E I Addio

The Elite League runs 14 home league meetings per club per year. If that is all they are going to be allowed to ride they will not make enough money to earn a decent living, and when at times they race once every couple of weeks their sharpness will go and the standard will further deteriorate. In addition There was a big article on Richie Worrall in Speedwáy Star the other week in which he complained of not enough meetings in the PL to earn a living. It all very well taking the popular line about riders should do this or shouldn't do that but the bottom line is that for most of them if they need to double up in order to progress to the top league and to earn a decent living. This is where threads like this go off the rails because you are now saying anything that comes into your head to make a point, whether it's right or wrong. Peter Craven got to the World Final because he went though the qualifying rounds like everybody else in those days, Jack Young was riding in the Second Division when he went through the qualifying rounds and became a World Champion so doubling up would have absolutely nothing to do with getting the chance to become World Champion.

It was very similar at Lakeside on Friday. Swiderski was declared at No 5 for Lakeside and when Bech was injured they moved him up to No2 and used R/R for Nilsson. Swindon on the other hand declared Steve Worrall at No 2 and Craig Cook at No 3 but although neither Worrall nor Cook are injured as far as I know Swindon actually used Blackbird in place of Worrall and R/r for Cook at No 3, so in effect they used a guest for a guest and r/r for another guest. I've had a brief look at the rules they refer to "line ups" rather than riding order so it's not clear whether technically they have to declare them literal line up and nothing else or whether them term is meant to include riding order.

The word I used last time was "hopeless" . If you check the thread another poster described him as "unbelieivably poor" as a guest f or Belle Vue and also noted he was supposed to be the man in form. It is just an opinion, and riders do improve but based on what I saw that is my opinion, rightly or wrongly . It would need to be a remarkable improvement in the space of a few weeks. It can't be proved or disproved but would say these things never go on in speedway especially when qualication for the play offs is concerned ? Think Poole 2009.

1. Every team except Leicester has won at Lakeside this year and I never made excuses for any of those, and I am not making excuses for this defeat. 2. When I posted after the Belle Vue meeting I specifically made a pointed reference to Zengota being "hopeless" . That is not a term I normally use to describe riders, in fact I don't think I ever have, but in that match he stood out as being exceptionally poor. I didn't criticise any of the other riders in that way. This was a rider people had been describing as "the man in form" . I made specific reference to the fact that he didn't even beat Adam Ellis, so it's not as if I hadn't highlighted the fact that something was not right. People can have a different opinion, but having seen both matches it certainly seemed a remarkable transformation to me, especially in the space of a short period of time.

Absolutely no doubt at all in my mind Zengota was deliberately not bothering when he guested for Belle Vue a few weeks ago, given the play off situation. On that occasion he scored 1,1, F , 0, 0, compared with riding for Swindon he scored 0,,1,3,3,2, . When he guested for Belle Vue he was clearly not dropping his clutch until they had all gone in the first two rides. In his last two rides he was making the gate leading for 2/3 laps then letting everybody through. Pretty blatant IMO .

Eastern European in "unavailable to ride small track shock" !

Yes I agree that applying logic to the clumsy grammar you are probably right, but it still doesn't explain how both came to be disqulaified. Not that it really matters now . No doubt in due course we will find that some other referee will apply a different interpretation.

The rule doesn't seem very clear to me. It talks about if the 15 metre gate is already occupied by a second or susmequent re-instatement a reserve switch is the only option, so one interpretation is that you don't get a chance to go off 15 metres if there is a subsequeNt offence. That would fit in with the scenario of Jonsson being at fault first and then Zagar second. I suppose you could also say if Jonsson was excluded for delaying the start, why was Zagar excluded at all? If Josson was moving the referee should have pulled him out there and then and Zagar would not be out at all. But who knows what the rule is really meant to mean and who knows how a referees mind works , or at this stage who really cares ?

That is a strange sequence of events. Jonsson must have committed the offence first because he could not be delaying the start after Zagar touched the tapes. Arguably he delayed the start by moving and causing Zagar to jump first, after having been warned but his offence must presumably have been committed a fraction before Zagars. Who knows how referees minds work though.

Agreed . Cricket is even worse. You take a day off work with no threat of rain then after an hours play they go off for bad light for a couple of hours., even though to the average spectator the light seems to be ok.

As a matter of interest, what happens to season ticket holders when there is an extra meeting due to rain cancellation ? Do they get an extra meeting "free" in contrast to the pay at the gaters, or do they have to pay something ?

I don't think it's that simple. I couldn't tell you anything about my local sports teams apart from Essex Cricket Club because Iam not interested. I have no idea who won the FA Cup or any horse race meetings because they don't register. Although I go to Arena Essex virtually every Speedwáy meeting I couldn't tell you what stock car meetings are on or when because I don't pay attention. It's very very difficult to get people's attention to something they are not interested in . The Lakeside website gives details of the community programme with local schools and charities for the last several years which does focus attention on the club but that involves a lot of effort for slow progress. When the local MP puts something on Twitter those people who follow her movements are specifically paying attention so that is an achievement.

The main object of the exercise was to,put on a good show with a decent crowd in front of the Thurrock MP who was at the meeting for ,I think, the second time to get her support for a new track. To that extent it was successful, judging by her posts on Twitter this morning which suggest she was impressed. So straight away all her Twitter followers , many of whom have may never heard of Speedwáy, now know there is a local track.

Yeah, but that was in Division IV of the Plotz Shipyards Relegation League Seriously I like Davey a lot and Lakeside is his favourite place to be, apart from Poole, but while he has been about the only Lakeside guest, apart from Hans this year to put 100% effort into the job I have noticed for sometime that he has started to fade towards the later stages of the meeting at Lakeside. I think Kim would score more but Davey is about the best guest on the average available so cant complain as long as he doesn't have one of his famous howlers. An almost unpredictable result because none of the major players in the 1-5's except Danny King have shown much consistency of late. There are probably 4 or 5 riders that could either go ,well into double figures or score less than 6. Garraty is the trump card as he has been all season for Cov and will continue to be right though to the play-offs.

What are you on about? It only the second Sky broadcast from Lakeside this year!

A first time for everything I suppose but Roynon has never done much at Lakeside before, but overall Cov look stronger at reserve, especially with Garrity. Not Bombers favourite track but has been much more consistent there last couple of years. Covs trump card is Danny King who has been getting good scores at Lakeside since his Brum days and had four wins in his 13 points in the A fixture. Very close matc,h last time.

I don't think Cook is exactly making it up as he goes along. He said at the fans forum last year that he was in contact with a compny that specialises in these sort of things and seems to have subsequently had meetings with the Council and various others. No doubt he has been in touch with Dave Gordon of Belle Vue for advice, and probably the Swindon promotion as well. We can only wait and see withou.t pre- judging anything. Add to that the fact that Stuart Douglas holds the purse strings and he is no fool in business matters if look where his career has taken him,

I doubt the BV team manager favours Aussies in his choice of guests and I have never heard any BV fans say that is the case I but if it is true that is a local problem for BV to sort out, and it's not what Richie was complaining about in his SS interview . He was complaining though about the fact that Belle Vue fell over themselves to buy him and now don't give him a team place, (and this was before Mark Lemon took over as TM). I can understand his frustration with Belle Vue though. Reading between the lines of the interview it seems Richie is not altogether happy with their lack of support for his career. Personally I don't think Carswels influence at Belle Vue has been a good one, since he became involved on the promotional side.Whatever the ins and outs of the original financial dispute between Richie and Lakeside, going to BV has not been a successful move for Richie especially when you consider how successful his replacement, Richard Lawson has been since coming into the Lakeside side as a 3 point reserve who couldn't ride small tracks.

If you read the tread properly you would know that's not what I am saying

Not sure what point you are making. The amount of time it takes to clean a bike and the amount of time travelling to meetings is exactly the same for UK based Aussies like Justin Sedgmen, Max Fricke and Nick Morris as it is for Brits, the money is pretty much the same for the Aussies as it is for Brits and they have the additional expense of stting up. British base. Getting a team place in Sweden or Poland is just as difficult for Aussies as it is for Brits yet Max Fricke has gone off and done it, as well ans getting a regular EL team spot.so all those spurious points you mention go out the window. I have r,rad the article for a second time, and to be fair to Richie, he is not complaining about the amount of time it takes to clean a bike or travelling to meeting etc. the thrust of his complaints is the lack of opportunity for British riders to progress and he has a point there in view of the protectionism Sweden and Poland have to their home grown riders.. Certainly Richie, and riders of roughly his standard would benefit from a regular EL team slot, and yes they do need a bit more support from the promoters , but as was said before t.hey need to not expect things gifted . There are two sides to the srgument and neither is clear cut.

Just to clarify , I am not saying Lawson does his own engines, because I don't know. I would be very surprised if he does, but he does a lot of his own preparation single handed, and drives himself down in a little van . It must save a lot of money compered to some. I am not suggesting Richie Worral is extravagant because I don't know, merely an observation that in general terms some riders seem to carry a lot of unnecessary overheads. If you look at Josh Auty's van for example it's a huge great thing with "Josh Auty Speedwáy and Grass Track Rider " specially painted all over it one wonders why all that is necessary , considering the 99 .99% of te public have never heard of him .

Ah , ok . Better off getting rid of it and getting yourself lap dancer then !

You have totally missed the point of what I said. The point was that in days gone by the investment in machinery was a lot less than it is now. One bike pretty much lasting a season, now two bikes needing to be serviced every few meetings, therefore todays costs are bound to be far higher I think everybody understands that. I don't understand the rest of your post. DIDENT...ridding....engins....sence....sick the bike in the dirt. Even Sidney would struggle with that.

True. I have a copy of Classic Speedway which has an interview with Norman Hunter who retired in the 1970' s and he says he retired because he opened up a motor-cycle shop and the intention was that his speedway should subsidise this the motor-cycle business but it ended up being the other way round. However the world has changed a lot since the days of Mick Bell and Norman Hunter. In the past running a small business was alright as a side line but there are so many regulations, now and it so difficult to compete as say a private garage owner against the corporate bodies that it really needs full time attention. Having said that, some riders don't have much idea of finances. I often have a wry smile when I see riders turning up in big vans with a mechanic doing then driving, then Richard Lawson arrives with everything crammed into his little VW Carry, with bikes he has basically prepared himself and then goes out and gets a bigger score. It is difficult though. Richjie Worrall talks about £20, 000 investment in bikes before you even start on vans etc, and that is an expense that riders didn't have in the past. Terry Betts for example used to have one bike and all he basically did , according to him, was change the valve springs when needed, The one engine would last a season then he would buy another one the following year..