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I think its a bit unfair to criticise the new BSPL Management Board (Godfrey, Damian Bates, Debbie Hancock, Chris Louis and Stewart Dickson) who have updated their intentions/actions regularly on their website and in Speedway Star, including the political lobbying, subject to Govt permissions. All promotions have been praising their efforts and been kept in the loop with weekly 'Zoom' meetings. Not sure what else they could have done.

Kent's one of the seven speedway tracks (Birmingham, Newcastle, Poole, Sheffield, Swindon & Wolverhampton being the other six) who rent their tracks from greyhound landlords and at least some of that list of tracks have faced a very awkward situation (with Poole in a category of its own as its greyhounds haven't resumed behind closed doors for televised betting whereas the other six all have). Where the dogs have resumed, it's for between 3-and-6-times a week all year long (unlike speedway's 7-month season), heavily covid-regulated for stadium staff or trainers/kennelhands and with each of those meetings worth far more in betting shop media rights than any single speedway rent or the food/drink profit the speedway generates. But if any of those tracks go "open-door" for a speedway crowd and is then notified of a covid-positive spectator soon after doing so, it's just about guaranteed to be quarantined for a fortnight with the consequent loss of betting shop media rights. Now put yourself in a greyhound landlord's position - would you gamble between 6-to-12 closed-door greyhound media fees on 1 smaller speedway rent/profit ? !! In Kent's case that you refer to, it's the top end of the range - 6 dog meetings a week (mid-mornings-into-lunchtime all of Mon-Tue-Wed-Thu plus Friday/Sunday nights) so a 12-meeting cost of being quarantined. It's difficult (and understandable) for many speedway fans who only use their home track's stadium for speedway to grasp just how small a chunk of the overall stadium turnover their action provides in a shared greyhound/speedway situation but you'd do well to at least respect the overall situation even if you don't like it.

So... I see col69 has started the berwick bandits 2021 thread... whose gonna be brave enough to start the Newcastle Diamonds 2021 thread.... Whoever picks up the mantel... here you go... Newcastle Diamonds 2020/21 1. Claus Vissing 8.43 2. Matthew Wethers 6.92 3. Nick Skorja 5.00 4. Ondrej Smetana 5.00 5. Max Clegg 4.92* 6. Connor Mountain 4.61* 7. James Wright 4.00 Team Total: 38.88 Remaining: 2.12 Regards THJ

Kind of a career highlight for me as I 1st saw Lahti 2004 doing 85cc...

Links for Gniezno tonight https://daddylive.live/channels/stream-42.php - English https://daddylive.live/channels/stream-57.php Polish http://totalsport.me/sport11.html English http://www.drhtv.com.pl/drhtv-2.html Polish http://www.maniak.tv/mk8 Polish

Would be silly to allow GP riders in it if they aren’t going to award it to second in this scenario.

Madsen is better than the others. That's reality.

I'd go anything at the moment. The boredom is becoming unbearable. Hopefully Non league football will start soon, add to that the odd speedway or grasstrack meeting before the year is over.

100% agree for Glasgow... The point I was debating was to say that what was good for Glasgow on the 1st of June was not the right decision for the rest of the league's and to say that Glasgow were smarter in taking their decision when they did while everybody else hung on I just don't agree with... And while there is no Speedway to go to I have nothing better to do other than have a beer and debate these pedantic points 

Not a bad shout that THJ.. None of them have had a great season, but then again, none of them have had a bad one either.. Every rider has definitely managed to maintain their average......

What a farce of a meeting. A terrible track with ruts. A ref who stops a race because a steel shoe comes off and the start of ht17 is unsatisfactory.

Lovely ride young man... Very mature... Seem to remember someone else doing that move quite a bit (and has won 3 world titles by putting it to good use).. Even just 12 months ago Lambert may have been tempted to ride the boards and end up stone last, or off the bike.. We really do have two world class riders now..

Its gonna be a long winter.

Hi Baldyman the track is in great condition .few little cracks in it but soon as you start watering/rain they will disappear thanks for enquiring bob

The track is poor and that caused the crash

Wonder if the SCB/BSPA refund all the riders licence fees for this year or let it run till next year as that’s their bread and butter income

Nothing, hopefully!

Now that the season is over I would imagine Godfrey`s income from practice sessions will dry up as for the vast majority of riders there`s nothing to practice for.

At least there appears to be consistency from the various club statements concerning retaining the same 1-7s for 2021. Obviously there will be further discussion and deliberation at BSPL Board level and ultimately it will depend on rider availability. I wonder if the AGM will be brought forward from November? Or is it in a fixed month according to the sport's constitution? The usual explanation is to allow all clubs to finalise their season's financial balance sheet so they can declare their intentions to run (or not) the following year. Surely those decisions can be made much earlier this year?!

I think they should run the GP if they are going to get the 8 rounds they were anticipating ,but there again if they get a positive test during season it puts a whole new different complexion on it.Difficult one IMO. Think it as the right decision to cancel British season,as most Promotion don’t have the back up finances to cope with reduced crowds or the measures which might mean more expense.

That seems the logical thing from next year. By all means have GP riders as the “wildcards” but for the 1-15 should be non GP riders.

What I REALLY don't understand is why somebody like John does things like this? A lot of what he does is so ridiculous...

I couldn’t agree more however where does the money to provide free racing come from with all clubs except a notable few struggle for finance.

With the announcement this week of the cancellation of the British Leagues it got me thinking about how to stage meaningful Speedway. Who on here would attend an Individual British Speedway Championship Series? Or is it team Speedway only for you guys? I don't know how many British riders there are these days but you could run with say 2 or 3 groups of 16 riders with the top 16 after each round being split up to "headline" at each track for the next round of 3 matches all leading to the top 16 at the end of the qualifiers to ride in a final at the end of the season at the NSS.

Well done Robert Lambert

I made some plans today for next year. Divorcing the wife as she is a pain in the a*se , that makes sense.

No, sponsor

Berwick hasn't changed to much in the last fifty years nearly.

Just checked and top 3 after 20 heats goes directly to the final, nr 4-7 to race off with winner to the final.

Sam Ermolenko`s commentary going great so far.

Yes, that is very true. It is true that the international meetings due to take place for National Hot Rods, F1 and F2 Stock Cars and possibly Superstox have all been cancelled due to the limited crowds that are being allowed.

I don't need to do anything, it's doing that job all by itself..

Junior and young riders will still practice to try to improve IMO.

Well Godfrey is well placed to run an amateur meeting if his press release from in front of those curtains is anything to go by

Promotions are skint ,don’t have cash flow, spare cash for PPE requirements,most don’t own stadiums, and the greyhound situation will not help in a few cases,That’s only my opinion though.

It was a discussion about a former BSF member who was a very unpleasant person.

Central park dogs get plenty of cash from the greyhounds being streamed all over the world via media rights, .that would have been the issue for all greyhound /speedway stadiums even if they got an august start. Poole were a million to one to race this season once they shut the dawgs down.

What about trousers?

Might be your wish but it ain`t going to happen automatically, although the FIM might just pick the runner-up as one of their 6 picks( in this scenario) 2020 rules. The winner of the 2020 FIME Speedway European Championship will be directly qualified for the following years SGP Series. • Should a Rider who has qualified from the FIME Speedway European Championship also be in the top 6 of the Final Overall SGP Classification of that year, or the top 3 Riders from the FIM SGP World Championship Qualification Meetings (Art. 71a) then an extra additional rider will be nominated by the SGP Commission.

If a GP rider wins this, the first non GP rider should get the spot. Otherwise what’s the point? Madsen is currently the best rider in the world. Best rider, best bikes, means he wins. No point in offering a GP berth to the winner if the field already includes GP riders. How is that going to help up and comers?

I don't mind that so much. He's American and that is a normal American English word. It's just the weird and often random pronunciations of names that puts me off

What a total troll.

If you had prefixed your previous posts with “opinion “ that would have thrown a different perspective on it, but it was, at the time presented as fact. However be that as it may we are entitled to ask what you base your opinion on. We don’t actually know why Ippo is not running speedway meetings. It might well be that the Ipswich promotion we’re prepared to run but we’re outvoted by the other promotions who didn’t want to, or couldn’t run for whatever reason. They could hardly run a viable league if most of the other tracks wouldn’t run. Personally I think Old Bob at Herne Bay UK Martin and Mikebv have put forward some very persuasive and cogent arguments. The big worry is how many fans find other things to do and don’t come back and how many quality riders find other jobs.

Outdoor entertainment is (or shortly will be) allowed with audiences. Perhaps Stock car racing is not a sport, but "an entertainment"

It is actually quite interesting to read how much clubs are losing. Surely if they lose money hand over fist in each meeting like people say, then 0 meetings will mean less debt come end of season!? Sensible decision as far as I am concerned. Absolutely pointless riding with no fans to watch, season nearly over anyway. Plan for 2021. This decision should of been made weeks ago. And I am no lover of Rory Scheiln, but I read somewhere that he is working as a delivery driver to bring in money. Good on him. You'd hope many others will turn to a full time job now, what with the tweets about earning no money etc going about. Welcome to the real world, where you have to do something you may not enjoy to earn money.

One small point- the PZM have always worked with the FIM- it`s the Extraleague which hasn`t both with the FIM and PZM

The point on not funding youth riders is not true on every occasion we have attended a FIM or fime meeting in Europe we have had some expense reimbursed. Also riders are not sent for anything 125cc or 250cc riders apply to the acu to go and they ask for places in the events. If the riders don’t ask the acu don’t request places for the older ages groups up to 21 the riders are invited to attend and can choose to accept or decline the spot . Example Kyle Bickley has declined his spot this year which was then offered to another rider.

I wont be getting any rushed, little tested, unproven vaccine for a virus that has no real effect on 98% of the population If that were to mean I cant go to Speedway then Ive seen my last meeting....

I do agree with the sentiment. What I cannot get is the mix messages. Today through until the 23rd masks are not necessary and all the data shows that cases etc are at a low yet come the 24th masks are necessary to go into shops. I can however go to a pub, restaurant, lido or theatre but cannot stand outside in the fresh air with a mask and watch sport be it Speedway or any other sport. Amateurs can go ahead but professionals are prohibited from working. Poland and Sweden can run but the U.K. cannot. Boris and the government have totally lost the plot and frankly it is time that the majority of law abiding citizens told these amateurs to f... off. They have cocked up the pandemic, the Brexit negotiations and left the country with a huge financial debt. Thankfully the 60 and 70 year olds are not to blame this time it is the morons and younger generation who lack any business acumen added to which you have the career politicians who have never held down a job in the real world and have mortgaged the economy up to the hilt. All those who bang on about government financial help, where is it suppose to come from, someone will have to pick up the tab. You rep what you sow.

Just reading thru' mine...brilliant as usual. The Oxford featured second halves particularly of interest to me. The amount of talent that took part in second halves at Cowley during the period covered really highlights how second halves at Oxford were keenly contested. Great days!