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The track hasn’t been wrecked. The racing has still been of a decent quality and given time with the extra shale / work they are doing I’m sure it will be better than ever. I appreciate the team isnt the one we thought we had but we have a team to support at one of the best tracks in the country. All meetings so far have been entertaining with last heat deciders with crowds that appear better than last year on a race night that a lot of people thought would be terrible for the attendances. Overall Presentation has improved from running the meetings through quickly to the race suits / bike covers, Social media is far more active and we may be under strength but it is a team full of races who will entertain throughout the year. It’s not all doom and gloom ffs.

Only speedway fans would moan that their club has gone up a division in the off season and had four last heat deciders in the first four meetings of the season.

It is my belief that Ged feels he was betrayed by some previously close to him.

Surely Ged and Neil must have considered Buster to be a safe pair of hands otherwise why would they sell it to him, if as being suggested they were in a position to continue ?

That’s not the case. Ged made it clear that had a sale of Peterborough Speedway not been forthcoming he would have continued to run the Club himself this season.

Ipswich quite probably have the best reserves in the league Poole have possibly the second best Ipswich although strong at home are losing away even though the reserves are doing well .....19 point at Kings Lynn yet we lost by 14......14 points at Swindon.......yet we lost by 12........19 points at Wolves yet we lost by 10 Swindon away from home have lost by 2 points .....won easily at Poole by 16.....lost by 6 and lost by 4 taking points in EVERY away match.....The reserves in those 4 matches have totalled only 14 points Please enlighten me how teams with scoring reserves do better...............you surely have some stats to back your claim.

Thanks for this outstanding contribution Shovlar - you win this weeks award!

Poor Old Buster he is in the frame for all things wrong in the World . I even have a feeling he could be ‘H’, Baggy

Should it be down to a member of track staff two days later to explain things though? If there were issues then the promotion could have cleared things up on the day with punters.

To me the score was no surprise. It was always going to be close. Swindon have an extremely top heavy side and will always benefit from that strength. (They provided 10 out of the 15 heat winners). However, their weakness has always been their reserves, and subsequently they provided 11 out if the 15 last places. Personally, I would have preferred a team like the Robins where they have the opportunity of have many riders capable of being winners . I said all along, its all very well having a strong middle order, but without them heater leaders, like tonight, we are forever relying on Robert to win them important races.. That's not always going to happen..... There only thing good about tonight was the score...……..

I'd go with Bewley over Cookie , the experience would be massive for him for the future . Craig was out of his depth last year. When he's on form he can be a cracking rider but not riding in the pl this year puts him below Bewley for me

We have our own ex-Swindon troll Swindon have taken at least a point in every meeting - home and away including a massive 12 point thumping of Poole at Wimborne Road! Over rated my @rse

Totally agree & I'd add that the programme is much improved too. I've enjoyed it so far this year & have surprisingly been impressed (apart from the current team of course).

I would have settled for Ged, Neil and Championship personally. I haven't been this year, and with one racing line and a team 3 points below the limit I don't intend to.

shame you got the day wrong must try harder next time

I always find its much better to watch weather radar maps on the day rather then weather forcasts in advance, they might aswell predict the lottery numbers as they have a better chance of getting that right. Seems to have dramatically changed again in less than 24 hours, mostly dry in the day now. Only 25/30% chance of showers in evening.

It's a double edged sword weekend racing. It's what fans want, but at the same time the same fans dont want fixture clashes. Missing riders etc. Clubs need to find a happy medium. What that is I dont know. But last nights crowd was really bad for a monday. 1200 at most. Even with guests and R/R on a weekend we was getting 1800 average. That tells me though that weekend racing (with guests etc) overrides 2 full teams 1-7 on a Monday night

Very, very basic business practice..... If something is wrong, give some factual explanation as to why (don't for one moment use it as an excuse), and then apologise.. Maybe even make a gesture of goodwill if you see fit.... But don't ever do or say nothing.... As that makes it look like you either don't care or you are taking your punters for granted... And neither is a great way to be perceived in business..

So Johnson coming out with the same old spiel can't get all 7 going.at once It's obvious why because there all in consistent that's why they have ther averages they have . the only rider what would have won races on a consistent basis was cook . Declaring 3pts under limit is insane

Kennett, Bates, Auty, garrity, Pickering, Douglas 6 championship riders that would all be an improvement on bellego’s current performance level imo

Again proves my point about Swindon. Over rated. No reserves and their top 5 will not all click together. Musiliak and Ellis awol tonight. Teams with scoring reserves will do better.

I hope Cook is happy with the GB race suits.

Would like to put a couple of things into perspective for people on here. When turning up at the track at 8 in the morning when aloud to get in the stadium, bends 1/2 and the back straight going into bend 3 where completely underneath water, which took 3 hours to clear with a pump. Then on track prep when actually being able to get a tractor on track, we had a wonder wheel which snapped while trying to air the track out so that was one of the many issues we had to deal with in the day. Next issue was one tractor while on track the hydraulics went so was unable to fit any proper grader on the back of it. Just another one of many issues we had to deal with. But the biggest of once actually being able to dry the track out and getting it level and being lucky to even have a meeting on, the water boweser broke so we was unable to fill it with water as water was coming out faster than we could fill it. But considering we didn’t get any dust till about heat 12 and there as only 14/15 in the meeting I don’t think it was to bad. Also on the grading part if you keep grading all the time and pulling the dirt over the slick it drys it out move and without a water bowser we could only do so much so hopefully that puts and end to alll this slating with all the hard work we put into getting a meeting on for you yesterday. Come next week the issues will all be sorted and you will see a great race track. Thank you all and see you next week thanks a member of track staff!

playing devils advocate here "was having drew a vanity move" when he has to miss every Sunday Fixture as Sheffield will be riding and also a number of Friday and Saturday's when Kent ride away as so many Championship matches on a weekend (Friday - Saturday - Sunday)??

That's 4 out of 2,500 so far What was your crowds last season? If your original 1-7 was in tact and you was unbeaten, with 2,500 crowd you would be singing Busters praises.. Weather you liked him or not

I've only watched a few meetings but Togliatti could be a gaters paradise. Between Cook and Bewley pick the best or most consistent gater of the pair which is Cook. The track could make for some boring racing. A long way to go to watch follow the leader.

without Buster there would be no speedway this year,

Sheffield was always in My top 3 British tracks. In recent years , the racing has been very disappointing in comparison to what I used to see..... indeed I now make a token 1 visit a year to see if there has been any improvement. Give me a good race track and I do not mind how far I travel to see entertaining racing.

Pretty sure if anyone else had come up with some actual money when the previous promotion were selling up and looking to get out, then Buster would not be the owner now. I don't like the way he has gone about things, I don't like what he did, but he is also the only reason you have speedway at all right now in Peterborough. It's very easy to talk this and that, where's your actual money

That last point had crossed my mind....

I also thought about Cook qualifying from Togliatti. He rode well to get a GP slot and gated which is very important on a rubbish track. Bewley is going well at Belle Vue but not so good elsewhere. he doesn't make gates.

I did know they have a football team and he owned it for a time, dont think he will sell Peterborough anytime soon more out of spite than anything else. Wont be long before hes asking the Showground management to allow Banger racing on the track as well after all hes loaded it with the correct shale already

All of Busters teams need back up or heat leaders, without changes i don't think any of them will make the play offs. It's early doors so things may change...

Don't think it makes a huge difference whether it's Cook or Bewley tbh. They'll get the 1 ride against the USA in this round and that's it. When it comes to the final in Russia, Cook at least has the experience in Togliatti from when he qualified for the GPs.

It's Lynn's engine room that are not firing yet. Good job MPT bagged 11. Ty is better than what hes showing right now. But a worry. He is our 2nd "heat leader" average wise. Lambo needs back up, sooner rather than later.

I think Len takes as much pride in trying to help young brits make thier way in the sport as he does silverware. Which is great but when you support a team it's nice to have a plastic pot the cheer for every now and again. This year certainly has the potential. Of course Kent riders have succeeded in the NLRC both Boxall and Morley taking that accolade, and Morley and Ayres are still reigning pairs champions. We would have won the fours in 2013 at stoke, bar a blinding last lap of the last race from Lewis Blackbird if I recall taking the win for the heathens.Then again in 2015 at Coventry when Rob Shuttleworth knocked of James Shane's and injured him when Kent were ahead. We ve also had a National trophy final and 4 play off semis, so it's fair to say Kent has been far from unsuccessful. We just need to add that elusive first team championship medal. Hopefully this year is the year.

Unfortunately it’s nothing to do with people not being qualified you can’t help the bearing in the wonder wheel snap and while the tracker drove off it lays in the middle of the track. And a hydraulic hose busting. And obv being a Sunday no wear being open and the bowser springing a leak 1hour before the start of the meeting you honestly couldn’t believe it but the most frustrating thing is knowing how good things could be if it wasn’t for bad luck but as I said will be a different track all together on Sunday

Indeed, although I hear last nights meeting at Lynn had two decent races out of fifteen. Not a good ratio once again.

Garrity would be my preferred choice from that list, closely followed by Douglas who has started the season in fine form. You really can’t carry passengers in this league and when you have a rider scoring next to nothing on most tracks then you’re in trouble to start with. Particularly when that rider is a second string! If Bellego swaps places with Allen or Heeps in the near future and is still struggling with most tracks which is likely, then we lose the one thing that would have kept this team competitive and that’s strong reserves. As I said yesterday, need to bite the bullet and make a change IMO.

And the promoters ( Associated or not ) are convinced they are right. Who are we to argue? How does that saying go " build it and they will come" in this case "put it on on Monday and they are unlikely to come".

Wolves were there for the taking tonight but the witches threw it away. Gifted an early lead they could not hold their nerve when put under the slightest pressure. Adams didn’t look a gift horse in the mouth by bring in masters as an early tactical in heat 5 which allowed the remaining rr rides to be filled without having to call upon the reserves. Hawkins use of heeps in heat 10 rather than Allen was somewhat mystifying as it meant he couldn’t go in ht14. All in all a massively disappointing night for the witches who could easily have run wolves very close.

And in other news another away meeting and another point gained. You have to feel worried if Swindon are ‘over-rated’ as no team comes close to them so far. If one of the reserves click or changes are made then it’s nearly full advantage the Robins. Another good result for the Robins.

Losing patience with bellego, 2 Pts tonight and we pick up a point! Lawson away from also a worry. Harris letting us down by riding when not fit - if he was genuinely not being hampered by his hand injury then he gets more 3 I would think. missed opportunity to get at least a point tonight, shame well done to the other 4 boys scored well

good post from someone with some sense.i have followed sheffield ,give or take a few years, for 43 years except now, if we keep to sunday afternoon, then I am afraid my spectating days at sheffield will be numbered.having not been this season i will admit that i don't know what the attendances have been like but it appears that things have gone downhill with track preparation especially since grahame trollop stopped doing it.this together with the dust issue plus the poor start to the season does not bode well.i don't think the team is as strong as last season and look what happened.as much as i like danny king he is not an out and out number one like josh g was.losing charles wright was a big loss after only one season and the same goes for josh bates and todd kurtz.i like ty as a rider but fear he is way past his best form and the same with kyle.kemp has time on his side as does zaine.broc nicol is too inconsistant and not sure about kasper.it has been mentioned that danny doesn't team ride which is important in speedway but he's not the only one.not a lot of fixtures left now we are out of the shield comp.the ko cup looks iffy too on paper.just glad i didn't renew my season ticket.

Belle Vue had two meetings over Easter, both 12pm starts. It was hot and breezy on both days yet with the exception of one race on Monday there was very little dust. Same at Scunthorpe on Good Friday. If they can do it, so can Sheffield.

I have to admit I had a very odd relationship with Hackney. I was born and brought up in Hackney and, until I moved away in 1965, the track was about a 20 minute walk from my home across the Marshes. So, for the first three years of its Post-War existence I was a regular there every week. However, I never actually supported the team. The reason for this was that I was already a New Cross supporter and so, when Hackney opened in 1963, they became the local Provincial League adversary. New Cross, of course, closed in 1963, but then in 1964, West Ham opened, so I transferred my allegiance to them, not being able to bring myself to support the "enemy". Towards the end of 1965, I moved away and Hackney and West Ham became fairly equidistant to my new home, so that made things a bit better and more acceptable in my own mind to be a West Ham supporter. For many years, until West Ham closed, I still visited both tracks on a fairly regular weekly basis. However, I have always felt a bit uncomfortable in not supporting Hackney as, in every other regard, I always have, and still do, regard myself as a "Hackney boy" and have always been very proud of it and, in many ways, still regard it as my real home. I contribute to a number of Hackney Facebook pages and, of course, my best-selling book, Pie 'n' Mash & Prefabs, is all about Hackney in the 1950s and 60s. There! I've made my full confession at last. It's good to finally get it all off my chest!

Looks to me like they have done a great job with the reshaping Will only improve further as the surface settles down Lets hope there is a stadium for it to be in for many years to come

Good vibes around the Abbey at the moment. 2 good size crowds, some good racing on the new track, good results, and with Lee Kilby coming in as co-promotor much better communication with the fans. Even some people that havent been for years are interested again.

Really? You watched that film and got annoyed by the politics? I didn't even notice that there were any politics in it.

When riders admit to joining your team merely because it fits in with their other commitments between the leagues and on foreign jaunts, it shows a disconnection between the importance of the team and the fan who is supposed to travel miles after work, pay a large sum of his wage and support a group of men who act as a team for a few hours and then disperse their separate ways to act as a team somewhere else. When a rider who was part of that newspaper article used British speedway to learn his trade against genuine competition and then sits on his lofty perch and feels he isn't part of the problem, not wanting to dirty his boots racing on these shores any more... that is another problem. And the rider I'm referring to isn't the only one. But he states that he is in the best physical shape he's ever been going into this season, so get some money on him winning the GP. To me, as a former fan driven away by this type of thing, I'd say that I'm not bothered about your individual aim. You don't ride over here for a club, so how can I get excited about your chase for individual profit? When Peter Collins had to quit in 1980 because of his shoulder injury, the first thing he suffered was being banned from riding in the British qualifiers for the World Championship. I know we're living in different times, but riders have just gained too much power over the years and now, it seems, get more out of speedway than the fans who pay them. British speedway has allowed so much of its grip to slip away. The start was letting riders race in other leagues across Europe. Loyalty is a two-way thing between competitor and supporter. Somewhere in time, it's been lost. Without the feel of a connection between you and your team, that need to get up off your backside and leave the house to support it at the track isn't as appealing. I feel that is just one of speedway's current problems. Supporters must have been lost because of it. I mean, it's an instant passion killer for a fan, when a rider grabbingly states something akin to these words: "Yeah, I'm happy to join the club because it fits in with my other meetings in Poland and Sweden, as well as my commitments to my Premier League side. Sorry, I know it's a Monday track... but who am I joining?" Edited just now by moxey63