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Unless you're a deliveroo rider... hang on... I've just had a thought 🤔

Cash only is due to the unreliable signal/lack of phone line to the arena. Say what you will about this but as a business owner myself, I know how much each transactions costs to take a card payment. If the management team are spending time counting cash rather than paying transaction fees on card payments. then I don't think that is unfair or illegal. It just means they are getting every penny that comes through the gate. And most teams will certainly need that right now. To call the team running the club crooks is completely unfair. They have achieved something spectacular at Workington and they deserve every success and good luck.

As some of you may know, for my sins I am Director and minor shareholder in Birmingham Speedway. Now isn't the right time for me to comment on the rights or wrongs of Promotional decisions on team building etc. Nigel Tolley has bankrolled the club for the past few seasons and for that the Brummies fans and sport in general should be grateful, otherwise the club would have folded at the end of the 2022 campaign and a poor team is still better than no team at all as I am sure many fans of defunct tracks would agree. With 2025 being the final year for the club at Perry Barr, Nigel obviously wanted it to be a successful one, so his plan was to put together a side that on paper looked as if it would be in with a shout for the play-off's. As I say the make-up of that team or planning around it isn't for me to comment on at this time, but what I will say is that unfortunately the support in terms of numbers coming through the doors and promised commercial deals have failed to meet expectations. I am not sitting here typing this to disagree with anything people have said on this thread, far from it. I am just highlighting that intentions were for the best even if execution wasn't and that expenditure had to be reduced to ensure that the club continued to fulfil all it's obligations. Cheers, Paul.

This is where people who know nothing about the situation simply do not add further rubbish into the conversation. This is a hard working man trying his damndest to hold speedway in the town against the current speedway dilemma in the UK. The level of speculation/abuse on here is insane and needs toned down. The press release told fans as much as they need to know at that moment. Once further news is known im sure this will be done via the relevant channels!

Despite the comments made on here by others I am willing to give you an overview of the improbables of answering your questions from an ex promoters point of view. In 2018 my heat leaders in my championship team were earning less a than a certain rival clubs number seven. I had two riders on a ‘minimum guarantee’, i.e. if they crashed in heat 1 and didnt ride again then they got a minimum wage. One of these was to satisfy a work visa criteria. Some got a bonus if they scored over a previously agreed points score. Heat leaders got more than second strings and they got more than reserves. Travel was paid to all at the going rate of certain pence per mile. Now all clubs pay different rates depending on their income which includes turnstyles takings and sponsorship. Some clubs did not pay their riders weekly, I did and I never not paid on the agreed pay day, some clubs paid when they had the cash to do so, some didnt pay for weeks. The whole of speedways finances are a secret and a mess. No two clubs have the same income or outgoings because of stadium rents, riders wages, staff wages , maintenance costs etc and everything is dependant on regular home fixtures as you pay your own riders home and away so if you have one home fixture and two away, then you have three wage packets to pay but only one income fixture. So the basic answer to your question is….. depends on the club, the riders, the scores, the attendance, the sponsorship , the bills etc etc etc. That is why Im an ex promoter !.

I’d say Andrew and the rest of the promotion are entitled to alot more respect than the label of a “Crook” Im sure you’ve witnessed the amount for efforts and money that has been put into Workington Speedway at Northside , regardless of what people speculate this promotion have done everyone proud in the work they’ve done.

It's scandalous that the Championship dropped the process - both reserve positions should be British newcomers in the 2nd tier No non Brit should be allowed near a 2nd tier reserve position

With all the feeling of Groundhog Day with the injuries yet again, one thing has gone under the radar and that is the consistent form of Danny King. He’s already fully justified his selection and proven just how much that hand injury was holding him back last year. So pleased for him he’s one of the good guys is Danny.

I keep reading on this forum - mainly the premiership section - that speedway has loads of problems, for example, track preparation, no atmosphere, no kids, no young adults just 'old folk', riders not interacting with fans and missing riders. Track preparation - Despite the heat, it was still 25C when I got home at 10.30pm, there was no dust whatsoever and there wasn't an over watered track just a superb smooth one that provided fantastic racing. No atmosphere - the main stand which was virtually full, roared when the 2 youngsters got their first 5-1 in Heat 2 and thereafter when Barker and Howarth, etc, etc had great battles yet again people got to their feet cheering, clapping and clearly enjoying the evening's entertainment. Nicolai Klindt seemed amazed at the applause he got on his laps of honour and came around again after his last race. The back straight terracing and other stands also were busy. No kids - there were a lot kids some of whom participated in two races one for under 10s and one for over 10s - an idea I believe pinched from Plymouth! No young adults - again good numbers some of whom had brought along their kids. Old folk - yes quite a few but all happy to let some of the new fans know what was going on. No interaction with fans - laps of honour saluting the fans and lots of autographs later. Missing riders - both teams a full strength. Yes speedway has problems but last night was just pure entertainment. There were a couple of fans from Leicester in the stand and they seemed a bit surprised by the whole package. Proved you don't need to doctor tracks to win meetings at home, Mr Dixon 😉

Anyway enough cackling about what we don’t know let’s just get Workington back to the tapes and wish them well in this current hiccup

How has speedway been allowed to get into such a state? Riders in this day and age and I'm not talking big names here. Riders in the 2nd division and even the 3rd division turn up with kit that a GP rider would be happy to have. Paid mechanics, Big fancy vans. It's a fantasy world. You say we can't change back. Well if we don't address the elephant in the room. Speedway won't have long left as a professional sport. Promotors have got big decisions to make this close season. Sticking their heads in the sand and thinking " Theres nothing wrong with product," will not wash anymore. We have come to a watershed moment. If nothing changes, then it won't survive. 1) Do they still carry on paying riders wages that far outweigh the amount of people who come through the gate. Clubs will have to cut there cloth accordingly. Meaning riders will have to be paid a realistic wage for what the sport is. If riders want to turn up with all the kit, no one is stopping them, but the clubs cannot afford to fund their fantasy and before anyone has a go. No rose tinted glasses, but pure facts. In the 80s Most riders worked. They got wages according to their standard. The Leagues were a lot bigger. The crowds were a lot bigger. 2) Do they take the sport by the horns, and make it one league. There are 16 clubs, god knows how many next year. but you can't run two divisions with such a small amount of clubs. " yes they have done, but look where it's taken us" 3) The pricing has to reflect the quality of what you're paying for. Riders will have to make drastic changes. If there is to be one league, I would imagine the top riders would disappear. So the one league would be mainly made up of British riders. Clubs have to stop paying bang average foreign riders, flights and mechanics. People who say it will water it down. Well the standard can't get much lower at 2nd division level. This season most 2nd division clubs have filled their 6 and 7s with 3rd division riders. The top league is made up mostly of 2nd division riders. The standard has been getting lower every season for a while now. if that means a couple of more riders from the 3rd division replacing expensive foreign riders, then that will have to be a price the sport will need to pay to survive. More importantly. two home and two away meetings would stop the silly practise of clubs not having home meetings for weeks on end. The sport needs a reset and It has got to far out of hand and only a massive reset will save it. IMO

Was this the picture?

Sounds a bit on an arrogant comment, no rider should risk injury for any team, but why should Cairns play it safe for Belle Vue when he's not even riding for Poole yet?

But due to the silly scoring system. You had Fricke score 12pts and Lambert 7pts from their 5 rides. After the LCQ Fricke ends up with 8pts Lambert 11pts!! So you had one rider have a fantastic night. Has one bad ride and another ride has an average night ends up getting 5 pts more than guy who was far better on the night!! Stupid scoring system. What was wrong with the system where every point counted ?

Which, for many, could be classed as worse!

This sport attracts the most miserable b@stards ever I swear to god 🙄

... and the Leicester crowd goes wild 😴

Ridiculous that Riss and Mulford are missing this match,to ride in Germany on Monday!!I stopped going to speedway last year after 50 years,came back this year,tried to give it another shot, what’s the point? No meetings for 2/3 weeks, then when there is half the team missing.The sport is a joke.

I’ve sat back and let people crack on but after reading through page after page, I’m gonna say my bit. The amount of people first off running there mouths saying some disgraceful things about Andrew etc is ridiculous. There’s absolutely no need for it. People thinking they’ve got it cracked what’s going on, throwing about silly rumours just to get everybody riled up doesn’t help the situation. I suggest you’s all take a back seat, and await further information. 99% of you clearly haven’t got a clue what’s going on and think you’s do. Wind your necks in, stop abusing the promotion that’s put their hearts and souls into bringing speedway back to the town and stop acting like an entitled bunch. The only people who should know what’s going on at this stage is the promotion, then comes sponsors and when’s the times right, the public will be updated.

the problem partly is there are no promoters anymore just people who run speedway tracks glasgow do the kids race like it or loath it but how many others do anything before or during the meeting in the ian thomas days he would get stunt riders ,fire eaters circus performers even rally cars trying to beat lap record amongst other things most tracks now just long periods between heats with nothing not even a rider interview

Covid 🙄Was thinking of coming to this but instead I will spend my hard earned money going to see the loch ness monster, funny enough that doesn’t exist either, at which point does British speedway start treating its customers with a bit of respect

Having worked in the hospitality industry for 25 years it never ceases to amaze me how on the big day, when everyone should be on point. British speedway always manages to shoot themselves in the foot…. Every bloody time. forget the stupid, flash banners and just get the bare basics right….. it’s not rocket science. if you can’t do the basics to cater for your paying clients in the 21st century. Step aside or pay someone professional to do it for you.

Forget Cardiff that’s for drinking,Manchester for speedway.

Good points in that reply. I remember when Workington first came back to the sport and it was only the top heat leaders that had two bikes and even half of them never used the 2nd bike it was just there. 2nd string riders and definitely reserves had one bike each. Most riders had another full time job. Fast forward to now and every rider has 2 bikes and not many work during the season which then makes there income from speedway there sole income so needs to be at a level to pay for tuning cover spares and a van. I'm not knocking any rider for getting out of the sport what they can financial wise. What I am saying is it's clear the sport as a whole is not viable going forward at this level. There is not enough money coming into the sport through sponsorship and gate money to cover the costs of the stadiums and riders. Meaning in the not to distant future the sport at this level and costs will simply not be there, no clubs for riders to ride for. Speedway jumped ahead of motocross and most other motorcycle sports in the pay structure for riders but it's going to bankrupt itself as a sport because promoters have pushed rules to help there own ambitions not the sport as a whole to the point we have a handful of clubs who are sort of financially viable the rest loose money every year.

Thoughts with the Birmingham fans at this difficult time. Maybe he was signed as he still has his Brummies kevlars in the workshop, whether he can still fit in them is another matter.

i'm not a fan of these riders and I am glad that there isn't one as such in the series now ,that said most of the GP rider's are exceptional just one is far better than the rest .As to the soft passes etc IMO BZ creates them by putting riders in a position that he can take advantage of( he can enter bends far quicker ) . His ability to read a race ,reactions ,bravery and self belief all play apart in making just that bit more special than the rest. Make no mistake Holder for one is neither a friend or ally of BZ that's obvious and Krutz won't even look at him so I don't think he's going to give him a pass in anyway shape or form. We can't all like BZ but we can marvel at his ability after five world titles he is hungry for more never giving up and setting the benchmark for the rest . We have all seen how cruel the sport can be career's are ended in a blink of an eye so let's admire this brilliant young man,I for one would be devasted if some idiot sending him to the airfence deprived the sport of his unique talent .

Spot on... Never ever, watched a rider so "full on" in every single race... Regardless of position... He is, you could argue, borderline "reckless" at times, but that is due, I would think, to his inherent belief in himself to emerge out of very dicey situations, in front... Truly magnificent to watch if you are a proper Speedway fan..

The big question of the night... Is anybody going to remind Shovvy?!?

Yep thought you would miss the point, nothing wrong with belle vue track and yes it probably is the best track in the uk even though I would argue Workington is better but nobody went to Cardiff for the track or the racing ,they went for the event, for the whole experience, the day out, the p**s up, call it whatever you want and it attracted speedway folk who hasn’t been in years because of the buzz about the day and the crowd dropped off because the organisers rested in their past success instead of trying to improve it and it got stale, it needed a new Cardiff not belle vue. I’m sure the racing will be great tonight and tomorrow but that’s not going to attract me or 85%of the 1000s who went to Cardiff to go or any of the randem non speedway folk who went because of the buzz of the event ,the GP is an event, it’s a celebration, it’s a days entertainment, the speedway is secondary, 19,000 went last year and now we down to 6500 and it hasn’t even sold out

Havvy looking well compared to recent years. Good to see.

Who’s this Starke kid, must be a good prospect.

Speedway is an amateur individual sport masquerading as a professional team sport. The end is nigh and only a massive reset will save it (also IMO).

Probably never find out the reason for the 7 day suspension. But if the comets pull through this, the main organisation body (bspa) may have made it worse, 3 clubs without a meeting a short notice, these meetings may then have to be rearranged, then you have fans who may have paid hotel costs to travel in the next few days, or like me, in the North East on way to berwick 2morrow, but at least I can enjoy the north east coast and the puffins . speedway shoots its self in the foot yet again !!

Ashton has all the machinery and backing the some young riders can only dream .Has talent not sure about attitude and bottle you need though,it’s a tough sport. Time will tell what he does next.

Speedway wages aren't public knowledge so I couldn't say either way. I just have an example that I did know of where Glasgow wouldn't meet a riders demands, so clearly there are limits on what they will pay as opposed to having a bottomless money pit. Do you have evidence of Glasgow paying huge sums to riders over and above all the other tracks? If so, feel free to share it. Glasgow have a great race track, and rumours suggest they have a reputation for paying riders in full and on time every week (which rumours suggest isn't as common as us fans would like to believe) which could explain why riders want to ride there

Have a look at Ashtons social media posts. How many bike issues & mechanics were blamed for his struggle in form ? You can't sort a problem if the problem is denied ,and are you telling me Oxford would have kept a rider who signed on a 5.07 and was due to drop to 3 in his new average ? Every man and his dog could see there was serious confidence issues, even when practising with a team mate, the issue was glaringly obvious. Everyone wants to see the lad succeed regardless of what team you support as he was a talented British rider but pushing for some sort of success when his mental struggles were starting to not only cost him in results but becomes a danger to other riders there is no other option than for a big time out. Hopefully he will return at some point but not convinced he will.

They even let Chris "Bomber" Harris into the stadium... shocking!

Given that King's Lynn had already booked / announced a guest before Cook "re-injured" his wrist, the whole thing absolutely stinks! Also as Leszno won 60-30, if Cook was struggling with his wrist why did he go out in the nominated races?

Ben Cook returned from his wrist injury which has kept him on the sidelines for 2 months on Sunday 15th June for his Polish Metalkas 2 Ekstraliga club Leszno scoring 12 points from his 5 rides, however immediately after the fixture Mr Cook complained of further wrist pain and was examined by his club’s medical staff. Mr Cook is to receive further intensive rehabilitation in order to identify the problem and has been medically withdrawn from any further racing for a further 7 days. The Speedway Control Bureau have received a medical certificate for Mr Cook ruling him out for a further 7 days as from the 15th June 2025. Mr Cook’s Premiership Club Kings Lynn will be granted a facility for his absence during this period.

Don’t know if you noticed but the poles are not usually trying to blow us up, flares are banned but 30 FT away from supporters there are flame throwers shooting flames up in the air, it’s just health and safety crap spoiling people’s enjoyment, some pole brought one to the Birmingham v Ipswich match at Perry Barr, it livened up the meeting seeing the staff having a meltdown, life is too short, might take some myself when I’m next at belle vue

Well there was a little band of us attended the Friday meeting and thoroughly enjoyed the racing,and the result of course👍.As has been said though the downside was the organisation.We were in the East stand we got in ok,although my daughter and her friend had their bags tagged not checked though🤔.I was ok with the food no problem.There was no signs or information where to get programmes.Went to our seats,thought we were in the wrong section as the seats we thought we were in were taken.They were our seats but the people were told to sit there by stewards as there seats didn't exist.Could not hear the annoy whatsoever.My daughter witnessed stewards pushing people back trying to get into the East stand.Lessons to be learnt,hopefully Saturday went a bit more smoothly. We stayed over in the City centre and couldn't fault that whatsoever, lovely city with loads to do,China town,museums, galleries, trams,trains, bars,restaurants all on our doorstep,so much to do.Only a 10min train ride to the speedway,£4 return. All in all we will definitely be back next year👍

You talk some rubbish at times.You won’t see better meetings in GB this year. 2 very good GP’s in Manchester.Very competitive racing from all riders.

Even if the new signing decides he is Australian & not British, Edinburgh are still doing more for British riders development than any club who didn't enter the NL/NT. Plus last year they held a NDL series individual when they didn't have to.

Cammi is that you?

I'd like us all to just try and remember what age he is and not be too hard on him. If you've played sport at any level you'll know that what's going on in your head can massively effect your performance. Usually talented teens just rise through the ranks maybe with a few bumps but i can't remember seeing someone with so much promise suddenly fall off like Ashton has. I genuinely wish him all the best and hope he gets back to his best.

A couple of thoughts from Cami Brown's match report on Tigers FB page “I knew it would be tough tonight. Victor Palovaara at reserve is ridiculous, let’s be honest. He’s not a reserve, he’s miles better than that." Firstly why is Palovaara at reserve rediculous? Edinburgh were clever enough to build a team where he started at reserve. Remember when Glasgow signed Tarasenko on a 5.00 Champ ave, despite him also being on a 5.00 Prem ave which was about to go up to 6.45 (meaning a converted 9.5+ Champ ave) did Cami say that was ridiculous at the time? Glasgow just used the rules, which were available to all the clubs, just like Edinburgh have done this year. Secondly, no mention of Boughen not competing 3 rides. If he was ill, you'd think Glasgow would announce they are putting in a complaint that he wasn't signed off, not allowing a reserve to come in. If he just didn't fancy it, should Glasgow not say they are dissapointed with what happened & are dealing with it behind closed doors? Do Glasgow not owe it to their fans who paid to watch / for the stream for some honesty about the situation?

Until Promoters stop paying riders more money than is coming into the Clubs the problem will never end.Just the sport.

ironic that you mention trolls yet you weirdly started asking questions regarding if Lawson was going to ride?

Great speedway! Best gp of the year by far. Shame about the organisation with ticket/catering issues as I mentioned before the event. Thought lessons would have been learnt from SON. Well done Bewley 👏