pvm

OK, I'll bite and say, if it goes the full distance, I predict 51-42.

Redcar Bears 1. David Bellego 2. Tobias Busch 3. Hugh Skidmore 4. Jonas B Andersen 5. Lasse Bjerre 6. Simon Nielsen 7. Lee Payne Berwick Bandits: 1. Kevin Doolan 2. Dawid Stachrya 3. Theo Pijper 4. Matthew Wethers 5. Thomas Jorgensen 6. Daniel Gappmaier 7. Liam Carr (probable line ups) David Bellego moves to the Number 1 spot for Redcar. Based on recent improvements, I think it will be a home win. But once again the weather forecast is not good, with rain showers expected from 7.00pm(it's Thursday, what do you expect) but they got it wrong last week. So fingers crossed.

I remember that, it was just in front of me and the rest of the Redcar supporters. It was one of those occasions when the crowd went silent fearing the worst.

Redcar Bears 1. Tobias Busch - 2. Lasse Bjerre - 3. Hugh Skidmore - 4. Jonas B Andersen - 5. David Bellego - 6. Simon Nielsen - 7. Lee Payne TBC - Glasgow Tigers 1. Richard Lawson - 2. Fernando Garcia - 3. Richie Worrall - 4. Rene Bach - 5. Aaron Summers - 6. Nike Lunna - 7. TBC - Read more: http://speedwayupdates.proboards.com/thread/15909/redcar-glasgow-pl-28-30pm#ixzz4FhPO5GqC Think this is going to be an away win, but should be close. Glasgow arrive on the back of a convincing win at Berwick and have a few riders who know their way around the Media Prima Arena, but recent home performance's suggest this is going to a cracker, if the weather plays ball. The current weather forecast is for showers between now and 3pm, then dry till 9-10pm. Depending on how much rain falls, could determine just how good the racing(if any) will be, the track always benefits from natural watering, let's just hope the weather god's are onside.

Aww, well that's me put out of my misery, I shall just have to get on with the rest of my day...lol

The forecast for later today is not good. It's going to be one of those "will it, won't it" days. It's currently bright and sunny with rain due around 4.00pm-5.00pm, and when it arrives it due to last until well after 8.00pm. I'm guessing it could be a late rain-off, depending on how much rain falls in that time. I hate these "will it, won't it" days.

But this is Speedway, The BSPA by using the "wildcard" option can have "a get out of jail card". If Peterborough win their group, they qualify on merit, If Peterborough finish as highest scoring second place team, again the BSPA can say they chose Peterborough(as the wildcard) on merit as the second highest scorers. But if Peterborough don't win their Group or finish as highest scoring second placed team, they still have the option to put Peterborough in the final as the Wildcard, all done in the "Best Interests of the sport" If they announce that the Top 3 + Plus highest scoring Second place team qualify for the final, there's the risk of the home team not being in the final, and the perceived loss of income from not having the home team in the final. I personally don't think the crowd for Sunday's events, would be significantly affected if Peterborough didn't make the finals, but it's a risk I don't think the BSPA would be willing to take.

That's the thing with P&P days, it's not possible to see 4 riders racing from the tapes. Payne looked smooth, quick and seamed to be riding the right line, Bukhave looked the opposite. But having said that, Bukhave was searching for different lines and learning the track, where as Payne found a line early on that worked for him and stuck to it, what he will do when there are 3 other riders beside him and he can't pick his own line, remains to be seen. On the weather front, it's cool, drizzly day, the type that can slowly overwhelm a track if it continues for the next 8 hours, but if it stops in the next hour or so, could make for a perfect track (Fingers Crossed it the latter). Looking forward to seeing you.

It's Speedway, so Peterborough replace Plymouth on Saturday. The top team in each group qualify for the final on Sunday + one wildcard team. If Peterborough top their group the wild card entry goes to the highest scoring second team, If Peterborough don't top their group they become the wildcard entry.

It will be interesting to see how things go. At P&P I thought Payne looked far better than Bukhave, whether that means Payne is average and Bukhave is worse or Bukhave is good and Payne is very good, we'll find out on Thursday. I hope it turns out to be the latter, in which case we could have a decent season, but if it's the former it could turn out to be a difficult season ahead. Only time will tell.

I would hope that this years event would be held at the National Stadium (Belle Vue), It would be a shame not to use it now it's been built.

Can someone explain where the new track will be in relation to the present track. Is there a link to the planning application?

He might be a late flourisher :rolf:

I used play a bit of Ice Hockey in my younger days, Billingham Bombers (I was in the juniors team), Durham Wasps, Whitley Bay Warriors. My daughter lives near Durham, I must have a look in and see how the Durham Wasps are doing these days, there was always a heathy rivalry between Billingham and the other two North east teams.

As a neutral, I'm looking forward to a great meeting, shame it's not a Saturday night, but these things happen. Looking at the line-ups, most riders (with one or two exceptions) are quite capable of scoring a 4 ride 12pt maximum at Redcar, which should make for some cracking races. Not sure of the format,16 or 20 heats, but it could end up with every heat being a cracker and any of the 4 in each heat capable of winning the race or finishing last.

I love the play-off's, the crowds at Redcar are massive in September & October. I'm sure the crowds must be equally as good at Workington, Rye House, Berwick, Scunthorpe etc.. The Play-off's are great, if your involved, if your not, who cares anyway..

I'm very pleased for you..Give us a clue, what did he say?

I'm looking forward to visiting the stadium at sometime in the future, and I'm sure I will be impressed by everything. But my visit will be tinged with sadness. Sadness at the fact that the Stadium is 30+ years to late. Stadiums like the new Belle Vue should have been built at a time when the sport was doing well. Promoter took the easy option of setting up in rented stadiums instead of investing in stand alone stadiums. When teams were kicked out, no-one had the vision to build there own stadium, they just moved onto the next stadium that would rent them the space. Planning laws were different then, NIMBY's didn't have as much influence, the sport should have had the vision and the funds to progress the sport without the need to rely on the whims of a Landlord.

For those interested, the google streetview camera went past the site in July 2015, it gives a fair idea of the size of the main stand https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.4610361,-2.1893438,3a,75y,203.91h,81.37t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s53YeJUwIRpQVzqH-tD4EUw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

My pet hate, regarding the tapes, is when the tapes are so slack, there is a noticeable difference in the speed they rise. Last year I watched one meeting on Sky, the one where Stuart Robson was accused of jumping, On one occasion Stuart was caught, the tapes nearest the magnets were almost shoulder height before the middle part of the tapes had moved. It happens quite often, a rider in gate 2 or 3 who watches the magnets release can appear to "Jump", when in fact they haven't.

if running out of meat is a sign of good crowds, we must be doing brilliantly at Redcar... we quite often run out of pie & peas before the meeting starts...

The problem with Sheffield is, far to often, it's Red, Blue, White, Yellow ( when riders are of equal ability) until the track settles, which can take a few races, then just before the Semi's they do a big track grade and it returns to Red, Blue, White, Yellow again. Having the inside gate can be a big advantage.

The amount of money that has, come into and out of, the sport in the past 80+ years, most tracks should be in a position whereby they own their own stadiums. At times when the sport was booming more should have been done to put the sport in a better financial position. A small levy, put into a building fund, would have meant the BSPA(or some similar body) would have been the owners of many former tracks. Whether it was lack of foresight, or just pure greed on the part of previous generations of promoters, I'll leave for others to decide. But after 80+ years, there really should be more stand alone tracks. The sport has been badly let down by previous generations of promoters.

The last time the rules for qualification were published for the Fours (and the Pairs), it included the provision for a "Wild-Card" entry. The Wild-Card entry was in-case the host team didn't qualify, it gave the BSPA an excuse to include the host team. In most cases the host team qualified on merit so the wild-card entry went to the team next in line anyway. I think there was some controversy over a wild-card choice a few years ago, so the qualification rules stopped being published.

Nobody comes out of this in a good light, mistakes have been made, and everyone will learn from this sad episode. It is unfortunate, that due to a series of unfortunate events, that a simple printing error has had such consequences. To suggest it was a deliberate attempt to cheat is just plain silly. It just happens that on this occasion a rider was unable to ride due to injury and that rider happened to be Jan Graversen, which dis-advantaged Somerset. It could just as easily been Matej Kus, which would have dis-advantaged Redcar or as happened the previous week, no riders were injured so no teams were dis-advantaged. Just as an aside, as a former Golf rules official, if something similar happened during a match-play event, where a player or team should or shouldn't have received a stoke at a hole but did or didn't receive a stroke, if that mistake is not rectified before the commence of the next hole, then the result of the hole where the mistake took place would stand. This must have happened in the past because it is in the "Decision's on the Rules of Golf" book. For those not familiar with the rules of golf, the Rule book is a 30 page booklet with 30+ rules, The decisions book is a book containing all the decision made by the ruling body (R&A) regarding each and every possible scenario that a rule may have been broken, and is 600+ pages and is reviewed every two years. Maybe speedway needs something similar, something that provides consistency when it comes to rules, and the breaking of said rules, whether actual rule breaking or just perceived rule breaking.