Fourentee

In addition (and I wasn't at the meeting) there is often a reluctance to field a rider whose programmed outings finish in heat 10 due to changing track conditions.

Not quite the same thing, is it? :-)

Impressed!

Great photograph, though!

Auspicious evening for Peter Karlsson, who breaks Sam Ermolenko's Wolves all-time appearance record of 542 outings in the black and gold tonight. I guess a home match would have been more appropriate -- it would have worked out as Belle Vue at Monmore but for rain-offs -- but Lakeside is a good spot in its way, given PK's recent time there. Anyway, congratulations and all hail to one of the club (and sport's) great figures. I have reason to believe (ahem!) that there is a two-page, 2,500-word interview with the man himself in tomorrow's Express & Star newspaper...

Not sure even the mighty PK's powers stretch quite that far...

Common-sense lot, the Cumbrians. Win from the tapes and minimise the effort.

Absolutely. I know of one who deliberately concealed from the track doctor the fact that he had been briefly unconscious in a crash so that he would be allowed in the rerun.

Yes, correct. I seem to remember him holding a record for consecutive appearances in the National League which was overtaken by a Crayford stalwart (Alan Sage?). A very small claim to fame; I came across a stranded motorist many years back and gave him a lift into Workington on the back of my little 125cc bike and it turned out, of course, to be Mr Watson himself.

Winter drawers on, Rob?

I see what you did there!

Steady guys, stay low, don't be tempted...

Good that they've kept that reminder of the old days...

Hyde Road, Hackney, Ellesmere Port, Reading (didn't attend many meetings there, but the ones I saw were good ones), Milton Keynes. And a special favourite, Park Road at Barrow. Sunsets over the sea before climbing back on the little motorbike and puttering back to Workington. Lovely.

Interesting ideas, Dave. You might want to float them on the boardgamegeek thread below, where the MCS team are happy to answer any queries. http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/960836/mcs-team-rules-clarification

Many thanks. I've attended a fair few meetings there down the years (including some in my long-gone student days, the late seventies) but never actually seen one under lights and didn't recognise it.

Good stuff. Hope no-one came to grief in the wet. What track, anyone?

As opposed to...?

You gotta love this stuff.

I see what you did there.

IThere was a rider in the Comets team of that era who was particularly nervous and regularly threw up before a match. Was that Mark, as I recall?

Mark Dickinson rode for Workington in the late seventies/early eighties, from memory, and also for Barrow in their Furness Flyers incarnation. Bit of a white line rider, but not without talent. I seem to remember him as quite tall for a speedway rider. See: http://wwosbackup.proboards.com/thread/799

Press release says Woffinden will not miss any EL matches, so presumably no problem.

Well, yes, that's what I said the first time!

I wouldn't argue with your basic premise, but my two immediate questions would be: Who won? And did you care? I've been to grasstrack and it's certainly a spectacle. But after the sixth or seventh race, I found it all a bit ho-hum unless I knew any of the riders involved. I enjoy the odd speedway meeting as a neutral, but am only really engaged when supporting one of the teams involved.