Grachan

Yes.

Except there is a connection as it is directly derived from it. True, the riders probably wouldn't stand a chance on a conventional Speedway track, just as Speedway riders wouldn't stand much of a chance on an Autorace circuit. Also, totally true about the 'fans' attitude. A race meeting has the atmosphere of a gambling establishment. People do cheer for riders, but it's the ones they have had a gamble on, that's all. It makes for an interesting experience for a Speedway fan to go to one of these meetings, but give me a team to support any day.

Rounds off a marvellous night for Swindon perfectly!

I always enjoy reading it, but there were some valid criticisms made. I hope they won't be overlooked because loads of people start posting to say that they think it's great. I agree that TMC is doing an excellent job though. I always look forward to that particular visit to the bathroom!

So what are you saying? That the season should only be 4 months long? Or am I misinterpreting that? If so it would start at the end of March and be over by August. Three Brits in each of the twelve teams means 48 British riders in the top flight. Where are these riders going to come from? It’s a lovely theory, of course, to have all these British riders, but it just doesn’t seem practical to me. The riders will not be available (unless, of course, we get rid of the PL). What will happen to any team who can’t find the riders? Will they just have to find any raw novice going just to make up the numbers? Why get rid of the KO Cup? It’s a decent enough competition. The new competition will be no more than a Craven Shield type thing or a half arsed season opener/closer that nobody would be that bothered about. At least the KO Cup is established so keeps a certain amount of prestige, even if the Play-offs mean it has lost its sheen somewhat. Points limit being set to the level of the champions sounds lovely on the face of it, but where would that have left teams like Oxford, Arena-Essex and this 12th team that it is proposed join the EL? What team would even consider coming up to the top flight only to find there were absolutely no riders available to them?

Autoracing is derived from conventional speedway, so it has more to do with Speedway than some may think. Conventional speedway took place in Japan until the mid sixties, when it was amazingly banned for being too dangerous. As a result, it mutated into Autorace, so it is directly connected. Obviously it isn't Speedway, but there is a direct connection. I believe Barry Briggs once had a go at it!

Crikes!! What's going on with that tortoise?? Looks like there might be live racing on tomorrow morning at some of those circuits by the way. EDIT - Hey, where's Ivan's post gone? My comment makes no sense whatsoever now. http://autorace.or.jp/archives/ Click Movie for old races and Commercial with tortoise.

Malcolm posted a link on here a while back which went to a menu of races, including live net coverage. I couldn't find his exact link but I've got close from a link he posted later to a meeting at Kawaguchi. http://autorace.or.jp/netlive/kawaguchi/ondemand.html This shows races from the various stadiums. The list on the right hand side is a list of stadiums in this order: Funabashi Kawaguchi Isesaki Hamamatsu Iizuka Sanyou The grid shows date and race number (1R = 1st Race, 12R = 12th Race). The tab at the top seems to take you to live coverage when it's available.

Yeah, because I watched the racing, thought to myself: looks like that was over the line with both wheels and was half expecting him to be excluded. So what? Genuine point.

Don't come the 'Nicki being singled out' argument with me, 21CH! It might be true with some people but with me it's way off the mark. To me this was simply the clearest case of a rider going right over the line, that's all. I resent that suggestion. Nicki is my tip for the title this year and one of my favourite riders. A perfectly legitimate point to raise. It looks to me like both wheels are over the line.

I don't think it would be worth their while to come over here. The Autorace riders are very well paid. It would be great to see a few come over and do some demonstration races though, and give conventional speedway a go. How about a Japanese GP? That would, I suspect, be massively succesful. Interesting page here: http://www.autorace.or.jp/guide/en/

What I did on my holidays By Graham Morris, 1C

A friend of mine is totally into on-line betting. He knows nothing about Speedway so I told him to put his money on Nicki Pedersen in the Speedway GP. I wonder if he did and is now extrememly impressed with my Speedway expertise?

I agree and it would have made absolutely no difference in the end anyway. I saw several borderline cases, but Nicki was the only time I defintely thought someone had gone right over. It's difficult to say what defines the inside line anyway without a proper kerb there.

I've found one of them, for what it's worth on its own. Monday Sept 2 1991 Reading 46, Cradley 43 KOC 1st Leg READING: M. Shirra - 2,3,F,0 = 5 R. Morton - 1,1,3,3 = 8+1 J. Doncaster - 2,3,2,3,0 = 10 J. Andersson - 0,1,2,3 = 6+1 D. Mullett - 1,2,3,2,2 = 10+1 S. Humphries - 3,1,0,1,0 = 5+1 T. Mussett - 1,1,0 = 2 CRADLEY HEATH: G. Hancock - 3,3,3,3,1,3 = 16 A. Grahame - 0,0,2,1,R = 3 B. Hamill - 3,2,2,2,3,1 = 13 J. Pedersen - R/R G. Handberg - 2,1,2,1,2 = 8+2 S. Smith - 2,0,0,F,1 = 3+1 W. Garratt - R,R,0 = 0

I know. I was there, stood on the bend just in front of the road. People actually got out of the cars and there were fans stood on the hard shoulder watching the racing! I think it's an IKEA now.

At a guess, I would say that 51 28' 20" N, 2 33' 55" W is the site of Bristol Eastville Stadium.

Ah, the dreaded rider control. It seemed pretty random who they moved and where to as far as I could see. Some examples I can think of - Martin Ashby being moved to Exeter after Swindon won the league. Soren Karlsson being allocated to Swindon in 1975. Ivan Mauger said in Backtrack that Belle Vue tended to be given consideration because of their history, although he was eventually moved on too as the team was too strong. Ole Olsen was allocated to Oxford in 1975 but refused to go there, which possibly was the beginning of the end of the system. Oxford ended up with Dag Lovaas instead. Not sure the exact details of Ole Olsen, but I know he was at Wolves at the time and said he wanted to ride for Coventry instead of Oxford and stood his ground. Did he go to Coventry that year or was it later? Perhaps someone else will know more about that.

Now there's a thought. Better still, get Gene Simmons to put together a rock band of kids from the local school to perform in front of 40,000 screaming, wild, mental speedway fans at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff. They could make a TV series about it.

How about Leo Sayer? He could sing: 'I won't let the show go on', and everone will go home because they'll think the rest of the show's not going to go on. Then they could do the 'Speedway' rap record, and when it says: 'I'm a player. I'm not Leo Sayer' he could grab the mic and say: 'Ah, but I am' and we could all cheer like crazy kids.

Alright. The bloke who did Errol Brown then. Did you know he actually ended up as lead singer for Hot Chocolate? What about Natilie Casey? She could do 'Chick chick chick chick chicken. Lay a little egg for me.'

I'd prefer to pay £30 and her not be there. Can't they get the bloke who did Chis De Burgh on Stars in their eyes. He'd be good.

Why, the Budge of course.

It's a rocking good way to start the GP. Maybe she'll get Shakey up on stage with her. If they are looking for a Welsh act they should have gone for Budgie. It would have probably emptied the stadium, but I'd have enjoyed it!