Grand Central

With fewer riders in some races now. The referee may find it easier to make just one decision correctly.

I do wish someone would sort out airfences. It is far, far too common where the rider goes under the fence . And thereby misses the entire protective performance of it.

FIM deployed the Joker in Heat One. Craig Ackroyd.

Good grief. 1 second into the SWC. And Ackroyd throws down a marker. Idiot.

Oh, Phil, you've changed your post! I thought your first was a little ... provocative. Anyway, I wonder how long it will be be before real life imitates art. A drugs arrest at a meeting would even mark a new low point for us. Even considering our recent descent into farce and ignomy. Imagine the sort of 'statement' the SCB, BSPA - or god save us - Terry Russell would produce on the matter. Or the interview NP & KT - our very own Woodward and Bernstein - would have with the felon. .

Ah I remember this being said. If only we had been given advance warning of the one-time-only nature of his sincere apology offer. That it would be available within the limited time frame of that night and would last for just the duration he was being interviewed. That once. Done and dusted, After which he was washed so clean by the appreciative applause that any further expressions of any minor level of regret over the whole affair would be excessiive. I wonder if Tony Blair has considered the wondrous cleansing effect of a South Coast Awards night? His reputation and legacy could be restored so simply. .

A funny old week really. All the events of Monday night. And then the battle for the title of 'Worst PR in Speedway'. Darcy Wards' Woeful TV Interview vs. Terry Russell's P!ss Poor Statement. For a sport that almost prides itself on the dire nature of it's public relations. It takes something to have TWO such stinkers within 24 hours. Well done, lads. What's next?

I just love the way companies feel it necessary to produce a politicians statement. It is intended to sound so reasonable and conciliatory. When it is nothing of the sort at all. So much so that it just ends up showing them to be tawdry and rather disreputable. To use the word 'liaise' to describe the scene in the Pits that we all saw live is particularly comical. And, simultaneously, deeply disingenuous. It is easy to fib about the goings on behind closed doors. A bit more difficult when it is actually being broadcast in HD. .

Correct in every respect. Magic is my absolute Number One favourite of the moment. And Poole, in my personal experience, the best promoted Speedway in the UK. Phil is as blinkered and confused as Starman when it comes to 'their' Poole/Darcy issues.

.Do you actually think that he has any people around him that would qualify for such grandiose title as 'advisor to DW'. Apart from Muddlo ? Surely he just has a few mates with him. All of them with similar IQ. But then again Philip Rising has judged the interview a success. He detected 'contrition'. So if that is how the appearance will be reported. Who cares what normal people think, eh? .

.On this we agree. You are right. How you come to your conclusions on this issue is a complete mystery to me. .

Clearly they did. Nigel Pearson 'prepped' him throughout the interview itself! And still the gormless thicko in the middle could not make sensible use of it. To think that some people actually WANT this no mark anywhere near the World Championship Trophy. And the PR disaster that would then unfold.

Apparently he has learnt plenty. Specifically, to watch Greg Hancock, and his gating. Nothing about getting p!ssed the night before a GP though. So at least his fans will get the 'same old Darcy' back at the end of the month. .

Oh, for goodness sake! Have we not suffered enough this week already?

August 29, 1992. Would be the last day when that was not the case.

The principle of the Heat 10 type rule would be reasonable in most sports. But Speedway is not run in a reasonable way by people of principle. The licensed officials that have been at the centre of the last few televised disasters have been woeful in every respect. Messrs Clarke, Steel, Lawrence, Russell et al. A disgrace one and all.

This is factually incorrect. From 1968 to 1988, the regulations for Second Division/National League allowed for a guest ONLY where a rider was on international duty. That was obviously very, very rarely used. There was never a statutory facility for a guest for any other reason during this time. As with everything in Speedway it was the 'special dispensations' that came in from the early eighties that led to, sadly, more relaxation later. But for most of those twenty years most tracks hardly ever saw a second tier league match with any guests, at all.

Actually Jon Cook must be as thick as two short planks. To 'reveal' that fans at the public meeting had expressed a wish for more frequent meetings. When he is the promoter of a club that is only able to put on one farcical challenge match, masquerading as a League fixture, in a five week span. And the guy heeds to be told that by others ! And to have the report trailed and anticipated as some sort of Gettysburg address. Give me strength He is as culpable as all the other promoters in all the ills and yet he is portraying himself as some sort of evangelist for change. Me thinks Jon lives in Cook-Koo land. .

I once applied to be an 'ankle monitor' at school. Until the girls complained.

Goodness, that is a very low proportion. Personally, I cannot recommend the iPad version high enough ! Any chance of incorporating the features being pushed onto 'SpeedwayStar Xtra' into the exact editions platform, though? Just for us? I understand the dilemma, though. Speedway has such a 'dyed-in-the-wool' demographic. It hinders progress on just about every front.

.All very understandable when cutting costs for printing and transportation. But for those of us who are paying the same price for the electronic version online, without such costs, not quite so... If more features are to be offloaded into the Speedway Star Extra to reduce the printing costs. Would it not be possible to include these features in our exact editions online version. Seems a bit daft to have to use a completely different platform via a different website just to read what Bert has to say. PS Not for me to tell you your job, but ... Might not be a bad strategy to offer more, truly extra, features in the online version to stimulate a greater uptake. Surely the magazine, in the long run at least, will have greater viability the more people you get to subscribe to the twenty-first century version?

Absolutely spot on. Just that one of the tell-tale signs of some clubs whose ownership have lost their sanity. Turns out, with hindsight, to be taking them into the 'First Division' when they really shouldn't.

Probably true on both counts. Which is why any current supporter of Sittingbourne could be justified in their concerns. That may be the judgement passed, this time next year, if this fails too. I'm not sure it is a gamble I would want to be taken, by others, with my team. If I was happy enough right now.

Unfortunately there are quite a few examples from the past that would give me huge misgivings over this move. There have been many examples of the rather dire consequences of 'moving up' in similar fashion Wimbledon, Reading, Birmingham and Hackney spring to mind. Some were only saved by 'dropping back' as soon as they could. I know there have been success stories as well. Much could be made of the Lakeside fans following to Sittingbourne. But that rarely happens in Speedway, to any great degree or for very long. No, if I were a Sittingbourne supporter I would hope for the best in any such move. But still really fear the worst. It would be awful for one season in the limelight to be followed by the doors closing forever.

This thread keeps coming around on a regular bisus. For me Greg is very good. And yes he is now old, and stil very good. But he is so just uninteresting, nonetheless. Its nothing to do with gating, or not passing. Being good, grinning and being a nice guy. It just turns out to be not enough and it leaves me totally cold. Greg has managed for 45 years without me cheering him on, quite well. And he will not care a jot, which is just how it should be.