SteelShoe

Commiserations to all at Glasgow Tigers on the sad news of the passing of Michael Facenna.

Agree with this policy completely if possible to do so. Incidents such as this happen somewhere pretty often and the impact of insufficient medical cover to allow meetings to continue quickly is detrimental to how the sport is perceived. It is also hugely frustrating and possibly ultimately off putting to fans who pay to see a meeting.

Fabulous news for all concerned at Newcastle Speedway that you will be coming to tapes in 2022.

Being an ardent Worky fan for many years my heart goes out to Rob Grant, John Courtenay , and all the genuine Diamonds supporters faced with losing their beloved club. It seems like Rob has done all he can but has just been overwhelmed with the eye watering running costs involved in a sport watched by so relatively few people. Best wishes to you all.

Okay. If this is the protocol agreed with the ambulance service then hypothetically it could influence attendance response times. Again the answer appears to be extra medical cover.

Speedway is a safety critical sport and fans are absolutely critical to speedway. Enough medical cover to allow racing to continue when a rider gets injured should be a mandatory condition of the sport in my opinion. Finance would have to be raised by whatever means if this was the case. To wait what must have been an hour or more for a county ambulance /paramedic while racing remained paralysed is in my opinion unacceptable and detrimental to people's perception of the sport, something which it has struggled with in recent seasons. As well as a paramedic arriving, a large county ambulance also turned up some 15 to 20 minutes later.This was fortunate because it was still on site when Matty Wethers came to grief otherwise it may not have been possible to get a conclusion to the meeting. The first paramedic who arrived had reportedly already taken Ben Cook to hospital. I just wonder how long an ambulance would have been if Been Cook's injuries had been life threatening ?

As a neutral i thought that the referee certainly made two wrong decisions and very probably three. For me he got the heat 5 decision to exclude Stefan Nielsen wrong, Jordan Jenkins definitely appeared to make contact with Nielsen's bike which resulted in him coming down. Heat 13 Charles Wright should have gone which has been acknowledged while in heat 14 he awarded second to Paco Castagna when it looked like Drew Kemp repassed him on the run to the line. An enjoyable meeting in spite of the delays .Bomber is always worth watching while Drew Kemp was a great guest for the Bears and ultimately made the difference.

I suggested that the root cause was all the speedway chips over the years but he reckoned it was the stress of the 3 Finals in 2018 . Good to hear further news about his ongoing recovery . Hopefully he steers clear of Covid 19.

ordering a side order from Greggs

Details of the just giving page are in the local weekly Times and Star today Page 4. www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/katie-bain

Conner Mountain solid young rider who in my opinion is pretty accomplished around technical tracks so will be useful around Brough Park. Claus had arguably his best ever season in the Championship last year but cannot see him maintaining his average . Great to see Wrighty back. I admit to being surprised bearing in mind how long he has been out of the saddle. In his spells at Worky he went from being a very exciting come from the back around the boards rider to one who hugged the white line on his return in the Keith Denham era. I hope it works out for James and The Diamonds, if he regains his confidence then lets not forget he was a former PLRC Winner so he had plenty of ability.

Wonder which way Ranting Roy will broadcast that one. I reckon it'll be as you put it ' The Whippet James Wright'

You seem to know an awful lot about it Tosh, would you care to elaborate or like Boris Johnson will you duck scrutiny. By the way never say never.

Apart from natural ability Rasser has what all potential top riders need, a big desire to win races ! . I expect to see him develop further this season. I'm sure Rosco will be keeping an eye on young Sam if for no other reason than he is called Jensen !!

Looking like a good blend of youth and experience. Good mix of riders equally at home on big or small tracks. Strong No1, potentially two strong reserves who should increase their averages, same can be said for Broc, Ully and Ricky who has a knack of dropping his average in his final year at a club . Could be the team to beat.

Don't know where you get them from THJ but there good value, might even send that one wor lass !

Connor Mountain would be good shout imho. Rides small technical tracks very competently.

Not good news, a sign of the times unfortunately. A third tier is definitely vital for British Speedway.

Pleased to see the Diamonds immediate future is secure. Rob Grant has some good ideas for enhancing the product and I wish everyone at Newcastle Speedway all the best.

You must be reading it Manse !

Just loved that rant THJ, spoken with the passion of a man who loved the club and backed it every which way he could. More guys like you fella and we would indeed still be running. I too look forward to the day it returns and indeed hope I live long enough to see it .

I reckon it was 6 seasons Geoff . I seem to remember that Laura initially took it on for 2 seasons with an option to extend. I think 5 years was the original quoted max . It was the treble winning sixth season that got Laura her just rewards and brought success for the diehard fans, it was just really sad that it was at such a financial cost.

I'm a former season ticket holder but hadn't got round to purchasing a season ticket for 2019 when the sad news we wouldn't be running broke. I personally know four supporters who had purchased season tickets and to date have not been reimbursed. It would be easy to be critical about the financial and business management of the club however, I don't know the full story but I think it fair to say it wasn't financially well managed and the fallout has subsequently detrimentally biased the possibility of somebody else taking it on.

Reading about new owners and supposedly exciting times for British Speedway going forward does nothing to lift the mood of Worky fans facing a long winter with nothing to look forward to next season. Oh for someone with the wherewithal to bring it back. Sure the great custodian that was Ian Thomas will be looking sadly down. Now then where did I put those anti-depressants.

Congratulations to Leicester who came through regardless of the injuries suffered to key personnel during the season. It was a case of so near yet so far for the Tigers. I went to Ashfield confident they would overturn the deficit and the fans must be sorely disappointed they just failed to do enough. All season long the Tigers have been mighty in heats 13 and 15 and I couldn't see it being any different. This should have meant that the Tigers needed 5 extra points from somewhere to lift the trophy which should have been within there capabilities. The fact that Leicester held on was quite simply because second strings Perks and Proctor were head and shoulders above Andersen and Sam Jensen who scored just 4 points between them. It surely would have been different with a fit Paul Starke. A rare fall from Rasser wasn't in the script either and I thought he never looked completely comfortable on a track that appeared both slick and a bit greasy. Cookie and Claus Vissing in particular who probably rode the best I've seen him were superb. These 3 were well supported by young Kyle Bickley who like in last seasons final for Worky contributed significantly when it mattered and completely outshone Connor Bailey who will have been disappointed with his 1 point from 3 tally. Watching how it played out on track I think there maybe something in the notion that 'self imposed' pressure may have adversely affected certain members of the team, even the front page of the program was titled 'time to be heroes' or something similar. Mishaps in the first half of the meeting resulted in a self inflicted inability to build any momentum until is was all a bit too late. Leicester's man of the meeting was undoubtedly Ellis Perks who gave it everything. The way he came from last to first in heat 14 to clinch the trophy when the Tigers were on a 5-1 would have sent the Lions fans delirious. Trophies are often won as a result of fine margins and I think the Tigers will look at this and think that they beat themselves, that was the impression I left with anyway.