bill94d

I think Doyley is a great rider but he did himself no favours last night. Christina got it dead right. It was a dive in the penalty area. He should have had enough faith in himself (as Bomber showed) and come from the back. He has more than enough ability. Second place would have made all the difference. Great meeting all the same and best wishes to Jack and Brady.

Only a minor point Ove, I think it it was 20 yards back. There were scratch riders (the majority), 10 yard men, (McKinlay, How etc.) and the Famous 5 off 20 yards. Briggo complained, even though he got more per point for the handicapping, that it cost more in engine wear and repair than the extra money provided, quite apart from the effort and risk trying to pass the lesser riders. It was soon scrapped.

Don't understand your reasoning. How can you be "ready to race" 10 metres back? He wasn't "ready". Agreed the others weren't either but that is another discussion. I'm against all this gardening that goes on.

Nobody quite worked out why he got last night's warning.

Time to outlaw all this gardening once and for all. The 2 minute rule should be applied, that is ready to race and what the referee did last night was correct. Woofy was a bike length back when the clock ran out. There should be a line some distance back from the start. You cross that and you are under the start marshalls orders and no gardening. You must cross that line in the 2 minutes. always thought gardening was the worst thing about modern speedway.

People shouldn't take the mickey with you now should they? Good call

We are in the situation that pertained in 1960. The biggest success story of my 60 years of an interest in speedway was the Provincial League. The National League was down to about 8 teams and strugling but the PL settled down well. No big stars, some who were but past their peak, but rising talent (Mauger, Monk, Eric Boocock, George Hunter) ensured good if not really top notch racing. We do not need the GP stars. We need one big league with as many teams as there are riders, no doubling up so that the fans can relate to their riders. Accuse me of being a dinosaur if you like but the present path is the road to ruin IMHO.L

Thanks Philip. I was hoping someone would do it. I can't!!

I have just arranged to go to Cardiff with my wife and grandchildren. The seats that we have had in years past, which were perfectly affordable are now £80. Sorry, but with coach travel, programme, drinks, meals etc.it is too much. Sorry Jason, I will be supporting you from my TV listening to Nigel and Kelvin. Crazy money and we are not even talking hotel rooms here.

Really pleased to see that even the Telegraph did a full obituary of Ivan on Wednesday this week. A lot of stuff I am sure many of us were not aware of.

Thanks Philip. These kind of threads got off track eventually and I wanted an answer to the original query.

Can someone please summarise the situation as of this moment? I have just had notification that my BT sub is going up in March. No speedway and I would cancel.

Surely the fact that he would have won it in 2016 ? Instead he sustained potential life threatening injuries and he came back and won it a year later

I was at the OTA on Thursday night and he came across as a man who genuinely feels it a privilege to be World Champion. He will be a big draw for Somerset and I for one admire him totally for overcoming the terrible injuries he sustained in 2016 to reach the pinnacle of his sport. He clearly loves British speedway and for that, good on you sport!

See my thread "Umbrella girls" in the SGP section. Very similar thoughts.

I doubt that F1 girls were coerced in any way and probably made more money than SGP so why did they feel the need to do away with them? The world has gone mad after Weinstein.

In the light of F1 to dispense with "Grid girls", can we expect SGP to abandon our lovely "Umbrella girls" on the starting grid? Or can we justify it by saying that riders need to know their gate position?

Great news. I said it would be a fairy tale if it happened. Good for Debbie, Garry and attendances.

My money is on Doyley too. What a fairy tale. I'm going on 1st Feb to the OTA. I'll ask him!

I have to say that I am not a great fan of this levelling idea. It should be for promoters to build and retain a good side that their supporters could relate to year in year out. Imagine Ronnie Greene's attitude if you tried to break up his Wimbledon side of the late 50's and 60's? Ronnie Moore, Peter Moore, Ron How, Barry Briggs. Crikey what a line up and it was for others to aspire to. A race to the bottom does nobody any good.

I am surprised that there is no mention of Don Cumming on this thread. He was "Mr Saturday night at Meadowbank". You didn't need the 2 minute warning with Don. If things were running late he would say "come on lads, let's get these battle wagons rolling". Great memories.

Thought exactly the same. What crazy decision to let a talented rider like Tungate go because of a few mechanical problems. May, hang your head particularly bringing in Hougaard.

Speedybee wrote " don't count me in your common ground , we have chucked far too many resources training journeymen Aussies and other assorted foreigners , instead of concentrating on our own lads , I'm not 1 bit dissapointed that lads who have made it to their level against the odds couldn't hack it against teams and fans whose country actually support its own riders in preference to foreigners " Doesn't that count as a failure of organisation and preparation?

Seldom have I read such common ground in a thread. We may have our minor differences but the overwhelming feeling is of disappointment and shame, about the organisation and preparation for this event. Hopefully it is a wake up call to the powers that be.

Embarrasing to watch. Poor machines, wrong lines and tape breaking too. Woofy should not wear GB at Cardiff if he is not prepared to represent his country, whatever his disagreementswith the authorities. shame on him.