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Disappointed Tiger heading home , but today is why speedway is the best sport in the world , the best two teams in the league served up a classic on a brilliant track .

I attended Birmingham Speedway 2 years ago and quite honestly I was made to feel like a second class citizen. To be fair the Greyhound Track control the venue but the restrictions on the paying public was disgusting. It was made clear not to drink or consume you own food which we ignored or you could purchase anything as long as it was chips washed down with a £4 + pint of Lager from a hole in the wall. It was a freezing cold night and no admission was allowed in the main building unless you were someone important. Sorry but speedway is 'dead in the water'. Supporters need to be attracted to a venue also on a day or night that is normal i.e. Friday or Saturday oh sorry our wonderful foreign riders have European commitments. In a nutshell what a mess of our own making. Reading the posts on here there is a lot of denial but the truth is unless something very radical is undertaken then there is little chance of speedway surviving in it's present form.

Wow !!! If you like classic speedway, then this treat served up this afternoon by two excellent teams was all you could ever have asked for. Nip and tuck all the way culminating in a marvellous climax in heat 15 Bears pinching it at the death. Charles and Jake putting in superb performances, backed up by Tofty getting somewhere near his best. The top two teams in the league were on show this afternoon. And they came up trumps. Privilege to watch them today.

Had to laugh at Barrie insinuating that Allen got a flier from the green light starts,and to wait and see what would happen with the tapes working again,only for Jake and Anders to out-gate the Bandits pair and away into the distance.

Place will shut down anyway if they continue to abide by silly rules. Most of the people that enter Speedway / Dog track stadium are mostly older members of the public who've been vaccinated twice.

Ditto every club in the league when the government lie about a need to extend restrictions.

Remember visiting both Exeter and Newport and dodging the shale and Olle Nygren passing me within inches as he was so far back I had forgotten about him as I stuck my head over the fence at Exeter!

Injury news regarding Josh Auty seems more positive than it could've been, after scans that have back all clear he will now sit out the next nine days due to a concussion.

Give it a couple more meetings and believe we will start to become the force we are on paper. Have to say impressed with both the Thompson lads really developing fast breath of fresh air. Bates is a worry down to confidence as on his day can beat 80% of this league but time is running out to keep his place. Did any one notice after the incident the heats went very quickly 2 mins on pretty much after the previous race had finished why can’t this be the norm... only negative that frustrates me all we see is clubs in trouble crowds down but Leicester continues to be strong. Why is the no longer a proper rider intro, riders at the start line with bikes interview both captains and managers before meeting. Riding round intro is poor. Also riders should be told win heat lap of honour get the atmosphere going. Any way onwards and updates. Roll on Redcar.

I don't think I've ever heard Dick being described as retiring

Where did I say I believed them? No, quite the opposite. I'm attempting to hold them accountable. For all the good it'll do. Where is the passion that was shown in 2006? Why aren't we fighting the council and developers? We appear to have rolled over and given up. The long game we always knew they were playing appears to have been successful. It might help if the Robins owners could convince us that they really do wish to run next year and there after. Because it really does look as if they've given up too.

Well the dark art didn't work and that was by admission of Leicester's own management! The track was slick and dusty and hope that the management can sort it out bit better the next time. If lessons are learnt then that's fine by me. On to a cheerier note I thought the crowd was good considering. It was nice to see a range of ages too which seems to contradict the impression sometimes given on this forum. Teenagers, young families at us oldies Leicester is the nearest track to me now Brandon has gone. It seems a nice club - all the people I interacted with - car park, gate, ticket office were very friendly and helpful. It was so good to be back at a speedway track again despite the problems. The best thing to say is - I'll be back!

Unfortunately the 'slippery guys' are still there. Somehow a semi professional version of speedway may be the only long term option but financially that would be difficult. There have been many instances where tracks have closed under a 'cloud' unfortunately many are brownfield sites perfect for prime residential housing. Government policy and potential profits rule the day. To name a few Cradley, Coventry, Leicester, Rye House, Perry Barr, Belle View. Oh George what character he was very slippery at the tapes.

Too many Berwick men throwing in the towel after a couple of laps .IMO Not good to watch.There again maybe they are just not good enough against tough opposition.

We will beat Newcastle.... granted.. but any other team with a decent top 2, especially if we are very tight near the end, will get us in 13 & 15. Even though Palm Toft had a mare up till heat 13, I said to the hubby that they would get us there! And so it proved! Again, IMO, the only 2 exempt from criticism are our reserves. Quite what is going on with our top 4, god only knows! But thank the Lord for a week off next week... On the Redcar team, they clearly smelt when the time was coming to get us... and Jordan Jenkins.. I admire these young British lads but is he likely to throw in another performance like that?! He could certainly tell our team how to gate, attack the track and generally hold your lead... rather like Charles Wright who produced what a no.1 should produce! We need to pull our fingers out our arses... be ruthless... doctor a track that suits us! Stop being the nicey nice brigade! Or there will be several more home defeats to come!

Berwick have a team built that should be unbeatable at home and do naff all away. Fact they've lost twice now round Shielfield shows the team ain't working. At the very least they need to replace Garcia, is that enough to turn round their misfortunes? I'm not sure...

DeliverCoo Ahem... I'll get my coat

Might be a good idea if as many as possible email Eurosport ukcomms@eurosport.com politely asking if they will be showing the re-arranged speedway SEC 1st round on Wednesday at 6pm on their main channel live ?

Not being wise after the event, Most Teams agreed to start the season without knowing what attendance limits there local councils would impose on them, the main issue being they have to put out a fixture list, Clubs/Teams found it difficult if not impossible to sell season tickets due to the Covid situation, now we find that the opening up is more than likely going to be put back which will probably put the completion of the season into doubt, or at the very least force some clubs to curtail the season. Some fans are still in denial about Covid but stop and think, the Pandemic has already cost this country billions upon billions of lost revenue, billions of pounds paid out in furlough payments and other schemes, all of which will we will be paying for over many years ahead, yes maybe things could have been done differently but the fact remains Covid is still with us and will be for the forseeable future, until the World gets a grip on this pandemic the uncertainty will remain and the future of our Sport needs strong leadership with difficult decisions needing to be made, but one thing is for sure Clubs/Teams cannot carry on sustaining losses week in week out..

And we have a council who, despite being told how it would all play out given the past form of the stadium owners, allowed the houses to be built with zero progress on the stadium. SBC have been played for complete amateurs. Or are complicit in what has gone on. Either way they've had a hand in Swindon losing yet another amenity and source of entertainment. Without shared experiences and reasons for the town to have an identity we are diminished as a community. And it seems to me that the council are just fine with that. Shame on them. And shame on the stadium owners if all of their talk comes to nought but so many lies.

Aye just don't bother that it's one of the measures to assist in reducing the spread of Covid. Still so long as it ensures you can keep riding, and so what if you have been infected and then pass the virus on to some other poor sod

I’m not sure where this new signing is. Bandits must replace Garcia who isn’t gonna be here anytime soon. Rumoured signing taking an age to appear. Needs to be pretty sharpish before the season peters out. You can’t have your top two scoring 10 points between them. I have no idea what’s happened to Nikolaj. Looks a shadow of the rider I saw at Rye House when he first appeared in the UK. Summers ain’t much better. Doubt this’ll be the last home defeat on this showing.

I doubt if his confidence is shot. He has been desperate and dangerous for years.

Redcar used a different model it was the one favoured by Charles and Jake.

... And others

Plus, with no dispespect to him, he's a shadow of his former self, the injuries have taken their toll. IMO he needs to retire sooner rather than later, get out in one piece

Extremely well put and the first of the Objects for which BSPA is established is to "protect and represent the lawful interests of the Members" This is not me making it up but is from the Articles of Association produced when the BSPL was formed. You could say that they aren't doing a very good job but like us they have been battling with Covid keeping their own businesses going, as well as trying to run the BSPL. This may come as a bit of a surprise but I do have some sympathy for the "Top Table", because trying to plan your way out of Covid restrictions has been difficult but in my view there was no better time to shake the tree and come up with something new. Barry came up with an idea to liven up the 2020 NT competition but it was rejected as being too difficult or something like that. We have ideas on how to change the look of speedway as we are also very conscious of the criticism of the "same old same old with tractor racing" and I think with our team challenges, Best Pairs, 3TT, Handicaps etc we were doing a pretty good job. Yes we sometimes did have problems with our track but we normally filled the interludes with news, interviews or action for the kids. Nothing works 100% of the time but if you don't try, nothing will change. Martin Widman

Sorry " Ringitsneck", but history has shown that UK speedway administrators have repeatedly failed to change the sport to attract and entertain new spectators to the sport, failed to attract new investment into the sport and failed to provide a fair, transparent and democratic leadership structure. Any attempts of new ideas brought in by "others" have always been debunked. They are still marketing the same old 15 heat 4 laps a race clutch start 7 man team format for every meeting , all riders messing around endlessly before every heat. TIRED is one word that sums up the entertainment offer. They have sensibly made their group a Limited company, in anticipation of the day when they have to wind up. You would have thought that the admin. would bend over backwards to ensure as many clubs line up to tapes every season ...... but we see a steady loss of venues and the remaining "clique" of promoters just shrug their shoulders. Will the Premier League complete the 2021 season ? We started with only 6 and might only have 5. The lack of action on the top table to promote and market the sport in the UK is reprehensible. Speedway will survive IMO, but run by a disparate group of promoters who will rent a venue on an occasional basis for individual invitation meetings, with token prize money offered (just like UK grasstrack). This perhaps is not dissimilar to the ideas of the IoW promotion .... but this is where the sport is heading, and what the public will pay to watch in numbers. People want an afternoon/evening out, to be entertained, with plenty of track action, and not be be subjected to 15 drawn out heats of tyre warming , 2 minute warnings, separated every 3/4 heats by tractor racing.

Well didn’t see that coming before Heat 14 but credit to Anders, James, Jake and Charles for riding their backsides off in the last 2 heats to give the Bears an unexpected victory. I thought the Bears would all have to ride at their best and everything go their way for them to win today. They were still inconsistent and Sarj’s bike problems in Heat 2 when clear and Jake falling off when in the points meant we dropped a few but they came good when they needed too. For the Tigers,Cook and Ullie were the pick. Ricky started very well but faded and we only got glimpses of the reserves talents. Sedgmen was the weak link on a track that he’s ridden a lot and I was very surprised he was in Heat 14. Some cracking races, Allen was great and Charles Wright is just a joy to watch. Becoming my favourite Teesside/Boro/Redcar rider of all time which tells you a lot about him. Glasgow are still the strongest team in the league and played their full part in a great match but it was an excellent advert for speedway today at a time when the sport badly needs good things to happen. Great to see so many Tigers fans in attendance, obviously disappointed but added much to the atmosphere. On a less happy note, sad to read Jitendra’s comments in the programme about becoming disillusioned with the people running the sport and saying he is giving up his role as promoter at the end of the season. Redcar and the sport of speedway can Ill afford to lose people who act in the professional and dignified way that he has run the club since taking over. Other clubs should take note and I hope he reconsiders as he would be a massive loss.

You get the feeling if the restrictions aren't lifted Poole could be the next club to put a hold on their season. https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/sport/19369198.ford-confirms-pirates-made-hefty-loss-first-home-meeting/?fbclid=IwAR3yTGIKGaKwZqlBI0bWlhbC8aoNVMeSwWp7LPh0dvvrUGoCdd5uUzP4Sk8

The Promotions are running business, they should be getting it right to entertain the paying public difficult or not.Poland get it right.

It’s pleasing to hear that Josh Auty has escaped serious injuries other than deep concussion as at one point he was quite poorly and it looked like it was going to be a major incident hence why it took so long to get him off track and why none of the medical staff could return to the track until he was in the care of county ambulance who to be fair to last night were very prompt once they knew the potential severity of the injuries. Hopefully Josh he will be back on a bike in the next few weeks and to me was just a racing incident Stewart was very open and admitted that the track was too slick to start with but one of the issues you have a Leicester is bends 3 & 4 are not in the sun at the same time during evening meetings so if water heavy just before the start it is very wet coming out of bend 4 . With regards to Sun breaks these are essential for rider safety and a prime example of this was at Scunthorpe on Friday night Adam Roynons crash in heat 15 was caused by sunlight in his eyes On the team front it was good to see Ty Proctor looking more comfortable on the bike and scoring good points, Josh Bates form is very concerning and it’s not a speed issue he is not getting out of the start and riding wrong lines not just for Leicester but also for Sheffield

Brady Kurtz -1 vs. Walasek. Brady has only failed to score double figures once this season in Poland (8+2 v Gdansk Home) Other scores have been. 13 (5) Tarnow H 12+1 (5) Rybnik H 12 (6) Krosno A 10 (5) Gdansk A 13+1 (6) Bydgoszcz A Compare that to Walasek's scores. 10+1 (5) Gdansk A 13 (5) Tarnow A 7+1 (5) Bydgoszcz A 8+1 (5) Krosno H 9+2 (5) Gdansk H 8 (4) Gniezno H 12 (4) Tarnow H Take out the scores against the woeful Tarnow who were missing leaders then Greg has only got double figures once this season.

You would hope that once rising stars gain averages then guest replacements work off averages not the grading system, up until that point I think the rules should have been only 1* riders are able to replace an absent rising star. However that is not the case and any team would look to get the best replacement they could , so Redcar have just drawn a short straw today. Makes a difficult task - extra tough

Don’t think guests is the issue, it’s the fact, in this case that the riders are deemed equal due to the rising star status. Its within the rules, just that it’s one of those occasions where it doesn’t seem to work.

Well that’s a sledgehammer to a peanut. We had Flint guesting to replace one of our top 5 and he was excellent. Things definitely going the Tigers way this year and this boosts an already strong team. Most teams struggle when they lose a rider, Tigers seem to have been boosted. When things are going for you, they’re really going for you. You should be looking for 4 points with that team today. (Anyone know what Flint is averaging this season?)

If we can't win home matches ?

Just as well after that no excuses tonight Redcar wanted it more very demoralising for home fans only the reserves doing it well every week, other 4 are being so inconsistent at this rate we will finish bottom of the league.

Panthers have 5 number 1s in their top 5 and a heat leader at reserve.

Oh no, GAH and Kier Starmer Fan on the same thread, should be fun

Never been to the EW raceway before. Will definitely return, on a dry and sunny day the track was well prepared and not dusty! Made for good racing and more than one line. Great facilities and the few folk I spoke to were very welcoming. Scunthorpe have a good product on offer there and should be very thankful. I have been to a number of tracks over the years and I have to say it holds up in comparison. I’m a diamonds fan; I was impressed by Jorgensen and Lambert, I also think Palin has a huge future in the sport. His ride in heat two was impressive. Mountain looked decent and on the pace, it was a matter of time before Roynon crashed and I agree he looked loose at times; his style makes him look almost out of control. I hope he’s okay as it looked bad from my view point. I thought Auty had a poor night, on a track he’s ridden since he was a lad. Wishing you all the best for the season ahead….I’m hoping that the season doesn’t end early…..

Open licence tracks were commonplace when i started going to speedway.

I drive past 4 times a day, cant see anything at moment. Spoke to one of the main sponsor's, he doesnt think speedway will return there. It's a dying sport, and Covid is killing it off

I have always been an advocate of a more flexible speedway season. I have stated for over a decade here that it should be possible for tracks to run outside, but alongside a league system. Some in power are totally against that

You most definitely would.

HGould had the opposite experience to me. I booked for the Leicester match and when it was rained off I called and got through straight away to get the ticket transferred to the Eastbourne match, That match was rained off so I transferred the ticket to the Glasgow match and booked for Bank Holiday Monday at tne same time.. Couldn't fault the system.I had the impression that the girls on the phone new very little about speedway, but I still got my tickets.

When the 2 reserves score 1/2 the team total. AWAY from home you can see the problem.

To be honest if you are worried about the mask situation at your home track just stay at home.

Gets on my bloody nerves. You try keep taking it down every 2 mines, with 6 fingers, to have a gulp of ya pint.

Look at it from the promotors view - they will say they keeping entry prices as low as possible, then up pops COVID. They introduce on line booking because inevitably payment as you turn up most people will want to pay cash, but with COVID that dirty money. Taking a booking on line costs admin time, admin has to be paid for hence 50p. Let’s say wage of admin is £8 per hour, that means sixteen 50p’s per hour which equates to 3min 45secs per telephone booking. I think that seems about fair, it’s not the promotors fault, and it’s not the fans fault COVID precautions are in place, but still has to be paid for.