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Some on here have been saying for quite a while now that Promoters should be Promoting the sport. Workington bring in a female rider and are accused of it being a PR stunt. They just can't win, can they?

Totally disagree, common sense is often lacking in this sport but I think for once it has prevailed. A minor league sport where we should be doing everything we can to preserve and help the clubs within the system survive, I’ve been following the sport since the late 90’s and the amount of teams who have fallen on hard times and disappeared to then never return is staggering, to the point where the bare bones remain. Giving Plymouth no facility and then basically no hope of competing never mind winning would surely turn not only casual fans away but the fantastic loyal support that the club has. The last thing I as a speedway fan want to see is another club fall on hard times through in theory very little/no fault of there own. Why do you want to see Plymouth in a potentially bad situation? Is it so your own club does better? I’m a Berwick fan like yourself and I would much rather have as many competitive teams in the league as possible and teams being sustainable for years to come.

should go towards a basic literacy programme

Well what can I say after that showing I,m not going back to watch the Comets again......... Stopped reading the posts half way through....what do people really want. Here is what I witnessed , great racing , a big crowd and good weather. Some fine prospects who are already showing that in the future are going to be stars in the sport. Celina and Sam along with Antii and Tate are new to the championship will take time to adjust to the tracks, Cookie , Claus and Batch all showed fighting spirit. Berwick have a decent side and may get some silverware this year but I,m more than happy with the Workington side, optimist maybe , realist definitely. Most of well done to the management and all who help putting on the Workington show.

Not sure why we need to bother about a superheat now there is an aggregate bonus point... For Brum, that could feel like a defeat, which, considering the challenges they face, gives a negative spin to the night. Which they don't need... After 15 heats the match ends in a draw. What's wrong with that? You may as well run just one heat and end the night, given the match starts nil-nil... Use the superheat for a tie overall maybe over the two legs, but let a draw be a draw... Neither team did enough to win in the meeting itself, team v team, so let that be the result...

The track was very wet from overnight and morning rain, and although I was there before 4pm, I didn't see any water being added. It did seem a bit greasy and this probably made passing more difficult. I thought we caught Sheffield cold in the early stages and were able to twice build up a ten point lead, but Sheffield always looked to be capable of catching us up, and being able to use Tai Woffinden four times in the last six races (including the superheat) was hugely to their advantage - although fair play to their team manager for reading the situation rightly. I didn't think Birmingham's Team Manager made any blunders. He might have made a couple of late changes but these probably wouldn't have affected the final outcome. In my opinion, the superheat spoiled the meeting. What is wrong with a drawn match anyway? Both clubs and their supporters would have gone home happy with a draw, so why ruin things for half of them with a daft rule that very few people ever wanted introduced in the first place? (That's not sour grapes, and I congratulate Sheffield on their win which I think they perhaps just about deserved, but I was delighted with the size of the crowd which was a great relief and was well deserved by a promotion which has worked so hard to keep speedway in Birmingham, and by the enthusiasm displayed - made so much better by Sheffield's happy and noisy contingent. This I think, justifies the gamble to move up to the Premiership, and will hopefully lead to more entertaining meetings like this one.

Because the damage has been done to the track. It takes days to prepare a track properly and if it rains as much as it has done this week it will need more than an afternoon to dry out unfortunately. There is no way this was called off lightly, it was going to be the biggest Ben Fund for 10 years, it contributes over 40% of the annual funds. In addition the car park was also flooded. If they went ahead today the track at best would be very heavy, and you’d have people saying this is a farce / dangerous. Promoters can’t win, just trust that the people making this call do actually know what they’re talking about, and the last thing the Ben Fund want is more riders to look after from their own event..!

Regarding Celina, two things can be true, she can/is absolutely deserving of an opportunity to ride in the Championship because of her exploits on the continent and it can also be true that Workington have a savvy promotion and knew it would be good for promoting the club to get in business with Celina. She deserves every opportunity to perform at this level just like every other 4.00 foreign rider who is new to Britain, if she achieves close to a 4 point average this season then it is a highly successful one. She was certainly on the pace at Northside, away from home will be difficult but again it is for most newbies to Britain. The difference between Celina and most other 4 point newbies to the league is that her results will be much more heavily publicised and scrutinised.

It wouldn't, but years ago bikes could be ridden in any conditions, riders were prepared to ride in any conditions and the public turned up in any conditions. It's frustrating but I'd much rather an early call than pay to get in and see Buster going round and round with the blade while fourteen riders who have no intention of riding anyway stand about with arms folded looking miserably at the track and the sky. Been there, done that too many times.

Also what no one is mentioning is that if your whole family are Speedway fans, you are only paying the £15 once for all of you. People are forever moaning about what it costs to take a family, so this is surely a huge saving?

As much as I’ve criticised rogers in the past, how on earth can you blame him for any of the teams performances this season? He didn’t pick the riders this season, the management team as a whole did, rogers merely did the phone calls. as for the way the team is performing, the way the team is being run and the changes being made or, not made on race nights, this is NOTHING to do with Laurence this season. Those decisions are being made by Sam Ermolenko and Chris Adam’s. i didn’t expect t this current 1-7 ( that’s with Pawlicki, not NICHOLLS ), to win a meeting all season but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by our efforts in every meeting up until tonight. So much so, that I went to tonight’s meeting actually daring to think that we were in with the chance to get not only the win on the night but, to also have a chance of getting the bonus point. More fool me !!! This was our worst performance of the season . Three riders should have gone home ashamed of themselves tonight but if you had been there, you would have seen that Flint did well and didn’t deserve to be taken out of his last ride. cook was riding in the team not at reserve where he has done reasonably well so far so, he can be excused to a degree Brennan was outstanding as was Nicholls . how can a rider as experienced as Milik forget to turn his fuel on! What a numpty. You can’t blame Laurence Rogers for that now can you ? you can’t blame rogers if many many top riders turned us down and we had to make the most of those who would ride for us . Ritchie Worrall went on public record as saying it was disgusting that NO TEAM had offered his brother a team place then surprise, surprise, he is suddenly a Birmingham rider …. The one team desperately struggling to sign seven riders…. You can’t surely put the blame for that solely on the shoulders of Laurence rogers now can you ? Pawlicki getting injured pre season, was nothing to do with Rogers. That injury completely altered the way the team would have been set up and meant several riders were having to ride out of their planned position snd, Milik having to ride at number one where he was never going to cope. That was not laurence rogers fault. Pawlicki is back on Thursday and the team should be better balanced . I’ve been to every meeting so far home snd away and will be at kings Lynn on Thursday when our season truly begins. get your backside down to Perry Barr for the next meeting and support both the management snd the riders and let’s all hope our fortunes take a turn for the better

Wow, 1st of April and already it’s a disaster according to some. Give the guys a chance, they’ve not riden as a full 1-7 yet, for some of them getting used to different tyres, and engine setups is a bit of a process. You can’t just copy the next guy. Birmingham haven’t taken a hammering so far, Pawlicki starts next meeting, so I’d see how it goes as they get things sorted. Piling on them after 2 home meetings is a bit stupid really, for so called “supporters” . Sam & Chris they’re switched on guys and they want to win as much as anyone else. There’s a loooonnng way to go yet.

I don't understand why clubs don't employ people to go around to all fans houses to knock on their door and keep them up-to-date with everything speedway related. It's maybe not as efficient as suggesting fans use the new fangled Internet but it would keep everyone happy unless they were down the shops and missed the visit.

Probably still tangled up in the tapes somewhere

Total disrespect hahahah come off it. It’s still the close season. As long as there’s 7 riders at the tapes on Good Friday, which I’m certain there will be, then that’s fine. Talk about toys out of the pram, grow up.

And Tai's good point, about what gets the most views, is lost because of his delivery. We all know all the key promoters of the past encouraged their riders to put on a show, to encourage apparent controversy. However, in my view, his inability to hardly speak a sentence without swearing has become the talking point - rather than the launch of the season in a more professional way.

That was an absolutely brilliant meeting and the Redcar track is awesome. Well done to the Redcar Owners and staff.

Christ like a droning stuck record Just shut the idiot up

Right here we go here are the unfortunate facts Yes I’m a travelling Workington fan but don’t let this distract you from the fact that this was a horrendous advert for speedway! We need people to want to come back and although I appreciate we have no control over the weather but we do have control over announcements and keeping the fans updated … nobody had a clue what was going on unless the speaker system was gone people on the first bend had no idea what was happening. All appeared very unprofessional and especially as the promoter is part of the bspa we need to do better someone come on the centre and announce what’s going on! On a side note respect to the track staff for the work draining the standing water they did do a good job, my only issue is newbies won’t want to return and you can’t survive on idiots like me. Onto the next one! Up the Comets!!

After heat 2 it's irrelevant what number the reserves are at as they get swapped around more than a Kate Middleton photo

Usual old chestnut about admission charges, Everything else has gone up but for some people speedway promoters are expected to somehow absorb their increased costs.

Let's just enjoy this season and don't even think about moving up, as it won't happen, too expensive, no lighting etc. So let's leave it there and enjoy to journey this season win lose or draw UTC

What I saw of her last season,she will certainly give most of the reserves in the League a run for their money.Wish her well.

I thought it was quite fair. If you think Leicester are changing £12.99 for a league meeting. £14.99 for an individual meeting with 20 heats and SF and final, is good value imo.

It beggars belief how some "fans" think that, just because it's sunny today, they think the meeting should go ahead, despite the fact it's been raining "all week" and "speedway is a farce" because they can't control the weather. Give yourself a shake, man.