Grand Central

This is getting a bit daft now. People seem to want to be mind readers. Mystically gaining insight into the mind of the CDI judge. He was banned for a specific period of time. To a certain date in the Calendar. That is the end of the matter. No suspended sentence was given. No probationary return was laid down. He is a free man. He is able to be offered any wildcard for any meeting or series. Just like any other rider. But ONLY if those people or bodies who hold it in their gift decide to do so and can get it past the FIM ratification. Personally, I would not do so. But I think if they can swing it, they will. .

People keep asserting things about wildcards as if they are 'facts' when they are not. That they are, or at least SHOULD, only to be given in certain circumstances, for certain reasons, to deserving cases. Utter nonsense. That has never been said, announced, laid down in regulations, or even intimated by anyone in power. At all. Ever. They exist so that the people given the right to choose them, can do so, in whatever way they feel fit for any reason that they want. No explanations or apologetic reasoning is required. Ok it has to be 'ratified' by the FIM, but that is all. But no bad luck stories are required, no force majeure, no 'Simon Cowell' X factor excuses are needed. Why do people WANT to believe that this is some sort of 'ethical' judgement of the great and good. If they just decide that a loathsome, arrogant, disgusting individual fits the bill. They can choose him. Without a care in the world. And I bet. Will. . .

So, a wager it is! How do we go about getting some sort of mutually agreed method of judging who is the winner, though? If BSI go ahead with giving him a series wildcard for 2016.. Can I suggest a charity vote is organised in the 'Worlds Leading Speedway Magazine'. Charge say £1 a vote on the Question "Do you think it is outrageous that DW has been given a wildcard?" Yes or No? With all profits going to Tai's Charity fund. Winners all round. And a bit of winter fun ! .

. Quite a bit on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtWFIkmMq3w .

."Can I call matron to help you back to your room?" Poor old sod, here we are talking about a gravestone for a former rider who died in 1995, totally off topic. And this poor deluded one can't see it. "Don't worry Jerran Hart will be here to see you at visiting time. Have a nap until he gets here." .

.Thankfully this is not the case any more as others chipped in to provide a tribute. http://www.freewebs.com/customhousekid/pressarticles.htm So a little happier ending, after all.

All of which were integral parts of what helped make the National league just what it was in it's halcyon days of the 1980s. How people love to re-write history.

It really is quite quaint, how in the absence of REAL debate over substance. Some here just argue and argue over the minutest of semantics going back 40 years. But, was Michael Lee 'really NL' or 'not just NL' For god's sake Get me a drink, Darcy. Or something stronger, Mike. I need it. .

I would have thought it was time to retire this thread now. It once had ambition, full of drive, with a future. It was an Elite thread. But it has now dropped back into the lower division. Scoring just the easy points against rather mediocre debaters. It has become a Journeyman itself. A sort of self parody. And then we can start a new thread about DW when he next does something worth chatting about. Good or Bad. As he surely will do one or other. Or even both. .

One can imagine a Portuguese love nest. The pillow talk after a passionate conjugal congress. A glistening, exhausted Mrs BW turns to her triumphant partner in love. And says 'Your performance certainly matched up to your usual standard. It was really, spot on on your average.' 'You are mediocre ' .

Is this a first come, first served offer? I am a resident of Cloud Cuckoo Land. I swear allegiance to the flag. And I would like to be King.

Harris' was a 'professionally written statement' ?? Hancock's humdinger of a few weeks back set the bar very low. I know. Cringeworthy, just didn't come close. But if this one is what now passes for 'professional'. I'd want my money back.

Yesterday, I was reminded of just how slippery-and--slidy that ex PM Blair was. As he appeared on TV to ooze his own brand of snake-oil salesmanship and argue that black, was indeed white. In this thread I am getting some bizarre form of BSF deja vu. Wonder why ?

I'm sorry. Why are we denying that something was a crime, now. No one ever said it was. That is like a politician choosing to answer a question that was never asked. One person, not a party to the discussion, said a (legitimate) inducement had been offered, and rejected. One other person, the party in question, has said that this did not take place. Saying anything else about it is just daft. .

. Similarly Cardiff. Some well informed person let slip that the attendance at Cardiff was 40,750. All, of whom, did not have an engine to sell to anyone. Yet Marcel only travelled there from Switzerland - via Calais, I will have you know! All because of Chris Harris. That is all. If it wasn't for that he would have been tucked up with Heidi in his Alpine idyll without any need at all to go to the GP. Lesson number 178 in 'How to spin a story'. .

#37 makes specific points as regard inducements. I know of only one person that has stated in the public forum that they were made, and rejected, as being inadequate. There is no clarification on this matter here.

Chris Harris makes quite a lot of the people speaking out of turn on Social Media. Are your ears burning Philip? #37 pretty much says that some people are telling porkies. Especially regarding money and inducements. Perhaps someone could do a Hancock v Pedersen 'tribute' in next weeks comic. Harris v Risiing.

I vote for Robert72 to be installed as TeamGB manager for the rest of the season. As there are no meetings for the team until next year. Won't make a blind bit of difference if my cat was given the titie. .

.You may be right, but the attention he is providing with him at the moment, would be best avoided, I would have thought. Desperately trying to persuade one of the slowest riders in the field to try your engine. And failing to get him to do so, publicly, even when you offer him 'inducement'. That is not good PR AND wastes valuable time on moving forward with the project. Surely this will be the last time he gets the offer? . .Possibly, of course. But then again. 'Its Bomber' people will say. There is always the possibility of him 'pulling one out of the fire' That's just him, isn't it? That's why he gets so many people putting a sly EW bet on him at GPs. No matter what engine, we are always living in hope.

.Is there any particular reason why they are so keen on him, specifically, using the engine ? Seems a bit odd to invest so much in him so doggedly. He seems like a complete nightmare to work with in general. His media interviews, at least, tend to suggest his 'feedback' on set ups etc would be fairly unintelligible. And he will never 'sell' the engine to anyone else. I mean who would ever buy an engine based on 'ill use what #37 is using' Surely there are better guys for them to work with. PS to Gavin & SCB I'm not getting on his back, just wondering why the German guy chases all over Europe trying to twist his arm. When he just does not seem that 'on board' with the whole thing. That is all.

.OK, yes, just the luck of the draw. Had a quick glance back over the last two or three years. Zagar has been number one about five or six times and the wild card strangely even more often. Nicki, NKI, Greg and Tai roughly have one per year, VERY roughly speaking. Which for a sixteen rider field with a dozen rounds would seem just about right

How?

That'll make people dash back to their seats after the interval. They got away lightly with abandoning Warsaw after 12 races. There will be a riot at Cardiff if that had to be considered tomorrow.

In general you have a point. But another common British characteristic has been on show some years at some gates. That when you give some people a fluorescent jacket and a photo I'D on a lanyard. They take on their job with such relish that they would be carrying out internal examinations on old ladies for contraband concealed in ther bloomers. If they were given the power.

For a moment there I was confused. I thought you were talking about the best/worst gate for Spectators to get in. I was just trying to work it out, In the hour to get in after 4pm. Which is is the best to smuggle alcohol in, and which would be best for my sarnies to get through, past the over zealous staff. If Ole can be hanging around gate four I'll slip him a few quid to let me in with a six pack of Brains Best and a pasty from Greggs.