The Doctor...

I can see where i got it from though.. http://img.webme.com/pic/f/fotospeed/ylinen_vesa3.jpg

Fork me..Vesa Ylinen. Wasnt he the ginger bloke ?

Oddly enough as a member of the fuel team at cardiff for many many years, and perhaps because i was frankly drunk from a forum meet at the prince of wales earlier in the day, i was practically offered out by a rider and his team for perhaps not doing the most thorough job refuelling and dropping a big lump of shale in their fuel tank. A first bend crash meant i refuelled him on-track and somehow some crap got in with the fuel. The un-named rider, ahh... screw it, it was Crump, went out to race and when they came back having had a shocker they were literally wanting to fight me. Made me realise how such a trivial thing could cause such a problem. It was during the same meeting meeting that myself and one of Leigh Adams mechanics had full blown "contact" shall we say, so perhaps it says more about my alcohol intake on the day rather than anything else maybe. I blame the forum meet at the prince of wales ;-)

Come on..let's not lie now eh. Are we expected to believe this ?

In my opinion, those aren't accurate comparisons. Football and Cricket have far more sedate periods during each game where commentary is often unnecessary. Speedway surely is 60 odd seconds of action, and therefore should merit a blast of energy from whoever is commentating. I'm trying to think of another 60 second-ish sport to compare commentary to, but i can't think of any right now. The Martin Tyler thing re Aguero is guff - he was talking nonsense up to the point that the ball was played through - getting lucky with something that becomes iconic is just that - luck. But to be fair, from a bloke who has commentated for perhaps 30 years on thousands of games, he has had enough years to build up a good style. Clearly, there are people who just don't like Pearson - like Big H said, lots of media outlets like him and they don't seem to be demanding that he changes his style...

The whole subject was reasonable 9 pages ago... but look where this argument is going now - everyone is fed up with it apart from you. You're aiming your ire at the wrong people - as i said to you before, get in touch with scb or even the speedway star. Whining on and on and on is only making you look daft now. If you are serious about this crusade, this pitiful thread is not doing you any favours whatsoever.

Hallelujah How on earth this thread is even still going now, maybe 5 weeks after whatever his name started it is, is beyond me He said at the beginning that he had some time on his hands which started this whole quest - i suggest that if he still has such time at his disposal, maybe a local charity shop or community centre would benefit rather than bleating on here.

Exactly...there is a big difference between passing an idle comment and, let's say for instance, naming someone or a place - basically something that could actually prejudge the case. Passing opinion means nothing in the grand scheme of things. Unfortunately, unless a website has some serious muscle behind it, they could easily buckle on something like this - even more so here, where it's not where it's not even the forum bods who are in control of the content, but ultimately a single bloke. I don't know Phil or any of the mods to my knowledge, but am sure what happened a couple of years ago was enough aggro then. Let's not repeat that eh.. On a personal level, as i came in to speedway, Michael Lee was banned for something - to be fair Gary Havelock was also banned at the time, but anyway...since then, my only real knowledge of Lee was a few two bob appearances at Reading, followed by another ban for something and then all this stuff... He was i'm sure a great rider, and a lovely guy, but to a 30 something bloke like me, (and with a lawyer girlfriend standing behind me with a Next directory ready to crack me round the head) i say this with no prejudicial influence (ahem...) he has certainly courted a fair deal of controversy throughout his life - and quite a bit this very year. I hope that justice is served no matter what...

Philip... Once again, thank you, and i hope you do catch up with Per this weekend. Am sure that whilst chatting with him, this poxy forum is far from your thoughts, but if you run out of things to say, feel free to pass on that there are many many Racers fan who still think of him and wish him well these days. I really hope you pull off the deal to serialise his book. Tom

Very good memory there... The Bspa Cup meeting is something i ludicrously have on vhs tape. No idea why. As for the Koc meeting - my abiding memory is the altercation in the pits with Antal Kosco, Havelock, and Simon Wigg wanting to take on the Reading fans on the pit bend, hanging over the fence throwing punches. As a teenager at the time, it was brilliant, perhaps not so politically correct as i can remember calling certain people effing druggies and other people foreign effers. I think Tatum was riding that night too, and to be fair, he's a good guy. I might have called him a few names, but he's no Havelock. What an arsehole he was - and is.

Blimey..the British and Overseas finals at Cov in the 90s definitely played a part in me falling in love with the sport. Happy happy memories and the reason why i got to know a fantastic bloke who i booed each time he raced at my local track - Simon Wigg. On the flipside, it's also how i got to know Kelvin.

Sadly not able to make the day - living in Croydon now near your good self, and work will get in the way of coming back.

Can i just ask, why is this constantly referred to as California-In-England ? I'm from Wokingham and not once in my 30 + years have i ever heard it called this in normal life... I seem to recall something from my school days that the country park was called this in the 30s or something to attract people, but even on the speedway programmes, it referred to it as simply California. Shame to hear that the shape of the track is totally overgrown now - i remember trying out my new push bike there one christmas day - i broke a pedal off come to think of it.

Positive news to a point. Still bad though. I had the misfortune of attending a hospital in Bydgoszcz when i broke my leg before the gp in 06 after a vodka related incident, and it's not a pleasant place - hope Mr Gollob is going private.

So a broken neck then. Awful news if confirmed.

Thanks for that.

Maybe so. Certainly the rider in form right now. If he gets off to a good start next year, definitely in with a shout. And as for tonight, maybe the best tapes exclusion i've seen. Ever.

What are you doing up ? Get back under you Avril Lavigne duvet cover...the adults are talking now. Night night.

Sad news. In my younger, more stupid years i managed to break my back in two places, at T4 and T12 (the 4th and 12 verterbrae) and whilst i'm no sportsman, even as a normal adult, that kind of injury can certainly have an effect on your day to day life. This will no doubt end Tomek's gp career which is terribly sad. Was a pleasure seeing him ride in the gp's. Wasn't very nice to see what happened tonight. dzięki Tomek

Wahey........nice maths. I hope you aren't on the tills at your supermarket.

very good interview

Totally agree. Worrying for Gollob. I rewound straight after and it looked like he was hit at the top of his back and neck by the bike while he was on the ground.

Many moons ago, myself and fellow listee Rico went over for the Stockholm gp when it was held in that lovely old stadium. The first time we went, we stayed for a couple of days and spent a frightening amount - the second year we got the first flight out of heathrow on the saturday morning, spent the day doing a little drinking, went to the gp, then just stayed out til sunday morning and got the first flight back... It was mid summer and it literally got dark for about half an hour, or so it felt, and it will live long in my memory as one of my most memorable nights. Total and utter carnage obviously, with some horrific tales, but an amazing time nonetheless.

The SCB have decided it's mandatory off the back of the Fim advising it should be so. I'm still absolutely astonished at your ongoing conquest on this - where was all this Columbo-like questioning of yours when air fences came into the sport maybe what 8 years ago ?? Sadly i fear you arent going to find an answer you like on this forum, so if i was in your shoes and had as much time as you clearly have to get yourselves all angsty over this, maybe direct an email to the manufacturers of the fences or the scb to see what they say - me thinks your quest is far far too late tho, and to be fair, i dont see many riders questioning any safety issues surrounding them.

You started another thread going on about this, and with respect, whether you struggle to understand it or not, it's an fim directive now, so everyone is lumbered with it, whether you like it or not. This argument is a good few years late. Anyway, this thread is about a genuine question concerning Sheffield, so i'll bow out and leave it to those who can answer it.