Bobbin' Along

I started watching speedway at about the time that Ivan decided to only ride in home meetings for his club. I never got to see him race round Swindon, which would have been epic. Being as he's now getting on a bit, I was suprised that he wasn't already "retired from public life", but good luck to him, and I hope he has a long and happy retirement.

The GP is on SATURDAY, the league match is on WEDNESDAY. Do try to keep up.

Ta muchly DW. The Bobbin's will be watching and filling in your race card tomorrow....

Been out/away most of the weekend. Have now watched the GP. I haven't read the rest of the comments, but I was suprised at the quality of the racing. Haven't seen passing like that at a GP for bloomin' years. It's almost as if Tony Olsson let the Lezno track guys do their thing rather than making it as bald as the proverbial. Whatever next? Can't wait to see what the preparation will be like for the first one-off track. It will beinteresting if Olsson can make it better than Olsen.....

Or just call it "Gollob's Retirement Fund"

I quite agree with your sentiments. However, he is still on remand which I believe means that he has not yet come up for trial and therefore has not been proven guilty. If he is, then I'd want him strung up by his danglies, like I would any person found guilty of the same charges. And TBH the 2-facedness of the forum is what makes it...um...interesting!

For the second year running, the Bobbin' family are going to none at all.

I thought that Pedersen was lucky to get away with it tonight. Having said that, no matter what you feel has been done to you, to leave your bike on the track with the other 3 riders still racing at speed was at least stupid and at worst homicidal.

I nearly suffered from SCB's problem then, I was laughing so much. There is no way that the authorities will stoop to recognise any rider when he retires from GP racing. They hardly even acknowledged it when Tony Rickardsson retired - and he was arguably the best world champion of modern times. They may just mention it when Greg Hancock finally retires at the age of 987, but I won't be holding my breath. I am sad that Leigh has decided to call it a day, but not suprised. His GP form this season has been woefully poor by his high standards. I'll still cheer him on tonight though - I'll have to find a new hero next year!

Oh boy - I love that old chestnut. I've been waiting for it to arrive.... I can say what I want, when I want on this forum - within reason and the rules, of course. 'Tis my opinion and I have a right to it - just as it's you're right to be insistent that I can't criticise anyone on a bike because I haven't actually sat on one and ridden it in anger. I agree with most of this. We live in a fabulous country where we can choose who to support. And we have the freedom of speech. I chose therefore not to support a British rider. And equally, Stouffer can choose toblindly support a British rider. just because he's British. Isn't it wonderful?

I'd love to see either Richardson. Woffinden or Kennett as a Wild Card next year. IMHO neither Bomber nor Nicholls deserve a place. Nicholls has been seeded in for long enough and I don't recall that he has ever made it into the top 8 proper at the end of the season. Granted, when Richardson was in the GPs last time, he was pretty poor but his form this year has been outstanding - I think he'd be worth a try. He damn sure can't be any worse. Congratulations to Noddy, Zorro and Hampel. I think Zorro may have flashes of brilliance next year, but I don't think he'll set the world alight. Now Noddy - he's a different matter....

I have a challenge for you then. I may be defeatest - but I challenge youto find a working alternative that doesn't mean losing even more clubs from an already far too small EL. One that we can put into place and that guarantees the result we all want and that ALL clubs, regardless of league, can agree to. Then, come back and tell us all about it and - here's the important bit - put it into practice. I won't hold my breath though because I get the impression you will be a long time finding such an alternative. And this will be my final word to you on this matter.

Me too, and I have mourned the death of weekend speedway. And moved on because there was no other choice. The issue lies not with the GPs but the lack of EL teams. 9 teams is not enough to run a league that lasts wants to run past the middle of August. And this has been proven again and again. Personally, I loved it when we were in the PL because we saw different teams week in and week out rather than seeing Coventry, Peterborough, Wolves etc. 4 times in a season. See above - 9 teams in a league has brought about the gaps, not the advent of the GPs. The GPs have been going on for about 14 years now, if memory serves. And when they started the top flight was a lot bigger and we didn't have the issues we have now. TBF we also didn't have riders demanding such exorbitant amounts of money to ride - and promotions not paying their riders was something we never heard about. Oh please. Now you're just being silly. And patronising. See point above. It seems obvious to me that you have put your own slant on what I wrote. To clarify: We can go on moaning about the GPs for the next 200 years. We can moan about the lack of teams, lack of meetings, GP riders, or lack of them. And we can keep on moaning about them ad nauseum. But at the end of the day, we - the paying public - have absolutely no say in what happens. It's not down to us. We have to accept that the powers that be will continue to push a tired GP formula on an increasing disinterested public, and that we will not significantly increase the amounts of teams that compete which would breathe new life into an ailing league (or even leagues), fantastic though it is to see new teams coming forward. I am saying that we should be realists - "people power" does not, at the moment, rule in Speedway. It is run by a significant few, with their own agendas and ideas. Anyone trying to influence this significant few is, quite bluntly, pushing water up a hill. If the supporters had a representative with a say, then it might be a different matter.

Which is what we've all been saying for the past three or four years. With any luck, with Olsen retiring (huzzah!) at the end of this season, Tony Olsson - or whoever his replacement will be - might even start to utilise the knowledge of the local track curators who, let's face it, know all about their track, vagaries in local weather/humidity etc.