PotteringAround

Ben Morley 9.29 Connor Bailey 8.86 Lee Complin 7.27 Adam Roynon 6.00 George Congreve 4.50 Luke Harrison 3.00 Luke Killeen 3.00 41.92

Probably best not to suggest that the members of the Triumph Owners' Club were on Harley Davidsons...

Any tie, either on the night or on aggregate, results in a Super Heat this year. If it's a tie on the night and on aggregate, then it's called a Super Heat Plus, because it's for 2 points.

1. WORKINGTON - A powerful 4 heat leaders and will always have very strong reserves. Easily the strongest on paper. Looks a similar build to the Belle Vue team which was expected to win last year's ttle, but they were let down by the form of the McGurk brothers. 2. EDINBURGH - Bickley, Hook and Roynon are the strongest heat leader trio in the division. Spooner & Simpson have the potential to show support. Nothing really known of Wood. The only problem could be if the travelling between Poole (CL) and Edinburgh (NL) gets to Roynon. 3. LEICESTER - The Thompson twins won't drop many points. Spencer needs to show up regularly as third heat-leader, though Perry, Boughen and James will give strong support especially at home. 4. BELLE VUE - Don't know much abour Pearson, but he needs to challenge Smith for No.1. Hagon and Marson battling for the 3rd heat leader spot. Bottom end is solid, at least at home. 5. OXFORD - Good top four, and Kileen won't be at reserve long. But Stoneman and Kileen can be accident prone, they need to stay fit. Clouting & Fellows aren't the strongest reserves. 6. MILDENHALL - Powerful top two. Don't know much about Congreve, but he and/or Trigger need to offer support. Bottom end looks weak away. 7. BERWICK - Connor Coles is on a big average which I don't see him maintaining at No.1. Blair & Phillips are good heat leaders on their day. They'll need to find some improvement from the bottom 4 if they are to challenge the big teams. 8. KENT - Morley is a big No.1, and Ablitt, Woolley, Alcock and King will score well at home, but I see this team travelling very poorly.

What you mean is that you've read the book written by Collins, where Collins claims that Collins didn't demand free passes for hundreds of hangers-on. However various BV promoters past and present who received the letters demanding free passes for hundreds of hangers-on, and those who have seen the letters, would beg to differ. (N.B. I have changed "ex-riders" to "hangers-on" since many of the 100+ names were not ex-riders. They were Collins' friends, ex-sponsors, and a selection of nobodies).

I'd get that calculator. it's £5,040

2+2 = ? *cough* *cough*

Have they signed Lindback?

No Happy Pills though....

You're correct. Obviously lots of Peter Craven in the Peter Craven Memorial meeting programme (and a big photo of him on the cover). Don't think there was any mention of Peter Collins in the Peter Craven programme (unless he bought one himself off ebay and scrawled a nice message in it). No photos of anyone inside the Peter Craven suite, as you say it's a multi-use function suite used by lots of sports and schools. But there are some big boards in the concourse with list details of the achievements and the multiple world titles won by Mauger, Fundin, Crump, Craven, and even the single title won by Collins.

I presumed with the Victor Meldrew avatar it was an attempt at comedy that had just missed by a long way. In terms of Lemon's management ability in his 5 years in charge, I'd say 4 Premiership play-off appearances, 2 Premiership play-off Finals, a Premiership Title, a Premiership Knock-out Cup win, a National League win, and a National League Cup Final was pretty decent, but I'm not sure what relevance this has to the topic in hand of Peter Collins' BV vendetta, his list of 100+ friends, and his scrawling an obnoxious message in a dying man's book.

Quiz Ball?

I think we should stick to the current rule which is very simple to understand. Every rider in the NDL gets a new current average after completing 4 NDL matches. (Unless your name is Adam Roynon) Any NDL rider who doesn't have a current NDL average is assessed at 2 x your current CL average (unless your name is Adam Roynon, in which case it is assessed at 2 x your CL average of 2 years ago). How can it be any simpler?

You imagined it. Or rather you're misremembering two different things. Collins did compete on Superstars a few times, and Kevin Keegan's crash on a pushbike was one of the most famous moments from the programme, but they weren't connected. Collins never competed against Kevin Keegan on the programme.

At least the Casey family have got an apology, which is something. However it does seem to be a begrudging apology forced by his book publisher, perhaps out of fear of being left with a shed full of unsold books. And as others have said, the apology does beg more questions. 1. Collins claims not to know that Steve Casey was ill, yet he has been fighting the disease for several years. Collins' wife knew he was ill. Members of Collins' inner circle of friends knew. Steve Casey was a well-known figure. It's hard to believe Collins didn't know. Maybe it just slipped his mind in that moment of incandescent rage? 2. Collins says his feud with the promotion has gone on 35 years. That takes us back to 1988 when he himself was the BV promoter. Did he have a feud with himself? It's well-documented that Collins had a falling-out with John Perrin not long after they took over BV. And Perrin was a rough type who could fall out with anyone (despite also having his good side), so I wouldn't totally blame Collins for having a feud with him. But surely that would only last until the end of the Perrin era? The BV promotion has changed hands at least three times since then, and there have also been changes of personnel within the promotion during those times. So how has the feud managed to continue against people who had no connection with the actual feud? The only common connection is Collins - and in particular his list of 100+ people who he thinks should have a free pass to every Belle Vue match. (This list contains some former Aces riders, some former Aces juniors, some former non-Aces riders, some ex-Collins sponsors and friends from 50 years back, and some people with no connection to the sport at all). This list has been presented to every new promoter since Perrin, and unsurprisingly rejected by every new promoter. I suspect that Collins knows that no one could ever accept such a nonsensical list, and he uses it on purpose to cause trouble. Of course a few of the people on the list are genuine ex-Aces, but those are admitted to BV anyway. Eric Broadbelt, Ken Eyre, Bill Powell are all regulars, as were Peter Williams and Taffy Owen until their deaths. Chris Morton pops along every so often (which must be difficult considering how his involvement ended). Joe Screen has been. Andy and Paul Smith are obviously there with their son/nephew Jack, and Carl Stonehewer came when his son was second-half riding. Geoff Pusey came along last year with an old upright and was welcomed and allowed to do a few laps in the interval. Peter Ravn came with his clutch business and was welcomed and interviewed on the centre green. Basically any ex-Aces riders are welcomed and so would Collins have been if he'd wanted to come along.... ...And that's where Steve Casey came in. An ex-rider, but even more so a passionate Belle Vue supporter, he felt it was wrong that Collins was denying himself a chance to watch the sport he had graced for over a decade. Like many, he felt that people like Collins should still be part of Belle Vue. He tried, off his own bat, to work a solution so that Collins could end his petty vendetta and come along to BV without losing face. But despite Steve Casey's best efforts, Collins proved too stubborn and threw it all back at him. What Collins did to a dying gentleman who tried to help him is unforgiveable, and the apology is still very weak.

If you mean the regulation about the transfer window exception in the event of "Proven long-term injury" then it's the last paragraph of SR 012.2

Think it's 4.03 remaining for the last signing. So Rathbone on 4.07 won't fit. Kieran Douglas looks favorite.

I think the moral of the story is "If you don't want the public to think of you as a dick who would viciously scrawl an obnoxious message on a book that a dying man had paid £20 for, then don't be a dick viciously scrawling an obnoxious message on a book that a dying man paid £20 for".

It's 1.00pm in Califormia, which is 9.00pm here.

NIce to see that Collins' publicists at Retro Speedway made this kind gesture to Mr Casey. Obviously Retro Speedway were innocent victims in this shameful episode, and their gesture is to be commended. No blame can be attached to them. I'm sure they will have been mightily embarrassed by their client's actions, and as shocked by his callous act as the rest of the Speedway world is. Having seen the photograph of the actual "message" which is currently doing the rounds all over Facebook, it seems even worse than described here. There seems a real spiteful venom in his bitter, angrily scrawled diatribe. However it seems there still has been no apology to the Casey family from the one person who needs to make a full and immediate apology. Collins says he doesn't do Facebook and other social media, and that may be best for him at the moment. At least he won't see how many ex-fans of his are disgusted by him and have disowned him. On the other side of the coin, his ignorance of current public feelings will probably mean he doesn't realise how much an apology is needed. Perhaps his publicists will be able to advise him of how badly he has tarnished his reputation. Finally a question for his publishers. Is there a mechanism in place where people who have bought Collins' book can return it for a refund in view of the recent ugly events?

People making a joke of it, and making light of it, but sadly it is speedway shooting itself in the foot again. Imagine the BSPL have to make a big decision involving two teams... One of which has given them a big wad of money, and one of them which hasn't. If the BSPL management committee rule in favour of the team handing out the cash, how is that going to look? It's not even that the BSPL have to be biased, it's just that there has to be the perception that they could be biased. Whchever way you look at it the BSPL ar now conflicted by this. It wouldn't happen in a professionally organised sport. And yes, there are plenty of other conflicts and matters of self-interest in the sport. But ask yourself, is adding another one making things better or worse?

UK tracks visited. Edinburgh (Powderhall), Edinburgh (Armadale), Glasgow (Shawfield), Glasgow (Ashfield) Berwick (Berrington), Berwick (Shielfield), Workington, Newcastle, Middlesbrough, Redcar, Scunthorpe, Hull (Craven Park), Halifax, Bradford, Sheffield, Belle Vue (Hyde Road), Belle Vue (Kirkmanshulme Lane), Belle Vue (NSS), Ellesmere Port, Stoke, Buxton (Stock car stadium), Buxton (Hi Edge), Long Eaton, Wolverhampton, Cradley Heath, Birmingham (Perry Barr), Leicester (Beaumont Park), Coventry, Peterborough, King's Lynn, Mildenhall, Oxford, Reading, Swindon, Cardiff, Newport, Somerset, Exeter, Plymouth, St Austell, Weymouth, Poole, Isle of Wight, Eastbourne, Lakeside, Iwade, Sittingbourne, Wimbledon, Hackney, Wembley, Rye House

Only 1 Commonwealth rider per team. Can't grab another one.

15.42 left for 2 second-strings and a reserve. But who is available in the North to fill them? Rathbone? Rothery? Muff?

Belle Vue announce Freddy Hodder as third signing