Grand Central

Every track 'supported' then received it's own share of the Sky money too, remember. Does anyone know what 'net' amount Go Speed introduced?

Oh, you are absolutely right. You have said that TR is a brilliant negotiator. He really rang rings around the numpties at the BSPA to get the deal with them on the rights so skewed in his favour.

'Finders Fee' may have been an appropriate term back in the late 90s when Sky were brought on board originally. But 200K a year for finding your way back to Isleworth from Kent for the subsequent renogotiations seems a bit steep. .

OK so Laguta has blotted his copybook sufficiently with those that matter that he will not get a pick. Got it. But surely Lindgren is not the only other viable option in his place. Having a Swede in the series is a cert for the commercial folk. Hence the inclusion of Jonsson. And the GPs held in Sweden will get a wild card anyway; so there will be two home guys at both their GPs So which mal-adjusted person in the decision making process - FIM, BSI or Olsson - really believe that anyone extra will buy a ticket because Freddie is in for the year? If having something else Swedish in the line-up was so important I'd have gone for a PAX Wardrobe from IKEA at Number 15. It would add a little more personality. .

Perhaps they just want their car parks sweeping.

Surely, Nigel or Kelvin could get you a DVD copy. At 'Mates-Rates'. The most controversial night of Speedway in Britain this year. And you seem to want to not have an opinion.

That just about sums up Speedway Promoters very neatly. "We only need a few hundred more people through the gate and we will be just as well off!" Easy, peasy. It's a bit like the poor folk who borrow money from Wonga.com and the like. They calculate just how 'cheap' it will be if you work out the repayments down to a weekly amount. "Sure I can afford £50 a week" The fact that over the year they will have paid £2500 plus and STILL owe most of the capital sum just goes unnoticed. If you break it down into small enough chunks the poor folk who are desperate will convince themselves it is a good deal. What a way to run a sport in the twenty-first century. .

I think this is a bit of an overreaction. There was no presumption of guilt implied in the description that this is 'another sorry chapter' in the chap's life. Guilty or Not Guilty. Mike Lee must think it rather 'sorry'. As opposed to a 'happy chapter'. Whatever, I think this and any other threads should be curtailed ASAP just to stop us bickering about a subject that will doubtless get out of hand.

I don't know. Perhaps noone. Perhaps a thousand, ten thousand or even one million. But at least Chris has got the recognition of one extra listener.

It's going be an up-hill task to make Tai into a household name. Chris Evans, the most-listened-to radio host in the UK, can't even rely on his own listeners remembering HIS name. .

No. These are the FIM Standards that apply to those tracks wanting an FIM TRACK RACING LICENCE only. Not the regulations that apply to all other Speedway tracks in the world.

Well, no. When making such a comment it may have been better to read the item yourself.. The first section makes it plain that the regulations quoted are for standards required for obtaining an FIM Track Racing Licence. My personal opinion, for what it is worth, is that I am completely in favour of APDs for all tracks. But I am concerned that at some tracks they have been fitted in front of hideously dangerous obstacles. And that at some venues they are woefully poorly anchored at the bottom so that they are easily pushed out of the way in a multiple impact collision. Seeing a rider slam into the unprotected obstacles lurking behind an inadequately anchored air fence that has 'bounced' out of the way is horrific.

Hougaard Racing Fans NO BRAINER. Sounds just about spot on

Getting back to the issue at hand. Speedway on Sky in 2014. Terry Russell is the guy to do the negotiating for British Speedway. And Barney Francis at Sky is the only chap there to do business with in Isleworth. So, is anything going to change to make Mr Francis speak to Mr Russell? We are all quite bouyant about the play-offs (so far), but has Mr Francis even noticed them? Is TR even one-percent better placed to get Barney to accept his call; or is everyone wasting their hopes? Philip Rising spent most of the last winter maintaining our hopes that Sky would take up the calls from Paul Bellamy and talk Turkey about a new deal for the SGPs. It never happened; and really, we now know that it was never going to happen. When Sky have had enough they don't phone to say goodbye. They just disappear. Has that point not already been reached with the Elite League? In two weeks time the Sky boys will say their farewells. And that will be it. Forever.

In a war between BSI/SGP/FIM and One Sport/SEC/UEM. Which side is one supposed to take? It sounds like the dilemma of the bare-footed man. Should he step in the pile of steaming horse-muck? Or should he tread straight into the freshly laid cow-pat? Whatever the choice. The stink is much-the-same.

Why can't all Speedway be like this? Because these are the play-off semi finals. The culmination of the season. Surely it's just as simple as that.

At least anyone who took the 13/8 on the Brummies last week still got a better deal than the current 6/4. It's the wasted money on the Robins, for those with a 'guaranteed profit' in mind, that must sting. The Pirates fans cool enough to have kept the faith last week and piled on straight after Blunsdon, as the Bookies wrote them off, that may get the real pay off. Amazingly Poole are now odds-on. .

Perhaps he will be chatting about his Andy Sidaris movies he made for the discerning-gentleman audience. My personal favourite was 'Enemy Gold' which tested Brucy's acting ability to it's fullest extent.

Swindon are at 11/8 and Birmingham at 13/8. So the minute 'guaranteed' profit is so dependant on Poole definitely not pulling anything out on Monday. That seems a big risk for a very small return.

Is this some sort of 'in perpetuity' agreement? Or does it have a term length? Will it still be described as 'handling negotiations' when there is no one left to negotiate with?

They bought Heineken. The can was just coke sized.

This is exemplifies why the original question was justified; and why some of the facetious responses were a little unworthy. There is not just one type of APD just like there was not just one type of wire mesh or one type of board fence. If we are to progress on to find better and more safe alternatives then work on research into the various types needs to be ongoing. Statistics need to be collated and analysed; as do accident reports. To just say air fences are safer that seventies death- trap fences doesn't move us forward. My layman's observations are that there is a wide variation in the performance of different APDs at different track upon different types of impact. Some APD seem to bounce into the air quite freely when hit by a machine and the following fallen rider then disappears under it and smashes into whatever is behind. At other tracks they seem to remain more stable even with multiple impacts and continue to offer protection after the initial hit. Some tracks seem to have attached their APD to a high grade fence that will still 'catch' the rider who goes under the APD whilst others seem to have just hung their's on the lethal-looking Stock Car girders. One of things about H&S is that it needs to be be continually re-evaluated in light of real experience. Just saying 'we bought an air fence in 2005 so we are sorted' is simply not good enough. .

Just to put my two penneth in. I think you are talking at cross purposes. SCB is OK with the run-off series to determine the positions within the top 3. But he feels that the rules only meant for the run-off series to declare the two qualifiers. The other three non qualifiying riders involved in the run-off should then have their positioning determined by the countback procedure NOT by their positions in the run-offs. It would be a bit odd to finish 'third' in the run offs for qualifying place but be lower down the list of non-qualifying reserves But it is SCB's argument that this is what the rules stated should occur. And they didn't. I can see the point SCB is making.

Sadly, this is so, so true.

Oh God it's Ermolenko. 3 hours of Speedway on mute. NOT how I was hoping to spend Saturday night.