martinmauger

Without casting judgement on Chris Holder, or any other rider, if anything on a passport or visa application isn't 100% perfect then it will be rejected. Case in point: a few years ago mate had loads of hassle re-newing his wife's passport (English, lived in UK all her life, no dodgy past, etc) and it was rejected 3 times. Myself and others looked over the form but couldn't see anything wrong and following the usual jokes about "refusing passports to undesirables" , we were all stumped. Then someone noticed his habit of putting a full stop after everything, even every. one. word. answer, as many folk do. He wrote out the form again, identically but without all the full stops unless where necessary, and it was quickly approved. Just sayin'....

Having a somewhat 'helicopter view' of speedway with no team of my own to support (sob) gotta say it's tough luck for Poole & Scunny, neither of whom can afford to lose another rider. But gotta feel for Stefan after returning from injury I saw him v Worky, can't make this week, he looked good & and joint top scored also Poole were poss leaning toward giving him a more permanent team spot. Over a season there would always be the odd broken arm or leg, neither of which are any fun as I can confirm having broken both in the past (!), but 'only' maybe one or two thigh bone injuries, though of course one is too many. There does seem to be more broken thigh injuries already, traditionally and sadly usually a season-ending injury....

I've heard of that ^^ happening. Not forgetting £40 fuel tank caps, essential equipment.....

Reckon Ivan, and also Ove Fundin, would have won more World Championships under the GP system. And Ivan a-l-m-o-s-t won 6 in a row ! As we know: he took out 1968-1970, Ole Olsen won in 1971, Ivan won again in 1972, and had he waited another 3/4 of a lap to pass the Pole Jerzy Szczakiel in 1973, it could have 6 on the bounce. But any rider will say if you see a gap then you really must go for it as you may never get another chance, though there are relativley few 'must win' races under the GP format. Ivan disproved his 'just a gater' tag in that 1973 Final when he was passing for fun around the outside on his longstroke JAWA, and while he must have been well peeved at the time (to say the least !) and also afterwards at being constantly asked about it, he bore no ill will towards Jerzy "he was a better rider than most people thought plus he deserved to win because I fell off and he didn't", says a lot about the man Ivan Mauger....

Off the top of my head (busy at work !) + Wembley Stadium & Wembley Arena....

- courtesy of defunctspeedway.co.uk: http://www.defunctspeedway.co.uk/York Long Track (Nun Monkton).htm I remember the year as being 1980 as I couldn't go for some reason....

Very sad news indeed, deepest sympathy to the Mauger family. Difficult to know what to say that hasn't been said already, except Ivan Mauger was The Best and is still a Hull Vikings legend. RIP Ivan....

Promoters have right to sign who they want within points limits, and sack them if comes down to it, but the way Batchelor & Holder were treat was well out of order IMO. Was surprised they didn't appeal to SCB, ACU or otherwise contest it in some way. Still, we all move on, water under the bridge and all that, hope both riders concerned, and every other rider, have good a safe season....

Thanks, that woud be cool. And Redcar (formally Middlesbrough) returned too and Northside & Duns, + all of the above show it can still be done. Just....

This is what I alluded to re: new Belle Vue stadium that raising funds was 'almost' the easy part. I could literally write a book concerning the efforts required in order to build a speedway track, were I not sworn to secrecy . To get a flavour of what is invovled, I challenge anyone to find an area of land, or even an existing stadium for that matter, away from housing & known to be empty and unused for years, then enquire of the local authority about the possibility of a running speedway on said land. Then let the fun begin. So much time, effort, travelling, phone calls + some money, though not a lot initially, will be spent and potenially much blood, sweat and tears expended just to discover either someone owns the land and (frustratingly) refuses to sell or even lease, or that no-one actually knows who the owner is . One will wonder why one is bothering, apart from the desire to build a speedway track and possibly resurrect one's team. I won't say it will be a waste of time as anyone attempting the above will learn a heck of a lot, and you never know it, maybe, may just pay off....

Bit of politics. It was once explained to me that changing anything government or politics related is a bit like driving an huge ocean liner: you turn the rudder in order to adjust the course or adjust the engines to speed up / slow down but in both instances it takes quite a while before anything noticable happens. In other words: time will tell, as always....

Thanx. I have an uncle who enjoys 'the real stuff'....

With almost every track taking some kind of financial 'hit' over the weekend, you gotta feel for promoters. Well, a bit....

At the risk of appearing somewhat dense, though ball games aren't my bag at all, briefly how does 20./20 cricket differ from the 'regular' version of so many overs?...

How good was the racing at the Shay.? Mostly it was good. But also kinda irrelevant - it was worth going just to watch riders sweep up and down that banking. Being (slightly) serious though I loved my Saturday trips to Halifax, and Bradford after the Shay closed to speedway, a relatively near trip on the supporter's club coach meaning I didn't arrive back home too late to annoy / worry my parents, one of many venues which gave enjoyment & pleasure to 1,000's now sadly missed....

Reading headline I thought maybe speedway was featured in 'the' Big Issue that is sold on the streets, peeps might be surprsied at the subjects which get covered. But my bumper 'Star arrived ok and on time, excellent issue as always, will take the usual week to get through, so far I've loved Davey Watt's Premiership preview, Adam Roynon on the Champs League, 'judge' Drury's take on the NL & Crumpie's thoughts on the GPs & competitors therein. Good stuff....

'The Hull version' wasn't that tall....

Adding another 2P worth: ahead of the new season, and excellent 'Star preview, so far there are 3 teams (no names mentioned) whose suits don't match for all 7 riders. Just sayin'.....

True but take it from me raising the of funds to pay for such a facility is 'almost' the easy bit, in many areas just creating a 'track in a field in the middle of nowhere's ville' set up is impossible. Morton & Gordon (forgot his name before) did so flippin' well, only the very last part under their stewardship, the opening meet & leading up to it, went a bit pear-shaped....

Agree Glasgow & IOW turned their club around big-style and what Morton & Co achieved at Belle Vue in getting that marvelous stadium & track built is nothing short of fantastic....

Personally, I don't see that Matt Ford or Poole do a lot wrong. In many ways Ford reminds me of the late Ian Thomas as both tend(ed) to upset people (but not worry about it) due to: pushing rules (which are the same for everyone) to the limit, signing the best riders available to them and wishing to do the very best they can in order to promote their club(s) and make them successful....

2004 actually, good year that with a well-solid team. But please no-one never, ever mention 'Hull Vikings' + '2005' in the same sentance again as that was when we closed with 2 matches remaining at Craven Park . Back on topic; hope it's a good season for the Diamonds and everyone in speedway for that matter ....

Let there be drums, there was drums. Let there be guitar, there was guitar Let there be rock . Sorry couldn't resist, courtesy of AC / DC ....

Wasn't being sarcy, just 'joined in' with the humour I thought you intended. I got a stone full in the eye at King's Lynn on my first visit and never liked going to Lynn much after that, this being attempt no.3 to see a meeting there after numerous rain offs. Falling & landing on one's nut isn't funny, I once fell down stairs - 2 stairs up - and knocked myself out for an hour ro so....

The meeting wasn't that bad, surely. Oh, you mean you prob fell or suffered a mishap of some kind . Mentioned to a pal about Plough Lane sadly closing and he reminded me that when enquiring about seats on a possible Hull supporters club coach for Dons v Vikings, also in 1980, the ticket seller wryly replied "the team don't even go to Wimbledon (referring to 1979 - yet again), so why would we run a coach trip ?!" . Don't recall if they did run a coach or not that year, if they did I never made for some reason....