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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

A rider that would have been at reserve at number 5 is absolute shocking. Heat 13 line up of Rowe and Allen

Wrong again. Fantastic heat 15!

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.

My pics from Brokstedt: https://www.baansportfansite.nl/nieuws/2125/zware-middag-voor-team-nl-in-brokstedt-maar-de-opgedane-ervaring-telt

I saw him at Fjelsted in 2018 or 19. Looked pretty good to me and is certainly rated.

The Olympics has nothing to do with the lack of Speedway coverage as time differences are total opposites

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

You might well be better off with R/R at Monmore being able to use Nicholls, Harris, Pedersen and Andersen. Dont rememeber Ostergaard pulling up any trees at Momore.

Kings lynn to win this for me think they will be too strong for us the new manager seems to have picked them up hope you see some good racing and everyone stays safe. No injuries

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.

Scored 6pts in Denmarks U23 team win in Brokstedt on Sunday. They won the meeting with 47pts over Germany 44pts while GB finished 3rd with 27pts Quite a tidy rider by all accounts.

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

Kyle Bickley is at No.2 again for this meeting.

2miles from track. dry and sunny with white fluffy clouds

Surely you can't be questioning the tactical genius that is Richie? ;-)

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

Students are on summer break . The club do have a link with the local university on their radio show and website . On admission students showing their student card can get in for £5 (ages 17-22). For the school children 12-16 it's £2 and under 11's are free . Naturally with covid restrictions the club have not been able to continue visits to schools or to shopping areas, fetes, scouts and guides etc

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!

Hope Birmingham survive, I follow speedway all over the country and have visited Perry Barr on many occasions always staying over in the nearby hotel. I don't know wot marketing as been done but as the local student population been tapped into at all? I hope the walloping at Leicester hasn't disheartened the promotion & the supporters even more. It angered me when a few weeks back they were allowed a full house 18,000 for the cricket at Edgbaston yet just down the road at Birmingham speedway they cudn't open because of the restrictions Test event or not this demonstrated the madness of the rules around covid. Hope the Brummies survive

Yes.

Don't all fines go to the Ben Fund?

Yep thats the issue preaching to the converted so to speak.. it needs to get out to the wider unconverted Birmingham.

I got to agree-lots of luck played a part in the one-off World Finals, but at least there was a winner at the end of 20 heats. I guess the Grand Prix system is fairer (maybe) -but how can you have a winner without winning a single Grand Prix event(e.g. Mark Loram)?-Who decided on the points set up for these meetings-does it make any sense ??

But Rob's lads can do what they wants...

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.

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

speedway riders of any ability have probably got more "bottle" in their little finger than you(indeed most if us) would have in your entire body

If I were under threat of redundancy from my employer, who announces they might not last the season, not sure I would be feeling like giving it 100% ????

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

It’s a farce. Just set a half decent points limit and let teams build accordingly

Doing very nicely at the moment it seems. A friend of mine - who has been going since it opened on the Island - said last night's attendance was the biggest he has seen for 'a very long time'. Anyone else fancy dumping the BSPL....................

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..