'Western Gazette' review by Howard Milton

It seems Jeff Scott’s behind-the-scenes look at the 2005 British speedway season has caught the public’s imagination.

Now on it’s second print run, the 500-page softback publication vividly captures speedway, once one of this counties’ most popular sports, at a crossroads.
As Scott writes: “Speedway strikes me as the complete opposite of the contrived experiences of today that are considered authentic or real” and is “one of the last true bastions of white working class culture.”

Scott travels to practically every speedway track in the country and speaks to all manner of individual, who, for various reasons, are dedicated to or love the sport.
By doing so, he manages to provide a snapshot of speedway’s real state early in the 21st century.

Thanks to the advent of regular Sky television coverage, speedway is being dragged slowly but surely into the modern corporate entertainment arena which dominates sports like football. Thanks to Scott’s wry observant writing, he manages to transmit the fact many people involved in the sport still have to match speedway’s increasing modern overhaul. All of which makes the tome and illuminating and interesting read which you have to pull yourself away from. A factor which lifts the book out of the ordinary and has led to calls for it to be nominated for the William Hill sports book awards.

Of his trip to Weymouth, Scott writes: “ If the queues (into the town) I encountered are anything to go by, I fully sympathise with any speedway riders who have to journey regularly to the Wessex Stadium from any distance away from Dorset.” At Poole, he speaks to the Pirates’ press officer Gordon Day, who tells him “speedway is to Poole what football is to people of Manchester, Madrid or Milan.” After his journey to Somerset Rebels, Scott writes: “There is very good basis for Peter (Toogood, promoter) and his family to feel satisfaction with their many achievements at Somerset speedway club.”

Showered in Shale is different to every other speedway book out there and for that it should find it’s way onto any sports fan’s bookshelf.

Season Ends with Fireworks

SORRY! This page has been removed…

A fully revised and updated version of this blog entry now appears in my new paperback book Shifting Shale (Methanol Press £20) published in June 2007.

All my blog entries from 2006 are included in this book along with many other accounts from my travels that I withheld from the blog. These include the SRA Dinner, Brighton Bonanza, Riding with the Ref’s at Sittingbourne, the Corduroy Revolution at Reading and many, many more!

A fuller description of this book is below




Shifting Shale: 2006 A Race Odyssey


Like the modern-day gladiators of motorcycle speedway, author, observer and minutia obsessive Jeff Scott goes round in circles, Shifting Shale - just like his fearless heroes.

Only the shale he is shifting is not the pinky gloopy stuff which adorns the tracks in the rundown stadiums of broken dreams but his masterwork – a 320,000 word analysis of what once was “Britain's second largest watched sport” (after football).

Entitled Showered in Shale, this epic tome published early in 2006 received plaudits like no other speedway book and, taking his author role seriously and ignoring the edict of one who said “I'd like to write and be published, but I couldn't bear the endless rounds of book signing”, he sets off around the tracks once more to 'press the flesh', meet his public and most importantly, sell some books.

So, not only is this another unique speedway observational book - but a book that will appeal to anyone who has promoted their own work. Scott sets up his stall in the shadows of these mostly decaying yet hugely attractive full-of-triumph-and-tragedy corrugated arenas to sell his wares. His only weapons are charm, humour and unsold volumes.

And it is mostly from this table-side vista a freshly askew insight into the joys of watching four riders race four laps on an uncertain surface on a methanol guzzling 500cc two wheeled monster with no brakes. It’s a spectacle that defies logic insomuch as firstly, four riders try to squeeze into the first bend when there is only space for one and secondly, to turn each corner, the rider actually accelerates and steers to the right. Although he's turning left …

Which, in effect, is the power of this new book - built as a blog, but now read as a book. Reading Jeff Scott, there are no brakes. To stop, you have to throttle off and put your foot down. But the buzz is so captivating, it is a very hard thing to do.

And when he leaves his tableware to the elements and wanders into the pits, the bar, car park, centre green or up to the referee's box, once more, you are actually there.

Elsewhere, he enjoys being a guest of Sky Sports at the prestigious Speedway Riders Association end of year bash, a day astride an actual speedway bike at Sittingbourne Speedway, comparing sales figures with legendary former riders, hobnobbing with riders on the Isle of Wight ferry and even spending the night sleeping with two speedway riders at the Norfolk Arena ...

It's dafter, funnier, deeper and a 'must have' companion to his masterpiece Showered in Shale, and his other books – the hilarious When Eagles Dared or the poignantly photographed Shale Britannia.

ASHLEY WAS OUR NUMBER 8 THIS SEASON

SORRY! This page has been removed…

A fully revised and updated version of this blog entry now appears in my new paperback book Shifting Shale (Methanol Press £20) published in June 2007.

All my blog entries from 2006 are included in this book along with many other accounts from my travels that I withheld from the blog. These include the SRA Dinner, Brighton Bonanza, Riding with the Ref’s at Sittingbourne, the Corduroy Revolution at Reading and many, many more!

A fuller description of this book is below




Shifting Shale: 2006 A Race Odyssey


Like the modern-day gladiators of motorcycle speedway, author, observer and minutia obsessive Jeff Scott goes round in circles, Shifting Shale - just like his fearless heroes.

Only the shale he is shifting is not the pinky gloopy stuff which adorns the tracks in the rundown stadiums of broken dreams but his masterwork – a 320,000 word analysis of what once was “Britain's second largest watched sport” (after football).

Entitled Showered in Shale, this epic tome published early in 2006 received plaudits like no other speedway book and, taking his author role seriously and ignoring the edict of one who said “I'd like to write and be published, but I couldn't bear the endless rounds of book signing”, he sets off around the tracks once more to 'press the flesh', meet his public and most importantly, sell some books.

So, not only is this another unique speedway observational book - but a book that will appeal to anyone who has promoted their own work. Scott sets up his stall in the shadows of these mostly decaying yet hugely attractive full-of-triumph-and-tragedy corrugated arenas to sell his wares. His only weapons are charm, humour and unsold volumes.

And it is mostly from this table-side vista a freshly askew insight into the joys of watching four riders race four laps on an uncertain surface on a methanol guzzling 500cc two wheeled monster with no brakes. It’s a spectacle that defies logic insomuch as firstly, four riders try to squeeze into the first bend when there is only space for one and secondly, to turn each corner, the rider actually accelerates and steers to the right. Although he's turning left …

Which, in effect, is the power of this new book - built as a blog, but now read as a book. Reading Jeff Scott, there are no brakes. To stop, you have to throttle off and put your foot down. But the buzz is so captivating, it is a very hard thing to do.

And when he leaves his tableware to the elements and wanders into the pits, the bar, car park, centre green or up to the referee's box, once more, you are actually there.

Elsewhere, he enjoys being a guest of Sky Sports at the prestigious Speedway Riders Association end of year bash, a day astride an actual speedway bike at Sittingbourne Speedway, comparing sales figures with legendary former riders, hobnobbing with riders on the Isle of Wight ferry and even spending the night sleeping with two speedway riders at the Norfolk Arena ...

It's dafter, funnier, deeper and a 'must have' companion to his masterpiece Showered in Shale, and his other books – the hilarious When Eagles Dared or the poignantly photographed Shale Britannia.

Butterflies and Big News in 'the Sun'

SORRY! This page has been removed…

A fully revised and updated version of this blog entry now appears in my new paperback book Shifting Shale (Methanol Press £20) published in June 2007.

All my blog entries from 2006 are included in this book along with many other accounts from my travels that I withheld from the blog. These include the SRA Dinner, Brighton Bonanza, Riding with the Ref’s at Sittingbourne, the Corduroy Revolution at Reading and many, many more!

A fuller description of this book is below




Shifting Shale: 2006 A Race Odyssey


Like the modern-day gladiators of motorcycle speedway, author, observer and minutia obsessive Jeff Scott goes round in circles, Shifting Shale - just like his fearless heroes.

Only the shale he is shifting is not the pinky gloopy stuff which adorns the tracks in the rundown stadiums of broken dreams but his masterwork – a 320,000 word analysis of what once was “Britain's second largest watched sport” (after football).

Entitled Showered in Shale, this epic tome published early in 2006 received plaudits like no other speedway book and, taking his author role seriously and ignoring the edict of one who said “I'd like to write and be published, but I couldn't bear the endless rounds of book signing”, he sets off around the tracks once more to 'press the flesh', meet his public and most importantly, sell some books.

So, not only is this another unique speedway observational book - but a book that will appeal to anyone who has promoted their own work. Scott sets up his stall in the shadows of these mostly decaying yet hugely attractive full-of-triumph-and-tragedy corrugated arenas to sell his wares. His only weapons are charm, humour and unsold volumes.

And it is mostly from this table-side vista a freshly askew insight into the joys of watching four riders race four laps on an uncertain surface on a methanol guzzling 500cc two wheeled monster with no brakes. It’s a spectacle that defies logic insomuch as firstly, four riders try to squeeze into the first bend when there is only space for one and secondly, to turn each corner, the rider actually accelerates and steers to the right. Although he's turning left …

Which, in effect, is the power of this new book - built as a blog, but now read as a book. Reading Jeff Scott, there are no brakes. To stop, you have to throttle off and put your foot down. But the buzz is so captivating, it is a very hard thing to do.

And when he leaves his tableware to the elements and wanders into the pits, the bar, car park, centre green or up to the referee's box, once more, you are actually there.

Elsewhere, he enjoys being a guest of Sky Sports at the prestigious Speedway Riders Association end of year bash, a day astride an actual speedway bike at Sittingbourne Speedway, comparing sales figures with legendary former riders, hobnobbing with riders on the Isle of Wight ferry and even spending the night sleeping with two speedway riders at the Norfolk Arena ...

It's dafter, funnier, deeper and a 'must have' companion to his masterpiece Showered in Shale, and his other books – the hilarious When Eagles Dared or the poignantly photographed Shale Britannia.

Down came the rain

SORRY! This page has been removed…

A fully revised and updated version of this blog entry now appears in my new paperback book Shifting Shale (Methanol Press £20) published in June 2007.

All my blog entries from 2006 are included in this book along with many other accounts from my travels that I withheld from the blog. These include the SRA Dinner, Brighton Bonanza, Riding with the Ref’s at Sittingbourne, the Corduroy Revolution at Reading and many, many more!

A fuller description of this book is below




Shifting Shale: 2006 A Race Odyssey


Like the modern-day gladiators of motorcycle speedway, author, observer and minutia obsessive Jeff Scott goes round in circles, Shifting Shale - just like his fearless heroes.

Only the shale he is shifting is not the pinky gloopy stuff which adorns the tracks in the rundown stadiums of broken dreams but his masterwork – a 320,000 word analysis of what once was “Britain's second largest watched sport” (after football).

Entitled Showered in Shale, this epic tome published early in 2006 received plaudits like no other speedway book and, taking his author role seriously and ignoring the edict of one who said “I'd like to write and be published, but I couldn't bear the endless rounds of book signing”, he sets off around the tracks once more to 'press the flesh', meet his public and most importantly, sell some books.

So, not only is this another unique speedway observational book - but a book that will appeal to anyone who has promoted their own work. Scott sets up his stall in the shadows of these mostly decaying yet hugely attractive full-of-triumph-and-tragedy corrugated arenas to sell his wares. His only weapons are charm, humour and unsold volumes.

And it is mostly from this table-side vista a freshly askew insight into the joys of watching four riders race four laps on an uncertain surface on a methanol guzzling 500cc two wheeled monster with no brakes. It’s a spectacle that defies logic insomuch as firstly, four riders try to squeeze into the first bend when there is only space for one and secondly, to turn each corner, the rider actually accelerates and steers to the right. Although he's turning left …

Which, in effect, is the power of this new book - built as a blog, but now read as a book. Reading Jeff Scott, there are no brakes. To stop, you have to throttle off and put your foot down. But the buzz is so captivating, it is a very hard thing to do.

And when he leaves his tableware to the elements and wanders into the pits, the bar, car park, centre green or up to the referee's box, once more, you are actually there.

Elsewhere, he enjoys being a guest of Sky Sports at the prestigious Speedway Riders Association end of year bash, a day astride an actual speedway bike at Sittingbourne Speedway, comparing sales figures with legendary former riders, hobnobbing with riders on the Isle of Wight ferry and even spending the night sleeping with two speedway riders at the Norfolk Arena ...

It's dafter, funnier, deeper and a 'must have' companion to his masterpiece Showered in Shale, and his other books – the hilarious When Eagles Dared or the poignantly photographed Shale Britannia.

Eagles Book Sets Amazon.co.uk Record

Moments ago my book When Eagles Dared reached number 659,689 in the Amazon.co.uk rankings

This definitely makes it a record breaking book! (albeit of the wrong type)

And Martin Dadswell was right

I think I might blame my ponderous and prententious writing style

Art Lesson in the Coventry Trackshop

SORRY! This page has been removed…

A fully revised and updated version of this blog entry now appears in my new paperback book Shifting Shale (Methanol Press £20) published in June 2007.

All my blog entries from 2006 are included in this book along with many other accounts from my travels that I withheld from the blog. These include the SRA Dinner, Brighton Bonanza, Riding with the Ref’s at Sittingbourne, the Corduroy Revolution at Reading and many, many more!

A fuller description of this book is below




Shifting Shale: 2006 A Race Odyssey


Like the modern-day gladiators of motorcycle speedway, author, observer and minutia obsessive Jeff Scott goes round in circles, Shifting Shale - just like his fearless heroes.

Only the shale he is shifting is not the pinky gloopy stuff which adorns the tracks in the rundown stadiums of broken dreams but his masterwork – a 320,000 word analysis of what once was “Britain's second largest watched sport” (after football).

Entitled Showered in Shale, this epic tome published early in 2006 received plaudits like no other speedway book and, taking his author role seriously and ignoring the edict of one who said “I'd like to write and be published, but I couldn't bear the endless rounds of book signing”, he sets off around the tracks once more to 'press the flesh', meet his public and most importantly, sell some books.

So, not only is this another unique speedway observational book - but a book that will appeal to anyone who has promoted their own work. Scott sets up his stall in the shadows of these mostly decaying yet hugely attractive full-of-triumph-and-tragedy corrugated arenas to sell his wares. His only weapons are charm, humour and unsold volumes.

And it is mostly from this table-side vista a freshly askew insight into the joys of watching four riders race four laps on an uncertain surface on a methanol guzzling 500cc two wheeled monster with no brakes. It’s a spectacle that defies logic insomuch as firstly, four riders try to squeeze into the first bend when there is only space for one and secondly, to turn each corner, the rider actually accelerates and steers to the right. Although he's turning left …

Which, in effect, is the power of this new book - built as a blog, but now read as a book. Reading Jeff Scott, there are no brakes. To stop, you have to throttle off and put your foot down. But the buzz is so captivating, it is a very hard thing to do.

And when he leaves his tableware to the elements and wanders into the pits, the bar, car park, centre green or up to the referee's box, once more, you are actually there.

Elsewhere, he enjoys being a guest of Sky Sports at the prestigious Speedway Riders Association end of year bash, a day astride an actual speedway bike at Sittingbourne Speedway, comparing sales figures with legendary former riders, hobnobbing with riders on the Isle of Wight ferry and even spending the night sleeping with two speedway riders at the Norfolk Arena ...

It's dafter, funnier, deeper and a 'must have' companion to his masterpiece Showered in Shale, and his other books – the hilarious When Eagles Dared or the poignantly photographed Shale Britannia.

"Let's be NOISY out there!"

SORRY! This page has been removed…

A fully revised and updated version of this blog entry now appears in my new paperback book Shifting Shale (Methanol Press £20) published in June 2007.

All my blog entries from 2006 are included in this book along with many other accounts from my travels that I withheld from the blog. These include the SRA Dinner, Brighton Bonanza, Riding with the Ref’s at Sittingbourne, the Corduroy Revolution at Reading and many, many more!

A fuller description of this book is below




Shifting Shale: 2006 A Race Odyssey


Like the modern-day gladiators of motorcycle speedway, author, observer and minutia obsessive Jeff Scott goes round in circles, Shifting Shale - just like his fearless heroes.

Only the shale he is shifting is not the pinky gloopy stuff which adorns the tracks in the rundown stadiums of broken dreams but his masterwork – a 320,000 word analysis of what once was “Britain's second largest watched sport” (after football).

Entitled Showered in Shale, this epic tome published early in 2006 received plaudits like no other speedway book and, taking his author role seriously and ignoring the edict of one who said “I'd like to write and be published, but I couldn't bear the endless rounds of book signing”, he sets off around the tracks once more to 'press the flesh', meet his public and most importantly, sell some books.

So, not only is this another unique speedway observational book - but a book that will appeal to anyone who has promoted their own work. Scott sets up his stall in the shadows of these mostly decaying yet hugely attractive full-of-triumph-and-tragedy corrugated arenas to sell his wares. His only weapons are charm, humour and unsold volumes.

And it is mostly from this table-side vista a freshly askew insight into the joys of watching four riders race four laps on an uncertain surface on a methanol guzzling 500cc two wheeled monster with no brakes. It’s a spectacle that defies logic insomuch as firstly, four riders try to squeeze into the first bend when there is only space for one and secondly, to turn each corner, the rider actually accelerates and steers to the right. Although he's turning left …

Which, in effect, is the power of this new book - built as a blog, but now read as a book. Reading Jeff Scott, there are no brakes. To stop, you have to throttle off and put your foot down. But the buzz is so captivating, it is a very hard thing to do.

And when he leaves his tableware to the elements and wanders into the pits, the bar, car park, centre green or up to the referee's box, once more, you are actually there.

Elsewhere, he enjoys being a guest of Sky Sports at the prestigious Speedway Riders Association end of year bash, a day astride an actual speedway bike at Sittingbourne Speedway, comparing sales figures with legendary former riders, hobnobbing with riders on the Isle of Wight ferry and even spending the night sleeping with two speedway riders at the Norfolk Arena ...

It's dafter, funnier, deeper and a 'must have' companion to his masterpiece Showered in Shale, and his other books – the hilarious When Eagles Dared or the poignantly photographed Shale Britannia.

Big Country in the Black Country

SORRY! This page has been removed…

A fully revised and updated version of this blog entry now appears in my new paperback book Shifting Shale (Methanol Press £20) published in June 2007.

All my blog entries from 2006 are included in this book along with many other accounts from my travels that I withheld from the blog. These include the SRA Dinner, Brighton Bonanza, Riding with the Ref’s at Sittingbourne, the Corduroy Revolution at Reading and many, many more!

A fuller description of this book is below




Shifting Shale: 2006 A Race Odyssey


Like the modern-day gladiators of motorcycle speedway, author, observer and minutia obsessive Jeff Scott goes round in circles, Shifting Shale - just like his fearless heroes.

Only the shale he is shifting is not the pinky gloopy stuff which adorns the tracks in the rundown stadiums of broken dreams but his masterwork – a 320,000 word analysis of what once was “Britain's second largest watched sport” (after football).

Entitled Showered in Shale, this epic tome published early in 2006 received plaudits like no other speedway book and, taking his author role seriously and ignoring the edict of one who said “I'd like to write and be published, but I couldn't bear the endless rounds of book signing”, he sets off around the tracks once more to 'press the flesh', meet his public and most importantly, sell some books.

So, not only is this another unique speedway observational book - but a book that will appeal to anyone who has promoted their own work. Scott sets up his stall in the shadows of these mostly decaying yet hugely attractive full-of-triumph-and-tragedy corrugated arenas to sell his wares. His only weapons are charm, humour and unsold volumes.

And it is mostly from this table-side vista a freshly askew insight into the joys of watching four riders race four laps on an uncertain surface on a methanol guzzling 500cc two wheeled monster with no brakes. It’s a spectacle that defies logic insomuch as firstly, four riders try to squeeze into the first bend when there is only space for one and secondly, to turn each corner, the rider actually accelerates and steers to the right. Although he's turning left …

Which, in effect, is the power of this new book - built as a blog, but now read as a book. Reading Jeff Scott, there are no brakes. To stop, you have to throttle off and put your foot down. But the buzz is so captivating, it is a very hard thing to do.

And when he leaves his tableware to the elements and wanders into the pits, the bar, car park, centre green or up to the referee's box, once more, you are actually there.

Elsewhere, he enjoys being a guest of Sky Sports at the prestigious Speedway Riders Association end of year bash, a day astride an actual speedway bike at Sittingbourne Speedway, comparing sales figures with legendary former riders, hobnobbing with riders on the Isle of Wight ferry and even spending the night sleeping with two speedway riders at the Norfolk Arena ...

It's dafter, funnier, deeper and a 'must have' companion to his masterpiece Showered in Shale, and his other books – the hilarious When Eagles Dared or the poignantly photographed Shale Britannia.

Review in 'the Voice'

“I found this book difficult to enjoy properly on three counts; the terrible type face chosen, far too many footnotes (on average more than one per page) and Jeff’s rather pretentious and ponderous writing style. Speedway is a rather basic sport and comes across better when described in words of fewer syllables…This review may sound rather anti Showered in Shale, but this book is a “must have” for all speedway fans, if only to argue Jeff’s opinions of the tracks”.

Sue Jackson-Scott [no relation!] the Voice: The Official Journal of the Friends of Speedway

This excellent and always independent minded quarterly magazine is a must read for speedway fans of all ages and can be ordered from:
Stuart Towner
Editor
117 Church Lane
Chessington
Surrey KT9 2DP
0208 397 6599
staurt.towner@blueyonder.co.uk

Subscriptions are £10 for four issues.

How to Buy My Books Free of P&P at Waterstones/Ottakers

You can now buy 'Showered in Shale' (or 'When Eagles Dared') Postage Free!

I think it's always best to support your local bookshop or trackshop wherever possible...

However, now that the season is over and the trackshops are shuttered for the close season, you may like to consider ordering any copies you need of my books for Christmas presents or to while away the long winter evenings from your local branch of Waterstones/Ottakers Bookshops.

After Frank Keating reviewed it in the Guardian, every branch of Watersones/Ottakers in the UK now stocks a copy of 'Showered in Shale' and, unless it's been bought or stolen, they'll be able to order you a copy!

It's the ideal way to save on postage and packing charges...

A Meal Fit for a SCB Official

SORRY! This page has been removed…

A fully revised and updated version of this blog entry now appears in my new paperback book Shifting Shale (Methanol Press £20) published in June 2007.

All my blog entries from 2006 are included in this book along with many other accounts from my travels that I withheld from the blog. These include the SRA Dinner, Brighton Bonanza, Riding with the Ref’s at Sittingbourne, the Corduroy Revolution at Reading and many, many more!

A fuller description of this book is below




Shifting Shale: 2006 A Race Odyssey


Like the modern-day gladiators of motorcycle speedway, author, observer and minutia obsessive Jeff Scott goes round in circles, Shifting Shale - just like his fearless heroes.

Only the shale he is shifting is not the pinky gloopy stuff which adorns the tracks in the rundown stadiums of broken dreams but his masterwork – a 320,000 word analysis of what once was “Britain's second largest watched sport” (after football).

Entitled Showered in Shale, this epic tome published early in 2006 received plaudits like no other speedway book and, taking his author role seriously and ignoring the edict of one who said “I'd like to write and be published, but I couldn't bear the endless rounds of book signing”, he sets off around the tracks once more to 'press the flesh', meet his public and most importantly, sell some books.

So, not only is this another unique speedway observational book - but a book that will appeal to anyone who has promoted their own work. Scott sets up his stall in the shadows of these mostly decaying yet hugely attractive full-of-triumph-and-tragedy corrugated arenas to sell his wares. His only weapons are charm, humour and unsold volumes.

And it is mostly from this table-side vista a freshly askew insight into the joys of watching four riders race four laps on an uncertain surface on a methanol guzzling 500cc two wheeled monster with no brakes. It’s a spectacle that defies logic insomuch as firstly, four riders try to squeeze into the first bend when there is only space for one and secondly, to turn each corner, the rider actually accelerates and steers to the right. Although he's turning left …

Which, in effect, is the power of this new book - built as a blog, but now read as a book. Reading Jeff Scott, there are no brakes. To stop, you have to throttle off and put your foot down. But the buzz is so captivating, it is a very hard thing to do.

And when he leaves his tableware to the elements and wanders into the pits, the bar, car park, centre green or up to the referee's box, once more, you are actually there.

Elsewhere, he enjoys being a guest of Sky Sports at the prestigious Speedway Riders Association end of year bash, a day astride an actual speedway bike at Sittingbourne Speedway, comparing sales figures with legendary former riders, hobnobbing with riders on the Isle of Wight ferry and even spending the night sleeping with two speedway riders at the Norfolk Arena ...

It's dafter, funnier, deeper and a 'must have' companion to his masterpiece Showered in Shale, and his other books – the hilarious When Eagles Dared or the poignantly photographed Shale Britannia.