PotteringAround

The re-run of Heat 1 was at 2.00pm, so there was a delay of around 45-50 minutes to treat young Archie. Personally I don't begrudge 45 minutes of treatment for a young lad with a badly broken leg, and to be fair neither did anyone sitting around me. So the person complaining seems to be out on her own here. It's only about the third time in 8 years that I can remember an ambulance being needed at the NSS at all, let alone a need for two. With 2 other Bullets riders sliding off at the back, I reckon Berwick must have set some kind of record. Very rare you see 3 fallers in a meeting at the NSS even in NDL. (Though the Archie/Connor crash was as a result of a machinery fail, not either rider falling).

The (unjustified) whinging on this thread was that the OP didn't know the rule changes for 2023, as the website only had 2022 regulations. However the fact is that at the time of his posting (and for a month previously) the Regulations were on the website. So his post was pointless. Also if someone doesn't follow the regulations, they will be punished as set out in the regulations. Touch the tapes, you'll be excluded etc etc. As it ever was. But people like to moan about nothing.

Quite the opposite. Seems I'm the only one on this thread that keeps up with what goes on. People moaning they don't know the rule changes , yet as I pointed out the rules have been available on the internet for over a month.

What do we think? Belle Vue with quite a few debutants against Berwick with quite a few ex-BV riders...

The rules have been there on the website for a month, so I don't see what the complaint is.

Think the bulk of Martin Widman's MDL involvement was actually with Long Eaton (at Leicester), but Stoke, Belle Vue, Scunthorpe and Buxton were other clubs who "gave a hoot" about MDL for many, many, years when the MDL was going strong. Sadly we won't see Stoke Spitfires again, but Belle Vue, Scunthorpe and maybe even Buxton would probably be in an MDL if there were any riders around to make it feasible.

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.