*JJ

He has been riding in Scunthorpe amateur meetings, at first in the novice class, then Support when he got too good for that; he won a couple of races last time out. Northside and Redcar are a bit far for us; we are from Birmingham. I was hoping that Chris could join a Brummies MDL team, although this is still up in the air at the moment, as this is much closer than Scunny!.

I know all about that; the bike on the left is legal and up to date, and its rider has his licences. While it is true that some of the 'Novice' riders are riding for fun, some of them, and probably all of the 'Support' and 'Open' riders, are trying to progress in speedway, and are looking to 'move up' into the NJL. Our rider (Chris Bambury) says that he will ride for any team which will have him!

Well, you're correct about No.6!

There should be riders in the amateur racing set-ups who can move up into the MDL, just as riders move from MDL to NL.

Shock horror! Yew cannot be serious!

Does Buxton do any training days for any riders?

Plenty ...

Also, try Facebook/Scunthorpe Amateur Speedway. There is plenty of information about training on this (They seem to have stopped using this forum).

You can ride a 500cc bike at 15. You don't say if you have a bike or not? If not, the best thing is to go to Wayne Carter's training school at Scunthorpe, and have him show you the basics on the mini-track with a hired bike. After that, if you buy a bike, there are training schools at Scunthorpe, Rye House, Peterborough etc: see the tracks' web sites. You can hire 500cc bikes but it is expensive.

Something like this was tried at Birmingham back in the seventies/eighties - a thick rope was laid behind the back wheels as the riders came to the tapes. What happened was that the riders fought and struggled to get their wheels over the rope again! Unless the riders are forced to cooperate, nothing will change. This was the reason for the tape-touching, as opposed to breaking, rule. Did ... A couple of years ago, the start marshal tried to make Iversen come to the tapes (he was trying to get a flyer). When the start marshal tried to pull Iversen's wheel forwards, Iversen tried to hit him! Again, referees must make the riders cooperate.

You don't have to pay to watch amateur speedway - there's a meeting this Sunday at Scunthorpe, entrance free for spectators. You can watch up-and-coming British riders, including two from Birmingham.

I stand corrected then!

Wasn't it Les Rumsey? Who once rode for us doubling up. I seem to remember him guesting for us in an inter-league competition at Rye House, and scoring an 18-point maximum! Not even Hans Nielsen could do that!

Wilson is the third most common English surname!

Yes, the link does work, but the video seems to be the inside of a box all the way through! Is this just me? Other videos work on my computer.

Well, that was very thrilling ... not. What went wrong?

Don't bother - Perky is going to Cradley!

This explains why he was practicing at Rye House last month. I did wonder!

Very interesting, Mr. C: and thanks for the programme!

Adam Ellis for Birmingham.

I thought that it was to be used as a (reasonably) central training facility: hence the 'National' title. This is something which is badly needed.

Well, it's yellow and red now!

Well, I bought mine in a shop on Thursday and it was all right.

I won't be mistaken for a Potty in my Brummies coat! But the colours are taken from the Birmingham coat of arms. This is quartered, part blue and yellow (hence the football team) and part yellow and red. No red and white, thank you!

But is it really the National Development League any more? Isn't it really just the Third Division these days? There are separate Northern and Midland Development Leagues.