salty

I've never been a fan of Tai. I didn't like the way he got fast forwarded into the GP series and I loathed the "Woffy,Woffy,Woffy" hero worship he got from the Shouty twins. Certainly when he was younger he came across as a "Charmless Nurk" (copywright Norman Stanley Fletcher) when interviewed. But I hope he goes through the card on Saturday and the fans at Cardiff wave their flags in his honour, because maybe, maybe we could then put this bloody thread to bed. Edit: And I hope he doesn't sing that poxy National Anthem either.

Pretty sure that Rory's charity or foundation sponsor the Irish Open. It is the only European Tour event held in Ireland and he plays in it.

Seriously? Granted it was poor stuff, but we have seen plenty of poor meetings over the years. Nothing will be more damaging and embarrassing than the Belle Vue/Poole fixture a couple of years ago. That was a disgrace.

I liked watching Berwick last week. Good to see different tracks covered. Swindon can be boring, particularly when the home team are gating and the away team are wick. Tonight is poor. Edit: even dull when the Bees gate.

Yes.

Stadium Scratch Race (Heat 1) Andrews, Coombes, Wakefield, Gooch 71.2 SSR (2) Trigg, Gardner, McGillivray, Etheridge 72. Talent Stakes Colin Tucker, Mick Holmes, Keith Teasdale, T Chamberlain 77. SSR (3) Wakefield, Leonard, Bass, Tucker 72. Tucker replaced Gary Middleton who had left the stadium in the back of Len Silver's car. Reserves Stakes Coombes, Wakefield, Tucker, Etheridge (exc) Late Night Scurry Holmes, Teasdale, Gerard Scott, Errol Brook (f) Stadium Final Andrews, Leonard, Wakefield, Trigg (ef) 71.

Thoroughly enjoyed that. Racing might not have been out of the top drawer, but everything else about the meeting was. Great to see such a super turn-out having such an enjoyable time at a Speedway meeting. As for Danny Ayres - might have only won Heat 2 but the crowd obviously loved his celebration - which is surely the main thing?

Hard to believe as many as 1% voted to say that the Elite League was fine as it is. Not surprised that Matt is looking for change - it's crazy that Pirates have hardly had a home fixture in the month of June. I was brought up on weekly Speedway so I feel that continuity is a positive but it was only a couple of years ago that Bob Dugard at Eastbourne was looking to limit fixtures. Hard to see clubs being attracted up to the Elite after the issues that Leicester have faced this year. Matt would have to be very accommodating with that asset list to get enough clubs willing to move up.

We have the benefit of the replays to show that often the "jumped" starts are a lot of the time going with the magnets. The ref only has a few seconds to decide and it is easy to err on the side of caution and pull them back.

Give me a couple of days and I'll get the details for the Hackney match.

I have programmes for a number of those home matches. Give us a couple of days to dig them out and I'll e-mail you the details.

My mistake. I should have known Jimmy Mac had gone over to the dark side by then. Mitch Graham was the other Viking.

Is the right answer.

Hackney should have had, firstly, Zenon Plech and then his replacement Jerzy Rembas (I think). Neither showed, hence the RR facility. They also lost top man Dave Morton to injury early on in the season, so ran with guests most of the year. As for Hull, only thing I can think off is Briggo had finished at the end of '76 and they hadn't replaced him! But they ran practically all year with McMillan, Beaton, Drury, Owen, Caruso and Auffret.

Enjoyed the anecdote about the end of his time at Oxford and the actions of Colin Horton and Aaron Lanney. Was a Plough Lane regular during Todd's time there and it was no surprise he got on a World Final rostrum. Guess we'll never know how good he would have been because the injury stopped him riding for so many years. In reply to a poster on the previous page whilst Dave Lanning called Toddy the "fastest alive over the first 25", it was very much "Rip Snortin'" Ray Morton!

Has anyone told Starry he's been deposed?

Not just Russia, but the Gaffer used to ride for Vladivostock on the Eastern seaboard

I wonder what Tai had for lunch? Hopefully it would be good old British fare.

Apart from Lambert we got 3 second places - hardly sensational. But good experience.

I'm guessing not wanting to clash with the football Edit: beat by a minute Nick.

Dave Shields came back to Cradley in 1981 and was a big part of us winning the league (definitely still had a "spark"). The longer the season went on the more effective he got and whist John McNeill and Bent Rasmussen struggled, Dave was the vital back up from reserve to the top 4. Would have been interesting to see how far he would have got but he never came back to the UK after '81.

Paul Whitaker springs to mind. Used to see him blast around before he reached his 16th birthday and thought he was going to be a massive star, but never really fulfilled that promise even before he got some rotten luck with injuries.

Brian, isn't this the same position as Oxford and Wimbledon? RCP owned those stadia (through their purchase of GRA) on the back of loans that ended up in the control of NAMA (the Irish bad debts). GRA have been owned by RCP for over 10 years and there is no question the acquisition wasn't to run dog tracks, but to build houses with the help of their "friends" at Galliard Homes.

1969 was my first full season watching the sport. Saw Poole get beat at Cradley early in the season, but was then lucky enough to be at Wimborne Road later in the season (we were on holiday in Bournemouth) when the Pirates beat Glasgow. By then they were close to clinching the title. Mudge, Smith, Fossengen, Cribb, Guasco, Laessing and Shuter can still remember the great atmosphere that night.

Irrelevant. Someone - "Sommelier" - asked if he would see you at the Watermills on the 21st. I think it is reasonable, given your obvious links to Wimbledon and Facebook, that you would have known what he was talking about. But you didn't and also said you would not be attending. Yet within a day you have been "asked" to help publicise the event. As I said - strange.