George Dodds

well if he needs something to drink he can always buy a programme!! From the Bandits' Facebook Page "Shielfield Park is the place to be in Berwick this Saturday night and we are feeling generous... Simply purchase your match day magazine and receive a free drink voucher! Cash in your voucher at any Bandits outlet on Saturday night and receive any beverage of your choice on us" Also repeating the Kids for Free ticket and prize draw - winner gets a Bandits' Junior Bodycolour - which proved very popular on its debut against Sheffield. If the youngsters haven't got a ticket through their schools Buddy will have some at the turnstiles and they are available from the Box Office entrance too.

Only Saturday night isn't the most spectator friendly any more. For those who watch speedway there is live GP on ten of those Saturdays. Two more are taken up by the Speedway of Nations. Two weeks ago the BBC screened the FA Cup Final, this weekend pubs will be full of people watching the Champions League final, the Cricket World Cup will have live games on a Saturday, Wimbledon tennis. While I support a Saturday night club it faces all these alternatives and it is affecting crowds. We're not the only game in town on a summer Saturday any more.

Fair point but the likes of Cowdenbeath, Skegness, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Wimbledon, Buxton, Paisley, Weymouth, Wembley, Sunderland, White City, Oxford, Rochdale - dare I say it, Rye House - all remained as stadiums - and some still do - for decades long after the speedway had pulled the plug.

To be fair it also had something to do with Danny King, Drew Kemp, Broc Nichol and especially Kyle Howarth as well. Sheffield were the first team to arrive at Shielfield this season with all of the riders willing to get stuck in and race. Newcastle and Glasgow had a couple but were mostly passengers, Edinburgh just couldn't be arsed with the exception of Luke Ruddick. Virtually every point on Saturday was earned the hard way and that led to close racing, errors under applied pressure, crashes, a visiting side comeback. Mind you someone on here reckons it was the worst meeting of the season so far ... Seems you can't please some - or maybe they had their whinge set to auto-publish at 21.05

well Joanne Howe posted on Facebook that she had set off for Berwick with bikes on board so ....

He's not even editor of the Speedway Star ... although he used to be. Why isn't the OP demanding the same investigation from the Birmingham Mail?

Berwick does

hard to disagree really - although when riders were paid less and crowds higher tracks still went bust so, while it's the big problem it's obviously not the only one

Suppose it depends how far back you go. Certainly in the 70s a bike blowing - John Jackson, Dougie Templeton, Mark Perram, Colin Farquharson, Dave Baugh all spring to mind. was the end of the night even for some of the big names. The track spare was a bit of a myth I think, some tracks had an old clunker left in the corner. Right about jumping on other people's bikes though but I suppose that was easier in the days of standard parts and set ups. All progress is progress but not all progress is good

to be honest I think it always has been - even going back in the day. But we expect a level of professionalism from riders which was unthinkable 30 year ago - imagine the howls of abuse if a number one rider turned up with one bike, it blew up and he withdrew from the meeting as used to happen quite regularly - but still want them to cut their costs.

and at the end of the season we will see whether it has worked or whether, despite the increase in crowds, the books balance. I really hope they do but look at Glasgow who do everything you say with bells on and are losing a shedload of cash. Main cost for all promotions is riders' wages, I would imagine that stadium rental, insurance and medical cover vie for second place. Some say they can't afford to go every week, others say that racing every other week isn't good enough - not whingeing as I often get accused of, just pointing out that one fix does not necessarily fit all.

Matty Wethers guesting for Etheridge on Saturday with r/r for Jacobsen at two

excellent news ... always enjoyed the Tiggers fans at Shielfield, they help to create a cracking atmosphere

It was and of course it was quite a bit wider, especially on the straights and the fence was along the line that the current wall takes. No need for a netural zone in those days. Start/finish was just in front of the football tunnel, leading to a much longer drag race to the first bend. Not too great metrically but believe 440 yards is 402 metres

was also 34 metres longer!

Fairly certain you'll find there is somewhere outside the turnstile to collect so, no, you won't have to pay twice

Berwick is 4099 for football (1,366 seated) - probably squeeze a few hundred more in for speedway. On the non-league website Glasgow's capacity is stated at 3,500 with 600 seats -again that's for football.

but you have to admite his attempt to introduce "inconsideration" into the English language

Strange thing is while often a lack of passing in a meeting is, in some minds, held as proof of a lack of entertainment; Trownson over the Owens, Powell over Hancock and Hamill, Dougie Wyer blocking every move from Ivan Mauger and Denis Sigalos at Sheffield are races that still stick in my mind. Speedway Updates would have dismissed them all as: FTG. Good racing isn't just passing and repassing - although a good swoop from high on the banking never did any fan any harm!

no, no both of them in the same race and when DT was an frustratingly inconsistent reserve, before he stepped up a notch or two. Genuinely the stuff of legend

Good reserve pairing with FLINT .... (Gary) be a pretty good average reduction surely?

Gary Barlow''s a Bandit?

Not just the promoters - some of the fans who post on here should be avoided at all costs too

Which, depending on how you view it, either makes it more difficult or easier than for someone who had just five races on one night of the year.

On riding ability yes but - as with Collins at the British Final in 1978 - engine failures, a fall, lousy track conditions or annoying a belligerent referee could see you fail to qualify from any given round. No wildcards to cover your box office appeal or guarantee of qualification for the next season by finishing in the top eight of any given season. I'm sure Tai's quality would have shone through but bad luck could have robbed him of the chance of even reaching a World Final