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A Speedway promoter reacting to feedback...? And taking it as constructive comment, and not defensively? And using it to improve his operation rather than decide "I am right' and ignore the feedback? Are you sure you are cut out for this Barry?

It's Shovvy's way of finding an excuse for why his "big fish in a small pond" club are 2nd tier, has to come and talk to fans of proper big teams to stay relevant

I think we have to accept that Tai Woffinden isn't the main man anymore.

Hopefully this week we will have revised the camera angle because the start cam points basically to the least popular 4th bend stand. I can assure you our crowds have been up this year and last night we were really busy. Thanks so much for the feedback, reading this and plus my own viewing of it, made us realise we needed to change the position of start-cam. Andy H from Speedway Portal is amazing at what he does.. so looking forward to the next lot of film. Thanks again

well start cam in the original position would have worked this week as we had a stonking crowd..... along with... 27 multi discipline races including a new format of 6 x 15m handicap races, and 3 x nominated races giving the last place team first options A little more track grading than we would have normally liked… But we also had the balloon man, sweet stall, sack races for kids, whistles, smoke, great food, rip roaring crowd, stadium on point, welcoming staff, pits access, great team kit, picnics, clean bathrooms, name boards, filming, interviews, rider interaction, wheelies, flag laps, laughter, smiles, smiles and smiles and that all equates to a super show of fun time family speedway.

I hope I am the not only fan who has noticed that only one promoter has had any input to this thread! I also noted that the promotion concerned left the BSPL after being treated like dirt by the powers that be in the run up to this season. Well done to Barry Bishop and the Warriors promotion for all the hard work they do to put on entertainment that speedway fans can enjoy. From all the reports I have seen the first two meetings have been a success from the point of view of entertainment value and good crowds which is very good news. All I now need them to sort out is South Western Railway and Wightlink so they run the late boat from Ryde and the late train from Portsmouth so I can enjoy the racing and get home to Wimbledon after the meeting. Sadly the local council allowed a football stadium to be built on the Speedway and Stock Car track in Plough Lane that I enjoyed both sports from August 1957 (6th October 1962 in the case of stox) until the last car meeting on 26th March 2017. After what happened at Wimbledon I know one firm I would never buy a flat or house from.

Referee had 3 decisions to make and got all 3 wrong. Woffinden one was ridiculous, dropped it miles after any contact, so much room to stay on. Madsen, there was contact but it was minimal and there was a delay till Emil realised he should drop it. The final, look at the line Janowski took, he was so tight going down the straight he was riding over gate 2! He was never going to have the correct angle to turn it in time with another rider alongside him and ploughed into Emil. Crazy decision to exclude Emil.

We were booked on the 4pm from Lymington and came back on the 11pm from Fishbourne. It felt like a chartered speedway ferry!

In a restaurant in Swansea !! But Vaculik beat Lambert and Lindgren beat Madsen

We'll have to wait until racers & royals logs in, he's the only one that truly knows what's going on

Tomorrow's lottery numbers?

I see. You make a daft comment and then pretend it was a wind up all along

Emil dropped the bike and fooled the ref there.

Dunno, but it didn't faze Lambert whatever it is!

Hi, we do it every week... have a look on our FB pages... they go down really well. We have done "secret bike look-ins", sponsors review, staff review, meet the mascot all that kind of thing. People like them a lot and it just builds the meeting up a bit more. We could probably do more rider and management coversations and I will take that away although we alway do rider and management interviews after every meeting.

It will never catch on.... All that entertainment malarkey...

Didn't take long did it? I know more than you so ner, ner, ner, ner, ner, nerr. Its tedious frankly

I wish "numpty's" , like yourself, travelled to away matches themselves to see for themselves that it was not an unfounded theory & that promoters do not just think about themselves but riders, mechanics, referees, sponsors, track staff, medics & everyone else in putting on a meeting for us fans. All you had to do was check the news & weather to know there was a band of bad weather coming from the South West to the North East throughout the day & even Redcar have cancelled early as well. But by all means, you could have travelled up North to as far as Edinburgh or Glasgow to watch live speedway if you did not want a wasted journey. Will your conspiracy theory then spread onto the meetings at Eastbourne, Leicester & Berwick tomorrow night, if cancelled, because it will clash with SGP Round 4 on BT Sport.

bandits to win over to legs

the official website is saying it is now raining best to call it off early to save riders and fans travelling

While on the topic of value for money..... he is Bob Coles feedback from yesterday. With 28 races last night, (Barry Bishop, you forgot the extra unprogrammed pee wee race)!, it really was a full fun filled night. Something for everyone. Some excellent racing, plenty of passing, and some very keen youngsters giving their all. Brilliant to see James Wright there with his son. Once up to speed, his lad tried wringing the neck off the bike to go faster! He obviously enjoyed himself even though he didnt win a race. Loved the sound of the uprights, completely different to the laydowns. Also to watch and listen to the JAP going around after the meeting. 'Now thats what I call music', well to my ears anyway! The Stadium was picture perfect in the sunshine, although it did rain for a few minutes later on. Enjoyed the best burger Ive tasted anywhere this year. Take a bow the volunteers in the Retreat. Thank you. A couple of minor issues. I couldnt hear the names of the changes in the Pee Wee races. I know one was James Wrights son, but didnt get the name of the girl at No.1. Also, I didnt hear a word before the meeting when Barry addressed the crowd. I know roughly what would have been said, as he says similar things at every meeting. Best team won on the night. Well done Steve Piper on your first ever meeting in charge. Not that you would have know his team won,I must have heard it a dozen times or more on the drive home! Met loads of people before, during and after the meeting. A smashing night out at the speedway. Was it value for money? You had better believe it was. Happy to stand side by side with Barry Bishop and Martin Widman in their endeavours to give fans real value for money. They are doing it right now. Long may that continue. NOTE we have already fix the sound problem... as in Barry cannot hold a microphone properly

Most speedway merchandise just seems geared for people to wear on the terracing, when i go in Man Utd shop everything is geared for general leisure ware for everyday use, i know theres a massive difference between speedway and football clubs financially but i would like to see more leisure ware type merchandise that i could wear socially not just at the track.

It looked good at Brough last week with a considerable number of the away fans who were in club colours (nice weather might have had something to do with that; but those short sleeved numbers like football tops did look smart) and its the same when Glasgow and Edinburgh fans turn up anywhere there are lots of them resplendent in club colours... always shows a bit of pride and passion in your club to me... Regards THJ

I really don’t know why people continually bang on about one big league because it isn’t going to happen, primarily because of a lack of available riders and two the fact that quite a few clubs cannot or won’t put a competitive championship side together. Their is still a difference between the leagues but it’s definitely getting closer.

In the main it was led by leaders ( over the last 20 years ) who were incapable of taking it anywhere new and had little or no vision of what it could be if re-invented. Too much concentration on what the riders said they wanted / needed and almso NO thought about what the many departing supporters wanted / needed ( to encourage them to part with their money ). Less emphasis on rocket ship bikes - speed never having been the main attraction in the recipe of presenting close exciting racing, Should be simpler ( cheaper ) one class bikes 350cc or restricted 500 cc so that riders who wanted to race, could have a go at doing so. Sadly too late for that as many promoters and riders are fixed in the mindset of "it's OK as it is". It's not and the pool of riders ride anywhere and everywhere for any team in any league across the country. Not my cup of tea - Unless that circus provided close exciting racing in 50% plus of the heats. It is "all over" in the first 1/2 lap in 75% of heats ( races they cannot be called! ).

Top 2 go through to semi final, other 4 compete for last 2 places, top of league get choice of who they want in semi final

Funnily enough I visited the Poole track shop last night for the first time this season. Thought I would treat myself to a Pirates mug at £4.99. Ended up being tempted by a new Pirates jacket at £59.95. A queue in there for tills 15 deep. All holding Pirates jackets and t-shirts at £29.95. Hundreds of pounds of merchandise in that one queue at that one moment. Merchandise must raise thousands of pounds for Poole over the course of the season. It’s an important income source and to lease it out to a third party is foolhardy in the extreme.

Pleased to report to that Ulrich was discharged from hospital in Edinburgh this afternoon, he is now flying back to his family in Denmark (via Glasgow & Stanstead) to start his recovery. I know he’s been blown away by the concern the shown by the supporters of Glasgow & Peterborough and the fans in general.

I would suggest people are bothered. Redcar have recently started doing merchandise themselves and the stadium is a river of red every week!

was at redcar last friday riders on parade by the start gate everyone had there helmet on as being introduced soz lads it looks awful leave them off do a slow ride round to wave at the fans its not alot to ask .

Must confess I have never understood the "use it or lose it" ultimatum often quoted by fans, (and indeed some promoters), down the years... By the very definition such utterances are used suggests that those who are "expected to go" (and therefore regarded as 'loyal fans'), are actually simply "not bothered" whether the clubs carry on or not.. Because if it did mean so much to them, they would still be attending in sufficient numbers to not require those very comments in the first place.. A demise of a club is sad, but often inevitable, as the 'tipping point' is finally reached re costs v income after several weeks of struggle, and the difference between the two finally becomes untenable to be bridged by the promoter... And as the reasons for that demise often lies within the operating model of the sport, and is therefore self inflicted, it seems to prove that (contrary to popular belief), turkey's do seem to vote for xmas after all it would appear.. Promoters often do seem to sometimes over estimate how 'important' a Speedway club is to its followers and make the mistake of believing it means 'everything' to them similar to all other team sports.. However, by it's very operating model, the sport doesn't engender that blind loyalty, devotion and tribalism that other team sports do, therefore it simpy cannot mean the same emotionally... Which ultimately is the 'acid test' of any team sports' sustainability and progression I would suggest..

Well he is between courses.

Home track decision from Ackroyd

It used to be the case that helmets had to be worn if practice starts were to be done, for a slow ride round bare heads were OK. That could have changed though. When I was a Promoter I always insisted that the riders didn't put their helmet on until they'd been introduced.

Sadly I think you may be right there. I know Birmingham did pretty well in the 70's come early 80's at the old Ladbroke Stadium (now the one stop) but that was way before my time. The sport failed miserably in 85/86 when they raced at the Wheels Centre. I've been to Perry Barr a couple of times since the Brummies re-opened in 2007. The first couple of occasions had some good racing. I watched half a meeting from inside behind the glass and that was a boring experience. The last occasion was probably around 2012 and the racing was a dull affair and lots of dust. On each occasion I've been there I've never seen big crowds, only the die-hards and a few away fans. In the old days if promoters were not getting the crowds they would up sticks and move the operation to another track. Oxford could be an option??

Aye no bother Willie, I do remember when you were alright, was a while ago mind you

No you can't. Only if you are replacing your number 1, which obviously Matty isn't. 012.4.2 Guest Rider (G) Replaces an absent regular team member subject to the following: - a) if the absent rider, with an established MA, is in the top 1-5 of the team, then the missing rider’s MA will be enhanced by +5% at a home meeting to determine the allowance for the guest rider. b) a rider may ride as a guest (in an official meeting) at a track only once in an 8 day period (within that league) unless he is replacing the home teams #1 or is an NDL rider guesting for the home team. So that rules out everybody who guested last week. Ricky wells fits.

Public transport is a non-starter unfortunately. Although it's only about 8 miles from the town centre to Arlington Stadium it may be worth leaving a little earlier than you might expect, as there are major roadworks taking place between Polegate and the Cophall roundabout that may increase your journey time. I'm not sure what it's like in the evenings as I don't take that route to Arlington, however on a Saturday afternoon a couple of weeks ago it took me 25 minutes to travel about a mile, and that was with the judicious use of filtering on my motorbike.

Eager and Up for It as I hugely enjoyed the last one. Those that really want to race can do so. Still excites me and makes me want to watch.

Always honestly looking for a reason to go back but my own current disinterest is backed up by this view of what was on offer! Eager for the GP weekend though!

I do as it happens I was asking if it had been released yet Smart Ass... Regards THJ

I had discounted him as he didn’t actually ride in a final.

Truly wasting your time my friend... This feedback could be replicated ten thousand (at least) fold... No one is listening "I need to find a guest as my rider is injured for my team but not his other one".. "Who rides my track well and I can use that 5% above the average of my injured rider the best?" Utter. Utter. Bollocks.. But seems to make sense to those who run the sport.. . "Roll up. Roll up. Form and orderly queue and give us your money".. "You should be f***ing grateful us promoters do this"...

It’s a shame there couldn’t be a “have a slide yourself”, perhaps during the interval. I acknowledge it’s completely unworkable and impractical, but might add some humour to the evening.

Surely the costs are the same. Rent, medical cover, staff etc. The only difference maybe the riders wages.

He thought he might not get paid so has gone on strike

Let's be brutally honest.. These clubs are only in existence to provide riders with rides... Meaning they ride for all and sundry on as many nights as they can... Bottom line is it doesn't really matter who wins any UK meeting, meaning it also doesnt really matter who wins any UK league.. Therefore expecting people to "buy in to it", and take it seriously as a team sport is a huge ask I would say, and you cannot envy any promoters trying to go out and "sell it"... As tracks close it will find its natural level and those that can still generate a "decent crowd" will prosper (as much as you can in UK speedway), and those that can't will go by the wayside.. Having been to Brum a couple of times it must be a difficult place to try and sell Speedway. At 50 something I always felt "very young" when surrounded by a large amount of Brum fans , and city centre tracks within large conurbations, eg Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, all seem to attract very, very few of the millions who live virtually on their doorstep.. And teenage kids simply wont be seen anywhere where their father attends (and in many cases their grandad).. You can only flog a dead horse so many times until you realise that to keep throwing money at something, that has a tiny chance of gaining any return, is completely futile.. I do admire promoters who are willing to put their own money into the sport, but also am then equally as amazed that they then allow themselves to run it the way they do... Speedway's very own version of Hari Kari... (And that isnt a 4 point Japanese international that could be worth a punt)..

Ridiculous comment track conditions changed dramatically after heavy rain just admit Poole dropped a clanger getting rid of him,he also guested for Eastbourne recently and did well.

I've always thought that if you don't offer merchandise, people will never buy it, and it is free advertising for the clubs when it's being worn. But on the flip side, it's very easy to find out the cost of things nowadays and people often think their being ripped off if someone dares sell an item for a kwid more than it cost to produce! Sort of a double edged sword now. I remember as a kid rushing to the track shop to get a replica race jacket or a photo but I'm not sure people are that bothered anymore. It's a shame really

i know you post in jest mike but in essence you are very correct sportsonly covenants can be got around pretty easy