BurntFaceMan

Stop belly-aching. We weren't complaining when we brought Greg in a few years back. It's about time some more teams started playing like we do. We're being beaten at our game in style. Good on em.

Training schools and NL teams is not looking ahead, it's looking in the wrong place! Matt is looking in the right places. How many training school or NL riders in the last 10 years have made it to heat leader standard?

I would be interested to learn, if anybody has a bit of knowledge, how long speedway components last? For example engines, clutches, tires, etc? I was looking at the for sell section and noticed that an engine with 13 heats was £400 less than the new one. Does this mean the engines have a relatively short life? Can engines be rebuilt if they die, or do you need to buy a new engine every time? I'm referring to world class level 500cc engines.

No. Start treating the sport like a product. The product must be fit for purpose, meet consumer standards and be marketed appropriately.

Poole wouldn't have needed a guest if Sky hadn't of changed the fixture. To say Poole aren't eligible for a guest because one of their riders is competing in a prearranged and contracted meeting, that was never even due to clash to begin with, is utterly embarrassing. Frankly it is humiliating that some sad souls in our sport would prefer to see half a team in 1/5th of all the races than a similar scoring rider in his place. It is inevitable that Lakeside will find themselves in a similar situation, providing the club manages to stay afloat with the lackluster offal that Lackside dumps on their fans year after year, and no doubt they will be shown the same discourtesy. Another pathetic attempt from a pathetic management to score points, once again thwarted by a better team.

Cook was dismissive of online critics, including supporters of both sides, who argued staging the fixture would be bad for speedway. “I don’t care for the opinions of the few people that pour scorn on our sport at every single opportunity and I don’t take any notice of them,” “It is what that element do which is why I have no time for them or their opinions. I stay blissfully ignorant to all of that.” And that right there is why the promoters are failing miserably to pull this sport out of the deep deep grave it has worked so hard to dig for itself. There is a stark difference between blissfully ignorant and pig-ignorant Mr Cook.

Because it's much better! Not only am I saving a nice chunk of dosh, but I'm getting perfect coverage of every bend, I'm watching all the drama unfold in the pits with the riders and the managers, I'm seeing slow motion replays of the best passes and I get the benefit of replaying every potential tapes infringement and rider exclusion. The coverage offers me far more than I will get standing at the side of the track and I've still got enough money for a restaurant dinner after. Oh, and Sky is paying for me to do so. The league would not be so protective of Sky if it wasn't providing them with greater benefit.

Pretty aggressive message from Matt Ford. Reminds me of that boss at work that nobody liked but always came up top in the rankings. I suppose you can't be chief and run with the Indians.

http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/sport/14520935.Speedway___Enough_is_enough__Poole_Pirates_boss_Matt_Ford_sick_of__excuses_/ Beat ya!

So much drivel in so few lines! Bravo! The track is generally very good. It has produced some fantastic racing, but like all tracks, it has it's up and down periods. Our riders get on perfectly with the track. Our unbeaten 13 month home record makes your non-existent home advantage statement look a bit silly. Try not to lose too much sleep over our track costing us the title, I'm sure we'll figure it out in time.

TEAM boss Neil Middleditch admitted Pirates had surrendered home advantage against Belle Vue and insisted the Wimborne Road circuit needed vital work. Track conditions came in for widespread criticism on social media following Monday’s 49-41 defeat to the Aces, Poole’s first home loss in 13 months. And while praising Belle Vue for their impressive triumph, Middleditch was left concerned by feedback from his riders over the tricky nature of the track. He told the Daily Echo: “When you are the home team, you come to expect a certain standard and, normally, a consistent track so the boys have the right set-ups. “The fact this issue is being talked about so much proves there is something not quite right. “In effect, it wasn’t our home track and we lost our home track advantage. Full respect to Belle Vue because they adapted better than we did and thoroughly deserved their win. “There are holes which need to be rectified. It’s not a good mindset when your home riders are looking at the track and complaining about holes. “They get on with the job but they expect the track to be up to a certain standard, raceable and to their advantage. “I’m taking feedback from the riders because it’s them that has to put their lives on the line. “The Belle Vue boys won and I don’t want people to think it’s sour grapes because it’s not.”

I would like some answers too. How has the most successful Elite League team got such a rubbishe track?

It's quite straight forward really. The FTR system allows up and coming British riders to gain crucial experience in races that are more diluted than the premier league. After a few weeks of storming these easy races, the riders are promoted to the main team whilst maintaining their artificially high average. This forces our inexperienced (or simply not heat leader material) Brits to suffer a disastrous hit to their confidence, flap around at heat leader level for a few weeks, before returning (minus any confidence) to their original reserve position. In the mean time, perfectly good second string riders from all parts of the planet can spend a little time in the speedway paddling pool of protected FTR races.

Cook did move on both occasions. The ref, like us at home, had the benefit of the slow motion replay and he was moving on both occasions. Just because he only moved slightly before the tapes on the first start doesn't mean he wasn't moving.

Wow! What a meeting! Congratulations to Belle Vue for putting out a very formidable side. Mark Lemon and his team would be well deserved of a title this season. THE BURNTFACEMAN SUMMARY! Kyle Newman was a shining example of the FTR system working exactly as planned! His strong performances in the easier than premier league reserve races set him up perfectly for a role in the heat leader position. He may have only scored 2 points from 4 rides but he was definitely competing at his level. Electric out of the gate and constantly trading positions in the thick of the action. [bFM'S Rider Of The Night!] Brady Kurts proved, as expected, to be a massive trump card! His experience at heat leader level allowed him to make a mockery of his reserve berth by smashing in a scintillating 5 pt performance! Chris Holder continued his excellent grand prix form by showing that you don't actually need to win anything to come out on top. Adam Ellis produced some classic reserve racing, demonstrating perfectly that the league is stronger now than ever before. His reserve performances last night were akin to those of the great Daniel Davidsson; breathtaking. Bjarne Pedersen rode a stunningly average debut meeting. His determined and skillful performance to just about beat premier league double-upper Richie Worrall was one of the highlights of the night. Hans Andersen was pants.

It was my understanding that messages are conveyed by radio and via the start marshall?

Ignorance? Laziness? There is no possible reason why he could not do it.

Shop would take them quite literally less than 1 day to set up on their website. Pick and pack the orders in the morning, stick em in a box and send them on their way. Social media should be full of clips, entertaining stories, interviews, pictures etc.

Poole's business model is good for the entirety of Speedway in the UK. Every single year there are promoters and supporters calling for another aspect of our sport to be diluted as a cost saving exercise, whether it's the points limit, foreign riders, number of meetings etc. Only some of the nutters who run our sport could ever think that is a good business plan. Speedway nutter logic: Diluting = Better product = Bigger crowds = Sustainable future Real life logic Diluting = Poorer product = Smaller crowds = Certain failure You cannot dilute the product every season and expect that to produce better racing and bigger crowds. For every bit of money saved you're losing a handful of supporters who are only interested in Elite League Speedway. Top riders, top tracks and top racing. Like it or not the only way to build the sport is to put on a better show and that's only going to happen with promoters like Matt Ford, who consistently puts out the very best teams. Matt Ford isn't even that good! There are a lot of missed opportunities when it comes to actually marketing the sport. Even Bernie Ecclestone is doing a better job of social media...

When your riders are publically posting pictures of soaked tracks and saying the meeting should be off it would be courteous to keep the fans up to date.

30 minutes before it's due to start and still nobody has any clue what is going on.

They are going to tell us at 6:45. (Yes, I know what time it is)

Only in Speedway can a deadline be set 20 minutes beforehand and it still be missed.

You spend a lot of time telling people what they meant to say! What I had meant to say was what I said. Watt had to go because had his average fallen much further there would be no opportunity to sign Bjarne, a Poole asset, who Matt has always said he hoped would return one day.