FAST GATER

I am sure all of us would do so if we had a sponsorship deal like his and I for one am pleased that I high profile company is pumping money into the sport ,and amazed that he is still arguable the best rider in the world at 46 yrs old ,

I thought it was an excellent GP I think it will be tough for Tai to retain his title (not saying he won't) but that would make all the better,did I hear right that Hancock is racing for another 3yrs ?.Love or hate him he is amazing to be one of the top 3 riders in the world at his age and raced as hard as anyone else last night and never complains about his workload either .

Plus many held down full or part time jobs outside the sport but then they just wanted to ride s/way and if they made a few bob it was a bonus !!!

How true they did IMO earn the money in those days and I do get a little perplexed when the current w/champ( who has drivers, mechanics , works backing) says he is over worked ,has he ever had 2hrs sleep and got up for 8hrs work !!!

Top riders were happy to stay in the NL one reason was that many had jobs or businesses ( Tom Owen plant hire) and tended to where possible ride at tracks close to home /work.Another factor was that the vast majority of BL tracks were southern based except for the likes of B/VUE Wolves and the Dukes .

Jacko was tied to Elle Port by my father's sponsorship so difficult for hm to move up full time BL as it was then but you are right Jacko could have gone on to great things but was still one of the greatest NL stars of all time.The night he went to Wolves for a try out ( Bill Bridget was running it ) he got in the s/half final George Hunter ,Jimmy Mac ,Jacko and I forget the fourth rider but he gated and won the race.George said to him after the race your wasted in the NL the only rider I followed round here that riders like that is "Ole " himself !!!!

What want is the draft abolished and a return to the pre draft EL format as I believe that if a rider is good enough he will get there NL -PL - EL water will always find it's own level.

Garrity has done the right thing for him and the sport cream will always float to the top if he stays injury free star of the future great to watch .

The simple answer is money or lack of it within the sport if we use your watch analogy the sport is telling me I am having a Breitling.but slipping me a Sekonda instead IMO . As to what I am capable of or not was an unecessary comment on your behalf as I am merely expressing my opinion and in no way do I consider myself 100% right or 100% wrong and I am always up for lively debate and do have the best interests of the sport at heart . There are at least two of us think that way then

I want to see 7 El riders no protected heats for my money ,the draft is money saving nothing more "smoke& mirrors" !!!!

Simple if you have enough British riders who are good enough to ride in the EL but you don't ,all the moaning because Garrity actually wants to do what the system is setup to achieve merely exposes it for what it is a Farce .Lets have seven EL riders and the two lowest averaged riders at reserve and stop pretending in a couple of years we will have copious amounts of BRITISH talent coming out of our ears !!!!

FTR is and always has been a joke the system is complete nonsense !!!!

Simple scrap FTR and go back to the old format if the EL is to have any credibility as the top british league !!!

PK will end up at 2or4 you can't knock wolves for working the system for short time and if you have read any of my posts on the FTR system I am not remotely a fan as IMO it is the epitome of idealism at best or just money saving take your pick. Pk isn't just any foreigner who preys on the EL in an opportunist way or a GP rider filling the gaps in his calendar he has raced here for the best part of 25yrs ,so if he is able to pick up a few extra bob for his retirement fund I for one don't begrudge him a penny .

Your right a couple of years ago Bech looked the real deal now his career just seems to have stalled ,IMO PK is still a better rider and if he is a s/string should score a fair few points If he scores well a s/string in the EL at his age then I think that's all we can ask and I am sure he can still pull off the odd big race win

Hope scores plenty of points and stays injury free

MY biggest problem are fans who call riders "gating tarts " ANYONE who races a s/way bike in anger is anything but a tart believe me !!!

That maybe so but his GP series has done serious damage to it over the years not least destroying weekend speedway at EL level in this country ,so maybe his words are somewhat "hollow" to say the least !!

John Jackson has got to be up there !!!

11 from 5 last night for PK and the opposition was at least EL standard !!!

i beg to differ IMO provided everyone has the ability to roll how can it be cheating ? the ONLY penalty should be for breaking the tapes and no way should flyers be brought back especially under the current rules.The Refs used to know the rollers and it was a duel between them which added another dimention to the sport ,I believe that the like of Olsen ,Mauger and Kilby woud still have been the riders they were today even under the current rules ,riders can either "gate " or not regardless of the rules .

Is PK still using one in Swedish league IMO a lot of the improvement of the GTR is down to his imput which impacted on his EL scoring last season .

I was never put off going to speedway because of the starts ,I didn't considered it time wasting just part and parcel of the whole spectacle and hugely entertaining nothing better than seeing a top riders sent back to the pits for tape breaking .

Too right I loved it ( bit like marmite ) sheer theatre between riders out foxing each other often the starts were better than the race itself .

Great that the first EL match is over and I am sure that things will get better and better looking forward to many years of speedway in a first class setting .