BWitcher

If someone posted on there that Rory Schlein was the best rider in the EL because he averaged 11.5 last season.. and you point out that he didn't.. you'd run the risk of a ban.. Seriously.

I've not been on the Newcastle site in a few years but it always impressed me as being one of the best club sites.

Anybody ask him about his accusations of cheating last year?

Karl has many good points and he does do a lot with regards to the promotion of the sport and I have nothing against him personally. However he lets himself down by encouraging idiocy on a widescale level in his group. Is he still in denial that Darcy Ward is suspended as its not a FACT?

I see nothing there of relevance to the discussion?

Haha! Firstly, yes, many thanks to the great service from all the team. Having done the updates myself many times when based in England I know it takes time and a sacrifice is made. Everyone, bar Fozzie, provides a great service. As for the idea above.. if the promoters had a way of STOPPING the updates.. they would.

That's far too long a sentence, plus it makes far too much sense for 99% of the inhabitants of that particular group.

A thread about speedway on a speedway forum? Seems a perfectly reasonable topic to discuss. Clearly some sort of personal issue going on here, which IS inappropriate for the forum.

I can, quite easily and have stated so before.

What personal attack? It is you yourself that has mentioned many times that your son took up speedway. You have many times bombarded the forum with xenophobic reasons as to why you feel your son didn't succeed.

He wants NO Aussies in British Speedway. You have to remember the underlying issue with Speedibee. His son tried speedway, got nowhere. The blame for that is everyone else's of course. Australians seem to get the brunt of it.

Fortunately xenophobic people like yourself don't usually 'get your way'. One day you'll get over it and realise, your son didn't make it because he wasn't good enough. Chris Holder made it because he was.

The irony.

No its not. Its the cost of engines. There are so many fans who have stopped going because Peter Johns charges a lot of money for riders to tune their engines. That and the fact that riders take nearly an hour to start a race. Disorganisation and the inept way British speedway is run is irrelevant compared to these factors.

Prove it.

Without intending to be offensive, you sir are one of the primary problems the sport faces. It might need to die.. along with fans with this attitude, then start again almost from scratch with a fresh, vibrant fan base.

What has that got to do with anything I said? I'm not defending Peter Johns at all. I am pointing out Peter Johns is not to blame for the decline of speedway. If you think that you're so far out of touch with reality its ridiculous.

That doesn't say much though, he could still be the best commentator in the world on that basis....

As others have said, a number of older riders either don't want to race anymore (hence they have retired) or simply can't cut it anymore. Those that still can race when they can. As SCB says, in most cases watching older riders race again you are left a tad disappointed. Bruce Penhall attempted some laps at the Billy Hamill farewell meeting but could barely slide the bike. One exception to this in my case is Sam Ermolenko, who I will still travel far and wide to see race. However, he can still cut the mustard even now.

It's another convenient excuse to blame someone like Peter Johns. The problem lies within. Utter lack of promotional ideas, organisation and in some cases application of rules is what has consistently dragged British speedway down. That causes fans to walk away from the sport, which then creates a spiral, where instead of identifying WHY they are walking away and FIXING it, they simply cut costs and make the product weaker.. which in turn causes more fans to walk away.. and the process continues year after year after year.

People just moan and moan and moan. I could think of nothing worse than 4 riders coming round to the tapes and within a couple of seconds being off into the race. Awful. A race that is built up correctly, with the right music playing and the riders introduced as they do their digging, rituals etc can be spine tingling.

No but one was asked for.

It was also a major mistake from Sam Ermolenko as that cost him a place in the top 8 and he wasn't given a wildcard for the following year, despite missing rounds through injury.

How about Greg constantly looking over his shoulder, right from Turn 2, which he doesn't and didn't do in any other race.. riding the fast line UNTIL Tai got himself into 2nd, then nicely moving over onto the inside to allow Tai by. It's happened many, many times before and will continue to happen in the future. He also got out his way in the semi, after gating he looked for Tai, tried to slow down the others, made an error as both went by at which point he immediately pulled out of Tai's way to allow him to chase. Greg's work was done, his championship already secured. I wanted Tai to win the bronze medal and have mixed thoughts on Nicki taking it. On the one hand you could say it was justice given his ridiculous exclusion and Greg's Monster Team Riding.. on the other you could say it was justice Tai got it as he had missed a round due to injury. Either way, cracking end to the season!

It was absolutely blatant. He was looking for Tai the whole race. Coming out of turn 2 1st time, he took a long look over his shoulder (which he hadn't in any previous race) and moved over to ensure he blocked the run of those in 2nd and 3rd, he kept looking and as soon as he saw it was Tai he ensured he stayed down low. He also let Tai by in the Semi-Final, he attempted to again slow down those in 2nd and 3rd, the moment they came passed him he pulled over to allow Tai to chase. I didn't have a problem with it, I was shouting at the TV for him to do it.. he obliged