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Really proud to tell you all that Martin and I, on behalf of everyone who believed in us, volunteers, our fans, visiting fans, sponsors and riders, won the 2018 Isle of Wight Radio Local Hero Awards for Sporting Achiever. This is absolutely great to be honored up against every other sport, sports club, sports person who represents or is on the Isle of Wight and is voted for by the community. We are both, as should everyone associated with the club, very proud today. Thank you

I hope that the AGM does not take too much notice of the opinions of Bomber Harris. If that is how the majority of British riders feel then speedway has no chance of rebuilding itself. "Can't go on" without doubling up. "Not worth the risk" without doubling up. Bomber is a terrific speedway racer but outside of his own backyard no-one in the outside world has heard of him and many of the 25,000 UK fans of speedway do not want doubling up. He needs to talk to more of them. If there were 250,000 UK fans prepared to pay to get in and were baying for Chris Harris then he might get the rewards he deserves for his racing skills. What he did or didn't do at school is not the responsibility of supporters and he needs to really think about the day which comes to all riders ( except it seems Greg Hancock ) when they have to retire ( or want to retire or no-one wants to employ them ) life after speedway for all riders needs careful preparation and thinking about at a deep personal level.

Who actually cares what nights that Poland uses? Friday, Saturday and Sunday are the best nights for attendances, so we should use them. The riders then have a simple choice. It's about time the tail stopped wagging the dog.

All I remember is attending Coventry, Cradley, Eastbourne, Swindon etc etc on Saturday nights and always in front of healthy crowds, the ONLY thing that should dictate what night a club runs on is the availability of the stadium for the night a club wants to run on. GP riders seem to be able to make it to a Polish League match on a Sunday afternoon from wherever the GP event has been held on the Saturday night so why any other riders couldn't I fail to understand, Poland is 3 hours away max, on an early morning redeye they could be at the stadium by 11 am. Some riders are going to have to make some tough decisions either 30 odd matches in the UK or a handful in Poland. British Speedway can't be running it's business to suit others, it's never been at a better place to lay down some of its own rules, all of the prima Donna riders have been weened out of the league and with the country brexited by the start of next season there'll be no restriction of trade laws to block British Speedway doing its own thing. I think we all agree something radical needs to happen, Poland really shouldn't be an issue anymore!

My background in motorsport was Enduro, but in the days when everything had to be paid for by myself, I afforded it because I enjoyed it. I had to work my HOBBY around my full time employment. Time speedway riders and promoters in the lower levels realised this, and got back to basics, it is not a full time job, it is a hobby at this level. perhaps one tier being run at a professional level giving the amateurs something to strive for.

Spot on... Sign up 100% to ride over here.... Or dont. ... The Promoters will need to play their part by putting together a fixture list early enough, and sticking to it obviously... I know, I know, I am laughing as I type...

Why would stadiums be empty on GP nights? I watch very few things “live” at transmission time and much prefer to record and watch on delay. This allows me to skip past Adverts , replays and endless studio chats. I’m sure a lot of people feel the same way

I love watching Chris Harris ride but he is so far off the mark with his opinions it is unreal. So Chris wasn't too good at school and needs to ride for two teams at least to make ends meet. Sorry Chris, but can you explain how this is possible on 500-800 fans paying to get in? It seems a large proportion of everyone else in the sport want the doubling up system to end so that the sport can try and regain a bit of identity and credibility thereby attracting new fans and keeping the few that we have but Chris is happy for the sport to be run into the ground as people keep drifting away. I don't think that doubling up is the only issue as to why speedway is struggling but it's certainly one of the main ones and Chris needs to realise that the sport as a whole has got to come first, not the needs of a few riders who do not have the capability or willingness to do something else.

And don't forget he then doesn't work for 4 and a half months of the year... I remember a few years back when Jeremy Doncaster made his comeback and he said he was using an engine he found in his shed! He didn't do too badly on it either!

Bomber is a prime example of riders who are driving the price of the sport up. He spends season upon season complaining about engines and speed and throws money at them to generate results and therefore his signing on demands are high but with the right averages he is a good signing so clubs give him the money. Then at the end of the year everything is for sale. So for example a rider does 30 meetings per league per season. Very good bike with all the right bits costs 10k. If and its a big if a complete bike can be sold for 3k at the end of the year a rider has done well. Thats a 14k loss over 8 months that he is trying to find out of fees and points money before he has even started. I cannot believe that 1 bike cannot complete 120 races before being passed it, thats only 2 hours old! Riders need to look at maintenance of machinery not immediate replacements, A bike should be able to easily do 2 seasons and in reality many would last far beyond that.

Perhaps THJ is suggesting a new/revised approach for 2019.....

You were doing reasonably well until that last bit. Riders averages are based on 4 rides, 7 riders per team equals 28 rides equals 14 heats - so 42.50 should win you the meeting!

As has been proved again this year, there will be loads of guests regardless of using fixed nights or not... Which means there will still be loads of contrived nonsense meetings.... Therefore, you might as well run this nonsense on nights when the majority of the population enjoy their leisure time, ie at weekends... Those who still go are obviously not bothered about the lack of any credibility in what they are watching, so will turn up anyway, so run at weekends when you may get an odd ex fan or two (or heaven forbid a newbie), deciding occasionally to make Speedway their weekend night out.... We have dozens and dozens of meetings made up of contrived septets, even with FRN, on nights which the entertainment sector regard as the worst ones in the week to attract custom, therefore... Run dozens and dozens of meetings made up of contrived septets, on nights which the entertainment sector regard as their best ones in the week to attract custom... Nothing to lose surely? So no risk, the die hards will always be there, the rest of the population will have more of a chance to go....

If Lynn come to the Showground, they would be kicked out very quickly. The Panthers ultras would not stand for this.

Really can't see Belle Vue riding on any night other than Fridays, crowds were very poor last season riding on the Monday nights, when compared to the 2017 season when we rode on our favoured night Friday.Our promoters are through and through Businessmen, I can't see them bailing out again, for another under supported season. Cookie is not in the GP's this coming season and Max is only 2nd reserve, so assuming we start the season including both in our 1-7 Friday night's at Belle Vue should be fairly easy to sort out. Finally I for 1 would move heaven and earth to get Max back next season, he is so entertaining round the NSS.

Donkey is an absolute legend - he couldve pulled out his lawnmower from his shed and won races

you mention clubs reducing cost yet then seem to suggest a pay structure that would increase cost there are very few riders in the Championship of £80/point now sadly that level of payment would take 50% of the clubs out the league and bust the rest within 6 months its basic ecconomics

Not the likes of Ricky Wells, but what about Iversen, Cook, Fricke, Holder, Bewley, Lambert and so on? I disagree that speedway needs to run at weekends to attract new fans. There is no reason new fans cannot attend midweek meeting IF speedway actually made an effort to actually promote itself.

What would you do with riders like Dan Bewley? He rode in a GP Challenge qualifier, four World U21 Individual meetings and two Team U21 meetings. That's seven weekends where he was unavailable for a Saturday meeting in Britain. Should he not be signed by any club as he isn't 100% committed to British speedway?

I wonder if Rick Frost fancied another go now that he has the time on his hands that he didn't when boss of Readypower. I'm sure that he'd happily miss the shark infested custard of the AGM.

Spot on, speedway has become an arms race. The top GP riders have a stable of bikes and a "team" behind them at every GP. That filters all the way down. Everybody has to have that "edge" or they are being left behind. Finding a way to limit these costs has to be the way to go.

Long time observer, never posted... until now.... Seriously - Mondays? Thursdays? Wake up. The sport is on it's arse in this country. If they don't run at weekends, it's gone pretty soon as a team sport. Stuff the GP's, just don't sign GP riders! Not saying every team should have a weekend race night, but in Belle Vue's case I think it's imperative to get Friday or Saturday, regardless of who is in the team. Attracting new or casual people through the gates does not mean they need GP 'Stars' (I use that term loosely these days), they need the whole experience to be decent. If the racing is good, then I wouldn't care what the 1-7 is, but I'd agree some continuity between seasons would be good, so the long-term 'fan' can relate. Sack the fixed race nights & clubs should run on any night when it's most viable for them. The tail has been wagging the dog for far too long.

Promoters can't win, what happened to the 'we want continuity' shout from the fans. If Belle Vue hadn't had terrible luck with injuries they may have won the league in 2018 imo!

Time the Championship was made an amateur league, riders riding speedway as a hobby and not a job,much smaller point money covering their costs. Will probably be just as entertaining, cannot get worse anyway.

What was worrying about the many articles in this weeks star was that not many had many good ideas of how to fix the problems.