cityrebel 2,960 Posted June 5, 2019 1 hour ago, moxey63 said: We often compare speedway with football. Football is a simple sport and is easy to follow. Speedway, though it is a simple sport, four riders, four laps, 3, 2, 1 etc, it is when you start widening the horizons of parts of it and question which jewels might attract and keep supporters. Guest riders are a problem. Try explaining that one to an outsider. Riders doubling up and down, that's another one that even hardcore fans scratch their heads a little over. The double-points rule was a good one, in which riders who had the lead had to shut off to allow their team mate through, so they could gain the double points for their side. Yet the rule is a rider will be excluded for not making a bonafide effort to race. Thankfully, though it took a decade and a half, that rule has now gone. The rule which allows riders to flit to and from various teams is one big laugh. We have an incident right now, don't we, in which a side is so weak that it has failed to win a match. Because of this team's low achieving start to the season, it has therefore been able to sign a rider with the introduction of the new averages. Now, after that dubious ploy, I'd fathom a guess that riders who were in that team, but had mysteriously been off form, will get that form straight back - and the team will crusade right towards the play-offs. We have seen it before, and it is a big fat farce. Not many years back wasn't there a side that was investigated for chucking points. It was a side that was struggling and riders were having mysterious engine failures. It was still early season and I guess they wanted to lower averages to strengthen when the team level was reset. The play-offs were still in sight and achievable. I also recall, after their investigation, didn't the authorities reduce the number of play-off places available mid-season down from five to four because, although they said they found no proof of result-manipulating, the fact that they cut play-off places sort of gives you the clue what they thought. Now, if new fans are attracted by that sort of activity, then they are welcome to it. The problem is, there are too many tracks and not enough riders to fill the team places. The way the sport is going, things should even themselves out in the next couple of years. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
moxey63 1,785 Posted June 5, 2019 1 hour ago, cityrebel said: The problem is, there are too many tracks and not enough riders to fill the team places. The way the sport is going, things should even themselves out in the next couple of years. Does that mean tracks will close or there'll be a sudden influx of riders? I guess it'll be the former. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cityrebel 2,960 Posted June 5, 2019 1 hour ago, moxey63 said: Does that mean tracks will close or there'll be a sudden influx of riders? I guess it'll be the former. You guessed right. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikebv 10,240 Posted June 6, 2019 On Wednesday, June 05, 2019 at 1:03 PM, cityrebel said: The problem is, there are too many tracks and not enough riders to fill the team places. The way the sport is going, things should even themselves out in the next couple of years. Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest will be once again be proven.... For far too long Speedway has propped up teams in the league at any cost... Hence it has become not much more than a vehicle to allow riders to ride professionally in an haphazard scatter gun way, rather than a bona fide professional team sport which attracts a loyal emotional following and has credibility... Sometimes you do need to strip everything back and start again... When supply of riders exceeds demand it can start to turn round it's fortunes.. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
