Birmingham V Lakeside April 2 El (a)

[Guest GiveusaB]

A very sad and dejected Brummies fan.....Lakeside look solid ! Or did we make them look better than they really are? BECH and ELLIS were the highlights for my hard earned £15..... I wont be making the trip to watch the return fixture....cant justify wasting all that money to watch this rubbish !

[E I Addio 15,845]

 

That's a bit harsh! so easy to be judgemental when on the outside. It has been so obvious the financial implication has dictated the team selection and for that reason, one has to feel for the Brummie team and fans.

 

Not everyone can be winners, and Birmingham are no alone, in that they will not win the league. Their fans will appreciate that, but the pill that is harder to swallow, is when there is no effort from the team. when that happens you have to question your own indulgence.

 

I sincerely hope Birmingham survive these trouble times...

 

 

The highlighted part is really the nub of it. When riders on a 6 or 7 point average score 2 on their home track questions have to be asked. If King and Kennett had simply scored in line with their averages the result would have been much closer, the match would have been more exciting and there would be something to build on. Kennett in particular scored a paid max for Rye House on Saturday so he does have some ability when he gets his head round it.

 

When you consider that Richard Lawson, who is a roughly similar sort of PL/EL double upper to Kennett, scored more than twice as much Kennett and King together it is obvious that the Brum side really have to take a long look at themselves. They might not exactly be the hot favourites to win the league but they are falling well short of their potential. When Coventry paid £29,000 for Eddie a few years ago he really seemed to to have the potential to step up to a decent heatleader standard, but since then he has stagnated . I doubt if anyone would even want to buy him now. What has gone wrong?

[semion 2,192]

Maybe Cov were buying Potential that sadly has never been realised.

[Weeyin 1,022]

Sad to see Birmingham go through such a difficult time, we were there last season ( Glasgow ) managed only 5 points during the whole season. It was pitiful to watch and support dwindled, so much so, we were hours away from closing altogether, but thankfully we have survived and have speedway to look forward to for another season, our mistake last year was not changing the team soon enough after so many defeats, IMO I think Birmingham should be looking at strengthening the team sooner rather than later... I would hate to see them lost to the sport altogether.

[semion 2,192]

If the team has been produced on a budget, where is the extra cash going to come from to change the team, Plus who is out there who is desperate to ride in the UK and will make a big Difference to the Brummies team ?

[Agrotron 955]

Karol Baron ^

[Skidder1 7,637]

I see Barker is already blaming the lack of track prep 'to suit the home riders' - too slick apparently?!

 

I thought most riders these days know that most tracks will be prepared 'slick' as that suits the current bikes!!? Fans need to recognise that too - or perhaps that's why attendances might dwindle even more?

 

Changes need to be made sport-wide to make bikes/silencers and riders etc more suited to grippier tracks imo.

[Vincent Vega 135]

Great win from the Hammers. Agree with Hougaard Racing that Sundstrom would be a good signing. Rather than moan about the track being too slick BB should work on his gating.

[Tommy Sweetman 480]

A losing team will only drive the fanbase away even further though, I do have to say though that i have often asked the question about Speedway in Brum on numerous occasions, but its just not the speedway in Birmingham that is affected by dwindling crowds, Birmingham City and Aston Villa have both suffered losses in fan base, Warwickshire Cricket Club another , i would just like to say one thing about Birmingham in general and its not having a dig at anyone in particular but Birmingham is very multicultural and when you walk through our city centre it is now very hard to even hear an english conversation, its either Polish, Hindi, Romanian and god knows what other languages are spoken in our wonderful city, i just dont think that sport is high on the agenda of this city anymore, least we not forget also that when Birmingham closed in the 80s and re-opened in 2007 there was a lost generation in speedway support, maybe without internet, social media the younger generations would have seen speedway as a cheaper version than the ridiculous high priced football, i cant honestly say that Birmingham will see the season through or not, hopefully NOT the latter, but i do fear beyond this season, but when a team crumbles as badly as tonight at home, it wont help the situation

Absolutely spot on with that assessment,Birmingham as a city seems no longer interested in any kind of sport.

Crowds at Edgbaston for the cricket ,have nose dived in recent times,and can only see speedway at Perry Barr following the same trend.

Dont think fans in the city are fickle,just that they prefer to spend their money on things other than sport.

[Bagpuss 10,784]

I see Barker is already blaming the lack of track prep 'to suit the home riders' - too slick apparently?!

 

I thought most riders these days know that most tracks will be prepared 'slick' as that suits the current bikes!!? Fans need to recognise that too - or perhaps that's why attendances might dwindle even more?

 

Changes need to be made sport-wide to make bikes/silencers and riders etc more suited to grippier tracks imo.

You are right but Brum has always had a grippy outside line and as a home rider there is nothing worse than turning up to a home track which is completely different to what you expect or are used to. A slick track played right into Lakeside's hands although I'm sure they would have won anyway.

[MFE 105]

Not certain your assessment of the fans in the city is correct, the reason for decreasing crowds is lack of any

success for any of our sports teams in the region, fans are totally cheesed off, by second rate performances.

The problem at Birmingham Speedway is exactly the same, virtually everyone could see it was a team built on a

tight budget, and as a result have no recognised heat leaders,5 inconsistent second strings and two reserves, it was blooming obvious to all fans that this season was going to be a massive struggle. Alan Phillips said today, all the team needs is a couple of good results, not at all sure where these will come from. The other problem of course is the ageing supporter base, which is not being replenished, never have I been to a track where there are so

many anoraks from the clubs byegone age, and the crowds will naturally decrease.

[Bryn 413]

You are right but Brum has always had a grippy outside line and as a home rider there is nothing worse than turning up to a home track which is completely different to what you expect or are used to. A slick track played right into Lakeside's hands although I'm sure they would have won anyway.

 

Apologies for going slightly off-topic but would be interested to know what your definition of a 'slick' track is "Bagpuss?" Alas I was unable to get to Brum last night but managed to get a lift to King's Lynn instead. On arrival at 6.40pm looking at the track from the press box the track "looked" to be deep in shale and obviously very well watered as it looked very wet indeed. Initial thoughts of all (including the meeting officials) up where I was that it "looked" as if it may well prove to be too grippy especially for the several really inexperienced riders taking part. The track was watered again prior to the 7.30pm start, the truck might have gone round twice in fact but there was a lot of chat 'up in the box.'

I should have known better of course for the well watered seemingly too deep Saddlebow Road circuit proved excellent throughout the night and NONE of the several falls during the match and abandoned MDL match in the second half were attributable to it - all were as a result of 'pilot error!'

So "Bagpuss" how would you and others define a 'slick' track - genuine question.

[Bagpuss 10,784]

Bryn, using the word 'slicker' probably would have been better in my post, the point being that the track didn't have as much grip as Barker & co are used to. I would say a slick track is one with not to much dirt or moisture and where the base of the track can be seen on the racing line pretty early on. Nothing wrong with a track being reasonably slick as long as there is something there for the riders to work with, but extremes of conditions ie excessively slick or grippy aren't the best conditions for good racing IMO.

[stevebrum 6,824]

Not being disrespectful to Smolinski, but i do believe he will be seriously outclassed in the GP series, if he makes anywhere near the top 8 then i,m afraid Speedway is going downhill, because there is no way he is up to that class

 

Dont think you will find many disagreeing with you, however just a word of caution - look how many were saying Woffy would be outclassed this time last year.

[Tommy Sweetman 480]

Not certain your assessment of the fans in the city is correct, the reason for decreasing crowds is lack of any

success for any of our sports teams in the region, fans are totally cheesed off, by second rate performances.

The problem at Birmingham Speedway is exactly the same, virtually everyone could see it was a team built on a

tight budget, and as a result have no recognised heat leaders,5 inconsistent second strings and two reserves, it was blooming obvious to all fans that this season was going to be a massive struggle. Alan Phillips said today, all the team needs is a couple of good results, not at all sure where these will come from. The other problem of course is the ageing supporter base, which is not being replenished, never have I been to a track where there are so

many anoraks from the clubs byegone age, and the crowds will naturally decrease.

The exepetion being B,ham City ladies,who have reached the semi-final of the Champion League after beating the all conquering Gooners