Grachan

I don't see how this is good for young riders. What will happen to Dan Bewley next year?

Unless Kemp reches World Class by the age of 21, he will be "on the scrap heap". I think the under-21 reserve rule is a nonsense. What happens to Dan Bewley next year if Woffinden and Lambert are both fit? He's out of the side while Kemp or Rowe remain in it. Riders like Ellis and Worrall are also out of the picture. Ellis may not be fit, but if he is he showed his mettle in the GP Challenge and should have been in the side over Kemp if he was able to. But then, he still probably wouldn't have ridden last night anyway. I think this pairs system and the under-21 rule does restrict a number of good riders for taking part.

Quite probably, although never say never! Hopefully the strong sporting ties to that particular piece of land will eventually force his hand.

I used to love trips to Wimbledon speedway, but, lets face it, the sport was finished there. When I first went there, the football ground was on the left as you turned into Plough Lane, and it was quite exciting to see it as, although they were non-league, they had made a bit of a name for themselves with a bit of a run in the FA Cup. I always liked Wimbledon as a football club, probably because of that and the way they pushed their way up the leagues. I haven't been to that many football matches, but did go to watch The Dons once, when they were having to ground share with Crystal Palace. Wimbledon were, effectively, shut down as a club and had to start again from scratch. The fact that they are in the Football League now is, in itself, something of an achievement. If Wimbledon Speedway had been forced to shut down by this move, I may have been less charitable about it, but on balance, I think it's a good thing to have the Football team back in Plough Lane. Amazing how quick it was built. Swindon Speedway's new stadium still hasn't started!

Bewley is the under-21 rider according to the SON website. Ellis may not be fully fit, but if he is I would have gone for him as Wright is presumably not available this year.

Would that not have been the same for Adam Ellis, who is much closer to appoint in his career where he might benefit from the experience? Riders like Ellis and Steve Worrall have indicated that they are able to perform well at this level. I think it's riders like that which should have been given an opportunity here, and at least they might have been in contention for a place when riding.

I know that the under 21 has to have at least one ride. Do both seniors have to have at least one ride or can Bewley replace Kemp in every heat?

Is Drew Kemp really our best option here? I don't know too much about him, so maybe he's better than I'm aware. This seems, basically, to be giving up and just going for experience. Possibly the right move, as we've no chance without Woffy anyway? But I see Adam Ellis is riding in the Peter Craven Memorial. Could he not be used if he's fit? Richard Lawson perhaps? Is Kemp our most promising youngster?

That could happen is every kind of speedway World championship. It could happen in the Grand Prix. Second in all the heats. Second in the semi-final. Second in the final. 18 points every round. It could happen in the old one-off World Finals too. I remember a topic coming up a while back, and I went through a programme to see if it could be done. It could. So, it's nothing new.

If they can break even at £10, then presumably the extra 2.95 is the profit. Do we really begrudge them that if it is? Three quid per person? If people want a good quality stream then they need to pay for it. I certainly would and will probably buy this one, too, if it happens. With regards to Berwick, what sort of feed are they offering? Has it been announced? Is it a proper programme with commentary and interviews or just a single camera with no commentary? For me, if watching on television I want good quality. I could probably cope with Swindon matches with a lesser quality of production, but nothing else.

I wondered that. I've never heard of the lad, and looked him up. He's only 16. He may well be a good prospect though. Rowe has shown good dedication this year by riding in Poland. I was impressed that he did that.

If it's nationality that is required, can we have Crump for Woffinden?

I haven't watched Eurosport for a good few years, but I hope their presentation has improved. I'm not so sure this is good news if it hasn't. We could well have many a minute staring at a picture of a tractor going round with just background noise.

I was ok with the scoring system in the early rounds, then started to have doubts about it, but thought it worked ok again last night. The fact that Bartosz was having a slightly below par night in the heats made it a bit of a cliffhanger as to whether or not he would reach the final so it kept Tai and Freddie in the hunt. Then he proved himself in the money heats. Amazing that Freddie and Tai were level under both methods.

I don't get to many matches, but I'd definitely pay £12.99 for good coverage of several Swindon matches or maybe about a fiver for a single camera shot from the ref's box with no commentary if live. An evening's fish and chips cost more - or grotty burgers for 3 at the stadium. I think it's good value. Costs needs to be covered and it doesn't want to be so cheap as to discourage people actually going. I probably go to about 3 or 4 matches a season and that would stay about the same, or possibly increase as my interest would be higher.

I remember putting a video of a race featuring Tommy Johansson on YouTube a few years and got a message from his daughter thanking me and saying how he had loved seeing it.

Is it not possible that, if the limits are set so exactly, you might find that all the riders are moving to a degree before the tapes go up?

Good post. I think the best rider I ever saw was Michael Lee when he was on top form. I remember a Golden Helmet at Swindon - Phil Crump vs Michael Lee. Crump was almost unbeatable at Swindon. In the Golden Helmet races, Lee was pulling wheelies down the straights and still won by half a lap.

It was the 1971 World Pairs final. He scored 15 paid 18 - a paid maximum -to take the title along with Andrzej Wyglenda. That win included a Polish 5-1 over Mauger and Briggs - which would probably explain why Ivan said he saw Jerzy as a threat before the 1973 World final.

Tennis.

Well, you don't have to, but if they can't understand it then it might be helpful I guess. Heats are, technically, qualifiers by definition.

It's easy. Look up what the word "heats" means. When I was at school, heats were always qualifying races and at first, when taken to speedway as a kid, I couldn't work out why speedway races in matches were called "heats" as they weren't qualifying for anything. To check this wasn't just my own imagination, I googled the word "heat" : It means: "a preliminary round in a race or contest" So I looked up Preliminary and it means: "preceding or done in preparation for something fuller or more important". So there you go. If you need to explain it to a non-speedway fan tell them that.

The stadium looked less than half-full on Friday, which was the maximum capacity. Was the selling option, perhaps, one ticket for both nights and a lot of people bought a two-night ticket even though they were only going on Saturday?

I guess I'm just a three-quarters empty kind of guy.

I think the main problem with it was that it was in Amsterdam in a three-quarters empty stadium.