Sotonian

James Shanes today won his third British Masters title in a row. Mark Cossar won the sidecar title.

Norden was the nadir of the old one-off finals. Watching that dross tonight one could be forgiven for thinking that the sport has not progressed one iota from then.

Watch it on the Youtube HD channel. No ad breaks or back to the studio tedium.

Yes, they make Nigel Pearson seem positively taciturn.

Thought it was the year before that.

For years, the complaint was that the best 16 riders were not in the final. The current system goes a long way to addressing that but you would rather select on entertainment than ability. For me, it has to be the best riders at the top table regardless of persona/gating ability/sponsor.

Thanks for the updates, a great win for James Shanes.

This is completely at odds with the oft-mooted move to a fixed race night though. Without the option to run NL matches what else would fill the void on away match weeks? Individual events and challenges are no longer attractive and/or cost-effective.

Umm, how about hefty subscriptions?

European Grasstrack Final Result and an all British podium of: 1. James Shanes (retained his title) 2. Andrew Appleton 3. Edward Kennett

When people ask me why I still bother watching speedway I'll show them that final. It was immense.

Golden showers for the Pirates

Wherever that is. Poole race at Wimborne Road.

It was Peter Shore and he was Labour not Tory. Bloody left-wing tree hugger! :-)

Didn't one of them get abandoned after the track was 'watered' with slurry? I think the bowser had been filled from a nearby river which, unbeknown to them, had been contaminated!

Would those stadiums accept disruption to their surfaces? Cardiff is palleted and easy to remove/replace. Are they? What evidence is there that Wembley would get 'a seriously decent crowd' ?

IoW was not purpose built for speedway, it was formerly a cricket ground.

I'd guess TV viewing figures would take a big hit.

Cook not so much putting himself in the shop window as through it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpjOieUADZg You'll need to use a VPN if you are in the UK

We still want to hear the bikes though so that wouldn't help. An option to mute just the commentary would be ideal.

Why should those criticising be expected to do any better? They are unlikely to be professional commentators are they? One can be a critic without having any expertise in that field e.g Barry Norman didn't have to make films to be a film critic.

Nor bring the sport to this country.

If it's as ideal as it seems, why wasn't it considered much sooner than now? Or was it but something has changed in the meantime?

Jason Bunyan's female mechanic (wife/girlfriend?) used to wear flip-flops in the pits too.