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Certainly rumours about some Premiership clubs owing riders multiple weeks wages, don't know how true they are but Oxford and Sheffield have been mentioned.

My understanding is the photos were taken down and have been/will be handed to the riders/family.

Where on earth did you get that from Neila🤣

If the 3 leagues stay and the Prem needs an extra team, could it be possible that Plymouth could move up & fill the void ? I remember they wanted to go straight into the top league when they restarted but we’re not allowed. Don’t know if they would want to now but they are the only club I can remember saying they would like to be in that league 🤷‍♂️

Dayle Wood. Poole quite a bit stronger at reserve tonight.

I’d utilise bank holidays and school holidays to attract families. The first meeting of the season is always well attended for speedway starved fans, so I’d run a Sheffield meeting then and put the PCMT on a Saturday later in the season. I’d do the same with the British Final if no other club wanted it. That first night plus bank and school holidays would account for 12 meetings, all being well attended hopefully. The league title should go to the top of the table team with the top four competing for the KO Cup as this would make for more meaningful meetings. Run a wooden spoon cup for the other two, if it’s a six team league again like four years ago. I’d offer more special deals (endless options to try) and freebies to bump up the crowd as we saw on Monday that a big crowd can elevate an ordinary meeting. All this should be done if we stick with Dan & Brady types or not. If we throw them out then we restructure completely with rules making equipment cheaper to run and admission reflecting what’s on offer.

I’d be happy with that Ipswich team if the regs stay the same which I think is unlikely.

As we all know there aren't any good/ easy immediate answers it won't happen but I have mulled if maybe there were six in the main league next year keep the superstars but just have one home and away then straight into the play off's if you wanted to see Emil,Jack Holder, Fricke you might have just the one chance rather than 4-5 opportunities now. The top six clubs could then run a second team like Oxford have done at Championship level assuming say the current remaining 9 championship teams run it could be once/home and away with maybe 5 man teams with riders who are committed to being available for at least 90% of the fixtures. This would give more variety and we would have to keep double down as a necessary evil for the near term but the likes of the Cooks, Harris, Lawson, Masters, (maybe Douglas) could still compete in both leagues to earn a decent living. If the third tier continues to run maybe allow each team to have a couple of aussies Jordy Loftus is a good example struggled when he got here but is now finding his feet and chipping in with a few points each meeting hopefully he should develop into a decent riders who would commit to UK next 5-10 years. I realise people will say the model hasn't worked for Oxford this year but I get the impression the problems are more down to the health of the main backer than the operating model. Getting away from Mondays is a must the worst night of the week to put anything on as people have had the low of going back to work after the weekend high and just don't want to go out that night, Thurs and Fridays the weekend feeling is starting to get back in peoples head and they are more inclined to do things.

Lineups declared KING’S LYNN: Jan Kvech, Niels-Kristian Iversen, Chris Harris, Richard Lawson, Nicolai Klindt, Ben Cook, Luke Harrison. BELLE VUE: Brady Kurtz, Norick Blodorn, Jaimon Lidsey, Zach Cook, Dan Bewley, Tate Zischke, Jake Mulford. I think the Stars will win this one (minus any mechanical gremlins) and collect the bonus point. 49(91) - 41(89)

Shame Bimingham have closed at Perry Barr & I feel for Brummies fans who had their last 'farewell' Monday nite, but it could be worse. At Hull we had no such 'farewell' as the track(s) closed without any warning - twice. At the Boulevard there were rumours the speedway promoters weren't on the greatest terms with landlords Hull FC (who were on the up at that time) but there was no indication that speedway would end at the venue. Fans only discovered this news in the Hull Daily Mail - on the Thursday nite after the final meeting in October 1981. Similar at Craven Park, though there probably were clues, again the rugby landlords, this time Hull KR, were on the up, wanted to increase he size of the pitch & there was much talk of enlarging the speedway track to Workington, Derwent Park size. Sadly again, the speedway club closed & were evicted with no warining with 2 home fixtures outstanding, as coincedentally occured at Workington in later years, the previous treble winning season of 2004 with a huge wage bill due to slamming teams home & away all season impacted hugely. This time finances were the main factor & so the speedway club closed. In fact I shared a few conversations with Comets team manager Tony Jackson about speedway requiring a 'wage cap' of some kind, but there would be the situation of telling your no.1 who maybe scored a full maximum, he is needed once again in heat 15, or perhaps again in a 'super heat'. Anyhoo, hopefully speedway could return to Hull (came very, very close on a couple of occasions in recent years I'm not allowed to discuss), in Exeter, Newcastle, etc & now Birmingham. The sport in the UK can't affod to lose any more tracks: in 1981 there were 2 divisions each of 18-ish teams, so 36 in total In 2025 there are approx 16 in the entire country, not including the non-league venues such as Duns & Lydd. I still watch speedway on TV & live at Scunny when I can make it, but it isn't the same as having a team of your own, and as the song goes "you don't know wat you've got, til it's gone". Sigh....

Because all the forum experts, who speak in code to each other, are alledgedly in the know through conversations with riders,mechanics,promoters and team managers. IE speculating and guessing.

Betard Sparta Wrocław speedway riders Maciej Janowski and Artiom Łaguta will not be competing in Wednesday's Danish league match. Varde Elitesport reported that Sparta has blocked the riders from competing, although the Polish club has a slightly different opinion. The team from Lower Silesia suffered a heavy defeat in the first semifinal match of the PGE Ekstraliga on Sunday against PRES Grupa Deweloperska Toruń (38:52). Three days after this defeat, the Wrocław-based team was scheduled to ride in the Danish league – in a match between Region Varde Elitesport ( Łaguta ) and Fjelsted Speedway Klub ( Janowski ). Ultimately, both starts will not take place, as Region Varde announced on social media: " It has just been confirmed that Artiom Łaguta's Polish club will not release its riders to play in other teams. This decision applies to both Region Varde Elitesport and Fjelsted Speedway Club in this round. Fjelsted had an agreement with Maciej Janowski, who, like Artiom Łaguta, rides in the Polish league for Wrocław. Region Varde Elitesport is now working intensively to find a replacement for Artiom Łaguta," the statement reads. We asked the Wrocław club about the reasons for this ban. They responded that the riders had not been banned. The club had made them aware of their current season status and that additional commitments were unreasonable. After reviewing the club's arguments, Artem Łaguta and Maciej Janowski reportedly found them justified. The rematch between Betard Sparta and PRES Grupa Deweloperska will take place on Sunday, September 7th. The Wrocław team won the regular season match 56-34 at home and will certainly do everything they can to achieve a similar result. (copied and translated from sportowefakty.pl)

Yeah suppose....but the shale is automatically thrown away from any pitch i.e. left to right.....then of course fans get hit, so programme boards at the ready....why is speedway so difficult to maintain.

Something for Thurrock area fans to look forward to on 9 September.

I thought you maybe there and kept a look out but I didn't see you. Fairly dismal dusty affair, no sign of a water bowser perhaps it has been flogged along with photos at the top of stairs and the screens in the bar which were absent on Monday. Two passes I can think of. Zagar in heat 4 blasting around the outside of a Lions reserve and Hagon yielding first place meekly to Becker in heat 8 after he'd done well to hold his ground entering the first turn being the meat in a sandwich and shoving Becker wide. In fairness to Musielak he tried absolutely everything to get past Howarth in heat 9/10 inside, outside, cut back but the track was so dry & dusty he just couldn't find a way past. I'll not shed any tears over the loss of Perry Barr, any affection I had for it was 20ish years ago in the time of Lyons & Mole. The track hasn't been the same in the past 6 years, almost always dusty without much passing, the terracing is not steep enough so the view is limited and that 'Bus Stop' that has been erected next to the gate makes viewing even more difficult. But the fact that Cradley, Coventry, Wolves & Brummies are no longer operating means my nearest track is Leicester which is an hours drive away only if traffic obliges. Sheffield & Belle Vue and to a lesser extent Oxford are do-able there and back in a day but that's all. Sad times for the West Midlands.

As said by others on this thread, the decline started earlier, but without a doubt, Matt Ford caused the sport more problems than the contributors on this forum care to admit

Think the FA would stop it

Had the dog at the vets.... But not interested in replying anyway.....

Okay 1 down....400+ to go.

Because times have changes to such a degree that my Tier 9 local football club have just spent £1,000,000 on a new pitch. They are not going to want to contaminate it with shale when they have specific rules on what type of studs can be used.

Sadly speedway keeps losing tracks and it's possibly the final countdown for the great sport. What occurs to me, rightly or otherwise, is that speedway is short of top promoters - guys with funds and ideas to introduce new parties to the ranks. I see there are over 400 non league soccer grounds in existence. Plus more rugby stadiums. So can't a wealthy promoter (if they exist of course) find at least 5/6 stadiums capable of joining the speedway world? Ok it would need soccer's permission to build a track around a pitch but why not? I mean for approx 30 years I enjoyed seeing the Comets race 398 yards around Derwent Park's rugby pitch with minimal problems and great speedway. Surely down South or in the Midlands some stadia exist awaiting a promoters call?

Very likely you were asking questions that were much too difficult for whoever saw them at " Rugby Towers".😀

Annoyingly i am not in town for this, expect a home win - but maybe the Witches to sneak the BP at Foxhall a week later - which again annoyingly I will miss as i am back in Sheffield that week!

You have to wonder if he has come back too early - so yes time to rest up for 2025 and come back in 2026 fit and raring to go.

Appreciate the response IainB! Clearly MikeBV didn't want to stand on any of his initial comments and reply glad someone did!