*JJ

The fact is, Birmingham's heat leaders were the best, Cradley's second strings and reserves were better, so it evened itself out to some extent. Dwyer, who was excellent, won the point for Cradley almost single handed!

Actually, it seems to be only two teams in the SDL who are doing this (Kent and Reading). The others are mostly giving rides to beginners. I am helping a rider in the SDL - we are going to a meeting tomorrow - which is why I have been argueing about all this.

As they say, It's all perfectly legal! But still not right.

Um ... they ARE amateurs! Although using riders like Brennan in the DLs is not playing the game. I see that Plymouth is using Henry Atikins, who I saw winning Heat 15 some weeks ago, in an SDL match this Friday.

What happened with the SDL match?

The real problem IMO is the chicken-and-egg business. F2 will never take off until there is a supply of cheap second-hand bikes; remember, you can buy a pre-used ordinary speedway bike for £1,000 - £1,500. And, of course, there won't be a supply of s/h F2 bikes until after it has taken off! Also, F2 bikes are more complicated and cumbersome than ordinary bikes, which are very simple. The only drawback with these is the cost of having the engines rebuilt.

Quite possibly - I believe Cradley have some - but given that nearly all of the NL teams are standalone, it is a piece of dishonesty which shows what the people who are running speedway are like.

Assets? What assets? NL clubs are not allowed assets; and someone asked if Chapman was good for the sport ...

The standard in speedway, in all leagues down to the MDL etc., has improved incredibly over the years. A present day rider who is just good enough to ride in the DLs would have been a second division heat leader 40 years ago! And people moan about 'dumbing down' ...

I was told that he had fallen out with Drury; not difficult of course. This may not be true, of course!

Must have been some other girls ... the KPs have given up on the amateur racing for good reason. I saw Francesca at Peterborough the other week. She still couldn't slide the bike (she hasn't improved in the five years or so that I have seen her) and was half a lap behind the other girls, who were still slower than the MDL riders.

I know a rider who won't use the chain oiler because he says that it sprays oil over his race suit and everywhere else. Should the oil go on the primary chain or the rear one?

Plenty of thought went into the track, but Hemsley got it wrong. Probably why Ermolenko fell out with him.

Nowhere near NL standard, I'm afraid. The K-P sisters can't even slide the bike.

Tom Bacon uses belt drive as well ... as for chains, it depends on how much money the rider has, I suppose. Those in the lower leagues clean and oil them.

We use Morrison's castor oil .. there are others.

'Total loss' actually ... and engines don't have an oil catcher, they use wet sumps (and splash lubrication). And castor oil is still used.

Roberts broke his collarbone some weeks ago. He tried to ride last week but found that he had merely aggravated it. that is why he dropped out.

What happened with the prospective track at Avonmouth?

There is any amount of talent out there; it merely needs promoters to help and nurture it.

What's a 'roost'?

They did, but it is elderly and moved at an excruciatingly slow speed!

Actually, it looked excellent; someone must have put some shale on it and done some work! It was wet (watered) to start off and became dusty, but that is only to be expected this time of the year.

Well, I will be going there for the MDL match tonight. I just hope that they don't have to ride on broken-up concrete again.

The fact is, that the stadium needs about a million pounds spent on it, like Glasgow. As for your third sentence, I went out onto the track after the meeting a few weeks ago, and was horrified at the state of it. Who does it now?