BERWICK v LEICESTER (double-header) June 4th (6.30pm)

[crescent girl 1,907]

A feast of speedway this Saturday at Shielfield, with both Leicester teams visiting.

The Bandits remain without Jye Etheridge, and Ty Proctor is also again sidelined with neck injury, meaning a return visit by the popular ex-Berwick star Lee Complin as a guest.

30 races on the menu, with admission (to both matches) Adults £24, Concessions/OAP/Students £20, Juniors 12-15 £6, Under 12 £1 (but all kids under 16 are free if accompanying adult who has booked online and selected Kids Go Free Pass).    It is emphasised that the meeting will be starting at 6.30pm.

Championship line-ups:

FTS BANDITS: 1. Chris Harris, 2 Jye Etheridge (r/r), 3 Theo Pijper, 4 Leon Flint, 5 Ricky Wells, 6 Lee Complin (guest), 7 Kyle Bicley, 8 Luke Crang

Watling JCB LIONS: 1 Nick Morris, 2 Connor Mountain, 3 Rickie Worrall, 4 Joe Thompson, 5 Kyle Howarth,  6 Anders Rowe, 7 Dan Thompson

[crescent girl 1,907]

I know I posted about this last night, but the club are anxious to emphasise their offer.  This from today's media briefing:

Racing begins at 6.30pm on Saturday with Berwick repeating their exclusive ticketing offer whereby any adult booking online can add juniors (11-16 years) and children (under-11) free of charge, saving £6 and £1 respectively per person on admission via the cash turnstiles.

[iainb 5,022]

How about just making it NOT a double header... And maybe fielding a full team... for a reasonable price?

[allthegearbutnaeidea 1,735]

31 minutes ago, iainb said:

How about just making it NOT a double header... And maybe fielding a full team... for a reasonable price?

Not enough weeks in the season for 2 teams without double headers, makes complete sense for double headers to happen when another team has a CL and NL team, £24 for 30 heats is more than reasonable, and I’ve never seen anyone complaining about that price this season. As for ‘fielding a full team’, I’ll not bite… silly comment.

[iainb 5,022]

5 minutes ago, allthegearbutnaeidea said:

Not enough weeks in the season for 2 teams without double headers, makes complete sense for double headers to happen when another team has a CL and NL team, £24 for 30 heats is more than reasonable, and I’ve never seen anyone complaining about that price this season. As for ‘fielding a full team’, I’ll not bite… silly comment.

How many days are there in a week? I'll give you a clue... it's the same as the number of riders in a Speedway team... and a further clue, the answer is not 6

[Fromafar 10,375]

33 minutes ago, allthegearbutnaeidea said:

Not enough weeks in the season for 2 teams without double headers, makes complete sense for double headers to happen when another team has a CL and NL team, £24 for 30 heats is more than reasonable, and I’ve never seen anyone complaining about that price this season. As for ‘fielding a full team’, I’ll not bite… silly comment.

I agree that £24 is probably reasonable.There are probably fans that not interested in the 2 matches and might only want to see 1 match.Not catering for them.

[Shadders 4,135]

43 minutes ago, iainb said:

How many days are there in a week? I'll give you a clue... it's the same as the number of riders in a Speedway team... and a further clue, the answer is not 6

You have absolutely no idea what you’re on about, just here for argument. Guess what, you lost 

[Sings4Speedway 3,247]

56 minutes ago, Shadders said:

You have absolutely no idea what you’re on about, just here for argument. Guess what, you lost 

Was harping on about the same fixtures last year. Wouldn't have gone to Berwick if it was a standalone fixture anyways. Just a grumbler who doesn't want to pay an extra couple of quid for the Leicester home meetings.

[screm 8,057]

Having had two home defeats on the trot Berwick can ill aford a third. Looking at the Leicester the home side have their work cut out.

[mikebv 10,292]

8 hours ago, allthegearbutnaeidea said:

Not enough weeks in the season for 2 teams without double headers, makes complete sense for double headers to happen when another team has a CL and NL team, £24 for 30 heats is more than reasonable, and I’ve never seen anyone complaining about that price this season. As for ‘fielding a full team’, I’ll not bite… silly comment.

Maybe have less teams in the league then?

Would stop so many "haves and have nots" too, making it far more competitive than it currently is...

And would mean NDL could be stand alone being given the "main stage" and not a "support act", and also nean the riders riding on tracks that are not bereft of shale, thus increasing both their experience of such tracks which will help their development, and the entertainment value on offer..

Less teams would not only mean plenty of dates freed up, but also would mean more riders of a certain level to stand in for injuries from a pool of talent that isnt contracted to any of the teams in the league..

Eg a "live example" would be if Complin was riding for Neecastle in the NDL he could be Berwck's No8, thus keeping the integrity and credibility of the sport intact...

[iainb 5,022]

11 hours ago, Shadders said:

You have absolutely no idea what you’re on about, just here for argument. Guess what, you lost 

I'm pretty sure there are 7 days in a week and 7 riders in a Speedway team... damn! I've just given you the answer 

10 hours ago, Sings4Speedway said:

Was harping on about the same fixtures last year. Wouldn't have gone to Berwick if it was a standalone fixture anyways. Just a grumbler who doesn't want to pay an extra couple of quid for the Leicester home meetings.

Yes I probably was harping on about it and I'll continue to harp on about it while this continues to happen. Leicester, Berwick, Plymouth & Edinburgh seem to have made an arrangement between themselves that they'll run double headers when they meet each other. Well I'm not prepared to support this, it's my choice as it is my right to come on here to express it. I'm quite happy to pay £18 to watch the Lions in action, no interest in watching junior speedway at all. Leicester, in particular, have shown they are incapable of staging a double header within a 4 hour time frame and other clubs involved in this arrangement have also fallen foul of curfew limitations in the past... So I as a Leicester Lions fan have no alternative other than to pay an inflated price to watch my team in action 4 times during the season... I notice that Edinburgh and Plymouth are not forcing this on their fans for their home matches

Edited June 1, 2022 by iainb

[piepower 41]

19 minutes ago, iainb said:

I'm pretty sure there are 7 days in a week and 7 riders in a Speedway team... damn! I've just given you the answer 

Yes I probably was harping on about it and I'll continue to harp on about it while this continues to happen. Leicester, Berwick, Plymouth & Edinburgh seem to have made an arrangement between themselves that they'll run double headers when they meet each other. Well I'm not prepared to support this, it's my choice as it is my right to come on here to express it. I'm quite happy to pay £18 to watch the Lions in action, no interest in watching junior speedway at all. Leicester, in particular, have shown they are incapable of staging a double header within a 4 hour time frame and other clubs involved in this arrangement have also fallen foul of curfew limitations in the past... So I as a Leicester Lions fan have no alternative other than to pay an inflated price to watch my team in action 6 times during the season... I notice that Edinburgh and Plymouth are not forcing this on their fans for their home matches

While you have some point Ian , Also see the other side rather than spending 2 separate tickets, 2 separate evenings, 2 separate trips in the car, food out etc. For someone that is speedway mad and a Leicester fan for £6 more ( same price as 2 coffees now) they get to watch top level racing and the stars of tomorrow which yes isn't as fast , however can still provide top quality racing. They have offered this on 3 out of thier 19 fixtures its hardly taking the biscuit is it. While you have no interest in it where do you think the championship racers come from? perfect example for you right now is the Thompson Twins. I personally love watching progression of young riders from starting to GPs ie Dan bewley So maybe rather than being a scrooge and moaning about your £6 maybe support it and who knows it might help your commentating skills when a new young gun comes to the tapes and you already have a good idea what they are about  

[iainb 5,022]

1 hour ago, piepower said:

While you have some point Ian , Also see the other side rather than spending 2 separate tickets, 2 separate evenings, 2 separate trips in the car, food out etc. For someone that is speedway mad and a Leicester fan for £6 more ( same price as 2 coffees now) they get to watch top level racing and the stars of tomorrow which yes isn't as fast , however can still provide top quality racing. They have offered this on 3 out of thier 19 fixtures its hardly taking the biscuit is it. While you have no interest in it where do you think the championship racers come from? perfect example for you right now is the Thompson Twins. I personally love watching progression of young riders from starting to GPs ie Dan bewley So maybe rather than being a scrooge and moaning about your £6 maybe support it and who knows it might help your commentating skills when a new young gun comes to the tapes and you already have a good idea what they are about  

I take your point and understand where you're coming from but for every Thompson Twin or Dan Bewley there's 10 riders who will never make the grade, you only have to look at the team rosters from 5 or 6 years ago to see who have progressed. Looking at your info, it looks like you watch your Speedway at Belle Vue... which is a very different experience to watching a Double Header at Leicester... in fact have BV ever doubled up the Aces with the Colts?

Edited June 1, 2022 by iainb

[Sings4Speedway 3,247]

1 hour ago, iainb said:

I'm pretty sure there are 7 days in a week and 7 riders in a Speedway team... damn! I've just given you the answer 

Yes I probably was harping on about it and I'll continue to harp on about it while this continues to happen. Leicester, Berwick, Plymouth & Edinburgh seem to have made an arrangement between themselves that they'll run double headers when they meet each other. Well I'm not prepared to support this, it's my choice as it is my right to come on here to express it. I'm quite happy to pay £18 to watch the Lions in action, no interest in watching junior speedway at all. Leicester, in particular, have shown they are incapable of staging a double header within a 4 hour time frame and other clubs involved in this arrangement have also fallen foul of curfew limitations in the past... So I as a Leicester Lions fan have no alternative other than to pay an inflated price to watch my team in action 4 times during the season... I notice that Edinburgh and Plymouth are not forcing this on their fans for their home matches

Some (one) of the teams mentioned made it a proviso that as many double headers would be staged as possible to reduce the costs of entering a NDL team. Its fairly clear that there will be a few who stay away and perhaps a few enticed in for the double headers but whats obvious is the running costs are lower for a double header vs two single meetings and simply if that is the difference between clubs break even and making losses then im all for it. 

[Sings4Speedway 3,247]

48 minutes ago, iainb said:

I take your point and understand where you're coming from but for every Thompson Twin or Dan Bewley there's 10 riders who will never make the grade, you only have to look at the team rosters from 5 or 6 years ago to see who have progressed. Looking at your info, it looks like you watch your Speedway at Belle Vue... which is a very different experience to watching a Double Header at Leicester... in fact have BV ever doubled up the Aces with the Colts?

Of course but surely thats the point. If there was 80% of riders making the transition from NDL to CL and beyond it would point to a very weak league to move into. Just using 6 years ago i can count 20 riders who appeared on the NDL greensheets who have gone on to make a notable contribution to higher leagues, thats excluding a similar number again to have made CL level appearances. Personally i abhor those who dismiss the merits of any lower league in generating riders, where did the current crop of Lions cut their teeth....