False dawn

That is the norm. The diary just got blown apart this year.

The best thing about this analysis is that it tries to show that a fairer race formula may be possible. The only remaining problems are the number of variables and the sample size. Simple then. Well no, of course not. But whatever changes we may make will need to be tested over many meetings, possibly several years, to determine if the new system is effective / fairer.

Actually Fd, its four. Edit: And that's another sign of age, talking to yourself!

I didn't know that helmet colours were given out by the hosting track. Jumping forward a few years. I wonder how many green helmets were bought during those silly days when the white helmet colour was dropped in the UK?

During a search for something else speedway related, I tripped over this. As a bit of a nerd and having studied the stats on starting gates (wins and points scored) I was interested to see that someone has tried to apply some science to this subject. Oh well, as I write this, I realise I might be the only other person in the world interested enough to even read this article Click here

And can you guys confirm it was the 1976 Grand Prix Final at White City?

Oh dear. They say when you can remember old memories better than recent ones, it really is the first sign of old age (or worse). Thanks for the reference to the Grand Prix Final. It seems neither brother got the hemet colour right. It may have been the Skol Masters my brother had in mind. There were two qualifiers / semis at Poole and Sheffield before the final at Birmungham (all in 1977). They also sponsored the BLRC in 1975. Still, I wish I could get a definitive reference to the helmet colour incident

Following a conversation with my brother about the number of this weekend's SON team managers who have ridden for the Bees (it's three btw) we got onto Marek Cieslak's British racing history. For the record he rode for White City in 1977-8. Talk of White City took us to Bruce Penhall's "less than finest hour" at the 1982 Overseas Final when he allowed 3 of his fellow Americans to beat him. So are you with me so far? This is like an episode of Connections. So at this point in the conversation I think we were both trying to dig out the most obscure memories. Thinking it was White City I moved onto the time that Ole Olsen's helmet colour came adrift and ended up tangled in his rear wheel. Now I can't find online any reference to this occurence. I thought it was in the Grand Prix series (not the WC, a series held in Britain sponsored by the Daily Mirror). But bro thinks it was another individual series sponsored by a brewery (Skol?). We also differ on the helmet cover colour. I think it was white but bro thinks it was red. I know someone will know the details.....

Well let's unpick that shall we? You can't win the team pursuit in cycing without having the winner. Don't know about the biathon. Running one is good in my book. F1 is not decided by the last race of the year. The point is, speedway in the SON does it different. The whole championship is decided by one race. Winning the race and having the last is a 3 all to anyone with half an eye. By intuition, you can't lose the championship by winning the final. Whatever the scoring system, the two best teams should arrive at the final. Whatever happens from there onwards should at least appear to be fair. To be honest, I'd sign up to the top scoring team, without a final, being the winner. You can have any race scores you like then.

How about this? In February I'll give you a sum of money equivalent to 3 quarters of the season's meetings. This gives me a card which grants me contactless entry. Once my credit runs out, you charge me for each further use of my card. Okay, the promotion don't get any additional money, but they do get most of it earlier.

I see what you mean. But don't you think that the results of a competition such as the World Championship or the SON should make sense in retrospect? In particular, don't you think the uninitiated should easily make sense of such results?

Let's not worry about low probability occurances. Let's consider something that has already taken place not so many years ago. The rules say that SON champions are the team that "win" the final race on day 2. Let's, for the moment, disregard how the two teams got there, but the GB no.1 wins that race beating those pesky ruskies into 2nd and 3rd. Then, to the surprise of our companion, who is unfamiliar with the workings of world speedway, the Russian Team are declared the SON Champions. Stop me when you get a sense of déjà vu.

I thought he was trying to do a BZ off the fence but he actually just lost control!!!

And I didn't mean the picture

Badger's rear end!

Just remind us R&R where we can watch this and the time please. Ta muchly.

Don't worry. They've only done it so the casual observer can immediately understand what's going on.

Of course we don't know what's really going to happen. But well done to everyone for planning for the best, rather than assuming the worst. Keep the faith people. We'll have a beer in Cardiff, I'll be going to Brandon every Saturday and Oxford will reopen.

I think I could sign up to a 4 final formula. Top 4 from the 20 heats to the A final, the next 4 to the B final and so on. Then award WC points as per this year's system. This would satisfy both arguments. Every race would count in that riders couldn't relax too much as the odd point could make a difference of 4 places or more. And the winner of the A final would always get the most points. Also, someone crawling into the latter stages couldn't still win the meeting. I think there's some real mileage in this.

I didn't have a stupid theory that he would ride, I had another sort of theory that he might, just might ride Edit: Mind you, quoting a website that says the next event is the SON final in 15 days in Manchester might undermine the veracity of any news that they carry. Just kidding my patient friend. I'll move to another thread and annoy you there, promise.

BTW, I like that picture of Tai on his Twitter account. [Looks like he's using his index finger to operate the clutch!]

As to Tai's record, without checking, is he referring to other British Championships other than the senior one? For example the British U21 Championship. Likewise, has he won another World Championship For that I am pleased, really. I acknowledge you are the "Go to" for all things international in the speedway world. At the risk of opening a can of worms, not everything is done for money.

I'm going to upset you R&R, which is not my intention.... Tai has not said clearly that he's not riding. "That's a wrap" could easily refer to his Polish league season. Tai has damaged (badly, I admit) his clutch hand. I'm sure I remember occasions in past, when riders have switched their clutch lever to the right and had both the clutch and throttle on the same side. Not ideal, but doable. So I haven't given up hope just yet.

Didn't I hear in commentary that he is retiring at the end of this year? Whether that is true or not, I agree that the Poles have to settle their differences. Having the clear world no.4 sitting at home during the Speedway of Nations is not only damaging Poland's chances, it deprives us from watching him.

You could argue that black is white and get killed on a zebra crossing. But I think we know who has the world at his feet right now.