ITEM: Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence" could very well have been written by the BSPA/SCB, who have remained tight-lipped in extremis this week over the shenanigans pulled by Poole last week. The Pirates, you will remember, pulled the plug on their home meeting with Lakeside just 27 hours before tapes up, because they didn't want to run with a 6-point Premier League replacement for their injured new signing Przemyszlaw Pawlicki. Lakeside apparently reluctantly agreed - though they could have forced the issue, I'm sure - and were financially recompensed for the postponement. The rest of the league, and the sport as a whole, was robbed blind.
The regulations don't allow a team to call a meeting off in these circumstances. Yes, the regulations have holes in them, but they're pretty clear that a meeting can only be postponed when racing is impossible. I'm not sure that tracking a weakened side comes under this clause, but then again racing is pretty much impossible if the promoter doesn't open the doors!
When the SCB punished Belle Vue for their hilarious call-off a few weeks ago the statement they released included the line, "the SCB believes this will give the public confidence for the future". I dare say they probably envisaged "the future" lasting longer than a couple of weeks, but to ignore what Poole did undermines any confidence the public will have that a fixture will take place on the day it is advertised. Well done SCB!
The day after Poole were supposed to have ridden against Lakeside, Swindon took to the track against Birmingham missing three riders, and were beaten at home by the in-form Brummies. There were no complaints from the Robins' management, who accepted that these things happen in speedway. Tonight Poole actually open their gates to the King's Lynn Stars live on Sky, and the away side are missing key riders, but there is no clamour from Matt Ford to postpone the meeting, fearful of cheating his knowledgeable public. Perhaps that's because Sky will top up his crowd money and the Pirates might actually win this one? Cynical? Can you blame me?
If the SCB fail to action on this - and it looks like they've just accepted it, perhaps fearful of upsetting someone who isn't Belle Vue - we all lose, including Poole. Because it's another stick to beat British speedway with and God knows we need to avoid any more of those. Then again, if those running the sport are wilfully kicking it, why should we care?
ITEM: Luke Crang made his debut for the Coventry Storm yesterday, away at Mildenhall, and could have proved a match-winner were it not for a bizarre exclusion in heat 14. Crang scored solidly throughout, providing back-up to the Storm's heat leaders that has been missing at times in the short history of the side, and will be a welcome addition to the team.
However, to sign Crang Coventry had to drop Rich Franklin, a local lad and former Coventry mascot, and as tough a decision it must have been for management to do it, it's also tough to decide whether making changes based on early season form goes against the stated aim of using the Storm to develop talent for the future.
It was decided early on that the Storm should stand on their own feet, commercially, and that the enterprise should - if at all possible - not drain money from the Bees. Reserve teams - and that's pretty much what the Storm and King's Lynn Young Stars are - haven't always attracted the support their senior sides depend on, but one way of ensuring that the fans come along is to have a winning team. Thus the dichotomy - do you use the team purely to develop talent or do you actually have to worry about results?
It's a balance, obviously, and one made a little easier by the fact that the two Storm riders to have been released so far have been around the block a few times and, as such, are not really exciting youngsters. Nobody could say that about Luke Crang, and I'm excited to see how he comes on, and glad I'll get to see it at Brandon.
ITEM: It's British Grand Prix week, and I hope you enjoy yourselves. It might not surprise you to learn I won't be going, given my stated aim of never putting a penny into BSI's pockets, but I will hopefully be seeing two meetings: Coventry Storm vs Stoke Potters, and the Kauko Nieminen Testimonial, a much better prospect for speedway's well-being, I'm sure you'll agree.
I do like the idea of some kind of festival of speedway, which is what the British Grand Prix has turned into, and I wrote some time ago about whether it would be possible to do a Rugby League-style Magic Weekend down the line. I'd still like to think that's possible, especially with some of our tracks clustered together so closely.
Wouldn't it be fantastic to have, say, three meetings - perhaps at Birmingham, Coventry, and Leicester - with a fan festival held centrally? Maybe the National Speedway Stadium, assuming Belle Vue don't build it on an old Indian burial ground, might be the place to hold it?
It's probably just me being selfish and wanting to meet all you lovely people without having to go to Wales and give money to the biggest parasites this sport has seen since Danny Warwick got head lice, but a man can dream, can't he?
ITEM: Talking of Cardiff, after all his bluster about missing out on the Wild Card, Scott Nicholls had the perfect opportunity to make BSI eat their words by qualifying for the next round of the Grand Prix Challenge from his quarter-final at Abensberg last Monday. Up against a field with only half-a-dozen genuine contenders, Nicholls looked sure to finish in the generous top ten placings available to progress onto the semi-finals, but could only place 11th, and will now be sweating on an injury or withdrawal down the line.
Although the track wasn't in the best of shape, for a rider of Nicholls's experience this really shouldn't have been an issue, and given that the likes of Cameron Woodward, Timo Lahti, Tobias Kroner and Max Dilger qualified ahead of him, he has to be disappointed. In fact, I can't help but wonder if his place shouldn't have gone to the likes of Danny King or Craig Cook, so much in form so far this season.
It's a tough decision to know when to stop chasing world championship glory and concentrate on your bread and butter. While a rider has a responsibility to his sponsors to give them as much exposure as available, it can do no good to go chasing rainbows. Nicholls isn't likely to make the Grand Prix series again, let alone win it, so is it time to take a bow and step back gracefully?
It's a decision only he can make, but while he still has so much to give in league speedway, I hate to see him struggle on the world stage. Furthermore, if he's not representing British speedway in the World Cup, should he be able to choose to do so in the individual championship? Questions, questions, and not an easy answer to be found. Life in a nutshell.
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