oldtimer

Will certainly give it a try, depends on admission price, number of guests and presentation improvements before becoming a regular again. A number of suggestions in last weeks Star on how to improve the latter

I assume Somerset are dropping down for financial reasons, I'm a bit puzzled however as Somerset do not have to rent the stadium, perhaps only on paper, and I assume have the food and drink outlet also, so how do some other tracks survive that don't have that advantage. I think it's good news, they will now have more teams and variety visiting, assume admission prices will be reduced, and I don't care if the top stars are missing, as long as the racing is good, don't think it matters much if it isn't an expensive name on the bike..

You could have a max 6 rides for reserves but a rule that a reserve can take more rides if the other reserve is injured or if more than one rider is injured.

I have never understood why reserves are allowed 7 rides, it's a farce when a rider can be in nearly half the races. If you have two reserves with a max of 6 rides each, that would give you 2 rides each outside of their programme rides, if you had a rider injured in the first heat you have only got that riders 3 other rides to cover and you would still have a spare ride in the rare event of a reserve having a tactical ride.

That's the problem Rebels have 3 reserves.

I was just going to suggest that

First visit to Oak Tree in about 3 years, surprised by the large crowd, much bigger than I remember when used to attend every week, obviously the cost has not put people off. Track looked great, and improvements in the music, louder, you could actually hear it, and a better choice of tunes, no long interval after heat 12, and only a few track grades. Not the best meeting I have seen but the Doyle, Cook clashes were out of the top drawer. Belle Vue deserved to win having most of the heat wins and if Cook had not touched the tapes and Bewley new how to gate they would have won easier.

Have not been to Somerset for couple of years, but there was toilets in club house and next to track shop.

Just watched the behind the scenes video, Doyle said a rut in the track, and need more dirt on outside as it's a white line track, however Najjer said there has been outside passing, want to know the track is Ok before I venture down again and spend my hard earned money. Any reliable track condition opinions?

Do we definitely know it was a text message? It was a pity the centre green interviewer did not ask Gary that question.

Blimey ! and people accuse me of moaning.

Why don't you sign Charles Wright?

That's good to know, thought not much passing on outside was mentioned on latest Somerset speedway portal, must have misheard

Changes seem to make team weaker. Will make a visit when track sorted out, mostly gate 1 against Wolves and comment that outside line not working, hope they get it sorted.

I always thought the winner of a race was the rider who finished first.

Using him at reserve meant you could use him as many times as you wanted, Bewley does not have experience for this level.

The bottom line is it was a stupid way to decide who won, if it was not a 5-1 or a 4-2 then the winner of the race should have been the team that won, just as stupid was a warning on the first day carrying on into the second day, they got rid of the joker in the old team event and have replaced it with two jokers. In this weeks Star Rob Painter says, "he wants to see speedway on the back pages of national newspapers and is working very hard to do that" If that's the case he can count himself lucky that the press currently ignore speedway as the headlines would have been. GREAT BRITIANS SPEEDWAY TEAM FINISH WITH MOST POINTS AND FINISH FIRST IN FINAL BUT LOSE THE COMPETITION." Not a great advert for the sports credibility is it?

Thought Pearson was much better at Belle Vue, less shouting.

Is it just me or are more adverts popping up in contributors posts?

I didn't know the top two went straight through to the final, you would have thought Nigel would have reminded us.

Rebels had Wajtknecht for a while if my memory is correct, shame we could not keep him as a good score tonight and he is a local lad from Bristol.

Explanation of the problem from management, wrong type of shale, very unfortunate but probably an unforeseen problem. Sure it will soon get sorted, probably an expensive thing to put right. Statement said management is always willing to listen to supporters, so here goes, bring back the rider jingles, the two minute announcement, the fanfare before each heat and drop the interval after heat 12.

I thought this new track man was supposed to listen to riders, which Ez apparently didn't, what is his experience what tracks has he done before?

Unless my memory fails me when we were in the Conference League, or whatever it was called, the second field was often full. Question, do you need top class riders or a cheaper version.

Excellent video of press and practice evening, Doyle's remarks about Debs backside made me laugh, good to see Ian (Statman) getting recognition. Team looks good and hope Gary buys the Kevlar's.