False dawn

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.

I know what you mean. I've resorted to guessing who the Panthers might be signing based on the strength of the rumours on here. I know, pretty sad eh? Trouble is my "team" comes up almost three and a half points short of the maximum. For what it's worth: Michael Palm Toft Chris Harris Hans Andersen Scott Nicholls Bradley Wilson-Dean Ulrich Ostergaard Mikkel Bech Jensen

Born 30 December 1934 in Christchurch, New Zealand, Barry Briggs, four times World Champion, is 85 today. Many happy returns. http://www.briggo.net/

Kamikazes? Time to get my coat, again!

Surely riding for the Devils is abroad? I'll get my coat

As far as Brandon is concerned, I think you're right. We had stox there forever and the centre green for a lot of years really was green i.e real grass. I don't remember the stox causing excessive damage.

I've seen a lot of speculation as to the Devils line up but no formal announcements at all. Have I missed something?

Not to mention which team will be called The Kings and what the other team will be called.

If teams have really got riders on their books and signed up, what possible advantage is there in delaying the announcement? Does nothing for the sale of season tickets, surely?

An NDL average of 9.09 would suggest otherwise. I know it's a big step up to the Championship but the maths indicate a CL average of around 3.5 should be achievable.

Serious point......A well informed analysis. Your knowledge of youth racing is impressive. Slightly less than serious point..... Perhaps we should stop all this short term year-on-year planning that drives all us loyal fans mad and look a bit more long term. I'm sure we can find a suitable encouragement to our brightest and best to institute a breeding programme. Then 15 years (and 9 months) from now, we'll have the best young riders in the world.

Fair comment. But how do you explain the continued success of the Olympique at Wolverhampton?

It will be interesting to see what entrance prices are set by Kent now they are running two teams. One would expect the loyal following to go with the Championship side meaning the entrance price for the NDL team will need to fall. But it remains to be seen I guess. P.S. it wasn't my intention to hijack the Poole thread with Kent discussion.

Did these postings fall out of the Twilight Zone? I remember Zenon Plech in 1973. He was young and talented; a dangerous combination. In fact he was supposed to be the next great Pole, even tipped to be the WC that year, the final being at Katowice (or Chorzów if you wish). Being a relatively new fan and having seen only one final (Wembley 1972) I and a friend decided to go to that final by Interail. A pole did win that year as we all know, just the wrong one. And I was an Ivan Mauger fan