Ray Stadia

Me too SCB, I would rather have 6 or 7 pints of Stella!..........oh doh!

But alcohol is not illegal Steve. I totally agree, drugs are wrong, but the guy goes out the night before a meeting and drinks legal alcohol, which unless I am wrong, you may have done too, as a rider. I rode Grass Track and I drank alcohol the night before a Sunday meeting.

You mean Michael Lee style Steve? That is bad, I have to say. But being an ex rider Steve, what do you make of this alcohol thing?

We have already been told that if tested, there is virtually a zero tolerance to any alcohol in the blood stream! So yes, there would have been a trace mid-day. Doesn't mean he would have been a danger, doesn't mean he wouldn't have won the meeting. It is the typical British attitude, build someone up and take great delight in seeing them tumble. I hope you are enjoying your cocoa Oldace, in your fluffy slippers!

He is only 22! I still remember what I was like at 22 and if I had been a speedway rider at 22, I am pretty sure I wouldn't have been in bed the night before a meeting, in a different country, tucked up in bed with cocoa!

Trouble is, many of us have had a 'skin full' and driven the following day. How do we know whether we would have failed a breath test? In my opinion, at worst, he would have had a bad meeting and not been a danger to other riders. I wonder what would have happened if the Moran brothers had been tested just before a meeting? Also, I heard stories about a rider, no names, falling out of the van when the passenger door was opened and was due to ride! He was under the influence. No one was hurt and I believe he had a reasonable meeting! Times have changed I understand, but he is a young man and deserves a bit of slack, in my opinion.

I think Orion is not adding enough water!

It is sad! Very sorry to hear the news. South African I believe?

There is a thread just started in the Elite League section, mentioning how poor the Elite League is this year and suggesting speedway should be run by ex riders rather than 'money men'. But surely, no promoter of any league, especially these days, expects to make a profit! But I can understand them expecting to at least break even, which is not unreasonable. I think speedway needs to lay it's cards on the table, for all remaining tracks and look at all the real costs and see where changes need to be made for the good of everybody. Surely a sensible business plan for all can be achieved. Perhaps speedway promoters need to work as a co-operative?

Not sure Cradley is a big city? And we did have Birmingham!

The opportunity to bring back hanging?

The good news, is the longer it takes to build, the closer I become to being eligible to cheap or free travel and concessionary entrance fee! Every cloud........!

Still looking forward to buying you a beer on that first night (or second night) TWK!

Best wishes Ricky. Very well done!

Very sad. RIP

With respect, I think the problem with Mildenhall is being missed. I don't believe (for one minute), the problem is speedway. It is the stock cars/bangers. Speedway is wrapped up on the last heat and no more noise. Apparently, evening meetings were running at the track for bangers and they create a huge mess and the track was being prepared for speedway into the early hours, so we are told. Is that reasonable, even for the most tolerant neighbour?

I haven't read Phil Collins article, but reducing costs, all round, has to be the way forward to try and get speedway growing again. Perhaps a way to introduce the new engines, would be to insist that existing engines are restricted to a certain power output. In other words, reduced to a similar output to the new engines.

I think a lot of Coventry fans have taken Mr Sandhu at his word and think 'all will be ok in 3 years time'. If Mr Sandhu had simply said, he had sold the stadium and that was that, there may be more response and action. Fools gold maybe!

I think it is possible, due to common sense. For example, if you live next door to a noisy engineering company, but they were there before your house was built and ordinarily they started work at 8.30 and finished at 5.00 pm. However, due to new orders, they were now starting at 7.00 am and finishing at 8.00 pm. The engineering company has moved the goal posts, therefore, you should have the right to be able to complain about the change in situation, if it affects your life, in my opinion. Probably. I think a USAF base would be considered more important to national security, than a motor sport stadium.

Reading the above and it is woolly, but I do wonder whether the stock car operators, pushed the envelope and operated outside their planning permission.

Poor Matchless, or Associated Motorcycles! At least they had a go! It would have been the back end of their life, so they would have, probably, converted a heavy single cylinder 500 cc road engine, which would have likely been more 'clumsy' than a J.A.P. By then, it was too late really for a British motorcycle manufacturer to launch a serious speedway engine. Until we had the mighty Weslake, but they were racing engine specialists.

Just to remind you, TMC responded to a similar comment from you on the 27th August, 2009. Below is the posting: You must have been on holiday on the nights Simmo went down to the County Ground and scored maximums for Poole against the Falcons! Seriously, on the DVD, there is a section devoted to Exeter and Malc's thoughts on the CG track. He admits he, like many, had a phobia about the place but the move to Poole - and 'local' derbies between Falcons and Pirates - forced him to get used to the fearsome circuit. He says there was nothing wrong with the Exeter track whatsoever and that all those who moaned about it (including him in his pre-Poole days) were wrong, and that it was 'all in the head'. He is very complimentary about Exeter - if not the robust tactics employed by Messrs Julian and (especially) Blewitt, which scared the life out of so many visiting riders.{C}{C} You might just have twisted my arm ! Anything speedway which gives a good insight into the sport i've followed for 35 years rocks my boat, need to get out more i think ! (prob lemo's testimonial next for me)

I notice that Iwade has received full planning permission, as announced on their website. Is there anything else to add to this please?

I saw Malcolm ride at Wimbledon in the mid 80's, brilliant rider and charismatic man. In spite of his talent, he always came across as a regular guy. Wishing Malcolm and his family all the best.

I agree MattK. An independent committee, in my opinion, just adds another level of decision makers, who just muddy the waters even more. look at the government and the quangos and the mess they cause and create additional cost. The simple truth, is not enough fans are going through the turnstiles. In my opinion, speedway on TV just makes things worse, for 2 reasons. It gives the real fans an excuse not to go to their local track and secondly, those potential new fans that might have gone along to their local track, are maybe turned off. As we fans know, speedway on TV is nothing like actually being there. I am not sure what the answer is, but without some kind of radical change, the situation is not going to improve. Perhaps league speedway in this country needs to have a complete revamp and have a massive rider cost cut, which will mean losing many stars to overseas tracks and build from the bottom up. Perhaps have the same mentality as a premier league football club that has been relegated all the way down to the second division, but has aspirations to return to the premier league.