weatherwatcher

Havelock, got this call right and as manager of the team, he had every right to tell his riders not to go out for heat 10, he had been promised a track inspection which never happened. For once a manager stuck up for the saftey of his riders. you only had to look at Kylmakorpi, he was far from happy to go out there again, Bomber would go and ride on a ploughed field if asked to and enjoy it, he is that sort of rider. With the out come of heat 10, with the way Holder started if 4 riders had been in that heat, then all 4 riders would have been in a big pile on the floor, no ifs no buts and one of them could have been very badly injured. Unless the meeting gets to heat 15 that it should be called viod. speedway as far as I know is a 15 heat meeting not 10 or even 8 that the Swedes do. Not good for the sport or the paying public. How can a team come away from a 10 race meeting with the full 4 points in the bag for an away that, never finished. Either call the match off and give half points or call it off and re run it at a later date. With fewer meetings now they have plenty of time to re stage it. This is The British Isles and we are now aproaching the wetest months of the year. From April until the nd of December, there will be more rainy days than dry ones, unless we have one of those freak Summers, that we get now and then. So if the weather is bad, then call the meeting off, if it is infront of Sky or not. Give half points and give the fans a few brass buttons for the lost races and hopefully everyone will be happy. That is until we have another specticle like Monday night again.

I have to agree with you picking up on the points I made. As we would say around these parts he is all moth and no braces. He talks a good talk, afraid though, that he always fails to back up his words. With all he has said these past few years he should now be world champ 3 times over.

Do the speedway refs have to go through the same sort of training that a football ref doe's. from what I have seen and the issues that they seem to have no control on, makes me wonder if some of them went to their first speedway meeting a couple of weeks ago, like what they saw and decided to become a ref, got the job, spent a meeting in the box with another ref for a meeting then they where left to their own devices. Some of then have not got the slightest grasp of the rules in the sport. Are they tested on the rule book and what qualifications do they need to get to be a ref. The SCB needs to tighten up on the quality of the refs they have, because some of them are just to idiotic to belive.

You would have loved to work where I used to work, closed a long time ago. It was an aluminum foundry. We used to get box loads of coswoth parts that had only been tested in the factory. They would test a batch and the scrap them wit the remainder of that batch. We had pistons and rings still in the wrappers and boxes un used timing chains full engines and turbo's, plus every nut bolt and washer. It just shows that companies with a huge capital turn over can be so wastefull, when we the general public struggle to make ends meet at times.

Seems that you have hit the nail on the head with this one. Why should any team who win a meeting that is run to heat 10 just to get a result, come away with 3 or 4 points. The very least the should get is half points. Can't see that the fans would have any problems with that. Also the fans should get a half price refund at the gate on the next meeting they go to. In this time, it could well be 4 or 5 meetings before they can go again, as with me it costs around £60 a meeting what with my admission and my grandsons a programme a couple of quid on the raffle they run, another 6 quid on over priced coffee and diesel to get there. So I have to pick and choose when I go now. We went to far more meetings when it was at Pl as the admissions prices where not so bad as the £18 charged now, can't really say the racing is any different and we still see many of the same riders as we did before. So the refund should stand for all season.

The great powers above would have to nip the top riders in the bud before they got the chance to go and buy 10 or 20 engines to try and find that one that is a little bit special. Go down the road of limiting what they can buy. If the engine as it states on the packet will run for the season with nothing or very little having to be done to it. Then make that limit 3 engines per rider, a wash a wear and a spare. Not all the riders are going to want to change their engine suppliers. Having said that though, when they all see it out performing the GM then they are going to be tumbling over themselves to give it a go. So now is the time, to stop all the tinkerers, from stripping and trying to get the extra, horse power of revs out of a product, that should be left well alone, but the guys at the top of the tree are only interested in being exactly that. If it means spoiling a product that has had so much hard work put into it by Gerhard, etc, then they should not even be allowed to buy them. Let the engines be used by people who apprecite all the hard work that has been put in. Unlike the GM unit, that was developed, by the engine manifacturer, to be played and tinkered around with, to get that extra ounce of blood out of it, they where happy and so where the top tuners. This engine though is sent out by Gerhard as a complete package, so why spoil it. Do any of you go and by an electric kettle and stripit down to put a bigger element in it, so you can get a faster cup of tea, no. So unless you are happy to leave this engine alone, then stay with the GM route.

Thank you Gordon for trying to bring some sort of sense into the thread again, And not the clap trap we get from a load of bleeting sheep. Craig Cook, has been given his chance, time and time again, when he was picked for the British team, I am afraid he failed against the worlds top riders, when he got his chance last season in the British GP, he was very much lacking and it truly made him look the rider he is a top PL level rider, if he had uped his game after a couple of seasons trying to get a ride either in Poland or Sweden, then he may or may not have improved, that I doubt very much. He has reached as far as he is going to, that is fine by me, hope that he has a few more years as heat leader in the PL, he should keep that for at least another 5 or 6 six years, he has got a capital expenditure, that he is happy with and I think that is where he is happy doing what he is doing, without taking on large bank loans to get bikes and engines that he would have to buy to even try and compete. There are many more riders who stay in whatever league there are happy with. Shame really that Cook gets all the flack. The big problem with him is the way he rabbits on that again this year, he is going to take on the world of speedway, without ever delivering the goods, how many times now have we heard that from him.

The pick of which team you come up against in the semi finals, should be drawn out of a hat. Not who the teams they want to ride against to ensure they get through to the final. As GRW say, it dosn't really matter these days who wins the league. It only counts on who win the play offs. Totally unfair.

I should think a lot of the PL, NL and MDL lads etc have to play about with their own engines. If it is true what they say about this new engine then it should run all season with very little having to be done to it. So no more dirty fingers, or your dad clouting you around the earhole because you has mislaid a vital part and you haven't got another in the garrage and you race again tonight. So no, I think this new engine is on to winner, that is as long as people are not alowed to fiddle and play about with it just so they can get a faster engine than the rest. Keep it seeled. Let them play about with point set up, and gearing. Other than that or changing or topping up the oil, then you get your fingers out of the pie. Not a great deal for he insectors to do other than make sure that a seal put on at the facory or agent for the engins are not tampered with. After all as you said a few post ago. it is a single 4 valve engine, not much different to my old Rudge 1932 500cc single cylidar special.

Not only was the track a problem, but it also seemed it was causing problems with the bikes. With the rain being driven by the wind. I have no doubt that the problems with Danny Kings bike was ingress of rain into the points.Why they have points still and not electric ignition these days beats me. As for point settings this can be easily achived, with electronic advance retard, rather than taking the cover off on rainy nights like last night, to end up with water on the points. This is the 21st centuary I think, so we should be using modern technoligy. Instead using an out dated point set up that wnt out, with the demise of the British motor cycle industry. I remember the days sat by my old 650cc A.J.S and B.S.A getting the point set up just right, without all the cough's splutters and bangs.

Can't see any thing like that happening. How many speedway nation or shall I say major speedway nation do we have, a hand full. So I see no problems what so ever, with setting up a reliable, group of service agents. If the engine blows up with it being a sealed unit, with a guarantee, no doubt, they will do a service exghange either free or at a small cost. As they would then rebuilt the engine and sell it on again or exchange it. Servicing so be no great problem, we service our cars and there should be no difference. It is not like there is a quater of a million speedway riders. But hopefully enough to get this whole thing up and running. This is just the thing that speedway these days needs. All the riders on a level playing field, using either or the other of the engines on offer, the only difference being that they can't play about with them other than jetting and point settings. If the tuners feel hard done by, then they can alway get a job, rebuilding the engines, without all the tweeks, to get the rider with the most money to spend, at the top of the tree. Would it do speedway any good. I think so, because if this was done and done fairly, then it would then be down to the skills of the said riders, to prove they have the skills, not the fastest bike off the tapes as is the case now. With a long strung out line following him

I said last year that Craig Cook. Had reached the level that he was sadley unable to make the final hurdle to go on the bigger things, when I stated that he wasn't even in the class of an EL I was called down by folks on here, who thought he would and still could make it to the higer stages of the sport. Sorry to say though, it looks like he will be nothing better than a top PL rider and I think he will be evn struggling to get a team place next year in the EL.

I said on here at 6 p.m, that the weather was going to deteraite, far quicker than the forcasters had predicted. The pressure had dropped alamingly all day with a 5 mb drop in just under 7 hours. There was a huge area of low pressure coming in off the Atlantic. If anyone had cared to ask onone in the area who runs a private weather station like myself, they would have known well before hand that the meeting should never have started in the first instance. OK it costs Sky big buck to set up. But even they could have had the sence to say we will call a day on this meeting. At 6 p.m here in South Derbyshire, which is not that far away from coventry. The wind was blowing quite hard, the rain was not to heavy, but is was the strong winds that was causing the issue, making the rain far worse that with it. Sky have far to much say, when they role into town. The start line at heat one was a disgusting mess. It really did look like the tractor had been using a 6 furrow plough on it. The ones who run speedway the SCB and the BPSA, have got to stand up to them before we see any very serious accidents happen. Heat 10 would have been one big pile up if 4 riders had gone out on track. Chris Holder, would have more than likely have taken all 4 riders out, he nearlly took his own team mate out, with only the 2 of them, who where not even racing as racing goes. It was just a formality for the 2 of them to get the 4 laps over and done with.

At every Sky meeting, the home team should have an army buggler on the terraces playing the last post, and all the fans should take their hats off and then have a 2 minutes silence. For what happened last night could well have put an far swifter end to EL racing and the end of telivised British Speedway. Which in one way won't be that bad for the sport. Let them bring in BT sport to do I am sure they can't make a worse hash of things. Call an end to the heat 10 rule unless it reaches the final heat no results, simple as the mongose says.

Build a speedway steam engine. Fired with charcoal pellets. Bet they never thought of that one.. Super speedway at 4 m.p.h

The only way to stop anyoneone playing about with the engine is to factory seal them. After the seal is broken then the engine will be classed by the instectors at the meeting to be ileagle. I know it sounds a bit over the top. But something has to be done to bring the sport onto a level playing field where all riders are in the same situation. With engines that they can't play around with. For one I think the bikes now are far to fast for what they are ment to do. Do we really need to see them going at speeds that are some times putting riders at risk. There have always been injuries and there always will, but at the speeds they go at now, when an accident happens it can be with rather drastic concequenses. If it keeps going as it has over the past 15 or so years with the tuners getting every pennies worth of speed out of the bike, then they will get to the stage where they are unridable altogether. This engine looks good and what I saw of Harris or the little we saw the engine seems to be competative enough, without needing to be played around with. But I still feel that there is a need to slow things down again. Don't think we need to go back to the old uprights, but if that is the answer, then that is the road to take, before we end up with rider getting injjured so bad that they never ride again or worse still getting killed. The youger riders are riding above and beyond their abillities at times, So now could be the time to make the changes. Make the engines slower, sealed at the factory. I think you would see far better, closer racing than what we are seeing these days. A lot of work has been put nto this unit. I take my hat off to everone inlved with it, down to the lad that makes the tea.i

Garrity is young and very keen, but he has got to learn to use his trottle a lot more than just open it up and go. It may work on a dry track, but not tonight. He needs to sit and listen to the older riders. Get on the bike and ride in a way that he is not going to take out other riders, they all have a living to earn, one move like he made tonight could end a riders days on the track. He needs to calm down.

Don't think they would have even let the greyhounds out on the track in these conditions. Something needs to be done in the sport and those that run it need to stand up and be counted. They should listen to what is being said to them instead of trying to please Sky and get the meeting run to heat 10. It's the poor fans I fell soory for paying £18 and having to stand and watch tripe like this, and not get one peeny back because they called the meeting at heat 10. Totally wrong, should have been called off well before all money refunded and the meeting re schedualed.

If they had listened to me I said before the meeting even got under way that it was very windy here in south derbysgire with the rain poring down. They sarted the meeting and after heat 1 the rain started the track looked rubbish to start with. The start line like a ploughed field. if they managed to get a start with spinning wheels, they found that there was no grip, on the track. How any rider didn't get seriously hurt tonight is a wonder. The meeting should have been cancelled after about heat 7 or 8. I feel sorry for the fans that even bothered to turn up. The camearas tried their best not to show the crowds, that must have all of 150 of them. The Coventry mangement must be well out of pocket tonight. To have this meeting on TV which must surely be rated as the worst speedway meeting to be show, does very little for the sport. When are the powers that be going to come to their senses. That running a meeting in conditions that we had tonight, are damgerous and a libilty to the riders. I am not a supporter of either team. But running a meeting in these conditions is doing nothing what so ever for speedway. It is no wonder that on a night like this only a hand full of fans went. Mainly because they thought the meeting would be called off. Sorry Sky but you really screwed up with this one.

Rain coming down quite heavy with the wind blowing it about here. Hope it dosen't make it over your way.

Get it sorted at with the starting be it a problem with engine power or gearing and this engine will be a contender against the rest of the competition. Not that there are many others to really worry about as GM seem to be the only engine on the tracks now, With only a hand full of Jawa left out there. If they do get things right, the GM will have to look out. The tuners will be tearing their hair out. Gm will be going back to the drawing board. To see what they can do to keep their strangle hold on the market. What ever happened to the days when every rider had his own favorite engine and there where so many to chose from. It now seems that the one with the most money to spend, buys the services of the worlds top tuners, instead of the days where they spent hours down the garden shed trying to get things sorted out for the next meeting. Are there any top riders left that actually get their hands dirty. doubt it very much, when they have the money to spend to get other to do the job for them. I wish Gerhard and all who are working on this new engine the best of luck, because this is the product that the grass root riders of speedway need. An engine they can afford, that is relible and dosen't burn great holes in your pocket, spend on all the, tuning and extras that are needed to be at lest somewhere in the pecking order. Be it at MDL, NL, PL, or the lower order of the EL or other world leagues. Hope they manage to get it right.

Not sure what it is like there in Coventry, but here in South Derbyshire it is not good. Dull and overcast with rain showers as I speak and the wind is getting up. The barometer has been dropping alarmingly all afternoon. If this meeting goes it then you will be getting much better weather conditions than here and we are not that far away. The prssure has dropped 5mb since this morning and we are getting gust of around 20 m.p.h and I am in a built up are so out in the open it could well be over the 20m.p.h mark. Best of luck and I hope you get the meeting on. We get far to many lost meetings due to rain. Still it can't be as bad as having to have a 3 quter of an hour break when the sun shines at Leicester.. I am sure the riders must be getting very soft these days, can't race when it's sunny can't race when we have a few showers and they can't ride on a track unless it is like a billiard table. Seen some old pictures with the lads wearing a boiler suit and a leather face mask and a pair of goggles riding on a track looking like a ploughed field and pouring down with rain. Where they just made of sterner stuff than they are now. Any way best of luck for the meeting and hope the Bees can win it.

Nice to see that the first heat on Saturday night made it to the best race video of the week. Must say that Jason looked really fast. Just hope that he has finally sorted out the problems he has been suffering last last few weeks with his bike. Must be quite hard getting your bikes sorted out for meetings when you are dishing and dashing about all over Europe. Does he have bikes over here are is he like A few other top riders who have 2 or 3 bikes at differeent locations across Europe. Or is he not in that sort of money bracket yet.

Ok put it this way. The winner of the season, is the winner of the league. Let them have their play offs which was an idea of SKY and the double points if I remember correct, I know they had a lot to with it. The 4 top team meet not to decide who wins the league, but have a trophy match, seems a much fairer way to me after all the work a team puts in, only to find your team has suffered from injuries as with Kings Lynne last year, and be beaten to the top spot because of it. I for one can't stand the double points, better this year with just one ride, but as I see it if a team is 10 points up then they have earned it it should stay that way. We have seen some dredful rulels in speedway over the years and no doubt we will see them again and again. Just hope for once that at one AGM they can manage to realise that the sport is in dire straight and sit together to try and find an answer, to where it has gone wrong. The drop in the number of fans has come with the change in life styles, there is so much more for people to do than in the old glory days of speedway.

If the engine does prove to be a winner then it will be the riders that benifit, from all the hard work of the design and building of the engine and the amount of testing that has gone into it. If the service times are what they say they are, then the riders will have an engine that will last all season with no or very little needed to be done. Will it lose any power as the season goes along, but I am sure this has been looked at during the testing stage. If it does come up trumps, then there are going to one or two very unhappy tuners out there. Sorry to say but we have now come to a stage where the guys with all the money that can get the best tuners are the ones who win the races these days. It is a long way from the rider who spent his week days getting the engine rebuilt in his garden shed. This engine could be the answer to lots of lower league riders and some of the higher league lads if it proves to be as good as it looks. Hope so because there is far to much being spent on engines for the lowers status riders to keep pace.