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A Speedway promoter reacting to feedback...? And taking it as constructive comment, and not defensively? And using it to improve his operation rather than decide "I am right' and ignore the feedback? Are you sure you are cut out for this Barry?

It's Shovvy's way of finding an excuse for why his "big fish in a small pond" club are 2nd tier, has to come and talk to fans of proper big teams to stay relevant

I think we have to accept that Tai Woffinden isn't the main man anymore.

Hopefully this week we will have revised the camera angle because the start cam points basically to the least popular 4th bend stand. I can assure you our crowds have been up this year and last night we were really busy. Thanks so much for the feedback, reading this and plus my own viewing of it, made us realise we needed to change the position of start-cam. Andy H from Speedway Portal is amazing at what he does.. so looking forward to the next lot of film. Thanks again

well start cam in the original position would have worked this week as we had a stonking crowd..... along with... 27 multi discipline races including a new format of 6 x 15m handicap races, and 3 x nominated races giving the last place team first options A little more track grading than we would have normally liked… But we also had the balloon man, sweet stall, sack races for kids, whistles, smoke, great food, rip roaring crowd, stadium on point, welcoming staff, pits access, great team kit, picnics, clean bathrooms, name boards, filming, interviews, rider interaction, wheelies, flag laps, laughter, smiles, smiles and smiles and that all equates to a super show of fun time family speedway.

I hope I am the not only fan who has noticed that only one promoter has had any input to this thread! I also noted that the promotion concerned left the BSPL after being treated like dirt by the powers that be in the run up to this season. Well done to Barry Bishop and the Warriors promotion for all the hard work they do to put on entertainment that speedway fans can enjoy. From all the reports I have seen the first two meetings have been a success from the point of view of entertainment value and good crowds which is very good news. All I now need them to sort out is South Western Railway and Wightlink so they run the late boat from Ryde and the late train from Portsmouth so I can enjoy the racing and get home to Wimbledon after the meeting. Sadly the local council allowed a football stadium to be built on the Speedway and Stock Car track in Plough Lane that I enjoyed both sports from August 1957 (6th October 1962 in the case of stox) until the last car meeting on 26th March 2017. After what happened at Wimbledon I know one firm I would never buy a flat or house from.

Referee had 3 decisions to make and got all 3 wrong. Woffinden one was ridiculous, dropped it miles after any contact, so much room to stay on. Madsen, there was contact but it was minimal and there was a delay till Emil realised he should drop it. The final, look at the line Janowski took, he was so tight going down the straight he was riding over gate 2! He was never going to have the correct angle to turn it in time with another rider alongside him and ploughed into Emil. Crazy decision to exclude Emil.

We were booked on the 4pm from Lymington and came back on the 11pm from Fishbourne. It felt like a chartered speedway ferry!

In a restaurant in Swansea !! But Vaculik beat Lambert and Lindgren beat Madsen

We'll have to wait until racers & royals logs in, he's the only one that truly knows what's going on

Tomorrow's lottery numbers?

I see. You make a daft comment and then pretend it was a wind up all along

Emil dropped the bike and fooled the ref there.

Dunno, but it didn't faze Lambert whatever it is!

Hi, we do it every week... have a look on our FB pages... they go down really well. We have done "secret bike look-ins", sponsors review, staff review, meet the mascot all that kind of thing. People like them a lot and it just builds the meeting up a bit more. We could probably do more rider and management coversations and I will take that away although we alway do rider and management interviews after every meeting.

It will never catch on.... All that entertainment malarkey...

Didn't take long did it? I know more than you so ner, ner, ner, ner, ner, nerr. Its tedious frankly

I wish "numpty's" , like yourself, travelled to away matches themselves to see for themselves that it was not an unfounded theory & that promoters do not just think about themselves but riders, mechanics, referees, sponsors, track staff, medics & everyone else in putting on a meeting for us fans. All you had to do was check the news & weather to know there was a band of bad weather coming from the South West to the North East throughout the day & even Redcar have cancelled early as well. But by all means, you could have travelled up North to as far as Edinburgh or Glasgow to watch live speedway if you did not want a wasted journey. Will your conspiracy theory then spread onto the meetings at Eastbourne, Leicester & Berwick tomorrow night, if cancelled, because it will clash with SGP Round 4 on BT Sport.

bandits to win over to legs

the official website is saying it is now raining best to call it off early to save riders and fans travelling

While on the topic of value for money..... he is Bob Coles feedback from yesterday. With 28 races last night, (Barry Bishop, you forgot the extra unprogrammed pee wee race)!, it really was a full fun filled night. Something for everyone. Some excellent racing, plenty of passing, and some very keen youngsters giving their all. Brilliant to see James Wright there with his son. Once up to speed, his lad tried wringing the neck off the bike to go faster! He obviously enjoyed himself even though he didnt win a race. Loved the sound of the uprights, completely different to the laydowns. Also to watch and listen to the JAP going around after the meeting. 'Now thats what I call music', well to my ears anyway! The Stadium was picture perfect in the sunshine, although it did rain for a few minutes later on. Enjoyed the best burger Ive tasted anywhere this year. Take a bow the volunteers in the Retreat. Thank you. A couple of minor issues. I couldnt hear the names of the changes in the Pee Wee races. I know one was James Wrights son, but didnt get the name of the girl at No.1. Also, I didnt hear a word before the meeting when Barry addressed the crowd. I know roughly what would have been said, as he says similar things at every meeting. Best team won on the night. Well done Steve Piper on your first ever meeting in charge. Not that you would have know his team won,I must have heard it a dozen times or more on the drive home! Met loads of people before, during and after the meeting. A smashing night out at the speedway. Was it value for money? You had better believe it was. Happy to stand side by side with Barry Bishop and Martin Widman in their endeavours to give fans real value for money. They are doing it right now. Long may that continue. NOTE we have already fix the sound problem... as in Barry cannot hold a microphone properly

Most speedway merchandise just seems geared for people to wear on the terracing, when i go in Man Utd shop everything is geared for general leisure ware for everyday use, i know theres a massive difference between speedway and football clubs financially but i would like to see more leisure ware type merchandise that i could wear socially not just at the track.

It looked good at Brough last week with a considerable number of the away fans who were in club colours (nice weather might have had something to do with that; but those short sleeved numbers like football tops did look smart) and its the same when Glasgow and Edinburgh fans turn up anywhere there are lots of them resplendent in club colours... always shows a bit of pride and passion in your club to me... Regards THJ

I really don’t know why people continually bang on about one big league because it isn’t going to happen, primarily because of a lack of available riders and two the fact that quite a few clubs cannot or won’t put a competitive championship side together. Their is still a difference between the leagues but it’s definitely getting closer.

In the main it was led by leaders ( over the last 20 years ) who were incapable of taking it anywhere new and had little or no vision of what it could be if re-invented. Too much concentration on what the riders said they wanted / needed and almso NO thought about what the many departing supporters wanted / needed ( to encourage them to part with their money ). Less emphasis on rocket ship bikes - speed never having been the main attraction in the recipe of presenting close exciting racing, Should be simpler ( cheaper ) one class bikes 350cc or restricted 500 cc so that riders who wanted to race, could have a go at doing so. Sadly too late for that as many promoters and riders are fixed in the mindset of "it's OK as it is". It's not and the pool of riders ride anywhere and everywhere for any team in any league across the country. Not my cup of tea - Unless that circus provided close exciting racing in 50% plus of the heats. It is "all over" in the first 1/2 lap in 75% of heats ( races they cannot be called! ).

Top 2 go through to semi final, other 4 compete for last 2 places, top of league get choice of who they want in semi final

Funnily enough I visited the Poole track shop last night for the first time this season. Thought I would treat myself to a Pirates mug at £4.99. Ended up being tempted by a new Pirates jacket at £59.95. A queue in there for tills 15 deep. All holding Pirates jackets and t-shirts at £29.95. Hundreds of pounds of merchandise in that one queue at that one moment. Merchandise must raise thousands of pounds for Poole over the course of the season. It’s an important income source and to lease it out to a third party is foolhardy in the extreme.

Pleased to report to that Ulrich was discharged from hospital in Edinburgh this afternoon, he is now flying back to his family in Denmark (via Glasgow & Stanstead) to start his recovery. I know he’s been blown away by the concern the shown by the supporters of Glasgow & Peterborough and the fans in general.

I would suggest people are bothered. Redcar have recently started doing merchandise themselves and the stadium is a river of red every week!

was at redcar last friday riders on parade by the start gate everyone had there helmet on as being introduced soz lads it looks awful leave them off do a slow ride round to wave at the fans its not alot to ask .

Must confess I have never understood the "use it or lose it" ultimatum often quoted by fans, (and indeed some promoters), down the years... By the very definition such utterances are used suggests that those who are "expected to go" (and therefore regarded as 'loyal fans'), are actually simply "not bothered" whether the clubs carry on or not.. Because if it did mean so much to them, they would still be attending in sufficient numbers to not require those very comments in the first place.. A demise of a club is sad, but often inevitable, as the 'tipping point' is finally reached re costs v income after several weeks of struggle, and the difference between the two finally becomes untenable to be bridged by the promoter... And as the reasons for that demise often lies within the operating model of the sport, and is therefore self inflicted, it seems to prove that (contrary to popular belief), turkey's do seem to vote for xmas after all it would appear.. Promoters often do seem to sometimes over estimate how 'important' a Speedway club is to its followers and make the mistake of believing it means 'everything' to them similar to all other team sports.. However, by it's very operating model, the sport doesn't engender that blind loyalty, devotion and tribalism that other team sports do, therefore it simpy cannot mean the same emotionally... Which ultimately is the 'acid test' of any team sports' sustainability and progression I would suggest..

Awarding a race comes under FIM rules rather than GP rules. 70.10.17 Finish of a heat The finish of a heat shall occur in the case of any of the following circumstances. a) when the front part of the front wheel of the motorcycle (whilst attached to the machine) passes over the finishing line after completing the appropriate number of laps provided the Competitor is in contact with his motorcycle. b) when the Referee has awarded the heat as provided for in these regulations. c) If the Referee has cause to stop a heat after the leading Rider has passed the start/finish line to commence the last lap, the Referee has the sole discretion to award the heat based upon the positions of the competitors at the time the heat was caused to be stopped. The disqualified Rider will be awarded no points and any competitors behind the disqualified Riders being advanced one place. d) Where racing incidents etc. have reduced the riders available to take part in the re run of any heat to a single competitor, the Referee may award the appropriate number of points to the remaining competitor without the need for a further rerun.

Ricky Wells it is... Bandits will be r/r for Leon at #2

Eurosport could learn a thing or 2 from that !

Pretty sure Troy is now a British citizen. I'm sure remember seeing a picture of him displaying his British passport.

In that case, ad go r/r.

It’s nearly flooding here in Scunthorpe they haven’t called it off because of the GP ! For goodness sake

Gives us more time to get Ben fit

Yes I think taxi is best option, I'm not local to Arlington but drive there regularly and I've not seen any public transport nearby and the stadium is a long way down a country road that definitely has no buses going down it. Car park opens 5p.m and turnstiles 6p.m, hope you enjoy your visit.

They say hindsight is a wonderful thing.. I'm certainly not going to to blame Alex. Watching the result coming in on Speedway Updates, i thought we would see a sub in HT 6. But i can see your reasoning as to why Alex was maybe waiting for HT 7. And if it had come off, and we had got a 5-1 we would be singing his praises. Looking at it now i think that is probably what the plan was. Who would be a team manager eh Roll on Monday. I think we beat the Tigers. .

Olsens and Stancls at Brandon

You could have argued king caused Riss to fall when they touch at end of straight leaving Riss with not enough room to turn. If I'd have been ref i'd have excluded king. Bit 50/50 really, decision could have gone either way And hind sight says stars should have put a tactical out when we had the chance

The little fella, "baby" Bjerre back at Newcastle?

With the greatest respect. It’s not exactly rocket science is it. There are a million company’s on line who produce custom made merchandise for radio stations , bands , football teams etc.

With almost every rider in the top league doubling-down at the moment how would you make it work without dramatically watering down the product?

it’s defo the top 6

Joe McLaughlin is the name you're afterI knew Joe very well and under his commercial role at Brum worked his conkers off to try and attract folk through the gates at PB and also raise sponsorship for Brum Speedway.He often antagonised folk with his approach and determination to get people through the door,but it still didn't work and ended up going down the gurgler under the Phillips promotion What can be done this time around I don't know.Crowds at PB have never been that clever and have only been swelled by away support in the past. When Jason Lyons retired(used to sponsor the fella)his parting words to myself were "it's time to get out"

British Final on the 16th of August I think.

Wow... what a fantastic night... 30 races.... completed... loved it.. absolutely loved it.... here is the meeting report by Rob Dyer. Wightlink Warriors Summer Speedway Spectacular Sees Appleton In Tasty Form The first of Wightlink Warriors Summer Spectacular meetings proved to be master class of track skill from former British Grasstrack Masters Champion Andrew Appleton (pictured) as he scorched to five impressive wins in front of an appreciative crowd at the Smallbrook Stadium in Ryde last night. The return of track sport to the Island was headlined by the first of three rounds of the Island Masters series - a grasstrack meeting on shale – and the twelve riders didn’t disappoint a very healthy crowd as they battled hard to reach the winner takes all Grand Final. On a night of nearly 30 races the Masters meeting also included a gripping six heat development meeting between the Wightlink Wizards and Weymouth Wildcats and a further six heats of races looking to the future and giving the youngster track time in front of an audience. Whilst former Reading and Oxford speedway star Appleton produced lightning starts to earn his wins he did have stern competition from Danish rider Jacob Buckhave and the two served up a terrific race in the Grand Final – indeed the three finals (C, B & A) certainly didn’t disappoint as all the riders gave their all right to the end. Also impressing were Tony Atkin and Rob Fortune whilst Wightlink Warrior Chad Wirtzfeld found plenty of speed to clinch the B Final on the night. As to the Wightlink Wizards, their battle to tame the Wildcats went to the final bend of the final heat and for all the world it looked as if the home team were about to secure the 5-1 result that would have seen them take a win, however with Jamie Sealey well clear at the front, Wroxall based Morgan Williams appeared to tire on the final two corners and slide to the ground allowing two relieved Wildcats riders through for a drawn heat that clinched the meeting 17-19 in favour of the visitors. Mention also for the PeeWee and 125 cc riders who opened the evening and especially to Kye Elliott from St. Helens (IOW) who scored an impressive 7 points to take the ’Les and Lesley (Midland Fans)’ Junior Rider Of The Night award. Warriors’ co-owner Barry Bishop wore a big smile after the meeting as he said, “Wow. What a night 30 races, bags of action both on and off track, super crowd, magic finals. The night had almost everything Martin and I could have wanted and we were so close to complete perfection until Morgan’s slip in the Wizards meeting. I’ve got to say we have worked so hard for this night. We’ve had many battles and we have achieved what we set out do. That is provided affordable family entertainment in a safe and pleasant environment. Right now I’m just a bit speechless and completely shattered but tomorrow we’ll be back at it and I can’t for next Thursday when we can do it all again with the Wightlink Warriors”. Island Masters – Round 1 Result: C Final – Eric Pike, Dean Cutler, David Hollingsbee, Barry Coates B Final – Chad Wirtzfeld, Charley Powell, Mitch Godden, Nigel Coates A Final – Andrew Appleton, Jacob Buckhave, Tony Atkin, Rob Fortune Wightlink Wizards 17 (Jamie Sealey 8, Jamie Evans 6+1, Morgan Williams 3, Eli Meadows 0) Weymouth Wildcats 19 (Bailey Fellows 7+1, James Laker 5, Max Pankhurst 4+1, Sam Peters 3)