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I do hope we are not drifting into the cheap "snowflake generation" argument here are we? I'll give my own experience as an example... I was first taken to the sport aged 7 to Belle Vue's Hyde Road and was hooked..we then went every Saturday. Not a school night, no problem. Though I suspect it might have been a problem had it been a midweek track at that young age....less so 2-4 years later. Then, we certainly had the odd midweek trip to follow the Aces to Sheffield and Birmingham. I am now a father of six year old twins, they will be 7 by the time of the next speedway season, so the right age (I think) to have a grasp of what's going on and potentially engage with it. Bedtime at ours is 7-7:30, later at the weekend. So a midweek track is out for now. Additionally, even when they are a little older and could cope with a later midweek night, we - unlike my parent's boomer generation - are much more squeezed for time...and disposable income beyond the mortgage and bills. Like many in the 30s-40s generation, both us parents work and after the kids get back from after school club and we rush to make dinner, there's little time left for anything before bed. In contrast, as a child, I had the luxury of a stay-at-home mum who could get us kids home at a decent time, have dinner ready early for the whole family and much more time for any possible midweek outing. Society has changed. Now, this isn't all about me, speedway can draw from older and younger groups. But I do think that appealing to my (current) demographic is absolutely key for speedway now and in the future. We only really have time- and money - for weekend outings and if speedway can't cater for us, it is going to miss out on thousands of families like mine.

In short, speedway is saying to Dave and his family down the road that it cannot cater for them because it has to accommodate the wishes of some Danish bloke you've never heard of, so he can also ride in a Polish town you've never heard of either. Bonkers

Everywhere is South to us in Glasgow, looking forward to my first ever visit to Poole

Just been round our house talking about joining the Diamonds next year. Got a spare room so that's a given now.

I think it's a very good point. After all, you wouldn't expect to watch Moto X, Grass Track, Moto GP, F1 during the week. The only other mid-week stuff I can think of is TT racing and other road racing motorcycle events. If there was a mid-week Moto X event, I wonder how many fans would turn up, compared to a weekend? Years ago, when speedway was more popular and had more tracks, the bulk of the fans could probably walk to the tracks or use public transport, but now with far fewer tracks and fans thin on the ground, those fans who are interested, have to travel and that is a put off for a mid-week event. It would still work in a city, such as London, with the good public transport it has.

Too late guys

No chance we would even contemplate signing the numbers 2 or 3 in that team. Well i hope not anyway.

Would rather have the four legged Lassie collie type than the moody two legged dane that rides a speedway bike.

I find the comments about young people not being able to attend midweek meetings due to school the next day interesting as throughout my school days I went with my parents to Wimbledon Speedway every week and they used to run on a Monday evening in the early days which then changed to Thursday evenings. My parents had a strict rule that I had to finish my homework before we went to the meeting. If truth were known it was the one day in the week when I did do my homework properly as there was no way I was going to miss the racing! Are today's children really so soft that they are unable to have one or two late nights during the school week?

MASSIVE CONGRATS to Danny Ayres, 2019 Scorpion of the year, HAS to be back in 2020

I myself am in favour of radical changes which i won't repeat here because i can't take the flak atm. It does look, however that another season of 'lets pretend nothing's wrong' is ahead of us with 2/3 teams being bribed to enter the top league stripping the less disastrous (i won't say successful) CL and NL of clubs. One thing i would say again is that people talk about dilution when big names don't ride here but actually the product is well presented good racing, not necessarily star names whose names ,lets be honest, mean f. all to the general public.

The new Belle Vue is unique, it that it was built for the modern day speedway bike, and will usually deliver great racing. Unfortunately the majority of the remaining tracks are not suited to these high revving machines. Years back the bikes had more torque at low speeds, giving the rider better control. Now the bikes are high revving speed machines, as soon as riders cut the revs they lose all the power, and this results in many processional races... Looking back to the Peter Collins and Michael Lee era, there were some titanic battles, equally as good as anything today. Back then the rider was much more important than the machine was. So thinking along them lines, I'm sure these highly tuned machines add far too much costs that the sport cant afford, without adding any significant extra to the sport. When you think along the lines of the sport's retainability, these machines are slowly but surely killing it..... Rather than find ways of meeting these costs, why don't we think of ways of reducing them.....

You only have to look at Poland as to when the best time is to run Speedway.. They wouldn't dream of running at any time other than weekends.. Play offs get decent crowds over here but I would suggest it doesn't make up in any way shape or for how many don't attend during the season due to riding Monday to Thursday.. The other glaring issue is how very few teenagers go.. Meaning free admission to Kids with a paying adult simply doesn't maintain enough interest.. Letting 18 and unders in for free, if still a student, would at least possibly deliver some return when they become 19 and have to start paying.. It would also mean they could attend in groups which teenagers so love to do... And not have to stand with Mum, Dad, Gran and Grandad.. And wouldn't be any financial loss really as they are not there now. But you may make some money at the bar and burger van!

Batchelor cough, just for balance you understand.

That was funny but Pedersen was so shaken by the prospect that he had to come onto the Facebook thread it was posted on and quickly deny it. Was obviously horrified at the thought.

I would rather build a more solid team around Cook and Vissing.....

when did he buy it?

The voting was carried out during one meeting, I was certainly shocked that Rory won rider of the season but wouldn’t have given it to Bomber myself. We can only answer for ourselves as to who we think should’ve won, we all have our own opinion

It's not so much the bikes are too fast, for me, it's more the tracks are not designed to handle their speed.. The NSS proves time and time again that fast bikes on that track can deliver awesome entertainment... As does Poland, Sweden and the GP'S, SEC, SON etc.. High speed and great, close racing is the 'Holy Grail' for Speedway. It's just not delivered sadly over here at too many places. 100% spot on with points 2 to 6. Can't see too many of them ever getting overcome though to be honest, given how far away the Sport over here actually is from being able to correct each point you make..

Would think Danyon Hume must be in with a shout for reserve spot

Sorry but statistically Kyle started on an assessed average of 2 - his actual average for his first season at Workington in 2018 was 1.37. His average over the 2019 season for Glasgow was 4.54. Pretty impressive improvement I'd say.

Are there enough riders between 16 and 18? And the difference in ability could be huge

In a way a logical move as believe he lives in Midlands so less travelling in what will be a busy old 2020 for him if he is riding Prem & Champ plus his normal Longtrack meetings and anything else on the Continent he can sign up for on a qualifying or guest basis. Won't have to trek to Somerset every Wed.

The Speedway world is in turmoil !! The world is in turmoil !! one thing remains constant however- R and R Bookmakers are the worlds top Speedway Bookmaker !!! Due to the re-arranged GP series i have had to alter my plans for the 2020 competition. The spread is now under the new scoring rules 1st 20 2nd 18 3rd 16 4th 14 5th 12 6th 11 7th 10 8th 9 9th 8 10th 7 11th 6 12th 5 13th 4 14th 3 15th 2 16th 1 Positions 1 st to 4 th in the Final Meeting Classification will be according to the result of the Final (Heat 23). Positions 5th to 8th in the Final Meeting Classification will be according to the results from the Semi Finals (Heat 21 & 22). The 2 Riders who finish 3rd in each of the Semi Finals will be 5th and 6th in the Final Meeting Classification, with the higher ranked rider from Intermediate Classification 5th and the lower ranked rider 6th . This rule will apply if both riders complete, or fail to complete the Semi Final. If only one of these riders fail to complete the Semi Final for any reason, he will be placed 6th in the final meeting classification. The 2 Riders who finish 4th in each of the Semi Finals will be 7th and 8th in the Final Meeting Classification, with the higher ranked rider from FIM Speedway Grand Prix World Championship 29 Intermediate Classification 7th and the lower ranked rider 8th . This rule will apply if both riders complete, or fail to complete the Semi Final. If only one of these riders fail to complete the Semi Final for any reason, he will be placed 8th in the final meeting classification. Positions 9th to 18th will be according to the Intermediate Classification after 20 heats. I am increasing the start amount to £500 with the maximum bet per GP still set at £200.- minimum bet per GP is £50 minimum bet per rider £25 The other bookies are not going to like this initiative and will offer stupid gimmicks for your bets- so i`m getting in 1st !!! 1 On 1 occasion during the season punters will be able to use the " spread stretcher"(SS) to move the spread to their advantage by 1 whole point. 2 On 1 occasion during the season punters will be able to use the " double your money " card( DYM) ( i`m old enough to remember Hughie Green and Monica Rose) when a total bet for that GP can be up to a maximum of £400 I know it`s foolhardy but both bonuses can be used at the same time !!! Here is an example for you to get your head around Championship points Zmarzlik 15- 17 Madsen 15 - 17 Woffinden 12 - 14 Sayfutdinov 12 - 14 Janowski 10 - 12 lindgren 10 - 12 Vaculik 9 - 11 Doyle 9 - 11 Dudek 8 - 10 A Laguta 8 - 10 Zagar 6 - 8 NKI 5 - 7 lindback 3 - 5 Fricke 3 - 5 Drabik WC 3 - 5 Smolinski 2 - 4 Rules Each contestant MUST place bets in all 8 rounds -in the event of having no money left they are out of the competition All bets can be edited up to the advertised starting time of the meeting. If a rider is injured before a round starts then the bet is voided on that rider, or bets can be amended up to the meeting start time. If a rider starts a meeting but is injured and cannot continue THE BET STANDS but any points scored by the reserves count towards the injured riders score. If any rider is excluded for a starting offence the reserve points scored do not get added. To ensure fair play bets for the final round may be required to be PM`d to me instead of normal posting. If a meeting is called off at heat 16 then the spread will be adjusted to 4/5th`s of the original. If a meeting is called off at or after 20 heats the spreads stand. HOW TO PLAY One must bet on a rider to score MORE OR LESS than the spread-the HIGHER figure is taken for MORE bets and the LOWER for LESS bets-the mid between the two is what I expect them to score-and they add up to 146 which is the total points available in a GP A final message regarding the 2020 competition to you punters. M more value in 2020 U unique format from the no 1 Bookie G great bonuses S simply the best competition in world speedway

He's a welder and quite possibly a pipe fitter - not a plumber as first trade that I know of - I'lll text him to be sure

Linus sundstrum. Hes good mates with uncle len

I don't do twitter either but a couple of his tweets have been shared to other forums - or should that be fora?

Like most things, there is no one size fits all solution. Sheffield have just abandoned weekend racing to return to Thursday night, Poole are so determined to race on a Wednesday that they've dropped a league to do so, ex-Saturday tracks like Swindon and Kings Lynn now happily run in mid-week and all the indications are that if they had a choice Belle Vue would run on a Friday rather than the Saturdays which I remember so fondly from the Hyde Road days. Incidentally, I think Falcace is absolutely right in his analysis of the social changes that have taken place.

You maybe best get your sailors flag back up in the window Dave

I don't know why Nicki should ask about the Edinburgh Track as he rode for Newcastle in 1998 and one track he visited throughout the season was the one at Armadale.

Kyle learnt the tracks at no6 for Workington with no pressure put on him riding with & against better riders. For Glasgow, he rode at no7 & was expected to score some points riders riding against riders of a similar or lesser ability. If you put 2 x 2pointers at 6 & 7, the no7 WILL score more points.

But do they play golf?

Yep, we’ll be gutted to see Poole go. We used to enjoy our away wins.

My fault as live in Chelmsford, Essex which is only 2 hours drive away from K.Lynn. Comparing against Poole which is more like 4 hrs 30 mins from K.Lynn which then of course certainly becomes up North. From my side I tend consider K/L more South in comarison with Chelmsford rather than say the Midlands/uuuppp North

Think the average Claus achieved may cost him, better out there on lower averages , Riss and Lawson to name 2. But credit to Claus he upped his game but it is a numbers game and i can only see his average go one way.

Who would go to Northside with its limited facilities. When NL racing was staged at Iwade, no one went. Yet a couple of miles down the road, they turn up in their droves to watch the same level at Central Park.

I'll admit to wanting to give Chris the chance after Poole left him on the shelf in his darkest days. I thought back to his early days with IOW when he wanted to conquer every track, have a video somewhere I took of him being interviewed at Lynn, good guy. His Lynn experience was a different kettle of fish to his heady days at Poole, shame it ended like it did ..... Not got over Adam Ellis and 2018 yet though, perhaps skued my thoughts :(((((

Wash your mouth out........lol

So continuing the dog theme he will be a Great Dane then.

Everywhere, except your mind...........

Shame really would love to see a junior side back at scunny

Yep and if you take that 2.00 as a starting point (rather than the 1.37 Boothers pointed out as the true figure) he still put 1.79 on this 2.00 average which is pretty impressive to me. If all the other Glasgow riders put 1.79 on their combined averages you would have been shouting from the top of every Munro in Scotland after winning all four competitions with a combined team average of over 50.00 from the starting point of 38.00 but they didn't and as history shows Glasgow didn't win anything unfortunately... its harder than you think ask any of the 20+ riders who finished on a lower average than he did... I think the kid has done brilliant this season and will do just as well next... Regards THJ

Massive thanks to the departing Scott Nicholls for his efforts as a rider and as our influential captain in Season 2019 - huge respect for the guy as an accomplished speedway rider over many years .... hope the future holds good things for you wherever you end up Scotty !!

Yes - Realised I had put wrong reason immediately after I had posted. I have corrected.

This looks very similar to what was tried with the ill-fated 18 heat 8 man team Format of the mid 90s. I still say the best every format I saw for league racing the the old National league 16 heat format followed by the 6 heat junior league match that followed. Oh happy days when the national league ran the sport as a successful professional sport for a few seasons

Calm down, Rasmus is a class rider , who was strutting his snuff for Workington in 2018, and is now giving up the championship to concentrate on riding on the continent and probably Swindon in the Premiership.

Yes I am talking about Rasmus Jensen . He has hardly pulled up any tree in the Uk before this season and may not next season. i think turning your nose up at someone of King or Lawsons calibre to replace a rider who until this season has spent his uk career as a second string is a bit snobby to say the least.

A thoughtful parent who has createdfurther opportunities for his child which will been entitled to dual nationality/freedom of movement between AUS & the UK yeah those true colours are disgusting.......sometimes there is a whole lot more to life than speedway.

Well done, that's the best team, easy going first,,,,,,,, next topic

Very early days for 2020 team building but I wonder if Nick Morris would fit (instead of Bjerre)?