Grachan

It looks like there's nobody there at all!

Well that's not a system open to abuse is it??!!

Troy Bachelor had the same problem last week.

Don't be so sure. I had someone on Speedway Friends claiming that the old BL2 in 1980 was stronger than the current EL. This is because not only did they have loads of riders with averages over 9.00 but they also managed to do it from 13 heats instead of 15.

How to make simple maths seem complicated!! Funny thing is I was discussing this on the dreaded 'Speedway Friends' yesterday. I wonder if the two are linked in any way.

Quite right. It's amazing how many people seem to struggle to get their head round this apparently simple fact. Averages are the average per ride x 4. Heat 15 gives 2 riders 5 rides, but their average is the average for every 4 rides. It's not a straight case of points scored divided by number of meetings.

Does that include you?

Indeed. In fact this can be a problem at Swindon sometimes, with the sun getting low over bends 3 and 4 at certain times of the year. Even on Tuesday they announced that they were going to wait a couple of minutes as the sun was just setting and making it difficult to see. It never caused a major delay, but I have known meetings in the past where they've had to wait for the sun to disappear.

Yeah. Hands up on that one. I was maybe thinking about my own situation where it's difficult to know before the day whether or not I can go, but (along with good weather, good promotion and it being half term) it worked a treat and we had a good crowd. In the end, i bought a couple of tickets the day before and took advantage of the offer myself too. It's great, also, to actually get a good night of speedway once the crowds are in, and hopefully some will return. This was a reminder that speedway can be a great night out if done properly so well done Swindon. They even got the music right (one of my other bleats in the past!!) Once you get the larger crowds in, you will also get a more partisan home crowd and more reactions like this. I realisse at Belle Vue you only get a few die hard enthusiasts in, but maybe you'll see more of it there too next year. I don't cheer when riders fall off, but I don't see a problem with it as long as it's not a serious accident. That's the sort of thing that gets the atmosphere going. That's "atmosphere" DAC. Don't worry. You'll hopefully have some of that next year.

Difficult to comment without knowing the full reasoning behind the decision.

I look forward to seeing a video of you at work with food poisoning. Should be a right larf.

He had food poisoning.

When did the Rory Schlein accident he referred to happen?

The guy's heart if clearly not in it. there would have to be reasons for that. OK, he shouldn't have signed for Leicester if that was the case but I don't see why people think they know better what is going on inside his head than he does himself. I don't know him personally, but if he says that these accidents have affected him then why doubt it. Maybe those slagging him off are missing the point. He's not using Rico as an excuse, and his words are a lot less offensive than thse who are now using Rico against him and to judge him. Maybe he is just seeing what can happen in the sport, can see that this could happen to him, and has lost his bottle. If so, so what? It happened to Shawn Moran. Some people maybe aren't cut out for it. I'm certainly not. I couldn't do it. So I don't. Maybe he just feels the same way. I always try to judge people as people, not just as how they are in their job. I feel the same here. I just don't get the same delight in people's failures as some do I guess. Plus, it's possible he never mentioned Rico before because he knew exactly how some people would judge that.

It seems that the death of Lee Richardson plus injuries to Ricky Ashworth and Rory Schlein have been the catalyst. If so, maybe the guy should be given a break.

Exactly. You beat me to it.

Why is this even being discussed? You really do have to question the sanity of people sometimes. Woffy's absence from British speedway says more about the problems in British speedway than it does Woffy.

He crashed in Denmark yesterday. Duh!

Before the days of doubling up you could have a good number 8. For example, if Nick morris wanted to ride in the PL he could be Swindon's number 8. In those circumstances it would work, but all the bet PL riders are also in the EL anyway in the teams, so it's not possible. I remember Andrew Silver as Swindon's number 8 while he was at Arena Essex, and used to lok forward to the times he came into the side.

My own favourite was the Oxford v Cardley match on 3 April 1975. The meeting was held in snow, and Cradley walked out after heat 7 leaving Oxford to ride round on their own to win 58-14. I remember a couple of matches at Oxford being called off in good weather due to an over watered track. I actually gave up going to Oxford every week as a result.

Mybe the BSPA should fork out 1000 quid or so to get him British Citizenship if he's been here long enough.

So it's not as straight forward as Tai just deciding not to ride because he wanted to test some bikes then.

Can we use him in the World Cup though? (Rory that is)

What are Rory's credentials for becoming a full time British rider? I remember him riding for Sheffield's junior side and apparently he has British residency.

I agree. I'm not saying Swindon weren't at fault.