mikebv

Can't have been for putting his leg out surely? That's very much the riding style for many these days.. And MJJ was doing the same..

What is it with all this shouting from the fans? Young fans it looks like too.... Far too noisy for me this. . Where's me blanket. ..

Running with the concept, I would just run with 16 riders over four or five rounds depending on how many tracks can make it happen.. The top 16 riders will invariably be mainly the ones who DU and will have spent the most so it gives them a chance to earn some money... It also means most on show will be of a similar standard so should mean the racing is decent.. Wild card to the winner for next years GP.. £100 a point on average would need £12k a meeting to cover it if using a traditional 20 heat formula, so circa 1000 fans needed at say £15 in, to pay the prize money and VAT.. Circa 1300 needed to pay all the costs in total maybe? Surely a Speedway starved populus would generate at least 1300 or so? (If those numbers meet the % criteria at the time).. And there are several venues around the country with tracks fairly 'local' to them so could pull in those fans too who are desperate to see some live Speedway.. Gives the riders a few quid, gives the fans some bona fide Speedway to watch rather than some contrived septets in a challenge, and, if sold properly, could get some publicity for the sport thus keeping it view..

I think Madsen thought it maybe better to not risk injury.. He could still win this, but the GP's will be his main aim..

Location. Location. Location.. A fair old way outside of Buxton and relied in the main on Belle Vue and Sheffield followers if you looked at what many of the spectators wore.. Dont think it ever really captured the imagination of the towns inhabitants and without any other living beings, apart from cows and sheep, within several miles radius of its location it would be very hard to attract 'locals' (as there wasn't many!)... Lovely on a summers day, not so if it was a 'bit parky', and you could get all four seasons in a day.. Facilities at best 'basic' but an enjoyable day out, and great to watch the racing so close to the action..

Not a bad shout that THJ.. None of them have had a great season, but then again, none of them have had a bad one either.. Every rider has definitely managed to maintain their average......

Wow. Well done Robert Lambert.. Another very mature ride.. Didnt panic, knew he was faster, and waited for his moment.. Fair play to Lahti too, a great night for him...

Good point.. Went through WW2 so it could quite possibly be.. I think the Colts will ride though, and it wouldn't surprise me to see an individual event.. And I am sure the SON will be given every opportunity to take place..

And loads of sheep..

Lovely ride young man... Very mature... Seem to remember someone else doing that move quite a bit (and has won 3 world titles by putting it to good use).. Even just 12 months ago Lambert may have been tempted to ride the boards and end up stone last, or off the bike.. We really do have two world class riders now..

But as a business that has openly said it annually puts six figure sums into subsidising Speedway and the Stadium though its main enterprise I would think it made real sense to make a very early decision given the many variables to their core business that inevitably will exist during a pandemic as circumstances can change daily.. Banking most of that cash and keeping it in reserve to ensure their main business has funds would 100% be the right thing to do.. And as mentioned before, given the many wide and varied logistical issues they faced around putting a decent fixture list together, it made sense to (quite possibly literally), cut their losses, and hopefully come back next year..

Ouch... Nicki P sat on the back mudguard as usual.. Trying to use another opponent as a brake..

And that many of their riders are overseas riders so will have been severely impacted by the various and potentially ever changing quarantine rules, which will vary on a day to day basis from country to country depending on the latest threat level.. Not to mention being in a country with different policies and rules than the majority of your rivals in the league you race in... And a country that isn't renowned for great weather as we hit late autumn, early winter... And finally, from a business perspective, maybe it was better not to 'open' and take advantage of the various staff payment schemes that the Govt have put together to minimise losses....? Can't knock what they did at the time, and hopefully their overall business will come out of this strong enough to keep supporting Glasgow Speedway..

At quite a few venues the stox subsidise the speedway... The old track at BV used to run around ten meetings a year and get around 3000 to 4000 a meeting.. I would suggest the Aces got quite a bit less than 30000 a season in their 20 matches..

And they can swap all seven riders over for the second leg... That way everyone gets a winners medal..

I suppose it will depend on how many want to ride.. If some get 'decent' jobs then maybe they would be reluctant to be paying out tens of thousands going forward should this thing not go away, and have far more job security.. As basically they are at the whim of a Govt edict which could come at any time. Team building also must be impacted by flights being subject to getting pulled at any moment. eg. Would riders accept being stranded 1000's of miles away from home without any chance to earn money? Lots of questions need to be asked, and answered, going forward.

With a decent bit of prize money to get some interest..? £5k per Prem and Champ track would generate a £95k prize fund.. And maybe Eurosport could chip in £5k to cover it making £100k?

On Youtube now is a full BV v Oxford match from 88.. Hans, Wiggy, Cox and Dugard etc.. The crowd looks 'huge' in comparison to the final days there..

Isn't the issue simply the viability of running the sport rather than any 'status' of it in the Govt eyes? All sports could have ran when football started but many simply couldn't do it with empty stadiums due to the huge financial cost of doing so.. Rugby League, Union, Cricket etc all decided not to start their leagues due to cost, hence postponed their start dates to see if crowds could be allowed in with a later start date.. Speedway also has a massive barrier to it of using someone else's property in many cases, which therefore can mean a positive test at 'the Speedway' by a steward for example, possibly impacting the core business of the landlord, (who rely mainly on greyhound racing). Therefore this would need a huge amount of faith being shown by any of the owners.. Add in the operating and business plan, which has always been unfit for purpose, of 'sharing employees' domestically and internationally, and logistically you can see why it's been pretty much a non starter to cram in meetings with riders who may need to be in four places at once.. The positive is that there may now be a 'reset' of the way they run the sport, to ensure any further impacts are lessened. A wake up call that starts with a clear focus on UK riders, meaning no dependency on rules implemented by overseas Govts, and Speedway bodies which may hinder your own business.. There may also be a reset around rider costs, as 30k of unusable kit sat in a workshop for a year, is a hell of a lot worse than having 5k of unusable kit gathering dust.. And lastly, as many promotions continually tell us that they lose "significant sums", at least this year they wont, so maybe they could invest something more into re launching and marketing a 'brand new' reset sport next year?

I think the Aces should keep the same seven next year.. None of them have increased their averages, but then again, none decreased them either.. Overall then, for me, it was a fair effort...

It doesn't take much to make the required changes needed to the stadia to be Covid 19 compliant.. Where my lad plays they have one entrance and a seperate exit system, and a one way system signed around the place.. You sit in one seat with the next two empty, with the row behind staggered using the same space allocation.. This then alternates up the stand. . One steward does the entrance to the stand and one does the exit.. When the game ends, fans leave one block at a time from the stand with the nearest the exit block going first as directed by the steward... Hand sanitiser is attached to walls at the entrance and exit, and within the one way system at various points.. Their standing areas are again one way in and empty stand by stand, with the nearest the exit first. Each is sectioned with a max amount people allowed per section, similar to how supermarkets let in customers dependent on Sq ft size.. It wouldn't cost very much logistically at all to set up as it is just 'home produced' signage, some tape, hand sanitiser every 20m or so around the ground and circa 20 barriers near the entrance and exits to ensure paths don't cross if the entry and exit points are in the same vicinity.. You really are much safer there than in any supermarket in the UK..

My lad goes back to full time training from next week at his League One football team's U19 dev squad.. Today he started contact training after a fortnight of social distanced training... As currently not 18, I have had to sign a waver to allow him to start contact training.. From August 1st they will play pre season friendlies.. We as Dads, generally get to watch the last half hour of training from the stands as many of them dont drive so get picked up. And get to watch all the games.. I am not sure how sitting in a football stand, socially distanced, to watch him play football, is any less of a risk than watching Speedway riders using the same social distanced rules.?

It wouldn't surprise anyone to see him continue to do well in the SEC though, regardless of league racing form..

Used to stand on the steps of that stand on the second bend.. Used to be lots of Wolves fans there too when we raced them.. Always good for some "good natured" banter.. I remember some Aces fans used to stand in front of us who made the trip up from Rugby every Friday.. Amazing to think that the crowds on the home straight in those days were considerably more than the home straight crowd it ended up with at the end of its use, and the back straight and bar were also very well attended... From 91 to its closure I reckon there must have been around two thirds of the crowd who were lost to the sport.. Not an exclusive Aces thing either I would imagine..

Miesac is 'entertaining' to watch.. Not sure his fellow riders always think its 'entertaining' to race with him.. A rider you would prefer to have on your side I would suggest.. He 'disappeared' for a few years after a promising junior career and came back several years ago now with new equipment and an attitude of some unfinished business.. Worked his way up to HL level over there in the past three years.. Always worth watching his races... If he did lose money when Nicki P stopped I am sure he will have let him know.. A 'cardinal sin' amongst riders over there, but is sometimes used as a 'getting your own back' ploy if the rider running last feels that the rider in third, now behind his team mate, has 'done him' to gain that position..