OveFundinFan

err.... have you not seen the video of the race where he crashed? Pardubice, a big track, 6 riders in the final doing I think it was 6 laps for the Golden Helmet. On lap 1 he was last, by turn 3/4 on the last lap he was in touch with Emil, the leader and winner. And when I say "he was in touch", that was the cause of the crash. He was well in touch with the leader and who knows could have sneaked a win. He was coming back to form well and truly. So, no, I cant agree with you when you put him 15th. Though he may not win the WC next year I would expect him to be anywhere between 5th and 9th.

Make sure thats after the meeting so while you recovering from your injuries you can recollect memories of the meeting.

Some are critical at Troy Batchelor being mentioned as a team member. It was'nt too long ago when Troy was in the GP's he almost did a "wipe out", that is score the max 21 in a GP. If he had it in him then to do that, why is he not doing the same today??? I put it down to the accident of Darcy Ward, that is bound to affect anyone close to Darcy, look how it affected Chris Holder. Its as if it has hit Batchelor harder then Holder, or in a different way. Someday (hopefully soon) Troy will "get over it", and if not either hang about earning a living at a lower level then he is used to, or pack the sport in. I hope he comes out of it soon and for the better. Troy being i the BV team could become a big plus point for the team.

Thats about 5 miles from where I live. Didnt realise it was so bad.

In reply to BurntFaceMan, would you agree that you can reduce the quality of individual riders, but end up with the quality of racing improving. Sure, most people would like to see big names, but they come at a cost and at this time British speedway cannot afford the cost. I look forward to how the new proposals pan out, if they improve quality of racing overall then it would produce excitement and attract, hopefully, a bigger crowd maybe with a fresher younger audience if promoted well.. As a suggestion, it would be nice to see the worlds best come to the uk to compete in individual meetings, say 4 times during the summer months riding at a track in the North, East, West, South say Glasgow, Belle Vue, Kings Lynn, Poole. That should get crowds in, as many top guys as possible, get 10 and 6 top riders from new Premeirship (these could change track to track to generate "local" interest). I am sure some speedway fans would do a "tour" to take in all 4 meetings.

Any news about Fridays meeting at the BV stadium????

Well, I never shook hands with Ove, but I got an email from him which made my day. May be he could have added to 5 world titles but for one year when he was in dispute with the Swedish speedway authorities and couldnt ride in the qualifiers - 1966. Nicknamed "Mr Perpetual Motion" - not sure that was because for 10 years running he finished in the top 3 of the world championship (1956-65) or also due to other fantastic achievements, but a very apt title to be awarded..

Everybody is guessing, thats my guess.

Glad to hear things are moving forward, and the team sounds like it wont simply be leftovers after all the others have had their pickings.

In the youtube video I linked to early on in this thread, it shows the 4 Collins brothers that formed 25% of a British Final one year - thats not a bad record in itself.

What award is PC getting, do you know?

Thanks for the trip down memory lane, Gustix. I well remember Sandor Levai a Belle Vue, and also Peter Vandenberg.

missing your sense of humour today arthur. I thought it was pretty good. Apart from that, lot more worse sarcastic remarks on here made about others then that.

So, if money from BSI was needed (and it was'nt anywhere near £200k but still a fair bit) to allow the WTC weekend to go ahead, did that ring alarm bells at BSPA? If so - what was done?, if not - why not? What was going on behind the scenes? We may never know.

If I remember from a post from someone in the last week or so there was a link to some meeting of Man City Council where it showed the BSPA was involved in the decision to name the stadium the National Speedway Stadium.

That should be a great meeting at BV, bit like the old days.

Should have posted the link as well. Doh! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbOSkqwemRE&feature=em-hot-vrecs

Just picked this up from You Tube about the Collins family - Peter, Les, Phil, Neil and Stephen. Its 1.5 hours long but I found it extremely interesting, informative and shows what a talent there was in that family. Stick it out, some good racing footage. Pity dad, Bill Collins, was not around to see the successful speedway years. He died in the early 1970's, missed Peters world championship, but was heavily involved in those early speedway years of Peters and the grass track years.

Just picked this up from You Tube about the Collins family - Peter, Les, Phil, Neil and Stephen. Its 1.5 hours long but I found it extremely interesting, informative and shows what a talent there was in that family. Stick it out, some good racing footage. Pity dad, Bill Collins, was not around to see the successful speedway years. He died in the early 1970's, missed Peters world championship, but was heavily involved in those early speedway years of Peters and the grass track years.

I didnt think the area where the temporary WTC stands were erected was going to be any sort of permanent stands - not in the initial build project anyway. Temporary stands makes sense to me in the BV situation. If proper stands had been built from day one, that would be extra fee on the rent and normal EL match wouldnt warrant that stand space anyway, so just a cost that was not needed. The debt would have been higher if permanent stands had been erected. I thought temporary stands for BIG events like the WTC worked well. OK, maybe not as many portaloos as there should have been but that is easy to overcome - simply hire more.

Well, that coming from a Poole fan says it all.

Probably the years calender has to be ratified at a higher level, maybe the FIM, and its not proper to submit things in dribs and drabbles.

Philip is correct in saying the stadium is a magnificent achievement, I dont see how anyone acn say otherwise. What is not magnificent is how this season has turned out. Most of the posters on this forum have been saying all year (and before) how poorly they think that British speedway is/has been run, contributing to speedway demise in this country and contributing to its lack of growth. I was thinking of next year 2017, starting to go back to BV for meetings, as much as I could afford. However, after the farce at the end of the year where a team was allowed to bring in a rider who hasnt ridden for that team all year, in fact the previous 10 years, changed my mind - and that had noting to do with the way BV was managed. The TW at Wolves was bad enough, but the Poole episode just poisoned my heart. No way am I going to spend my pension on a sport that is badly run, as much as I love to see 4 riders racing at their best. So I dont see the demise of BV being all about how the management at BV managed 2016. I attribute blame on a wider scale. Just have to look at Lakeside, Leicester, Workington, Scunthorpe, Coventry.... and a whole heap of other teams that are struggling to get the regular crowds to sustain speedway. The blame cannot be just with those teams and their individual promotors. My view is - if BV disappears completely, speedway in the UK as a whole will really feel the after shocks, much to the detriment of the sport.

Your gloating, Starman. You were always jealous of the new stadium away from Poole.