Sliding Through Life – Scott Nicholls Autobiography.

Join one of the most decorated national speedway champions as he reflects upon his roller-coaster life, often on two wheels, but more so as an ordinary human being trying to make sense of it all. The urge to share his life story, or more accurately a work in progress, stems from one simple question – … Read more

The legacy of you: Oxford Speedway.

The fabled phoenix from the fire is a metaphor for resurrection, rebirth, and resurgence. Its reality is somewhat rarer, with museums providing an anthology of things past that were never destined to return. In my own lifetime, I’ve witnessed the death and permanent disappearance of all manner of technologies and ways of doing things. But … Read more

No brakes, no gears, no fear: The 2024 Premiership Speedway season roars into action.

The 2024 ROWE Motor Oil Premiership media campaign burst into life at the National Speedway Stadium, Belle Vue, Manchester, on 20th March, where CEO, Phil Morris, choreographed an ambitious fiesta of fascinating interviews for the press and TV, alongside team building events for the magnificent turn out of riders and management. As the press conference … Read more

Tai Woffinden: the word on the street.

The 2024 ROWE Motor Oil Premiership media campaign burst into life at the National Speedway Stadium, Belle Vue, Manchester, last Wednesday (20th March), where CEO, Phil Morris, choreographed an ambitious fiesta of fascinating interviews for the press and TV, alongside team building events for the magnificent turn out of riders and management. As the press … Read more

The secret speedway mum.

Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

In an age of equality, it may seem odd that elite team sport tends to reflect the old stereotype of gender bias. According to a variety of reliable sources, the most watched team sport is association football, with a worldwide fanbase of around four billion and an estimated 270 million actively engaged players; yet, there … Read more

The beautiful game: generations.

I’ve been to some big games: Wembley playoffs, promotions and championship clinching matches ─ and, being a Notts County fan, more relegation nail biters than I care to remember, but this match eclipsed the lot. The debut of my best friend, partner in crime, and ─ by reason of osmosis ─ a committed Magpie: Arthur … Read more

Bradford bromance.

Leaving base camp at a little after 8am, the train journey north from Reading would traverse to Birmingham New Street, then up to Leeds, and finally across to the promised land: Bradford. As a southern-based Notts County season ticket holder, I guess I could class most fixtures – in terms of distance ─ as away … Read more

Speedway through the looking glass.

Grandmaster, Anatoly Karpov, once quipped, “Chess is everything: art, science, and sport.” Arguably this statement could be applied to many other pursuits, although its perfect fit with speedway is inescapable. The best vantage point to appreciate all three facets of this statement is trackside, but close on the heels of being part of the live … Read more

The curious case of censorship, sewage, and Sunderland, MP.

To paraphrase Lady Bracknell, to lose one WhatsApp message may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two – or, in the Prime Minister’s case, significantly more – looks to be beyond carelessness. Sunak’s WhatsApp mishap points to a bigger question: could this tendency to mishandle communication technology be contagious? Are those that orbit the … Read more