Grachan

What's the point of waiting until you're already out to use a tactical substitute?

Don't agree with that. There's no point giving points away. Australia gained 3 points with the joker. For every point you "protect" you can take a point off from that. I can see there might be a reason to do it towards the end as the final few heats unravel, but not early in the meeting. In fact, you could argue that the tactics with the Joker were pefect because they went 6 ahead with Holder in the next heat so nullified the TS.

I agree that Harris is our best rider, so I would imagine that the organisers are hoping he can get a big finish and make a final or two so they can re-select him. Harris may be struggling this year, but he is above Woffinden.

Nope. Would still be daft.

Something like this did happen before, but reserves were allowed then. 1989 World Team Cup Final - all 4 riders in the opening heat were wiped out of the rest of the meeting. You'd think they would learn from history in case it happened again. I like the "substitute" idea that was raised earlier. That works well. The Joker is ridiculous and in many cases (eg Poland winning a few years back and Russia on Saturday) grossly unfair on the team that wins on track. It's the daftest rule. I'm not so sure about that. It's a regular thing for it to be used in that way. Australia would have done exactly the same had the race line-up been different or they felt it was worth waiting. But, yes, allowing not only a Joker but a TS at the same time does make it ridiculous and you can get a 6 point swing in one race rather than 3 points with a straight Joker and wipe out your deficit in one go. It's crazy really.

I'm guessing this is the original Rye house. http://www.britishpathe.com/video/speedway-school/query/speedway

I love watching Chris Harris when he's in this sort of form. It's like the second coming of Peter Collins.

It looks like Swindon pre-homestraight Grandstand. So many things remind me of Swindon. The shop after the stand. The shed looks like the old pits. grass banks. I'm sure that's Swindon. Edit - Dunno. It looks like Swindon but the banking looks low and the grandstand is after the pits which would put it on the wrong side as it looks like the stand on the other side. Dunnooooooooo....

With tactical substitutes, the same race and gate position format and bonus points included my guess is about the same percentage.

So, if that is the most recent rule book then it means FIM races CAN be awarded. So why do they keep saying they can't?

If that's what happened tonight, then effectively the rule is the same as allowing races to be awarded if the riders are on the last lap. For example, if a rider was brought off on the first bend of lap 4 then the race could just continue to its conclusion and the race awarded.

Just watched replay. He hadn't crossed the line.

Right decision to exclude Nicki. Wrong decision to award the race - which is what the ref did.

I remember a match at Swindon when he was about 16 too, and came in as a replacement for someone for Coventry. When he was announced the Coventry fans behind me all cheered and started laughing. I think he fell off in every race, and each time they all cheered and laughed again.

I think Howard Cole rode as Kid Bodie so his mum wouldn't find out he was riding speedway! It was something like that anyway. The story was on one of the history of speedway videos that came out a few years back. Trevor Charley is another name that leaps out from the past when I see it. I have a feeling he may have ridden underage too and that is why I remember it. Didn't Mitch Shirra ride underage at either Coventry or Glasgow as well?

Not sure why Fundin would have won more and Briggs less. Nobody was close to Briggs in form in 1967 - and Fundin was a surprise winner. You'd have to have Briggs as the expected winner that year, although I don't know enough about the era to predict how other years would go.

Autorace is the direct descendent of speedway in Japan. Speedway was banned there is around the late 60s/early 70s I believe because it was considered too dangerous due to the sliding and loose track surface! I've actually been to a couple of Autorace meetings in Japan. I enjoyed the experience, but it is really a purely betting sport - more along the lines of horse or greyhound racing but using motorbikes. Oh lord! Just read the link. Sad news. When I was there riders fall off and the race just carries on, with people being dragged off the track and into an ambulance while the races continued.

I seem to remember Gordon Kennett coming pretty close to changing nationality to Danish to give himself a better chance of qualifying. It's not such a new concept.

I recall Michael Lee having the temerity to make a complete mug of Crumpy round the Abbey by not only beating him easily in the Golden Helmet but pulling wheelies down the straights at the same time. Could well have been 1983.

Didn't Karger and Dugard have two seperate comings together on different occasions? Not sure, but I think they did. Kojak, normally, was funny and good for a wind-up, but that night he was well out of order and in no way having a joke. He was well mardy at the Cheetahs having been given a stuffing and then ran and shut the gate just as Swindon were coming out onto the track for a victory parade. The mass brawl that ensued was great. I remember that far more than the actual match. Oxford v Swindon was always the big rivalry match for me. There was always something happening in the Cowley matches.

Unlikely as it was the first one of the season. Had it been an old style World Final though there would only have been 20 heats. And I think the winner of that would have been... Greg Hancock! The World Final was always staged in September though, so taking the Nordic round is a better example of "had it been a one-off World Final". Had that been the case the winner would have been... Greg Hancock!

I don't buy that argument at all as a defence of a one-off final. If anything, it's more an argument against it. I don't know which meeting you refer to, but if Crump didn't make the final then he wasn't the best rider of the night. You could say the same about Jack Biggs in 1952 (or whenever it was)who messed up his final ride or Carter in 1982 whose fate was possibly decided on one refereeing decision. Difference being, Crump would have a whole series to get the points.

To be fair to Poland they are just doing a similar thing to the UK with the one rider over 8 rule, but using GP riders as the guidline instead. This is more a personal choice by Darcy Ward than anything if it does mean he is rejecting the GPs.

So if Darcy turns it down then why let him in in the future? It's an interesting scenario. Given a couple of years - if he's still turning it down - we could have a situation where the rider who is possibly the best in the world is not in the World Championship. It'll be like Ali/Fazier all over again. Who's the real champ? The champ can't be the worlds champ coz he ain't beaten Darcy! Maybe others will drop out too. Then we could see a split and two seperate "World" championships - a GRand Prix and a one-off individual one. Sounds far fetched but it's happened in other sports so it could happen. Can see a big thrilling meeting in Manila deciding it in the end.

Both systems are ok by me