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What I do miss are the Wembley Finals set in the magnificence of the Empire Stadium with 90,000 fans yelling their heads off..... But then I'm just an old codger, so what do you expect?

Been to several Cardiff gp over the years, either staying in Cardiff or travelling in from portishead (family) was great to meet up with friends/fans in Cardiff before and after the meeting and for food. Where this weekend at belle Vue theirs nowhere to meet up for a drink or meal. Yes longsight club but it is very small, and Kentucky on the other side of Hyde road, that's all, yes a fan zone but big queue for drinks, no central area in city centre to meet up before catching bus to belle Vue, may pop into spoons at Piccadilly before the bus, but the last time I was in there it was iffy . Give me Cardiff anyday dispite the racing

Klindt has taken the p""s for years now, why anyone bothers signing him is a mystery.

I don’t miss it as I last went in 2018 when Tai came 2nd - I did used to love the whole event every year and went from 2001 to about 2008/9 - I was there to see the Trick wall of death ride the Emil / Scott handbags and of course Bombers win in 2007. my old man, sadly departed in 2022, and I used to go every year we started at Coventry in 2000 that was a fab event too as were the old British finals we used to attend in the late 80s it was more than just about the SGP tho it was a whole weekend event if you wanted it to be just like the old British finals etc were a big day out - there was a meeting on the Friday night at Somerset and then one at Newport before they closed on the Sunday or was that the other way round?. There was also the meeting of friends from this forum in the Prince of Wales for a few hrs before and after the event! Like most things I suppose it had it’s day - I don’t miss the scramble for the hotels and like a few others stayed well outside Cardiff in Bristol Newport etc on a few occasions as the hotels started ramping up prices! Glad I got to do it and really enjoyed it for a while!

Of course years ago every track had its sprinkling of individuals, test matches, 4TT etc. However, hardly anyone runs them now so we end up with massive gaps in the calendar.

Well lets see what it like on thursday shall we - I refrained form putting the boot into Buster (tempting tho it was) and it just about proved to be the right call!

Interested to know why you feel his statement was stupid - having read his comments in full he was addressing the entire issue of meeting postponements / rain offs and the habit of postponing things perhaps on a whim. I was at the aborted BV match and I personally felt the track would and could be ridden - the bikes never warmed up and not one rider either offered or was asked to test the track, or at least not one bike even rode a lap to test things. - came away feeling not enough had been done on that one! The annoucement said they were going to scrape off the surface and then after some token efforst the annoucement was its off!! He was really alluding to was a lack of professionalism and consistency - he cited that in almost 200 SGP etc events they had only 2 rain offs. If the sport is to be taken seriously and thrive which is, i think what we all want, then somehow things like this needs addressing. Yes there is perhaps a element of the (naive) newbie having a say and perhaps ruffling a few feathers etc but, in part his comments were perhaps aimed at both promoters and riders. If things don't get more professional / improve etc etc blah blah waffle piffle and Mayfield decided to say exit speedway in 2031 etc everyone will be back about missed opportunities and why won't the big money men touch our little sport! The change (largely in attitude) has to start somewhere!

Spot on, for me it was similar to attending a metal concert, it's not mainstream, gets zero media coverage but you're all there to watch you're "secret" thing... while everybody else is watching Taylor Swift (Football)

It’s that yearly experience of knowing where you’ll be on that weekend, with like minded people, enjoying it all again. The riders mingling with the crowd beforehand… and feeling proud of the fact that only in our sport would this happen , down to earth lads. ( the riders)

That's probably it in a nutshell - and I don't think the promoters did enough to try to retain those people (I'm one of them) - and, without them, the event became unviable

Typical you moaning about something to do with Poole

Not for the organisers, who lost significant sums of money

Agreed others have also discovered that the hard way as often it can be a big gamble leaving it late especially when you then bring the riders into the equation who may well be less than willing to ride.

Oxford or Poole

I miss it, it brought a different demographic to Speedway a younger and often female demographic that you just tended not to see at league Speedway, some of these were foreign but a lot seemed to be British. I know of people with little to no interest in Speedway who used to attend from Leicester, so there must have been others. As league Speedway is followed by an older, more male demographic, a lot of who arent interested in actually having a good time socially or enjoying the atmosphere that a big crowd generates and only interested in "the racing" and filling their programmes in before a race is complete and standing there in stoney faced silence offering no applause when a rider comes round and acknowledges the crowd... when they stopped going it only left "the normals" and that just wasn't enough to sustain it. (Controversial, sorry if that's you). It's done the sport as much damage as the loss of Wembley did back in the 80's and it's going to take some coming back from. I went to every one and enjoyed every experience I had... even the ones with crap racing. I only stayed over twice, never in Cardiff, never went just to get p155ed up, never paid more than £30 for a ticket after year one and just had a cheap maccies to keep the costs down. With the 14 odd tracks we currently have running today it's difficult to see how the British Speedway showpiece event can attract a crowd of more than 6,500 ever again in the current setup.

Speedway at Cardiff felt like a big event, a spectacle. Speedway at Belle Vue feels like another meeting. Manchester will never replicate the roar when Harris passed Hancock on the final bend.

I went to every Cardiff gp too and I miss it very much. It was an occasion and a big event, now it is great racing on a great racetrack but a lot less people see it live.

Well, there's ckall else to do with every speedway match in the country being called off this week, when they mostly could have been run with some effort from those involved.

We had absolutely biblical rain in Leicester for over an hour during the night before the Sheffield match last week yet the track was dusty after a couple of races, yes we did have 30 degree temps during that day but with the wind we're having at the moment and around 15 hours of daylight I do feel this was a bit of a premature postponement. When you've sat and watched a GP qualifier from Glasgow at the weekend being ridden, often in driving rain, on a wet track you have to wonder why Ippo meetings get called off so easily... like the BV match the other week! Have the Foxhole drainage problems resurfaced?

Friday forecast looks ok Saturday and Sunday dreadful

Definitely didn't hodder the better rider.

Typical Poole cheating by using a different lower average for a rider 😜🤣

Hard to expect riders to be at their best when they are not getting regular track time.

That's why I questioned the 6.71 on the June 1st Declarations, issue 14.

Hodder is averaging more than Perry this year. He had a higher average (riding in a tougher position) last year. Glasgow made the right choice. Now if Perry keeps improving, then good for him & good for Workington, but that doesn't mean Glasgow made an error.