Cardiff 2022

[arnieg 3,644]

6 minutes ago, MARK246 said:

Sensible ride by Zmarzlik in the final to extend his Championship lead. 

All he had to do in the final was beat Madsen and extend his lead even further. Could have it won with two GPs to spare.

 

How we miss the Russians.

[Fromafar 10,373]

9 minutes ago, MARK246 said:

Sensible ride by Zmarzlik in the final to extend his Championship lead. 

With Laguta missing there is no one consistent enough to bother Zmarzlik ,he knows he just has to stay out of trouble.

Janowski who I thought was his main danger this season has lost the plot.

Edited August 14, 2022 by Fromafar

[HGould 2,213]

4 minutes ago, mikebv said:

Indeed..

It was interesting to read the comments on here when I got back to the hotel re the racing...

In the stadium itself, when Lebedevs won a race by half a straight the racing was "crap"...

When Dan won his first two races by the same margin it brought "the house down"...

If Lambert and Woffy had been in consideration for a semi then most races would have had something riding on them from the majority of the fans' perspective, and I can guarantee that less focus would have been on the racing,, (if), they had crossed the line in front. (Robert's last race a case in point)..

If the racing is great then that is an added bonus to Cardiff..

As we always say on here, the atmosphere will live longer in the memory than any particular level of racing, hence so many "great meetings" of the past, when rewatched, were more about the night itself than what got produced, and all those "many great races" we remembered were actually usually only "one or two", at most...

Good admission prices, decent crowd (excellent crowd for UK Speedway), great fan zone, excellent presentation that kept the momentum going through the lulls in between races, excellent facilities, and a home favourite winner...

What's not to like..?

If you could deliver all that most evenings domestically then I would suggest the sport in the UK would be a lot more successful as that ticks a lot of boxes..

Tend to agree..

I went to 4 Wembley Finals...90,000+ at each great occasions

1972 - awful racing

1975 - awful racing

1978 - poor racing only enlivened by Kennett and Jessup doing so well

1981 - great racing and great spectacle.

Everyone remembers 1981, conveniently forgets how bad the racing was in the previous 3 (and before that) yet it's lauded as a "great venue"

[FAST GATER 853]

11 minutes ago, MARK246 said:

Sensible ride by Zmarzlik in the final to extend his Championship lead. 

Ideed going quietly  about his business not taking any risks eye on the bigger prize  ,turning it on when needed just needs to keep making finals and he did  beat the eventual winner  convincingly.

 

 

 

[chunky 6,097]

2 minutes ago, HGould said:

1981 - great racing and great spectacle.

Not quite; there were TWO races that people remember.

1976 actually had several good races.

[LesR 139]

11 hours ago, Bagpuss said:

You could well be right that the bikes and the way people ride nowadays are to blame but I just feel that Cardiff has run its course now

Good point from Greg Hancock in the interview with Scott Nichols " I always used a bike that I had set aside for temporary tracks like this"

It meybe had a slightly longer rear end and heavier flywheels for better control of the rough patchy track, unlike the light ones used that rev harder and take off if they hit a patch of dirt.

At the end of the day good throttle control helps in conditions like Cardiff yesterday, but not all riders have it.

[chunky 6,097]

15 minutes ago, mikebv said:

In the stadium itself, when Lebedevs won a race by half a straight the racing was "crap"...

When Dan won his first two races by the same margin it brought "the house down"...

Are you suggesting that speedway fans are fickle?

Seriously though, that is so true. When I look at videos from the "good old days" the racing was mostly crap. However, when our team got a 5-1, nobody gave a toss, did we? 

[R87 476]

1 hour ago, hammer1969 said:

There might have been no overtaking but Bewley was quicker from the gate than the rest and earned his great win. As for the City I reckon the people who live and work there are glad you never went back as well with an attitude like that.

I wouldn't go back there if you paid me.  Dreadful place, astronomical prices, nothing to do in the city.  Manchester is a modern, vibrant city with a superb race track.  Cardiff belongs in the 70s.

Speedway fans couldn't care less about atmosphere,  flashing lights and prematch "entertainment"  They go for the racing - which year after year after year is garbage.  The place is utter embarrassment to British Speedway.

The sooner someone grows a pair and sticks the Cardiff contract in the shredder, the better.

[Haza 1,774]

57 minutes ago, screm said:

Maybe Britain can have two GP`s, one either early or late in the calendar at Cardiff, with the other at Manchester around this time of year.

The danger is if there is two gps the crowd will be split yes some would go to both if there was two - Belle Vue and Odsal maybe instead of Cardiff ? Costs would be less than Cardiff though track covers would be a good idea for Belle Vue and Bradford 

[KrisB 54]

1 hour ago, racers and royals said:

Not live it wasn’t.

Will happily watch it after the event  

[crazysue 613]

2 hours ago, OveFundinFan said:

Manchester City Council funded the BV track. That part of Manchester, east, has the ManCity football ground (built specifically for some athletic championships maybe 20 years ago) , and close to that the National Velodrome, plus lots of other sporting venues. Chris Morton and Dave Gordon worked hard for many years to get a speedway track that matched the original Hyde Road track…….the site is just a few hundred yards away (now a car auction site). The council came up with the land, it’s area to build on was already determined by a road, housing, school, other sports facilities. The stadium is the biggest it could be. I know how the term National a speedway Stadium was born, I suspect as the council was stumping up the £6 million to build it, and considering the area is a sports area of Manchester they may well have dictated it gets called National Speedway stadium. Whether he SCB or anything high up in speedway had anything to do with that I havnt a clue. The track, as we know, quickly became renowned as one of the best racing tracks in the world, which it is, no doubt or arguing about it……. In the top 5 if not the top 3.

The track organisers knew this weekend the Cardiff track was going to take some heavy usage with SGP1 and SGP2 taking place Sat/Sun plus practice/qualifying. They surely would have thrown everything at the preparation of the base upwards to ensure it would cope. It didn’t. We saw that Vojens stood up to 5 meetings and practices….a permanent track. Personally, for me, last night sounded a death bell for temporary tracks. Apart from the probability of poor race surface, the tracks are too small for frequent opportunities to overtake. How long the Cardiff contract is for I don’t know, but I want to see the British GP on a permanent track, so no to Olympic stadium (London), no football stadium (Newcastle), just a permanent track where good racing can be achieved. If, at the moment, that means BV with its limited spectator space, so be it. There are now no speedway tracks in city centres, so stop “making tracks”  fit what some spectators want (pubs) and give what ardent speedway racing fans want….. world class racing “out of top draw".

Pubs, restaurants, cafes etc are not just wants but needs for the travelling fan. I went to Formula E a couple of weeks ago and as a travelling fan, one of the first things we needed was food and drink (non alcoholic) after our journey and then again after qualifying and before the main race.

A speedway meeting is just a speedway meeting, a GP is a whole different kettle of fish with a different audience (youngest will go to a GP, he won't go to a league meeting) where the whole experience of the day and not just the meeting, counts.

[mikebv 10,291]

1 hour ago, racers and royals said:

I have put some up already but they are on the meeting thread on the International world of speedway section “ world U 21 Championship “ more to follow including VK nearer to start time.

Thanks, as always R and R ..

I am actually going to the event but will sit in the stadium and watch via the stream to see if the racing is any good, before deciding to watch it "live"...

Come on Tom and Leon....!!!

Best of luck lads....

[Charlieboy 412]

6 minutes ago, R87 said:

I wouldn't go back there if you paid me.  Dreadful place, astronomical prices, nothing to do in the city.  Manchester is a modern, vibrant city with a superb race track.  Cardiff belongs in the 70s.

Speedway fans couldn't care less about atmosphere,  flashing lights and prematch "entertainment"  They go for the racing - which year after year after year is garbage.  The place is utter embarrassment to British Speedway.

The sooner someone grows a pair and sticks the Cardiff contract in the shredder, the better.

Really ?  We’ve got a group of 12 and always find something to do and not missed any Cardiff meetings. Yes it is expensive but it always is on event weekends whether it’s Cardiff Manchester Leeds Sheffield  We are not bothered about the fireworks etc but how many kids go and love it. They’ve got to cater for everyone.  The track needs some serious thought last night was a joke. We had 20 heats then tractor racing then semis then tractor racing. Then to annoy fans even more we got the gate draw. Why not do the draw when the tractors were on track. Absolute disgrace. It’s a shame the track experts from belle vue and Ipswich weren’t there to sort it out cus they seem pretty clued when we had problems at Sheffield. In one respect it’s good to see problems do occur at other stadiums cus some on here think it only happens at our track. Anyway does anybody know why the roof was kept shut while we all sweltered in the stadium for nearly 4 hours ?

[crazysue 613]

20 minutes ago, R87 said:

I wouldn't go back there if you paid me.  Dreadful place, astronomical prices, nothing to do in the city.  Manchester is a modern, vibrant city with a superb race track.  Cardiff belongs in the 70s.

Speedway fans couldn't care less about atmosphere,  flashing lights and prematch "entertainment"  They go for the racing - which year after year after year is garbage.  The place is utter embarrassment to British Speedway.

The sooner someone grows a pair and sticks the Cardiff contract in the shredder, the better.

I must respectfully disagree, some will only go for the racing, some will only go for the experience and some will go for the experience, expect a not too exciting meeting but hope against hope that things are different this year but still tend to enjoy the weekend. I fall into the last category, however, I believe my speedway fan credentials are pretty good otherwise I wouldn't have spent the last 17 years running a results website for it!

I had planned to go this year, unfortunately ill health and too many beggers wanting holidays at work put paid to that!

[auntie doris 2,342]

Lucky the trains weren't running...we would have missed the final, catching the 9.00 back to Swindon. The track was awful. Embarrassment for the organisers. Still a good day out. Chatting to a Welsh couple who said a full stadium of Wales rugby fans don't make the noise that the speedway fans do! At least you can top your water bottles up in there, ridiculous prices. Speedway fans are a great, friendly bunch. And great organisation of car parking, at County Hall, and park n ride buses, and the staff that had to work in that heat