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Think it’s fairly obvious why Buster bought Pboro and Ipswich it was to save the league and the all important tv contract with BT had the league collapsed the BSPA I’d guess would have been hit with a bill from BT for not for filling the contract my guess it was cheaper to buy two clubs get this season out the way meet the Tv contract and as I’m sure this is the last season of the tv contract then sell the clubs or close them at the end of the season. I totally agree with Pboro fans they’ve had a rough deal and the clubs been used by the BSPA . That’s the way I see it

I am not so sure this is right..... when Martin and I took over the Isle of Wight our business plan started with 50 (yes that is right 50) paying customers because this was the estimate of paying fans when they closed. We built our speedway show from there and we knew from the offset we had to attract new fans, families and youngsters, so we built our show around that. Every week we include the family as much as we can, we never charge for kids 16 and unders, our food is the cheapest in the sport but probably one of the best for quality (read the reviews), our meetings are well presented, engaging, family orientated, and........ in the National League.... What I hear you scream no superstars..... again not right... of course we have superstars... our riders are superstars to the fans, children and families, they really are.... we have autograph sessions, our riders engage with fans, and we add to that by having My First Skid speedway school which gives families and kids that chance to be a superstar... never tell me there is not a market for speedway because our school sells out.. I have a queue of Mascots wanting to be in the show (we already have 12 out each week), the students aim for a mascot spot, then a Wizards team spot and then a Warriors spot. we give students objectives... fans continuity and a view of progress....and we have proven that this works with riders like Wirtzfeld, Sealey and now Williams... But how has this affected our crowds, considering we have no "superstars" and run "just" National League...... well, since we started like for like, week on week.. our crowds have only dropped off 1 time - yes thats is once..... and by 5 people... We dont have huge crowds... 300 plus in the off season 500 plus, in the holiday season... but they keep going up... and by the way so does our sponsorship not just in value but in number by those who want to associate themselves with the fun filled family show that Isle of Wight Speedway has become. Reading the above is interesting to me and probably the most important statement I read is... "the racing isnt different, but it is a different feeling is such a small crowd....." and this my friends is the crux of it. We entertain from the moment you arrive to when you leave and we see groups of fans who have made strong friendships discuss the speedway, are part of their club, back their club, its riders (their superstars)... and it about those who attend feeling valued, received value for money and most importantly entertained. Thanks for the continued knowledge transfer to me... its appreciated. See you trackside.

I first went to speedway in 1963 aged 7 and have been a follower ever since. For the last 4 decades I tended to go to Wolves 3-4 times a year plus Cardiff, the less I went the less I wanted to go. I have an adult disabled Granddaughter who asked if i could take her to an away match, as she is a huge Scott Nicholls fan I decided to take her to Leicester, since then we Haven't missed a Wolves or Leicester home match and have traveled to Belle Vue, Stoke, Sheffield,Peterborough, King's Lynn, Somerset and Swindon. The ( long winded ) point I am trying to make is I was one of the people on here who wouldn't go because it isn't as good as it used to be, but now I have my enthusiasm back most of the racing is as good if not better than during the 60's and 70's the only downsides are the lack of atmosphere, a disjointed fixture list and seeing the same visiting teams 3 or 4 times a season. Perhaps if others got off there backsides and actually went to a meeting they might get the bug back and go regularly.

Tosh, they are running a business, the main jobs should be done by the owners and paid staff.. No business should be run on volunteers, however, turn it into a Trust with no ownership, with theTrust running it, then there is scope for volunteers

I'm not condoning what took place during those mad few minutes, and punishment should be handed out to every last person that was involved and can be identified, but as a neutral attending the meeting, and standing almost in front of where the happening that sparked of the incidents took place, my honest opinion was the Craig Cook was in the process of turning his machine towards the pit gate.

Certainly did a great job helping spur Poole to the title a few years ago, with a 'Man Of The Match' performance for them in a crucial 'must win' meeting for them to qualify for the play offs.. A great performance that night, all live on TV too.. Unfortunately he was riding for Swindon that season who Poole then beat in the final..

I think it was the other way round as Ipswich sponsors had issues with Tungate.

As a neutral , I risked the trip and the forecast (yet again ) but was rewarded by sharp presentation and a decent meeting. 21 races completed in 1 and a half hours with lightening and rain all around. Congratulations to all concerned in getting the meeting completed. Not the best racing I've seen at Redcar but the Diamonds didnt put up much of a fight and when they did gate the Bears top end were simply too good for them. Jorgensen and Østergaard had there moments but Worrell was a pale shadow of his former self and race wins weren't coming easily. Wright, Riss, Palm-Toft and Stewart were class acts and Andersen , despite his lack of points, was in the thick of it.The Bears are a good side but Wooley looks out of his depth which could prove costly come the play off's. The junior match was rattled through, understandably, but credit where it's due for the club running it at all when other clubs would simply have cancelled it. Rathbone looks a prospect and the Kids races were excellent. Looked a good crowd and a great atmosphere around the place but parking was an issue as the main car park was full by 6:45 . Not many Diamonds fans in attendance which was surprising but perhaps the weather forecast put them off as not as many of the Workington fans there as I've seen before. As Arnie says..." I'll be back ".

All riders ride in Uk on British licence but you need a British passport to ride in Njl / NL but can’t see any problem with kids who just want to ride there bikes at njl rather see 4 riders racing in every race

No idea Steve, but he's been riding for most of this season around the tracks. He would need a licence to ride against others on the track. No licence and he would be riding on his own. I believe he was excluded from a place in the BYC earlier in the year.

why give a guest heat 15 when the meeting is already won,Harris scored paid 10 and Douglas scores paid 11 it don't seem that fair in my book I bet Ryan would of been more than happy with an extra few quid.

He seems to be very 'drama' free these days does Batch. I kinda miss the whinging and swearing at the ref etc!!

Nobody is saying that there aren't crap tracks and crap meetings. Thing is, there ALWAYS were; it's nothing new! The problem is that so many people live in the past, and even though they THINK things were better in the "good ol' days", it wasn't always what we think it to be. The overall package was far better in the old days (certainly as far as British speedway is concerned), but that wasn't a result of the actual racing. I have a lot of old meetings and other footage, and although I still love watching it, I look at it, and realise (generally) that the racing was often very poor. Yes, the sport is very different from the sport I was raised on, but again, while it certainly doesn't feel the same, it doesn't mean that the racing is worse. Steve

Beat me to it!

You are right... In the year he helped Poole into the play offs (2013) it was the Semis he (and his team) got knocked out by them... Shame it wasn't the final, he could have got a runners up and a winner medal maybe?

That would of been the best thing to do all round. Less work load on Buster and the Panthers could do their own thing... Ippo are doing well and seem to getting improved crowds as well. We don't know if that was an option at Peterborough though. Maybe it was Buster that didn't want it. Maybe Ged and Neil didn't. Who knows. Maybe Neil could comment, if he can.

I doubt that ANY club in the country is viable in the 1st place without volunteers. I reckon the riders, first aid cover, and the referee are the only people that get paid at practically all tracks. Anybody else might get some travel expenses if they are lucky. Pits staff, track marshalls, etc. are volunteers at every track I know and get free entry at best. Without those guys no meeting, no speedway, end of.

Dick (if he was responsible for the emails) did a great job with news letters and for some reason it stopped when new promotion took over Since then the clubs news is very much patchy to say the least

Maybe an old chestnut but remember this without volunteers there would have been no Berrington Lough and Berwick Speedway would have died in 1982

Also as Politically Harris had to go to Ipswich

Good meeting with some good racing last night.. Takes 2 good teams to make a good meeting, well done to Brummies on the draw

I agree about the POD post that was ridiculous and completely un-called for. Personally I will always post weather updates on the day of a meeting, if nothing else to assist those who have a distance to travel, thankfully something I dont really have as I`m five minutes from the track.

I feel I must correct you on a few points here... Firstly we dont have any advantage when compared to other clubs whatsoever from local government or local transport.... we receive no funding at all, no discounts at all and we have NO public transport to the stadium. The Warriors PAY for the free taxi service from Ryde Pier for locals and travelling fans - but it must be booked via the company. What we absolutely do not have is any kind of public transport be that train, bus or ferry.... in fact we are at a distinc disadvantage because we have to pay for every rider and official's ferry ticket this include both teams Warriors and Wizardss - we do not have full sponsorship from Wightlink but their sponsorship has grown year on year because of our progress and our ethos. We do have a corporate rate of course because our spend is still in the tens of thousand with them. Your other point about not being able to be what we want to be... this is so true.... I work very closely with our team about the next idea, next promotional move and how we can sell our product better... this is a difficult areas because we are prevented by rules that govern us and given a free and open run at it... I know we can improve dramatically. Anyways, thanks for all the feedback and I enjoy reading peoples views on what works for them and so on and that is all feedback that we can utilise now and in the future. Many thanks Barry

the more i hear and read on peter facenna the more i'm impressed . what a gentleman . i honestly hope glasgow go on to win the league just for him.

I think the original team had to be changed because Tungate didn't want to ride for Ipswich.

To be fair, everyone in the stadium was in danger of being run over by Craig Cook ....... if they too had flung themselves in front of him.

He never conquered Britain he never was a top dog in the once toughest league in the world.He rides for himself, Craven,Lee,Collins all above Woffinden in my estimation.A peak Lee beats Woffinden all day long no doubt in my mind that is not taking away anything from what Tai has achieved in the sport.

A average over 8 points in his first season at Redcar would suggest that the track has to be one of his favourites. The problem with Lasse is the sulking it can be very long and deep.

very much agree we finally have top end grunt and lower end power and whilst the Danish kid has not delivered great points yet he shows potential. if we can avoid bottom (wooden spoon) no reason why we can't finish closer to middle than top and we should have Newcastle, Berwick, Edinburgh and Eastbourne in our sights as not out of the question we can't finish 6th or 7th and that would be a great achievement. Just a shame we started so poorly and had no chance in KOC or Shield before we even started season in reality. Lot of credit to David and Peter Mason and Laurence for persevering and hopefully will encourage them to try again in 2020. Crowds are building as is atmosphere and place feels good again.

Panic mode replacing an injured rider with one as a 28 day injury replacement. Hardly panic mode as you describe it.

You're not right tho. There was folk on the track on the back straight- Cook and the others had no exit as it stood. They would have had to go onto the bit of the track that people were on. Yeh they wouldn't have killed anyone i'm sure but the fact was there was people there is enough. edit - i actually can't believe you can still say " i am right". you weren't there and you didn't even know the pit access/egress until others here have clarified.

He'd have wiped the floor with that collection of perennial bottlers and loose cannons He doesn't compete against part timers with a bike strapped to the back of their car. The sport of speedway has never been more professional at the highest level. The rest of the world has moved on massively, GB hasn't... Tai excepted.

After thinking ( which hurt ) about the quality of the modern day racing in this country, it does appear to be a lot closer than the so called golden years. Unless Mauger, Olsen, Briggs etc were in a race together then the riders were well spread out. A lot of the overtaking in this era was due to Olsen Collins etc missing the start and having to come from the back. The riders in this country apart from Jason Doyle are much of a muchness and so the racing is a lot closer. The above riders were far superior to the others hence there high averages. As an example of the close racing nowadays I was at Swindon Last night to watch the Wolves and as a far as I can remember every race had close racing and a few of the races were in the balance until the line, not entirely due to the track as the same happened at Wolves v Belle Vue last Monday.

Ambition!!!

Good grief Erik Riss is a cracking signing! Bears coasted this to be honest.

Interesting... Not exactly the reason given to Panthers fans on Jan 18th.. It is common that with new ownership (of the club) comes a different business model, and it has been identified that to operate at Premiership level, some cost measures are now required.The promotion are working hard to find Chris alternative employment within Premiership Speedway, so the British fans can still witness his skill and flair on the track. Some honesty goes a long way in this world, and Panthers fans never got any..

You know, we wonder why speedway is struggling (in the UK, anyway), and then, we see posts like this... There are quite a few on the BSF wobbling on about how sad it is to see the sport in such dire straits, but are themselves part of the reason. When people say that they have no desire to go ever again (even if it was free, in some cases), whether it is to do with the quality of entertainment, or simply because of rules that no longer apply, then you are contributing to the decline. I'm not saying those people are wrong, but I find it a little disturbing that they still consider themselves speedway "supporters", when the reality is that WHATEVER changes and improvements are made, they are not prepared to watch because of simple stubbornness. For me, speedway is not what it used to be. Football, cricket, and F1 are not what they used to be. Tizer, cough candy, and the dear old Curly-Wurly are not what they used to be. You know what? I still prefer to partake than going without... Steve

Tbf Wood is in the form of his life, and missing meetings in this form must be costing him a few quid. So cant imagine anything but a genuine injury.

I used to use Facebook but one day got an obscene message from someone I did not know so I reported it to Facebook. They banned me as I had forwarded the message to them and they claimed that ,meant I had sent them an obscene message! They can shove Facebook where the sun doesn't shine as far as I am concerned these days.

My parents and I used to have a great day on some Bank Holiday Mondays. 11am Rayleigh Speedway followed by 2.30pm Rayleigh Stock Cars or PRI Bangers and then the dash back to Wimbledon for the 7.45pm Speedway. Progress is a total myth.

Thread started!!

The Website is bit of a mess IMO.It doesn’t have last weeks result on the fixtures part.There appears to be nothing about Flint injury or replacement,It might be on the Facebook page though.( I don’t do Facebook or twitter)

Still cloudy but just about dry. Could I suggest we by pass a parade tonight and get on with racing at 7pm.

I'd cheer up if I was served up more of the vs Eastbourne kind of speedway rather than the vs Redcar and vs Sheffield kind of speedway

One piece of team news I think that Alfie Bowtel is in for the injured Leon Flint.

Chuffed for Drew - fantastic result for him

This will run and run until The SCB grow some balls and announce the result of the Inquiry and any penalties and punishment handed down. It has been widely reported that Neil Vatcher was there, indeed reported that he walked the Track and quickly made a decision that it was perfectly fit for racing and told the Referee and Glasgow to "get on with it". No doubt he will have gathered statements and evidence from all concerned. The longer it drags on the more the lies and spin are spun and the pointless debate about side issues will be created by those who seek to explain the unexplainable in support of one side of the argument or the other. My own opinion has not changed. The atmosphere was created by a side who made out they did not want to ride and the track concerns were a smokescreen and mind games to try to put off the opposition. All pictures and video of the track shows it to be in perfect racing condition, the tetchy atmosphere created by Glasgow affected a rider well known to have stress and emotional issues, he boiled over and all hell subsequently let loose. That does not exonerate anyone from either side who then got involved in "handbags" but you have to go back to the root of the issue and punish (if necessary) those proportionately the most and then levy down the scale to involve any one who acted in a manner detrimental to the Sport, if considered guilty. The fact that the Glasgow Owner has subsequently commented that "I know a lot has already been said on social media. It was an incredible occasion; probably the closest I've seen Speedway come to an Old Firm Celtic v Rangers match.... A SPEEDWAY MATCH with that level of intensity and excitement - should we be moaning or actually rejoicing that our Sport so roundly criticised in recent years can actually once again generate a great atmosphere in front of a big crowd??? - are the riders of Glasgow and Eastbourne in that case heroes or villains??. (Peter Facenna in Speedway Star goes on to say "A bit of controversy never hurt any sport in my opinion" and later on "However, that doesn't get away from the fact that Eastbourne were the better team on the night and we were never in the hunt to defend the small lead that we had. In truth we lost the tie in the first leg, we needed at least a 14 point lead to defend and we didn't do enough at Ashfield......But that's the way it goes in sport.I congratulated Eastbourne on their success and wish them all the best in the final, they deserved it over the two legs, simple a sthat" Pretty simple analysis, Facenna knows his side tried all they could but failed, congratulated the victors and has moved on -: so the resultant announcement of those penalties could be done in days, not weeks nor months. Then we can all move on and may be think about how all Speedway Clubs can generate that level of intensity, excitement, controversy and column inches.

Thank you for confirming what a number of us have been saying - that the quality of the racing is not the problem! It just doesn't feel the same with only a handful watching... Steve

Maybe they don't like you.

Michelson qualify means no Danish permanent WC. I'd take him in GP's over NKI on current form but he's not having a good year in SEC. Lambert & Fricke have failed to deliver as reserves when called upon this GP season. But I'd take them over the others. As maligned & limited as he is Bellego was good entertainment in the SEC until he was Pedersened.