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Is that nowadays, or in 2004?

I thought Tobias was guesting for Lasse at Redcar and Klindt at Plymouth?!

I know for a fact that speedway isn’t the best kept secret in town as we have done the following over the years to bang the drum. Have an advert on local radio over an extended period of time. Have an advert in local newspapers over an extended period of time. Have an advertising board on some of the busiest roads in Manchester. Have posters in shops and businesses. Had out flyers in local shopping areas. Have a float or attend local fairs and carnivals. Attend local trade shows. Give out free tickets to schools and businesses. Take bikes and merchandise into schools to accompany the talk they deliver on the sport. Be featured on local tv news’s 4 or 5 times between March and October. Have a regular editorial in local papers. Have a 30 minute highlights programme on a local tv satellite station. Form a tie up with local groups and offer free entry and supporters club membership. Attend (and win) local sports team of the year awards. I know I keep saying it and it’s a bitter pill for us all but as a generalisation, people do not like speedway. I asked recently if you could all ask family and friends to attend a meeting with you. I had no response but I’m guessing if each asked 20 people then out of the collective thousands that were asked the answer would have been around a 100% no. This is from people who now know where and when and how much the local speedway is and the opportunity to attend with a knowledgeable friend but still refuse the invite.

With regards attendances, the lore is fans overestimate home crowds and underestimate away. Clubs aren’t happy with their crowds and if you’re making a bob or two then great but no club has any bragging rights about attendance. Manchester has so much going on in the battle for the leisure pound. The average man/woman in the street (which is exactly what a speedway fan is) only has so much expendable cash so should they attend one of the many many shows or concerts etc at £50-£100 a pop they do not have the money to visit speedway. They can catch the speedway almost any time but when a particular show or artist comes to town for a short run or one night only then it’s easy to see who wins. Add in the plethora of sporting greats in and around the city then it’s amazing that such an unfashionable sport as ours can hold its head above water in the area. This is not a dig but I spent a week in the B&B Hotel in Ipswich at the end of last October. I struggled to find anything to do. No theatre (one production had been cancelled), no gigs and no comedy. There wasn’t even a pub quiz night. I had to travel to Cambridge to get my theatre fix. I found Ipswich to be a lovely town and had it been summer then a walk along the waterfront together with a drink and a meal would have been great but winter time offered me little. With limited competition for the leisure pound it’s little wonder that places like this and Poole get fairly decent crowds.

Perversely, it may be because they are the two biggest cities that they won't have a team between them - land values are so high and suitable sites so rare that to get a new location is very difficult, even if the demand is there

With regards attendances, the lore is fans overestimate home crowds and underestimate away. Clubs aren’t happy with their crowds and if you’re making a bob or two then great but no club has any bragging rights about attendance. Manchester has so much going on in the battle for the leisure pound. The average man/woman in the street (which is exactly what a speedway fan is) only has so much expendable cash so should they attend one of the many many shows or concerts etc at £50-£100 a pop they do not have the money to visit speedway. They can catch the speedway almost any time but when a particular show or artist comes to town for a short run or one night only then it’s easy to see who wins. Add in the plethora of sporting greats in and around the city then it’s amazing that such an unfashionable sport as ours can hold its head above water in the area. This is not a dig but I spent a week in the B&B Hotel in Ipswich at the end of last October. I struggled to find anything to do. No theatre (one production had been cancelled), no gigs and no comedy. There wasn’t even a pub quiz night. I had to travel to Cambridge to get my theatre fix. I found Ipswich to be a lovely town and had it been summer then a walk along the waterfront together with a drink and a meal would have been great but winter time offered me little. With limited competition for the leisure pound it’s little wonder that places like this and Poole get fairly decent crowds.

It’s refreshing to have a positive post like yours amidst the negative doom and gloom often heard from certain individuals. I’m sure there are members of this forum who are in touch with the Swindon Needs Speedway group, who are still primarily focussed on retaining the Abbey Stadium. They can convey your thoughts and advice when approaching the planning process for this new venue. As you say, people will say anything to put a spanner in the works, so I’m sure I remember University of Central England complaining about the noise from the speedway putting their students off studying (this was in November/December!)

Just to concur with Norbold. I too was at that meeting and what he says is absolutely true.....it is forever etched in my mind. One of the most exciting meetings I have ever seen. If there ever was an underdog in a Speedway meeting this was it. West Ham were expected to lose without Hunter and Harrfeldt, some West Ham fans did not even bother to go because it was going to be an absolute annihilation of West Ham....yes it was that bad! What a mistake for those fans that did not bother. Thanks for the memories Norbold.

I would be surprised if a rider felt like that, look after number one

Tomrrow's Swedish youth championship final will be live at this lin. Start time is 13.00 Swedish time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chD21JJSdKU

FTG is no longer a derogatory term as many fans have expressed their liking for this kind of heat and find the passing at some tracks boring. There is no need to defend FTG anymore, nevertheless this defence goes on with some examples being plain daft. If you can’t fathom the intricacies of the first few seconds of a heat and the impact a riders start position has then you need to rewatch some televised meetings. The commentators discuss at length the options open to a rider over the first part of a heat or more importantly options not available. Any passing up to the exit of B3 L1 is almost exclusively influenced by the start position and this is why I call a heat at that point then compare the order come the checkered flag. This is by no means an insult but yesterday only heat 3 & 15 saw a change in order after B3.

If you had seen him in the pits you could see he was trying his hardest to get some sort of set up to work even changed bikes shouting in Danish chucking things about the place ,to travel all the way to Glasgow for 1 point he would have lost money

Lets be honest probably not.

How do you know it didn't cost them? Maybe he was on a gaurantee? He would also get expences. Maybe Glasgow riders have a different mind set from certain Poole riders.

Link for Sunday`s 2 matches http://video.ucoz.lv/index/live_stream/0-5

Catalan, Same Start Marshal maybe sporting a new diguise. There I've edited for you.

I’d be happy if this was the play offs as we can pull back a 14 deficit within 9 heats. In every meeting at Foxhall this season we have suffered 5-1 in heat 13 & 15 which is unacceptable given our top two. In both fixtures we were in touching distance on a close defeat of small win as the rest of the side had done their thing. Harsh on Brady & Dan but everyone has a job to do in their particular slot. I’m confident that they will succeed in these heats come the play offs and help lead us to the ultimate prize once again. Whether they go on an unbeaten 29 ride run again like last year is debatable.

4 round 17( out of 18) matches next Tuesday 19th August Lublin v Rybnik Lublin 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Rybnik 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Grudziadz v Torun Grudziadz 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Torun 1 Heiselberg 2 B Pedersen 3 Kawczynski 4 Duchinski 5 Lewandowski 6 Ruminski 7 Gorzow v leszno Gorzow 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Leszno 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Zielona Gora v Czestochowa Zielona Gora 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Czestochowa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Yes, have you seen his scores at Plymouth in the few meetings he's rode in?

Thanks people. The official attendance was 7,131. Pretty decent. 👍

Stretford, actually. Comes under Trafford MBC.

I think @AceBelle has too many sherbets on match days the amount of dribble they write on here.

Flint got a maximum at Oxford which might come back to help Redcar get to the play -offs which MIGHT cost Glasgow!.Riders just want too earn cash they are not bothered about Club.(averages dictate a riders career )

Ipswich v Leicester final, Ipswich to win over two legs, if i was a Lions fan i would prefer to go with R/R for Becker as coming back from a long injury absence would be a gamble considering how well the facility has worked for them, if they go with a guest could be more of a gamble.

Very reasonable and understanding. According to the fixtures (if I have read them correctly) Beckers Polish team do not have a match until the 24th, so there’s no chance of him competing again prior to the next Leicester fixture. Of course, in the meantime, Luke could fail to recover his fitness adequately in time for the Lions v Witches fixture meaning appropriate medical paperwork is issued making him unavailable for the Lions on Monday.