enotian

He signed and rode for Newcastle after winning the World U21 Championship at Brandon on 30 September 1991. As a result only rode in challenge matches or even match singular. But the Diamonds were the first club he represented in the UK. Definitely rode at Brough I'm 99% sure. The more informed on here will have details I'm sure. Can't remember who he replaced (was Dicko injured?) but it was a good Diamonds team that year winning the Gold Cup early in the season with the legendary Bargh/Thorpe 5-1 in the last heat to seal it. Was the season Thorpe and Lamb started at reserve and ended up heat leaders. Good memories. Would be nice to think we could see his son line up for the Diamonds one day but memories are all we've got right now.

What he was or wasn't last season is entirely irrelevant. By virtue of the Diamonds expulsion he effectively didn't exist last season. There was a lot of misinformation from the Diamonds promotion so who really knows but my understanding was that the Diamonds promotion didn't have a licence to employ work permit riders but could sign Congreve because he was able to take out an ACU licence. Not sure on what basis. There was plenty of content about it on the Diamonds 2022 thread at the time with most expecting his to be an assessed 2.00 as a result. The fact that he ended up being an assessed 4.00 didn't really matter as the Diamonds were incredibly under strength anyway. As I stated before it probably made the Diamonds line up look more acceptable than it ever was in practice. I think the key point is he couldn't have been a foreign rider because the Diamonds promotion didn't have the appropriate sponsors licence to employ such a rider. There really is no point in trying to make sense of any of this. The fact that he appears to have been given an assessed NL average which doesn't fit any known criteria tells you everything you need to know. It's all just made up to suit.

Congreve didn't have a CL average though. All his meetings were expunged from the records. To all intents and purposes he has never existed as a speedway rider in this country before 2023.

Doesn't he have an ACU licence though. He represented Great Britain in some pointless (as most of his meetings were) FIM meeting. I think he was only a 4 in the CL so the Diamonds appeared somewhere close to the points limit. Effectively he's not a commonwealth rider if that's the case. As he hasn't ridden in any official fixtures he should be assessed the same as any other new ACU licensed rider in the NL. In true speedway regulation fashion they've done neither of the two plausible options and gome up with a compromise.

What would everyone think about a grading system for the SWC? To even the competition a little. Every other speedway team competition has some kind of team building limit. Top 20 riders - Grade 4 Riders ranked 21 to 40 - Grade 3 Any other rider not in the other four categories - Grade 2 Riders U25 - Grade 1 Riders U21 - Grade 0. Each five man team to total up to 10 grade points. Poland would probably still win as they've got good riders in each grade but it might make it more competitive for more nations. However, you'd not get to see all the top riders (i.e. GB would only be able to select two from Woffinden, Bewley and Lambert who'd all be Grade 4). Worth some thought?

depends on who he's guesting for

Kharchenko was probably the best debut performance at Brough Park ever. I was hoping he would defect and join the Diamonds who were a third heatleader short of being any good that year. I think there was a whip round at some point to buy some of the Soviet lads gloves. Must have miffed John Wainwright whose leathers were always taped together. That's how I remember it anyway,

It was an enjoyable meeting but then 4TT's always tend to be. I've no idea why they all but vanished from the UK (we know internationally because Poland were too dominant). Could be something to do with having to pay for 16 (plus 4 reserves) riders instead of 14 and those 16 were made up of, most likely, the 4 highest paid riders from each team. Oh and at least 1 extra heat to pay for. Clearly these additional costs weren't offset against having 3 sets of away supporters. In a world of streaming that might have changed the balance. Those supporters who wouldn't normally travel can now pay to access fixtures involving their team from the comfort of their own homes. The future of streaming has to be involving more than two teams in fixtures to widen the audience appeal. You could even involve teams representing clubs no longer with a home track (but with a defined set of exclusive riders) to further increase the potential audience. And at the same time get rid of doubling up (in a fashion) and guest-a-rama.

I guess the timing of the 'indoor' Cardiff round could determine how many might do both? Hold Cardiff out of season and there might be the demand. Trouble is with 6 Nations in February & March and Autumn Internationals in November I'm not sure when an out of season Cardiff GP could be scheduled.

where? or is there a more extensive list?

In which case wouldn't a whole host of other sponsors appear as creditors? Can't imagine he'd be the biggest sponsor? This would relate to a payment due to Nick Brown MP, for services provided, which is outstanding? Interesting. I recall Nick Brown chaired an All Party Speedway Commons Committee way back. Wonder if it relates in some way to that? Or perhaps Grant was seeking political support in securing an alternative site. Anyone fancy doing a FOI on this one?

Looks likely on form and with his home track to come next. Do they deffo promote the next in line from the GP Challenge nowadays? At least one rider will miss out. Sounds like Thomsen will miss at least some rounds which might go in his favour. Might come down to whether they give the Aussies, the Brits or the Danes two of the 5 wildcards. Could be a straight shoot out between Michelsen and Lambert Someone is going to be unlucky to miss out.

Off the top of my head only Pzedpelski is cut adrift from this seasons' 15. Looks like Kolodziej will replace him as Euro champ. So Nilsson qualifying means someone is going to miss out. Or maybe three will if the Russians are allowed to return. Thomsen, Fricke and Vaculik have GP wins this season (I think) does Michelsen? At least one rider is going to be unlucky.

Bob Lambert got some work to do over the remaining SGP rounds if he's to avoid missing out on SGP 23. Thomsen and Vaculik and GP wins and will they give two wildcards to GB riders if neither Tai or Lambert make the top six? Especially if Russians are allowed back.....

haven't they had title winners at 250cc recently as well. maybe it was some of these lads?

and I imagine riders/bikes of yesteryear would have struggled to slide on that track. we can't keep blaming the bikes for every ill. Sport is about being fitter, faster, stronger, skilful or more intelligent/fearless than your opponents. yes there has to be regulation of the machinery but the clue is in the title 'speed'way, the whole ethos is to go faster. this isn't a tortoise and hare sport the hare should always win. and we see how thrilling the sport can be when the riders are given the right surface to perform. different if the bikes have become unrideable on all tracks but to an extent that's self regulating as the riders wouldn't use bikes they can't ride. look at football. I love the retro matches from the 70's but the standard was rubbish because the pitches were awful. fast forward to 2022 and now Coventry are cancelling fixtures because their pitch isn't good enough, I bet its way better than what teams used to play on. but the authorities have realised that the sport should be played on surfaces that reward skill over chance or strength. Speedway should be no different.

sounds like you must've found the bars today quoting my post from months ago hope you had a great day despite the organisation.

but that wasn't the problem tonight though was it. too much dirt. it was an unfit track. rutted up making it extremely difficult to slide the bike. I'm sure it wasn't the sort of spectacle the organisers would have wanted.

Just didn't enjoy that despite the amazing result. Speedway like most good sports works on a number of levels, either on track close racing action, or crashes, or unpredictability, or a close exciting result, or even technically. Despite the excellent result the track was so poor I just couldn't get into it. A great platform for the sport but not a great advert for it imo. PS get well soon Tai

perversely, and this is my interpretation of what he said and I don't know who he is, but what he seemed to like was exactly what was wrong with the track. Riders struggling to hang on to beasts of machines was his comment I think. When for me speedway at its best is like ballet not a bucking bronco. but yes I understand Top Gear is a popular show so he is probably influential.

Cardiff stats since 2015 (5 gps): [if temporary tracks have any history] Most race points - Zmarzlik 63 pts (15 wins), Woffinden 60 pts (12 wins), Doyle 50 points (6 wins) Janowski 50 points (12 wins) Gate race points - Red 33%, Blue 26%, Yellow 20% and White 21% Gate race wins - Red 43%, Blue 24%, Yellow 17% and White 16% Inside gates prevail Best line up position - #1 61 points then 9, 7 and 12. 58, 55 and 55 points respectively. (#1 and #9 get two red gates) Worst line up position - #4 22 points then 10 and 11, 30 and 32 points respectively. Semi appearances - Zmarzlik 4 (won 3 of them), then 3 each for Woffinden (won all three), Janowski, Sayfutdinov, Hancock, Doyle and Zagar Final appearances - Zmarzlik 4 only 1 win, Woffinden 3 (no wins) with two each for Janowski (1 win), Hancock and Doyle. Iversen, Lindback and Madsen are the other winners.

Lots of clubs already operating Spectator Replacement

I enjoyed that. Yes the racing wasn't great but it just shows how the sport can work on different levels. Yes there wasn't much passing, the semi final was the only top drawer heat, but there are not many world championships where 5 nations are still in with a chance with 15 minutes to go. Again it would help if the commentary team reported it in that fashion. Surely someone on the production team could have told them when the Poles were eliminated and that GB v SWE was effectively a run off to go straight to the final. The crowd was abysmal so I guess the promoters won't bother reapplying and I doubt Discovery Sports would entertain it. Maybe the late switch of venues was to blame? However, I'm not sure the SON warrants a week long event anyway, especially if the home team doesn't rock up until the final. Given that the knockout nature of the semi final produced the best action why not have a one off Final with 16 countries where each heat is effectively a knock out, finish last and you're out. There'd need to be a repecharge and maybe a shield contest for those teams knocked out early to make sure each country appears at least 3 times and generate enough heats. On the basis that the pairs format allows 6 (or 7 if Russia return) possible winners with a genuine benefit to team riding (in a knockout scenario) it has the potential to be a spectacular event, if held at the right venue.

busted

The team put together was 3 points under the limit!!! Even if everyone performed to their average they'd have still got beaten, when you look at the opposing team strengths. Everyone could have foreseen the BWD was never going to be a competitive number one in the Championship. Never had been before and had been out injured for a considerable time. I don't know if it was done on the cheap or who else could have been signed tbf but unless everyone rode to their average and Complin was able to get back to being a 7 pointer that team had wooden spoon written all over it. As an aside, now the Toon are moving to the quayside sporting complex (apparently) how about a cheeky bid into the council to turn Sid James' into the world biggest speedway arena. Imagine. Every supporter could have their own corporate box