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We jokingly call the back straight terrace , where we watch from , the Charlie Monk stand . I cant think of a more fitting tribute than Glasgow to name the grandstand to honour the memory of Jimmy Beaton . Officially naming it the Jimmy Beaton stand would serve as a lasting thanks for all he did for the club .

Whatever his actions they were far less detrimental to British Speedway that the course taken by Holder and Rathbone....

Sad news indeed mate , at Glasgow we have much to be thankful to Jimmy for , would we still be in existence without Jimmy Beaton - probably not . RIP Jimmy your legacy will live on everytime a Glasgow rider takes to the track .

Why on this forum do I keep reading that Mick Horton owes money ? Can somebody specifically and with accuracy say who is owed what ? I do not believe that he would have obtained a licence to run Speedway at Leicester ( or anywhere else) if money was still owed to anyone. Admittedly he has not been the most successful Speedway promoter in the past at Peterborough and elsewhere, but that does not mean that he has defaulted in payments. Although I am not a bees fan, I think he is to be congratulated on trying to keep the Bees alive in this way, almost certain to lose money ( though I hope not). Why he gets such abuse on this forum I do not know.

I get all the put British riders first , but clubs want to try and be as competitive as they possibly can . Sure it might only take a couple of riders to improve significally and you have title contenders , but the more riders who do that increases those prospects . It's unfortunate that the likes of Jacobs and Perks have so far been overlooked , but while the sport is average driven there is always going to be arithmetical casualties . And riders in the bracket between 5 and 6 are always the most vulnerable regardless of nationality .

Then you get the likes of ellis perks, has his best year yet, goes from a 2.3 average to a 5.08, most improved rider of the year yet doesn’t get the chance to improve further in 2018, doesnt always help to be successful in this sport

From my perspective its all about value for money and being entertained. Even following NL at the cheaper end of the scale i picked my meetings this year at Kent as i was becoming bored of big home wins with limited entertainment. Im not going to visit every week just because a meeting is on i want to be entertained. Its also down to false economy as i didn't think twice about the fuel in the car going to Peterborough just the entry fee but i did receive good entertainment with the racing in return however i couldn't justify it every week. Speedway fans are no longer happy to blindly hand over money whenever any team visits they want a two sides of equal quality on a track that can produce decent racing and they will be happy. The formula is simple and yet its still often messed up.

Depends on the market which the company is trying to appeal to, obviously.

Have said before but if i owned a big company and he came knocking he wouldnt get over the front door he looks awful with those tattoos ,would u want an image like that representing your company .

Name a track where the following doesn't occur - an away rider gates but the home rider more often than not seems to pass therm because they know the track better.

Just Another Vodka & Not A Role Model also in the line up - seems to be Darcy Ward themed race.

With comments like that you deserve all the s...t thrown at you throughout the year you give Poole supporters a bad name for me you dont represent the true Poole fans.

A bit like your good self, n'est pas ?

I've never understood speedway trying to promote itself as a family sport. All nicey nicey. Just a thought but the Polish fans don't seem that way. Does Polish speedway promote itself as a family sport anyone know

I know its early doors , but encouraging to see Rohan Tungate on fine form down under Could be a big year ahead for him at Belle Vue ?

sad to read on the Glasgow site that jJmmy Beaton has passed on . any loss in the speedway world is a great loss to all . but i think jimmy will be a greater loss to those who had known him . 91 yrs old , it must be the irn bru ! R.I.P. . J .B.

Yes. In fact I'd suggest that the crowd might be slightly higher if it wasn't on TV, as a few armchair fans might be tempted into attending. The big difference with Cardiff though is that the meeting is almost a side attraction for the whole day (or weekend in some people's cases). Everything about attending Cardiff is an experience completely unique to anything else in the British speedway calendar.

What you want to have, in order to keep fans entertained between races, is riders who are excluded standing on the track gesticulating at the ref. Fallen riders stomping over to the pits phone by the starting gate because they've been harshly excluded. None of this is allowed now. It should be encouraged.

Dzieki...cipa. Best wishes to Starman aswell as i've missed the last few weeks here.

Can Kyle fulfil the number role, I think he can. He seems to thrive on the pressure and responsibility, he did every heat 13 when fit and did his fair share of heat 15's especially away where he probably did them all, and his away form last season was a revelation. If you look at Kyle's home and away averages they very similar for me he is one of the best all round riders in the league. Lasse, is as good as any rider around Sheffield, maybe needs to make some improvements on some of the away tracks, but he is capable. Todd surprise me last season fully expected him to show his best form away from Sheffield, as he in past had not done too well around Sheffield. But it turned out to be the complete opposite and his away form was very patchy whereas his home form was really good, in saying that he did on few occasions and important win away from home that turned a match around. People bang on about what is the way to build a title winning team, strong heatleader trio, strength in depth, strong reserves. None of this matters to win the title you need Stay clear of injuries (luck) Have rider or two that put a point or two no their starting average. More importantly win all of your home matches. Last season their was only one team that won all of their home meetings. That team topped the league and went on to win the Play Off Final.

On reflection, don’t you think it would be a better policy for clubs to do their utmost to foster British riders rather than to live by the mantra “we don’t owe them a living”?

Thank god for that.

PERHAPS the FIM will do something about the Poles and their self-imposed rules and continual moving of the goalposts. Incidehtally, a couple of pigs have just flown by my window.

Just continually trying to improve things , making it in such a way to enable us to enjoy exciting and thrilling speedway . The track was too one line last season , the aim is to have a track that riders of both sides can attack and give the paying public the type of speedway to do justice to it's surroundings . No point having Chris Harris and not giving him the track to entertain us .

plenty time mmmmmm

agree, there isn't the money for pro riders in the 2nd div unless they d/u

It is far from a massive gamble, but I imagine his scores will be somewhat inconsistent for the first month or two. Some tracks will obviously come more naturally to him than others. The big thing for me is, having someone of the quality & experience of Andersen alongside Vaculik & Pieszczek in the pits to offer advice. King also.

It's not really slating Claus , it's just pointing out the type of rider he is . Not all can be the consummate team man on track . I remember going to Stoke during Claus' first season in this country and David McAllan got Claused a couple of times . James Grieves had a spat with him at Ashfield one day and called him just a typical Dane when interviewed post meeting . Well I suppose they all learn at the feet of the master in Denmark . But on a 6.8 average there's no doubt he can be trump card if he gets his act together .

And this is whats wrong with Speedway... catering to old fuddy duddies who dont get what the modern world wants/likes

Yeah he’s fit for the new season.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see JPB lead the team and the likes of Greenwood, Halder, Dwyer, Phillips and a 3.00 newbie be the majority of the rest of the team.

Looks like the fans have got everything that they wanted: Rob Henry still helping the youngsters and Mildy will be defending the National Trophy....oh and concessions fixed at the same price, all looks promising this Season at West Row !

Most of your predictions never happen so i will take that with a pinch of salt and to be honest if i was James i would of tried to get fixed up elsewhere.Zach W at Swindon and Shanes both should of been certainties for a place both will improve a no brainer really.If he does not get a place it will be a utter disgrace a rider who does not get mentioned Mark Riss a talented rider who will improve could he be an option for somebody.?

The return of Chris Harris would be interesting indeed, and may actually be the only thing that would tempt a Coventry fan over to Leicester. Maybe the BSPA would consider engineering an assessed 6.00 average for Bomber, like they did for Richard Hall...all in the best interests of British Speedway.

I think they all met yesterday to do an initial draft.

Yeah, a minimum of £120. Despicable they get paid such luxurious amounts of money.

Lindgren was ranked higher in the GPs than Vaculik, despite missing the last two rounds. Vaculik averaged 0.6 higher in Ekstraliga, Lindgren averaged 0.9 higher in Elitserien. If you were to ask me who would average the most in the UK next year if both were here, I'd bet heavily on Lindgren.

That may possibly be true but far more likely is that a price of say £13 may result in a small increase that will then drop back to your hardcore support in a couple of months. Then in order to get income back to where you started from you put the price back to £17 only to find you have alienated some of them too. It doesn't seem likely to me that £13 instead of £17 entry will make much difference to many peoples attendance although continual small rises I think do bite. I believe that the price isn't the major issue, the value for money is. Even if you drop the price you have to increase the entertainment and improve the atmosphere to bring the crowd to a level that sees income improve.

And on reflection there is the argument if a British rider is good enough he'll make it anyway . Look at the strides made by Steve Worrall and Kyle Howarth in recent seasons . You're only going to be successful by having riders increasing their average . Edinburgh's new foreign rider might do that , we know Jacobs ( with all due respect ) isn't . If results aren't that important , go to Buxton , the rest of us would enjoy the thrill of our clubs challenging for honours . You're not going to do that signing 5 point riders who will stay 5 point riders .

Completely agree. Although a resident of Norfolk, I will support the venture as often as I'm able.

So who is owed money then? Extremely defamatory accusing a promoter of owing money. Maybe he is also owed money, that is how business works in my experience but I have never been struck off as a director!!

Think you will find that that was sold a couple off years ago. He has no ties now in the UK. Family are also back in Denmark.

I'm beginning to wonder if this decision was made based on the turnout for the Leicester v Bees challenge match in September last year. I will remain pessimistic I'm afraid, cannot see it lasting at all. Especially with the rumoured news of the arson attacks on Brandon stadium

What money is owed?

Great we have signed Folder, I was getting excited thinking there was a surprise in store instead we get the whinging aussie!

I nearly fell over in laughter at the last paragraph in the SCB statement.. Mick Horton has no plans to return the bees to Brandon anytime, even if it were possible.

THE late, great Charles Ochiltree told me a zillion years ago that he would put together a team in which the riders wanted to ride for Coventry and got along with each other. Then averages came along and he had to put together a set of numbers which never worked as well.

Why wouldn't he come across well...he was representing himself.

It is a strange phenomenon. At Swindon more than half the crowd leave before the team have come round on the victory parade, let alone stay for the post meeting interviews, MoTM presentation etc. I can't explain it. I'd rather stand around for 10 minutes watching the proceedings than sit in a queue of traffic waiting to get out of the car park

Love the sidecars on the grasstrack - but speedway tracks seem too narrow in comparison (and too short) for full on racing Brandon staged sidecars on occasions but I never found any entertainment or excitement from them