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As a celebration of the Speedway Tavern being ten years old we are starting a little early tonight (7.30) and I hope that our choice of guests will wet the appetite. Bruce Cribb and Phil Herne

As a celebration of the Speedway Tavern being ten years old we are starting a little early tonight (7.30) and I hope that our choice of guests will wet the appetite. Bruce Cribb and Phil Herne

Just to put some facts onto the speculation about the track. Unfortunatley the day before the main tractor had broken down. My guess is that the track would have been even better prepared had this not been so. ~Even so it produced some good racing.

Oh dear. Please get your facts straight. I said that adolf hitler would have enjiyed and used social media to his advantage. I said that right at the beginning of the show and before i mentioned my opinion of the remarks made about Chris Harris I never likened anyone particularly anyone connected to speedway to adolf Hitler. And the only reason i am bothering to point this out is because it's good publicity for the show ( thank you for that.)

No i did not. How dare you. My comments were in relation to the disgusting remarks made about Chris Harris.

The following is a reaction to last week's show. From Ian Jordan Director of Speedway at Eastbourne "Hi Guys - despite being born and bred in Stourbridge (Matthews dad will know me from OLdbury Cycle Speedway days) - I have found myself as Director of Eastbourne Speedway (long story). I occasionally catch your show and heard last night about complaints re some who have booked hotels before match v Brummies on 3 August was cancelled last week. To be perfectly honest it ended up being outside of our control as we could not find a date in July that Glasgow would accept and asked BSPA to give us an extension - BSPA then gave us no option but to ride v Glasgow on 3 August - we can't refund hotel fees but if anyone would like to contact me I'd be happy to arrange FREE ENTRY to anyone affected at rearranged match whenever that is - least we can do...ianjordan@eastbourne-speedway.com (PS Laurence was 100% accurate in what he said re call off by the way no issues there) Best Wishes..Ian" The Speedway Tavern have had permission to publish this. Thanks

Lawrence Rogers on tonights Speedway Tavern. Find us on facebook https://www.facebook.com/speedwaybanter/

There is really no need to get dizzy following the bikes round and round. Point yourself towards one corner and you have a view of about three quarters of the track just by turning your head. You then flip your head to your other shoulder to recatch the action.

Seems that you need to find some other source to listen to.

There has been plenty of promotion on Facebook and Twitter. We have never put anything on the main site until the day before.

Just to pick up on a couple of points. As has been said I dont work for Birmingham. I am a volunteer. Its wrong to say that I never criticise Birmingham riders. I have done so previously on my radio program and have even this year mentioned concern for Ulrich and some other riders. However I always think very hard before critisising riders and it is never my default position. I have heard people say that as long as a rider is very obviously trying hard then as a supporter we cant ask for anything more. I think its been obvious that Ulrich and Zach have been trying. However its also been obvious that Zach isnt himself and i am glad he has made a decision to think of his own state of mind first. Its going to be interesting now to see how the management reacts to this latest development. Something I think I should add about criticism. Laurence Rogers has come in for (IMO) some very harsh criticism based on percieved past performance as far as i can see. I spoke to several Birmingham riders last year and to a man they where nothing but complimentary about Mr Rogers. One rider in particular was angry about some of the things that had been said on the various social media platforms. Who was that rider? Well I'm not saying as it was said in confidence. I will say that it is a very respected rider.

Some have made comments about Zach and I just thought I would point out that at times Zach has been the only rider for us to cheer on. He has top scored for us on three different occasions

These two comments annoyed me at the time they were made so decided to wait until I commented on them. Given we are trying to attract people to come to speedway I dont think that these comments were particularly useful. Also they were wildly inaccurate. In fact when I arrived at the track at 6:30 the track was being watered! Did these and other comments have an effect on the crowd? I have no way of knowing and if Im honest maybe not in this instance. However one thing I know for certain. They will not have helped.

In light of recent developments at Brum we will be having Laurence Rogers on the show tonight. I know this flies in the face of recent criticism. I.E being to west mids orientated but it is topical right now. Incidentally last weeks show was pretty good mainly because we had so much involvment from our audience so we were able to cover a lot of ground. Many thanks for that.

I would like to take some time to look at one or two points made in this post that I think are incorrect. Firstly I disagree with the assesment of Zach but I guess thats just a difference of opinion. "We all saw that no one rode the outside all night as there was no dirt, no grip and no point doing so " To the contrary Kennett spent much of his time after his first two heats riding right round the outside. As for there being no dirt on the track. Whilst I would be the first to agree that the track has been slick so far this season, last nights track had the most dirt on it that I have seen for a long time. I have first hand knowledge of this because I had a rake in hand pulling it of the fence all night. Also James Shanes pulled of a couple of outside passes during the night so there was definatley a point in trying. As mentioned in the program there is a rarity of shale available at the moment and I know we are trying to source some. "The meeting was over by heat five and we only looked better in the later part of the meeting as Eastbourne relaxed and eased off. " The heat times dont support this hypothesis and niether did the racing. I had more to say but then I took a look at the Brummies forum to find that someone had said it better and more succinct than I can. So I am going to repeat that post here (hoping the person in question does not mind.) I will say this though. I understand the frustration. I share it. I understand the worry and share it. I hate seeing my beloved Brummies lose. And after the first 7 heats last night I was ready to dig a hole and jump down it. However the next 8 heats were far far better and I was impressed that we didnt just throw in the towel and showed a lot of courage on what would have been a very difficult night for them. They didnt throw in the towel so Im not going to. The post I was reffering to follows. So its nearly 24 hours on and perhaps the dust is starting to settle (quite literally) on last nights performance. Lets start with a reality check - at the end of last season there were few if any who wished to remain in the third tier of racing. Because of what happened in the Phillips era we all knew we were a club with no riding assets so our journey in putting together a team was going to be a long one and because we had the 'chicken & egg' situation of needing assets before we met the Championship entry requirements but couldn't really sign assets until we were 'in' it must have been a pretty thankless task. When you compare that to last nights opponents Eastbourne who because of the demise of Lakeside and the switch of the promotion they had a ready made list of quality experienced assets who they are now able to use. Now the 7 we have started with may not be the best in the league but they have been put together on a budget that hopefully ensures we last the season - something I am not convinced all other clubs will achieve. Watching the last three home matches, and the last two against fellow Championship clubs in particular, each of our riders have shown, albeit in glimpses, that they have the ability to win races around Perry Barr. Just look at last night, 5 of our 7 were paid for winning races and of the two that didn't one was Paco who as probably been the brightest spark of the season so far. I really don't think the effort they are putting in can be questioned (look at Tobias 2nd ride last night when he pushed all of the way for no reward) but its not their fault if at the moment on a regular basis they are not as good as the riders they are being asked to race against. One thing they do all need to work on though is their gating which is absolutely dreadful and if they cant get that right then perhaps we need to 'fix' the track accordingly! I sincerely hope we don't make wholesale changes and we persevere with what we've got now - I'm not convinced the crowds will drop considerably just because we aren't winning (if we are honest could they get much poorer than last night?) but the sense of achievement when this team does win (and despite what others think I do believe we will break our duck) will be fantastic for all who witness it. I don't want us to become Poole - a side that switches and drops riders at the drop of a hat to fit the averages - but I do want to see our team of racers given a chance.

On tonights primary school/ cringeworthy/ embarrassing show we have Tom Bacon. Hgould is right about something. We are quite Brummie/wolves/ centric. This is entirely due to the beginings of this show ten years ago (Yes we have been going for ten years!!!!) and is something we are slowly addressing. We are always looking for people that want to participate in the show from other area's so if anyone out there thinks this is something they would like to try then plese get in touch.

Reading through your reply to my post I have to say that I think you have misunderstood some of what I was saying. For example I dont think I said anything about people being negative about the result. In fact I think that the posts I have read, about the result, have been anything but negative and pretty honest. That was certainly not my intention at any rate. I think I have compared to football fans only once in this context and I also respectfully have to disagree that I was sitting on the fence. In fact I think that I was looking over the fence opposite your position on the mythical fence. But thats ok. Its all about opinions really and if we all held the same one there would be no point in forums such as this one. (Hmmmm having re-read that last sentence I think it can be fairly said that it was fence sitting!!!!) I guess I just worry that talk of replacing riders (as some have suggested) at this early point is at best counter productive and we should probably give them a little more chance than two matches. One against premiership opposition and the other at a track that has been described as trick by more than one person. Anyway I am hoping to make the trip to Somerset on Wednesday (Work permitting) and I think we will learn a lot more then. Just looking to see a good team performance. And on a more positive note. I am really enjoying my speedway at this level I think you can really see the difference in skill, speed and commitment.

I have noted recently amongst some Brummies (Not many by any means.) A sort of expectation and a feeling that we deserve to always win. I have no idea where this has come from and is something that I expect from some football fans and the odd Cradley fan. I really hope it doesnt become catching. The truth about our team is that it was built firstly to make sure we continue as a club. Hopefully no Workington or Alan Phillips syndrome hear. So whatever anyones opinion about Ulrich (And I dont think we have seen enough yet to come up with a credible opinion.) the chance of him being replaced anytime soon is at best unrealistic. Its time to hunker down and support our team through thick and thin. The most important thing is to build from here on up and this takes support and money. We have made a good start. Tobias looks to be the real deal (but again on one showing, as with Ulrich we need to see more.) Paco turns out (with a similar caveat.) not to be the disaster that was predicted. Ashley was the best rider on show last Wednesday. Ulrich may not stay at number one but thats not a real disaster if others take up the mantle. Anyway my guess is that if any changes are made as some are predicting it wont be until the permited team average goes up.

On tonights show Lee Kilby Talking about all things Swindon. David Mason Talking about his upcomeing farewell meeting. And as always whatever you want to talk about.

On tonights Speedway Tavern Lee Kilby. On facebook https://www.facebook.com/speedwaybanter/ http://sports-radio.co.uk/

There was also an interview with Paul Ackroyd about this weekends Ben fund. It can be watched again at : -

Members 228 558 posts Report post Posted just now The Speedway Tavern is back this Tuesday 8pm. On facebook and http://sports-radio.co.uk/ Tuesday's show is shaping up nicely. So far we have confirmed Paul Ackroyd from the speedway riders benevolent fund to talk about the upcoming Ben fund bonanza at Leicester. We also have a certain Mr Ben Barker on the show. Also to talk about the Ben fund but also about his upcoming benefit meeting. We have more to be announced before Tuesday, just waiting on confirmation. Love to see as many of you taking part on the shout box with your question as possible.

Can now confirm that Danny King will also be taking part.

So what I think you should do is to try and visit each championship track at least once this year and make your mind up from that. You could even come onto 'The Speedway Tavern' and review each track for us as you sample them. Would be an interesting excercise to get the view of a nuetral as each fan usually believes that there own track is the best. Even sparrows fans!

In 2008 Birmingham had a team that was many peoples pick to walk the premier league. With the likes of Kyle Legault, Adam Roynon, Phil Morris, Jason Lyons I think that was a reasonable prediction. However 13 injuries in that season put paid to that and the team (from memory) finished one of the bottom. Not a lot of luck there.