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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

Sad to see Joe has retired

The amount of times I needed them extra 2" has been the story of my life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . In more ways then you might think

Konopka is done haha

No, that's pre-school, it's even worse!! Please do... I will try reaaally hard to find yous, but you're not allowed to say anything until I find you

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

yea , its not a problem . i know Edinburgh finished above Glasgow and Workington finished below them both . sad to hear a good supporter like yourself needs to be reminded where you finished last season .life goes on tho .

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!

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.

SHOULD be some news this week...

All about balance

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!

Don't think your team will have anyone rattled unfortunately. Quietly cautious and respectful of perhaps but not rattled, certainly not away from your own patch. But speedway isn't raced on paper so you never know.

They wouldn't. The majority of fans would go to the senior team and skip the 'reserve team'. Where are you getting £12-15 from? Second division teams are already charging nearly as much as first division sides as it is, i.e. more than £12-15.

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.

Would that be similar to the pressure of being 1 point down on aggregate in the Grand Final with 3 races to go and executing a sublime pass on the final lap to put you in the box seat? Is that the sort of pressure you are talking about?

We are all still none the wiser about league coverage then, I did hear (although not sure how true it is) that BT were interested if they didn’t have to pay !!, hope that isn’t the case

The distant, between your world and mine, are miles apart. you, a self acclaimed master of sarcasm, believe it is wrong to voice an opinion unless you are equally efficient as the person you have an opinion on. Yes, I voiced my dissatisfaction at the lack of information coming from the club, as did many others, it was my opinion, but you see it as moaning.. But I didn't proclaim to be efficient in that said role. But obviously, you feel you are an expert in many roles.... Many years ago I played football at a semi professional level, but was no where near the standard of those playing today, but it doesn't stop me shouting an opinion, be it right or wrong at those far superior then I. Moaning, and having an opinion, to me are not the same thing.

It isn't, but you could do it in the interval (if you have one) instead. Personally, I loathe intervals but if there is some form of attraction it makes them slightly more tolerable. Isle of Wight have a kids bike race. All lined up at the tapes with their helmets on to rocket round, and they even have handicaps for some of the older competitors. I still would prefer to get on with the meeting but I have no reason to doubt Barry Bishop when he told me that that is why some of the youngsters are actually there, the speedway coming a distant second. Better that than standing around in the freezing cold for 20 minutes as I did at Birmingham a couple of seasons back.

That’s it, Steve, crank up the smugness just like last year so it’s even sweeter when we thrash you again and again and win the league yet again!

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

Watched the Fleetwood v Leicester FA cup match on tv today and the commentator mentioned that the home teams ground is built on the old speedway track site, also that he watched speedway at Bristol. This got me thinking about the Fleetwood Flyers so I did a quick search and came up with this www.fleetwoodtoday.co.uk/lifestyle/dramatic-end-for-fleetwood-speedway-1-1561864 Looks like some promoters of those days were just as dodgy as some of todays, and that things really don't change.

They have old averages.And Woryna's old 4.something ave seems a bit of a joke considering how he is riding and who he's beating now. Spanners ave is about 4 years old? and he seems to have improved and they have put his ave down I think ! I'm not getting at Poole if these riders could have signed for any team on those ave's,Im guessing Lebedevs could be had on his old 4.something average too.Bargain of the season?

Firstly, Well done Josh Sadly stalwart Bertie (Farmer) Barr has passed away this morning. Well known from his days driving the tractor and a good friend to all. Bertie was well into his 90’s and ever faithful at Edinburgh Speedway until last year Condolences to his family. RIP Bert

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

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.

Thanks for your interest Gustix. Somebody belatedly just pointed me in the direction of this forum, so I joined. I'm alive and well, living in a small Yorkshire village looking after birds (feathered ones), growing roses, being belligerent and generally enjoying life in my late 70s. Sadly, no other family members (four sons, two grandchildren, have any interest in speedway). I still enjoy watching the GPs and WC on tv. Not so sure about the Elite (Premiership) coverage where incredibly boring processional racing is 'excused' by Mr Tatum waffling on about a 'Technical track'. I have no post Speedway Mail contact with speedway other than occasional correspondence with Mike Patrick whose company I always enjoyed in the old days although we were on 'rival' publications and a few contacts from the good old 1960s days in Poland. Nothing much changes - Split Waterman and Briggo were always the masters in my book (starting watching at West Ham in 1946). Glad to see you are a New Cross fan - always loved the visits to the Frying Pan.

nobody really should be knocking any other threads team, especially if their own team isn't exactly perfect.

no propaganda here scare.as I've said before, give kind a chance as i,m sure he will be a welcome addition.as for getting turned over i won't even answer that one.all i know is that no workington fan should be even thinking of criticising the make up of your team.think positive.costs nothing.

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.