Leaderboard

You are right..more fans should meet. It's good to put a name to a face..was an honour meeting the famous jenga. And it's a face I won't forget in a hurry, I've had nightmares ever since

Yep it is heart-breaking to watch how they manage to go from one balls up to another and still not get it right. Most learn from there mistakes but not this shower they stumble from one drama to the next, the carry on with Workington's fixtures this year is just not right and could have an impact on there future this has to be there most stupid ruling ever. I have been harping on about this for ages but Speedway will only move forward if an outside body takes over the whole shooting match and start from scratch, if not I fear for the sport in this country.

Sadly one factor in the decline of Speedway is that the younger generation think an evenings entertainment consists of watching TV, playing video games or chatting on social media. Many people only "go out" when they go to work or for weddings and funerals. Many have stopped going to the pub because it is a ten minute walk and they can't take the car. It is that sort of mentality that many sports like Speedway are fighting. Added to that is the very short attention span of many younger people and sport in general has a problem.

Godfrey does what he wants,not nice person and is as bad as chapman Hopefully the bspa will cease to exist one day soon then speedway might have a small chance of moving forward imo

Nothing against Cookie but it is called the 2018 Championship League Riders Championship for a reason and surely no-one however high their rolling average should be invited after 2 only meetings. Will he himself not be embarrassed to be there? Yes it is still a great sport, unfortunately run by a group of people who are either completely out of their depth or who constantly have their judgement clouded by intermittent bouts of self interest (or both).

I would not want to see him back at Poole. Was always a bit of a prima dona and established an Aussie ghetto in the pits. Let us down very badly in the last two years that he actually rode for us with “I feel sick”, I’ve got a headache” and “I’ve got toothache” lame excuses and this year he did not come clean over the work permit issues, leaving the team in limbo for 3 months. Very bad tempered with a foul mouth!!! Why, would you want him back???

Firstly I must say it was nice to meet jenga and scarramanga. Pretty close meeting score wise nearly all the way through, until the last couple of races. Worky have a very solid team and look to have a rider in every race that could win the race. Was hoping ipswich would get a point at least, but finally missed out on that at the end. I know I have knocked Cameron Heeps plenty of times this season, but last night he really was fantastic, he looked fast and smooth all evening, when a few others struggled a bit. Also thought coty was excellent, maybe helped by the Danny King race suit. A few awkward looking falls for Rory mark and quest Worral. Rory crash looked particularly nasty as it looked like maybe he got his foot in a rut? All in all Worky deserved their win. And i must repeat Cameron Heeps was fantastic, that's the real rider we know he can be and is. Funny moment of the night, the mascot not being able to put what looked like an American football between the rugby post after a fair few attempts, only for what looked like one of the start a start line girl do in one attempt.

One of the biggest frustrations is that the Sport itself still can generate great crowds in this Country when it is done well... The meeting you allude to in Glasgow was promoted well (as the Glasgow promotion seem to do, even at short notice)... And it had credibility as both teams were represented by riders from their own nations... Which got me thinking.. Imagine if NKI the Danish Champion had been advertised as guesting for Australia to replace Jason Doyle (as could conceivably have happened if it was a Premiership match)... Ludicrous to suggest it I know but that is effectively what British Speedway does each week... If it was allowed to happen in that Test Match, even with lots of promotion, I can guarantee the crowd would have been several hundred lower. (In fact promoting it would have done more harm than good)... Tens of thousands of fans who don't attend British Speedway regularly attend Cardiff every year proving that their is a market for the Sport... However. Until it runs itself like a proper sport, at a price point that reflects its value, (rather than at a price point delivered in hope it will cover the participants costs) it simply wont work... When you cannot promote what's on show with any real conviction and belief in your product then you do have problems I reckon..

No one demographic age group will transform speedway in my opinion but of course we must try to be attractive to all. I have been watching things on the island and I have posted this before about what is happening here. We are getting lots of groups of families and couples who make "new" friends at speedway. Now when I was a child I had my friends at school, sea cadets, local to home and speedway and every group of friends was different - had my friends at speedway dropped off, I probably, would have left too. In fact I did leave for a while as a child with the sea cadets until speedway changed it race night again and I was straight back. My point is attracting news fans, rekindling the love of former fans has to be gelled by something and that something in my view is the club, the community (in whatever form) and friendships - that strengthens the fan base, encourages away travel and social activity which in turn brings in new fans, new sponsors, new momentum.... sounds easy I guess, but we all know it is not and on the Island we started from scratch and slowly, slowly we are now seeing momentum in every part of the club.

did you have your red nose on to go with the colourful jacket . ? to be honest , i think more and more fans should be meeting @ meetings ! ! !

It was another terrific effort by Jonny Swales and his track staff team to get the meeting on:

You'd like to think so wouldn't you? Sadly, and for whatever reason, some people have to find a crisis or drama when there isn't one. This inevitably leads to overreaction on the scale that we've seen in recent weeks. Its seemingly not possible to just have a bad season these days - in any sport. There always has to be some sinister underlying reason or some conspiracy theory as to why a team has a bad run. Rumours are spread and people will naturally start to believe them. Thankfully Kyle has put these rumours to bed. The upshot is that we have had a very disappointing and frustrating few weeks. Confidence is obviously and very visibly low, possibly high expectation levels have contributed to this, but for whatever reason it just hasn't been working. And that is essentially it. No crisis, no drama, we're just having a bad run. It happens. In what are difficult times for the sport you'd like to think that every speedway fan would pull together and in the same direction by supporting their team, the riders and the promoters. Unless of course they want to take some perverse satisfaction from helping to bring down the sport that they purport to love.

And yet there remain some posters who believe that older fans giving reasons why they stopped attending should just go and "do one" with the other thousands of old fans that just also wanted a voice. A ready-made promoter in the offing.

4 heathens coming up for this hope it's full strength teams and doesn't become a farce. Even staying over in sunny Worky then onto Belle vue next day before either Leicester or Monmore on Monday evening

I too remember him at Norwich and at Wimbledon when I was foolish enough to criss-cross the country to watch the cream of the action. One of the best riders I have seen in 60+ years of supporting speedway racing. The fact that the BSPA and SCB websites seem to have ignored his passing tells us much about what is wrong with how the sport is run nowadays. Certainly not being run by gentlemen, nor gentle men and women.

Sometimes, life really does kick you in the arse. So sorry to hear of Nicklas and Vitalina plight, Its when you hear of problems like this, it sure puts life into prospective. Best wishes to them both and hope the future turns out better for you...

But if that's their opinion of why speedway in GB is continuing to decline then they're as entitled to put it on this thread just as you are to keep telling them they're wrong.

It's very interesting for me to read lots of these post about the "the decline of speedway" and to be honest I learn from them - so thank you. Martin and I are quite an open book where our speedway is concerned and I have to say that whether you agree with me or not, speedway on the Isle of Wight is in anything but decline, its thriving. Our crowds, while yes relatively small, are 6 - 8 fold the last promotions when it ran, and our meeting on meeting, like for like up with the exception of a couple of meetings when we had to run on a Tuesday increasing. Our crowd integration is increasing, our profile growing (the fact we are even discussed on here says something about that), Sponsorship continues to grow - but as any club we always welcome more, we do lots of shows and the feedback is tremendous, we monitor feedback from the fans all the time and we are proud to share it. Why talk down something which is clearly working. The demographic of our fan base has totally changed in the 3 years we have been at the helm.. we have more families at the stadium now, we have lots of youngsters and our senior fans love it. They know that speedway is changing, and it has to become a show and every promoter should continually try to improve their show week on week. We have an SDL team and the majority of fans stay to watch both meetings when we cannot integrate them into the main event. Our speedway school consistently sells out and we need to do more of them both on the mainland and on the Island. Would we like another 1000 on the gate, you bet... but how do I make them come to our stadium to watch speedway or for more sponsors to get involved?? It's by positive word of mouth, by positive reflection of the events we put on, its by staging weekly speedway without fail, it's by providing fan interaction, a clean stadium, value, being welcomed, being seen, promoting, self belief, trust in your product, thinking outside the box, looking to tomorrow not just today, allowing people to be part of it... but most of all it's by providing a fun packed family night out that people are proud and pleased to invite their friends to as opposed to feel odd because they watch a sport called speedway which no one knows of. The choice of speedway's future isn't only down to promoters, the BSPA, the SCB or ACU... it's down to us all, and while I welcome lively debate and feedback is always welcome we must look at the bigger picture of "passive aggression" - it's a phrase I came across in my working life where the strength of talking something down or negatively destroying something good becomes to strong to change - so it never changes. Speedway is very close to this now. All I can honestly tell you is that we are so proud of what we deliver, we are not afraid to hear something which is not how it should be, we are mindful of the spiralling costs which comes from many different angles, we are mindful of our investment of money, time, our families, but most of all, we absolutely love our show, we believe totally in our product, our team, our approach, we want to develop riders but also have to put on a professional show. It is the only way clubs like us can attract sponsors, fans, tourists, riders and for our families to allow us to continue what we do. 3 referees this year have grabbed me after to say “that’s the best speedway meeting I have been to all year…..” in my view not because the racing is any different of course because of the energy of the night, the feel good factor, the positivity, the well….its a bloody great show, that’s why. I will apologise in advance for the typo's and spelling errors, if you come to the Island do come and say hello to me, I am always in yellow and blue. Finally, your club needs positive and constructive feedback…..saying its crap or not like it used to be – may get it off your chest but will not help deliver change or progress in my view. Keep it wound on and see you trackside and if you want to try speedway book in with My First Skid.

Having had my preference for Isle of Wight speedway raised, I can give a few reasons why that is. The other teams named are merely examples, as others do exactly the same thing. 1 Edinburgh charge full price for a rain off programme with an insert. That's a rip off. At Isle of Wight, they are free with a request that the cost is replaced by a go on the raffle or a contribution to the tyre fund. 2 A child's entry at Poole is either £4 or £7, depending on their age. At Isle of Wight, they are free. 3 Sheffield charge £15 (I think that amount is correct) for a go on the centre green. At Isle of Wight its (you guessed it) free, and that applies to home and away supporters. On Thursday, a group of Mildenhall fans watched heat 1 from the middle. 4 I once criticised the state of Stoke's track and got 15 minutes of aggressive abuse in response. I did the same about Isle of Wight, got an apology, a reasoned explanation and a hope that I would come back. 5 Belle Vue charge £7 for a burger and chips. By all accounts, they are 'horrible' (or words to that effect, I have never had one myself). At Isle of Wight on Thursday, I had a plate of home made sausage casserole and a lump of bread for £3.50. It was that good I over-indulged in second helpings. 6 King's Lynn refuse to allow food in and indeed threaten to search people to prevent it. On Thursday, a large family brought in an equally large hamper, sat on the grass on the first bend and watched the racing having a picnic including wine. 7 I stand to be corrected here, but I have never seen Eastbourne undertake any promotional activities. Isle of Wight attend about a dozen shows a year during the season with their tent, bikes and other speedway paraphernalia. 8 At most meetings, promoter Barry Bishop works the crowd, talking, explaining but above all listening. Belle Vue's Adrian Smith does this but aside from one instance years ago by Peter Toogood I have never seen anyone else do the same. 9 At Birmingham, a lengthy interval is just that so you stand around getting cold and bored. Isle of Wight have running and bike races for the youngsters, interviews and rider autograph and picture sessions. 10 We have all stood around when a rider has been injured and there has been a delay. Isle of Wight, last season, organised activities for the youngsters until the racing recommenced. Never seen that anywhere else. 11 At the Mildenhall - Isle of Wight meeting last season, the start was delayed on a red hot day. Riders then took out bottles of cold water to those stuck outside. Fantastic idea, but it didn't come from Mildenhall. 12 Finally, there's the amazing story of Ann Barrett- the speedway fan who couldn't get to the track because of her disability but went into her garden to listen to the bikes. The promotion heard about it, and now she gets a taxi to the stadium reach week and a sponsor has supplied a season ticket. That's just fantastic. All of that added up - and I am sure I can think of more given time - is impressive and accounts for the opinions that people have of what has been achieved on the Island.

The main thing is that we have speedway next year ,.the spineless goons from Tomlinson to the people the media have let this con carry on with not one person speaking out . For god sake someone from the club or the newspaper make a stand and speak out .

Why would he? Twice Swindon win the title, and dump him both times. Not getting a chance to see the World Champion at Swindon pretty much killed my enthusiasm for going to speedway this year, although, to be fair, Troy was a decent replacement considering the restrictions that were placed. Let's not forget that the "one over 8" nonsense was voted in by other clubs, but I would never have got rid of an opportunity to welcome home the World Champ.

Im actually glad we won't make the play offs as we have no chance of winning the league and would just get annihilated by Poole or Somerset in the semis. Rather go out now than then.

Love it when the Knobs get spanked, well done Somerset, A+++

With all this Baldy is nice talk Im worried the real one was abducted by aliens on the journey up

Swindon continue their slide down the table - quite shocking their form the last few weeks and quite simply don’t deserve a play-off spot and will miss out!

Have you ever thought about trying to put together a sentence that makes sense with the correct punctuation. You also ought to think about your grammar and consider your construction of a balanced argument as your failure on both counts leaves a lot to be desired. I doubt that few if any can take you seriously and however much you complain, insult and show your opposition to to an ageing population, which you continually portray throughout your posts, you simply belittle your standing in terms of being taken seriously but I doubt you even understand that. Winge as much as you like about the older generation but at least most of us have had a life, have had an education and show respect for others all of which seems to escape you and is beyond your comprehension.

The league riders championship should be based on this season, not this season and last

thats why we chose that spot to meet . 3 leg ends in one spot at one time L.O.L. for the benefit of yourself shazza .13. baldyman .. one of the nicest people you will ever meet in your entire life , besides me .

I thought Stars had said Josh Bailey will be on standby Wednesday. Not that I will be there, as I am told that I can't attend the first meeting then leave and be refunded 9 pounds. According to Buster there won't be anyone to give me any money back at the end of first meeting, although people will be able to take admission for the second meeting. So instead of getting 36 pounds from me he will get nothing. So sod the double header , I will stay at home and save my money.

how is putting the leagues best riders in a competion not a good thing? seems folk just like to pick fault with speedway these days when infact its a bloody great sport

Think MrMungo being on the thread is a decent clue as to who the rider is. Long time no speak MrM. Hope you are well mate

Gerald hasn't worked at lakeside for a while now. He's been at Rye house for the last couple of years.

No,Lambert's average isn't to high.Don't forget Schlein would get an extra 5% on top of his average as he would have been riding at home.Schlein's average is 8.54+5% at home you can use up to a 8.97 rider.Lambert is 8.58

Lambert can guest at home as you get the extra 5% at home

Totally agree with 4thbender, I find it very difficult to understand how most promoters, as successful business men, seem to know so little about running speedway as a business. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but if Mr Lomas is to be believed, some of the Sheffield promotion team cannot accept criticism. Without doubt there have been some serious mistakes made this year, the most serious being the belief that Josh Bates would only be out for a few weeks. Family loyalty has little place in business and most of the Sheffield crowd could see at the start of the season that Josh was carrying a very serious injury that would take months, not weeks, to clear. I also fail to see how any Team Manager could seemingly not understand that the 3 and 4 pairing was extremely weak and would leak points, giving the opposition big advantages in at least 3 heats. Although I rate Broc I think it is extremely unfair to give him the pressure of Heat 14. In my opinion he has had a rough deal - why not swap Todd and Broc round in the team? I have not seen any offensive abuse on this forum, in most cases it is simply constructive criticism. After such a successful season last year we are all extremely disappointed.

Why do they or any company need to advise others that they are having a meeting. Picky at it's best.

Nope, it's a COOK up.....

I point I made some time ago but was told in no uncertain terms by an ex promoter on here that if I could just stop going for the reasons I did it was because I was never a fan in the first place. That despite having been to every track in the country, gone to most GP tracks, watched domestic speedway in Australia, Poland, Sweden, USA and New Zealand over a period of over forty years.

As I said ...... I thought starke had got through ...................... but the REF not me saw something as he has a better and higher angle Given that Robbo has clarified his comments, it would appear the ref agreed with stuarts version of events .............. and given how quickly the ref reacted .. it is clear he was expecting a fall great meeting but the panthers claims are rather daft ..... I know they were disappointed but the heat 15 incident was a 50-50 even if robbo was excluded kus could have easily got 2nd the panthers were always chasing the meeting and nearly nicked a draw - which would have been hard on newcastle heat 6 when bacon fell, starke could have been put on 15m as he was so far behind and that cost us a point diamonds deserved the win and peterboro certainly a point (mind you why didn't they pick toft over starke for heat 15 ..... was no brainer to me

Some people have some seriously weird dreams.

Spot on... Many comments are put forward about people not knowing about the sport but I would suggest there are literally tens of thousands of ex fans all within a close proximity to the tracks they used to frequent.. Get them back and don't make the same mistakes again that made them give up on the Sport in the first place..

Sorry Sarah, for me this season has been poor racing not always Berwicks fault nevertheless. The 1st meeting against Glasgow was fantastic, brilliant racing on a well prepared track, considering the score on Saturday I did enjoy the meeting, Apart from that the racing has been fairly poor with the odd good heat thrown in this season. I have missed a few meetings this season to be more precise chose not to attend and it does appear that the meetings I chose not to attend were wise choices. Some fans think a win is good speedway, for me it is about good racing and the win although preferred is not the main thing over good close racing, of which there has been little this season at Berwick. I do know that you can only race what is put in front of you, but it has not lent itself to being entertaining

As a smallbrook regular, last thursday was my 7th visit of the season. I never thought speedway would return to the island after it closed in 2013. It had too many things going against it, the Solent being the main obstacle. The new promotion have done a fantastic job in turning the track around, and it has a real feel good factor about the place.

You reckon they have clearly put some thought into this offer. What a pity they didn't put just a tiny bit of thought into running the season!

Well done Kyle, perhaps some Posters will have the good grace to apologise now

It's funny Trees,but we hadn't heard Haza for while until there is something a little bit negative to be heard about the club.Now we can't get rid of him

Tweet from Kyle Howarth to shut up those “the riders arent being paid” bulls**t Rode for @TigersSpeedway for the past two years, never had an issued getting paid off them and I still don’t, no other team members have ever moaned about getting paid either! #pettyrumours

Dream season and ‘Teterow’ is part of someone’s dream!!!As well as Terenzano....I am almost speechless lol

Think its 6 pts down can only be use once ,but not in Heat 8.

i think you will find that james is doing ok in the championship