OGT

It's an idea. Been to a couple of BSB rounds at Oulton Park. Great days out.

Decent meeting last night, congrats to Adam for his fantastic win. Also great to see Bomber and Scotty giving it a go and turning the clock back a few years. For me though, the big, sorry huge talking point, which could have repercussions across the whole speedway world was Nigel Pearson telling Kelvin Tatum that he used to cheer the name of Simon Cross but boo when Kelv's was announced at Cradley meetings. Wow. You could tell by the latter's muted response that he was taken aback and their awkward interactions over the rest of the meeting showed that all was not well. Could this be the end of an era? The end of their wonderful 30 year partnership (seems longer)? Time will tell, I suppose, but it's sure going to be difficult for both of them, especially Kelvin, to carry on as normal after an admission as earth shattering as that. Keep your eyes on the tabloids, this is gonna be big!

Someone should tell him he doesn't have keep his average down in the GPs.

Awful news. RIP.

Well done Artem Laguta, what a fantastic win that was. I think we know what MFR is short for. Samuel L Jackson knows for sure.

Another victory for the former Brummie

A lot of the ideas being suggested on here are really akin to re-arranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. For speedway to continue/survive on any level, it has to attract new fans, young fans at that. I honestly cannot see how this can be achieved in this country. Old duffers like me waffling on that football/cricket/rugby, bike racing etc is crap and speedway is the greatest sport on earth really need to emigrate to Poland for this opinion to be anywhere near correct. I honestly hope that by some miracle a master plan can be evolved for speedway to rebuild and bounce back better, but without youngsters coming through the turnstiles, it ain't gonna happen.

Me neither, roll on normality in the world.

Fantastic ride from BZ in the final. All in all a pretty decent night. One thing though, I don't really like Leon Madsen for some reason that I can't put my finger on. Can anyone help?

Methanol is a bio fuel so any thoughts of using petrol instead should be binned straight away.

I was there too. A horrible crash, poor Joey.

It is a rubbishhole though. Went there for a stox meeting in 2018, it was far worse than the last time speedway was raced there in 1986. Also the track is tarmac, the centre green is a total mess and the fence is Armco. The speedway track was only ever any good in 1985 and even then it deteriorated before the end of that season. The stockcars carried on ruining it through 86, then the promotion gave up. It's in the wrong part of Brum too, not exactly dripping with transport links. A definite no-no IMO.

It's a sh!thole.

I wonder how the speedway's future will be affected when residents move into the "athletes" village over the road. We've seen over the years, many councils upholding new resident's complaints about noise from established motor sport venues and either close them down or impose operating restrictions, some of them frankly ridiculous. Really hope the same doesn't happen to the Brummies.

It's nothing new though is it? One of the last straws for me was in 2010 when Brum wanted to re-declare due to a long term injury for Chris Kerr. 2 other teams, Berwick and Stoke were in the same position. They were allowed to, Birmingham were denied. The BSPA chairman was Alex Harkess and Brummies were dicing with Edinburgh for the league that year. Draw your own conclusions. Speedway is like a form of water torture for many fans who eventually succumb and walk away. Fair play to the people who can put up with the nonsense, there'd be no speedway without them.

The interview with Alan Grahame is now up on Lee's YouTube channel. It's very good, I have to say, definitely worth a watch.

A Sky Sports day pass on Now TV is £9.99. That does for 24 hours, obv.

Bumped into Andy and Jill Grahame today. Talked about his Lee Ashby interview and he told me that next up will be brother Alan on, he thinks, July 1st. Now that will be interesting.

Many motorsports are looking to turn to biofuels now. Speedway, obviously, is there already.

I have to say I'm still struggling with the image of Josh Bates in his pants.

That meeting was in September 1972 actually, Arthur didn't make his debut until the first meeting of that year. He beat Graeme Smith in the Silver Helmet. Hans was a real star virtually from the off, I thought . The Wheels was just awful really, looking back. Went there for a stox meeting about 3 years ago and it hadn't changed much at all.

May 24th 1971, the Brummies returned to Perry Barr, with a 39 all draw in a challenge match v Long Eaton at the Perry Barr (later the Ladbroke) Stadium. The previous year, Chris Harrison had suggested to Joe Thurley, the then Doncaster promoter, that he try his luck at Birmingham, since there had been no league racing in the city since the ill fated 1957 season and a few open/challenge meetings 3 years later. Instead of phoning the Alexander Stadium as Chris had suggested, Joe mistakenly contacted the greyhound stadium over the road. Luckily they were open to hosting speedway there and so a new chapter in the club's rollercoaster history began. Anyone have any memories of that night or any trips to PB?

More toilet breaks for older viewers.

Talking of shortened tracks, I asked former Brummies promoter Joe Thurley back in 2007 why the old Ladbroke Stadium, Perry Barr track was shortened from 350 yards to 330 in 1974. His reply was that it wasn't shortened, they'd just measured it properly!

This was actually the first known example of sponsorship in speedway. Clever lad was Tommy, an abrasive character, but a dyed in the steel wool stalwart of his time.