The Dog

Given the current home form and the fact that they seem to have solved the dust issues (dust free last week), lovely weather forecast too, this should be another really good contest and probably the last chance to see 3x World Champion Jason Crump up close at Perry Barr. Be great to see him in person in the pits and get his autograph and a photo. Throw in another GP winner in Bjarne Pedersen and exciting youngsters in Ruml and Keleher and its a good meeting in prospect. I'd certainly be favouring a trip to Birmingham than watching West Brom reserves any day of the week....

A post echoed by all speedway fans Sidney

I think where cricket wins slightly is that the wicket areas are all the same size and can be covered quickly by a roof on wheels. Speedway doesn't have that luxury unfortunately. I'm not sure how cricket has actually re-invented yourself other than team colours and names and numbers but then again I'm not a huge cricket fan.

I think now that Bewley is establishing himself in Poland, he will be the next one to follow Woffy and Lambert. But I should have added Lambert to the list

Surely the only way speedway can move forward now is to make our own fixtures priority, like the British Final. If the likes of Woffy, Bewley etc would rather miss out on the chance to be National Champion for another payday in Poland, so be it. Let's look after the riders and fans who are prepared to be a part of it

As a kid I'd always look forward to a damp meeting because it always threw up some fascinating racing and unexpected results and that was all pre airfence days when they had a reason to moan about conditions being dangerous...

They could still record it and play it on the Monday night but let the fans and riders have their day back. A Sunday afternoon might be better for a bigger crowd and youngsters.

Given that nearly all the 'top riders' in this country don't ride in the Polish league, is it time to make the British Final the biggest meeting of the year and give it a Sunday afternoon date again?

Maybe they can borrow 'Mystic Meg' the weather expert from Eastbourne. Great at spotting clouds, not so great at spotting financial ineptitude....

Didn't the gps in Australia lose an awful lot of money tho and take into account the planning and organising to get riders and equipment there it's probably a bit of a ballache for everyone. Don't get me wrong, I think it should be spread around and venture to new countries but just right now Poland seems to run the show and the riders seem happy to go with it

Fastest time around Birmingham since 2014 apparently, so credit to the track curator for getting it in excellent condition!

Birminghams prices are certainly competitive as I'm sure they let 16-22yr olds in for a fiver, which is student aged, I think 12-16 is £2 and under 11s go in free. The centre green kids entertainment is something that the promotion have been doing for at least the last 4 or 5 years, only stopped by covid recently, same with the pits visits and track walk, so Birmingham have been doing good things.

Given the way that Poland seems to be the Mecca of speedway nowadays, I can see most of the gps being held there with maybe the odd venture into Sweden or Denmark. Easier for riders to get about too, so sadly we might just have seen the last of Cardiff. I was told that all the shale they use for Cardiff has been sold/dissappeared too so who knows...

I think its hard for an away team to come up against Riss and Harris in 2 of the last 3 heats tbh and get a result unless your already well ahead by then tbh

The whole financial structure needs sorting out, nobody seems to know what riders wages are tho my guess is that collectively they outstrip turnstile clicks. Until recently, there has never seemed to be too many of them working during the winter so they must be earning quite well to compensate this. We all want the best riders and successful teams but not at the cost of clubs going under, hopefully riders realise this too because it's their jobs that are disappearing...

Online promotion only makes regular speedway fans aware that there's a meeting coming up and they already know that. It's trying to seduce the newbies into speedway that's the hard bit.

It was suggested at Coventry years ago that they give a couple of hundred free tickets to local companies, schools, bike clubs etc to get people aware and interested in speedway and hope that they want to return. The promotion wouldn't do it claiming that they would be losing money by not charging them to come in. The fact that these people weren't coming in the first place seemed to go over their heads and the only cost incurred would be the printing of the tickets.....

I thought it was still either 2 or 4pm? If it's changed now then Trackerman, then your correct that they should be able to get enough water into the track, tho it just doesn't seem to be working atm. Whether that's down to the shale, lack of clay content to help hold moisture, I really don't know.

Unfortunately it seems to be a vicious circle, if riders aren't happy with conditions they won't race with confidence, lack of confidence generally means poorer racing and poor racing leads to unhappy fans and lower crowd levels. I actually think some of the racing has been excellent and close faught but I think the promotions hands are tied in a lot of ways at the stadium right now

There is no logic, just fishing for an argument....

The issues with the track are evident but based on entertainment it had a bit of everything. Hard racing, passing, crashes, talking points, fan interaction etc. Was brilliant to see and hear the Lions fans in good voice and in numbers, was good to go down to the last heat keeping things tense. The team spirit within the Brummies is fantastic considering the problems and uncertainty and to their credit they've cracked on with the job. I do feel for the Masons, nothing seems to be working for them atm but everyone is pulling together. The track needs major work which is costly and difficult to do mid-season. Most of the shale seems to have turned to powder and is not binding when watered, not an easy fix but I know a few other tracks are having the same issue. Is there a lack of quality shale? I don't know. Could we get shale from Swindon in the short term?

They've explained why they have changed the fixture, a local derby when the kids are off with good weather will bring in much needed revenue when the club have admitting their going from week to week. Or would you rather the club fold just to keep a handful of fans happy that may or may not travel the 200 miles from Edinburgh? I really sympathise for fans that are down south already but the promotion are trying to save their club. I'm not sure they had much choice tbh

Certainly not abusive is it... Jeez

Yes I did. Classing that as abusive then?

Abusive? Really?