False dawn

Great post about a great era in Coventry's history. But I have to take issue with your, "Can't believe the track is gone" comment. The track is still there and there are some persistent and talented people fighting very hard to get it reopened. There's even a potential buyer. And before anyone says that I'm living in a dream world, I know the odds are stacked heavily against ever seeing the Bees at Brandon again. But there is a chance and the faithful still believe we might just see that dream come true.

Not a bad time all things considered. I know the track record is 55.59, but a "usual time" in heat 1, looking at live updates, is generally in the 57's. Hardly unrideable eh? Actually, Dan can take a few accolades.... 1. Fastest time of the night. 2. A full maximum. 3. Only rider to broadside his machine. This would all be very amusing had I not spent 11 hours on the road yesterday to witness this one non race. Oh well, there's always the trip to Kent tomorrow.

The twins have to be in Edinburgh Friday as well.

From my perspective it was the home riders who didn't want to ride when they finally took the track. Cookie was all but lapped by Dan Thompson.

Having travelled up from the Midlands for this circus, I went to the ticket office and obtained a refund there and then.

Barry. There is much that you describe that will resonant with those of us that lived through the "golden speedway years". It's hard to accept that those days have gone but the closures and threats of closure can no longer be ignored. It occurs to me that the small number of clubs who's future is assured, in the short term at least, are increasingly the problem. They have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo, despite the many clubs who are clearly clinging on by the skin of their teeth, financially. Maybe we need a two pronged approach. Let us continue with a traditional league structure among those clubs that can support it and at the same time create a grass roots rebuilding programme along the lines you describe. Some might say that this is what we have already. Well, in a way we do with the National Development League and the British Youth Championship. But, the thing that is missing is an approach to the high level management and development of the sport that is fully integrated. A plan that brings together all levels of the sport from the purely amateur (including grasstrack racing) right through to the international. Idealistic? Well maybe. But two things are clear. Firstly, if we don't do something the whole house of cards will collapse. Secondly, and more importantly there is the talent out there to solve this problem. The thing that's really missing is the forward looking mindset of those currently in control. The patient isn't dead yet but I guess it's in intensive care.

You, me and quite a few around me also. But then we went to Mildenhall yesterday and some of the talk was that the twins don't go all that well at Redcar anyway (?). So we might be better off.

But if it rains, will Poole take the safe option? You hate me, don't you?

Thank you for your kind words. If my enthusiasm diminishes, I'll no longer be around. 51 years, man and boy and counting...... I too have a contact in the Met Office. He told me it's going to be sunny on the 19th. Weather permitting.

To move the conversation on. Do you not think that meetings like tonight's (and no, I wasn't there) are more a product of the perennial poor fixture planning than poor track preparation? There is a complacency every year during the early months of the season and then late on we're almost forced to run meetings that no one in the right mind would run.

Sorry to say Steve, but you could have been quoting me after the Poole Leicester match

I did spot this change. You have to be eagle eyed these days to make sure that clubs are not making fixture changes without any kind of official announcement. We had already planned to go to this restaging. Yes, we mustn't forget that some of us went to Scotland for the original fixture that was rained off (after we'd crossed the border) on the strength of a forecast. Having paid for a hotel, we carried on and actually saw the match at Edinburgh (30 miles from Glasgow) without weather problems. But hey, that goes with the territory for the travelling fan, eh? We decided to head north again on the 19th but for all sorts of reasons we have to make the round trip on the day. A tough trip in a van but an afternoon start just about made it feasible. And then Glasgow pushed the start time back to 18:00. Well there can good reasons for such a change, I suppose, so I wrote an impassioned plea to the Glasgow management 3 days ago. I'll let you know when I get even an acknowledgement.......

I did wonder about that myself. I believe the twins will be at Redcar. Should Leicester release them (or have to?), Dan can be replaced by a rider up to his average (5.40) I believe, as he is not included in the team as a rising star, Joe is.

To think we once had both the World Pairs and the World Team Cup. That's a sad thought now I write it down.

Thanks R&R. Most of us pass judgement with half the facts (actually probably less than half). That prize money certainly puts the whole competition into a whole different light. I guess the only positive you can draw from those figures is that at least the teams have a bit more each now that its a pairs competition rather than the proper team competition it's supposed to be.

Would the FIM not have something to say about any nation not fielding it's best "team"? I realise Russia (or whatever we are supposed to call them while they are banned from competing under that name) can send (invite) whoever they want. But surely the governing body want the SON to be a showcase for speedway. Having the commentators on the day constantly referring to the absence of the reigning champions best riders, doesn't do the sport any good whatsoever.

Is there a published reason why Emil and Artem have withdrawn. I agree with the sentiment that this devalues the final and I can understand the anger from those who have bought tickets, booked hotels etc. I too am upset that we may not see the best from all of the competing nations. I have tickets and the prospect of seeing Tai, Bartosz, Emil, Artem etc. live, was something I was really looking forward to.

Funny how things happen sometimes, isn't it? Leicester had some new shale on track tonight. From Edinburgh (a quarry, I assume, not the speedway). Apparently it's larger stones and has less clay in it. Whatever it is, the racing was pretty good. Word is that 60 tons of it are heading down south. Hmmm.

There were a few people saying before the start of tonight's meeting that we'd picked the wrong guest. They weren't saying that at the end. 4 rides, 4 wins and the 4 fastest times of the night. Thank you Steve, you did us proud. And we'll have no more of that in the KO Cup semi final, thank you very much.

Not wishing to be argumentative, but the track looked quite wet when we arrived at 6:45. From a recent match report from the Scunthorpe website, we were told the home riders don't like it when it's too wet. Also, I don't think Connor Mountain would agree with your comment regarding the lack of an outside line. He pulled off a decent overtake around the outside as I recall. I do agree, though, that the chasing pack has suddenly looked a lot more menacing. Especially with the set of recent signings that have taken place. Keep plugging away though. We'd quite like you in the playoffs

After a very unhappy visit to Poole in August I've had an idea. You know those old black and white POW films where the inmates are trying to get rid of the soil taken from a tunnel? They put the soil in bags inside their trousers with a draw string attached. Then they wandered onto the exercise area, pulled the draw string and released the unwanted soil onto the ground. Perhaps visiting riders could adopt a similar technique with bags of shale when they are doing their track walk at Wimborne Road?

I laughed as well. When you say we'll meet in play-offs, do you mean we're signing Mr Nielsen then? Oh, you mean Scunthorpe. To be honest after three visits there last year and two, already, this season, visits to the EWR are starting to feel like a home meeting now.

I've watched speedway for a decade or five but along the way had eight years buried in the grasstrack world. During that time I did form the view that grasstracking might well be a very good and inexpensive route to a speedway career for young riders (even girls - just teasing, honest). Seriously, there are lads and lassies out there plying their trade on the lawns of England that could well make it into a shale career. And they wouldn't complain about a few bumps on track when they got there either.

Well I've been generally quiet on the forum for a while (apart from the "odd" thread) and was not up-to-speed with the discussion around the lack of speedway on Eurosport. I went to the schedules this morning to see which of tonight's two matches was being shown. Well you know what I found. I even went to the player thinking Eurosport had done the dirty on us again. Well they haven't done the dirty, they have taken the piss (pardon my language). When I found a complete absence of speedway on tonight I did think there would be match on Thursday. For those who haven't looked, I'll give you one guess. Surely Peterborough Wolverhampton is an attractive proposition? Or am I missing something? Link to discussion mentioned by R&R And in case anyone is thinking I'm armchair fan, I went to Glasgow on Friday to do some more missionary work () supporting my adopted team Leicester (rained off). I was heading back on Saturday to see the return match (rained off). And finally went to Mildenhall yesterday (rained off). I thought that was a well planned weekend. How ironic that the only completed meeting I saw was Edinburgh vs Kent! At least I was able to support Scotty as a Coventry/Leicester graduate .

WOW. You've solved a 20 year mystery. Well done