Sir Jasper

Darcy Ward: Who said I would ride in British speedway this year? In an interview with the Daily Echo last month, Ford said: “Darcy is always going to be important to this club and if he doesn’t get in here, we’ll do our utmost to make sure he fits in somewhere else because we want him riding.” Well that clears that one up...

If the idea of this is to improve our young Brits then that makes sense., Also allows for a new draft of riders to come in. hey presto 3 Brits in the team at least.

I remember the last time Edward had a decent increase on his average...

I agree wholeheartedly with Jeremy in that riders should be contracted to clubs for longer a season, its the only way people will once again become affiliated with their clubs.

Bees to win.

Woo hoo Terry is back at Brandon.

That was my first thought also. A knowledgable trackman is worth their weight in gold, but like others have said its very subjective, eg Colin Meredith is obviously very knowledgable about tracks but for me his tracks always seem to be very slick, I preferred the track at Brandon when it was done by FTM as it seemed to have some dirt on it and also produced very fast times, and also after he was replaced by Terry something or other. I think it also helps if a trackman has extensive knowledge of a circuit, eg if the Brandon track is in need of water late afternoon, there is a danger that it might not dry out in time if the Sun dips behind the tree's over the 3rd and 4th bend, this has been an issue when Sky are in town. Last season at Brandon showed perfectly what damage can be done by a bad trackman or an inexperienced one. Who was responsible for the track later in the year and who is doing it this year?

No, because the market is bigger. However the crowd definetly changes, Mourinho was moaning about the lack of atmosphere at Stamford Bridge, why? because the ground is full of tourist fans. Old Trafford is the same. I have long said that allow teams to uild and keep riders will go a long way to keeping fans interested. Young kids start going one season, the next season they are watching a different set of riders, they lose interest the majority of the time.

Agreed, however on last nights programme they showed "highlights" of when Swindon were demolished by Wolves...

I would also like to know why only our league win in 2010 gets mentioned fleetingly and and 07 (Treble winners) and 05 came back from the bottom of the league does not get mentioned at all.

After all these years, Cradley are still not causing trouble....

Not as exciting though, take this year. Kings Lynn potentially had to beat Belle Vue, they failed Poole "won" the league, Sky were not there to cover the meeting which meant Poole potentially clinched the title.

Scrap the idea SCB, Poole finished top. On a serious note though, the PLAY OFFS determine the League Champions, speedway / Sky has decided this is the best way to go, to have them renamed as play off winners would instantly devalue them. Whats better than the top 4 team scrapping it out to win the League?

To try and improve the standard of British speedway. If we produce more riders of a strong standard the strength of the sport increases in this country. The strength of the sport increasing leads to an increase in public interest, an increase in public interest directly equates to increased sponsorship and exposure, a strong league then leads to top foreign riders participating in the league. Everybody is a winner!!

To say that the BSPA are soleley responsible for bringing on tomorrows stards is highly flawed in my view, it has to be a collaboration between the clubs and the BSPA. The clubs are in touch with the fans weekly and are able to go out into the community. It makes sense for them to be involved with nurturing the youth riders.

Nurse....... NURSE!!!!!

He has made himself (or his journo contact has) look a wee bit silly. I wonder if the deal is reliant on the sport finding a sponsor to help cover costs?

To be honest it should have been announced by the BSPA or Sky, also if Ford wished to tell his contact at the Echo he should have ensured the source keept it under his hat until the announcement was made, then it could have been a ncie interview with Ford saying how brilliant everything is.

No, I could see them beating us.

Personally I am not sure it needs promoting, how many people do you know who "used" to go the speedway? they and their kids / grandkids are the ones who need to be attracted back. I think the only way to do that is lower the prices. So perhaps any outlay thats required for advertisements should perhaps be put towards subsiding special "lower" entry costs.

Origins of the dish remain unclear, eg there is a guy in Birminham who claimed to invent it...... from wiki One explanation of the origins of the dish is that it was conceived in an Indian restaurant.[2][3] Rahul Verma, an Indian expert on street food from Delhi, has stated that the dish originated, probably by accident with subsequent improvisations, in Punjab during the last 50 years.[1] There are also claims that a Pakistani chef Ali Ahmed Aslam, proprietor of the Shish Mahal restaurant in Gibson Street in the west end of Glasgow invented it by improvising a sauce made from yoghurt, cream and spices.[6][7] In July 2009 Pakistani-born British MP Mohammad Sarwar tabled an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons asking that Parliament support a campaign for Glasgow to be given European Union Protected Designation of Origin status for chicken tikka masala.[8] The motion was not chosen for debate nor has Sarwar spoken on this subject in Parliament.[9][10] Others lay claim to the origin being Birmingham and Newcastle. Some people have drawn comparisons between chicken tikka masala and butter chicken, another Indian dish including chicken and gravy which was probably invented in Northern India. Ethnic food historians and authors Peter & Colleen Grove also discuss various origin claims of chicken tikka masala in their article "Is It or Isn't It? (The Chicken Tikka Masala Story)", in which one of their conclusions suggests that "The shape of things to come may have been a recipe for Shahi Chicken Masala in Mrs Balbir Singh’s ‘Indian Cookery’ published in 1961."

Could it be that BSI are not happy with the competition and have threfore applied pressure to the BSPA to stop our riders from competing? Personally, I think it would be good if our riders did get to ride in such competitions, it gets them to ride in Europe, on tracks they are nbot used to. They get to learn about what it takes to win and to compete well in such meetings which in turn helps Team GB, strengthens our league etc.

I cant believe Pearson and Tatum get the criticism they do, especially bearing in mind the lack of response for the shouting of Wade Augner(sp)... He shouted just as much. Both Pearson and Augner are fine.... the only thing I disagree with is Kelvins view on 1st bend incidents, but hey ho its all about opinions.

Beat me to it!

To be honest I agree with both points of view. Yes it needs to be promoted better, yes it needs somebody who is able to get all pulling together to make money. F1 is similar in some way, yes the FIA is involved but in terms of promoting and making money there is a guy at the top and all realise the best way to make money etc is to pull together. Now for the controversial bit, plesse bear in mind I have the utmost respect for the riders and would love to be able to what they do but....... Riders wages are a problem, who is to say Speedway should provide them a living? Yes its great that they wish to hurtle around on a bike with no brakes but that certainly does not entitle them to make a living from it. I agree Football players / tennis players / golfers get paid / win exorbitant amounts but market forces dictate this and simply cant be used in such an arguement. The facts are there is not as much public interest in Speedway, therefore less cash so it simply cant be spread around as much. It was only 20 or so years ago that middle of the road riders would have to work in the winter or even in the week to make ends meet yet nowadays you see riders of a lesser standard almost have a sense of entitlement to get paid well has the advent of "professional" speedway riders enahanced the sport? There is a poster on here (an ex rider I believe) whose forum name escapes me at this moment, and he is forever mentioning younger riders having kit that looks nice and sparkly but they are not able to ride it well, this adds to the attitude of thinking they are entitled to something out of speedway eg did Harris not have one of his best GP's on a 10 year old engine? Riders ultimately have a choice in their career choices and how much they are willing to spend on it all but in the grand scheme of things it does not entitle them to anything I am afraid. I expect many will deem that riders deserve every penny they get, again its not a sentiment I am really opposed to but if there are not many pennys to go around an adjustment of thinking is required.