crescent girl

Latest newsletter tells us Liam Carr will be guesting for Coventry at Glasgow's opening meeting, and that Kevin Doolan and Thomas Jorgensen will be representing the club at the BenFund Bonanza. All of which suddenly brings the season much closer.

My original post praised the poster (screm) for putting encouraging pieces of good news on this forum. That's good PR -- the point was that, as we might always try to do, we should identify our sources.

While it is encouraging to have you putting these little items of good news on here, you really should credit your sources, such as club website, club Facebook or newsletters.

I'd choose #3 front and #2 back -- but it is only the votes on the website which will be taken into consideration.

Yes, the original ambulance belongs to the speedway club, and will remain. The ambulance being bought by John Anderson is the one which the club have recently been hiring each week from Rapid Reaction to tandem it, and it is indeed the (new) £10K insurance requirement which has caused the need to purchase. As far as I'm aware, both ambulances fulfil Quality Care requirements.

Learning who Dyson is, it really makes you smile.

Willie Lawson, even if he was by now a 3.00 (probably isn't quite that low) couldn't be the No 7, as he has enjoyed PL and EL averages well above the cut-off point for NL eligibility -- which I believe is the criteria for the bottom-end 3-pointer. While a revitalised, returned-to-full-form Willie could certainly take over the other team spot and blow opponents out of the water, it would be a huge ask after being off the track for so long. The only rider I can think of who came back after a long time out and resumed top form was Lee Complin (who was much younger when he came back) all the others who have tried after five-year-plus gaps failed pretty miserably. Willie will be 29 when the new season starts. A sad loss to Scottish speedway, he was British U-18 Champion, a three-time British Finalist and a World U-21 Finalist (alongside Woffinden, Holder, Sayfutdinov, Batchelor, Zengota and Vaculik -- he was that good) before he gave it away and retired at the age of 23. When will we see his like again.......

But at this time last year, the club had a big hole in their budgeted accounts, through expectations of top-up funding by sponsors and from the supporters club not materialising. As a result the 2014 season had ended with the books badly unbalanced, so there was a real need for a main sponsor to allow 2015. The eventual backing by Kevin Dixon certainly steadied the ship. This past season, the club has been run to a tighter budget. Dixons' sponsorship has been paid in full and there is a consortium in place to spread the impact of any unplanned financial 'hits'. However, a main 'named' sponsorship is of course desirable, and we must hope that such an announcement will be forthcoming between now and the start of racing. As PT has stated previously, last year the club didn't announce Kevin Dixon's backing until February. From my viewpoint, the Bandits are in a much-happier finiancial situation than they were at this time last year. Obviously the club is not rich and will have no spare cash to flout about, but with the promotion, the consortium and -- especially -- the long-serving, hard-working team of volunteers all ready to keep things going forward, we should be aiming to see progress towards an amazing fiftieth anniversary in the not-too-distant future. To echo Big Eddie's sentiments, things have gone so well this winter, the team is set up and if the only point of discussion on here until late March 26th is to be Dyson 24's inane interjections (you do know who it is, don't you?) that'll be just fine.

Berwick were told by BSPA office last season Jake Allen would be a 5, then after he was named in their 1-7, BSPA said no, he's a 7. So, if Somerset name him this season as a 5..........

Now there's a post worthy of Dyson24!

He is 11 years younger than Robbo, 10 years younger than Leigh Lanham. A whole decade for Steve to become acceptable to the Rockets.

Sam Ermolenko and Andy Smith?

....and by whom?

It is not the case. An urban myth grew up when the club publicly announced they had signed up Kieran Douglas, and someone mis-heard the announcement and posted on here, or maybe the updates site, that it was Kevin Doolan,

OK, where did you "hear" that crap?

Brady Kurtz doesn't need a visa, neither do Summers nor Grajczonek...

Good, positive stuff as usual from this poster, who has always laid out his ideas in the requested manner and e-mailed them to the club. It should be acknowledged that it was VFTTB's initial approach to Perryman's which led to the company sponsoring the British U-19 Championship. At least one other idea he put forward (regarding the programme) was noted, and quickly acted upon. An object lesson in support.

Margaret certainly isn't a Scot. You're thinking of one of the other ladies, like Christina Turnbull. Or Jim McGregor.

September 10th?

How many times do I have to flush before he disappears?

Promise?

Of course Berwick would have taken it. It seems to be a strange decision, as if Leicester was earmarked for a Saturday staging by the BSPA, but couldn't do it for whatever reason, then a switch to Berwick would have been logical. Certainly there would be a better turnout at Berwick on a Saturday than Redcar on a Thursday night.

Like he was going to Plymouth?

Any thoughts on who'll get the wild card?

Yes, an e-mail was received by the promotion on August 24th, replied to on August 27th. The detailed and constructive suggestions put forward are under active consideration. Such a scheme is broadly very positive, but the current promotion are anxious to ensure such a "trust fund" would be properly administered by (1) responsible and supportive people who are not (2) part of the actual promotion. The bigger question has to be whether they (the current promotion) can be convinced by this, and other still-necessary funding assistance, to re-apply for league membership at the AGM.