MethanolPress
latest post
more from the blog
Joyce Blythe (Coventry Bees speedway trackshop)
31/01/2011
Sadly Joyce Blythe has been taken from us. She passed away on Sunday morning January 31st 2011 and will be sadly missed but fondly remembered. Joyce was a really nice, genuine lady with a passion for people. In the Coventry trackshop, Joyce was part of a team, one half of a dynamic duo with her […]
Total Speedway Grand Prix rider earnings 2005-2010 (excluding reserve appearances)
29/12/2010
Rider 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Total Jason Crump $64,750 $81,400 $60,850 $73,400 $101,600 $67,700 $449,700 Andreas Jonsson $43,650 $55,000 $143,350 $51,960 $58,550 $55,350 $407,860 Nicki Pedersen $51,900 $59,950 $88,150 $83,100 $54,650 $53,300 $391,050 Tomasz Gollob $44,550 $48,900 $61,050 $75,000 $72,650 $84,800 $386,950 Greg Hancock $45,650 $61,750 $59,750 $69,400 $60,200 $54,750 $351,500 Hans Andersen […]
Speedway Grand Prix 2010 attendance figures: “could be better” according to Vice President of FIM
09/12/2010
After (allegedly) the most exciting Speedway Grand Prix series since the dawn of time, the ‘high’ quality of the racing product appears to have little impact at the turnstiles. A quick glance at the official F.I.M. figures for each venue recently published in Polish magazine Tygodnik Zuzlowy reveals that overall attendances remain more or less […]
Speedway Grand Prix 2010 Rider Earnings – Top 39 (US dollars)
02/12/2010
Tomasz Gollob $84,800 Jaroslaw Hampel $67,700 Jason Crump $67,700 Rune Holta $59,500 Kenneth Bjerre $57,200 Chris Harris $57,150 Andreas Jonsson $55,350 Greg Hancock $54,750 Nicki Pedersen $53,300 Chris Holder $52,600 Hans Andersen $48,450 Fredrik Lindgren $48,000 Magnus Zetterstrom $44,500 Tai Woffinden $39,750 Emil Sayfutdinov $18,700 Davey Watt $14,100 Piotr Protasiewicz $10,150 Janusz Kolodzirej $6,900 Nicolai […]
The new Jeremy Clarkson, Moley or British speedway’s voice of the people?
18/11/2010
SHALE TREK Review by Paul Burbidge, Speedway Star 20th November 2010 WHEN it comes to writing about the shale sport, Jeff Scott has established himself as speedway’s literary equivalent to Sky Sports camera-come-mascot Moley. He is the man with a different angle on proceedings – an angle or viewpoint which is not always aired by […]
Alan Rolfe – Eastbourne Eagles Start Marshal (1972-2010) retires
25/10/2010
Eastbourne’s modest and friendly Start Marshal Alan Rolfe bowed out of direct raceday involvement at Arlington in typically understated manner – opting to get on with his job rather than seek the limelight. Race night just won’t seem the same without Alan’s neatly dressed professionalism. Always unflappable, prior to any race Alan combined the hand […]
Speedway Grand Prix Wildcards: Qualification versus Selection debate
22/10/2010
Unusually, the permanent wildcards selected for the 2011 Speedway Grand Prix actually look surprisingly sensible choices. This hasn’t always been the case and the performance record of those permanent wildcards selected by the powers that be has often been spotty. Much more significantly, their performances have been historically worse than those riders who qualified for […]
Speedway Grand Prix Series 2010 ends in anti-climax at Bydgoszcz (on Sky Sports)
15/10/2010
The last Speedway Grand Prix of the 2010 season finds Nigel and Kelvin trackside for Sky Sports at Bydgoszcz. As usual the excessive number of rounds of the SGP format ensures – like so many years previously – that there is absolutely no mystery about who will be world champion well before the so-called climax […]
It’s speedway – but not as we know it – (review of Shale Trek by Gary Pinchin of Motorcycle News)
13/08/2010
Speedway. First out of the gate wins. God, I hate that cliché. It’s true you don’t get much overtaking when you set four, brakeless, methanol-burning 500cc race bikes off around a 350 metre oval dirt track, but when someone does manage it you just want to punch the air and scream yyyyyesssss with excitement – […]
Jon Cook looks to the future of British Speedway
06/08/2010
“For my own part I am fast coming to the conclusion that the only way to reinvigorate speedway in this country is to undertake an independent review that allows for the views of not just Promoters but riders and fans as to what does and doesn’t work in this Sport. Promoters don’t hold all the […]
Mike Bacon of Ipswich Evening Star reviews Shale Trek, June 21st 2010
22/06/2010
You know 10 years ago you couldn’t find a book on speedway for love nor money. Today it’s all totally different. But while autobiographies, biographies and re-runs of famous riders no longer with us, continue to flood the market, Jeff Scott’s look at the world of speedway has few equals. Why? Because he tells it […]