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British speedway is very short of cash, it’s having to operate with reduced attendances and yet clubs are not using the obvious and potentially profitable avenue of live streaming it’s meetings. Take today’s meeting at Belle Vue. The official speedway site were quick in putting up a couple of heats, yet there are hundreds of supporters in and around Peterborough and thousands around the country who would have been quite happy to pay £10-12 for the opportunity of watching this meeting. The quality of the feed is high, there’s live commentary, what’s the problem? 1000 people paying for a stream would bring in £10,000 at a tenner, or £11,950 at £11.95. Hugely profitable. And remember. There’s a worldwide audience to pay and watch. Promoters might be worried about loss of revenue at the stadium but currently with reduced capacity demand should be enough for a stadium to sell out. And it is possible to geo-block fans within a set distance from the stadium. Glasgow are running behind closed doors, with live feed only at £11.95. The meeting against Poole on Friday should achieve very good numbers with the take up of the stream. I have already purchased my ticket. Pretty sure a lot of Poole fans will also. And the feed will give neutrals something to watch on a Friday night if they want to see some action. Now for the top flight Eurosport have the rights to TV, but I don’t think it has been tied down like the Sky and BT deals, allowing promoters to be more flexible on doing their job of promoting. The days of no filming inside, no photos etc choke the sport. Use technology to open up the market. Streaming cost a small amount to do. One cameraman, a commentator and someone in charge of the streaming is all that is needed. Two cameramen and a little more is required. But bloody hell it should already be in place, bringing in the funds for our sport to be sure of its survival. Come on sort it out!

This aged well.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinal_muscular_atrophy one milion Pounds already donated/collected

I would have thought in this current situation this was a no brainier for clubs to stream all their home matches.

Best you go get yourself a pint glass

Whatever the limits in the past new riders on 3.00 averages have been signed into teams. They have done so because they are the best available and bettered the others. With the lower limit it has become a necessity to have 3+ riders per team around this mark increasing the spaces available and ultimately dropping the overall standard. Those listed above have started well but they have also been against a lower level of competition than previous years.

First and foremost was great to be back watching live speedway..I didn't like the track as it produced no real outside line for the likes of bomber but we was beaten by the better side. Let's give Bjarne a chance before slating him..Palin was also well of the pace and that sort of thing can make hell of a difference when you look at Brennan and Etheridge.

Lets pray tom brennan has an injury free season, this could be a pivotal year for him, riding these bigger tracks will help his development alot

You have so many faces,, people won't know which one to slap. Giving it the large one earlier about how many number 1s you have

Another year and GB will have three world class riders. Bewley and Lambert joining Woffinden in the GPS. Bewley has looked very good so far this season and will help his Polish team win the league this season imo. Just need another so we can compete in the WTC. Who is the 4th member?

5 Points in 1 Day for the Panthers. Experience wins the day.

What’s it like in cloud cuckoo land?

Ohhhhhhh.!!! So close Geoff... Well when I say 'close'.... You got the bit about Bewley right...

Peterborough should be the favourites for the title. Best team in the league by a mile that's being disrespected by the BSF & Bookmakers purely because of age. Look at Jason Crump at Ipswich for example. Jason is still winning races for fun after sitting on the sidelines for a few years which proves how weak this league is. Pedersen, Harris, Andersen & Nicholls are all No.1's in this weak league. MPT is a Third Heat leader and Ostergaard is a second string riding at reserve.

It's all going well for the Panthers at the moment.

The races at Belle Vue on 26th May 1962 were not for the Golden Helmet, they were described as challenge races in the programme. Not forgetting the earlier clashes in the Golden Helmet: Belle Vue 20/07/57 GH Peter 2 Ove 0. Norwich 07/08/57 GH Peter 1 Ove 2 Southampton 20/08/57 Peter 2 Ove 0 Norwich 07/05/58 GH Peter 0 Ove 2 Belle Vue 31/05/58 GH Peter 2 Ove 0 Poole 09/06/58 GH Peter 0 Ove 2 Norwich 27/05/59 GH Peter 1 Ove 2 Belle Vue 03/06/59 GH Peter 1 Ove 2 Norwich 29/08/59 GH Peter 1 Ove 2 Belle Vue 05/09/59 GH Peter 2 Ove 1 (included in Sid's list as 05/09/61) Peter Craven won the decider by default as Ove Fundin was unable to ride due to commitments in Sweden. Additionally: Oxford 09/05/63 Peter 2 Ove 0 Norwich 17/07/63 Peter 1 Ove 2 Wimbledon 29/07/63 Peter 0 Ove 2 That gives a total in the Golden Helmet races of Peter 20 Ove 23.

Isn't the Government guideline 4K or half capacity whichever is the lower, No doubt in the Rugby the players, management and physios etc count towards the 4K. Thats what happens at Football in stadiums with the 4K limit

I would also suggest that running so many double headers is also down to a lack of confidence in their NDL offering to deliver profit if ran 'stand alone'.... And to be fair to those who say that they are not going, it is a risk on the part of the promoter... Expecting to have someone pay £26 when they are not interested in 50% of what is on offer could be seen as a risky strategy.. On the other hand, to some, thirty races for twenty six quid will be seen as good value.... I suppose the proof of whether right or not will be in the outcome... Will thirty heats of speedway for £26 appeal to enough punters to offset the missing fans who feel £26 to watch only the fifteen races they want to watch is too much...?

rode against Roman when he was in a Czech touring team i think in '86, scared the poop out of me!

I am a bit late to this thread having on recently found out he's passed away. I just wanted to add to this. I was at both meetings, and it's been a long, long time. But this is my memory of what happened. The Tigers were at Station Road the night before and Robert Nagy beat Matousek, brilliant ride by Nagy which Matousek took exception to after the race as they went back to the pits, but seemed to be something and nothing. The following night Long Eaton were on the return fixture at Sheffield and that fateful race as they lined up at the tapes I knew what was about to happen by the fact Matousek lined up at the tapes at a funny angle IMO. Only one man will ever know if that was a deliberate crash or not, but I certainly know what every Long Eaton fan thought that night. Mild mannered Johnno, perhaps unwisely with hindsight, was allowed to go and see Robert on track, he ran back from the first bend, to the pits and went for Matousek. Although the race and match paled into insignificance, the referee bottled it by not excluding Matousek. To see him celebrating winning the meeting later on was an utter disgrace. To this day I believe that crash was a disgrace and he got away with it. I won't describe the crash as an accident.

I was there when Craven won his second world title at Wembley in 1962. Fundin was third that year and the two met in that famous heat 6 where four of the big five were involved. As well as being a rider of undoubted world class, Peter was also one of the most spectacular and universally known as "The Wizard of Balance".

Top entertainer at many clubs in his time. Hope he recovers quickly.

Looks like bomber has been on the joe screen diet

That's a good question! As The Masked Dancer is on at the same time..

No 1s can’t be ‘swapped’, Bjarne is No 1 by average until at least 1st July.

Aaron Summers, Ricky Wells, Josh Auty any of them will do over Pedal Bike. Brought in to do a job at No.1 in a pish poor league and he scores 0 on his home track.

#PedersenOUT

Lindsey. Ultimate gating tart. Not a fan at all.

Pah! Who was he lowering it for when he was like this at Poole then?!

I was talking to a family of four at the Belle Vue Colts match on Friday night and they said they were unable to get tickets for today. They commented that they would have been prepared to pay a tenner each if today's Aces match had been streamed - even though they would have been watching it on same TV. Just to add to the frustration, the match was being filmed today and Dave Rowe was doing commentary,

Well done Panthers, need to get the job done at home tonight to save this result going to waste though.

Getting pissed with Jack Holder the night before the playoff semi at Ipswich in 19 did it for me.

Technically GAH was correct with the highlighted bit. Bewley 15 max and none of the Panthers did get close to Kurtz - they were either miles in front of him or miles behind him!!

I think (I will have to check though!) that he had a decent meeting last year there but Wolves is definitely his worst track. I think he has got 2/3's there in the past when he was in the no1 position for us. If Wolves have it slick you may be okay though! Anyway back to today, I'll shut up now! Lol

Dan Bewley on fire, Brady Kurtz rides well there and Charles Wright was great for us so expect him to do well despite a slow start. Others will pitch in as seen Jye Etheridge ride well there. Close meeting I reckon with Panthers winning by 47-43. Can't wait for my methanol fix.

Easily with aarnio averaging 6.85 and believe we had excess of 3 points left meaning we could easily fit a 10 rider really

Some things are just so funny, they have to be re quoted

So the old fogie Panthers get a deserved draw. Well done to them.

Would have taken the draw before the start so well happy. Looking forward to the return at t he Showground tonight. Well done Panthers.

Waiting for Lewy to tell you buying at tv has no relevance whatsoever to do with the meeting.

Newcastle will be £20 (£17 for concessions).

Hes on the CL rising star list. Plenty of questionable inclusions but if he is on there hes eligible

Steve shovler could you fly from Bristol ? For future reference easy jet have flights £50 each way for this weekend.

Who said Speedway is stuck in the past ?? Its already gone non binary !!

People jump the gun as always and dont know the facts.

Nice to see Paul losing in the lower league, Manchester United of speedway should be walking these fixtures surely.

Yes, fair comment. He looks very good for three years out of it and is holding his own with plenty of determination.

You just don’t get irony/sarcasm do you

Dream on. Peterborough have four number 1s in their team, Chris Harris, Scott Nicholls, Hans Andersen and Bjarne Pedersen have all held the number 1 race jacket in their careers. Panthers home and away win, I will be at the home leg. Really missed the speedway, chips and smell in the toilets.