Wee Eck

No t/s allowed

I’m not sure any rider takes serioudiy being booed when being. They know that almost invariably, it’s a bit of fun and neither the rider nor the spectators are upset by it. If the riders are, they’re in the wrong job. There is a big gulf between genuine banter and abuse - being booed on the parade is not abuse.

I think the importance of a good manager is often overlooked. The best three over recent years have probably been Pete Adams, Rob Lyon and Middlo and they seem to share the ability to motivate without histrionics. Doc Bridgett was the same. Glasgow perhaps need to look at this to see whether a change would help them. They’ve been involved in three questionable call offs this year - all justified by them but not universally accepted - plus the debacle a few years back at Eastbourne. Would any of the four mentioned above have got themselves into such a lather? The Tigers’ actions last weekend seem to have come back and bit them hard tonight, so maybe they need to learn to calm down a bit? I wonder if some of Glasgow’s riders were embarrassed by what happened so were maybe not on their A game? Poole on the other hand were more than ready for revenge after Sunday and to exploit any weaknesses and boy, did they find them. With Brennan and Basso both riding in Poland on Friday night before racing back to Scotland on Saturday, the tie looks beyond Glasgow now. Of well, they’ve still got the Jubilee Cup finals

Basso flies in and out so maybe too expensive to use as a guest? Anyway, he’s riding in Toruń on Friday so maybe not willing to risk that for a guest booking (I know Tom’s in the same meeting but he’s riding as a team member of BV at Ipswich rather than as a guest). Unless there are big rule changes across Europe next year, I doubt Basso will be able/willing to ride CL next year so he’s unlikely to be dictated to by Glasgow (might not stop them trying though!)

Yeh. Craig Cook looked really rusty last Sunday. Only managed third overall and beat Steve Worrall, Richard Lawson and Danny King (twice) in the process. I reckon he’s the danger man against Poole - he’s missed so many meeting this year through injury (and being dropped by Sheffield) that he’ll be looking to make as much money as possible.

Monarchs have come into form at the right time with their less experienced riders now having had a full season. On the other hand, Leicester seem to have peaked and are on the way down, so I expect a comfortable win tonight, maybe 52-38 with a score in the 40s tomorrow to see them through to the final.

No. They fulfil board of directors duties. Big difference between being a committee member and a director

There is no such thing as the management committee - it was abolished a few years ago. Danny King said that as long as he was a promoter and a rider, then he wouldn’t have the time.

BV have never closed - the Windmill Theatre of British speedway

I think that’s only in a PL league match. Golden Heats are detailed in SR 11.1.29, each team manager nominates riders for 3 additional heats and the first team to score a heat advantage wins. Scoring is usual 3-2-1-0

But would Adam have bikes with him?

I know there’s a lot of sniping between some Plymouth and some Poole fans so I’m trying to remain neutral but do the Plymouth fans feel let down by the “late withdrawal” of Hans Andersen? I can’t help feeling that it can’t have been that late or there wouldn’t have been time to bring in Adam Roynon. So was information about the change held back so as not to impact the crowd?

Did Chuganov not get it at Wrocław? He’s not a national champion

From what people say about the weather there, I thought it was closer to the Baltic….even King Jamie, the soothsayer of the Monarchs, a man of infinite charm and wisdom predicted 30 tonight. Fahrenheit!

I should have said that…..IF they get by Plymouth. But, I have a sneaky suspicion they might, especially as, like Arnie, Middlo will be back.

From a business perspective, Leicester vs Glasgow in the final is the dream line up. The self styled chosen one versus the money boys who chased him off the premises (not actually true, but makes a good story). To make that happen, Leicester need to pick Poole in the semi. All a bit of a gamble though if Glasgow don’t make the finals or if Poole beat Leicester on aggregate. There’s still many a twist to come in this league……

BSPA is the association of speedway promoters with BSPL the umbrella organisation. BSPL has four (or five?) directors. I know that Messrs Godfrey, Bates, Louis and Ford (Dan) are directors. I don’t know who else is if anyone. SCB is a sub-committee of the ACU, the governing body for motorcycle sport throughout the British Isles excluding Northern Ireland. It has two members from ACU - Tony Steele and Paul Hurry - and two from BSPA - Rob Godfrey and Chris Van Straaten. It also has an independent non voting chairman, currently Jim Lawrence. An easy way to look at the different roles is that SCB is responsible for the rules of the sport whereas BSPL/BSPA are responsible for the business of speedway.

It’s just my opinion and not really “over the top”. But, are you saying that I am wrong about Eddie Kennett never going to do more than the very first few meetings?

Putting aside bias, why would you want a team that built a decent 1-7 from riders who wanted to ride for them, and who have not made any changes, even when tempted, to be beaten by a team put together in the knowledge that their number one rider wasn’t going to last the first month, let alone the season, and who have chosen to ride out the league campaign using other teams’ top riders rather than finding a replacement? Yes, they’ve been hugely unlucky with injuries, but that problem has been exaggerated by the tactic of trying to go all year using guests. Oxford managed to get Summers, Birmingham Sedgmen - either could have done a job for Plymouth allowing the promotion to strengthen up further down the order. Their hope for success was having 7 specialists round the tricky track at the Coliseum who could then dominate home meetings so that away legs became unimportant. It’s my view that relying on guests has lost them much of that advantage.

I have no idea what that means.

I think you make my point for me - it’s expensive to set up a new promotion, and better to recognise that sooner rather than later. All credit to the four of you that you HAVE recognised that rather than carrying on only perhaps to suffer the same problems as the previous promotion (as well as the ex-Newcastle promoter). Speedway in UK is hanging on by its fingernails - or rather the deep pockets - of most of the existing promoters. They are much maligned but, if there was a magic wand to sort it, I think they’d have found it by now. But then, if running a speedway team was the licence to print money that was the case in decades gone past, the barriers to entry would be far higher. It may be that a multi million pound relaunch, used to give spectators better facilities amongst many overdue updates, might just help to rebuild the sport, but there’s no guarantee that crowds would return. So why take the risk?

The rules for joining the leagues are the same for everyone. Championship requires an entry fee, a bond payment and either riders on the club’s retained list to a certain level or else cash to make up the difference. The four supporters trying to relaunch Eastbourne said they needed £150,000 so they must have understood the costs involved. They also said they could raise £50,000 between them so must have tried, and failed, to find the other £100,000. Better they save their money than going into an underfunded venture that has the potential to go the way of the previous promotions at Eastbourne. Full credit to them for trying but even more credit for admitting defeat before any harm was done. Perhaps promoting speedway is much harder - and more expensive - than us Forumites realise. UPDATE - HGould beat me to much of that!

How would you know it was Santa?

I doubt there were brown envelopes involved. The statement from the Council was as follows: “West Lothian Council, as a public body, has a legal duty to obtain the best price possible when selling land in a commercial transaction. This represents best value for the council, local services and the public purse. “The funds raised from the sale of the land will be invested in local services. “This land was marketed through June and July and offered to all interested parties for lease, sale or community use. Two offers for the land were received and it was determined that Mr Stewart’s offer to purchase the land represented the best value to the council, being the highest offer.” Would they not have been open to legal challenge from Mr Stewart if they’d sold to the under bidder?

You should have contacted the promotion to see if you could have got a lift from someone on the late Fishbourne to Portsmouth service