when Workington are the visitors.

There is no reason why you should not get a guest up to Bach's average.

The rule is this: 16.5.2.2 No facility is permitted to replace a rider, who although included in a Re-declaration has not made an appearance for that Team since being re-declared. So clearly according to that there should be no facility. It's stupid of course, the point of the rule is to stop teams deliberately signing an injured rider to get a facility. It should not apply here but because of the poorly written rule, it might.

The situation with averages is not hard to understand. At the start of the season – If a rider rode in last year’s Prem and Champ then their average carried over to each league separately for 2018. Once the season starts if they are in both Prem and Champ then they develop separate Rolling Averages in each League. If they ride initially in only one or the other, then their average should they choose to take up a position in the league they have not started in, is their converted average (factor 1.3) from the league they are already riding in. The rationale would be that it is an attempt to reflect current form rather than last season’s form. Things might not be spelt out clearly in the rulebook but that is no excuse for promoters, because they can always telephone the BSPA office and ask. There really isn’t a right or wrong in these average situations, but there has to be a rule. You might think Clegg is fortunate to get a 3-point average when he was previously higher. But the flip side of that is Sam Masters who would get 10.5 if he returned to the Championship, but was only 8.57 in that league last year. He would very likely have been back in the Edinburgh team before now had the rule been different.

Can any Berwick statistician tell me where Scott stands in the list of all-time Berwick point scorers?

It's pretty unbelieveable, bikes started warming up for the rerun of heat 6 at 9:45 and if the updates are to be believed, 25 minutes later they still haven't got on the track. I certainly agree with the poster above. Surely they can't just run it to heat 10 and then expect people to think they have had their moneysworth.

When I was young Rye House was a training track staging meetings at what would now be National League level. My first visit was for I think the Ronnie Moore Trophy won by Lou Sansom. I remember Rocky Coutts and Charlie Benham being in it. Great entertainment. Then they took over from the late lamented Rayleigh and became a second-tier track. In the Infradex years they were a superb team with Garrad, Fiala, Smith, Hubbard and others (Silver, Cox etc also). Edinburgh generally got slaughtered there from 1977 onwards. Then they had some weaker sides but it was still an entertaining venue. In the Monarchs’ best years we won there quite a few times. Len Silver saved the track from extinction. Then we come to the new promotion. Presumably they have been successful in their other fields and thought they could invest and then rake in the profits. This is where other promoters should be firm. I know it isn’t easy but Speedway desperately needs to guard against naïve promoters with big ideas. Unless they are so keen and so wealthy they are prepared to lose millions, they have to be made to understand what they are getting into. Remember the Reading Bulldogs? It will be another very sad blow if we lose this historic venue.

It was no doubt similar though Morris had come down at the same time. But it makes the same point.

The rule makes no reference to whether the rider tries to clear the track or not, though that might be part of the thinking. The point is surely that the faller's team should not get benefit from his tumble?

Thank you.

It masy have been mentioned before and I've missed it, but who is commentating now on the Polish coverage on Premier Sports? It isn't Dave Goddard.

OK thanks I'm a bit behind with things like that.

Many thanks I don't think I can actually get that in my Virgin Media package, seems strange.

It looks like tonight's Premier Sports Swedish Speedway doesn't start till 10pm, with Polish following at midnight. I never really trust any info that Premier Sports put out though.

Where has Lindman gone?

This is a very unpleasant shock as I hadn't realised Dave was ill. He's one of these people you thought would always be around. I must have known him since 1970 at least and seen him at dozens of tracks. He did the souvenirs at Powderhall in the late 70s and early 80s though he wasn't there every week. When he did the souvenirs at Glasgow and Berwick with Mick Gregory in the late 80s and early 90s, they stayed with me and we had some very enjoyable weekends, going for meals or occasionally to football, which was Dave's main interest. He had been to thousands of grounds. His snoring was legendary. I'm very, very sorry I won't be seeing his cheery face any more.

I understand the club throw them away, but I will try the Barbers, thanks.

Edinburgh's away match at Peterborough was rained off on 1st October, and the programme was re-used for Workington's visit on the 6th with a wrapround. Is there anyone who has this 1st October programme and would be willing to sell it? (Ideally I am looking for 9 copies!)

I'm impressed by this post it is absolutely right. Craig is not a naturally confident person. At his best and with some decent backing to have the best engines, I believe he could do very well in the GPs. Maybe that won't happen, maybe the intense pressure he puts on himself will bring him down and make him under-perform as he sometimes does on big occasions. These are not a true reflection of his ability. I sincerely hope he does himself proud.

Generally any team wanting to be in the top league will be welcomed. Lakeside have already said it is what they want. So if that's still the case how can the losers of this Playoff be told they can't be in the top league? All this is pretty much too obvious to bother saying. At least it gives another couple of TV matches at venues which aren't seen all that often.

It's so wrong it's unbelievable. A serious shortage of riders and one who wants to come here, is blocked by people who don't know anything about the situation. Pointless rules. But would he not qualify for a new one if he got in the top four of a State Championship?

That doesn't absolve you of the requirement to post fairly if you want to be regarded as a serious poster rather than a childish irritant. Perhaps you prefer to be the latter, it's easier.

How can you chop the end off someone's quote, the part which gives the explanation why he left, and then present yourself as any kind of impartial observer. A pathetic post.

Of course there is a very strong Monarch connection with Belle Vue as well.

As I see it, you get 24 hours grace on either side of an FIM event in which you are allowed to miss meetings. Your team gets a facility. If he's had a rain-off then that effectively puts him into that situation. Had he ridden in a meeting then the facility would have been lost, you are not allowed to do that.