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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.

Have you told her yet ?

Dumb answer, am sure they've mentioned that you can get a refund, and,,, would it make sense for anyone to be making plans for next year?

Brilliant stuff from young Robert. Pleased for Lahti as well.

Wow. Well done Robert Lambert.. Another very mature ride.. Didnt panic, knew he was faster, and waited for his moment.. Fair play to Lahti too, a great night for him...

And loads of sheep..

All that's missing is a force 10 gale ripping through the place.

Scotland & Wales

1st bet of the season £60/£40 on - return £100- thank you Bet 365

Sam Ermolenko`s commentary going great so far.

Here is a clip( 8:45 s) of Pajari falling (getting knocked off ) in a world championship quali in Abensberg 1957 won by Hofmeister of Germany, though they say he is Austrian in the clip.Getting him and Seidl mixed up https://www.filmothek.bundesarchiv.de/video/586279?q=Speedway

I agree with you. That is the real reason.

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.

I suppose it's a bit like the calling off of a meeting based on the weather forecast, if the rain comes you look smart, if the sun is blazing down you look a bit foolish. Obviously Glasgow had their own reasons for calling their season off so early but at the beginning of June with the prospect of Speedway starting up in Poland and for 25% capacity being allowed in a few weeks later it seemed like the sensible thing to do for Britain to hold off until August at the latest. Far be it from me to defend the BSPA, as I'm normally one of the first to criticise, but on this occasion I think they've done exactly the right thing. It also sounds as if there may have been issues with Eurosport as well, which Glasgow obviously didn't have to take into account. What do you think they should do about the GP series?

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.

Don’t think there was a lot of hindsight involved, when Glasgow pulled out and gave their reasons it sounded justified to me(possibly a few others).The pandemic was not yet at its peak and people were being told lockdown would last till at least end July beginning of August.There decision was justified IMO.Given the crowd situation that had been mentioned and the average age of speedway supporters.To be honest would you fancy travelling and standing at aSpeedway Match in Oct/ Nov if they had got something set- up.

I may be doing the BSPA a massive disservice and there may be factors I am not aware of but I am wondering if they have simply sat back and waited for things to happen or if they have engaged actively with the sports and culture minister. I say this because it has stunned me that speedway is not involved in the so call trial detailed below: 'The two-day county cricket match between Surrey and Middlesex, scheduled for July 26 and 27, will be the first event to feature crowds, followed by the delayed World Snooker Championship which begins in Sheffield on July 31 and the final day of Goodwood on August 1, when 5,000 spectators are set to attend.' Given this, I cant see why speedway has not returned. As a shielder now for 4 months because of asthma, I have taken safety very seriously. But down the road from me is Bluewater. A large indoor shopping centre which attracts thousands. Of course they have the advantage of the E word...the 'Economy' So why hasn't the BSPA been able to at least run a trial match? I may be wrong but it worries me that the BSPA have just not done enough. It seems to me that even a month of challenge matches in October as at pre war Belle Vue would be better than nothing.

At Ipswich it is far moe popular than speedway. For the most popular meetings such as the speed weekend or the Bonfire Bonanza it is completely full. On one occasion that I went to the firework event you needed to get to the stadium at least two hours before to get a decent spot. Take a look on YouTube at some of the meetings at Foxhall. Other meetings such as the one in December the crowds are nowhere near as good

One runs mainly individual events whereas speedway want to run a league competition which needs all tracks to align?

Wow......“Scunthorpe Amateur Select vs Leicester Amateur Select” A fixture to savour...... will it be run over two legs home and away to add to the excitement ?

Let’s face it nobody can really work out the logic in all this,but Speedway without normal attendances was never going to be viable, the Glasgow Promotion worked that out long before the rest,which tells me something,they’re smarter.!!

only the league is cancelled, people will still see speedway in October at a fair few tracks

The BBC only give Speedway a mention when it's something bad - tossers

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.

Got to feel for Rob Grant. He’s come forward, put his money in , made changes and it all looked so rosey and now this. He’s spent god knows how much and has nothing to show for it. I hope he can take the ‘ hit ‘ as he’s got another 9 months before he can even try and make some back.

To be expected, never thought we would see Speedway this summer to be honest. Could do without the opinions of the infectious disease experts on here too - enough of them on every other forum you go on.

Absolutely pathetic from the government of this country. Still laboring under the pathetic easily disproven crap that lockdown/distancing etc is necessary. We're now at a point where deaths from viruses passed from human to human are at their lowest point. Covid-19 is dying out. It's because of lockdown/distancing/masks is the cry... seems sensible.. let's take a look.. Deaths involving Covid-19 over last 10 weeks: 8th May - 393915th May - 381022nd May - 258929th May - 18225th June - 158812th June - 111419th June - 78326th June - 6063rd July - 53210th July - 366 There you go say the lockdown fanboys... that's proof! Seems conclusive, I must admit.. but let's just check something.. Deaths involving flu/pneumonia over last 10 weeks.... a virus that spreads in the exact same way, so if the measures taken are the reason for the drop.. we'd see a similar pattern here: 8th May - 99415th May - 119422nd May - 106629th May - 9115th June - 103612th June - 99619th June - 100226th June - 9383rd July - 100410th July - 917 Nothing of the sort, indeed its fluctuated up and down... AS NORMAL. Covid-19 figures are falling because it is running out of 'easy targets'. We've had two mild winters in a row with low levels of death from viruses.. which means there were many ripe for the picking.. Covid did just that. The ONS even acknowledges that now on their weekly deaths report: "The coronavirus (COVID-19) has had a large impact on the number of deaths registered over the last few months and is the main reason for deaths increasing above what is expected (the five-year average). The disease has had a larger impact on those most vulnerable (for example, those who already suffer from a medical condition) and those at older ages. Some of these deaths would have likely occurred over the duration of the year but have occurred earlier because of the coronavirus. These deaths occurring earlier than expected could contribute to a period of deaths below the five-year average." If it isn't safe to open stadiums etc now, then it should NEVER be safe.. as the number of deaths are at about as low levels as you can get right now. Around 1100 a week is the current figure dying with flu/pneumonia/Covid... compared to around 2500/3000 a week during the winter every year with no eyelids batted.

Neither