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Why would this idea make people not go? If people don’t like the concept then just pretend it doesn’t exist and treat heat 14 as another nominated heat, go to enjoy the racing and don’t worry about it.

I believe that Ged and Neil were deliberately left exposed to be totally undermined later. Revenge is a dish best served cold!!

This is all nonsense, as it was when it was raised before. Ged’s account was correct, the first post above is not.

Correct

Neither do I but Ged told me the team he assembled was unbelievably cheap

So why won't you and/or Ged tell us what the real story is then? You tell us it's incorrect but don't offer an alternative.

I'm not really sure that has been made public tbh, but it's obviously not the same as Daniel Smiths version. I don't trust Chapman or his intentions...

But I don't go to horse racing, that's for muppets who like to throw money away

I’m the same in that I also turn away as the riders come round the track to tapes and the same once the flag has gone down, never join in the victory celebration. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a parade nor a trophy giving. Just the racing for me and if there’s a re run I only watch from where the original was stopped so I don’t go over the 15mins per meeting. What we like eh?

No the track wasn't too grippy, it was the smoothest and most consistent it has been for many years and as such produced racing where very few mistakes were made. The problem for Panthers was that Belle Vue had a very good top two who got out the starts better and were not going to be caught easily from there. The starts were a bit different from press and practise so the home riders had to adapt a bit more there, but generally Belle vue were better from the start and didn't make mistakes. If Lasse had scored 4 point panthers would have won the meeting, but hey don't let that stop the doom and gloom merchants from predicting the end of the world. They are a heat leader and 3 points short, which is a shame because Charles will score like a heat leader at home all year, and coming from 2nd string that's where the strength is. Over the next few weeks I reckon Panthers will look for a permanent replacement at heatleader. During this time they can have a look at the bottom 3 and see who is performing best

Its the only place in the UK with a speedway team thats run in the same manner as a soap opera its pure comedy gold!!!!!!

I agree, one of the most stupid ideas I can remember. What's stopping opposing fans voting for the weakest riders???? Turns the meeting into a lottery...…… If they want to use the social media to connect with their fans why not have the schedule and program on your phone/handset. Fair enough, have heats 14 and 15 for dominated riders, but let the Manager make the decisions..

maybe Ged built a team that HE was going to track with the backing of T Balfe? Ged went and T Balfe went, leaving the shortfall? just a guess

Fk off min

I don't trust Chapman at all, but would just like to know the truth in this matter.

I would accept that 100%. I have never had any reason to doubt anything Neil has ever posted ...

You was warned weeks ago about the situation. Ged was selling the club regardless. Buster was the only one to come forward and Ged sold to him. Ged signed the rider's on HIS budget but was warned by Buster that the only way Ged was keeping that team is if he could find another buyer or sponsors who could budget the team. None was found, Buster took control and rider's had to play ball within his budget or leave. Harris and Cook have chosen to leave. All in all, the blame really is with Ged for over budgeting the septet and lying to the fans. We even had Watson on here saying it was nonsense then exactly the above happened.

Vic Duggan, Vic Duggan, Vic Duggan, Vic Duggan and Vic Duggan. Easily the best rider in the world for a number of seasons between 1946 and 1949, yet never World Champion. Even given CHR has used 1948 as the start-date and therefore Duggan's incredible 1947 season is missed out, Duggan was still far ahead in 1948, and won the biggest event of the year. Never has another rider been so utterly dominant and not ended up as a World Champion.

If I remember correctly the first meeting 20 years ago was also rained off. It's been snowing near Cheddar.

Chapman saying we are 1 rider short is hardly rocket science. Don't release a rider 5 days before the season starts !!!

Are you offering to put them down and lift them up ?

Tough meeting for the Bears - Tigers look very strong and they have a lot of riders who ride the track well. Not surprised Sheffield are confident and will need an excellent performance from Redcar to win. If it's close and the racing is as good as last week it'll be a entertaining night.

No surprise really at who is slagging the idea off before seeing it in action. To me if you only have four riders you would want to be involved in the nominated heats then you only put forward four names and it’s as broad as it is long who goes in which heat. If you have more than four and/or want to protect somebody for heat fifteen then you leave that rider out of the poll. I would imagine it would be very rare for opposing supporters to be able to vote for a makeweight in an attempt to weaken the other sides chances. As I’ve said before this might only last a season and not really work but it’s a new idea which embraces social media and they are trying something different to engage people. Let’s give it a chance and see.

Lots of ifs and maybe,s at this time of the season but Championships are won at the end of the season not April. A long long way to go and I dare say many changes.

That’s how much these fixtures mean to some..

I’m sorry but Craig having CRS ( for example) wrote in white as opposed to yellow or blue would have no effect on how professional the Panthers looked on TV, im not taking sides in this argument, I just can’t believe with the problems facing this sport , a promoter and a top British rider would find the colour of the font on Kevlars this important !!

https://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/not-just-another-meeting-for-the-fans-1-5971208 A good read for both sets of supporters to whet the appetite for tomorrow

News from last night, Jacob has said he should be back in a couple of weeks but he is under a lot of pressure to ride in Poland asap. CVS thinks he won't be fully fit until some time in June. Says he will have a tough decision to make if Scott is going well but Jacob and Scott both know the score. Luke Becker is here on a 3 year visa and CVS hopes he will be with us for the duration, Greg Hancock was instrumental in his decision to ride for us. Nick Morris is going to Poland this week for an x-ray on his arm to see how it's healing. Scott wasn't there as his daughter was taken ill. If he can't ride tonight at Birmingham Max Clegg will be riding for us, and Nathan is riding in place of Rory

And bearing in mind that first night is one of the best crowds of the season as supporters old and new test the ground then this fell well short both on and off track, and complete entertainment package it certainly wasn't. I don't think that we'll be seeing this too often, Chapman said: “We had a good crowd and I’m pleased about that. Fortunately visiting fans might swell the future numbers to give some comfort but that will probably mask the underlying damage being done. My take was that it started well pre-meeting with PA at nice level without bloody irritatingly loud pit interviews booming out, then the Peas played as a welcome bikes at the start introduction returned. After that is was all downhill with a team, on first look, I wouldn't particularly cross the road to watch, 15 heats of basically, gate, 1st turn and fill in your programme and a distincly flat atmosphere, not uncommon over the last few years, especially since airhorns went AWOL. Is that a bit too much after one meeting

Eastbourne will do far better imo...simply due to 'home' track advantage. Personally, I'm just happy to see 'Championship' racing.....win or lose....

I have always been a fan of Nikki and I don't think I wrote anything that suggested otherwise. Re his neck injury, it strikes me that Ward hoped he'd never ride again, has it was said that might be the case. But Nikki being Nikki overcame his problems and his back on a bike again. How deep would that stick in Ward's craw, I wonder ?

Why does anyone live in Peterborough?

Wish the Lakeside Eagles (or should that be the Eastbourne Hammers) the very best of luck on their newly adopted track at Arlington. One can only wonder if Jon cook has accepted the offer of riding the Hammers remaining league fuxtures at Arlington last season whether Cook's Hammers would have been CL champions last season. Anyhow with the majority of riders and personnel from Lakeside, with a sprinkling of up and coming youngsters from Eastboune's NL outfit - they are keeping the torch of professional speedway in Southern England alive. Maybe Cook's continuing efforts to resurrect Lakeside will bring about some local derbies in 2020.

Don’t think he can - there is no one out there - not as clever as he thinks he is - only Cookie and Chris Holder that I can think of and he fell Out with both of them! Saviour of British speedway and Clubs? He’s got his work cut out with this one.

Who would you pick as the greatest post-war rider never to have been crowned World champion? Given the restrictions placed on Soviet Union riders in the 60's, and their lack of access to the world's best on a regular basis, I would have to say Igor Plechanov. Had he been able to compete in the British League he could well have been an even better rider and surpassed his two silver medal tally.

Harris, Andersen, Cook, Wilson-Dean, Wright, Bjerre, Barker = Cheap If you believe that you'll believe anything

There are those that know, there are those that think they know and then there are the paying public whose only function is to pay the entrance fee

I've been there 3 times. Fantastic track.

Thought you knew

The poll opens after heat 10 and closes after heat 13 and there’s no counting as Twitter keeps score automatically so I don’t think there will be any ‘standing around’. No reason why it shouldn’t all happen within the normal flow of the meeting.

The reason I find the fan voting nonsense so tedious is it really has no bearing on the meeting. You jave a pick between the top 4 scorers. It's totally irrelevant and nullified which heat they go in. It's just a pointless exercise imo

Travel to the NSS, you’ll be back.

From what I hear Jenga "Size has always been your problem" Regards THJ

I obviously have a biased opinion but with Cowley's longevity as a speedway venue I would hope that there maybe some interest?

What's to stop fans of both sides doing that, thus evening things out?

Pedersen never touched him. Bail out move from the fallen rider and typical of him in the GP's.

The whole concept of a WildCard at the GP Challenge when there are so few qualifying spots is about as unfair as it gets in sport!

But when you have six fingers and webbed feet it's easy to get those knickers twisted

I'd rather say it was a typical Pawlicki fall, like he has performed many times. Certainly nothing to justify Darcy Ward's twitter comment, what's wrong with him? There nothing dirty about Nicki's riding in this race.

Might have been a good racer, but as a good human being he fell short.