topsoil

Good meeting with a couple of brilliant races, especially heat 20. My only gripe is Denmark win having played the joker. An exact mirror image of last year when Poland won in the same circumstances. Crap rule, get rid of it. The very fact its called 'joker' tells you all you need to know. Bydgoszcz always provides great racing. Cant understand why the crowd was poor. Home country has a great chance of winning, every prospect of good racing, beautiful weather.

Top marks to all concerned for getting the meeting on tonight. The racing was actually quite good given the conditions. None of the riders actually struggled to get round, the riding was smooth and there was a couple of good passes (Pijper up the inside of both Jensen and Wethers, then Kus around Berge). Personally didn't give the meeting much chance of going ahead beforehand. Good to see Kevin Doolan scoring well. He seems to be a whole lot more confident these days and has a harder edge about him. For Glasgow I was impressed with Pijper, Berge and Thomsen. Something to build on for the future. Can't really judge Palovaara on tonight. Give him six meetings home and away.

It's saturday teatime so right ok cue here comes the rain.

Every year, and it seems to be getting worse, the sport has a big problem with rain-offs. Promoters and riders complain about losing money and fans have wasted journeys. But it never seems like anybody is doing anything about it. There is obviously no easy solution (or you would think it would have been implemented by now) but I would just like to hear for once promoters actually putting some money aside to at least look into coming up with something. A bit of investment could pay dividends in the long run.

With all the bad news about meetings being postponed and the financial repercussions, some brilliant news to put things into perspective.

Forecast is not looking good for the weekend. Berwick having absolutely no luck with weather this season, most weeks it has been beautiful 6 days a week, then Saturday afternoon / evening it starts to rain, only to dry up about 8 - half 8. Don't know how many more rain-offs the club will be able to take financially. Hopefully we can dodge the showers.

I would like to see the BSPA (I know they wont do it, but I would like to see somebody carry it out) ask a few people who have never been to speedway before to stand on the terraces and see what they say, then perhaps carry out some of the suggestions they make. Get an outsiders view on the sport. As people have said, the basic product of speedway is fine, you see all the riders, all the time, all the race. It's short, sharp, bursts of action. The problem is the rule changes in the sport, which a lot of outsiders cant understand or find strange, the promotion and presentation of the sport. Promoters and administrators are constantly complaining about numbers falling, but are they willing to seek any help / advice on changes?

Just warming up for his pals from Sheffield in a couple of weeks, ding ding round two!

Think the Doolan celebrations would have had more to do with his return from bad form of late, certainly there has been a big improvement in his form in the past week. Anybody who knows speedway knows Berwick's poor history at Armadale, so Edinburgh probably still favourites for the tie.

Thought this was actually a cracking meeting. Not much in the way of passing, but a lot of close, fast racing. Always fascinating because whilst Berwick built the lead you always got the impression Edinburgh were on the verge of a comeback. Still fancy Edinburgh to go through, They will probably be too strong at Armadale, even though Berwick have a couple of ex-Monarchs in their line up. Good crowd for a midweek meeting as well.

A big help to British speedway would be if, like Poland, Sweden and Denmark, each Elite League club either owned their own stadium or had a stadium for the sole purpose of speedway. Easier said than done I know, with venues and locations very difficult to find. But until this happens and clubs continue to be dictated to by landlords on which night they race, one night per week will never happen. By the way, I ask because I do not know, how many British clubs do actually own their own track / stadium or is the venue used solely for speedway?

Agree with you that the facilities around the tracks are basic, but the fact that they are used for the sole purpose of speedway is a huge advantage over clubs in Britain who rent stadiums from landlords and have very limited access to not only tracks but are also denied the income from catering etc. The fact that they have time / facilities to run training sessions is something most clubs in Britain can only dream of.

Denmark seem to be running a successful league system, the majority of riders are Danish, the attendance figures seem to be rising each year and clubs have purpose built stadiums, albeit basic, for the sole purpose of speedway, which allow them to run junior training sessions.

British speedway and the way it is run could learn a lot from the leagues in Sweden and Denmark, but I'm not holding out.

Coosty start to what could be a big weekend!!!

Not been the best few weeks for Berwick. The heavy rain coupled with the stubbornness of the FIM officials, the strange circumstances and long hold up last week, then the heavy defeat tonight. Heat 6 summed things up, Claus on a tactical ride, gets out of shape and takes his first of two falls tonight. Hard to figure out David, polar opposite from the fantastic form at Sheffield. Obviously something wrong tonight. One great race tonight between Claus and Ostergaard, who along with Bjerre and Blackbird, were very impressive. Berwick consistently outgated. Hard to place the blame on one individual, there were several under-performing tonight. I'm all for loyalty and allowing riders towork through dips in form, but if things continue the same way some big decisions need to be taken.

Getting some decent crowds at Danish league meetings this season. Does anybody know the reasons for this? General increase in interest in the sport or a result of promotions such as reduced admission prices? Wondering if the promoters in this country could take lessens.

Enjoyed the meeting tonight, even if the track was a bit slick, but understandable, given that rain was forecast, so it made sense not to put a whole lot of dirt on the track. Great to see riders of that standard, despite all the hardship caused by Saturday I would definitely like to see more FIM meetings at Berwick in the future. If it had been a fine day on Saturday all would have passed off okay. Great to see David through to the next round, but will miss him for the Redcar match. Good crowd as well for a Monday night.

I've tried all over the internet to look back at these seasons, which I gather Berwick competed in challenge matches (1993) and division 3 (1994-1996). Must admit this was a period of time I spent away from the sport, other things took over. Any help appreciated, results, tables, riders, etc. Cheers

daveallen81 those results sheets from your dropbox, just wondering where you got all those from? Must have taken ages to put together? It's a hell of a lot of records though.

daveallen81 brilliant cheers

If things in the sport are as dire as the promoters are making it out to be (and we will never know the truth as Annual Accounts are never published, unlike in Sweden and Denmark, where clubs are run as clubs, with AGMs, elected members and Accounts are open to all members to see) then you would think the promoters would come up with some radical changes at the AGM to try and look after the future of the sport. A bit of long term thinking like investing in juniors and young riders. You wont see the benefit straight away but if they are given the chance then perhaps in five or ten years time promoters wont have to spend as much on flying foreign riders into the country. But I fear it could be the usual story. Reduce the points limit, water down the product, put admission prices up a £1, watch numbers dwindle because standards are going down and this time next year the same noises will be heard. My own personal thought would be that every club should have a junior team and have regionalised competitions like the old SJL / AJL and the current Midlands Development League. It gives more racing to a meeting as well. Even a return of the second halves? Riders are continually going on about "testing equipment". This gives then the perfect opportunity. And any riders out of form get more track time. Fans want more racing and fewer gaps between races. It is after all an entertainment business.

Well if that was to be the last Elite League meeting on Sky it has been a rather ironic way to end. Firstly a rain off then a meeting which will be overshadowed by the national football team. I'm unsure exactly when the Sky TV coverage started (was it late 90s?) but what does the sport have to show for around 15 years of TV coverage? Here was a chance to increase the profile of the sport, a chance to give sponsors nationwide exposure, the sport was to get a healthy financial backing. But what followed was a lack of investment in youth, a lack of investment in stadia, a lack of investment in track equipment, track covers, safety fences. The money it seems was spent on signing on fees, flying a select few in and out of the country and faster machinery which requires constant upgrading. Each year seems to lead to the same questions, which tracks will be running next year? will the points limit be reduced? Each year the product is watered down, the fans pay more to see their teams, there is a general lack of certainty about the futures of each club. Unless you are very close to the promoters nobody knows for sure how much TV money was actually pumped into the sport over the years. Sadly because of the structure of each team (basically a limited company) that information and much more, rider wages, income from attendances and sponsorship etc. will never be seen. Which brings me to the core of the problem. Each "team" is effectively owned by a promoted, who set up a limited company. This is done basically because it is easier for a company to write off debts. This needs to be ended and follow the Swedish model where teams are run as "clubs". The members appoint people to run the club, these people are responsible to the members and are put up for election each year. Therefore if they do not run the club properly they are replaced. The club do not outlive their means. Budgets are set and stuck to. Other advantages to "clubs" are that local councils are far more likely to give support. This was evidenced a few years ago when Workington Council were prepared to support a new stadium for football and rugby league clubs, but not speedway because this was run by an entrepreneur for their own profits. Government funding is also far more available to clubs and associations. There also needs to be an independent body to run the various leagues. At the moment the promoters run their own show, decide their own rules. Thankfully there are some bright signs. According to Speedway tar this week both Coventry and Redcar are running junior league meetings. Northside are doing a cracking job with the training rack and a few tracks such as Kings Lynn, Leicester and Scunthorpe run regular training sessions. Hopefully more tracks will learn from this.

Hancock? Crump? Ward? Dont know, who was it?

I still find it funny that Tai might not have been in the GPs this year had the organisers not seemed to insist that a Brit was given a wild card place. I suppose that's what you call making the most of your chance. I only hope the promoters and authorities of the sport make the most of this opportunity to raise the profile of the sport.