Grand Central

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.

Admittedly it is perverse for the SCB to ignore a FIM CDI ruling.And even more so to do that with the bureau chief making a public statement to that effect. But it would be even weirder for there to be any real appeal process. Whereby you actually request that an FMN, that has followed the obvious procedure, to then set it aside and ignore it after they have already carried it out. I just think we try too had to find some way still, of believing this guy. Each time the facts, when they emerge, suggest differently.

So true to form. He had not appealed. Everytime facts are produced. We understand more fully just what a litany of falsehoods we have been fed from the Ward camp

Thanks Ghostwalker. I suppose we must take that at face value. Of course I have no idea how authoritative this Swedish source is. But reports in the English press last year from a supposedly trusted journalist caused a whole load of debate about an 'off duty Policeman' and turned out to be utter tripe. So who can tell? I notice that this report appears to directly quote Ward himself. So at least we have the word of a man we can all trust.

When you say that 'Darcy has appealed' ... Do you really mean that? I cannot say I have seen anything at all from the Ward camp that would indicate HE has done that, himself. The odd line in The Star, at least. Considering the costs he had just got stuck with for the original case that seems an awful lot of expense for him to go to. When the determination looked sound. Kerrching! For the lawyers. If he has.

Ghostwalker has raised once again the point about the expunging of Darcy's points from the matches he rodeafter Latvia. Has anyone heard of the SCB's action in this regard. Now that the FIM have given full detailed and reasoning for that decision. Some journos and even Graham Reeve seemed to have difficult in understanding this part of the FIM code earlier in the year. I wonder if that has changed.

I do not argue with the general thrust of this post; and certainly concur with the view to look forward rather than back. Recollections from the past should remain as articles in 'Backtrack' not seen as a bizarre blueprint for the future. But I would take issue for some of the glory that is being reflected on BSI that is a little undeserved. I think that the success of league Speedway in Poland is fairly unconnected to the GP series and that is what has driven stadium improvements there not BSI. I do not agree with BSI being to blame for the ills of British Speedway, as some do. But I similarly do not believe they are the cause of Polish success either. It is a little 'rich' to give BSI much credit for the boldness of the Warsaw initiative. We have been firmly told by Paul Bellamy that this is a PZM promotion. If BSI are to use this as en excuse to avoid flak they really should not be able to take whatever glory remains after April 18, either. Equally a little too much to give them credit for their moves into untapped areas such as Finland if they have executed the initiative so poorly. Tampere was wrong to start with and it was wrong to have to go back. Management decisions are not 'beyond reproach' as some would have it. It is all very well to pat people on the back for trying But to be 15 years into their 'ownership' we should not be giving them too many plaudits just for their enthusiasm and ambition. We should be seeing solid results of that experience so that they get more things right and more often, now. Rather than less.

I understand fully that so many people stayed in the beer tents.Far more enjoyable than watching the track I would think. And if the quoted figure TRULY is what the raw data from the scanners tell them of the attendance. Then the only explanation is that you are underestimating the beer tent capacity by quite some bit. My guess is that they look at what the scanners says and then they add on quite a few extra for vanity purposes. There are always enough freebies given out that it is not an accounting problem. .

Well, 24 hours hasn't helped improve my memory of the Finnish GP.