Bagpuss

They had words more than once in the Lynn pits that season (2011) after one of their heats It was said at the time that part of the reason was that Olly’s shoulder(s) was knackered and he physically couldn’t turn sharply especially with Lynn's grippy surface, hence having to run so wide, no idea how true that was though.

Good for the stattos but a bit boring really, where is the jeopardy when these 11+ riders were in their races?

Baffles me why you guys didn’t stick with him after his average had dropped so much, seemed highly likely that he would get back to his previous form once he had properly gotten over his injury. We reaped the reward of that low average. Was there more to it than met the eye?

I wasn’t born when he was 16 unfortunately but my family all say the same as you. In fact discounting his disastrous comeback in 1991 I can only vaguely remember him from the mid eighties when he had already gone off the rails.

Agree with this, quite possibly the biggest waste of ability / most unfulfilled potential in rider throughout my forty odd years of watching speedway. Remember seeing him at sixteen at Lynn in the British U21 final and being really impressed, I reckon that night I saw more trackcraft and nouse from him than either Darcy Ward or Robert Lambert at the same age. Such a shame he never kicked on, should have been a top rider with the natural ability he had.

Wheels? I remember those days, I think the 4TT, 16 lapper and Pride of the East were the three speedway offerings of the year with the other weeks filled with various moto cross, road racing and other bits and pieces.

Would be a bit silly to announce that there will be no speedway this year to then go back on it should circumstances allow some racing in a few months time. Wait and see for the time being is probably the most sensible course of action. Plenty of time before Oct 31st to call the season off.

There is one particular British rider for whom you can see that particular scenario happening unfortunately.

I certainly don’t know all the answers but a scenario where it’s much cheaper to get in, meetings are more regular and riders are always present save for injury would only be a good thing. If speedway was reincarnated in this way and somebody who knows what they are doing could rebrand and market the whole thing properly and professionally it might grow again, you never know.

There is plenty of that in Poland too of course. I think Belle Vue is on a par with anywhere in the world and a meeting with plenty of top riders like a GP would bring the very best out of it. Agree about P’boro and Somerset, they can be excellent too and no coincidence that these three tracks have wide sweeping bends and reasonably short straights.

Well I found that to be a great hour and a half’s watch, really enjoyed it. The main thing I got from it was the family’s desire to give something back to the area in which they grew up. I’ve not been since 2009 and what a transformation the stadium and track has undergone, and what a professional outfit the club is. The best bit was the visit to the home of the bloke with the track in his garden Just one criticism, not enough Paulco

Morten Andersen? Rode for Lynn in ‘95. And I was at that P’boro meeting too, seem to remember Sullivan riding in somebody else’s crash helmet as he had forgotten his own. But it should have been Crump in the run off (both had scored twelve and Crump only dropped points through an exclusion for having George Stancl off).

It’s also worth noting that Robert won races and reached semis in the GP before his crash in the SoN which completely knocked the stuffing out of him, he was never the same after that particularly round the first two bends.

Calm down dear! And remove that chip from your shoulder while you’re at it. Young Polish riders have always had the best kit, that’s just the way it is and stands to reason with the finances that speedway over there has, the best ones are heavily subsidised by the clubs/authorities and U21 success is demanded. That’s said without bitterness or jealousy, it’s just how it works. As said we’ll see over the next five, ten, fifteen years who turns out to be the best of the current crop. As things stand U21 results and averages don’t lie but everyone knows what a tough year Robert had and that has to be a factor. Pretty sure he will come back stronger.

Polish U21 riders have the advantage of a bottomless pit of sponsorship meaning missile bikes and I think the reserve system in the Extraliga helps them too. We'll only find out over the next 5-10 years who is the best of those who have just graduated from the U21 scene.

I’m not sure Britain carries much weight any more but in theory if the Extraliga discarded him and in five or six years he’s excelling in Sweden, Euros, SWC and perhaps even GP’s then of course Poland wouldn’t ignore him. Hopefully it won’t cone to that though and he starts cutting in in Poland as soon as it starts again.

He’s still very young, he seems older as he started in our Elite League at sixteen but there is every chance he hasn’t reached his peak. After an excellent 2018 a slow start and then two huge crashes prevented him kicking on further but it would be silly to rule him out of one day being a GP rider.

Great looking suits.

Well of course he has but you can say that about the vast majority of riders of his age and experience. What people are saying is that the signs are there that one day in the future he will be of GP standard.

I remember that meeting, 2017, think it was on telly, and pretty sure he won a race. Apart from one meeting when he scored paid 14 he seemed ill prepared during that spell with Lynn. Listen, nobody expected him to be a world beater but having signed a while ago and starting the season with everyone else I think he would have been a solid middle order man and certainly better than Grauber.

Sounds like a CVS favour on a technicality. Probably something to do with Pearson too.

Seems like a bit of a Jonasson free for all on here, not his fault he’s been mucked about and I think he’d have been a decent signing without setting the world alight. His exclusion certainly weakens Brum.

It should be remembered that last season was Lidsey’s first in the UK. Every chance he could make it to the GP’s in the future and we’ll have a much better idea about that with another British term under his belt.

I thought Sheffield released him as he wasn’t scoring points?

You are probably right but only two of their twenty four league matches will be at the NSS next year. Even if they got nothing from those two meetings (and I’m not convinced they won’t) P’boro have more than enough about them to get into the top four. Can’t see any of their riders improving dramatically but they could all put a little bit on their starting figures which would give them a good chance come the business end of the season. In my opinion of course.