THE DEAN MACHINE

That along with the 2 min clock is good news at last

I’m not against riders earning a living but at this moment in time speedway can’t afford it. That is the simple economics of it, riders should be building up other business outside speedway anyway, Greg Hancock has business outside speedway so does richie worral and many others, it should be a priority but clearly with some it isn’t, in life just as in speedway you have to make it happen , it won’t come to you

When I decided to ride speedway it was because I wanted to be a speedway rider (still do in my head )I didn’t care about the money, it was a nice bonus but just the Privalige of being a rider was everything to me, I run my own business along side speedway for most of my career often working around 60 hours a week and doing all the bike washing myself, yes there were times I was shattered and just wanted my bed but would I do it all again? Hell yes, I would often drive from Wolverhampton on a Friday do a couple of deliveries in London or Kent then on to Weymouth or Plymouth to race that night get back home at 2am and I loved it ,but I just don’t see that desire anymore from riders , it’s all about the money, I read “I’m putting my life on the line so I want big money “ I never thought I was putting my life on the line(except when I raced against roman matousek) I was just loving being a rider and racing my bike and to do that for a team was just amazing, where has that love for racing gone ?

We all know this but getting any promoters or riders apart from chris Louis to go for this is banging your head against a brick wall

And that’s where holomagated parts only come in, it is not difficult to implement but there is no will to do it, there will always be a tiny advantage for someone somewhere but speedway is one of the very few motorsports that is all but a couple of rules a free for all, which is the reason prices have rocketed

It’s like we don’t matter

Buster has brought Ipswich

absolutely devastating news for osbourne not what he wanted to hear at all, work on that track needs to start today, the new corner will need time to bed in

This always makes me laugh

I find calling them lesbians often gets get a response

Yes, thankfully it’s not just my opinion , chris Louis also believes a more safer manageable engine is needed as do many others, but tighter controls are also needed as currently if it 500cc has four valves and not fuel injected it’s pretty much anything goes, we could also look at tyres, David Howe makes an interesting point saying use a tyre that makes you shut off, I think this is an excellent idea however riders will take the view that it makes you crash if you keep the throttle on rather than it makes you shut off and go s bit slower

Yes but you will also cut the revs as you wouldn’t be able to get the same power and also the obvious thing is 2 less valves, springs and guides so you save £150 straight away

On a jawa yes but no reason why GM couldn’t make a 2 valve head for their engine

There is also the jawa with a 2 valve head that was used at a meeting in Torun a few weeks back, they got some of the riders to ride them , lindback was one rider, they perform and react very well with the only noticeable difference being they loose revs of the start line but talking to a rider that rode them he said they were fun to ride, as pig headed as polish speedway seems to the rest of the world they are open to ideas and give them a decent try

Change, a rider believes somehow that someone would be getting an advantage and they are not thinking about the future of the sport , the old argument about what would happen to all the current engines if we brought in some sort of standardized or different engine is about to be tested , GM has just brought out a new engine that looks completely different to current model, now the top guys will buy it and if it proves to be a winner then every one will have one within months and the GMs we use now will become obsolete , so what’s the difference ?the only difference is one way is enforced and the other is choice but either way it’s the same end result of the current engine being made obsolete except one way is good for the future of the sport and the other pushes up costs

Because the tail wags the dog

How many meetings did you do this season for Berwick ? Did you double up ? I totally agree your piece in the star about the bikes , it costs way more than is needed

Unless riders accept the realty it’s going to be a 100% reduction, when I listen to today’s riders talk its like they think they have invented the wheel and before their career riders didn’t exsist, had a long chat with a former manager/mechanic of a world champion a few weeks ago and he was saying riders of today don’t realise how easy they have it , he said they did twice as many meetings as today’s riders and they had to drive all over Europe in a transit ,not flying like today with bikes and mechanics already there and then wash and prep the bikes and run a business too., before doubling up reared it’s ugly head riders would do around 50 british meetings a year and most had a job too , when I was at Berwick our no1 was a postman

One league of 18 team would give 34 league matches + play off +koc or any other competition + any challenges , that’s around 50 meetings 25 home 25 away , season is only 26 weeks long , that pretty much 2 aWeek , how many do they need ? , I like bomber but his interview was selfish and at odds with what the sport needs to do to move forward

that is what you said , you said "that's not been the case for speedway in the uk for generations and will not change " I know its the only way forward but I was just quoting you saying it wont change, I have banged on about the importance of team identity for a while now but british speedway seems to think it doesn't matter

If you really believe that it will not change then there is no point in having team speedway and just make speedway pay to enter

It’s a bit like the old kid tv programme “runaround” with mike read but not as well organised

Not just Aussies either

And the restaurant has Xmas bookings for their greyhound meetings up till the 22nd of December

Sad to see ex Edinburgh rider Blair Scott on Jeremy Kyle this morning, he was the same era as me and I had many good races with him, life has obviously gone badly off the rails for him with drugs. Sad