AndyM

Most times I go to Manchester, I drive past the site of where the Hyde Road stadium used to be and sigh deeply!

Blimey - we've got pages of debate about selection of a squad at a time when we're struggling to find enough decent riders to make up the squad. Try and pick the team 30 years ago - there was intense competition among the riders for WTC slots. Someone in form and genuinely world class was bound to get left out, whichever choices were made! Don't try to kid me that we have even a fraction of the selection dilemma now!

Just for information, I suffer from periodic depression, as to many other people. When the illness afflicts us, many sufferers find themselves thinking and fantasising about suicide, even if we never do anything about it. We don't want it - it just comes with the territory. When you're in that mindset it might only take one event to push you over the edge to enact those fantasies and to do something totally beyond all reason. And while you're doing it, it might appear totally reasonable and justified - but that's the disease talking. The moral is not to judge too harshly, however terrible the circumstances might appear - KC might have found himself in a position beyond all control due to an illness.

So he did - it was a crime passionel. He wasn't the first and he won't be the last to kill his partner and himself in the name of love - people do, from many walks of life. But we shouldn't judge KC for that act, nor even speculate about the mental state you need to be in to carry out such a tragic and desperate act - it was nothing to do with speedway; our job is to remember him on the track.

Anyone remember Pete Bailey? As I recall, he died in a car crash and Coventry speedway set up a dependents fund for him in about 1972. He was a very promising young rider.

The cases of Kenny Carter and Billy Sanders were both over a woman, though, P28N.

This is getting very silly - worthy of a Monty Python sketch!

Yes, I was wondering whether the Vatican GP would be staged at Nuremberg on behalf of Pope Benedict....

You're referring to Kenny Carter, but Billy Sanders also took his own life. RIP

In fact 6 world titles in the past 52 years (Craven twice, Collins, Lee, Havelock and Loram.) Not great, is it?

An improvement - a fairer system for everyone. Much better.

Absolutely - you can't convey via video footage what poetry in motion he was, particularly in the wide open spaces of Hyde Road. If speedway often seems mundane and pedestrian as a sport, he was one of the rare riders who could transcend all that and create magic out of nothing. Had to be seen to be believed at times by doing things that looked totally impossible, and regularly left crowds open-mouthed with astonishment in the process.

I also remember it like it was yesterday. Didn't see the final, but I was as close as any spectator when the accident occurred on the 2nd bend of a second half race after PC had blitzed to an easy maximum in the match against Kings Lynn. His bravery to go on to finish second in the final, especially in such diabolical conditions, was beyond belief. He was so hot in 1977 that but for the accident a second world title seemed almost a formality. Who knows what he might have gone on to achieve, but for me Peter Collins didn't need to do any more to prove himself - he was my hero, bar none!

You mean you were into tartan trousers at half mast and tam 'o' shanters, Jo? That gives me an entirely new picture of you! But I'm surprised to hear you weren't swooning over Puppy Love. Maybe you were also a David Cassidy type?

Then we'll finally get to the situation of two-tier speedway and the GP circus will finally have cut its own throat by cutting itself off from the roots. Mixed metaphor, but you get what I mean! We've already proved that the BSPA is no match for vested interests of TV and GP - what makes you think the Polish and Swedish leagues will fare any better, Sube?

Ho hum. Glad I'm not bothering to go this year. Piece of trivia for you - I think it was Dave who used to live in the house next door to ours, some years ago. Knew you'd be impressed! Best pre-match entertainment I saw at Cardiff was the late, great Edwin Starr, he of War fame.

Programmed gate positions are a comparatively recent invention. Traditionally, teams alternated so the team winning the toss had first choice and often selected 1 & 3 in heat one, then had 2 & 4 in heat 2 and so on. Either rider could then select either gate position allocated for their team. When teams were 6 points behind they did have choice of gate positions, though there were suggestions at the time that it should be deregulated further to allow that team to choose, say, 1 and 4 if they so desired. Granted that there is the certainty that top riders will usually bag the best gates if there is any choice in the matter, but I definitely think this is another example of over-regulation and I for one would support freedom for teams at whatever points deficit to select gates... so long as it doesn't complicate matters further - most team managers seem to have difficulty coping with the rules as they now stand!

And what about Dave Mason?

Didn't he marry Billy Sanders's ex-wife?

However you're calculating it (and GP form alone can't be the sole determinant), consensus view seems to be that 10/15 of the best currently ride in the UK. Not great for an "Elite League", is it?

Shouldn't Andersen be no 4 on current form?

And which Irish riders would be wild cards?

Talking of AE, wasn't there speedway in Dubai a while back? That's a great growth area to gain financial support.

How about Cape Town? Wonderful location, would attract a lot of local interest and I'd definitely go - one of the greatest cities I've ever visited.

No, but you could visit the museum and maybe Rye House.