tocha

As I have said before, who is this 7 point rider who could have been signed instead because I can't find him.

I can't argue with your maths but then I look around and wonder who would be available on a 7.5ish average and not already or, likely to be, re-signed by their current clubs. Any ideas?

There are three Dudeks, four if you count the one who kept goal for Liverpool, and correctly just one Bartosz Zmarzlik so, indeed, they do exist. I reckon Rye should sign a couple of up-and-coming Swedes though, Bengt Andilbarrs and Bernt Offrin.

Neither can I and I don't know how Jason Bunyan has come into contention. However, if he was in, he could frighten the life out of some more timid riders by steaming underneath them into the bends just as Andrew did during his comeback season.

Exactly, it was a joke just as I accepted it was. Unfortunately some of our politically correct chums do make an issue of things like this.

I like the idea of Charlie in #7. That should boost the crowd and keep Shadders excited lol! On a more serious note, Andrew Appleton hasn't ridden speedway for years and, instead, has been concentrating on Longtrack - not a lot of use for a Saturday track. Olly Allen's average would be too high, I suspect. Now that both the Auty and Aspregen deals appear to have fallen through with the former, possibly, being down to travel more than anything else, Len may be persuaded to retain Jordan and I, for one, wouldn't mind that at all. I think we may see Ritchie in Witches colours next year and, could even be, as a direct switch for Jerran Hart. The remaining side, probably, will be as 2011 except for James Brundell. Just to change the subject, did any of you tune into 'Motors' last night? Nelson was riding as a wildcard in the first round at Oxford finishing second in the Grand Final behind Aiden Collins.

You have to be a bit careful with remarks like this. I know it was made in jest (at least I hope it was) but some could take exception to what they perceive to be a racist comment.

I'll just say this about Len. If he is so tight, as some of you suggest, why is it that so many riders don't want to leave the club? He must be doing something right.

I cannot see any point in 'putting' teams together before the conference. In fact, some of the daft line-ups suggested are beyond belief.

I don't see any point in anyone team-building until after the conference. In the meantime, congratulations on the 'Fours' title last Sunday.

Tomorrow morning at 8.30 on SS4. I hadn't even realised we were on the red button tonight. Last time the whole match was on interactive so it was possible to record it. However the technology is not there, it appears, to cope with situations when the programme is split. Therefore, I discovered when I arrived home that I had just the first 55 minutes of the meeting. I have to ask the question as what is the point of transmitting just part of the meeting? Surely, it would have made more sense to have it all on interactive. I am certain they could have filled the 55 minutes available to them to transmit 'all-in-tiddly-winks'!

Of course, we still do not know the real reason last Sunday's fixture was called off, it certainly had nothing to do with the weather with no rain forecast nor fell. Some are saying it might have been bike issues within the Rockets team. Suppose, though, it could have been Len having second thoughts about offering the Hawks' match free of charge. After all, the original staging was allocated to Lakeside earlier in the year so he might have persuaded the Lakeside promotion that they were duty-bound to accept it this time.

I haven't seen Nathan ride but I have Robert. He rode a four lap demonstration at Rye House on Spring Bank Holiday Monday. It was from the tapes and, beforehand, I was expecting the usual performance ie., slow into the bends then winding the throttle when at the apex. Not a bit of it. He kept it wound on for the whole four laps recording a time under 60 seconds and within a second of some of the heats during the main match, this only after a few weeks riding a 500cc bike. Last Monday we were treated to some more laps from this most accomplished of young riders. He joined Chris Neath and Ritchie Hawkins (I think) for some practice laps during the second-half junior match. This time all three started from different parts of the track but what was, also, amazing that neither of the PL riders were making up any ground on him. He came out on his own for a few laps later with the same assurance with no evidence of scrubbing off the speed going into the bends and wheels perfectly in line coming out. I reckon he would have given some riders a run for their money during last night's NL Championship.

It is possible that Denis Gizatullin still holds a valid visa.

Stars and Stripes mean a lot to Americans. Its a pity we cannot display the same commitment.

I say I say I say. A funny thing happened on the way to Berwick. Rye House were 8 points up by heat 7.

Clearly it must have been our bobbies from the north limbering up for the Highland Games.

Better promoted, yes. I had noticed already, at the last Rye House meeting I attended, that not a single Hawks away match appears in the programme and none at all on their website which, in case some of you had thought it had disappeared altogether, can now be found here: http://www.ryehouserockets.co/

Actually, it was 1996. The British GP was run there the previous year and subsequently Terry Russell and Ivor Henry, existing promoters at Arena Essex, applied successfully to stage racing there whereupon the existing Arena team transferred. Russell maintained that they would continue to keep Arena going but subsequently claimed to have been unable to agree favourable terms with the stock car owners. Eventually Peter Thorogood took over as promoter. It wasn't that Hackney as a team were that disastrous, more average, it was the stadium owners who went into liquidation as far as I recall.

I agree about gate one. It realised just 12 points from 20 outings during the heats, one of which came as a result of another rider being excluded, then a third in the second semi and second in the final both with only three riders in each. I have to say that, if I was in charge of this series, I would want to take the track curators to task as to why the circuit was so poorly prepared. Also, not a single rider who had more than one outing from this gate made it to the semi-final stage and, if I were Janus Kolodziej, I would be a very unhappy man just now. It certainly did for his evening to finish with back to back last places. An absolute disgrace.

It is not quite as clear cut as that. OAPs get in for £10 but, more importantly, existing Lakeside season ticket holders are admitted for £6 (OAPs £5) plus free programme. Also, 17-18 year olds are charged £10, 6 - 16 £2 and under 6 free.

It would. I have downloaded the SR for 2011 to find that the relevant chapter 17 to be missing.

I was going to mention Marc's gating. He got away with it during the match at the Arena Raceway as he was able to cut back off the second bend but his gating there was worse than anything I can remember during 40 years watching the sport. Maybe Lee Richardson can offer some guidance or Luke, who is pretty sharp at this himself, or is that girlfriend of Marc's a bit of a distraction?

I agree. The Hawks do have their own website: http://www.hackneyhawks.co.uk/ I think fans would be happy to purchase a programme if it had its separate identity. It just needs some liaison between the website owner and the Rye and Hammers' promotions. Content should include profiles of visiting riders, match reports and features on previous riders who have ridden for the Hawks along with reports on meetings of long ago. A good start might be the KO cup semi-final against the Stars. Hackney, having achieved an unlikely draw away at Kings Lynn, won the replay 39-38 at Waterden Road thanks to a classic cut back by Benga coming out of the final turn to take Terry Betts in lap 4 of the final heat.

You can't do any worse than we did tonight. In fact, no one can.