Technik

Love it or hate it, Flat track is a growing sport & the only one that is under the Track Racing banner. It is bringing more riders from all over the World that have experience in different disciplines of Motorcycle racing & in turn manufactures are becoming interested & I suspect we are not far away from Factory teams at the highest level. It will take time to bring in public support as it is a new sport for many & the riders are not from the higher end of their previous endevours. In the FIME event mentioned Tom Woolley will be remembered for a spell in the NDL & in the FIM championship Ashton Boughen made it to the Premiership as a rising star & was a top Moto X racer. When teams start to establish their selves more money will be available to produce race bikes available off the shelf ready to race at club level & i feel Flat Track will grow & possibly stage events alongside the SGP as SGP2 have already done

look out for the Young Stars 2027 featuring Scott Nicholls

How lucky do you have to be. Move at the start, get left 20 Metres behind & have no advantage only to see the red lights & the race stopped. After a slow motion replay the tapes were not touched even if the front wheel was clearly in front of the white line & the tapes prior to their release. Who is responsible for ensuring the tape is at the same height as the middle of the front wheel.

Now it makes sense Their all related & live together

It must be said Oxford did run when the first England game against Croatia was started at 9:00PM & the crowd was very poor. Oxford promotion have at least been honest with their reasons, it would be very easy to hide behind an adverse weather forecast. It will be interesting to see how many speedway events are shelved if the national football team progress further.

In the 90's we were trying to get engines to rev over 10,000rpm. There were still crashes then but not as many serious ones that we are experiencing now. Todays engine can achieve 18000RPM but is restricted to 13500RPM. I'd have to ask the question why would an engine tuner build a motor that cannot be used to its full potential. For me the bore size should be limited which would mean a longer stroke to get to 500cc & in turn this would reduce the RPM to a usable level. The short stroke engine has not made the sport any faster as the list of track records will support only a fraction of a second each time it is reset in most cases & less than a second over a 25 year spread. The short stroke motor has made the sport more about who can hold on the longest & who is prepared to take the biggest risk rather than the best control & skill set

Before speedway Ashton was a very talented MX rider as was his Father. But the biggest difference in MX is the best bikes & equipment are only available to very few & if your not one of those it's very hard to be at the front when the flag falls. His move to speedway was very successful in the early stages but I fear he moved up to quick & the pressure of needing to score his points was a massive weight to carry rather than learn the skills at a lower level to begin with. I agree the lad was known to back out of a contest but if he was first from the gate & couldn't see anyone at the first turn he was as fast as a butchers dog. But in Flat track his skills from both MX & speedway will benefit him as was proven last weekend & to top it all he has a works Ducati GB machine. I may have been a bit cautious when I said he would be top 6 at the end of the season.

Flat track is between speedway & moto X many of the riders have a moto X background & just freewheel into the turns with his experience with speedway he should be near the front for the most part it will only be the final rounds where he may find it a little tougher. The FIM Flat track event has got much closer & much faster over a few short years as the riders and their machines have adapted. I will stick my neck out now & say if Ashton & Ducati complete the full season he could be in the top 6 at the end.

Alfie Bowtell - Buxton 9.41 Jake Mulford - Kings Lynn 8.74 Dayle Wood - Edinburgh 8.00 Senna Summers - Oxford 7.11 Harry Fletcher - Oxford 3.58 Harry Sadler - Middlesborough 2.00 Ben Whalley - Edinburgh 2.00 Total ---------------------------40.84

I ask the question as the statement reads to say only ACU permit meetings are covered, If that is the case then FIM & racing in another country would not be covered by an ACU permit. Even an FIM event in the UK may not be covered.

What about our young riders that travel across Europe to represent the ACU in FIM & International open events. Are they fully covered for travel & racing time whilst away from UK Borders.

Maybe they could sign Dag Lovass (pronounced Rider replacement) from White City

You have to think of the benefits. With his MBE he can see the whole track. MBE = Massive Big Eyes

he's been doing that for a while now

I really don't think the rider connections will matter as long as they are called Coventry & have a Bee on their race jackets. Most supporters that have lost their club will for the most part be happy to support their club in any form. The Cradley team that was so great in the NL for many years had a massive following no matter where the had their home meetings. Other clubs have formed to become nomadic just to keep the name alive & the race jacket on track.