AndyM

I try not to watch her at all if I can avoid it, or only with the sound turned down!

But no simpler than Tatum, Havelock, Sophie, or indeed any other member of the commentary team!

I was only floating an idea about the principle of a gate that goes down and vanishes into the track, not proposing it as a solution!!

Not Scotty's night again. You wonder whether he's really got the temperament to score consistently at this level.

No doubt that the Cardiff ref would have excluded him for sneezing, where this one is letting much harder moves go, and not just Crumpie's.

I've never seen a motocross gate fail. I've seen speedway gates fail about 15 times this week alone!!

They don't have bits of elastic in F1, and if they did I don't suppose F1 cars would stop if they were broken! Has anyone ever tried motocross-style gates in speedway, where a metal barrier goes down? That might be dangerous, but I'm sure there must be some way to use the principle to prevent similar debacles with traditional starting gates.

Presumably the gate had been tested beforehand? If so, you'd think this problem could never occur. But since they can't rewind time, better to take time to sort the electrics than run the risk of having to use green light starts. As Stressed says, that would truly be a farce in an individual meeting where the starts are crucial.

This is temporary track syndrome once again, typically indicated where you see riders scoring 3-0-3. Nice to have big stadia for GPs, but what's wrong with using proper speedway stadiums with well-prepared tracks? It's much fairer to all the riders if they can predict how it will behave. That said, some of the speedway has belied the dodgy track conditions. As for starting gates, if Coventry can screw up the gate then I guess it's not too surprising that the same thing happens at GP level too. You'd think they were pretty simple sets of apparatus, wouldn't you?

Kev, a fair proportion of teams take along at least one junior for second half rides at away matches. Time was when Belle Vue took along a couple of 'track spare' bikes for emergencies too...but sadly no longer.

Even worse, Rye House finished heat 2 of last night's match at Hull with no reserves at all when Tommy Allen and Steve Boxall collided and were both injured. With the rules preventing additional reserves being drafted in, and in the absence of the traditional tac subs rule, the Rockets had no choice but to field one rider in no fewer than 5 races. I'm sure Hull wouldn't have objected if Luke Bowen or Harland Cook had stepped in for those races, but there was apparently nothing else to be done - a true farce.

Sure the Aussies are flattering to deceive. No doubt that they'd love to win every match, but another mickey mouse three-team tournament ain't going to be the top of their priorities. When it comes to test match cricket, they'll be a different prospect and England will start to show the cracks. The Ashes matters most to Aussies.

Scott Autrey wasn't over here pre-70s, was he?

If it's pre-70s that's tough, but I do remember Nigel Boocock giving a lot of time to fans even when he'd had a bad day. He was always a gentleman, to the extent that Alan Wilkinson once grabbed the centre green mike at Belle Vue to pay tribute to Booey after the Bees skipper had just taken him on the last bend to win a race. Not too many of his type left, sad to say.

And it finishes 1. Lindback 2. Miedzinski 3. Bjerre 4. Hefenbrock Congrats to Lindback.

So we have Lindback, Miedzinski, Bjerre and, surprisingly, Hefenbrock in the final in Lonigo. Looks like Kasprzak might have been there but for a spill in heat 15 against Hefenbrock. Well done to James Wright and Ed Kennett for good scores, and Smolinski too. Looks like Eric Andersson and Tommy Allen found the going a bit tough.

Ah! That explains it. Do FIM regulations supercede and override UK regs? Could any ref in a league match over here apply those regulations? I suspect not, without getting into serious trouble. It would only be commonplace for a ref to do so by agreement between the SCB and BSPA, and presently neither party seems to show much willing to increase the clout used by refs. Cynical approach to application of the laws, it seems. But then, the BSPA is effectively judge, jury and executioner, and the SCB its prancing lapdog (to coin a phrase.)

Kevin. I've been watching speedway for 34 years, man and boy; I've read the rulebook on many occasions too, but I don't recall any such power for refs and I've certainly never seen any ref enact such powers. Not that I doubt you, but could you let us know where this rule comes from and whether it's ever been applied?

I'm sure athletics fans would say speedway is over-rated and insufficiently important to justify being taken into consideration for any stadium design. To be fair to them, the Olympics and World Athletics Championships fill stadia and are mega money events. Would that speedway could get close to that size of event. So they have, but I don't think you've summarised their decision-making processes well. They decide they need a national stadium, they build a national stadium with a minimum of fuss. The new Wembley is costing £757m according to their website, substantially caused by delays and changes to the plans. The Stade de France cost £260m all in. Regardless of private financing, a substantial part of the budget has come from the UK taxpayer. Who is getting better value for money from their project? A little background. Note that the current cost is £137m higher than the "final" project budget!

Don't understand your point. Why would you have lousy sightlines in a cantilevered stadium with no supports? Only if you set the stands too low, and there's no obvious reason why that should happen regardless of whether the sport is football or athletics. They make a decision and they stick to it, for starters. They don't argue the toss and repeatedly change the design so the price ends up ten times higher than it started. Most of the cost problems with the dome, Portcullis House and the Scottish Parliament were because our politicos insisted on sticking their noses into affairs which shouldn't concern them. The French leave it to the pros, and good luck to them. Saint Denis is no worse a location than Wembley. The only time I went there it was by coach, which proved quick and simple. It's also a wonderfully designed stadium with excellent access, which the new Wembley would do well to emulate.

Bet Joe didn't mind you being caught on him!!

Only because they know the system is dying. Just think how much better off the average club would be if they didn't have to pay loan fees, though! Anyway, decent leadership and management skills would be a good start to get the BSPA sorted out.

Ah! Didn't I mention the first essential move? They have to appoint me as Chief Executive on a large salary funded by the additional cash available to tracks through no longer having to pay transfer or loan fees!! I guarantee that the rules would be introduced and applied with absolute consistency!

No, the whole system should come with a very carefully thought-through definition of which offences warrant which punishments, extensive training for refs and full consultation with clubs before being introduced.

That's a good idea, Splatty, but even so I don't think the laws are sufficient. There's no way for a ref to penalise a team and/or rider with immediate effect for serious breaches, even if they are applying the rules to its fullest extent. Gotta change - riders and teams must know that they can't get away with anything untoward for fear of severe and immediate retribution, such as: Banning the rider for one scheduled appearance (without replacement) in a "sin bin" Banning him for the rest of the meeting Points deduction for extreme cases Plus additional punishments meted out by the video panel, including fines and bans And rider bans for repeated offences. Any views?