False dawn

Norman Jacobs? I'm sure I know that name.

I knew I had something that proved there were two of them......

Why is it that Vojens makes Manchester look like a warm dry place? It's always put me off going there (Vojens, not Manchester)

When did that hold any sway? Try visiting the Poole thread (everyone else does!)

So Wolves have one place still to fill. The conventional wisdom is this is going to be Sam Masters. But. If it was going to be Sam, wouldn't they have announced it already? By my reckoning, that would leave 1.86 points left wanting. So. Are the Wolves management, Peter Adams in particular, with his huge experience and association with the very best in the sport, still holding on to the slim hope that a certain former World Champion can be enticed back as part of his swan song? His last British, top tier average fits nicely into 9.21 left. I'm just whistling in the wind, but hey. You never know.

Perhaps Princes might work better. But the alliteration is poor. And we mustn't preclude any young ladies with aspirations to become World Champion.

There is a way, if one of them qualifies for the 2.5% British reduction!

Only if they're cr*p

If such an idea was ever put into action, it might encourage a few promoters to put a bit more shale on their circuits. Maybe to redesign their circuits, even in a small way, to create a few more racing lines and allow heat leaders on a handicap a fighting chance of overtaking those going off the gate.

Just a thought. Do we think, as fans, that one season of proper league racing is long enough to prove anything about a rider and his/her future potential?

Sorry to show my ignorance but Peter was before my time, just. I know he was an Aussie, but was he related to Ronnie? Ronnie was a Kiwi, I know. But he was born in Oz (in Tasmania).

Quite right. We all celebrated the new millennium a year early. Each new decade ( and therefore century) starts on January 1st in the year ending in 1 e.g. 2001. Pedants rule, okay?

If we keep up this theme of what people can do with either hand, we might end up with too much information

Like Alan Grahame who, if my memory serves, set an unofficial track record at Cradley Heath for going the wrong way round. He used to remove the footrest for this particular party piece. Not sure if he was left handed though.

If Mikkel Bech raises his average by a third of a point, he'll be the number one!

So it looks like born_2b_mad was only out by one letter then. Presumably the rider he was referring to was the Mick Piquet you've listed above. Wonder if he's related to the F1 drivers? If ever born_2b_mad shows his face again (hasn't been on here since March 2012) we'll let him know.

So if he were to land a Championship team place, what average would apply? edit: The latest I can find is 3.27

Not a completely reliable source but Wikipedia confirms your stats. And I remember Vladimir being disqualified in 1971. Fuel additives, particularly nitro methane, were banned and his fuel was analysed after the meeting and found to be illegal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Gordeev https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valery_Gordeev

You could have ended that with "touché, I think".

Starting at the end of your post..... Leicester are the auld enemy. I've been a Bees fan since 1970 and Leicester and Coventry were always the biggest rivals. Leicester sadly closed in 1983 and we switched our rivalry to Cradley Heath and later, when Cradley lost their home, to Poole. Leicester came back, finally, in 2011, but in the second tier. We resumed our rivalry in 2014 when Leicester returned to the top flight. Sadly that lasted only 3 seasons before the Bees "lost" their home. I say lost. The stadium is still there and it's future as a speedway/stox venue is under depute (Google Save Coventry Speedway if you're interested in the sad and complicated story). We've had a year in the third tier in 2018 using Leicester as our home but that's another sorry tale. So, rather than give up speedway all together, I swallowed hard at the start of 2019 and went to do some missionary work in Leicester. That's not fair. I put on my Bees gear and went and supported both Leicester teams (one now in the second tier once more and the other in the National Development League). I convinced myself it wasn't totally disloyal as Leicester sported a few former Bees riders. The reality was that I got into supporting both teams in a big way. And my support paid off, they both won their respective league championships. As to your adopted home. I have relatives there who I sadly lost touch with many years ago. Your biking experience is interesting. Mine is a little different. I rode road bikes as a kid but gave it up when I started driving cars in my early twenties. Jump forward a "few" years. I attended a sort of training school at the now defunct training track at Sheffield Speedway. I fell in love with riding having already watched speedway for a some years from the terraces. The truth was that I realised that my boyhood dream of becoming World Speedway Champion had not totally died. Unfortunately time was not on my side. I was already 48. Undaunted, I bought a half share in a bike and set about making records, for falling off. My final claim to fame was going out on my own and falling 6 times in 6 laps. It was time to rethink my racing future. And then as if by chance another path opened up, on here. I "bumped into" a grasstrack sidecar driver looking for a passenger. After a rush of blood and a training day in Kent off we went racing. That lasted 8 years during which time I took up sidecar speedway racing as well and even dabbled with sidecar road racing. I raced all over Britain including on numerous speedways, all over Europe and twice in Oz. I appeared in the World Sidecar Speedway Final three times. At 56, having trouble making the weight, I decided it was time to retire. I resumed my solo fanaticism and resumed my time on here. And finally. Your user name. I think you can change it. You might need help from Phil or one of the moderators. I've never tried. Don't set up a second one. We have a few people who morph into different disguises and it's not considered the done thing. David

If we've worked it out between us, the Peterborough management are going to love us.

Some of you who follow the NDL content on here will know that the resident nerd (me) has produced an analysis of the amount of doubling up and down that existed at the end of the 2019 season. For those that missed it (why?) see the link below. Anyway, just for fun and being laid up I can't do much else, I thought I'd start a similar analysis of the 2020 line ups. As it turns out the figures are largely similar to the 2019 year end numbers. The notable team is my current adopted home, Leicester. Their Championship team are all doubling up/down. The 1-5 are all riding in the Premiership and the two reserves (the Thompsons) in the NDL . Hope we don't come to regret this fact through injuries etc. etc.

0.86 Hmmmm

The pendant in me won't let that one go. It was Leaning on a Lamp-post. Whoops, I'm showing my age. I know. I'll get my coat.

No question Ronnie was up there with the best and those Wimbledon teams back then dominated like no other team has before or since. You can look it up. Are you an archaeologist Celticman? You've dug up more really old threads than any other forum member I know.