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Hopefully it's a good event, I've always enjoyed it previously. Bit of a strange lineup, isn't it? There could be some strung out races.

good.

be very grippy

Doyle has just been announced at Vastervik for '27. Poland, Sweden and GB now he no longer has the GPs on his schedule?

track should be spot on tonight.

who cares, were in the final and your not

I’m in Norfolk

IS IT, funny that, im here now and it isnt and not had rain this morning, had a lot of rain over night mind you

Raining here

Boo

Except for supporting their team. Their attendances are crap generally.

You’d have to be a very unlucky team for that to happen. 😱 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_British_League_season#British_League_Knockout_Cup

Always good to read your insightful comments too. Always good for a giggle with your usual Belle Vue are the best at everything posts.

For me, the actual credibility of what's on offer will always be the key issue that holds the sport back.. Jason Doyle and Max Fricke both played major roles in Sheffield qualifying, for Max, to the detriment of his own team who finished fifth, and if Sheffield win on aggregate tonight, then Jason will have assisted them to do so... You simply cannot take that seriously and invest yourself emotionally into it, therefore the play off qualifiers can be very much "take it or leave it" with a clear high number choosing to "leave it".. However, it can still be a very good night out, watching the racing when surrounded by a decent amount of people, hence the play off final in particular brings out those, like me, who don't have enough interest to attend throughout the season due to low crowd numbers, and the inevitable lack of atmosphere brought by them, and the lack of any feeling of real importance to a run of the mill meeting... As I say, if fhe promoters sorted the clear and obvious barriers to attending, then there wouldn't be such disproportionate crowds from qualifiers to finals...

That’s one of the many problems with the play offs and one I went into chapter and verse when they first came into the sport. Once the perception is planted that a fixture is less important, fans will think twice about attending. The repetitive nature of fixtures doesn’t help though as it was back in the day, you can ride local teams many times over with little impact on the gate. This was evidenced by Glasgow and Edinburgh successfully meeting ten times recently. The ONLY benefit of the play offs is the gate money two teams get (four at a push) but it’s now robbing Peter to pay Paul as all we are doing is clawing back what’s been lacking in the qualifiers. The original reason for them may come back into play if a tv deal is forthcoming as the broadcaster absolutely demands to screen the deciding fixture.

I take it you are not!

A reply well worth reading. I happen to think it would be good for the sport to have two people involved who are well versed in dealing with (one of the biggest) councils successfully enough to have a new dedicated speedway stadium in a built up area near to the city centre. By all means though, keep posting your insightful comments.

To be fair the alternative is for to come out and say "we are utterly fooked, abandon ship, everyman for himself" but as you say bar losing Kurtz and Doyle to injury in the first four heats it should be a shoe in result.

One of the problems is they keep admitting throughout the season that the league matches are just qualifiers & finishing top isn't a necessity. So if fans are in two minds, they may as well just wait for the play-offs. Of course in Poland they manage decent crowds all year, maybe meeting opposition teams once a season would help (if there was enough teams in the league)?

Can't agree with Simon Stead saying the pressure is on Belle Vue, even though they're highly expected to win. If they were 20 points down maybe, one bad heat & you can panic. But as it is, riders should be as relaxed as you can be for a grand final.

Being based in Marylebone I have to plan travel with care but Friday night at Belle Vue followed by Saturday at Redcar and a slow train journey home on Sunday seams the ideal way to end the season

He must be a citeh fan as well....

It is more likely that he would apply for Polish citizenship. His wife is Polish and they reside there.

Haha cartel is to blame, the cartel is to blame!!

He came into the crowd. He was all big smiles, high fives and handshakes. As I said might have been good bye but I’m not sure.