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Mickey Mouse events? A few seasons ago the Premier League Play Off Final (the flagship event of the whole UK Speedway season) was set to have two riders guesting who were actually going to 'swap' teams after the first leg... Meaning each would ride for BOTH teams... Whatever the IOW do in the coming season I would suggest that they would be very hard pushed to be more 'Mickey Mouse' than that. .. In fact, I would think even Disney would struggle to be so... Best of luck to the IOW this season...

Show them whatever day they are put on- after all they do have 3 channels

Its entirely a clubs choice how they operate but as ive said on other topics a price increase could easily force spectators away especially in a sport that is in my opinion right at the top of its price point. Use it or lose it is fair enough but if the value, entertainment or any other reason is enough to stop people attending then tracks will close the same way as a shop not offering value or a relevant product would fold. Businesses such as speedway need to look at ways of reducing costs to maintain a level of financial standing rather than continually forcing prices up. The numbers who will blindly pay any price are rapidly dwindling.

You would like to think if its a long term plan then it gives a pathway into and through the sport. For years any scot wanting to even start the sport would have to travel some serious miles just to practice.

I agree, weekly speedway at Odsal would be instant failure but a season of perhaps individual, showcase events, like stock cars, could be the answer, an independant neutral track for play off's or the fours meeting etc, do both leagues on the same day, mind you that would lead to some riders riding for two teams, could get complicated. Odsal needs to think outside the current, severely dated speedway box.

I would also suggest that those who rock up to the track while on holiday on the island won’t really care what competition they’re watching as long as they have a good night out.

What do you mean? The AFA is still in Saddlebow Road .... For me, it's great to even have our sport mentioned in/on The Spectator

Yes. That meeting is one that they showed live last weekend.

Polish meeting Grudziadz v Gorzow on "Freesports" tonight at 6.15pm. For those who want some free speedway and do not pay for Premier Sport. The other meeting today is on Premier 2 at 3.30pm.

The track will always be slick for NDL .IMO. Even slicker when it’s double headers after 15 heats of Championship racing.Slick tracks are the norm nowadays.Gate and go rules.

Understanding? I was the one who posted on here before the start of the season with the email conversation I had with Premier. They had said they were only showing matches on Sundays this year. When matches get cancelled on a Sunday and moved to other days of the week, what were you expecting to happen?

Good start for the Bullets. At this level it is all about track time. If extra rides in the National League lead to Flint and Bickley getting the confidence to beat their opposite numbers in the Championship then it's working. It's about giving the likes of Watson and Douglas more competitive races, to bring them on. But what I like is you have Flint, Watson, Douglas and Blair, all young lads who live within a few miles of the town. Young local kids will relate to them, local businesses are more likely to support local riders. A positive start so far.

Zielona Gora v Lublin Friday April 30th https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpVjKxHicP0

Torun v Grudziadz friday April 30th https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8aAVlIB1y4

Maybe Goddens have found the perfect Central Park Engine. Quick to warm up, great on concrete for the first 3 rides, drives off an adverse camber and then great on over-watered blue tarmac and cuts out automatically after 2 hours

Nice to hear some practicing going on at Ashfield today , miss the sound of those bikes .

I'm sure most fans would prefer to see a league fixture against a real Kent team rather than one against a made up Reading team. BUT That is trumped by my desire to see a well run entertaining meeting, with a good atmosphere, and where you sense that the promoters cherish the spectators rather than regarding them as an inconvenience. ..so I will be continuing my sponsorship of the club, and look forward to an exciting adventure into the unknown.

If truth were told, I think Warriors fans (and I think you have to take all circumstances into account before forming a view) would prefer league racing. Having said that, I am not aware of one of them that does not fully support the decision to pull out of the NL. Its a view shared by many others across the sport, including Peter Oakes, Bruce Cribb, Bert Harkins and James Easter as well as fans from other clubs. At the very, very least, it is completely understandable. That's because of the particular way Isle of Wight have been treated, which is shabby at best. Forced to accept a points limit that they believe - entirely reasonably - will damage their business without any consideration whatsoever and at the behest of and by clubs who have no involvement in the NL whatsoever, they have had enough and that's scarcely surprising. Perhaps what sticks in the craw most is if there had indeed been a vote by NL clubs alone - I doubt if anyone does not accept that that was not the correct way forward (after all why should Glasgow have more say about the Warriors future than the Warriors themselves) - the 34 point limit would almost certainly have been thrown out, which is probably why it was imposed. They now at least have far more choice over their own destiny, and its not difficult to argue that that is better than being subject to the incompetent, selfish and inept control of the BSPL - because if there is indeed anything 'Mickey Mouse' about Speedway, its that. I'd say a major part of Speedway's problems have stemmed from the fact that there has been so little attempt to make it entertaining and a reliance on taking its fans for granted because its a sport. The two, in my view, are indelibly linked.

There's maybe good reason for managing it like that but doesn't it seem a little daft?

An excellent article for the audience it is aimed at. I will be interested to see the book when it emerges.

You see I dont view any meeting as "Mickey Mouse", although I admit some maybe more attractive than others. However we put on a show, week in, week out... and this is what people want to see now. It's true to say in my view we risk having a sport where the only entertainment is whether your team gets the league points or not and not the "show" on the track. For me, it's showtime every time. All the best

New online sales platforms launched just 6 days before the first set of meetings.... What could possibly go wrong!

Pretty much the Speedway business model up until around five years or so ago when I suppose it eventually dawned that it doesn't work.. For far too long it was "we have lost 'x' amount of fans due to the last inflation busting increase so increase admission by another inflation busting 'y' amount"... Whilst all the time not spotting that the annual reduction in fans was destroying the atmosphere, whilst at the same time the inflation busting price hikes were peeing off their most ardent loyalist fans,... A 'lose/lose'.....

Whilst the money does have to come from somewhere why does it always have to be found by adding onto the admission price? Those antics are always a gamble as it can just as easily put people off from going. Take 1000 fans for example you could easily argue that 100 people would be put off by another price hike. That 100 missing paying £18 is the same as the other 900 paying £2 more except that you have 100 fans staying away.

I guess that depends if he'd signed for 2021 or not. Can't punish a guy for his 2020 contract