PHILIPRISING

I WAS actually at the FIM Congress when the BSPA were granted Associate Membership and their representatives at the CCP meetings were under the mis-apprehension that they would be afforded a vote. Of course they weren't and although allowed to sit at the table, the power remained with the ACU rep.

NOT strictly true. BSI do pay the BSPA re the British GP although, in fact, they don't have to. The BSPA have nothing to do with the World Championshiop, it is an FIM event and it is the ACU who are an affiliate.

WORTH a look ... http://www.itv.com/news/granada/update/2017-03-01/national-speedway-stadium-has-great-potential-say-new-owners-of-belle-vue-aces/

THINK that's right KELVIN and Nigel did the commentary on the Aussie GP from London because BT wanted to stay with them rather than have the world feed commentators (Crump and Tapp).

LOTS of cuts, some behind the scenes, some not. Quite a few presenters/reporters have already got the chop. Even as a soccer fan cannot understand why they are allegedly paying Thierry Henry millions to supplement an already over-crowded football bench.

PRESUMABLY to the BSPA who will distribute to Premiership tracks, most if not all of whom will have budgeted for TV money. In many cases tracks like Somerset sold sponsorship deals win the back of TV exposure so will be desperate to have BT fill the Sky void. Incidentally, Speedway Star had the squeeze put on us not to reveal Sky's decision while negotiations were at a delicate stage with BT and, in the wider interest of the sport, we acquiesced. Probably been left with egg in our faces if it is announced later this week but that's the way it goes.

MOST likely they will pay off contract but save on production costs. Throwing all they money at football again, or so it seems.

ADMIT what ... you have just confirmed what we have been saying. Or did I miss your irony?

BELIEVE they are in the hands of an administrator appointed after the companies went into liquidation.

AS Shale Searcher explained (post 2188) proceeds from Sky and gate receipts simply went into a big black hole from previously incurred debt, some of which had been carried forward year on year from Kirky Lane. I remember saying to Chris Morton at the play-off final against Wolves, with a big crowd at the NSS, that at least their season would finish with a good pay day. His curt reply: "But we won't see any of it." There were concerns about the track in the days leading up to the opening but you ignore the fact that it passed an SCB inspection the day before. The fact remains that had ISG properly constructed the base section of turns 3/4 as they had elsewhere and subsequently did there too this whole sorry chapter in British speedway would never have taken place.

WERE you there? I was, from around 1pm, and David Gordon and others were confident that the track would be okay, if not perfect, that evening. Have detailed here many, many times why it deteriorated later in the day but if you don't believe that then fine. Gordon and Chris Morton had nothing to gain by opening the turnstiles knowing that the meeting wouldn't go ahead. It would have been an act of commercial suicide although from their point of view the outcome was very much the same. The fact that it didn't go ahead was, as we later discovered, due to circumstances out of their control and which were later fully agreed upon and documented by Manchester City Council. VERY positive and hopefully they will reap the benefit of all the NSS has to offer.

WHAT is the question?

THEY weren't idle. It's not always advantageous to wash one's dirty linen in public. And the public don't have a divine right to know everything. GP has decided that discretion is the better choice when looking at the bigger picture and I for one applaud him for that.

AND probably won't.

Not speedway's decline ... but for a fact that Sunday People expose and what followed had a huge impact of how speedway was treated by the national press. Simon wasn't the only one involved of course.

AS someone who worked for a national newspaper (Daily Express) at that time, attended every minute of the SCB Tribunal and had major coverage in the paper including inside page lead stories, I would attest to that.

YES, when the dust has settled on the new promotion. Some of the remarks on here about 'investigative' journalism make me laugh. We are not the police or even a national newspaper with the money, time and experienced guys in that field. It is hard enough producing a 48 page mag every week on limited resources. If people don't want to talk or limit what they say that is their prerogative. Gordon Pairman declined to embellish his original statement but there was hardly any need. MCC wouldn't comment. The SCB would only confirm that BV's licence was annulled to protect the speedway assets (riders) of the club from the hands of administrators should they be called in. I never said this was the end of the story and more will come out at a future date but nothing will be gained at this stage and until the future of speedway at the NSS is cut and dried. WOULD concur with that.

OFF the top of my head think Kelvin had the better record at Teterow and, of course, his father Martin won there. Might even have been the first time the event was staged there.

THINK Kelvin broke down on the last lap of a final in New Zealand when all he needed to do was finish the race to become World Champion for a fourth time.

HE was outstanding in junior Moto-cross and is actually riding in some senior (both in terms of rider and machine) event these days. Both Simon and Kelvin loved riding not just racing.

I SAID it was irrelevant in the context that the faults with the track would have surfaced, literally, anyway. If you read my comments in SS immediately after the cancelled opening night you might have a different view. But, subsequently, we have gone through what went wrong. Whether you believe it not is entirely up to you. We have asked the questions but apparently you don't like the answers. That is your choice.

FOR the record, and as per MCC's own documents, they didn't 'extract' the money from ISG they didn't pay them in the first place. YOU are obviously intransigent in your view regarding opening night, despite firm evidence to the contrary, but what else is a lie? And you know for a fact that Chris Morton has "nothing to do with David Gordon's take?" I don't think so.

I HAVE said all along that it would be for people to make up their own minds and I stand by that. But, for a moment, ignore all the words and what David Gordon had to say, and just look at the two documents we published. The one from MCC to !SG (12/4/16) states quite clearly the faults with the sub-base at the track, that inferior materials were used and the remedial work that was required. It also stipulated that the removed material should be kept for examination. It wasn't. Why? No prizes for guessing. The other document underlines the dis-satisfaction of MCC with ISG because they withheld around £700,000 in payment because of the track defaults and the losses incurred by Belle Vue (Gordon and Morton). We asked MCC what happened to that money and why nothing was offered to Gordon and Morton in compensation as they were the ones who suffered the financial hardship that ensued and subsequently caused them to run up the operating bills that they did. MCC did not reply. Comments about whether the opening meeting should or should not have gone ahead are to a certain extent irreverent. Sooner or later the faults with turns 3/4 would have manifested themselves and this sorry saga would have taken off anyway. As for some of orion's personal comments about me: I barely knew David Gordon before embarking on this project although I have obviously known Chris Morton for donkey's years. Unlike David, Chris wanted to keep a low profile because he hopes to have a continuing role at BV and I sincerely hope that he does. And, incidentally, I have not been editor of Speedway Star for over 20 years.

I AM hopeless with the regulations but is there a rule that a Premiership team cannot have more than two riders from a Championship one and BV already have Smith and Bewley who are contracted to Glasgow?