Grachan

Dak having worries about his father and taking some time off. Fine. Poole having a guest facility in the circumstances. Not fine. Poole's fault? No.

Yes.

Exactly. The same there. Why should a guest be available for a non-speedway related absence?

It didn't use to be this easy though. The guest facility should be a premium option, not just something that can be used this easily. There was a time when Zagar would have been deemed fit to ride having ridden on the continent and the only way they could have got a facility would have been to have deemed him to be withdrawing his services, resulting in a 28 day ban. Now people seem to be able to bring in a guest as a tactical option. That can't be right, surely??

Isn't that exactly the point! Why should a team (any team, not just Belle Vue) decide that a rider might not be at his best so just be able to bring in another team's number one? Of course Belle Vue are looking to get the best out of this. The problem is that it seems remarkably easy for them to do so.

So presumably both will get the same amount of reaction from you then, Steve?

Shame. A missed opportunity to raise funds for the lad. Still, I'm sure AJ will be round with his bucket in the play off final.

Will the #prayforMatej wrist bands be available at Blunsdon tomorrow?

To be fair, Dakota North will need to be in the UK if he wants a visa for next year.

Expected, but ridiculous.

Take away the points Belle Vue got at Swindon, when you're saying we deliberately dropped points, and King's Lynn would be in the play offs.

If they did then lucky old Belle Vue, because it got you in the play offs.

Just out of interest, how many times this year has a team had to use a PL 6 pointer? I can't think of any.

Yeah, you're right. We should wait and see. :-)

Null and void. People have posted that AJ is already down to ride.

Don't forget Belle Vue.

Come off it. If the guy is riding overseas then Belle Vue shouldn't have a facility unless he has withdrawn his services. It seems that they can get a guest merely on the basis of him possibly not being able to ride as well as he normally does. That can't be right. I remember a few years back Renat Gafurov being unable to ride for Swindon in the semi final at Reading and we had to sack him to get a facility.

Swindon shouldn't have replaced Darcy. We could then have signed up Jonsson early to guest in the play offs. We'd have got in the final then.

It's an individual. He did better than Iversen, Harris and Kildemand. But not as well as Jonsson.

He's riding. There should be no facility. I don't think Poole should have one either for North, but Zagar just rode in one of the biggest meetings of the year and made the final. How can a guest be available in that situation? It looks like the two teams using dodgy facilities (I blame the sport more than the clubs btw) will make the final.

Same as Dakota North then.

I think there's becoming too much of an obsession about whether or not people are moving at the starts. Races get pulled back so often. Even when they aren't there is often discussion about whether or not they should have been. Blatant moving then, sure, bring it back. Exclude riders who touch the tapes. But these are guys on motor bikes with clutches poised. They might creep a bit. Good meeting last night. You could see the passion in the sides and I'm sure the eventual winners will come from this tie. Disappointing to see Coventry get 2 5-1s at the end as I was looking forward to the humiliation of the fans from said club who mocked Swindon's rubbish semi. Oh well, there's always next week.

It's ridiculous for people to think Grag Hancock should retire due to the fact they think he is "boring". The guy is the reigning Worod Champion and looking likely to finish runner-up this year. I see no reason why he should retire (although his farewell lap at Cardiff did hint that he might). Until the younger riders can force Greg out of the top 8, there's no reason for him not to be there. And, at the moment, they aren't showing much sign of doing so.

Yeah. Old tricks. Ask Reading fans.

It's a bit pointless going down the "your teams a bigger cheat than my team" route really. Any team manager worth his salt is going to use a situation to his team's advantage if such a situation arises. They'd be stupid not to. People love to throw the word "cheat" about over the most stupid of matters. You even get it being bandied about if people suspect someone has dropped points in one place in order to gain in another. With regards to Zagar, I don't think people are criticising Belle Vue. It's more to do with the rider himself possibly being up to his old tricks again, just as Miedzinski did earlier in the year. It was. I don't think he was injured. His temporary time as cover with the club had come to an end. EDIT - This is from the Swindon website before the Belle Vue match: "North, who played a starring role in the win over Coventry in the last home meeting, will deputise for the unavailable Peter Kildemand." Swindon then brought Miedzinski back in for the next match, and then he promptly disappeared again. Swindon would not have had a facility for Miedzinski unless he turned up, and it was a token appearance by him.