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This season we seem to have caused a stir with other teams fans , been a while since others have posted as much interest in our Worky thread ...maybe our team have got them slightly rattled after all Roll in March !! Up the Comets

Speedway was better than the alternatives AT THAT TIME for some people, however the alternatives (and look at Rugby Union as one example) have moved on, become comparatively more attractive and progressed, whereas speedway is doing the same old same old, whilst its fanbase is getting old(er)

No excuse that. U can log on to the internet & social media in other countries ya know!!!!! Lemon has tweeted about Aus Championships whilst over there & to be honest, I find it staggering that nobody from the club has commented on the Drozdz signing despite it being all over the internet for over 48 hrs now?? They really do need to sort out how they promote the club in the media as it’s pretty terrible. Poor for us fans to find out Jack Smith not returning from him and his Mum and finding out we have signed Drozdz and Fricke from a Polish club!! Regarding our Number 7, personally I would have gone with Todd Kurtz or Jan Graversen - some good English league experience there. Just noticed another potential target for No 7, Joe Jacobs has announced his retirement due to being unable to find a club in either division. Sad for another young British rider to have to call it quits. We really should be looking after our own more.

I see he has announced his retirement on Twitter. Assuming this isn't another Josh Bates style incident, then it's certainly a shame. There is something very wrong when our own riders can't get a place or can't double-up, yet quite a few untried or low grade overseas riders will be in the starting line-ups and plenty of overseas riders will be doubling-up. Priority should be with all home riders until they all have a place.

Despite all the negitives of last season I am guessing that most of of us will be back next season to sample the fayre that is on offer. Some will arrive with the glass half empty and some with the glass half full, but ARRIVE we will

The 2017 season was the worst yet for the many fans, the number of restarts from the tapes and the riders stopping at the pit gates to muck about with the bike before going back to the start. Cutting the two mins to a one min time would help and stop much gardening etc. They should reduce the delays between races, and at certain clubs, the amount of tractor racing and get on with the meetings, especially when it is cold. The main meeting should take no more than 90 mins, unless there are many accidents or air fence issues and fans can then either go or stay on for a second half of either practice or a 4 or 6 heat junior type event.

Yes, let's lose a quality production, expertly presented by an experienced presenter with a solid speedway pedigree and programmes shown consistently as advertised and matches covered reliably and complete. Let's go for a service that can't be relied on to show matches reliably in a regular time slot and often delays coverage until late at night, often cutting out heats and whose basic presentation leaves a hell of a lot to be desired. It's also a station that rarely actually covers the meetings themselves, relying on taking the World Feed from BSI when they showed the Grand Prixs and simply took a feed from CMore when they showed Swedish speedway. The only speedway they've covered themselves has been the OneSport SEC and Pairs events. Yes, let's go from quality to third-rate and unreliable.....

I remember watching an old Speedway video from around the early 80's (1982?), cant remember which track but they showed the turnstiles with people queuing up and Adult entrance was £3.00... If it was 1982, that £3.00 entrance fee is now worth £7.40, (not Eighteen quid).... Add in the cost of Satellite TV, Internet, Mobile Phone contracts, increased car ownership, inflation busting higher house prices and rent, higher cost of Petrol, Gas and Electric, Higher cost of Home insurance, Life insurance, etc etc... And the bottom line is for so many people their disposable income percentage wise is so much reduced from the early eighties due to the cost of basic living... £18 today is equivalent to £7.29 in 1982... I would suggest if Speedway charged £7.29 back then crowds wouldn't have been anywhere near as good as they were.. Clearly perceived high admission costs are a huge factor in the demise of the Sport.... How it finds a way to reduce them to attract people who either used to go or simply have no knowledge of the sport is the major barrier it needs to overcome..

Cook has got to the GPs very quickly. He was a new NL novice only about seven years ago. He’s late to the sport and older but he’s the equivalent of a 23 year old who started at 16! He’s got there faster that Brady Kurtz or Jack Holder will. Poole have cornered the win at all costs “brand”, based on mercenary opportunism every year, but it works only because no other club does that well or adopts real branding which is a longer term strategy of creating a club culture that fans and potential customers in the local community can identify with.

With having a 2 point rider he’s going to be outclassed on numerous occasions at home and away but as long as there’s progression it’s not a problem. This team is built to be able to win with 6 riders scoring well with no pressure on the number 7

Very pragmatic of you but it is still sad that doubling up is just justified because of a lack of riders and then lads are having to retire because of that same rule. This shouldn't be happening.

Look who posted the suggestion and judge its validity...... More chance of Danny Dyer

You are so stupid, Steve. Jacobs was superb for Belle Vue and with some effort on their part could have become a loyal servant for years. Sure, with the short-sighted Poole mentality of win every year at all costs, you wouldn’t be interested in investing in the future of a young British rider. Just look at how Kyle Newman has been treated.

I appreciate that and can understand why, but it's difficult to take people seriously who flag up the bad stuff every time it happens but are nowhere to be seen when there are good things to comment on. Works in reverse as well of course.

Let hope that our neighbours use Kus. They own him, and are apparently running on a budget.

And ergo you have effectively created a two-tier league system again.

When asked at the season ticket thing in December CL said it was still happening.

Shouldnt this post be on your own pussycat thread?

If I were to be cursed with so little personal knowledge of the past. That my views had to be shaped by YouTube alone. Then, hopefully, I too could be excused for coming to some pretty daft conclusions.

It is a strange phenomenon. At Swindon more than half the crowd leave before the team have come round on the victory parade, let alone stay for the post meeting interviews, MoTM presentation etc. I can't explain it. I'd rather stand around for 10 minutes watching the proceedings than sit in a queue of traffic waiting to get out of the car park

WHY DO WE HAVE TWO LEAGUES ? We go into the 2018 season still with two leagues which is fine if both leagues were vastly different but now the only difference really is one rider and some Championship teams look almost just as strong as some Premiership teams. Yes having two leagues creates more meetings for riders doubling up which years ago was just the odd rider but now most riders operate in both. But to create more meetings means seeing the same teams twice and sometimes the same team visits just weeks after their first visit. However the real reason we have a Premiership League is to give places for the few top riders that still ride here for one reason or another. In 2018 the only riders that come into this category is Jason Doyle, Jacob Thorssell and Martin Vaculik as the other number ones that have been named already have Championship places and both Vaculik and Thorssell start with averages lower than Nick Morris who is signed up in both leagues so having one league should mean those two could get places in one big league. Morris, Masters, Harris, Cook and Schlein all have Premiership averages higher than that of Nicholls and Kennett yet these two Brits are having to fight for the right to ride in the second tier in their own country wile riders like Ellis Perks, Tom Perry and others are looking to sell their bikes as they can' get team places while riders from other countries can get places on averages they achieved that is short of the average they first came in on and fill up the lower berths in the second tier while National League riders await the chance to ride. If there was one big league featuring the 8 Premiership and 11 Championship tracks it would generate 18 home and 18 away (36 matches) which is just 12 less than running two leagues (28/20) and if the season started with the forgotten Craven Shield or Young Trophy meetings using regional groups then it would be about the same.number.of meetings overall. So basically the only real reason we are still operating a Premiership is to accommodate JASON DOYLE and to satisfy the few clubs that can afford such riders and keep the prices at £18 a meeting for a product that has got weaker and weaker each season and this season doesn't even have a rule in place to ensure tracks use British riders. SO SHOULD WE HAVE GONE ONE LEAGUE ? Well one league would have created a more varied fixture list bringing back the days when you.only had.once chance to see that visiting team and didn' want to miss it. It also creates local derbies such as Belle Vue v Sheffield or Lakeside v Rue House but most.importantly it creates spaces so plenty of places for.not only new riders but.reserve places for National League riders that need track time and revenue to make it pay. So in my opinion we have again missed the chance to rebuild British Speedway at an affordable level and getting teams to be your team once more just to accommodate the World Champion VIEWS

Which again begs the question, therefore why do they often choose the more expensive, ‘foreign dross’ option? I think we are agreeing with you, just discussing the reasoning.

Being in a team for a few years in a row did Ashley Morris a load of good, it'd do Joe Jacobs a lot of good also, he's a rider I'd have like to have seen at Newcastle, especially if we went down the 2 4.00 reserves route... Shame

my niece is called danni dyer if she gets on a speedway bike look out ive seen her driving her car

Youd think THJ would be a shoe in at reserve on his average...

The positive initiatives of the last few years have now all been ditched The draft was far from perfect but that was due to the selfish implementation rather than the ideal The raising of starting average for visa riders and that ALL none Brits could not fall below 5 The min 2 Brits per team Brit only No7 in the 2nd tier Short sighted.....

So you exaggerate as well as moan repetitively! (please show me where I profess to be an expert in "all those disciplines"). Got you in one....................... constant moaner full of negativity, nothings ever right and it was always better in the good ole days........ that's you (and you call me sad ) . There are a few on here that have the likes of you sussed.............. read the posts! It would seem (to me at least) that these individuals (thankfully a minority)......... yourself included of course ..........would revel in the closure of KL speedway for no other reason than to be able to trot out the expected inane ramblings something along the lines of "there told you so". Only "happy" when you're moaning................. life must be hard though for a failed footballer (at least I didn't fail in my chosen profession ). Over and Out!

For the reasons you mention I doubt we will ever see Dyer over here ever again, but for the sheer entertainment I hope one of the clubs who have spaces to fill sign Dyer.

Total madness that no club in either league could offer a place to Joe Jacobs when every year they complain of a lack of riders, the lack of British riders and the cost of expensive foreigners. We even had the draft system, supposedly designed to bring on young Brits ..... only to be dumped a couple of years later. Joe was fantastic for Belle Vue, would have been a trump card at home and could have improved away with decent coaching. British promoters really are stupid. Unbelievably short-sighted.

Oh, brill, Swindon have four heatleaders then.

Not with this promotion you won't, if it's not on the list it doesn't happen?

All about balance

I think you might be in trouble suggesting that Cradley are Wolverhampton's NL team. Belle Vue are the only PL team running a NL team. The crowds for the Colts were decent at that level but way below those for the Aces despite the excellent racing and admission fees of £10 for adults, £8 for concessions and free admission for anyone under 18.

Can’t agree with this. Yes Brady has progressed quicker than Morris but another (current world champion) was the same and who would have thought Doyle would make the SGPs let alone dominate them for two years. If Morris continues like last year then he may surprise a few and even make progress in Poland. At this point in time, Brady certainly looks the better long term option but write Morris off at your peril!

I think the secret of being a good opinion giver is to make sure your thoughts are balanced.....people who are persistently negative (or positive) will attract criticism. Especially if they bang on and on about the same things ad nauseam. I think most of us can detect which posters are to be take notice of and which are not by their posts and how they are written.

Hope not tbh. 1 - 6 is good. Prefer Joe Jacobs over Etheridge.

That is what I mean. Kurtz already has a taste of being the top rider in Pooles team and time at number one. Thorssell whilst potentially very good spent last season at number 4 all season with no pressure as Lindgren was number one, Cook was second heatleader for BV, Morris likewise for Swindon. Id fancy Kurtz to average more than Thorssel and Morris, definately more than Harris/Nicholls and wouldnt surprise me if he is higher than Cook and Vaculik too.

Ill bet you £1,000,000 you wont beat the club i follow at Derwent Park if you like? Not sure why your getting all bent out of shape to be honest.. will probably do ok at home but away will take some houndings and will finish in the bottom half

For me it’s about giving something back. Those blokes that gave up their time picking you out of the airfence or just stood holding a flag whilst you learned to slide a bike. I love seeing a lad succeed and to see them strut their stuff as a top liner after all those years is great. Whats the saying, be nice on your way up

Repeat posts from early 2017. How did that work out?!!

That would be very strange - doesnt he have an established average more recent than Sczepaniak for example....

Did not have a go at Poole.Just said the person working out the averages has no common sense.If you think that 2 better riders should have a lower average then you are in the same boat. Drodz going off the better Poles averages should imo have been assessed at 4 no matter what team he rides for

If anyone other than Poole wanted Woryna and Szczpaniak do you think they'd be allowed to get them on less than the 5.00 of similar (or weaker) Poles like Drozdz? Of course not.

Also does Holder sing the UK national anthem and have a union jack tatooed on his back?

I always say that the first few years of watching speedway are probably your best. It's like with music, you tend to compare things with what you've already experienced, and the things you're currently experiencing when you look on them in 10 years, will probably be better in your memory than you experienced. Looking back on old photos always bring a nicer feeling than when they were taken.

thats the thing i keep saying the ones knocking the team are not workington fans its fans of other teams that are the ones knocking it and trying to rip it apart

only slight negative from any conected to Workington is regarding klindt its the posts from fans of other teams that are negative which could be there trying a bit of propaganda as there really worried this team of no hopers and 2nd strings are gonna turn them over

I don't detect much negativity from true Comets fans at all - on the contrary, I think we are generally pleased with the new line up and delighted we have speedway in Workington again in 2018.

100% correct I really like the look of this team Dan should really kick on to around the 7 point mark this year and Campton at reserve is a trump card.

I was watching TV early the other morning and there was what I can only describe as a reality TV show about the crew on a luxury yacht and it got me thinking - how much would it cost to produce some kind of reality series for speedway. There are two possible angles I can think of. The first would be to follow riders during the course of a season racing for their Britsh teams. You could gamify this by having some kind of fantasy speedway angle with senior/ex riders, managers, sponsors etc. picking their teams and meeting/advising the riders they have chosen. An alternative approach could be to create a competition, such as a series for NL riders and each week profile a rider or two and follow their progress through the series. I think this has the potential to expose speedway to a much wider audience than meetings on Sky/BT Sport ever could.