4thbender

It's Thursday night (Speedway night at Sheffield) and I'm sitting at home looking for things to do (I might actually get in the garden and do a bit of weeding). Tonight's match has been "rained off" - the 41st casualty of the 2018 season (and it's barely 2 weeks old). I wonder how hard promotions are actually trying to get these fixtures going - I've seen meetings go ahead in far worse conditions than those outside today. Admittedly the weather in late March and early April has been pretty awful but, with so many blank Thursday nights planned for this summer, I wonder whether promoters are taking the view that it's an easy option to call matches off at the first sniff of moisture in the air and tell riders and fans to stay at home. Moreover, with such a dearth of matches planned for the height of the season when kids are on holiday, is it a pre-meditated plan to postpone early matches at the drop of a hat to allow the extremely thin July and August fixture lists to be "padded out" with re-runs? In the unlikely event that Sheffield fail to make the play-offs, without a load of early re-arranged rain-offs their season will be over on 23 August. There is a clear danger that people (like me) who are looking for something else to do on Thursday nights might actually find something. When that happens, the promoters' policy of "less is more" might turn round and bite them in the bum.

Don't set off - it's POST-PONED! (http://www.sheffieldspeedway.co/news.php?extend.2516)

You're right to check. It's been awful misty drizzle for the past two days, but the precipitation has been light and there's no sign of flooding on the streets round about. Forecast for tomorrow is brighter so, fingers crossed, we should be okay (but watch his space). The UK season is barely 2 weeks old but according to my calculations there have been 39 rain-offs, so you never can take things for granted! Whatever the weather brings, the little Peterborough bubble of euphoria following the shock result at Ippo is about to get burst - you're gonna get your ass kicked, so don't come expecting a result.

Second leg is at Newcastle on 29 April.

Sorry, but your bubble will be burst next Thursday at Owlerton. Your feet will be firmly back on the ground come Friday morning.

Tactical Substitute rule does not apply in any competition which is played out over two legs.

Really really sorry to hear about Steve Worrall. Top riders are at a premium in the Championship this year and to lose one this early in the season is a real bummer. The issue of guests raises a really important issue. With the doubling-up policy on one hand and riders' overseas commitments on the other, there is a danger that riders will simply end up running themselves into the ground. Mention of Kyle Howarth is a case in point. As well as his commitments to Sheffield and Wolves he's also doing a stint in Poland. If he starts getting invited to do guest slots elsewhere, the issue of "burnout" becomes a serious possibility. At Sheffield we've had more than our fair share of injured riders in recent years and, remarkably, most of them seem to get injured whilst riding for teams other than Sheffield. I'd welcome the day when Championship and Premiership combine into a single league and this doubling-up farce is consigned to the annals of history.

Does anyone recall (as I do) the promise made to loyal, long-suffering fans after the shambles at the end of 2017 when the ambulance failed to turn up and the start was delayed by almost an hour? We were told that if we retained our re-entry tickets there would be half-price admission to the first match of 2018. I've not seen any mention of the offer in any promotional publications and there's nothing on the website. Is this an offer that has been conveniently disregarded?

A change to the rules has just been announced: riders were previously required to remain astride their machines when preparing their start area. This will now revert back to the wording as per the 2017 Regulations.It therefore now reads: "Only if a rider is at the starting gate with sufficient time remaining of the 2-minute allowance, be permitted to prepare their Start Area, provided they remain in full, personal control of their motorcycle, have their Cut – Out Lanyard attached, and with their motorcycle facing the direction of racing." Is this for better or worse?

Forget it. You won't be taking anything away from Sheffield other than your tail between your legs.

It's not how you start the meeting that counts... it's where you are at the finish!

Good enough for me. Holder's excuse, anyone?

Giving just two days notice, it would appear that Chris Holder and Chris Harris have pulled out of Simon Stead's Farewell Meeting taking place at Owlerton today, having previously agreed to take part. As a paying punter I'd like to know why. Any ideas?

New rule for 2018 just published: "Riders must remain astride their machine when ‘gardening’ at the start-line". Lasse please note!

Teams will be getting a bit fed up at being let down by this lad. He's not gone out of his way to make friends in the sport and I'm sure he won't be missed (especially in Sheffield, Glasgow and Coventry).

I'll give you a good excuse: Sheffield are buzzing!

Workington seems to do very well out of Sheffield's past and present riders.

What we are seeing is last season's league champions made even stronger with the acquisition of Wright, Shanes and Smith. We were sorry to lose Josh G, but that will be more than compensated by more power at 6 & 7 and 3 genuine heat leaders any one of whom could finish the season at no. 1 (not to mention a captain who's in the habit of winning titles!)

Sheffield will wipe the board this season to defend their title.

There are those of us who have been saying for two years (at least!) that a single senior league of 18/19 teams is the only way to go, even if it means going down to teams of 5 riders + a 3-point reserve doubling up from the NL. People reckon there aren't enough riders to go round, but there were over 350 registered riders on the SCB Rider Registrations as of 25/09/17. That should be more than enough to service 19 teams without losing out on quality of racing. They could even improve riders' earnings by 25% by retaining the 15-heat format, with each of the 6 riders having 5 outings. A single league is the only way to go if speedway is to survive IMO.

You are testing my memory, but you may have the fourth. I remember me and my mate joking that to get a ride on Sunday afternoon you had to be called Stuart.

I absolutely agree. As a die-hard fan I remember well the 1970s when the Tigers 'A' Team rode in the BL Div. 1 on Thursdays and the 'B' team in Div. 2 on Sundays (the three Stuarts: Jay, Ulph and Hickman Jr. - remember them?) True fans can't get enough of speedway and giving us 17 matches in a season is short-changing us and insulting our loyalty. Thursday night is for speedway, not EastEnders. It's a disgrace.

He'll be a busy bloke. Hope they've doubled his wages.

Are you joking? After the season Steady had in 2017 you want to sack him?

Fixture list looks decidedly thin - lots of blank Thursdays. Excluding "Reserved" nights, it only looks like we'll be called upon to make the journey to Owlerton on 14 occasions plus one Sunday (Steady's testimonial). It seems to me that whatever we fans make of speedway's problems, fewer meetings is not the solution.