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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.

Great meeting but big mistake by glasgow leaving sedgmen in ht 14, also craig lets himself down when he gets beat he never shakes hands on the way to the pits with the riders who have beaten him.

I recall the once being in the pits at King's Lynn with Spike spannering for George Hunter. George had incurred a tape infringement (rolling at the start) and was excluded. George could be heard balling down the phone to the Referee saying, "It's my job to beat you, not your job to beat me!" + a few expletives!!! Sure miss him.

Seems a no brainer for me. There must be a rider out there somewhere that can come into the team.

The difference being of course is that he flew into Germany so I am guessing their restrictions allow that. Just now our restrictions don't but as I`ve posted the Garcia situation needs sorting.

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

Brought back by un-popular demand.

The commentator has to be the worst ever. Sounds like a snooker commentator. Dreadful.

Riding well but you could see the potential back in 2019 he was pretty raw and tried manoeuvres at the wrong time. He just had something about him that you knew he was going to be a good rider given time.

This kind of thing never works . Seems a good idea on paper , but there is always a reserve who improves out of all proportion . I would imagine there will be a few instances this season where a number 7 will be " injured " just before a tough fixture . Smith's injury is a legitimate one as he crashed during the week , but I admit circumstances have fallen favourably for us .

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?)

We haven't won two home matches to get near the playoffs winning ALL home matches is a must as most people know.So not inaccurate.

There is a simple way to avoid track & trace. Don't download the App.

If we can't win home matches ?

Well done to Bears,best Team won.Charles Wright masterclass on how to ride the 4th bend.Hope he is Ok after his fall after end of last heat.There is not lot that can be said regarding Berwick top 4,when Jordan Jenkins can show them how it’s done on their home track.(He is an up and coming talent though).

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

I don't understand all this stuff, are they showing it on either of their Eurosport Channels? I'm certainly not going to lay out more money to watch it on a mobile phone, we want to see it as a family.

Isn't there a "Briggo" track cover? He's missed a trick there

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.

Got my refund, without even asking. Fair play to them.

Just do what you've got to do mask wise! I've been wearing a mask for 7 hours a day at work for all the time we've had to wear them, you do what you have to do for everyone else's sake!!!!!

They're frightened the IOW will be a success and others will follow I imagine is part of it.

I’m happy to see Berwick run a NDL team, but feel they it would have been better supported in stand alone meetings.That’s just my personal thoughts.Feel that £25 for double headers might be too much for some people.I certainly feel that £50 + fuel is not value for me and wife.Will pick and choose matches I will attend.