Vince

I remember he constantly amazed me by getting drive off corners when other top riders struggled

The characters are out there but if they dare show any 'characterful' behaviour they will be fined a couple of weeks wages! Forget the double points rule, play offs etc, sanitising the sport is what is really killing it. Mad, bad and dangerous will always pull a crowd - family friendly won't.

Brilliant thing for Chris Harris to do, hopefully more British riders will do similar things as I believe help from the experienced riders is the main reason for the Aussies having so many youngsters making the grade.

16 year old Oliver Brindley who finished second by a hair in this years British Championship is currently in America after being invited to race at their Super Prestigio event in Las Vegas next weekend. As a warm up to this he competed Saturday and Sunday at Perris Raceway against some of Americas (and therefore the Worlds) best riders. On Saturday he won his heat race which qualified him directly to the main where he finished 5th. An outstanding result given that the race was won by the current Champion Jared Mees and the rider finishing directly behind Oliver was Sammy Halbert who was 4th overall in the American Championship. On the Sunday Oliver finished 3rd overall with Halbert winning and a couple of the top guys not racing but still plenty of big names in the field. So next time somebody writes on here that the standard of racing in the UK is poor and nothing like in America there is now evidence that is not true. There isn't the strength in depth the USA has but our best half dozen are all around Olivers standard. Oliver will be at Vegas next weekend then in Barcelona on December 12th along with a few other British riders to take on not only the best Flat track racers but some of the best MotoGP riders in Marquez's Super Prestigio event.

Must just be me that thinks nobody ever HAD to watch Speedway, sorry for being so thick. I always assumed that we ALL had a choice of what we spent our money on when it came to TV. I choose to spend mine on making sure I can watch Moto GP and Speedway GP while what is on Sky isn't worth paying extra for. That's a CHOICE as far as I'm concerned and one that is open to everybody!

You're not being forced to do anything other than prioritise your spending same as in every other area of life. By your logic I have been forced to not have holidays over the years because motorcycle racing is expensive.

Cancelled my complete Sky package a couple of months ago when they wouldn't offer me fibre optic broadband at the same price they would a new customer. Went to BT for phone, broadband and TV saved £20 a month and get BT Sport thrown in so I'm happy. Moto GP coverage is superb and if they offer the same professionalism for SGP then it can only be a good thing. For first time ever this year I hadn't subscribed to Sky Sports for the Speedway season as I have to watch recordings because of work and quite often was spending the money for 15 minutes viewing a week. In all honesty I've not missed the league all that much but I would certainly miss the GP's

He will rightly be proud of riding at the very highest level of the sport for x number of years. Something that every rider who hasn't quite made that level would love to be able to look back on. Certainly something that all those who never even had the balls to try shouldn't be trying to take away from him!

In so many ways I agree with HA, the one issue is that there's not a queue of young people with fresh ideas waiting to put their money in.

Seems like every committee that ever existed will have those in it or those administering it who will try to influence things far beyond what their official capacity should be. I doubt the BSPA are much different in that way to most sports. I don't for the life of me get the continual criticism of Speedway promoters there may well be a couple I wouldn't pee on if they were on fire but I still accept that it's their time and money that keeps the sport going. Far from making a fortune out of killing the sport they must generally be trying not to lose the one they made elsewhere keeping it afloat. I have my opinion on how things could be improved and there is no doubt that it is far too difficult for new promoters to get things changed but in many cases the 'old' promoters are the ones who have managed to survive while others went to the wall so perhaps they have a valid point. Then it gets into the ideas that having set race nights will be the saviour of the sport. Can't see how it'll bring the massive influx of new fans in myself, losing a couple of tracks to it would lower overall crowd levels in my opinion. Same with guests, riding abroad and so on, its just more of the tinkering that the BSPA gets accused of at this time every year. That tinkering can help slow the demise but none of it will ever make the sport popular with the general public again. The only way that can happen is with a complete overhaul that changes the image of the sport and then I suspect most of us would be complaining that it's not the sport we loved any more. My opinions are just that, not necessarily solutions and I could be wrong on some or all counts. Since its not my money at risk they are worth very little in the scheme of things! Perhaps that's worth remembering by all of us.

Over the past 4 years I've had quite a few chats with Len about all sorts of things and not seen any signs at all of him 'losing the plot' He's an old feller now and pretty set in his ways but I have not had any problems getting on with him. While this forum is full of those who I am sure know more about the statistics and theory of the sport there is nobody that I can think of who could even get close to his practical knowledge of Speedway. I've been around too many years now but when he talks about anything Speedway whether that be tracks, riding or riders I listen because he knows a hell of a lot more than me.

It's been said before but make a 2 valve Jawa short stroke with light flywheels (which is what would happen) and it wouldn't be even slightly more reliable than what you have now.

Something that could be done that would improve safety is to have a secret ballot of riders when they have complained about track conditions. I have seen situations where riders have been put under pressure by their promoters/ managers to continue with a meeting and there's absolutely no point in asking Ms Vardy or the like to make a decision on whether a track is safe to ride. As for making more protective clothing compulsory I would really disagree. To my way of thinking all riders know the risks and are probably the best placed to decide what they need. You need rules about the minimum sensible requirements but the rest should be down to the people at risk to decide.

Racing is to be split into two meetings. All the Youth classes, Minibikes and Rookies will race in the morning with practice starting at 10.30 and racing following straight on. Pro, Restricted, Thunderbike and Vintage classes will practice at 1.30 and start racing immediately practice is finished. What else can you do for free on a Sunday afternoon that would be so much fun!! I'm No 95 and if you're not too embarrassed after seeing me ride then come and say Hi.

Have to say that I really dislike Graham Drury but in this case think the wrong person is getting the stick. The rule is there for good reason and it doesn't take a lot of effort to ask permission, Somerset must have been mad not to considering it was Drury's riders they wanted to use. Riders might be self employed but like most small companies they have to keep their main customers happy and I can also understand Birmingham not wanting them riding in friendlies at the moment. One meeting at this stage of the season isn't going to make a world of difference to their progress.

To look at this from another angle I have been racing motorcycles of one form or another for 40 years on and off and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have enjoyed it half so much if it wasn't dangerous. It is an inherent part of motorcycle sport and one that the competitors are aware of and talk to most of them and they are actually quite proud of past injuries. Having said that nobody wants to see people seriously hurt if it can be avoided so there are things that can and probably should be done but in my opinion if you get over obsessed with health and safety you could ruin what is an important part of the sport for the competitors. You only have to look at how society in general has become much more safety conscious while extreme sports have become more popular. Many young men in particular like danger and those are the lads that might come into Speedway. They are also the people who will come and watch a spectacular and dangerous sport if anyone ever tells them what it's like!

The final round of the Dirt track/ short track Championship takes place at Rye House on 13th September. Most of the Championships are still up for grabs with the gap between the top two in the Pro Class being a single point. Young Oliver Brindley currently leads Aidan Collins by a single point and with the British Champion also getting an automatic entry and their flights paid for the Super Prestigio event in Las Vegas you can be sure there will be no quarter asked or given. Also in the mix will be the Neave twins who aren't in the running to win the Championship after missing rounds to compete in Road Racing but will be out to prove that they are as fast as anybody. Current third place rider and star of the 'how low can you go' video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3ryMrVl0gg many will have seen on Facebook or youtube Alan Birtwhistle will also be looking to end the season with a victory. The Pro class is getting more competitive every year and the racing is generally fierce with twelve riders on the track at a time. Other classes include Vintage, Thunderbike, mini bike, Restricted (intermediate) and Rookies. Rye House suits the bikes so the racing is good and spectating is free. I will post a schedule as soon as I know it.

I'd rather see riders made to sit still and then only penalised if they touch the tapes. Generally starts are much more even now than they were in the days when rolling was allowed. That's what I want to see, 4 riders coming out of the start at the same time.

I thought that in his first race Tai proved that he is the best rider in the world at the moment and could well go on to be one of the best of all time. His ability to find grip and set up a pass from any part of the track is unbelievable. Recently I have thought his attitude on TV had improved a great deal and was very disappointed with the swearing. Like most I swear at work and use those same words all the time but I wouldn't do so in a room full of kids or older people which is effectively what he did. The first one was understandable the second one arrogance in my opinion. If he were to start his next GP interview with an apology he would impress those who feel like myself and undo any harm I'm sure. Good GP with some very hard racing, good job it wasn't NP pulling some of those moves as this topic would be 100 pages by now :-)

LGV drivers can actually drive for a maximum of 56 hours per week or 90 hours in two weeks. You can work for more hours than that though and are allowed to do three 15 hour days per week with the rest being 13 hours max. It's all very complicated though and nothing is as straight forward as it seems, as you'd expect of any EU legislation that could be really easy to understand given a bit of thought. My standard hours are 65 per week of nights and I would love to be paid to race motorcycles even if it was in different countries and a bit busy sometimes!! Something I would add is that although the superstars are riding in different countries and spend a lot of time travelling they tend to have somebody else driving. The real worry would be PL and NL riders who are working and getting themselves to meetings, their hours could be really long at times.

Don't think a rev limiter would be any different to over revving an engine which happens all the time now.

It's always going to be difficult to come up with a tyre solution as they need to be consistent and as soon as you provide less grip they will soften the engines further to compensate and it wouldn't be long before you were back to square one. That's not to say tyres couldn't be part of an overall plan. The different tyres for conditions is unlikely because the numbers wouldn't be high enough to interest any manufacturer at a sensible cost.

Unfortunately riders need every ounce of traction at times. Personally I would hate to see any device bought into the sport that took control from the riders.

I'm convinced that Bream has it absolutely right in his last post. It's not about the amount of power that is produced but how it's produced. If you choose to reduce power by lowering the capacity limit you would potentially be making that band where the bike is rideable even narrower and therefore 50hp could be a whole lot more dangerous than 75hp. Unlike just about any other motor sport wheelspin is safer than grip. I still think a minimum stroke coupled to a rev limiter would be the way to go rather than worry about hp figures. Maybe give free rein engine wise to the GP but in my mind there is no doubt that long stroke engines with heavier flywheels would make bikes easier to ride and set up.

Is anywhere open for practice over the August Bank Holiday weekend? The further south the better but I need to get out somewhere.