E I Addio

I recently saw an advertisement in a shop window in Forest Gate, East London that said "Room to Let - Ghanains Only" which in essence seems to be the same thing as others that have said no blacks etc. Does this mean the law applies to some sections of society but not others, depending on where you come from? This of course is the same Forest Gate where other shops face prosecution by the local council if they advertise "black bags" or "black "rubbish bags". I don't agree entirely with TWK but I can see where he is coming from.

I don't disagree with any of that, but there is a difference between nostalgia and moaning for the sake of moaning, there are certain ones that invariably make the same disparaging comments after every TV meetingirrespective of whether it was good or bad. One wonders why they bother.

So when they move into the 1-5 are you still going to pay them £40 a point ? The point if the original Fast Track scheme was to save money. You can sort of get by with having protected heats but the majority are not going to be able to compete most if the time with bona fide second strings. I am with you in principle but I can't see the finances working and there are not really sufficient quality youngsters coming through. I am beginning to wonder if any scheme is going to work until more quality riders start coming through.

On the contrary , I think it gives you great pleasure to have a dig.. Nobody has said that the state of the sport is ideal, or that the rules are perfect, but most agree there are few experiences like the smell of methanol,, the noise of tortured Jawa's and GM's , the moment of tension as they come under starters orders, or the spectacle of 4 riders in bucking speed irons with no brakes on an unstable surface for One hot Minute. Unfortunately the best you can come up with for not attending a sport you are purportedly passionate about is you don't like the double points rule. As has been pointed out endless times on here the double points rule is less unfair than the tactical substitute rule that preceded it for decades and you must have been going to speedway for years and years under the old TS rule. TBH I loathe the TR rule but some people like it and any mature person would have to accept that when there are a thousand or more other people attending any event there will be differing opinions and you cant have everything your own way. You have to get along with people.As much as I hate the TR rule myself I have to admit that in its present form its probably less unfair than its ever been and if you are going to let that keep you away fair enough but moaning on a forum is not going to change it. I doubt you have advised the SCB of you views. As Halifax Tiger said most of the constant complainers are those who never go anymore, but my original comment was really aimed at those who come on here after virtually every TV and whose command of the ENGLISH language is limited to " It was crap!", which as I said before leads on to wonder why they don't flick mover to another channel if its that bad.

Yes we would all like to go back to the days when we were younger, the summers were longer, and the music was better. From what I remember about those days though there were always old boys in the crowd at every stadium telling us it was better when they were young and there were real men like Jack Parker and Split Waterman on the track.. I have books that tell me how great the sport was when Cyclone Billy Lamont and Cordy Milne wee riding so maybe we ought to get rid of GM's and have everyone leg trailing Douglases an and Scotts to see if that brings the crowds back. The fact is that nostalgia aint what it used to be and the central theme of perennial moaners, not just in speedway but in every walk of life is that whatever they are moaning about was better in the past. Unless you can invent a time machine the past wont be coming back so we have deal with the present which, incidental is what the thread is about, otherwise it would be in the years gone by section.

Hi Hammer, you have to throw into the equation the fact that some people just enjoy a good moan. If you haven't worked it out already you'll soon work out that it's the same ones that never have anything good to say. Makes you wonder why they have anything to do with them sport if it upsets them so much and the only conclusion you can draw is they are sad dos that enjoy a good moan. For he rest us I gues we are on an addictive roll or coaster that makes you feel you want to throw yourself of a cliff when your team is doing badly and has you walking on air for days after a good win. Apart from the chronic complainers the rest of the banter should be taken wit.h a large shovel of salt. Most fans my arem ok when You meet up with them.

She was only a Wimbledon supporter, but she showed Ron Howe !

Tich Read Wally Green Tiger Stevenson Dent Oliver Wally Trumble Alby Golden Bo Wirebrand Bluey Wilkinson

The object of the exercise was to save money. If you don't have protected heats and reserves are expected to go against heatleaders then its no good expecting them to ride for £40 per point. . Not disagreeing in principle with what you say but finances rule it out.

I enjoyed that meeting. Pity Leicester had such a long tail but there was some good racing with a fair bit of passing and re-passing. Heat 1 was probably the race of the season : Doyle took the lead in bend 1 , first AJ then Bech passed him , then Doyle regained the lead with a swoop round the inside, then AJ and Bech passed him again, to take the 5-1. Great commitment from all of them. Big cheers on parade for Watt and Swiderski , who are both still very popular at Lakeside. It took Swidders a while to get properly dialled in but his heat 15 swoop off bend 4 to pass AJ was his classic move that made him so popular when he was a Hammer . No problems getting dialled in for Watty though. He was involved in the thick of the action in his paid 10, and one of the best races of the night was the way he hunted down and passed Doyle in heat 10 with Doyle on a tactical, although Jason repaid the compliment in heat 13 to spoil Davey's paid max. Jason Doyle was very entertaining. So much improvement from him in a space of 4 or five years. Richard Lawson slipped smoothly and almost unnoticed to 11 points from his first 4 rides but struggled in heat 15, but a competent performance from him. Kennett and Bech were better than their scores suggest. Ben Morley had a point to prove and did it with a terrific ride to win the last reserves race from the back. Adam Ellis looked light years better than a couple of months ago, managed to stay on his bike and was riding good racing lines instead of getting stuck in no mans land, so well done to him Richie Worrall was a reasonable guest but I feel he needs to be given a regular EL place next year if he is to reach is potential. I was looking forward to seeing Simon Lambert but he still hasn't worked the track out, but then again nor has the more experienced Walasek, and Wosniak. . I was quite impressed by Adam Roynon though. There were a few flashes of what might have been if his career had not been plagued by injury. There is a certain amount of talent there but whether he can now reach his potential is perhaps doubtful; And finally the announcement from Jon Cook on the mic that the fans wanted to hear "A certain Mr Jonsson has just said he will be back next year ".Next year is a of course a long way off but if things work out and AJ is back I suspect Mikkel Bech will be back as well as both will be on decent team building averages this time and given Kim Nilsson's improvement this year and the fact he is an asset maybe we can see the sort of team that is taking shape. Dave Watt also said on the mic that the only two clubs he is interested in riding for in Britain are Poole and Lakeside so does he know something or am I reading too much into it ? He has his critics but on last nights performance of paid 10 you could do a lot worse than Davey with the others mentioned . We shall have to wait and see.

Its not Lakeside.

Looking at Richie guesting for Leicester tonight he is far too good for EDR. He needs to be in an EL 1-5 to improve. Hopefully he will get a full EL place next year which is where he needs to be , not stuck in protected heats.

He scored 0,0,1,0 last time. He seems to be one of those benefitting by the EDR. Scheme so it will be interesting to see how he goes tomorrow.

Yes, having a howler on a wet track, but last time Wolves were down he scored ( from memory) about 13 and beat Jason Doyle in heat 13, so really riders of that level and that age a shouldn't really be in protected heats against NL riders . I would say Steve Worrall should be about the top end of the top tier and the rest are good enough to to be making their own way otherwise the disparity between the best and worst is too great. Hence, as people have already said we have a situation in which Lakeside's 1-5 have averaged pretty much the same as Coventrys but one is top the other is bottom mainly due to the difference at reserve. In all of Lakeside's four home defeats their 1-5 out scored the opposing 1-5 but the matches were lost at reserve. The problem is that the way the draft works it's almost impossible to get worthwhile replacements. I am not implying criticism of any of the riders, it just the way the draft works thst makes the league more or less decided on the picks.

The other problem is that some riders are in the draft who are too good for that level in other words they are more tan capable of holding a place in the 1-5. For example Garrity and Blackbird have both at times been out and replaced expensive foreign imports in heat 13 and scored points at that level so clearly it's a nonsense to have them in protected heats against NL riders. We also have Josh Auty brought into the draft this year. Now with all due respect to Josh, what is he going to learn at reserve for Leicester that he wouldn't already have learned riding at reserve for Coventry 6 years ago? Basically we have probably 4 riders in the top tier of the draft who really ought to be at a higher level and there places should be filled by young riders who need to work alongside the top dogs to gain experience and knowledge. Either the EDR is a genuine attempt to bring on young Brits or it is an attempt to get good riders on the cheap, but it can't be both, although that's what they are trying to do at the moment. The trouble is the sport is on a knife edge at the top level. It only takes one EL club to go under and the Sky deal collapses. These things have to be got right. Unfortunately the PL numpties won't come on board with the scheme, preferring to to go down the rent-a-foreigner route and that is a major part of the problem.

No you are not grasping it. In any business the first step is obviously to get your customers through the door. The more difficult step is to keep them coming back while at the same time keeping your exiting clients.. If someone sees a TV meeting and decides to give it a go consider the following real life situations that may face him : 1. He stands for two hours in the piddling rain at a meeting that shouldn't have started only for one team to decide its too dangerous for them to race but the meeting carries on to heat 10 so he doesn't get any money back. Is he likely to be back ? I doubt it 2. He Goes to a meeting where the stand out riders for the visitors are Freddie Lindgren and Peter Karlsson, and Jason Doyle rides at no1 for the home team. Next time he goes there is another visiting team bur Peter Karlsson is riding for them as well and Freddie Lindgren now rides at No1 for the home team. Next time he goes there is yet another visiting side but Peter Karlsson is riding for that team as well and this time Rory Schlein rides No1 for the home team, then next time he goes Rory is riding for the visiting team. The next week someone else is missing because he is riding for another team in another league so the 1-5 he paid to go to see become a 1-4 and the others take the missing riders rides, and so it goes on. week after week Is he likely to keep coming back ? And all this is without meetings where he stands around in the cold for over two hours because the track has not been properly prepared or the starting gate keeps failing or there are endless false starts or someone needs a break because they have been taking extra rides etc. etc,, There are a whole plethora of similar things that are driving long term fans away. There are many posters on this forum who where once avid fans but who cant be tempted back, or at least cant be tempted back on a regular basis . If the sport cant even hang onto these fans who have been loyal in the past how is it ever going to hang on to new ones who have not even built up any loyalty yet ?

Good promotion only relates to new fans. Poor administration , unfairness, inconsistencies and cheating drive the old ones away and that is a much more serious problem. You could reduce admission to 5p and get a big crowd in for one meeting but few will be back until the other things are sorted out. If it were that simple Glasgow and Swindon would still be getting big crowds on the back of it. Good promotion takes investment that can rarely be recovered in one meeting, You have get people coming back to recover the investment. If long standing fans are drifting away the newbies are unlikely to stay long.

Lambert was riding No2 so in that race he was r/r for Rory. It was therefore Rob Lyons responsibility to notify the Clerk of the Course , opposing team manager and the referee who was taking the ride , and to make sure his rider was ready.

Cook was not talking about why crowds are dropping off he merely said in the programme that he is not a member of the BSPA. I was merely giving my personal view from my perspective based on people I know who have now gone. Maybe you think Ronnie Russell and Sky pulling the strings on heat 10 rain offs when tracks suddenly become dangerous and the rest of the cheating is a good idea but some don't see it that way and that's why they have gone. I don't know what Cooks view on it is and was not reporting it.

That's not the point I was making, but since you raised it who has tried to stop any of this happening ? Peter Adams ? Rosco ? Anyone on the SCB ? Alex Harkess ? Len Silver ? John Louis ? CVS ? I haven't said Jon Cook is speaking out, merely reporting what is now in the public domain, but if it is your point that Cook is one of the last people that can speak out, which of them is in a more credible position ? All much the same as far as I can see unless someone can enlighten me. As I said on another thread regarding the cheating, we know it goes on but we don't know how much or to what extent. Nobody says anything nobody can prove or disprove anything, although having said that, Cook and Douglas were the first ones to make a formal request for an SCB inquiry into the allegations of Poole cheating in 2009 , not that it got them anywhere. The real point being made in my post though was the fact that the heat 10 rain off farce seems to have been the final straw for a lot of long term fans, and TBH I don't think a lot of people realise how many fans take that sort of thing seriously. I really do think that if this Darcy Ward /Swindon tie up turns out to be the stitch up people are saying it is a lot more will go. People on here make jokes bout the older fans who turn up with their deck chairs and sandwiches but for every one that goes it's another £ 18 lost through the gate. For some reason some on here want to hang the whole thing round Cooks neck but it's very much a joint effort .

The crowd was not representative of normal last night partly because crowds always have plummeted for TV meetings anyway , and partly because because of the weather. I don't know what the TV cameras showed but nearly everybody including myself were stood under what shelter there was or in the bar and hardly anyone in the open areas because apart from the rain it was very windy. Plus of course if was a master stroke of bad planning by Sky to slot this meeting on a Monday when Lakeside had already had fixtures last Friday and next Friday, so of course a lot won't bother. Sky is the cause of a lot of trouble in this sport IMO. That said, I do think crowds have fallen in the last couple of years. Jon Cook said recently that crowds started to drop after we lost Rico but it seems to me they really started falling last year when the club started to struggle after Peter Karlsons loss of form and Dave Watts injury, then this year there were four consecutive defeats for all the wrong reasons: partly guests for AJ that didnt perform e.g 6 points from Doyle and four from Lindgren plus being stuck on the wrong end of the EDR draft. As someone said in SS last week the Lakeside 1-5 have averaged almost exactly the same as the Coventry 1--5 this year and only slightly behind Poole yet they are top and Lakeside are nearly bottom because of the way the EDR draft operates. The biggest deterent though,I for most people I I know who have now gone for good is the cheating. The farces we have had involving Poole in matches that get to heat 10 and then the track suddenly becomes dangerous seems to have been the final straw for a lot of people. Fans tolerate things for a long time and then something seems to snap and Sky pulling the strings ( or should I say Ronnie Russel) seems to be it for a lot of people. I am talking about fans with 40 years support behind them who know the sport inside out. If it turns out to be the case that Swindon were fiddling their averages to get Darcy in, a few more will follow. Some promoters are still oblivious to it all though but some are breaking ranks. Miick Horton spoke out publicly the other week, and according to Jon Cooks programme notes he is no longer a member of theBSPA, so reading between the lines it seems there is Big Trouble in Little China just now. We will have to wait and see.

Oh dear so Rob Lyons didn't notify Lakeside that Lambert was in the race and didn't notice hi s rider was going out without a dirt deflector. What exactly does he do as team manager one wonders ?

Ashley looked pretty good against KL on Friday but even better tonight. When John Cook was interviewed he paid tribute to Ash who has played his part in turning the team spirit round and picking everybody's confidence up. He said Ash gets on well with the rest of the team and I think that shows in his riding. He seems to get on especially well with Mikkel Bech , and as Adam Ellis rode probably the best he has ridden all season in the two reserve races I wonder whether that is because he seems to be hitting off a good partnership with Ashley. I have to be honest I was beginning to think that Ash wasn't going to cut it but I am pleased to be proved wrong.

You seem to be implying that the involvement of Sky is detrimental to the sport. Lakeside v a Wolves was provisionally fixed for August when the kids are off school,and attendances are at their highest. By switching it to Monday Lakeside will have 3 home matches in a week so the crowd is bound to be low tomorrow, Surely you can see that makes perfect sense?