Grachan

Can I just take this opportunity to point out that I haven't commented on this topic yet and don't intend to in the near furture. I may reply in the more distant future. I'll post in the near future to let people know if I intend to post in the more distant future. #michaellevellanddarcyward

The irony being, of course, that you hark back to a time when speedway riders had greased back hair, fags hanging out their mouths and wore black leather. Hardly a sign of being a member of mensa, was it?

Ah right. In any case, Tai rode the last two rounds knowing what he needed to do. It was interesting on Polish tv when they interviewed Tai (in English) after he won. The interviewer said to him: "I'll tell you the difference between your championshp and Mark Loram's championship. The difference is YOU were the man to beat."

Tai's GP average was 13.40 Emil's was 12.67. Plus Tai's injuries came in GP's and would have hampered his average through lost points resulting from that. Totally deserving Wotld champion despite injuries to other conteners. Also, he had the highest average and was leading at the time of Emil's injury.

He's 50-1 to finish second. Same odds as Christine Ohuruogu. http://sports.ladbrokes.com/en-gb/Awards/BBC-Sports-Personality/Sports-Personality-of-the-YearAwards/BBC-Sports-Personality/Sports-Personality-of-the-Year-s794

There's much excitement on the BBC Breakfast sofa this morning, because World Speedway Champion Tai Woffinden is coming in, and he's bringing his bike.

Re-tweeted by Tai Woffinden.

I watched the GP with Polish commentary last night. At one point, just after Tai won the title, the commentator reeldd off a list of riders. It went something like this: Mark Loram, Gary Havelock, Michael Lee, Peter Collins, Barry Briggs, Ronnie Moore, Freddie Williams... Not sure what the list was meant to be!

To be fair, I think he actually managed to stay on when he demolished the flower beds!

I recall that happening to Swindon at Oxford once courtesy of Nielsen and Wigg.

Yes.

The first ever meeting I went to at Swindon was Swindon v Wolves in 1974. At that meeting they announced that Graham Guthrie had died! The presenter that night and for a long time after was called John Sutton I think.

Peter York offends me (but I guess I am one of the pc brigade so no surprise there). He'll do things like shove a microphone in the face of a child in the crowd, ask them something, then take the mickey out of their answer, or just copy what they said in a "thicko" style voice. He may well know his speedway, but he makes constant bad decisions. Like deciding to do a Coventry Bees war cry in the 2007 play-off final while Lee Richardson was being placed into an ambulance with an oxygen mask over his face.

I think you're missing the point. If, as someone suggested, there should be 40 British riders in the Elite League, then pretty much all the British riders in the Premier League would have to ride in the Elite League.

Oh well. That's the Premier league down The Swanee then.

Out of interest, which 40 British riders would you like to see in the Elite League?

It was Rob Fortune at Swindon. They had to loan their 2 pointer from Peterborough because they couldn't find one of their own - and there were a lot more British riders around then! John Surnam at Oxford. I think they signed De'Ath from Long Eaton? He wasn't their 2 pointer.

I remember the compulsory 2 point British rider that every side had to have back in1986. None of them, as far as I remember, went on to be anything but a poor reserve. I may be wrong though. Can anyone name all the 2 pointers from that year.

Terry Russell was involved in Speedway way before Sky TV came along, so I don't think that's the case at all.

Is Terry Russell still around to negotiate a Sky contract? I guess he's not as he's not so involved with speedway any more. If that's the case, then people can make as many snide comments about him as they like, but at least he got the job done and got the sport on TV. Is it just coincidence that when Terry Russell takes a back seat in speedway then the sport looks likely to get dropped by Sky? Or is he still involved with negotiating a new contract with the tv station?

Well, some people ain't going to like it, but Chris Harris looks set to be first reserve for next year's Grand Prix and also has a legitimate argument to be given a wild card in 2014. Well done to Chris for grasping the opportunity. If other British riders turned down the slim chance Chris had of being in this meeting then that's their own fault.

You're right. It was heat 11. Anyway, changing it from heat 11 to heat 12 makes it maybe 44-46, bearing in mind Bachelor had an ef in heat 11 so Fisher would have got at least a point.

Interesting to see the discussion about the Swindon v Peterborough match and how the TR or TS would have affected the scoring. I reckon that using the old TS rule Peterborough would have gained little advantage and it could have been a draw. Suppose Peterborough use Bjerre for Fisher in heat 8 and Bjerre wins. That makes it 26-22 to Swindon. Going into heat 12 it's 36-30 to Swindon. Hougards can't come in to heat 12 for Fisher, becauyse Fisher was replaced in heat 8. So that would probably be a 3-3 to Swindon, making it 39-33. Peterborough then gain another 6 points over the final 3 heats, making it 45-45. The big question, though, is would Hougard have come in elsewhere for an extra ride. Heat 10 for Buckowski maybe? So that could have had a further effect on the result and maybe given Peterborough a win still. Then again, he might have touched the tapes or fallen off. You never know! Or got beat and finished at the back. Or maybe that would have happend to Bjerre in heat 8 and Swindon would have won. Or maybe my auntie is my uncle. But the general gist is that in a straight swap of the 2 rules it's a draw.

The thing is "Bryn", a lot of people use these names on here including some promoters so why knock it. I even remember talking with a promoter of Oxford Speedway who said he posted on here in disguise and deliberately wrote badly so nobody would suspect it was him! So why do you constantly knock it. There are promoters on here reading this stuff, and some of them are joining in the fun! I posted on forums using my real name in the past, but changed when I realised nobody else was doing it. I thought it made me look like I was trying to look self important. But each to their own. I know there are a lot of nonsense posting on here (promoters in disguise perhaps??), but when genuine points are made why should they not be taken into account. Surely it's the quality of the post, not the name of the person who made it, that matters. Fan forums at the stadium for face to face discussion are a good idea though. But clubs tend to get all huffy if anyone criticises them at these and then don't do it again.

Another thing we need is phones by the starting line so riders have to march across the center green and call the ref in full view of the baying crowd. That was great.