martinmauger

This is true but Guy Martin is much better known generally, was just a thought. Being from Grimsby he is almost certainly aware of nearby Scunny, think he had a wee taste of flatrack at King's Lynn....

Speaking personally I am quite pleased with the KOC draw, means I (hopefully) get to see Poole at Scunny twice, I missed last year's mach as I was away on important family business. Not actually seen the draw, not sure the size of Inbetweener James Buckely's fee would be but I read somewhere that during lockdown he trousered £1 million by sending fans 'video greetings' cards (or whatever they are called) by quoting Inbetweener stuff. Think an ideal guy, no pun intended, to get involved with speedway would be Guy Martin....

A big shame. I certainly didn't agree with everything Terry Russell said or did but gotta say he did blooming well (to say the least) wis his involvement getting speedway shown on Sky Sports & into the (was) Millienium Stadium, now Principality Stadium in Cardiff. RIP....

Very similar plan occured to me: the existing 5 Prem promoters jointly run Oxford Spires (under BSPL banner) while setting up Northampton (or whoever) as the track / stadium are obv 'good to go'. Unless of there were plannng / financial / other isuues running the Spires or indeed 3 teams out of one venue which I would have assumed would work ok: regular weekly speedway, mostly same riders....

I'm not as 'up' on accounting theory as I used to be once, was thinking more of value riders on a club's books. E.g. if Emil planned to ride the UK in 2026 but if a club, wanted to 'buy' & retain him as a riding asset of their own, he was happy to leave and Ipswich were willing to sell (both unlikely), they might willing to pay, say, £35,000, not that clubs tend to that these days. So £35,000 would be wiped from Ipswich's riding asset value, though added to funds held, same if they sold others riders they 'owned', though this could be spent on replacements and improve the value of the club. I mean what does a speedway club 'own' these days: track equipment, track licence, goodwill ? But, I'm not as 'up' on accounting theory as I once used to be....

I could be wrong but a thought occured to me one of the things that 'didn't tally' with UK speedway or whatever it was Louis said, could the abolition of clubs retaining riders as assets. I.e. £,000's of assets wiped from a club's value. Like I said, just a thought....

On time this week, good stuff. The other week when it was late, none on sale in TJ Jones the Saturday after, just week before's ish. Spoke to a postie I know to say 'hello' to living nearby: "Hey Pat (!), why is my Star often late ?" He told me "I bet it's late every other week ? Well in this area (his & mine) we deliver one week Monday, Wenesday & Friday, the next it's Tuesday, Thursday & sometimes Saturday. We don't like it any more than anyone else but that's how it is". Explains a lot....

Always very sad when speedway loses one, a wee bit before my time but a very under-rated rider. RIP Bob....

Double post, oops.....

Only just seen this, always sad when speedway loses someone, or anyone suffering a loss myself having just had to deal with a close family member pass away. George rode in the very first Hull Vikings match at The Boulevard for Sunderland Stars in 1971 I didn't go, parents not interested & apprently too young to go alone. Is it true George achived his 'Gentleman George' nickname as he was well-mannered & spoken & never deliberately did any untoward on the track ?. RIP George.....

And me, + a few biccies. Have take bit of an issue with recent Star however & their 'winners & losers awards of 2025' tho. They branded Glasgow as 'losers' after a season running neck & neck with Poole for the Champs title, only losing out by - one race, yet not a mensh of Scunny who finished bottom. No bias here, as I know people who are heavily involved at both tracks and I do know what it feels like when your team wins trophies or finishes bottom / last. I very much know which I prefer. And 2nd ISN'T 'the first of the losers', it means you performed very well on that occasion / season and only one competitor or team were better than you. Don't believe me: ask the competitor / team placed 3rd or 4th if they'd care to swap places....

Still awaiting my w/e 3rd Jan ish, none in local Asda or TJ Jones either. 'Tis 'the post' tho as a Christmas card from Exeter took 10 days, while same to Florida, USA was 18 days. As a matter of interest my all-time record of fastest post to FL, USA is 5 days, think they held up the 'plane just for me....

As did mine (and a mate's across town), good on you Pinegen 😉....

I get the above but apart from preferring hard printed copies of any magazine, digital versions aren't an option for me. Internet speeds are so random in these parts: I've watched live content of podcasts & such from Aussie, USA, Russia no probs at all, other times can take 5 or even 10 hours for an email to cross town. Likely cos while fibre optic is slowly being rolled out half the network connections are still copper cable, means BSN isn't an option either....

My Star w / e 20th Dec arrived today, think I'm up to date now so all is well 😉. I also feel for Pinegen, always feel a bit guilty asking for replacements (copies missing after 3 days never turn up) but they are ok about it, apologise & send duplicates straight away. I've sometimes bought another copy from likes of Asda / Tesco / TJ Jones / whoever but often there are none on the shelves, usually at the same time as my '3 days late & gon foreva' copies. Hmmm....

I received a totally unprecedented 2 Speedway Stars on Friday: w / 6 Dec at 8:00am then w / e 13 Dec at 2pm, so HA ! 😁 Just awaiting current issue, w / e 20th Dec....

Same ^^ , tho my Star arrived today - w/e 6th December, Josh Pickering cover (!), also bought additional copy in supermarkets / newsagents tho often not on shelves. Curiously a big no.4 was written on the white wrapping: no. of batches it will be delivered, issues I'm owed. Actually I'm owed 3. Shame but I'm also looking at cancelling my subscription....

Wot, no other 'track anoraks' ? Had it in mind the capacity could be circa 12,000, certainly waaay back in 1979 when Hull won the British League Div 1 4's (one seriously sweet day) there were 8 teams racing 2 semi finals, top 2 from each into the final. 3 full meetings witnessed by large crowd, those were he days....

A thought occured to me, with 2 GPs at Belle Vue once more in 2026, Glasgow looking at staging one in the future & available (to speedway stadia) in the UK not sufficient in size for one GP meeting: anyone know what is the capacity of Owlerton with the turns 2 & 3 / back straight terracing being open ? Like I said, just a thought....

Same, Had 7-day date sensitive documents turn up - after 20 days, fortunately I anticipated this & had already acted on them, not the point though. I picked last Star in newsagent on Staurday, as a subscriber last issue I received was w/e 29th November. Still, prob means I'll have plenty to read over Christmas after they (hopefully) all arrive at once....

Lucky you, still waiting for my copy. Don't tell Pinegen, sshh, but when it's Iate I've often bought a copy from newsagents & passed it on when my original arrived, though it sometimes isn't on any shop shelves. Online vers not for me, despite using (apparently) 'super fast' fibre optic broadband, the reliability & variations in speed have to be experienced to be beleived. E.g. I've watched live events from all over the world with perfect picture & in-sync sound. At other times can take a 'mere' 5 hours for an email to arrive at the other side of Hull, quicker to walk, say what I need to say, then walk back. I too prefer the hard copy vers, spending as I am much of my work days staring into a screen. That said, internet services outside the city aren't just fast, but connect pretty much instantly, no wee scrolling blue circle. So sadly the likes of BSN aren't for me, I have watched Prem matches, SGPs & SON's on TNT at a friend's house, they being Netflix & Sky subscribers. Saturday update: stil no Star, none in Asda, Tesco nor TJ Jones (formally WH Smith) neither. Sigh....

Not just you, same here and with pal t'other side of Hull. All postal deliveries here are gradually getting worse. Sigh....

Thomas confirmed in his excellent book Wheels & Deals that he used his 'speedway special' tape measure when the track inspection at Hull, Boulevard, was conducted by SCB official ex-rider Bill Kitchen in 1971. Ian held the, apparently, short end & Kitchen the other saying "well Ian, you've just made it", track width wise. Thomas reckoned the back straight measured 24 feet, the minimum being 25ft in those days, but anyone who visited the Boulevard will confirm it appeared even a tad more narrow than that. I met Ian just after his book was published, showed him my many photos from the Boulevard he said "we really didn't have a lot of room there, did we ?". After having my book signed to me I thanked him for "providing me with 7 years of entertainment (my entry point was 1974) & stimulating my interest in the sport ", which obviously continues to this day. I showed the same photos & repeated my thanks to Ivan Mauger, I also gave Ivan dozens of pics I took of him....

And Hull, tho we almost completed the following season (2005) with 2 home matches outstanding and we had a lot of sponsorship: team naming with race-bib logo + plenty programme ads inc all 3 armed forces. Thre needs to be some kind of 'wage cap'-type financial solution (loads points & huge wins make loads outgoings), it's ridiculous for any team to win the league then close down. That said the likes of Glasgow & Poole somehow manage not doing it....

In the Haynes Motor Museum in Somerset, named after the guy who started the famous maintenace manuals, there used to be a 'speedway room', packed with speeedway exhibits. This would have been around 10 years or so back, infuriatingly I can't find my pics right now, but there were race bibs, bikes, pictures, a looping history video, etc. Don't appear to be there anymore on the website the website you need to download the map to view but it was situated in area named 'Motorcycle Mezzanine'. Yes, pretty much right at the back. https://www.haynesmuseum.org/the-museum/ Time was short so sadly we coudn't hang around, but the girl on reception was amazed when I asked "where the speedway was at ?" as, I didn't have a lot of time. Her eyes almost popped out of her head when I walked past 20mins later saying "that's all I came to see, must dash". I mean who wants to spend hours viewing IOM TT bikes, F1 cars, rally cars, a room full of Ferraris, etc after speedway anyway 😉. Well, I did actually, but oh well.....