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Well that's going well

A think they might also sneak a point at Newcastle.

Ask Barry Bishop and Martin Widman to be in charge of bringing Speedway into the 21st century. They not only understand that these days you need to provide more than 15 heats of Speedway to make a night out but will listen to the ideas and thoughts of others. In fact they are so forward thinking that they were forced out of league Speedway in the UK!

When virtually all the GP riders are based in Poland riding for Polish teams it sort of negates a “home” track advantage, and therefore does it matter in times of this pandemic that most of the gp’s are in a country where the riders can actually get to a gp meeting. If things take a turn for the worse, COVID wise, it could be the Danish, Swedish, Russian meetings could well be cancelled. So at least we get a world championship over more then one meeting.

Really feel sorry to see Granty in this predicament, which is in no small way from what i have read due to the previous promotion and the BSPL suggesting it was better to purchase the previous promotion rather than liquidate the previous promotion with all its debts, sometimes its the good guys that fail not for failings on there part but due to previous incumbants building up debts which impact on the current season. Good luck and lets hope a way forward can be found.

Id rather have a contracted rider than guests. I fully appreciate the efforts of our guests, but we need stability So far our guests have scored 5pts from 2 home meetings and 3pts from 2 away meetings.. The other away meeting we used R/R and scored 3pts. Simply by scoring 4 or 5pts will certainly add to our firepower. Now all we need is for Cookie to come back and ride like he did before his injury. Things are looking much brighter

Funny how the business commitments only came into play when Poole dropped a division.

What you have to remember is the first hundred through the door every meeting don’t count as the season ticket money was seized. So if there are 500 through the turnstiles then there’s only 400 paying customers. Maybe he’s thinking if he keeps the cost down( which he has) he’ll attract fans from other teams( Glasgow,Edinburgh Berwick Redcar etc) as well entice old fans back. A lot of people are telling him what he should be doing when basically it’s him who’s losing money every week. Maybe this is his last through of the dice. The press release before was very ominous

That's when team management involved tactical decisions, the rules of today don't allow for it. Your number 1 must ride at 1 what a crap rule that was to bring in

I think you've understated just how good Pickering was tonight.

Matt and Nigel have been working on this for some 3 weeks jumping through several bureaucratic hoops to finally get the signing approved. The added bonus is that there shouldn't be too many clashes with the Danish fixtures.

He was head and shoulders above everyone else in the Brummies side. I'll never forget his performance for the Bees to win the title at Poole. He can sometimes have a poor match but overall he puts in a shift for the side he's racing for. Hope he gets a full season at Perry Barr.

Cook should be at 2. Would ride in 3 heats with the no1. "Easy" ride in heat 8 and then RR in heat 13. With Cook and King together in 3 heats ... must get 3 heat advantages for it to work But hey what do the paying public know.... Pressure now on Allen to score well... the rider who would be at reserve if Starke had ridden enough meetings for an average. Oh well.....

In my opinion promoters in general are just as much to blame for the sport going on such a huge decline as anyone. Its their product to sell each week and very few do a good enough job. Admittedly I have never been a speedway promoter and never will be, but I wouldn't invest in a speedway club and expect handouts to keep the club going. What I have seen recently is a couple of Championship clubs having the begging bowl out for money to help them through the season as well as threatening to close down because the fans aren't packing into the stadiums. And those clubs are clubs with new promoters over the last couple of years who have never promoted before. The value for money just isn't there. On average around two hours stood around watching 15 heats of speedway, overpriced food and drink, barely anything going on between the heats and more often than not being stood in freezing cold conditions listening to completely out dated music. Add that with poor stadiums that look older than the average pensioner and processional racing on track and its clear to see why there are no fans coming through the gate. I absolutely love speedway, admittedly no where near as much as when I attended Newport regular before we shut down and I moved to Aus, so I am not one that wants to see the sport fail and cease to exist. But I really do think that the sport has been driven that far into the ground (in Britain) that it is beyond a state of repair. It would take a miracle of epic proportions to revive the sport in the UK, IMO. I remember the beginning of the end being when Rickardsson quit Poole after a few meetings one season, I think it was the season they brought the grading system into the Elite League. Ever since, the quality has got weaker and weaker, prices have gone up and up and ultimately, crowds have gone down and down.

You certainly can

Thats a selfish hunt . Like he did to get a Champ place, now he's no good in Poland Can se Kasper coming in soon ??. Heeps is crap.

We’ve watched bachelor slowing down and allowing Lynn riders to pass after looking over his shoulder. That’s not rusty

Awesome performance from the Tigers tonight. Pickering was awesome and easily rider if the night. Nielsen rode well and Hume with plenty of effort. Jack won races when he needed to. Kyle came good late on Hopefully Adam is fit for Thursday. Bachelor lacklustre at best. He’s taking the piss now. Time for a change

Wrong again. Fantastic heat 15!

Nope, Olympic highlights

I don't particularly go along with that one. Many Number One's (based on average) rode further down the team order...the likes of Collins, Lovaas, Gundersen, Jessup, T.Jansson, Wilson, Boulger, Simmons, Lee, Crump, Sanders etc etc and would meet the opposite Number One twice. Even Mauger would ride at Number Four or even Number Two on occasions for tactical reasons. Not sure about the second half analogy either...the competition would often be quite fierce amongst team mates and Betts, Cole and Simmons, for example, always wanted to get one over resulting on one occasion Terry receiveing an injury in one second half event. I liked the Second Halves...gave an opportunity for youngsters/prospective team members gaining a team place and experience. I've said it often enough we were lucky at Cowley what with the Promotional tie up with Eastbourne and Peterborough we got the likes of Balllard, Kennet, Davis, Greer, Geer etc plying their trade before eventually makin the move into the main team. Phil Crump was reported as considering his postion in British Speedway due to the loss of the Second Halves and lost earnings. I did put the question to Martin Rogers some time back and he did give an interesting insight in an edition of "Backtrack" citing Bert Harkins as one example who loved the second halves and who also went into print citing same.

It devalues the competition for me, 6 is too many, it's over half of the GP's, 3 should probably be the maximum in my opinion. I think any national or international competition should be run on neutral tracks, it devalues it for me when Somerset kept winning the pairs, Peterborough kept winning the 4's and Cov riders kept winning the British Championship. They're already holding GP's in Denmark, Sweden, Czech Republic, Poland & Russia to hold 6 in one country is almost farcical in my opinion (as a World Championship). If you're going to hold double headers, they should all be double headers, not just the ones in Poland (and Czech Republic), just doesn't seem very fair to me.

Back in my late teens, I used to wear my Panthers polo to all the clubs. Proved very popular with the ladies.

I think Eurosports coverage so far has been dire. Three perfectly good Premier League matches tonight, and no coverage! Fortunately Eurosport is part of my Sky package, I'd certainly be upset if I was paying extra for it.

That happens weekly though, just common sense really, can’t get annoyed at it, because it’s not something that a particular team or rider does, everyone does it

With the level of experience Bomber has, that really should go without saying. The standout Birmingham rider for me though was the guest, Jason Edwards. OK, so he only scored 4 points from 5 starts, but his attitude was spot on and for the life of me, I can't see why he hasn't got a regular team place in the Championship. Overall though, that was the most wretched performance I've witnessed from a Birmingham team since 1986. Yes, it was that bad.

To quote Arthur Foggen; "then's then, and now's now". Honestly, I still have trouble believing that we have Saturdays in summer with no bloody speedway...

SIGNING | PIRATES SIGN RATED DANE Poole Pirates have filled the vacancy left by the complications in travel encountered by Czech rider Ondrej Smetana, by signing the promising young Dane Benjamin Basso. The 20 year old (born 2nd July 2001) who was a member of the Danish national side that took on Team GB at King's Lynn in October 2019 follows in the footsteps of three former Danish riders who have had Pirates experience, as he was crowned the 2016 World Youth Speedway Champion, a title previously won by Leon Madsen (2000), Nicolai Klindt (2001) and Frederik Jakobsen (2013). Poole owner Matt Ford said "I spoke to Nicolai about Benjamin and he thought he would be an ideal fit but he thought he had Polish commitments to fulfil which would have precluded him from joining us. I then had a conversation with Frederik who gave me the tip-off that Benjamin was so keen to come to the UK that he would give Poland a miss if there was a chance he could ride for us. "But I have to say, it has not been an easy ride to get the signing completed as there has been a lot of additional hurdles in our way as a consequence of Brexit, including a spoken language test and a personal hearing before he was granted the necessary paperwork to allow him to get the clearance needed. Once again, we are hugely grateful to Nigel Leahy who helped steer us all through the process. "As for Benjamin himself, he won't be eligible until Friday and that means something of a baptism of fire for the lad around the small Armadale circuit. We need to be sensible and not put any undue pressure on his young shoulders but I feel that working alongside the likes of Danny [King] and Rory [Schlein] we will be able to bring his career along and given that he currently holds a higher average for his Danish side Fjelsted than both Frederik and Peter Kildemand we are already starting from a reasonable foundation." With his debut on Friday, Benjamin will face the busy schedule facing the Pirates for, after their SGB Championship meeting at Edinburgh on Friday, they go on to race at Berwick on Saturday and Newcastle on Sunday.

At Leicester probably............... ............ but IMO Edinburgh are stronger away.

For those a little shy about wearing their speedway merchandise... Speedway t-shirt

It wants to he,I've just got the all clear to come tonight

Doesn't mean they sell though. The problem with track shops and indeed all retail, is that people have different tastes. Some prefer all singing all dancing items, other prefer simple looking garments that they can wear out of speedway. We try and cater for both, but never in a million years will we keep everyone happy. At the end of the day, we try and do our very best for all of our clubs, all of which are unique in their own way. We must also remember, that as much as we love what we do and do our very best for each club, we still have to make a profit to continue trading. It is no good us buying loads of expensive items that 2 or 3 people want and then be left with loads that we cannot sell, that is a false economy. Taking chances on expensive items is a dangerous game to play when you are trying to survive. Speedway is not like football. Football order items in the 100s and 1000s. We order in the 5's. We have to. Many clubs have found out to their cost, that merchandise is not the huge money spinner they think it is and have been left with thousands of pounds worth of stock, that I'm quite sure their fans would prefer them to spend on the riders or track. Its a helluva risk. We have been in this industry for many years and know it well. We can all argue with others and tell them what we think they should be doing and how we should be doing it, but when you are spending someone else's money its easy, not so easy when its your own.

After the demolition of the mighty Bandits,Poole will be worried no doubt.

None Semion. Thanks for the kind messages folks.Feel optimistic about getting there now.Been done,just other checks to do and hopefully out by 4 or 5 Hopefully Buster will read the forum and have some sympathy and let me in for nothing,I'll buy a program

The club's announcement last week indicated that the Edinburgh away meeting on 6th August is the more likely date for the Number 2 newcomer - thats of course if all the necessary paperwork and permissions are in place.

Pirates 3 easy wins on the Northern Tour Bish Bash & Bosh! Monarchs will lose their crown! Bandits ermmm they'll just lose! Diamonds will lose their cutting edge! Pure Piracy! C'mon Pirates!

Yes.

Don't all fines go to the Ben Fund?

Can see witches taking a point or more, cook is on fire just at hope he has a fresh donk, need solid support off king, Allen and starke,all are most capable around the aces turf , shame missing crump (or guest a number one that wants to have a crack )as that leaves no room for error or 4th places , witches will surprise

Fingers crossed that goes smoothly tellboy A last heat decider would make sure they set it up correctly

Totally irrelevant, Bob. With any simple points accumulating system, it is all about that - who gathers the most points, not who wins the most meetings. Same with F1, and most motorsports. If a guy finishes second in every meeting, and gets the most points, he deserves to win. Look at league racing in speedway. Your team may win 12 of the 13 races, and still lose... EDIT : Jack Biggs won more races than anyone else at the 1951 World Final - and finished third...

It is difficult to see what the answer is and I don't think there is a simple solution to the sport's problems. On a good night, live speedway is as good as any other sport in the world but it shoots itself in the foot far too often. The rules should be simple but they aren't. Guests and doubling up has turned into a monster that only benefits the riders currently racing but constantly squeezes out others and has made the fans feel like the riders aren't 'theirs'. And the stadiums are poor, there is no getting away from that. Racing wise, I've been going for 45 years and we all remember the classics. However, there were duff meetings in the 70s, 80s and 90s and not all meetings are going to be brilliant. I've been to 8 meetings at four tracks this season and would say that 2 were very good, 1 was poor and 5 were in the middle and still enjoyable. I watch Sheffield Wednesday quite regularly as well and would say that the ratio of good, poor and average games was about the same.

To be fair Premiership Clubs are generally closer to Poole and race mid-week, the Championship clubs are predominately northern and mainly race at the weekend.

Don’t get me wrong there is no one more frustrated than me that a guy who has a clean field can put such a shocking track in and then promote i go all over Europe watching this great sport and it breaks me to think my local track is such a poor example of this sport it’s ok saying xyz can ride but you need to have a presentation that the majority can excel on. Here is hoping one day I win the lottery I will sort for us all .

Heat 13 was certainly a cracker... people used to use the expression worth the admission money alone... before it was 17 odd quid

It very much depends on what you're looking for from your speedway, quite a few people are happy to watch strung out poor racing as long as their team are coming home with a 5-1, for me that's not speedway but I understand and accept that others enjoy that sort of thing.

Delighted to see that after x-rays Jye Etheridge has no broken bones but is obviously very battered and bruised.

Excellent meeting all round. How many people are aware of the absolute nightmare they had getting riders there? On Wednesday, Wightlinks new and largest ferry Victoria was put out of action due to a mishap. Almost every rider booking had to be changed, some being switched to Lymington Right up to about 4pm, there were still problems. Fortunately, everyone made it in time. Even on the last ferry back, we were all sat round chatting. Barry? Going around everyone thanking us for coming etc. 28 races on just over 3hrs, including a track repair hold up and 3 x ambulance visits Something for everyone. A complete contrast to your 'normal BSPL' meeting of 15 Hts...... now go home. KIds were involved from start to finish. Barry even apologised that due to holdups, he couldnt hold the kids running race. They are working their socks off to produce something you dont normally see. Breaking the 'established mold'. They are succeeding and Im sure the BSPL are watching everything very closely. Long may it continue.

Good luck to Luke Harrison, every time I see him at Monmore he seems to get steadier and faster, future wolf I hope

Include Youth Speedway? Some upright engined bikes races? Some of the 'oldies' riding round on their Rudges, Japs etc? Maybe a 'devil take the hindmost' where the last rider drops out after a mad one lap dash of racing? Two riders starting at opposite sides of the track similar to the cycling pursuit? With the "Grand Finale" at the end of four or five hours of entertainment... Get the merchandise stalls there so fans can dip in and out of the racing... Include some of the usual face painting, bouncy castles, beat the starter etc for the kids.. Maybe hook up a PlayStation too? Something for the older generation and something for the younger including teenagers.. Raffle off some 'season/however meetings left tickets' for the club at say a fiver a ticket or sell some set amount of meetings tickets in a block eg next five matches, at discount special offer rates.. And probably most important of all, get some names, emails, mobile numbers, etc etc of those in attendance to target market them post that day.. Maybe even give everyone a club car sticker or a pen as a memento for them to take away too to a) get your name on a fair few cars locally, and b) those in possession of the items will have a tangible reminder of their day which they will see often.. As they start from so a very low base marketing and promotion wise, there is really so much which could be done..