old bob at herne bay

Mikebv, does your list of charges INCLUDE car parking ? I note Belle Vue for example charge £3 for parking.

You can add the team manager Will Pottinger to the 2018 Lakeside staff following J Cook to Eastbourne.

Wish the Lakeside Eagles (or should that be the Eastbourne Hammers) the very best of luck on their newly adopted track at Arlington. One can only wonder if Jon cook has accepted the offer of riding the Hammers remaining league fuxtures at Arlington last season whether Cook's Hammers would have been CL champions last season. Anyhow with the majority of riders and personnel from Lakeside, with a sprinkling of up and coming youngsters from Eastboune's NL outfit - they are keeping the torch of professional speedway in Southern England alive. Maybe Cook's continuing efforts to resurrect Lakeside will bring about some local derbies in 2020.

”mrss” must be on the management committee of the BSPA Amateur presentation of the sport appears to now be the norm and is now considered acceptable ....... delay after delay ...... they rival our train services for excuses for delaying the entertainment. Nothing has been or is being done to address the issues. Nobody appears to be in charge of the entertainment schedule ......... grader breaks water cart breaks inaudible pit interviews with riders team “managers” fence repairs start gate failures flood light failures bike repairs rest periods for riders track inspections “unsatisfactory” starts people feeling unwell in the stadium.....it just muddles along . 2hours for 15 minutes racing appears the norm, with 2 1/2 or 3 hours not unusual. Kent Kings regularly miss their curfew deadline of 2 hours such is the inability to race 15 heats in a reasonable time. One of the main reasons I took your advice mrss and now keep my money in my pocket. Thanks for your advice. If every fan took your advice the problem would be resolved and we could all go home and watch the SGP s on TV.

Regular fixtures ?? Meetings completed in UNDEr 2 hours ? Less gardening and faffing around at the starts ? Seems all suporters and the BSPA have short term memory loss and hae conveniently forgotten about the problesm of 2018 ??????

Good 2nd div. side 5 years ago. Such is the standard of the UK premiership in 2019. Only have to finish in the top 4 (out of 7 clubs) to be in the p.offs . Then injuries permitting Poole take the p off cup

Cool. That’s sweet .

Can I get a copy of a specimen riders "contract" ?

Gusting, that’s great - you have a few years on me in your speedway supporting , saw my first meeting at plough lane back about 1961 , and visited New Cross in their part season in the provincial league in 1963. I still feel privileged to have seen all the greats of the National league in the early 60s ......

If what we are being told is true "gustix" then we allegedly have the support of Thurrock Council and the developer who are "sympathetic" to a sporting venue on the Thurrock area. HOWEVER what is clear is that the developer does not support paying for a new sporting venue as part of thier development plans (surprise surprise) I doubt a petition will do any more than show that a few thousand folks are interested in a speedway track in the Thurrock area, and generate som much needed publicity for the cause. For my part I have signed the petition. I also supported Kent Kings planning applications. I have previously posted my opinion on the Lakeside Hammers fans forum that unless a wealthy potential owner can be found to lead this campaign then Hammers RIP. Money talks. PS You are a New Cross Supporter ?

He would put bums on seats, and probably a few riders bums on the track at Arlington.

What would Nicki Pedersens average be in the Championship

No real surprises other than Kerr. Maybe promoter Cook will rename the side the Eastbourne Hammers to try and lure some of the ex Hammers fans down to support the opposisiton They shoudl be nigh on invincible on their tricky little track at Arlington.

Only Scunthorpe can race on Fridays. That was the rule imposed last season.

Promoter elect Cook can dust off his old Blue and Yellow scarf

........being dropped after a handful of meetings ?

From what I remember Morris not a great lover of the Swindon Track preparation ........mind you Poole isnt much better ......

Whilst the AGM allowed BSPA Ltd to cover their backsides when speedway fails in the UK, I haven’t seen one shred of information regarding improving the ENTERTAINMENT value of the sport. We still have endless delays due to start procedures- gardening , anticipating starts, tractor racing. Sloppy presentation is driving fans away from the sport. Meanwhile Buster is buying up speedway clubs. He must be mad.

If Cook is confirmed as your new promoter, Bowtell will be in your team.....he’s one of Cook’s favourites. Not sure about Alf on the smaller tracks - he’s done well at IOW in the National , but only time will tell how he copes with Arlington at Championship level. Adam Ellis would be useful....but people tell me he’s riding in Poland in 2019?? Not useful for a Saturday track ?

Certain that Buster can come to a mutually acceptable loan deal with Matt. ;-)

Odds on favourite NKI back to Peterborough “ on loan” imo

With so few teams (6?) putting together a worthwhile fixture list for each club. Season could be very short if it’s just 6 league matches and a KO cup

Probable hold up reading the Speedway Star article is whether Cook has a promoters licence. So whether its M Dugard and T Geer or AN Other promoting a Championship side is thei probable issue. Cook madea pretty good pitch for the job in the Sater this week and its a good read throughout with lots of interesting articles around the promotoers Xmas bash ( AGM ) Cooks promotoers licence allegedly hangs on Lakeside's ability to clear debts primarliy caused, I have to say IMO by Mr Rob Godfrey and the cancellation of Friday fixtures. (Restraint of trade claim surely could be brought against he BSPA? )

Things were very different then......... and yes they were each rider had ONE bike in the pits. If that failed he would pay to use the "track spare" . riders would have their bike loaded onto a bike rack on the rear of their car, others had a bike trailer. riders would use the same bike season after season , not sell off all their gear every season and buy new. riders owned one crash helmet and put a different colour cover RED BLUE WHITE or YELLOW/BLACK riders owned one set of leathers and kept them for years. You can see why the riders costs have increased...... IMO things began to change when the late great Ivan Mauger came onto the scene with bikes located in every speedway country. "professionalism " came into speedway. Now it seems every rider from a National League reserve appears on a brand new bike with glitter guards and all the trimmings. They all expect speedway to provide them with full time employment.

Official attendances at Speedway Meetings in the UK are classified as Top Secret under the official secrets act. Nobody knows. Not even HMRC. So how anybody can talk about attendances being up down or anywhere is purely guesswork. My take is that "promoters" only reveal attendances it supports ther argemnet, and even then I frankly do not believe them. As for Rye House... I thought all clubs had to pay a bond to the league upon entering the league - surely this should be used to settle outstanding debts ??