False dawn

And you know why? The riders are bloody grateful to be riding for their club and just get on with it. Giving their all for every point.

KL appear to be in disarray. Buster needs to kick a few behinds, maybe sack a couple riders and throw his arms open to what faithful fans he still has. Smoothing over the cracks, I fear, may be the road to disaster.

From my observation last Thursday and at other meetings, it is not just the track that is at fault. Riders are getting more and more used to slick tracks where the bike can spin up on the surface whilst the rider holds the throttle wide open. At the same time engines develop more and more bhp and torque. When the surface is grippy what tends to happen is the bike drives more and is more unpredictable. You'll hear riders talking about flattening the engine or detuning it. The track last week was not overwatered, it wasn't especially bumpy, the shale was not uneven. But it did have a decent amount of shale on it and guess what? These rocket machines picked up. Some riders (who have never been World Champion) found a way to ride it and BEFORE the remedial work were setting the fastest times seen at KL for years. Again, from observation, it seems you have to be able to set up the bike and engine properly, don't be timid and yes, have some good old throttle control. I'm not saying that KL couldn't improve their circuit but if you present professional sportsmen with safe but challenging conditions they should perform better than this.

Well I'll answer this one and then give up. The contracts the Poles are offering restrict what the riders can do in riding elsewhere. The test of such contracts in this country is, "Is this reasonable?". I believe, no it isn't reasonable. But I'm not a judge, just my opinion.

I guess he's happy for us to speculate and arrive at our own conclusions in the meantime. I wouldn't let the other side and the fan base have their say unchallenged if I was him. Step 1 Robert, don't piss off the paying fans. (pardon my language)

Blinking heck. Is there no end to the talent of this fellow Dave Goddard? Apparently he can speak Polish as well!

Being employee or self employed is not the issue. In both circumstances you sign a contract. The issue is if such contracts are illegal. A contract is invalidated if it contains illegal clauses and this is the case here. You cannot sign away your rights regardless of the amounts involved or the power of one party. I refer you to the European Union Article 101. This appears to enshrine in law the UK concept of restraint of trade, which is based on case law within these shores. However, I spent 10 minutes looking at this and now I'm going for a lie down. I do believe there might be a case here but it would take better men than me to unravel the law. Intuitively, what the Poles are doing seems wrong to me and seeks to prevent riders from pursuing their legitimate trade elsewhere. If something seems unfair (prima facie) surely the relevant authorities, in this case the FIM, should investigate.

Including riders, unfortunately. I can never understand if a rider is really being paid points money, why he wouldn't work more for the team and raise the number of bonus points scored. Sadly, we are left with the impression that more riders are not paid, on the whole, based on their points scored.

Well I was on holiday, in the local region to watch the sidecars the following evening. And I guess there might have been some Poole fans and other neutrals present. None of these people are going to be there tonight. But that is a minor point. This is an issue of interest to the wider speedway community. The impression is that, "its none of our business". A senior British League rider known and well respected by many fans from all over the country has been suspended for 28 days. And that is only the tip of the iceberg. Much went on behind the scenes last Thursday which is of concern and perhaps indicates a much broader shift in power away from the powers that be to the riders. We seem to be expected to accept that we should not worry, it's being dealt with. This is an issue not only for KL but for the speedway authorities and the many angry fans than demand an explanation. I look forward to Buster's article being made public. An "open" inquiry, yes. A proper forum, yes. Both sides to represented. I don't defend what the riders did last Thursday. Frankly, I was livid. But in the interest of fairness we should hear their side of this. Now I think about it, has any rider involved tweated or publicised their side of this.

Okay if you don't like that, although I don't see why team points are so confusing, go for the pairs scoring system, 4 3 2 0.

Sorry (again). When I studied contract law, it was not possible to alter the law through contractual clauses. For example, companies sometimes seek to forbid employees going to a competitor with trade secrets. This is permissible under the law but only up to a point. If this deemed unreasonable, for example the length of time before going to another company, it is unlawful and cannot be upheld in law. For sure a single rider is in a very weak position in challenging these rules. But the FIM should intervene and bring a class action on behalf of all riders affected. Apologies. I've just realised this is off topic. Valid, but in the wrong place.

Balancing absences. If each side are missing a heat leader then both forego any facility and promote a junior. This isn't a new idea. Ditch the tactical rides but allow the losing team to choose gate positions until they catch up. This isn't a new idea. Pay a rider 1.5 times their points rate for bonus points and pay the leading rider an extra 50% of his points rate. You could even include bonus points in the team score. This isn't a new idea. I don't seem to have many new ideas do I? But then I didn't break it when it wasn't broken.

Forgive me, but isn't this restraint of trade? Surely not legal under EU law?

The home side provide 9 race winners and lose! Right on both points. Trying to work what was going on with the caravans from just the commentary was fun

2nd winner from gate 4. But rune was the other one of course Nerd alert!!! Stats going into heat 15 Race wins for gates 1-4 6 5 1 2 Points scored from gates 1-4 27 22 17 18

You tube, got to be. He'll never pass the drugs test. Ahhh. Someone else won a heat for Dackarna PK strikes again!

Thanks for that. But that wasn't my question. Can a team name anyone at reserve? Did I hear earlier that Magic rode at reserve recently? In Britain it has to be the 2 lowest average riders.

Well what started with some fairly pedestrian races has suddenly come to life. It worth reminding us of the finishing order when they show the replay of the start. From that last race you could have opened a book on the finishing order at the end of 2 laps and still have got it wrong. Do you get extra for commentating on the stock cars in the intervals? I'm new to Swedish speedway. Can the teams use anyone at reserve? And still Rune is only race winner for his team and they are leading after 10 heats

Not a problem. Just need to aware for the future!. I like surprises. 16-8 after 4 heats is a bit of a surprise. Well it's not Dawn with a capital D! It's David (Williams)

Good evening Blimey. Blink and you'll miss it. No introduction, just the go live and the tapes go up The news on Pawel is that he flew back to Poland for an operation. Expects to racing in 2-3 weeks

Make the punishment fit the crime. The reports from the pits were that Chris led the initiative not to ride and also (although I have no first hand reports) threatened to leave the stadium. This is a long way from relatively junior riders failing to appear in one heat which was immediately followed by the intervention of the referee in the pits and the agreement to perform significant remedial track work. They were punished by exclusion and maybe a fine is in order. But clearly their "crime" was not of the same order. But some of that is speculation on my part. And that's the point isn't it?

I think there are too many unanswered questions to simple let the dust settle. For example.... It is all well and good for the SCB to ban a rider for leaving (or threatening to leave) a meeting, This is a senior KL rider. As an "employee" is his behaviour not tantamount to gross misconduct. In my world, this leads to instant dismissal. Were other riders encouraged to support the "we're not going to ride" initiative? Further damning behaviour. Can we see the detailed report by the medical examiner which allowed another senior rider to leave the meeting. This is relevant given that the said rider was riding again within 24 hours. Were any of the KL management at all complicit in the move not to ride? I personally don't believe they were. But tell us what action was taken on the night to instruct riders to get on with it? Was there a flat refusal? A full and frank statement please.

I thought after a few days, the dust might have started to settle on this one. But no. And why? Well it's the same reason we hear in many such circumstances; a lack of communication. A lack of any explanation on the night. A lack of any real explanation the next day. A lack of what, "This will never happen again" really means. I was there last Thursday, as a neutral. I was hoping to see a key clash between two teams chasing play off places (actually I went to see Poole get beat, but hey I come from Coventry!). Seriously, I love to see a close match, fought out by 14 (well at least 12) committed competitors. We didn't get that, but the worst part was that I and many other fans went home somewhat bewildered by what we saw. It was obvious that certain riders were not enjoying the conditions. But it was equally obvious that others were riding as hard as ever. I believe the only way KL are going to recover this situation is to bare their souls. Tell us what happened, warts and all and tell what they intend to do.It'll be no worse than the speculation. Treat your fans with respect

Sorry. My joke has backfired (again). Dave Goddard is not "my mate". I only said that because he picked up on some of my postings (during his commentary!) and gave me a mention. He's a jolly good commentator, none-the-less.

Personally, I'm looking forward to the Swedish speedway on tomorrow, sorry, later today. For those who haven't sampled it, I can recommend the coverage and especially the informed commentary by (my mate) Dave Goddard. No shouty, shouty or endless cliches from him.