Grand Central

I think matters such as the LIBOR scandal illustrate exactly why confidentiality is a little overrated at times.

The comparison you choose is so revealing. Defending Speedway Promoters, and the probity of their actions. By alluding to the practices of City Bankers as justification. With friends like you .... Jon Cook and his mates don't really need any enemies.

I think you are right about Briggs ... But one of the funny things about the debate on who could have won more titles under a GP system is that you can convince yourself that they ALL could have done ... Except, of course, they couldn't ! Briggs, Olsen, Mauger, Collins, Nielsen ... arguments could be made for all that they may have won more titles in a GP system. Others who never won it like Jessup, Carter, P Crump and others could have won under a GP where they failed in the one-off. But it can't be true for them all. Every 'extra' win would have to come at the expense of someone who didn't win. Makes it a fairly impossible task to really work out. But the unpredictability of the old World Final certainly allows so much more debate donkeys years later that the GP system just can't match. The winters would be quite boring for this sort of discussion if we only had the GPS to rely on for our reminiscing.

And I join you in this very pleasant but unexpected place of agreeing entirely with gustix. I believe the result of the European Final Qualifier on July 7 at Vaxjo makes its abundantly clear how correct this seems http://edinburghspeedway.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/1957-european-final.html

Yes that clip is poor and not complete. This version of the movietone footage shows the riders going on parade at the start http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/58b9d0459d4646598a832bcafc0b4c96 I am not that adept at spotting the riders themselves; but a 'body colour count' would tend to show just one Norwegian (Aage Hansen) and I think SEVEN Union Jacks. One of which must be Crutcher ... ?

I just want to put my two-penneth into the mix here. I happen to think thank Hans Nielsen was, and is, terribly overated. I know Rob will leap to his defence .... but I just never felt he was that special. I always felt he just happened to be the best guy around when the rest were pretty p!ss poor. He was the best of probably the worst bunch ever. But even then he underachieved massively. He wasn't World Champion in so many years when he just should have been if he were anything special. Not World Champ in 90. Not World Champ in 91. Not World Champ in 92. Not World Champ in 93. Not World Champ in 94. He just should have been because, at the time, the rest were pretty mediocre.

As someone born and raised within an HX postcode it is not possible to say that I am in anyway non partisan in my feelings on any Carter-Penhall discussion. But one thing I decided many moons ago was to temper my Heat 14 angst and to stop my constant adolescent questioning of Mr Kittelsen's parentage. My feelings are a lot different today than when listening to the Live radio coverage on Pennine Radio, under the covers in the the middle of the night. Crying myself to sleep as Tony Delahunty told us the worst. That race, and particularly that fateful lap, was unarmed combat. Man-on-Man . Elbows, legs, feet were all in play. On both sides. BP was the 'last man standing'. So he won.

I know threads often go off at various tangents on the BSF. But must say how genuinely surprised I am that a thread about the supposedly charismatic Penhall has has so little to say about the guy himself. Apart from the 'White City incident' there is little light or shade. We would prefer to chat about other riders of his era, and sidelining old Brucey. Even LA82 is really a lot more about KC than BP. I suppose that once you have said. He was Good. And. He was nice. That's about it?

I love the way the article explains the reasoning behind just about every rider's choice of number; and its personal significance. Though not too much detail on Jason Doyle's thinking. After all of it though, got to have a yet another smile at good old Nicki just taking his ranking number Number 3. Simple. Straightforward. And really rather classy.

You are right. I think I have a DVD built intro the TV that we have in the small bedroom at home. In every other way they have just disappeared out of my life in the last couple of years. Smart TVs, Sky Plus, TIVo, Amamzon Prime, Netflix, Tablets, Android boxes and streaming generally have just taken over.

. Now into my fifties ... I must be regarded as being one of the 'kids' because life has moved on and DVDs and the printed media really are a little old hat for me now. Having attended half of the World Finals of the 1970s in person I would have thought I was spot on for the demographic for this production. So many aspects of the Speedway world seem to to be stuck in some sort of time warp from the rest of us who have moved on with technology in all other aspects of our working and social lives. Such a pity. PS credit where credit is due ... The online version of The Star, available through Exact Editions from midnight on Wednesdays is working well, and has got me on rolling subscription for the first time in years and years.

That's good news. Especially if they are willing to work in tandem on the nights when events are taking place at both Stadiums.

.Dishing out some sort of 'voucher' the previous week to 'genuine' greyhound punters may be an option to try to play fair with them. But I do not expect the GRA will be daft enough to give Speedway fans an easy ride to the cheep option you suggest. .

I imagine they will be selling Car Park space at inflated prices on World Cup night.

That is what one would hope. NOT that they all felt able to vote for them in the belief that the pre AGM arrangements had already tied their hands sufficiently tight that they are unable to move!

And as that was entirely foreseeable, totally avoidable and - ultimately - destructive to forward momentum in 2016.. I think shall stick to plain idiocy. Of course it may. But it is usual on any committee for an incoming chairman to have his own 'mandate' that has secured him the position with the confidence of the members. It is rare, unique in my experience, for a new committee chairman to be voted in only to have his hands tied for the first year having to carry out decisions that he does not really agree with personally at all. Especially on matters of real substance that may blight his tenure. That is just daft.

.Thank you for rightly making it clear that the meeting that made so many of decisions that are usually taken at an AGM was not actually an AGM at all. Fair enough. But I am still a little unsure though whether you think this was a good way of doing it or not. Am I totally amiss to think it daft? .

I have a very faint memory of my first trip abroad in 1968 - as late as that - when I was taken to a couple of Victor Boston meetings. I can just about summon up a recollection of the old man, his wife Lola and their son Claud. Most is lost in the mists of time .... but I remember an old tattered poster that adorned my childhood bedroom wall emblazoned with "BOSTONS DIRT TRACK RODEO MOTOCYCLISTE".

The end of the official season in British Speedway is October 31st. Always has been. The term of office of the officers of the BSPA has never ended before that date. All members of the Association, including Chapman were aware of that fact, or should be if they understand their own Articles of Association. Having an AGM prior to that date was idiotic. If you were the outgoing Chairman, or even the aspiring incoming one. Idiots the lot of 'em.

In which case ... Come on you Mighty Belgians!

Yes I'd have thought he would be favourite but Ennis-Hill is odds on for some reason. To me the 11-2 odds for Lewis were good enough value to stick £20 on him straight off. Can't see him being beat myself.

Do you have a particular reason for being the only person pushing this daft point. You are making yourself look foolish. Is that your wish?

Don't be daft.

The polish equivalent of Baldrick at the PZM must have exclaimed ' I have a cunning plan '. One which Mr Blackadder at BSI should have heard with great scepticism. Of course, it could be quite a 'cute' solution to offer a freebie to an extra, totally irrelevant, meeting Last year they could not get the track right enough for the riders to complete a dozen races. The practice session itself being judged by some to be a contributor to the problems. The Sunday restaging date being pointless then. Next year they plan to run forty races or more. So good luck with that. I'm off to to book my flights ... This deal sounds so totally foolproof, it would be daft to miss it. .