FAST GATER

I have been to about 18 mens finals ( my brother was an LTA concillor ) IMO the two stand out player were/are Sampras and Federer ,it is no accident the number of titles they have between them and Roger shaves it by the sheer grace he plays with .In recent times I have only missed the finals because a certain Scotsman was in them and I refuse to watch him under any circumstances because his contempt for the English which he barely conceals .

Good meeting worthy winners great racing have to mention Hancock who was more than a gater tonight and just can't believe he rides at this level consistently at the age he is amazing really .

Years ago most but not all riders( the likes of Kelvin Tattum , Andy Smith and Joe Screen went in BL straight off) started in the second half of meetings in those days the old NL and the Gulf British league ,firstly in the NL s/halves making the team then about a season later having ago in the s/halves of the Gulf league .From this position they were then offered BL places to cover injury etc before D/U on regular bacis ultimately moving up to full time BL after about 3yrs.This seemed to work quite well IMO as a general rule of thumb a NL number 1 was the same level as a BL reserve of course you had riders that never left the NL or never made the grade or could not make a living in the BL.

I saw Michael Lee doing a few laps as 15yr old at Boston you could just tell he was a star in the making ,but that can be said for most riders IMO if they have not made it within a couple of years in most cases they have reached their potential be it NL ,PL or EL .

Indeed that was so many Gulf league teams ( as it was in the 70's) put their juniors in the NL for 12mts or so we had Chris Morton at Ellesmere Port who in one season went from reserve to main team .I do think that the lack of second halves today in both PL and EL make such a difference to riders progressing to the EL rather than the ridiculous FTR we endure today .

For some reason his Swedish scoring has been erratic for a number of seasons ,I accept that the standard his higher now but his EL scoring even when the league was stronger always seemed so much more consistent .IMO British tracks demand a greater level of skill rather than the raw power of the continental tracks and are more suited to his style of riding .

I for one am so glad that he is here this season ,really thought we had seen the last of him in the EL but if this is his swansong then we could not ask for more !!!!

We need that format in the PL like a "hole in the head"

My daughter( 25yrs old Tai fan ) and myself were at the GP on Saturday but yesterday she said the runner up at Wimbledon behaved in a manner and conducted himself in such a way that he made Tai look yobish and foolish to say the least .

Great GP winner deserved to do so perhaps Peter Karlsson( probably the one of the most respected riders in speedway today ) can have a word in Tai's ear and we should leave it at that !!!!

I can't think why anyone would not be impressed with the NSS , IMO it ticks all the boxes and is a great testament to the B/V promotion who are rightly proud of it .All of us should be pleased that the sport has something to be admired and I am sure the crowds will increase and the track will become a favourite with all riders .

Sorry can't resist "tape touching" and flying starts being let go rather than 4 or 5 goes to get a race done

Think if they made a Sour Grapes flavour it might be popular with some posters

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 !!!!