Leicester Lion

To be fair, he didn't actually say it's fine to break the law. But he did hamfistedly attempt to mitigate Ward's gross stupidity and recklessness by making up a sweeping generalisation that has no foundation at all. Even worse in my opinion, he tried to minimise Ward's actions by distancing it from speedway racing - incredibly he seems to think it's somehow less serious if a rider's misconduct takes place away from the track. Any credibility Middleditch had as a team manager is gone.

I heard Hemsley himself boasting to a visiting bigwig about how wide it is (presumably he meant the track) - but most of the width of the straights at BP isn't used. The track might as well be 2 metres wide on the straights as it's invariably single file. Passing only happens when there is a wide difference between the riders' abilities, or when someone makes a mistake or strays off the line. There isn't any real racing, the sort you get when two riders of similar standard pass and repass each other. The dimensions of the track prevent riders from building up extra speed, as they have to lose it again going into the next corner. In my opinion the straights are far too long, and need shortening by 20-30 metres. The width of the straights might then take on some significance.

Seems to me they were quite prepared to, or were remarkably ignorant of the consequences, until the SCB issued its statement.

On their official facebook page, Leicester have said they are not staging round 1 despite it being advertised on the UK Series website.

When it starts getting one-sided maybe Cov will ease off like Sheffield did in the opening meeting at Beaumont Park.

I heard something similar, and the Lions bit in this week's Star suggests a major sponsor is being sought. If Elliotts has gone we are desperately unlucky with team sponsors. Also makes me wonder whether we would lose the Elliott buildings in the stadium.

Rats joining a sinking ship.

And here they are: Team GB Lewis Bridger Lewis Blackbird Josh Auty Andrew Tully Ben Barker Kyle Newman Ashley Birks Young Australia Ty Proctor Dakota North Josh Grajczonek Sam Masters Nick Morris Mason Campton Alex Davies

As Holder was excluded, shouldn't there have been a re-run?

It already is - at every track.

It must have been a different Steve Shovlar in the Poole v Wolves (EL B 01/07/2009) thread then.

I'm too young to have seen Jack Geran and Bryan Elliot, although my dad used to tell me about them. Ken McKinlay was a regular at Blackbird Road even after he stopped racing; I recall leaving the stadium one evening and seeing him rolling around in a bus shelter after overdoing his birthday celebrations. It's all systems go for the new stadium. Only a couple of weeks ago it was just grassy parkland with white lines marking out the track. There is still a lot of work to do, but progress has been very fast and a lot of earth has been shifted. It'll be basic at first, but provided people don't expect too much I'm sure improvements will follow. I hope there will be some sort of speedway meeting there late this year, but I'll be delighted to see the team take to the track next March.

I'm casually watching it too, but there are too many pauses.

With three in Poland this season, it's heading that way.

Don't know but I wish they'd get the message that I do not want to win a bloody Green Card!

Try http://mjfunkz.com/mecze.php

Enjoying it, but Pedersen very lucky to not be excluded after locking up, being clipped by Dobrucki who was minding his own business, and going down like a sack of spuds.

So much for all those who prematurely heralded a new dawn for GP speedway on the basis that there was a bit more dirt than usual in the first round. Prague was the same as always. It was a poor speedway meeting, despite Pearson and Louis telling us otherwise (and I doubt they were even in the Czech Republic, let alone inside the stadium). Gollob deserved the win for being the only rider able to produce genuine passing on this awful track, which made his ride in heat 14 was even more stunning. Did Gollob bring Jonsson down? The replays were inconclusive; none of them clearly showed Gollob taking Jonsson's leg away. I don't subscribe to the view that the rider "in front" can do what he likes. I would say the rider attempting the pass must do it cleanly, but there is also an onus on the rider being passed to yield once it is clear the pass can't be prevented. It did appear that Jonsson deviated from his line a little early going into the corner, which may have influenced the ref. This was a close call, and it is unfair to criticise the referee either way.

Because Pearson is too lazy to change from the small number of clichés that he uses ad nauseum.