mikebv

Presume Pepe must keep his place due to bringing in the big Pental team sponsorship? Cant be down to his riding over the past few years...

You always read and hear that preparing a Speedway track is so difficult... That looks piss easy to me....

Belle Vue have... 37 quid for me and my 18 year old student lad to stand.... Ouch.... Looks like Eurosport coverage for me....

And many last year wouldnt have actually lost money... Or at least will have lost a lot less than usual... With the vastly reduced level on show it surely can't cost the same? (And if it does then they are crackers to pay lesser riders the same money, but "you never know"!! And even with the capacity reductions, most will comfortably be able to get their usual average crowd in I would think so no loss of revenue there for many.. Given the health concerns of re joining 'society' for many of their demographic fan base, not sure a price increase is wise to be honest.. Edit: and this year they get TV money too...

Seem to be lots of postponed matches in the Polish leagues this year so far... (Nothing to do with no/reduced crowds and the hope that full crowds can enter later in the season I am sure).. In the SS, Oliver Berntzon mentions that this 'slow start' to the season means he has a good many meetings condensed into a relatively short period of time, meaning he is having to stay in Poland to ensure he will be available for them all.. He also said that they were racing three meetings in five days in the coming weeks to catch up... I think the BSPL might need to keep Monday's Eurosport fixture the only meeting to be ran that day if the same thing will apply to the rest of the riders...

All the major supermarkets stock it so maybe worth request to stock it (if it doesn't), if you use any of the 'big four'... The SS is on sale at my local Tesco by 8am every Thursday every week, no problem...

Maybe it won't be only the fans wearing masks..

I believe the company is called "Pie-ky and Chips".....

Have they finished putting that roof on yet?

RIP Jon Cook.. Condolences, and best wishes to all his family and friends..

Mickey Mouse events? A few seasons ago the Premier League Play Off Final (the flagship event of the whole UK Speedway season) was set to have two riders guesting who were actually going to 'swap' teams after the first leg... Meaning each would ride for BOTH teams... Whatever the IOW do in the coming season I would suggest that they would be very hard pushed to be more 'Mickey Mouse' than that. .. In fact, I would think even Disney would struggle to be so... Best of luck to the IOW this season...

I remember watching Polish Speedway last year when they allowed crowds back in but at a reduced capacity... I realise Poland is a staunchly Catholic country but even so, some of those family sizes who were sat together did look a bit 'suspicious'..... A crowd 25% of the stadium capacity was often 100% sat together..... Madness considering the pandemic going on all around them... I am sure our local councils will be much more pro active around this.. A logistical nightmare I am sure for the tracks but you can only wish them well in their endeavours..

Pretty much the Speedway business model up until around five years or so ago when I suppose it eventually dawned that it doesn't work.. For far too long it was "we have lost 'x' amount of fans due to the last inflation busting increase so increase admission by another inflation busting 'y' amount"... Whilst all the time not spotting that the annual reduction in fans was destroying the atmosphere, whilst at the same time the inflation busting price hikes were peeing off their most ardent loyalist fans,... A 'lose/lose'.....

I would think that given the plans the IOW have for the season they will need maybe a pool of 35 or so riders to allow their team and the visiting teams to remain 'fresh', and not have the same lads riding each time... And around 15 or so of these lads will be around NL heat leader level if their points limit is used... These 15 lads alone could easily be filling 30 spaces in the 2nd and 3rd tiers, so 'if' (and for me it is unlikely, but as you allude to, "you never know with the BSPL"), any bans are threatened, they could easily stand together and say "we are doing it", and they would have to be given permission I would suggest given their huge collective impact to the two leagues mentioned.. Getting competitive teams out every meeting during the pandemic will be enough of a challenge to the three leagues I would imagine, so any ban threat (particularly to the level of rider that is so fundamental to two leagues), would hardly be made coming from any position of strength.. Hopefully the IOW can just get on with the task of providing 'Shale Sport' entertainment, in their customary pro active style, without any nonsense getting in the way...

And should the BSPL ever actually ban any riders for riding at the IOW, then who would ride for the teams in their leagues? Most riders seem to have two teams as it is, so banning any of them would create some big holes to be filled.. And as the IOW seem to be trying to run their 'Speedw', (er I mean 'Shale Sport" Meetings) at a level more akin to the 'old' NL strength it will therefore include a number of 'decent level riders', which would mean a fair few NDL heat leaders and Championship Reserves would need finding to replace them from a pool of lesser talent.. To be honest. I can't really see the BSPL being too bothered what happens on the island, (hope so anyway), and if they are, they really need to focus on the much more important matters.. Such as promoting their sport aggressively as we leave the various lockdown rules behind..