Hawk127

Yep. Too complacent and not enough consistency

I agree It’s not a team riding track. It is after all only a speedway meeting and whoever wins on aggregate tonight deserves to be in th3 final. Ipswich scraped in and could have the fairy tale ending or Wolves could bow out as homeless champs. No one really cares any longer as it is a Mickey Mouse competition and the only thing that is worth considering is decent racing and a close contest with no injuries.

Jarek is sublime and to think he rode for the witches all those years ago. Ipswich were so lucky and so was U.K. speedway. Add to that we saw Mr G at his best and yes they were the days. Hopefully what goes around comes around and the witches now have Emil and Jason.

Good to see Joe getting among the points. A confidence booster hopefully.

It is a shame that the ultimate showdown is blighted by injuries but the real champions are those who topped the league table at the end of the regular racing season. The play offs have an attraction from a media perspective and the build up in whatever European league/country they are being raced generates some tribal following which adds to the atmosphere but when the end of season matches are subject to manipulation through the use of rider cover, it does seem to devalue the result. Let’s hope that the four teams taking place can put on a competitive show and notwithstanding the current crop of injuries, the final meetings are close and competitive events and fingers crossed regarding those hopefuls who will come to the tapes in 2024.

Will cyclist have to obey this or are they exempt as is the case When it comes to insurance as other road users are normally required have, number plates for identification purposes, ignoring traffic lights, riding on the pavement, deliberately pulling out in front of motor vehicles etc. riding too fast on public footpaths in the countryside and expecting everyone to get out of their way and generally being some of the most inconsiderate road users.

Agree, it looks like Rayleigh but cannot see the refs box which sat on top of the stand and was reached by stairs up the back wall and across the rear roof of the stand. The only other issue is the lighting. Cannot remember it being like that in the 60’s.

Not a bad meeting. Great heat 15.

Heat 15, Emil was sublime. Let’s keep fingers crossed for him in the upcoming play off match against the Aces.

Gate 4 no winners, Emil pops out and goes from last to first in heat 13. He is without doubt one if not the best rider in the world but alas cannot prove the point in the GP. He makes speedway worth watching.

Well done Witches.

Sad that a rider of his calibre/stature still seems unable to tackle a track head on and get on with the racing and looks for the correct set up to be competitive but instead decides to bemoan the standard of racing surface when it is the same for all the riders. Why does he bother?

He needs help and space to sort himself out. If he feels he is not on the game it is justified in pulling out of meetings. One is to many to be lost to the sport for this sort of thing and the guy needs to be cut some slack. If he can get it together and come back great but we do not need another Danny Ayers. Unless you have been through it you really do not know how the individual copes or deals with the demons. Let him be and give him support. He entertained you once, don’t knock him when he is down, we have all been in the same situation by varying degrees and may not have realised it but at least it seems he is trying to deal with the situation.

What a contrived result. Still that sums up the sport. Form suggests it should not be but but no doubt no one will ever prove what a load of crap this sport has become with results like this. Stage managed or what.

Yep but as most witches have heard over the last twenty odd years, it is the same old story. If only and what might have been. The management have been too loyal and suckers for being the mister nice guys of speedway when the rest of the teams are less than honourable.Chris probably has other things on his mind with his father and relied too heavily on Hawkins to see them through but that trust has let him down. Still you always have next season.

Who would have guessed that. How much were they paid to throw the match? This shows what a contrived crock of sh... the sport is. Sheffield tried to buy the way to the final, Wolves just want to be in the play offs to have something to show for the history at Monmore and Leicester need to enhance the club value given they are up for sale. Bellevue are the only credible qualifiers for the play off. Still you have the Polish title race to watch but the sport needs to get real. Makes WWE and Smackdown look professional.

Keeping it close at Wolves. Who knows but whatever happens Ipswich can only have themselves to blame if they do not make the play offs. Still where you have some hope who knows. For next season depending on the set up, some changes would be desirable as long as you can keep the top two for entertainment value.

Unfortunately without a good deal of luck the witches are going to struggle and it could be all over except for the cup. Sadly sticking by riders who are not up to which is in isolation when other teams have gone for bust in bringing riders to get to the finals may have bitten the witches on the rear. It would be good for speedway if the likes of Doyle and Sayfutdinov are in the play offs but who knows. Maybe as guests if Ipswich cannot carry it off tonight.

Perhaps what the younger riders need is compete with the better riders but not under the pressure of a league meeting. Bring back the second half event of a meeting and give the youngster a chance to ride and learn from their peers. As it stands these events are not really enough to bring them on a give them confidence. Unfortunately the short sightedness of clubs and officials means that the new ‘Bewley’s’ are taking longer to rise through the ranks. With club closures and fewer opportunities to ride it may take even longer.

Trouble is that the punters do not make their feelings known to the real culprits and so the powers that be followed by the gate and go throttle merchants who turn up when it suits them continue to take the p... Someone needs a word with these self believing overrated sports participants because too many punters have walked away because of the daft rules and rider attitudes. And those that cannot take the criticism should walk.

It seems that if it is not a league meeting the riders are not interested. Are the pay scales that different between these events and a league match? Those that run the sport need to get a grip and deal with those who duck these events and the riders need to respect the punters who pay good money to watch a meeting and each and every rider who effectively sticks two fingers up and each and everyone of us who pay good money to watch should be shown the door. This is no longer a sport for professionals who seem to think they are owed a living, it is a part time occupation alongside a proper job and those riding should cut their cloth accordingly. Those that duck out of these type meetings should be banned from x number of league matches. The riders seem to believe that they are actually owed a living and look to anyone but themselves but get real and find another job if you cannot make speedway pay, don’t take the p...out of the punters.

It is an absolute nonsense. If a business can sustain a good level of local support then let it be. Like many on here I use to visit a number of tracks each week such as Rayleigh on Saturday, then Crayford, Wimbledon, Eastbourne, Canterbury, Romford, West Ham, Rye House and Peterborough with latterly Mildenhall. In the current climate notwithstanding the lack of teams/tracks, the cost of doing it now is prohibitive and with the current attitude of call it off if it looks like a dog has weed on the track with tea spoon of moisture it is a joke. What’s wrong with saw dust and get the meeting on. Len Silver knew how to get a meeting on even if it was not possible to run the programmed league racing (one example Birmingham i think in 1969 or early 1970’s when storms and flooding yet a few riders turned up at the Weir and you had match races that Saturday night and still a decent crowd) and he knew how to promote and put on a show. Who does it today? The sports current custodians have no credibility and should take a good look at themselves as they are the ones who are going to be held accountable for speedway’s demise in this country. I hope they are proud of where they are in the history of speedway because the punters probably despise the very ground they walk on and the riders earn little respect for extracting whatever they can simply for all of us to pay for their cost of living. We do not owe them an income but I guess they think we do.

Agree. It is time that those with balls (such as IOW) break away and give the punters what they want not some contrived form of entertainment which is rarely held on days when the club can maximise the numbers through the gates and yet allows clubs to provide opportunities to a range of skill levels (second half racing for those who want to show their skills with the chance to break into the team). It currently panders to Poland and a half baked media channel with Eurosport and apart from one or two teams, meetings are held when few want to attend. Unfortunately whatever anyone says on the forum, the muppets in charge are not interested in the punter or the wider audience. You have Riders who think we all owe them a living and clubs buying their way to success with eleventh hour team changes. It is a joke and the only way is for the likes of Kent and even Plymouth and others to look again at the IOW model and any team that owns its own track should not be dictated by the BSPL and start to run the business that suits them and generates income. Vatcher and co need consigning to history if only to save the sport.

Agree. Why bother with the league matches, just start the meetings in September by pulling names out of hat and those teams who make it to the play offs can then bring in the riders they can afford after the Polish season has finished. If you only have four clubs running next year, problem solved, each club tries to get the best seven they can afford and off you go. After all in the U.K. it is not a summer sport anymore given the lack of meetings in June, July and August.

They came to see a real star, Emil, not some no hoper. Good for Peterborough to have others help fill the coffers.