Plans for next season ?

[Falcon1983 557]

5 hours ago, therefused said:

why would a youngster travel for just three rides? 

6 or even 5 man teams are the only sensible option

They only get 3 rides at the moment as always get taken out of a ride these would be 3 programmed rides they cant be taken out of 

[lisa-colette 6,034]

1 hour ago, iainb said:

This has always been a big mystery to me, what's so wrong with Thursday's? Surely this just proves that people like going out on a Wednesday evening in Poole and not a Thursday. If you support your club you go (if you can) on whatever night of the week... what's the other big attraction in Poole on a Thursday evening?

Maybe everyone does a pub quiz? Or maybe people are stubborn to change?

We should do a survey

[ouch 1,191]

If we could all work towards providing tracks that suited todays bike and let the riders entertain instead of all the gate & go rubbish. Ideally have customers in surroundings that a 21st century audience is accustomed to with quality food and drink available, in a restaurant set up if the fans wanted that choice. 

Keep fans entertained during the interval and breaks with games for the kids, rider interviews and maybe a comic mascot whilst the tractors do there 5mins. 

With regards teams maybe try and return to days when more that half the team are British and better still ex junior team members. Make the rest up with a combination of a big hitter brought in and young riders from around the world that fans can see progress as part of the team. 

Trouble with all this is it needs to be across the board and done collectively. If only one team ploughed that path it would lead to the petty resentments and jealousies that blight our sport. That would see the rule book disregarded or altered at a whim to penalise a team and see more and more fans drift away from the sport. 

You’ve got to have hope. 

[StarBoy 165]

10 minutes ago, ouch said:

If we could all work towards providing tracks that suited todays bike and let the riders entertain instead of all the gate & go rubbish. Ideally have customers in surroundings that a 21st century audience is accustomed to with quality food and drink available, in a restaurant set up if the fans wanted that choice. 

Keep fans entertained during the interval and breaks with games for the kids, rider interviews and maybe a comic mascot whilst the tractors do there 5mins. 

With regards teams maybe try and return to days when more that half the team are British and better still ex junior team members. Make the rest up with a combination of a big hitter brought in and young riders from around the world that fans can see progress as part of the team. 

Trouble with all this is it needs to be across the board and done collectively. If only one team ploughed that path it would lead to the petty resentments and jealousies that blight our sport. That would see the rule book disregarded or altered at a whim to penalise a team and see more and more fans drift away from the sport. 

You’ve got to have hope. 

I'm not saying we should copy Poland, but maybe introducing the rule where both reserves have to be U24 riders (or similar) from clubs academies would be beneficial.

You look at teams like Sheffield (Kerr/Howarth/Pickering?) and BV (Blodorn/Brennan) they've always got a stronger reserve than the rest of the teams. I'm not saying they should be penalised for having strong reserves as they've built their team that way, but if a in-form reserve can take 7 rides that's where a meeting can be won or lost.

I personally feel if you have to have 2 "Rising Stars" let's call them for arguments sake in your reserve berth it might make things more competitive...

Obviously, there are bigger fish to fry in terms of ongoing issues, however, it's just a suggestion.

 

[Baldyman 6,243]

Blodorn is only about 19 and Brennan is 22,,,so they fit your criteria perfectly being under 24,,, 

[ouch 1,191]

1 hour ago, Baldyman said:

Blodorn is only about 19 and Brennan is 22,,,so they fit your criteria perfectly being under 24,,, 

Yes, you will always have some reserves better than others. 

The promoters could spend time and money on their RS’s to help bring them on to help balance things out. Alternatively they could just bar the best from the RS system. 

[Beirao 202]

3 hours ago, ouch said:

If we could all work towards providing tracks that suited todays bike and let the riders entertain instead of all the gate & go rubbish. Ideally have customers in surroundings that a 21st century audience is accustomed to with quality food and drink available, in a restaurant set up if the fans wanted that choice. 

Keep fans entertained during the interval and breaks with games for the kids, rider interviews and maybe a comic mascot whilst the tractors do there 5mins. 

With regards teams maybe try and return to days when more that half the team are British and better still ex junior team members. Make the rest up with a combination of a big hitter brought in and young riders from around the world that fans can see progress as part of the team. 

Trouble with all this is it needs to be across the board and done collectively. If only one team ploughed that path it would lead to the petty resentments and jealousies that blight our sport. That would see the rule book disregarded or altered at a whim to penalise a team and see more and more fans drift away from the sport. 

You’ve got to have hope. 

The problem is that with current H&S regulations the kids games and the mascot "act"  can't take place while the tractor is going round. This makes for a long and rather boring interval

[ouch 1,191]

3 hours ago, Beirao said:

The problem is that with current H&S regulations the kids games and the mascot "act"  can't take place while the tractor is going round. This makes for a long and rather boring interval

Rider interviews are ideal for when the tractors are out during a meeting. 

5mins should be enough for the track prep which will only take up a third of the interval time. I do know some tracks have a major track change round usually working on the gates to gain a gate and go tactical advantage. I feel this is unnecessary on many fronts and short changes us long suffering fans. 

[Ben91 1,743]

22 hours ago, lisa-colette said:

Not sure we would have if we were allowed Weds nights though imo. They were losing too much money riding on Thursdays (the crowd was half what it is now). 

Which just shows good business sense. Losing money so they moved to a division they could sustain. 

Most other clubs would (arguably did) just carry on throwing money into the pit. 

[DazS 431]

4 hours ago, Beirao said:

The problem is that with current H&S regulations the kids games and the mascot "act"  can't take place while the tractor is going round. This makes for a long and rather boring interval

and that is why everything is turning crap and i mean everything.

[StarBoy 165]

7 hours ago, Baldyman said:

Blodorn is only about 19 and Brennan is 22,,,so they fit your criteria perfectly being under 24,,, 

I did mean homegrown riders, sorry if that wasn't clear. Obviously, Brennan would work for this

[Bagpuss 10,783]

9 hours ago, ouch said:

If we could all work towards providing tracks that suited todays bike and let the riders entertain instead of all the gate & go rubbish. Ideally have customers in surroundings that a 21st century audience is accustomed to with quality food and drink available, in a restaurant set up if the fans wanted that choice. 

Keep fans entertained during the interval and breaks with games for the kids, rider interviews and maybe a comic mascot whilst the tractors do there 5mins. 

With regards teams maybe try and return to days when more that half the team are British and better still ex junior team members. Make the rest up with a combination of a big hitter brought in and young riders from around the world that fans can see progress as part of the team. 

Trouble with all this is it needs to be across the board and done collectively. If only one team ploughed that path it would lead to the petty resentments and jealousies that blight our sport. That would see the rule book disregarded or altered at a whim to penalise a team and see more and more fans drift away from the sport. 

You’ve got to have hope. 

And you were doing so well until then.

[Bagpuss 10,783]

6 hours ago, ouch said:

Yes, you will always have some reserves better than others. 

The promoters could spend time and money on their RS’s to help bring them on to help balance things out. Alternatively they could just bar the best from the RS system. 

And then. 

[ouch 1,191]

2 hours ago, Bagpuss said:

And you were doing so well until then.

I get there’s a groundswell of opinion for clubs to work independently against each other mostly to the detriment of the sport but I cannot agree with that thinking, it just doesn’t sit right with me but I accept your opinion. Similarly I cannot agree to the lack of involvement with the RS’s and the ongoing hiring and firing, something the young lads have been very vocal about in the speedway press. 

The rule book, well stick to it or bin it, don’t be altering it at the drop of a hat to suit certain teams. That’s an opinion I’ll champion to my dying day, for any sport. 

I accept though that this is a forum where opinions can be aired and disagreements will arise, no matter how baffling some fans thinking is to me. 

[Ben91 1,743]

On 7/12/2023 at 2:58 PM, therefused said:

why would a youngster travel for just three rides? 

6 or even 5 man teams are the only sensible option

If you’re a youngster starting out in the sport you should be trying to grab every opportunity going in the name of succeeding not turning your nose up at an opportunity because you might only get three rides. 

The sport is starting to revolve around the riders. It should be the other way round.