AFCB Wildcat

It's good to get one meeting on but what's the long term solution here? From what I've read in the Star over the past couple of weeks and in the local press it's a bit of a worry. The only thing that makes sense to me is for Stadia UK to forfeit their lease if they don't intend to use it as a sporting venue. If Stadia UK are still operating the venue how does it work bringing in staff to replace ones that have been made redundant regardless of who's paying them? Now that the dogs are gone could there now be room for Poole Town to return to the stadium and share with the Speedway? I realise that the track would need to be moved as there's not currently enough room. That would be the ideal solution to me, with the council as the landlord. It seems though that there are plans to develop the whole site though and it all sounds a bit like the Swindon situation to me and frankly I fear the worst.

Did you do that on a Flex booking or pay upfront with no cancellation and no amendments? You need to be careful on the flex & other pay on the day booking options because their terms & conditions, which no one reads, say that they can amend the price up to I think from memory, 30 days before you stay. I had this happen one year where I booked cheap rooms a year in advance like you did but was notified a month or 2 before the GP that the price was now double what I'd booked it at. The prices are constantly changing with Premier Inn and start off high when they first become aware of an event. I'm going anyway so what I do now is book it straight away on Flex at whatever the price is because they normally come down when the rooms are either not sold or cancelled. I just keep monitoring the prices from there on and if I see it cheaper I cancel the original booking & re book at the cheaper price. Quite often it becomes significantly cheaper nearer the event on the standard pay upfront rate, in which case I cancel the flex which you can do up to midday on the arrival date.

I was about to say more or less the same. I think the Star has done a first class job in the absence of domestic speedway this year. The content has been excellent and a cover to cover read for me.

Was all good again this week. Latest issue on sale

Castlepoint in Bournemouth. My wife gets it for me there every Thursday as a rule with her weekly shop. First time they didn't have it this week but last week's was still on sale apparently.

Asda didn't have it this week either

If you could that would be great. I've got over it now but as an 8 year old I was quite upset so it would be nice have closure on the episode

Wow that's amazing! I see Colin Gooddy was going okay though. He was one of my favourite riders later at Poole Great to see it, thank you for posting it.

Wow, yes no wonder I couldn't find it. Funny enough after you gave me the date and team I did a Google search and found a link to this section of the forum from a year ago with someone requesting the results for this fixture and subsequently the scores. It was definitely this fixture and on seeing the scores, it changes my answer to the ' your first world champion ' thread as I see Ronnie Moore was guesting for Poole. At least I know that my memory of events it isn't flawed so thanks again!

That sounds right! I knew it was at the end of the season because we only went to a couple before doing the complete 1973 season. Maybe I was just finding league results? Thank you

I didn't think so because I remember thinking he was excluded from the meeting till my dad explained it was just that race. It's bothered me for some time now lol. Maybe I'm remembering wrong?

I'm always amazed by people's encyclopedic knowledge & memory on here. I can't remember who the opposition was on my first ever meeting at Poole in 1972 when I was 8. I remember my stand out rider being Brian Collins and I remember getting upset when he got excluded for breaking the tapes as I thought he was unbeaten up till then. I've checked speedway archives online though & can't find any evidence of that happening so I don't know if my memory is playing tricks? If anyone could cast any light on it I'd be grateful.

Spot on Belle Vue v Oxford was abandoned apparently.

Well I was born in the Speedway season so on seeing this thread I thought I'd see what was happening on my date of birth and if there were any connections to me. There was a round of the Provincial riders championship at Cradley Heath and it was won by Colin Pratt No don't, it's a cheap shot! Any takers on the date though?

Exactly. The stroke is determined by the offset of the crankshaft so the only way to increase capacity would be to use the bottom end of a long stroke engine with a barrel & piston of a short stroke. I would have thought that the barrel of the short stroke would be a different length though to that of a long stroke? If so it would have to be a bored out long stroke barrel but that would be easy to spot. Maybe they are the same length but use different length con rods? Long strokes were about in speedway till more recently though. My lads Jawa 884 laydown engine which he bought 10 or so years ago was long stroke and that had been used in what is now the championship league by its previous owner. Nobody uses them now though. I've got an upright Jawa 898 which is long stroke too. Maybe longer stroke versions of the modern speedway engines are produced for different disciplines. Grass track or long track etc. providing swappable parts? I'm a bit out of touch these days.

No that's logical. They won the meeting after all

Fine by me but with the small tweak of standing the rider who took the most points out of the meeting on the top step of the podium instead of the one that won the last race, then it would make sense.

Swings & roundabouts for me. Championship winning race points could be earned off the back of the misfortunes of others in the ways you described in the old system. Also riders gaining points by having the favoured gates at the right time in the meeting have inflated scores too. If you top the score chart in the heats, everything is stacked in your favour for the semis & finals so if you get beat from there your not the best in my opinion. Of course you could suffer an engine failure etc. but in the old one off finals that people think we're best, one engine failure, tape exclusion or poor refereeing decision could & did cost the best rider the title, that's speedway. At least with this system a rider can bounce back from a misfortune or two outside his control and still prove he's the best. I'm not saying this system is perfect and it's not the one I'd have chosen but I prefer it to the old one as I didn't think the guy that stood on the top step at the end of the night was adequately rewarded and the finals were a bit pointless when it was simply a point totting exercise. As I said, just my opinion.

You're right, but unfortunately there's a few that get aggressive if others don't agree with them! There are merits on both sides but regarding your point as to if BZ had slipped up and missed the semis, could it not be argued that if that had happened it was because the pressure had got to him and he bottled his last ride, in which case would he be a worthy champion? I didn't like seeing riders looking dominant in the heats then go missing in the semis or final but come away with the spoils. As it was BZ showed he was the best rider in the series and won it in the style of a true champion. I like the new system too but as you say we can agree to disagree.

The British Final was my first experience of streaming and I was impressed with the professionalism of the whole production. Unfortunately I couldn't watch it live but did it on catch up first thing this morning after work. I used my basic smart phone & Chromecast to my TV and all was good except the occasional pixelation on some shots but fortunately not during the racing. The only thing I struggled with to start with was not being able to accurately move it on to the start of the racing i.e. skip the build up accurately from the window on the sport central site but I later found I could do this better from the Google home app. Personally I have no issue with the price. I've paid more for 2 pints of beer in London! I hope it was a success for the production company and if that's the price it takes to make it happen I'll happily pay it for future events. If it wasn't for the Covid restrictions I'd be paying around £30 admission for football plus another £40 or so in the pub before & after plus travel costs to away games. I rarely get to see live speedway since Weymouth's demise because I work nights Monday to Thursday and can only do weekend tracks so to stream speedway and Football for a little over £20 isn't breaking the bank for me but I understand everyone's circumstances are different so I'm not criticising anyone.

Having in the past seen my football team fall foul of so many poor refereeing or linesman decisions after watching the replays on M.O.TD I was always in favour of technology to eliminate injustices. However after witnessing the farce of VAR completely ruining the Premier League in my opinion, I would be against using it in Speedway. It's easy to watch the slow Mo's in retrospect and criticise the referee who has to make a split second call on if it's a perfect start or a jump but I'd rather live with the odd mistake being made than go down the technology route to be honest. We enjoyed Speedway's best years without it.

Happy days! I loved Weymouth's old ground and that's where sports venues should be, in the middle of town. Sadly bought out by Asda and moved to an out of town industrial estate. The trouble is towns like Weymouth, Poole & Bournemouth are just commodities now. People move there because they are a nice place to live but they have no affinity to the towns or the sports teams and their venues just become valuable building land.

I remember that but I didn't go. I think the only football match I ever saw at Wimborne Road was a game between a speedway riders team against Poole Town which I think was to do with Pete Smith's testimonial in 1976? I could be wrong, it's a long time ago. One thing I know is that since Poole Town left the stadium they have been thwarted at every attempt to relocate to another venue which would allow them to progress so they're stuck on Tatnam field. Residents up in arms at plans to have a football ground near them so I fear for the Pirates if they lose their home. How long have the Wildcats been trying to find somewhere?

Quite right, and not a transgender player in sight. The Premiership is institutionally racist & homophobic! I feel that strongly about their agenda of hate and discrimination that I won't attend a single Bournemouth game in the Premier League next season.

I don't disagree. I have used Ryanair a lot over the years and have never had cause for complaint. Yes, last year my wife & I flew to Prague from Bournemouth for about £75 a head with priority boarding and chosen seats. This year however it was nearer £200 each for the GP weekend but cheap as chips for the weekends before and after so I decided not to bother as we'd paid less to fly to Tenerife which is a 4 hour flight. I just hope the days of cheap flights aren't over for good because of this current mess!