Swindon-speedway.co.uk
Title
Swindon Robins Speedway 2006 :: 58th Successive season of Swindon Robins Speedway
Description
The late great pioneer Australian promoter Johnnie Hoskins presented the first-ever dirt-track meeting, as it was then called, way back on 15 December 1923, at the West Maitland Electric Light Carnival. The sport subsequently arrived on these shores at Camberley and Droylsden in 1927, prior to High Beech and some fifty other venues in 1928. Initially, individual style events were the order of the day, with league racing first being staged in 1929. Things have come a long way since then, but the basic principle remains the same, with four men taking part in each race over four laps of an oval-shaped track, most of which are between 300-350 metres in length. Riders compete on specially adapted 500cc machines, with rapid acceleration, but uniquely they have no brakes, meaning the competitors have to broadside in order to negotiate the corners. Britain, along with Poland, Sweden and Denmark are the leading countries, each staging high quality league racing.
Three leagues operate in Britain – Elite, Premier and Conference. The Elite League is the top-flight league with many of the world’s superstars competing on a regular basis. It comprises of eleven sides, namely Arena-Essex, Belle Vue, Coventry, Eastbourne, Ipswich, Oxford, Peterborough, Poole, Reading, Swindon and Wolverhampton. The Premier League is renowned for serving up terrific racing and many of the sports real characters participate at this level. The league continues to go from strength-to-strength and fourteen teams will compete in 2006, namely Berwick, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Isle of Wight, King’s Lynn, Mildenhall, Newcastle, Newport, Rye House, Sheffield, Somerset, Stoke and Workington. Then, there is the Conference League, which although very competitive, is mainly a training ground for up and coming youngsters. This year will see nine teams contest the league, namely Boston, Buxton, Mildenhall, Newport, Oxford, Rye House, Scunthorpe, Stoke and Weymouth.
Every team is made up of seven riders, with the two highest averaged men riding at either number one or number five; the next three men in the averages can occupy any of the numbers two, three or four positions, while the two riders with the lowest figures fill the reserve berths at numbers six and seven. Matches are run over fifteen heats, with two riders from each team contesting each race. Points are awarded for finishing in only the first three positions, with the first placed rider gaining 3 points, second position gains 2 points, while third place gains a solitary point. Tactical rides (from the gate) and tactical substitute rides (from a 15-metre handicap) can be used to stop a team from falling too far behind and these mean that the nominated rider can gain double points. All the points are added together as the meeting progresses and the team that accumulates the most is the winner!
