Ben91

Roynon’s accident at Lynn was a bit of a freak situation with regards to his bike. Could have happened anywhere at any time as far as I recall.

And this is the nail hit squarely on the head I believe.

You do realise the irony of moaning about moaning. This place is the same as it’s always been. People complain, people squabble, people troll. But nobody would be here if they weren’t speedway fans.

Prospective fans aren’t going to be watching BSN. TV/streaming coverage isn’t there to promote the sport, it is there to cover the sport. Warts and all, and boy are there a lot of warts.

Don’t get me wrong, we wouldn’t have had Speedway back at Rye House if it wasn’t for Len’s efforts (as well as those who got the team back on track in the first place as a nomadic side). But for all the good it wasn’t all roses. It’s important to not think everything was sweetness and light. 2005 and 2007 are two seasons I will always hold dear to me however.

What he did at Hackney never really materialised at Rye in terms of promotion but we had some special times in the Premier League under his stewardship. Hoddesdon was never a town capable of sustaining top tier speedway, as the last promotion found out. Towards the end there were bad decisions from Len. Doyle for Boxall being the pick of the bunch, along with the “if you don’t like it, don’t come” quote from him on parade before a meeting. That kind of comment has never been good for business. The issue fans had then wasn’t that Boxall was coming back. It was that he could have replaced a lower order rider and we could have kept Doyle. It would have made us a pretty formidable team. There was also the debacle where we declared ridiculously early one winter before the rules regarding doubling up and average conversion were changed, during which time we’d sold Linus Sundstrom to Peterborough. We could have kept him had we waited until the AGM. That rankled at the time, in hindsight that rule change was one of the major ones that has left the sport in Britain in the mess it now finds itself in.

With Woffinden there will have been five GP riders in the Premiership this season. Last season there were four (including Lambert’s cameo). They GP riders are hardly coming back in droves. Sayfutdinov and Laguta aren’t GP riders because of a war. If they still were in the GP they’d most likely not be racing in Britain other than at Cardiff.

The sport doesn’t need gimmicks in my mind, it needs rebuilding. The product needs to sell, not specific riders or gimmicks. Premier League football, WWE wrestling, PDC darts. These are a few examples of products that can sell tickets solely on reputation, not off the back of one or two competitors. Keep it simple. Focus on the racing. No silly points systems, strip everything right back. Super heats in the bin, the overly complicated gate choosing process after the coin toss in the bin. Tactical rides of any sort in the bin. Play-offs in the bin. Doubling up in the bin. Guests in the bin. Some of the above will need working around, but that is doable. Close, competitive racing sells. Stop holding out hope of the “big names” deciding to come back and build a product that will draw fans first, worry about the rest once we get the basics right. Otherwise we continue to build on sand. Poland has the reputation of being unassailable as the best league in the world. The reality is they could still do Speedway better too. That means anyone could do Speedway better, but it has to come from a place with solid foundations.

“Chuffed to bits.”

The bonus point system is far better than the convoluted system of points given depending on how many points you won the meeting by, if you were home or away, which way the wind was blowing etc. The main reason for this being that it is simple. It also keeps some meetings alive until the end as there is still something to race for. Granted, the above system does the same but in a much more complicated manner. We should be looking to keep things simple. Easily explainable to newcomers. We could easily follow football’s lead and make it three points for a win and one for a draw. That would work too but may result in more tonkings and average manipulation once meetings are sewn up.

Doyle and Sayfutdinov were both ahead of him twice. King once, which could be classed as a 50-50 heat. Thompson was the only real surprise. It’s important to look beyond just the numbers sometimes.

“Never argue with stupid people, they’ll drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.” Mark Twain.

Aren’t you big and clever.

He may only have one suit for the season. They’re not cheap and sponsors will want their sponsorship shown, particularly in a TV meeting. Not vintage Bomber but wouldn’t say he’s past it. Thompson was the only rider to beat him last night that would have been a major upset when looking at the heats on paper. As TV meetings go it was entertaining but as always overproduced. One minute races don’t need so many cuts and different camera angles. Save the fancy shots and helmet cam for replays.

There’s no misunderstanding. People just don’t agree with you. It happens in life.

When the source of information is Facebook comments you know something is seriously wrong.

Lewis Bridger I’d suspect.

We got a medal. To finish second to Poland in Poland is no disgrace. Turns out all that criticism was, and still is, wrong.

It was the correct decision. They’re building a team spirit and riders such as Brennan and Ellis have time to improve still. Any criticism of our team or the management after missing out on the World Cup in the final race is a little silly if you ask me.

It’s sport. Sometimes it is entertaining, sometimes it isn’t. A minimum requirement should be that tracks are prepared to encourage good racing however. After that it’s down to the riders.

A lot of emphasis is placed on the word development in the title when maybe more could be done to encourage it.

That’s a very different type of Sunday evening entertainment…

Loose lips sink ships as they say. No looser lips than those in the speedway world.

I often think that mental toughness and willingness to put bike and body into more risky positions is what sets Zmarzlik apart. That in turn gives him an aurora of invincibility. If you’re ahead of him it’s very rarely if, but when he’ll catch you.

I’d be very (pleasantly) surprised if Brennan reaches world standard but I hope you’re right of course. Boughen looks like he could be a real talent in years to come if his career is handled right, again the next World Cup would probably be too soon to expect him to be at that level though.