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A think they might also sneak a point at Newcastle.

Ask Barry Bishop and Martin Widman to be in charge of bringing Speedway into the 21st century. They not only understand that these days you need to provide more than 15 heats of Speedway to make a night out but will listen to the ideas and thoughts of others. In fact they are so forward thinking that they were forced out of league Speedway in the UK!

Will be glad to see MotoGP back this coming weekend. What with Speedway GP Friday and Saturday as well it’s going to be a cracker.

Funny how the business commitments only came into play when Poole dropped a division.

He was head and shoulders above everyone else in the Brummies side. I'll never forget his performance for the Bees to win the title at Poole. He can sometimes have a poor match but overall he puts in a shift for the side he's racing for. Hope he gets a full season at Perry Barr.

Cook should be at 2. Would ride in 3 heats with the no1. "Easy" ride in heat 8 and then RR in heat 13. With Cook and King together in 3 heats ... must get 3 heat advantages for it to work But hey what do the paying public know.... Pressure now on Allen to score well... the rider who would be at reserve if Starke had ridden enough meetings for an average. Oh well.....

In my opinion promoters in general are just as much to blame for the sport going on such a huge decline as anyone. Its their product to sell each week and very few do a good enough job. Admittedly I have never been a speedway promoter and never will be, but I wouldn't invest in a speedway club and expect handouts to keep the club going. What I have seen recently is a couple of Championship clubs having the begging bowl out for money to help them through the season as well as threatening to close down because the fans aren't packing into the stadiums. And those clubs are clubs with new promoters over the last couple of years who have never promoted before. The value for money just isn't there. On average around two hours stood around watching 15 heats of speedway, overpriced food and drink, barely anything going on between the heats and more often than not being stood in freezing cold conditions listening to completely out dated music. Add that with poor stadiums that look older than the average pensioner and processional racing on track and its clear to see why there are no fans coming through the gate. I absolutely love speedway, admittedly no where near as much as when I attended Newport regular before we shut down and I moved to Aus, so I am not one that wants to see the sport fail and cease to exist. But I really do think that the sport has been driven that far into the ground (in Britain) that it is beyond a state of repair. It would take a miracle of epic proportions to revive the sport in the UK, IMO. I remember the beginning of the end being when Rickardsson quit Poole after a few meetings one season, I think it was the season they brought the grading system into the Elite League. Ever since, the quality has got weaker and weaker, prices have gone up and up and ultimately, crowds have gone down and down.

I doubt it will be this weekend as a press conference is being arranged in Saudi Arabia at the palace about the team but has no confirmed date. I agree with you that I think he will be riding so that means Bezzecchi off to Petronas is a possibility.

Kings lynn to win this for me think they will be too strong for us the new manager seems to have picked them up hope you see some good racing and everyone stays safe. No injuries

There’s a name I………..have never heard of! But welcome to the club Ben!

For those a little shy about wearing their speedway merchandise... Speedway t-shirt

Yes.

Don't all fines go to the Ben Fund?

Yep thats the issue preaching to the converted so to speak.. it needs to get out to the wider unconverted Birmingham.

For me it isn't the riding position thats as tough as being the transitional place. Riders at 2 have largely stepped up from reserve and the trick is to keep scoring and move into the main body proper rather than drop back down to reserve and run that yoyo performance life. It is a rapid evening though with 4 rides done by heat 10. If i was calling out the fairness of positions a number 7 rides against another reserve in every race whilst for a 6 it happens twice. Could shuffle those around a little better and switch the endless reserve swapping around.

Another thing that struck me as lunacy is that some people reckon that 12 quid was a good price for a middle tier live stream. I find that baffling when you compare that to what you pay for streaming services such as Netflix, I pay I think $14 a month for Netflix which is about 7-8 pounds sterling. That is what you call good value. As people have been stating on various threads I have been viewing, two adults to attend a Premiership meeting with a couple of drinks each and some food is in excess of 50 quid. You cannot be demanding these prices when none of the worlds top riders ride here anymore.

It is difficult to see what the answer is and I don't think there is a simple solution to the sport's problems. On a good night, live speedway is as good as any other sport in the world but it shoots itself in the foot far too often. The rules should be simple but they aren't. Guests and doubling up has turned into a monster that only benefits the riders currently racing but constantly squeezes out others and has made the fans feel like the riders aren't 'theirs'. And the stadiums are poor, there is no getting away from that. Racing wise, I've been going for 45 years and we all remember the classics. However, there were duff meetings in the 70s, 80s and 90s and not all meetings are going to be brilliant. I've been to 8 meetings at four tracks this season and would say that 2 were very good, 1 was poor and 5 were in the middle and still enjoyable. I watch Sheffield Wednesday quite regularly as well and would say that the ratio of good, poor and average games was about the same.

To be fair Premiership Clubs are generally closer to Poole and race mid-week, the Championship clubs are predominately northern and mainly race at the weekend.

Heat 13 was certainly a cracker... people used to use the expression worth the admission money alone... before it was 17 odd quid

If I were under threat of redundancy from my employer, who announces they might not last the season, not sure I would be feeling like giving it 100% ????

I was told that when they checked his DNA it came back as the same as that of Marmite. Does that help.?

Think u spoke to soon her son.. If teams are watching the only person they want to sing is Jason Edwards. All have been poor.. Spoke to some Leicester Fans and said every time Morris and Shanes rides you will get 4-2 or 5-1, they said Na your having me on, I said nope piss poor. And yet again they have tonight. We all knew paco will win heat 2 and then not show up. They all better turn up Wednesday, if not will be folding

It’s a farce. Just set a half decent points limit and let teams build accordingly

Excellent meeting all round. How many people are aware of the absolute nightmare they had getting riders there? On Wednesday, Wightlinks new and largest ferry Victoria was put out of action due to a mishap. Almost every rider booking had to be changed, some being switched to Lymington Right up to about 4pm, there were still problems. Fortunately, everyone made it in time. Even on the last ferry back, we were all sat round chatting. Barry? Going around everyone thanking us for coming etc. 28 races on just over 3hrs, including a track repair hold up and 3 x ambulance visits Something for everyone. A complete contrast to your 'normal BSPL' meeting of 15 Hts...... now go home. KIds were involved from start to finish. Barry even apologised that due to holdups, he couldnt hold the kids running race. They are working their socks off to produce something you dont normally see. Breaking the 'established mold'. They are succeeding and Im sure the BSPL are watching everything very closely. Long may it continue.

Good luck to Luke Harrison, every time I see him at Monmore he seems to get steadier and faster, future wolf I hope