TonyGlos

I was at the meeting as attend regularly with my partner who lives only 30 minutes out the city The secret is to be super smooth, ride nearly full on and build momentum. Nicki is good here but its not his engines. He is too aggressive and fights the bike. Tai is so good at the moment. 11 rides, 10 wins with the meeting at Leszno included. He looked just as good there Looks out of this world and on another level. Anything like this form and another world championship awaits

An idea of Wroclaw and Polish Speedway Great stadium, clean, modern, professional So Watch this. Heats 4 and 14 give just a little flavour of the live atmosphere. It really is noisy when the crowd roar riders on! You have to be there to appreciate it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZoVkEUZKy8 You will have to click through some of the adverts... And people rave about the Belle Vue track ? If my maths is correct the race average speed here at Wroclaw is 5 or 6 mph faster again and you have to be prepared to kick off the fence in the middle of the straights as it rides nearly round like a big Peterborough! Plan some trips guys And my advice start here if going to Poland. I've been to nearly every track in the UK in the past 50 odd years man and boy and many through the continent. Without exception this is the best I've ever seen. Very, very fast and only for the brave and skilled!

You may be wrong about points money. I think many of the top boys are salaried. They are professional sportsman after all. Fan support is huge and very noisy and in Poland any lack of not trying is dealt with swiftly by crowd and fan response! :) :) Its reputed that Tai is on around £400,000 at Wroclaw. And he races like he is :) Not only that, all his other activities and duties to Sponsors and club are carried out to a high level. And he's usually on one wheel with Magic building up the atmosphere BEFORE the meeting in the warm up...not that the fans need to be wound up! :) But they have the structure sorted. I have a feeling that top sponsors go a long way to covering riders salaries, or a large part. Betard at Wroclaw are number one sponsors and do so much for speedway in other events too. See Tai or Magic anywhere and the first logo on show is Betard. A stroll up to the Olympic Stadium in Wroclaw before the meeting and it feels like you are at a major sporting event. I've never felt that in the UK even the old days of large crowds, probably because stadium have moved on. My suggestion to all UK fans....go to a few meetings over there. Its cheap and easy to get to, and the cities are great (and cheap) to enjoy before and after. If more people went as fans they would soon see just quite what is wrong here in the UK (which by the way annoys and saddens me)

You are so right! I am a Swindon fan and have been following speedway for nearly 50 years since I was a lad. I have been watching speedway in Poland these past 18 months due to a new lady in my life that lives just outside Wroclaw. I've managed to get to Wroclaw 5 times this year and will be there again this sunday. (Also a couple of meets elsewhere) For the solution I suggest people go to Poland to see a couple of meets. It is amazing. Atmosphere, fans, full stadium. Professionalism. Yes, the finances are on a different structure, but that professional running of the sport gets in the sponsors. UK promoters don't ever seem to get it. You need to raise your game then the sponsors and fans will follow, stadium permitting. And thereby is another big issue. I find it hard to drag myself to Blunsdon if only to avoid the dreadful viewing conditions. We have a couple of half decent stadia but the rest are abysmal for 2018! Anyway. Bring on Sunday ...

Take a look at the Polish Race format. A little tweaked from the UK but better IMHO The only thing that is obvious is that the more the sport has downgraded itself with rider quality the more the attendances fall. A vicious circle Many here seem to say lets have a national league excluding the very top riders. Regular racing, promotion, relegation and some resemblance of a serious sport I still maintain there is a market for the top level of team racing as in Poland and Sweden. In reality, a few meetings a year. Look at this separately.

Just an idea Why not get back to a couple of leagues of teams with UK based riders where we have racing every week. Promotion/relegation. Exclude "International GP level riders". Regular racing will happen if we have league, cups and British championship meets. Cut costs but give us regular racing. Remember when it was Saturday and speedway or Thursday and speedway ...or whatever. Meetings every week, a continuity and ongoing interest. Really look at it as national / junior level racing (which lets be honest, the UK has sort of become by default and team down gradings) Many of us really enjoy elite racing (Team GP Racing in effect) and I believe there is a big demand...but it has to be good....a quality product In Poland that elite league racing regular season only amounts to 7 meetings a year at home! 14 nights in a season. About 1 a fortnight, or once every four weeks from a home standpoint. That's it. (Plus a further 1 or 2 for play-offs and final for the top 4 as in the UK) . Run this separately in the UK. Find 8 locations in the UK that could host this in addition to UK racing. You state the obvious 4, but I'm sure 4 others could be found. Then do a deal and WORK WITH the Polish Clubs. Use the same teams (but use up and coming UK riders at Reserve in place of the Polish Reserves) and choose another day (other than Sunday) which minimises clashes with the regular UK. It pays in Poland with crowds around 10,000 and sponsorship. 3,000 to 4,000 in the UK should generate the same sort of revenue. I have a feeling fans from an area would support this elite level, not just fans normally attending a tracks regular team meets. An International fanbase and shared support. Sparta Wroclaw are also Swindon Elite, Unia Leszno are Belle Vue United, Unia Tarnow are Wolverhampton International for example. Think we could even see fans travelling around to see "their" team in Poland or in the UK I'm being silly. Too radical! We can't get promoters to work together in the UK so across border, no chance But could it be done? Simplifies many things. Got a feeling the tables could look very different in Poland to UK given the much wider variance of tracks in UK. Hey, even a Table collating results in the UK and Poland. In effect, GP style/level Team Competition.

Agree with you entirely Mick. The stadiums are mainly public multi-use or part multi-use arenas and I'm sure getting rented for use at a sensible rate. But whatever, we need such facilities or at least something much better than we have. Ch958...I remember chatting with Terry after a meeting and he said I don't need a fast bike, but reliable and easy to ride! But then he was very quick We've moved on. And yes, riders are expensive. But that means we need to get speedway in the right places, get the crowds and show it to the masses. Hey...be honest...is there really any marketing? Really? Get the Kids There! Yes … free every week under 14. Its not like there is no room and they will drag mum and/or dad along too! Funny thing...I have 9 or 10 not so close friends who follow speedway on TV. They know all about the GPs (almost class themselves as Tai fans) who's doing well in the leagues and they find it good fun...but none of them have ever been near a track! I tell them to go as in real life its far more exciting and only then will they appreciate just how fast these guys go as they ride round in a gold fish bowl! They see the gladiatorial side, the bravery, the risk and the good racing. They know like all bike racing its so much better then virtually all other motorsport....But I fear if they went, the facilities would put them off ..... big time Maybe its not speedway has moving on, but the rest of the world has and expectations of people are now greater. If this cannot be addressed then.. By the way .. I take back all my negative criticism of British Speedway. They have got it right at Belle Vue. Great track and good facilities. Only been once but loved it. The track rides well and is very fast, like being in Poland!! And I can sit down and don't feel like I'm in the 1950s!

I've been going to speedway for many years since I was 6, so I'd thought I would add my views. I think I've seen every world champion ride at some point back to Ronnie Moore, with the exception of Peter Craven.My home team is Swindon, after my young years following Kings Lynn back in days of Terry Betts, Howard Cole & Simmo. But I suppose its really Wroclaw now. I've had an affinity with this sport most of my life but only recently have I really started enjoying again....because I watch most of my live speedway in Poland thanks to a relationship with a pretty Polish lady that stated a year or so back. But that's another story So what do I see as some of the issues? One...Product quality! Teams. Years of reducing quality and averages etc have driven the sport downwards. Its said because of cost, but in recent years the only time you get a reasonable crowd in the UK is if these are some decent riders taking part. This is constantly overlooked as promoters drive cheaper, lower and the crowds stay away. A virtual downward spiral. Most speedway fans love top quality racers and top quality racing. Its not just about winning a match. And for gods sake chose a static race-night for the highest league so at least we have a chance of attracting better riders. Poland Sunday, Sweden Tuesday etc Tracks. Many UK tracks simply don't produce good racing...eg Leicester? What the hell was anyone thinking building a new track that is all but impossible to race on? And please, don't lets start a knock Leicester post, it was just an example, and I could have chosen many more. (Even the current Swindon Track prep is at times dire).. Long straights, tight bends make for spread out riders when track preparation is …. I give in with this old issue Facilities. And here we have the biggest gripe. It is 3rd world wherever you go. My girlfriend was brought up in Communist Poland. Her early life was tough. Poland will still be another 25 years fully recovering from communism (take note any Corbyn fans). I took her to Swindon and all she could say was oh my god! I didn't know things could be so horrid in the UK! Why do you come here? But, go to speedway in Poland and its so different. Great stadium. Great seating. Clean. Wonderful tracks. Many families. Young, old, girls and boys. The fanbase of the future! It simply puts this country's offering (a country I dearly love) to great shame. So what does a good stadium lead to... An incredible atmosphere! 8 or 9,000 fans cheering, singing. Racing that is out of this world. Riders trying for every point. And yet its very cheap by UK standards to get in, so the cost argument is dead in the water as well, but you have to get a few in I suppose … Sponsorship does seem to be of a higher order...but then again that's hardly surprising given the numbers attending and much higher profile A week ago last Sunday I was at Wroclaw to watch the Tarnow meeting. Look it up on you tube. The racing was extremely good. So good I would go so far as to say I have not seen a meeting like this in the last 10 years in the UK, despite attending 30 odd meetings a year. And a great crowd, great atmosphere puts everything here in the shade If the sport cannot modernise its facilities and attract more people, younger people, it will die. But as things stand, I fear for the worst. Lets be honest, and I've got my own business, I cant possibly imagine taking any friends or business associates to a speedway meeting in the UK.... There are some good people in speedway, just a few examples that spring to mind are Peter Adams at Wolves, Rosco at Swindon, Buster at Lynn. There are numerous more and their support and love of the sport is admirable but in reality they are few and they are stretched to breaking point. We need some professional management to sort this un-holy mess out, not inward thinking promoters, however good their intentions.