norbold

When I first spoke to my publisher about producing a speedway book, I said I wanted to write one about Speedway in London. They asked me how many tracks were still open in London and I told them there weren't any, so they said they didn't think they would be able to sell it as they thought that a niche" book about speedway would only sell at speedway track shops. So we agreed that I should write "Speedway in East Anglia" instead as there were four tracks still open. They printed 1200 copies and sold out within two weeks and then sold a further 1200 in just about a month. What amazed them was that most of the sales were in "High Street" bookshops in Norwich where the track had long since closed. They then agreed to my Speedway in London book, which reached no.3 in the Sunday Times Sports Books chart. The moral is you don't need to be a bookshop near a track to sell books about speedway!

Just over 10 years. Is that the record for the longest gap between two consecutive posts on the same thread?

A number of people on here are doubting whether Greg Hancock should be given a wildcard next year by pointing to the fact that Tai missed out on a couple of GPs and racing in general for a while and hasn't been able to reach his former best and that therefore Greg, who has missed out on a whole year, couldn't be expected to get back to GP form. I do think there is one crucial difference in this though and that is that Tai was out injured with a bad injury and may have come back too soon. Greg has suffered no actual bodily injury and therefore will not be in the same position as Tai. Personally, I don't see how Greg can not be given a Wild Card for next year, given his record overall and especially considering where he finished in 2018.

Dennis

Yes, I have the programme. Les Trim won; 2nd C Anderson; 3rd A V Sweby I also have an unfilled programme for 01/09 A V Sweby's Team v. D Gray's Team, so can't confirm it actually took place.

Yes, he did say he would like a wild card for next year.

Do you think it's worth writing to the editor of Stenner's and tell him he's made a mistake!?

Sorry, you were too fast for me. I did delete my second paragraph when I realised what you'd written before!

Yes, Stenner's has that match on 1 October as well!

29/10 Tamworth 64 Hanley 32 (MvSC) - 1948 Stenner's.

15/06 confirmed - Filled in programme 20/04 - Date confirmed - Partly filled in programme which is hard to decipher. Also some of the heat results are not filled in at all and the score chart at the end is not filled in, so I can't work out who won, though looking at the heats that are filled in, it looks likely that the winning pair was either P. Robinson and M Flack or G Bason and E Irons.

Ah, right. I know who you are now!

That doesn't seem likely at the moment.

I agree in principle with everything you say, Gavan. Just one thing though, if Zagar maintains his place in the top 8, Anders Thomsen will be in next year.

6 June A Flack's Team v. S Clark's Team. A Flack's team won 28-26 (nine heat match).

The meeting was the Rye House Best Pairs. The Novice Knock-Out Championship took place before the main event. I do have the filled in programme for the meeting but it is very messy with lots of alterations and almost illegible! The winning pair were A. Briggs and Stan Clark, both replacements for the programmed pair of Frank Bettis and Reg Craven.

Great shout, Mick!

So Zagar is now in the top 8. So is that good news for Thomsen?

You're right, but just as a genuine question, I wonder how many people watching have never seen speedway before. Very few I should think.

Guess you were right after all, Starman, and I was miles out! Have you got up off the floor yet?

Ove was booed at most tracks because he always beat local heroes. Ivan Mauger suffered in the same way. I would think the most unpopular rider has been Nicki Pedersen.

Three people with a single thought.

Shame that Zagar and Iversen qualified for next year. It's obvious that neither of them are worthy of a Grand Prix place and will probably never make any finals.....oh, hang on a minute....

Not really. I was watching the telly and it looked obvious to me.

Yes, I know. I meant our two dear commentators, who seemed amazed that the race was stopped.