E I Addio

Let's try again. Does anyone without his head up Fords posterior know whether there is any precedent or rule that allows Poole to use anyone other than a PL 6 pointer or are back to the old bedt-interests- of Speedwáy -beacause Sky said so.

Er , be careful where you are going with that one, or someone might remind you again who was the team manager at the time of drill gate.

Just a thought but is there any rule or precedent for a guest to be used for a rider on compassionate leave ? I can't remember any precedent for this and if I am understanding the rules correctly shouldn't Poole be having a PL 6 -pointer, or am I mistaken ?

Maybe are right but no doubt Garrity will go the 1-5 which will change things, and sometimes riders just move on anyway.. It looks like Robbo's EL days are over and maybe questionable whether Howarth gets another bite of the cherry. Depending on what comes out of the AGM Danny might have to choose between EL and PL as he has had his second year of doubling up. The other thing is sometimes when a team have a good season it just doesn't happen for them the same way the following year. Kings Lyn are a classic example of this. for a variety of reasons they have not seemed the same formidable side as last year. It would be good if the Bees can raise themselves again next year because I think they have probably been the most entertaining visiting team I have seen this year, G Although I have always been a big fan of Hans and always will be, it remains to be seen whether this year is just a blip or whether the years and catching him up. .

Shame for the Bees they fell at the final hurdle after looking so solid for most of the season. . They probably peaked a bit too early but in the end it was probably the injuries that finished them off. What makes it difficult now is that of all the teams in the EL Coventry had a team that almost by chance gelled particularly well and probably brought the best out of each other until it all unravelled towards the end of the season. What now makes it difficult is that this side will probably be broken up and it will not be easy to put together another side that has the X factor that makes riders fit together in quite the same way. Tough on the bees but it's in the nature of the sport.

Mine used to be Swindon and Wolves but Rosco has gradually turned me off Swindon, although I still like to watch them as a team. I always liked Wolves since PK and Freddie were at their best, and under Peter Adams management I thought they were a great team to watch. I still have some affection for them but they well and truly seem to have lost the plot these days. Goodness knows what's happened to them. There are some nice people down at Poole but Muddlo isn't one of them, so I like it when they are in town but wouldn't support them under the present set up. Surprisingly I have semi- supported Coventry for the play-offs this year, not that I think they will make it now because it's all sort of unravelled for them, but from day one of the season I thought it was an attractive looking side,always liked Hans and Bomber, Danny and Joonas are good blokes and I guess everyone likes Robbo even though he has passed his EL sell by date. Great bunch fans as well. Always enjoyed my trips to Brandon , but haven't been for a while as more often than not the track seemed to be rubbish.

You seem to be becoming a bigger and bigger pillock with every post. According to the Coventry Stox website it costs £19 admission to see a stock car meeting with mostly amateur drivers who pay to race. We would all be interested to see how you would run a speedway meeting for £8.30p plus VAT and make it pay.

Two queries on that :- First, if your no 6 moves up to the 1-5 is he still expected to maintain his equipment on £40 a point, or does he get a pay increase ? Bear in mind that the fast track was introduced to save money so I cant see the promoters upping the points money and if a rider goes into the 1-5 it will be even harder to score points. Equally is the rider who drops down to number 6 going to get a pay cut ? Cant see many standing for that. Second , if your EDR rider say Garrity for example progresses to become a genuine second string in the 1-5 what happens when you get a situation such as occurred this season with Auty , Birks and Kerr, ie. they get a season ending injury and there is not replacement of equal calibre left in the pool ? Its bad enough when that happens to a reserve but would be even worse with a number 2 or number 4 ? That's the one they'll go for then

Really ? (3, 3, 2, 3 in case you missed it !)

That is the sort of thing that we have increasingly heard from Rosco in recent years. According to the Speedwáy Star averages for this season only AJ 's home aver age is including 14 bonus points is 9.31 Zagars home average including 12 bonus points is 8.86. Taking into account that Kirky lane is not AJ's home track there is not likely to be a significant advantage in having AJ. Matej's away average ins 7.31 while AJ's is 7.32 so nothing between them there. Virtually all EL heatleaders have been a bit hit and miss ( to use Rosco's words) this year, so I don't think any neutral would give credence to Rosco's daft claims. The man does himself and his club no credit with these stupid claims. He is getting as bad as Muddlo. Is that reason 5076/B (3c) why the POkc is a bad idea but the POkc sycophants are too thick to see it ?

Fair comment Norbold,. I really only saw Briggo and Fundin when they were past their peak and saw more of Briggo so maybe that skews my opinion. Barry was the first rider to take fitness really seriously and his comment was that fitness doesn't make you a better rider but it keeps you at the top longer so that may explain why he seemed better than Fundin in their declining years, although it could equally be that Fundin had so long at the top by that stage his hunger was going. I have to say though that when we talk about them declining they we're still far better in their declining years than most riders were at their peak. Also Ronnie Moore, I only saw him after he came back in his late thirties after a six year retirement, and maybe he was a shade behind Fundin and Briggs by that stage but he was still breathtakingly good.

Sid, like you I am a massive fan of Briggo. I would say Barry at his very best was better but his problem I think was he was not as consistent as Fundin. I remembe Eric Linden , I think it was writing in Speedway Star that Briggo only his best form as the World Final approached. I only saw Fundin when he was well past his best but I think we would have to say they were both truly great riders but different. Briggo at West Ham was virtually unbeatable I saw him win the last of his British Championships there and I don't think I have ever seen another meeting where one rider was so dominant , especially when considering the quality of the field. I, e, Mauger, Moore, Boocock , Wilson, etc, If anyone gets the chance they should try to see a film clip of Briggo's World Title win in Sweden in 1964. It was pouring with rain all night, more sawdust on the track than shale, everyone was skating all over the place but Briggo blasted roundf as if the track was perfect. At his best he was amazing.

Interesting point split. Briggs, Moore and Fundin were several years older than Ivan Maugef and consequently were passing their peak in the late 60's when Mauger was reaching his, but Knutson was only a year older than Mauger so if he hadn't retired at such a relatively young age ( I think he was about 28 or 29 ) he could have gone on for several more years facing Fundin etc when they were starting to lose their edge and would very likely have been beating them more frequently than in previous years when they were at their best and he was still on the way up. However if Knutson had raced on for a few more years here would have been facing Mauger, for the World Title. I rather think that had Knutson carried on he might well have won one or two more titles at the expense of Mauger or Olsen or both. Certainly I don't think Olsen was anywhere near the sort of rider Knutson was.

Can't remember exactly but there was some nastiness from the Polish club over it

It's not a ridiculous idea. I think it's basically a good idea but like a lot of other things it has been poorly implemented in practice. It's been good for riders like Steve Worrall last year when it really seems to have built his confidence and helped him turn into the pretty decent r idea he now is, and there have been some good matches when evenly matched reserves have had some good races, but the BSPA messed it up by having riders in who were too good to be in it and all too often we had the ridiculous situation where you could fill the programme in before the race started. We shouldn't be having situations where the EDR reserves have been coming out and scoring 12 or 13 points as has happened. Riders of that standard should be above EDR standard. I agree with your general point though that the league positions had more to do with who had the best EDR picks at the start of the season than anything the 1-5 could achieve. In other words the competition has to some extent been turned into a lottery. To my mind sorting out the EDR is top priority for the AGM because it will kill the sport in double quick time if we have another season like this one. Somehow the BSPA have taken what was fundamentally a good idea and messed it all up (a familiar story).

Except that in the past if a reserve was injured or under performing you could replace him with someone more or less the same standard. Now if your EDR reserve is injured or loses form you are stuck with someone lower down the tier, often far lower d own the tier. There has to be some levelling o f who is included in the EDR lists.

the duties of the start Marshall include assisting the referee to have a fair and equal start. If someone is able to jump the start it might be technically within the rules but it is not an equal start. The public pay to see good racing. We get enough processional meetings as it is but if a rider, especially EL standard is "away" as you put it, the race is over as soon as soon has begun. The other thing is that if a rider has a twitchy clutch hand and moves it often causes another rider to jump and touch the tapes so we get another delay. Speedwáy is a sprint. I can't think of any other form of sprinting either motorised or in athletics where jumping the start is acceptable.

Averages don't tell the whole story. Richard was top bonus point scorer at Lakeside this year and when you throw that into the equation his value as a team man is self evident. However, looking at PL averages they tell a different story and maybe explain Richie's apparent lack of progress. Until this season one could say that Richard and Richie were roughly comparable riders but according to Speedway Star , the PL averages for this season only show Richard in the PL top ten averages while Richie is not even in the top twenty. It's reasonable to assume that the widening gap is ar least in part because Richard is not only doubling up in ELand PL but has also had quite a lot of guest bookings in each league while Richie has only been riding in one league with relatively few guest appearances, and probably not had enough riding to stay sharp while Richard has if anything been over riding, as well as driving himself everywhere and doing a loot of his own spanner work. No doubt that Richie desperately needs to double up next year for more rides but at the moment I can't see who might take him unless Kings Lynn has clear out and take him back. As for Richard he is very popular at Lakeside and his positive attitude and team spirit have been praised by Jon Cook in the programme notes but the bottom line is that the team needs to be strengthened next year so he may well be one of those who can't be fitted in especially as a d/u rider who may be missing if there are fixture clashes.

Good post . The other thing is we don't know the context and if /how long similar things have been going on. Maybe it is the last straw after anumber of similar problems. Certainly there is a lot of sharp practice going on behind the scenes with certain clubs.

I think the Plain English Society might have trouble with tha interpretation. The rule referring to the start marshall says "Once satisfied the riders are correctly positioned........" Logically if they move after that they are not correctly positioned. Not the best worded rule ever but the spirit of the rule is clear.

I agree. The rule also says that the start Marshall has to ensure that the machines are correctly poisitioned. If the rider then moves it must follow that the bike is incorrectly positioned. One also has to ask what is the object of the rule. The object is to get the riders starting as fairly and equally as possible so that the public get to see a proper race which is not so likely to happen if someone is allowed to get a flyer which on modern machinery makes him very difficult to catch.

I was referring to observation trials rather than the ISDT, and I don't think he did enough of those to get to any sort of high standard.

And he used to train on beer and fags. None of this fitness nonsense for him ! He was (is) a. great all rounder, having been a class motocrosser (I think he was a Greeves works rider at one point) ,half decent trials rider, and of course competetent if somewhat wild Speedwáy rider, as well as this current exploit. He must have a remarkable constitution to live his lifestyle and still be lapping the YT course at 90mph at his age.

Sometimes you feel Sharia Law has it right. Just chop their hands off and they won't do it again.

That That is a cogent enough point but in practice who does the looking and what are the limits of their brief ? Looking at the power of the bikes would involve technical experts (where would they come from ? Certainly not the tuners) and in addition to engines would involve exhaust systems nod how the power is transmitted to the track I.e tyres , chassis design and track surface. It would necessarily involve representatives from various countries and has all the hallmarks of a comitee that sit for years and gets nowhere. However, a practical part- solution for this country at least could be an educational programme on getting e right set ups. I find it amazing the numbers of NL standard riders that buy or have bought for them a bike with a friend or relative as a machanic and between them have very little knowledge of basic mechanics and even less understanding of the black art of set ups. These are often still somewhat vague areas even for some PL riders, and on reflection it does seem to me that the majority of accidents in this country, especially the more serious ones are in the lower leagues, so it might well be the case that its not the power of the bikes per se that is a problem but the way they are set up and the way power is delivered from the back wheel to the track is beyond the skill of the less experienced rider.