Star Lady

For once I agree with the BSPA, each team releases news to suit the deadlines of their own local media. Of course I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt here in assuming that's why they are doing it this way

It would also give those riders the chance to try and get some local sponsorship which obviously is not possible until their teams are announced. Not sure the BSPA actually try and make anything easier for riders tho

Presumably because Buster is not a yes man and says what he thinks regardless of whether others agree or not. A few years back I had several conversations with Buster about the state of the sport and some of his ideas were radical to put it mildly, but I actually approved of several of them. Some, if they had been implemented at that time may well have had a beneficial effect on many British clubs and British speedway but there wasn't a snowball in hells chance of them ever getting passed. I have no idea if he still thinks the same way but I doubt he has done a complete about turn in his thinking.

If you go to Poultecs FB page and scroll down to Oct 14 there are some pics on there of a speedway training day. Most of the participants look to be pretty young but then they all do to me nowadays

Different slant on the speedway GP site.....and I'd suggest they are slightly less biased than an Australian newspaper

A rider agrees to ride for a club during that season providing the fixture does not clash with a fixture of a club he has already signed a contract for....so that covers the Lynn meetings and no decent Brit can complain when a rider is/has been representing his country e.g. Vojens. So assuming the only meetings he missed were those listed in post 207 I fail to see where Lambert was at fault.

Well I've never seen him bad mouthing other riders on Twitter, unlike some. Mind you he blocked me some time ago when I said what I thought of one of his moves

Slight difference in that he is one person but the Monster/Aussie alliance makes it quite a few onto one. Also as you say his actions take place on the track when all riders are (nominally at least) under the protection of the referee, he's not known for bad mouthing others, unlike the Monster/Aussie alliance. I'm not defending any of Nicki's past antics, I've condemned his actions on occasion BUT and it's quite a big but the officials in charge of meetings did not, in most cases, penalise Nicki for his actions, why not? After all they are supposed to be the people who decide what is and isn't against the rules. I get very annoyed with people who cannot see past the personality. They will condem bullying etc but if it's Nicki P involved that's fine it becomes a laughing matter. As I said at the beginning of this debate bullying is bullying no matter who is involved.

I'm sure he is, my point was bullying is bullying whoever is involved. I fully agree that there are far too many people in the pits. Before and after racing is fine but during the meeting itself it should be confined to officials, riders, official medics and 3 mechanics/managers only. Sponsors, celebrities, hangers on should be banned.

So you condone bullying?

Lets put it this way, from that day forward I always turned my back when either of them were on parade (I don't do booing) so whatever they did was beyond what was normal and I was brought up in the era of Olle Nygren and Clive Featherby and they made Nicki P look like a pussycat.

Now I have a long memory and can recall a meeting at Cradley when a couple of riders did it. The had a few things in common, both rode for Cradley, both were American and both had surnames beginning with H. So no Nicki didn't start it and I doubt they did either.

The Monster gang are beginning to look like playground bullies all ganging up on Nicki. Bullying is wrong no ifs or buts. Two threads were started yesterday, this one and one about the leader of the Monster gang The Hancock thread has 12 posts at this time, Pedersen has 33. Maybe that's an indication of which rider will be missed the most when he retires! Also interesting that a thread about Steve Shovlar has accumulated 80+ posts. Can a fan really be that much more interesting than Hancock & Nicki lol

Anyone know if Masters was fined for his attack on the guy in pit lane?

Hancock may well get his sponsors products on screen but it's cringeworthy watching a middle aged man act like a teenager.

According to his f/b page he is OK, in a lot of pain but cracking jokes and going for a full scan. If he has got away with no broken bones he is one helluva a lucky guy, was one of the worst crashes I've seen in 50+ years

Hope Doyle and Magic are OK. Can you imagine the furore if the rider in red had been Nicki P?

1 If a protected reserve because of his rising average moves into the 1-5 does he then become unprotected or does he have a job for the season? 2 If such a rider is in the 1-5 and is long term injured how can he be replaced? 3 If he can be sacked, does he have to be replaced with another draft rider who then becomes "protected" or if he is in 1-5 can he be replaced with a PL rider of the same average as he has achieved? 4 Or do teams have to have 2 protected riders throughout the season, tho not necessarily the same ones. 5 Altho such a rider "has the ability" to move up what happens if either he or his club decide to keep him at reserve? Can they do that...would seem to give clubs with a good reserve a big advantage. Probably I've not worded it very well but neither is the press release Certainly seems to have resulted in more questions than answers, tho I do applaud the effort to help British riders.

Nicki P, brilliant. Speedway would be much poorer without him. .....and he respects his anthem too! Bonus

Gonna play a new version of GP Bingo tonight. Bonus points every time a rider is misidentified. Could be some high scores with 16 sets of almost identical kevlars

I haven't got a number one cos I don't give a toss about winning I simply want to be entertained and see riders who care or at least give the impression that they care about the fans. I know most of them won't leave the teams they are with but I was posting my wish list. Buster will sign who he wants not who I want, you want or anyone else wants

C Harris R Schlien B Barker R Lambert C Cook J Garrity P Starke No idea of their averages but every single one of them has more passion in their little finger than the team that wore the Lynn colours this season IMO. They wear their hearts on their sleeves, interact with the fans and have passion. Probably won't win a thing but it would never be boring and they wouldn't give up trying.

Uninspiring.

Because they are still wearing them. Most simply pull the goggles down so they are around their neck, therefore they are still wearing them. The rules say... Goggles must be worn and together with spectacles if worn, must be shatter resistant. It doesn't state how or where, so in theory they could be wrapped around their ankle and still conform. Had Newman simply put them round his neck he would have complied with the rule book

I've been vociferous about gogglegate and your first sentence says what I think, it's a total cock up and ignores the fans as usual, I've never blamed Newman or Poole. They probably will fine Newman, it is after all in the rule book and it should remain so. It is after all a safety issue first and foremost and it's hypercritical for some fans to bang on about making the sport safer but to then say this rule should be ignored.(that's not aimed at you Rob BTW). That's my lot on the googlegate issue cos I also believe matches should be won on the track not off it. As I said last night Congratulations to Poole, for once I have no issues with the way they have won this season and they fully deserved it both over the season and in the 2 legs of the final. Well done to Belle Vue also, worthy finalists and runners up.