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Whilst I am sure the racing matters, for me the lack of any atmosphere generated by having so few fans st Speedway meetings is what's killing it quicker. Perceived poor racing in front of a big crowd always seems so much better, and vice versa, great Speedway comes across as much less than it should when played out in front of 'one man and his dog'.. Hardly any away fans, and a home fanbase quieter than a Library, means a very flat atmosphere, and ultimately suggests the meeting isn't one that has any value and therefore not worth your continued patronage.. Unfortunately poor crowds are a self fulfilling prophecy... As why should you attend when hardly anyone else does? And slowly and inexorably the rot sets in.. Maybe collectively the sport should agree away fans get some special deals to encourage their attendance..? Fuel costs now are far different from 20 years or so ago meaning an away trip can be an expensive night out.. To help offset these costs, maybe charging just a fiver entrance to away fans would be worth it? Tickets they have to purchase from their home track direct on match nights in person, so as not to allow any 'non away fans' to jump on to the offer by post or via websites.. "Buy a ticket to tonight's meeting and get in to the next away match for a fiver"! Hardly any away fans go now so selling tickets for a fiver wouldn't do too much damage to profits I would suggest, and it may just deliver a better atmosphere... Which may also deliver a more positive self fulfilling prophecy?

My 15 year old enjoys speedway a looks forward to going if I suggest it. Five pounds doesn't break the bank, but I don't go regularly - just when the mood takes me. I do think that letting under 16s or under 18s in for free would be a good strategy to get kids interested and parents attending, particularly if you are going to attend regularly.

A fact or your opinion? If a fact, please show everyone the attendance figures for each club last season or point us to this information. Good luck

Believe it. I wrote his contract. It is extremely rare for a rider to have a minimum guarantee.

Bet you say that to all of them.

Then he should be taking to the track after the meeting not flogging a dead lawnmower during it.

That is certainly one of Buster's best thing's with Kids free. I'd have it as high as U21's. Personally, I wouldn't mind paying a junior admission price of a £5 if they got something in return i.e. free flags, air horns, bumper pack with signed photo/poster of the team or individual photos/posters etc etc. It's all about incentives to keep the youngsters coming back. By the time these kids turn 18 they'd then be hooked but it's then seen as "sad" to be given a kids pack. Maybe between 18-21 a free burger, chips and drink etc. Promoters need to think outside the box a little better.

Why is it a shame that we dont allow foreign riders in the British National Development League?

I’m sorry but does Hans have to have 4 rides? If not Carl Johnson needs to take some of the blame for the poor end to the meeting. Because if Summers was going to go in heat 14, which he did, why did Hans go out in heat 13, we knew before heat 13 that Summers was out in heat 14 yet had not ridden since heat 7. So the track was going to be completely different to then, surely common sense for a team manager is to replace a rider who is so obviously off the pace with a rider, who was going well in the beginning of the meeting, therefore giving them a better chance in heat 14 by having a run out in the heat before?

We seem to do moaning on here better than any other clubs supporters unfortunately. Some of it justified but the vast majority really not.

Glad to admit I was wrong. Excellent result.

I left tonight feeling thoroughly entertained and Cookie contributed to that. Some wonderful racing and apart from the crash after heat 14, a great evenings entertainment.

So you are sure you know ‘the guys’ financial status, therefore judge he should donate all proceeds to charity rather than ‘trouser it’? Assume you will be doing the same with your pension.

‘The Guy’ lost everything from his testimonial meeting when the club went under. He didn’t request the benefit meeting, it was offered, so hardly greed. Pi$$ poor post from you.

Surely it is right that the club holds the cards, they are after all the employers? Club supplies Kevlars and covers. Hans’ van is not supplied by the club, it is provided by a sponsor who sponsored the club when I was involved. Points money hasn’t really changed in 15 years, but crucially the cost of flights is lower than 15 years ago. With regards colours of sponsors logos, it’s nothing new we did it in 2006, white on a red background stands out much better than any other colour, surely the aim is to get sponsors logos to be seen, having them white achieves this better than any other colour. I don’t see the issue.

Not really, can take a hiding (Lynn have had umpteen over the years) but snide, childish comments on here I do struggle with.

I thought last night was very poor entertainment, I attended the practice session the night before and it was obvious then that the air fence did not look right so despite what was obviously a problem, the management and the track staff leave it until 07:30 before starting repairs at the insistence of the Ref. The parade was a total shambles with something that I guess was supposed to be music being looped over and over with the riders ambling across the centre green. The racing if you can call it that was dire with most of the riders not looking interested if they missed the gate and the atmosphere in the stadium just dead We are supposed to be in the top league of speedway and what was demonstrated last night was a total unprofessional mess, if I had attended that for the first time then I doubt very much that I would come back again, to be honest not sure if I am that bothered myself at the moment. Come on Poole Speedway, you have the potential to do much more but if you carry on like this then the crowds will stop coming

It appears I am not barmy after all.

Seems to work okay for Poole

Oh we all are

Having, Howarth, King and Proctor, a think you have a good start, a lot will depend on how your other 4 take to Brough. Newcastle have not been impressive at home yet, but its probly still like an away track for most. Hope Newcastle can start to click, but I wouldn't be suprised if it was a Sheffield win.

Agree- wouldn`t argue however no 8 should be Polish U21 rider not a foreign rider who then is not used in an injury situation- he is used to get around the regulation that says each team must have 4 polish riders in 1 to 7. Now one of them is named but doesn`t ride !!!

So many people want riders sacked after just 2 or 3 meetings. Its ridiculous to manage that way, all riders must get a fair chance of 10 meetings minimum. The team won. The league hasn't started.

My point is this team is not good enough..and Johnson was suggesting we are..which I disagree with.

So I called it smack on at heat 10. The writing was on the wall that early. As Lynn struggled at hom in their first meeting, so did Pirates tonight. But a pretty awful meeting in all honesty. The first thing was just before parade Tony Steele said a section of air fence needed replacing as it had a small hole and was not fully inflated. I noticed this yesterday at P&P. Why leave it until tapes up to do something about it? On a cold night the start was delayed until 8 pm due to this. Amateur hour. Then the scoreboard malfunctioned. Amateur hour two. Poor. The racing was poor. Mostly gate and go bar two heats. One where Proctor got on it and passed mobile chicane Holder and then Josh G. And in another with Poole on a 5-1 and Palm Toft snuck up the inside of Klindt, who was going to slow. The other heats were mostly from the gate. In heat 13 Kurtz knew he had to make the start but touched the tapes. In heat 15 he knew he had to make the start but Riss slammed the door and that was that. A deserved win for Lynn. Luckily it was won in the first leg.

Looks like Poole have more to worry about than new kelvars

Hope your internet goes down for a while

Speedway had it's boom times before the advent of race suits tbh. Race jackets are fine imo and certainly don't stop you winning the title

Not at all. Was up against a couple of the better reserves in the league I would suggest. Just hope a blank scoreline doesn't dent his confidence. Great start from everyone else with a special mention for Valentin who looks good on a bike. His 0's were not through lack of effort. Hopefully this form will follow us away from home too.

Weather is set fair for tomorrow. Both teams full strengths. Kings Lynn need to make up a ten point deficit from the first leg. Can they do it? Poole have their first meeting of the season and Holder, Busk-Jackobsen and Covatti need time to settle into their new track. Pirates could be vulnerable if Lynn fire on all cylinders. Will it happen? Will it hell. Poole easy winners.

Cracking meeting to start the season, the racing was just great to watch with passing and repassing in nearly every heat. After a tight start and the Bandits well in it we just seemed to click and we went up a gear and looked very powerful , you were actually hoping we missed the gate as we were picking the Bandits of outside and inside with ease, for us everyone bar Chessell looked good Jensen in particular whilst Cook was just a joy to watch. The Bandits cannot be to despondent as they were well in it until heat 7, they are a decent team capable of doing to us what we done to them at Berwick tomorrow but all in all if that is what we get served up as far as the racing goes we are in for a treat

No doubt he'll find his form against Poole on Monday?!

3000 only left now

Been discussed many times boring to go over it Its like saying Man Utd get 80000 and when they perform poor they go down to 60000 But a team like say Wolves may get 40000 and still get 35000 in the bad times..............just because Wolves get lower crowds in the first place doesnt mean a thing they are better supported through the good and bad times........ Poole are one of the best supported teams but still get a lot that disappear when it goes wrong ....just because they still get bigger crowds doesnt make the supporters less fickle Us at Ipswich get less fans than Poole but you cant beat our promotion for the way they do things especially on social media.............

We need to sort our gating out and the track appears to have been different for both home matches so having a similar track would be a benefit. Hopefully Clegg continues where he left off last week and Phillips needs to pull his finger out and start to justify his team place, rather than as most people (myself included) think, he only got if because of his dad (harsh but fair). It will be interesting to see crowd levels on Sunday, after two dismal displays by the Diamonds, will the crowd mainly be made up of season ticket holders, as will those who pay at the gate on the day decide to give it a miss due to the first few matches results and the fact it is f*****g baltic at the minute and line of duty is back on. Hoping for a Diamonds win to give us something to build on.

Released BT schedule May 7th Swindon - Peterborough May 20th Ipswich - Wolverhampton June 3rd Belle Vue - Ipswich June 17th Poole - Wolverhampton July 1st Belle Vue - Poole July 8th Kings Lynn - Poole July 15th Peterborough - Belle Vue

So for the cost of MikeBV taking his son to Kent to watch an NL meeting, he could instead have 2 adults and 8 kids attend Belle Vue, and still get £3 back? Racing must be incredible at Kent.

Mine as well ~ as soon as they were old enough to be left that was it. Perhaps it was all those years taking them around different tracks and basing our holidays in areas we would be able to attend at least one match during the week away. I think we even managed 3 meetings when in Dorset ~ one at Poole and Weymouth twice.

Boro reserves 17 wolves 4

Are you sure it's not Hans, as the Andersen at Peterborough has scored zero points from four rides

Absolutely, I made the trip down last night and to be honest I was really pleased driving back up the M5. I never thought we would keep them so close, especially with the top 3 they have. Its gonna be tough everywhere we go but as long as they give it a go and keep the score respectable thats all we can ask. Ashley Morris rode so well last night, Zach again having a solid meeting to, thats a good pairing at 3 and 4. Ulrich was more on the pace, Castagna won two races again to prove the haters wrong and Shanes scored his average. Good night all round

100% spot on there.

And at some point there will be no more costs to cut...

It was 2008 when speedway began its current decline. Before that is was having something of a minor revival, with radio 5 even running a report on how Speedway had become "cool" at one point. Then, with crowds relatively healthy, the introduced low points limits and "cost cutting" measures time after time, and each time they did it the crowds dropped. So, each time the crowds dropped, they did it again. So they dropped again. It always amazes me when people say that the future is about cost cutting. That is what caused the trouble in the first place.

Solved nothing, had just moved the problem to Peterborough from Ipswich , if Cook was in dispute with Buster before xmas as many Ipswich fans said then Buster was either expecting Cook to cave in or was stupid to still move Harris to Ipswich. Got to ask why Nicholls wasnt signed by Ipswich when they had places to fill has he got a beef with Buster also,Nicholls wasnt that good last year in the Championship around Peterborough.

Same thoughts struck me... I have a fairly decent salary but not sure I could afford (or justify) £100+ per month for four Speedway meetings out of my disposable income, with the inevitable teenage requests for food and drink on top! There are so many other costs these days that have to come first.. Kids aged 13 - 16 are conspicuous by their absence at a great many tracks, maybe charging for them to get in also dissuades parents to attend who otherwise might go if their teenagers got in for free? Use free admission for their teenage kids as a 'loss leader', as let's be honest you don't see many teenagers now at many tracks so hardly a huge income loss... Do those who let teenagers in for free now I wonder see a reasonable amount of them there? Someone needs to replace the ageing demographic over the next ten years or so..

Very alarming that the top spot is occupied by two teams who are not top flight. Plus a NL in third is equally disturbing. In fact throughout the list there is little to suggest that admission prices/attitudes reflect the levels teams compete at. It has to be said that everything for the £18 bracket down "seems" reasonable and extra credits to those who admit under 16's foc. Certainly not shocked to see IOW as one of the best yet again.

Sounded more like a sarcastic remark, but if his parents are still his pit crew them i have to say they are doing a bloody good job of it

Id be stunned if Wright averages more than Harris and definately Scheiln this season.

He signed for Lynn and averaged about 1.00 in 01/02? Newport then signed him on a 9.00 in 2003 and he increased his average and went EL the season after. He spent many seasons as a second heatleader in the EL with Pboro/Wolves and Lynn and then had a breakthrough season with Lynn. A great rider, brilliant style and a great guy as well.