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I claimed a bit of responsibility too !

Enjoyed my first ever visit to Poole, Tigers struggled to get out the starts and to be fair the heart has been ripped out of the club with Ulrich's accident but the guys tried hard, I think the pirates will go on and win the championship, they have a strong team. The pirate fans were very gracious towards our very small travelling support, thanks for that.

I thought some scum might of stole it for the van, and wouldn't know what to do with the bikes, and maybe leave them somewhere. What scumbags

One of the drawbacks of having all that sign writing on your van! A plain colour van would seem a safer option to me!

Perhaps it would have been a good idea to have the jab the day after a meeting rather than a day before

Think we all know the answer to that.

You’re always up against it if you visit Edinburgh and see McGregor is the referee.

Just looking at Isle of Wight Masters Championship. www.dirthub.co.uk/island-masters-shale-track-championship-schedule-entry-list/ You have to applaud the promoters for taking on meetings of this format. There's no reason why stadium racing of this type can't be run with both speedway and grasstrack bikes dependent on the size and condition of the track. I think individuals on this forum are too quick to dismiss this type of event ultimately who cares at least it gives UK riders an opportunity to race instead of applauding Wolverhampton with their plethora of imports.

My mate went and said it was well supported with lots of families attending. He said the presentation was very good, refreshments great and minimal delays and he got about 25 heats for £12. He also saw ex Glasgow promoter Gordon Pairman taking a close interest in what was going on. Well done Isle of White by all accounts.

And don't forget Ben Barker.

Superb lineup. I’m sure for some it could be seen as an audition for 22. Stunning way to end the home season and further wet the appetite for next.

I think there’s a good chance of someone coming in but any riders should be on points money only. Stick a rider on a guarantee and there’s no incentive for them to score. They get paid regardless.

Think most of your riders prefer our track to yours too! Bad night for the Scorpions and the track prep was poor and drastically under watered. Well done Lions your gating was better than ours and with no outside line the racing by our usual standards, was pretty average. We are now looking over our shoulders, watching teams below catching up in the league points, our remaining matches look well difficult too.

Speaks volumes about what was "on offer" doesnt it? Why pay to watch contrived septets in a competition devoid of credibility or status, when you have already paid Sky and can watch it at home? Out of 5 of us who used to attend pretty much each week, up until 10 or so years ago, only one now does so regularly, with the rest of us getting our fix by watching the TV and taking it in turns to "host the evening"... We will though all go to Cardiff and several of us will go to Poland to watch League racing and GP's, as well as attend FIM events over here.. And "if the weather is nice" we will visit a few tracks on the odd occasion.. Cant beat a bit of "live" Speedway now and again can you?.. I (and the others), would still go every week if the leagues werent ran so 'Mickey Mouse' and actually had some kudos in winning.. And there are more than a "fair few" out there like me I would suspect who just need some persuasion to attend again... (A "fair few" that is more than actually currently attend I would suggest).. And by "persuasion", I mean those in charge actually running the sport properly, either in a league system or in an individual one.. Either way, make it mean something and many who "used to go" regularly, and still keep a very keen interest in the sport, might start to attend regularly again. One thing for sure though.. To keep doing the same thing every single season isnt an option surely is it?

After a very unhappy visit to Poole in August I've had an idea. You know those old black and white POW films where the inmates are trying to get rid of the soil taken from a tunnel? They put the soil in bags inside their trousers with a draw string attached. Then they wandered onto the exercise area, pulled the draw string and released the unwanted soil onto the ground. Perhaps visiting riders could adopt a similar technique with bags of shale when they are doing their track walk at Wimborne Road?

you must remember we are the poole pirates and we make the rules

In the early years, GP 'stars' were possibly thought of as a drawcard as British fans expected to see 'the best riders in the world'. And quite possibly promoters would have seen decreased crowds without them, so it's understandable why they got sucked in. However, history has shown that the inclusion of GP riders did little or nothing to improve crowds or revenues, or ultimately justify the costs that were incurred. That's not the fault of the GP riders who are largely only interested in making the best living they can whilst they can, nor indeed can you blame them for having their cake and eating it with respect to riding in the SGP, if that's what British promoters put on their plates. But at the end of the day, they merely hastened the downward spiral of a sport that had already started on the downward spiral. As I said, the moment the SGP cat was allowed to be let out of the bag, the British leagues had stuffed themselves. A GP series was inevitable in the modern world, just as similar disruptive influences like the IPL and Big Bash were inevitable in cricket, but if you're the incumbent running the sport then at least make sure you're part of the bandwagon and get your cut from it...

This meeting wasn't the best match that I have seen this season although it was eventful! This is a typical picture of all spectator sports - there will be good matches and poor matches often for no apparent reason, so no track should be universally condemned as the cause when the latter is the case. The much loved and lamented Brandon track used always to be immaculately prepared and the riders very rarely had cause to complain about it - yet it regularly produced some very processional races and was often criticized as being "too smooth." I have witnessed some very good racing (and some poor stuff too) at Perry Barr this season and in seasons past and like the vast majority of supporters I accept that every meeting isn't going to be a cracker, so I don't blame, the track or the opposition when a meeting falls short of expectations.

Back to the Dugards ( if they've still the will and enthusiasm which only they would know) in a competitive NL with a decent points limit so fans will pay to watch is probably the only viable way next season, oh we had that before it was taken away.

I think you have probably hit the nail on the head there when you get 50,000 at Newcastle and 25,000 at Sunderland plus footballs not cheap either so you can only do one of them plus the local papers aren’t really that bothered about speedway any more and it only gets a mention on the news when Geoff Brown is on. I do think a competitive team has a massive influence also a winning team will always be better supported football being the greatest indicator ,I appreciate everything that has gone on this year and you have to cut your cloth accordingly , in my personal opinion I think the change of race time has had a massive effect especially for me as I can’t now make it and I think that will be the same for a lot of families

Think it's particularly fair Swindon claim the majority out of his clubs...2 league titles and would had been riding for us if it wasn't for the two evils of Covid and Clark Osbourne!

In 2 valve days, as a Jawa factory rider, Ivan Mauger would visit the factory and have tested many new engines on the dyno. He would then pick, for his allocation, the best engines for himself, this gave him a better starting point for tuning than having the less powerful engines. Mind you having Guy Allott as the tuner helped a lot. I can remember seeing the rockers on Ivan engines being on needle rollers, instead of the bronze bushes they used in the factory, much smoother operation. So even standard engines, straight from the factory, are not equal.

But we now find ourselves in the position of NO GP riders riding in our Leagues yet we still elect to run on off-nights and on many prime summer weekends there was no Speedway this year!

You can't sign someone before and not redeclare until after the cut off date Any new signing made prior to the cut off would have to have been in the declared 7 for Thursdays meeting however clandestine the communication was!

The die was cast the moment that the professional league promoters, but particularly the British ones, failed to grasp the opportunities offered by the SGP and allowed the FIM to sell it off to a private promoter with basically no benefit accruing to them. The SGP affects the Polish and Swedish leagues much less - if at all - but even so it's ridiculous that they allowed a prime asset that basically utilises their assets for free to escape them. Very poor vision and even poorer politicking in the FIM corridors of power. Once the SGP got a foothold, the British leagues were screwed either way as the speedway-going public were used to seeing the top riders in Britain, so any stand against using GP riders would cost fans, yet by trying to accommodate the SGP they found they had to run on off-nights and/or not on prime summer weekends, and lost fans anyway. The GP riders dropped Britain once the wages dried up, not least because the fans stopped coming. I'm quite sure they'd still be turning up if the British leagues paid Polish wages, whatever other excuses they may have given. But the whole issue of insufficient riders is a wider one, and is another thing that wasn't well addressed over the years. Doubling-up is fine as a development pathway through the league structure, but ridiculous when it's just a way to make up the numbers. It just becomes the thin end of the wedge - reduce opportunities and you ultimately reduce the number of riders competing for those places.

I'm happy with what I've watched at Peterborough this season and that's with a team written off as wooden spoon winners by many before a wheel was turned

In the grand prixs money will always talk and Bartosz is small in stature he will always be quick but that does not always translate as a bit of weight could mean better grip off the start? Domestically something has to be done to reduce costs to the riders, no one can afford to pay them the sort of money they would like to be earning, so the only other way is to work it so that a riders outgoings are less, thus they can keep more of what they earn without it being ploughed so heavily back into their equipment. Until speedway is made more viable to both, riders, promoters and fans, things will continue on a downward trend, it really is that simple.

True... But instead of adapting and being in charge of their own destiny, the UK Promoters decided to come up with some unfit for purpose half way house, half arsed system which was built around the GP riders' own individual agendas.. Even though it was evident that crowds dwindled whilst these riders rode over here, and when missing (which was regularly), meant guestfest upon guestfest... Which only then sped up the dwindling levels of punters.. And then of course the GP riders then pretty much all dropped the UK like a stone.. Yet the UK still have the same operating model?..... But nowadays just to provide around 70 riders or so with multiple team places... Not a great plan is it?

There were a few people saying before the start of tonight's meeting that we'd picked the wrong guest. They weren't saying that at the end. 4 rides, 4 wins and the 4 fastest times of the night. Thank you Steve, you did us proud. And we'll have no more of that in the KO Cup semi final, thank you very much.

And Kent Royals.

Wtf why was broc not in heat 9 as TS. Some tactical decision made this season need to be seen to be believed!!

Either/or it doesn't reflect on anything to do with speedways finances

You wish the racing was slightly better,,, now let me tell you,,,,that meeting had the most passes seen at Foxhall in many many years,,, and some ipswich fans will tell you the racing was brilliant,, or fantastic. For Ipswich,, that was a very good one,, especially in the first half of meeting...

The proliferation of FIM and UEM competitions over the past few years is really to raise the status of meetings in the smaller speedway countries. The likes of Hungary probably find it hard to attract semi-decent line-ups to their domestic meetings, so sticking a World or European Championship title on it - whether U19 or otherwise - not only raises the apparent profile of those meetings, but they probably also get away with paying far less than they'd otherwise need to be paying to get a similar line-up. That was of course, one of the rationales of the SGP to give more countries more high profile meetings on a regular basis. Again, that major professional leagues have allowed this to happen is very poor, although weekend speedway probably doesn't really impact Poland and Sweden (or Denmark) in quite the same way other than their riders possibly getting injured. I suppose a big loser is longtrack which used to be able to pull the top speedway riders to their Sunday meetings, but the rise of the Polish leagues started that trend anyway. The three or four professional speedway leagues should have taken control of the FIM competitions years ago, whether still under the FIM banner or under a new body. Bernie Ecclestone and the F1 teams did that years ago, and whilst they nominally respect the FIA as the sanctioning body and pay licensing fees, the F1 participants and their venture capital partners fundamentally organise and run the competitions for their own benefit. Yes, the SGP, SWC and SON competitions could be condensed to run on less weekends, but probably television wants regular meetings throughput the season. The UEM speedway competitions should have no place at all in the calendar, except perhaps as a lower tier competition for riders not competing in the main professional leagues. Speedway is primarily a European-based sport anyway, so it's absolutely ridiculous to have these duplications that are effectively competing with each other for riders and sponsors. That the FIM allowed the UEM to do this was another fiasco. I'd possibly even abolish SGP qualifiers as we know it, and select riders based on their averages or some sort of season-long 'second-half' qualification competition in the main professional leagues. You might want to have some qualifying events for riders who don't ride in these competitions to gain 'ranking points' or maybe a place or two in the SGP, and these could be staged in the smaller speedway nations. But I find it absurd that a GP competition uses a knockout format to determine places in the competition. When it comes down to, it's really only the British leagues that are hugely affected by the FIM calendar, but that a (once) major speedway league providing employment to most professional riders in the world allowed its position to be undermined so much, shows very poor political lobbying. No doubt many of the British promoters were of the ilk that 'that they need us more than we need them', 'pull up the drawbridge' and even 'Britannia Rules the Waves', but in the end were totally outmanoeuvred by those in the FIM and private promoters. But they might have persuaded the other professional leagues to their way of thinking by pointing out the potential amounts of money going to the FIM and out of the sport to a private promoter with little or no skin in the domestic speedway game. A total lack of vision combined with the sticking of heads in the sand...

A long way to go for a thumping, so we’ll done you for coming so far to support your team. Always good to hear and see away support.

I’d just like to wish Nathan Greaves all the best and hope to see him back in speedway sometime. He had some troublesome injuries but always a trier. He was in the lead at Kent when bombed from behind and didn’t seem to get right back from that one Take care lad, the Devils will miss you too

Or it’s ripped up after one year.

Regarding weekends, FIM has a part to play in this surely. If the FIM calendar (not just SGP) is strangling the domestic leagues (bar Poland) to the extent that the future of International events starts to look very Polish with a smattering of other Europeans then surely FIM need to think about future product development, especially if none of the SGP money makes it into the domestic leagues. From May and October there are 24/25 weekends (defined as Friday night, Saturday and Sunday). At present there seems to be FIM events (qualifiers and finals) across most of those weekends dragging riders from domestic leagues causing them to run with guests or move to less attractive midweek schedules. Surely FIM could condense its competitions to eleven of those weekends? Eight SGP's (inc Fri/Sat double rounds [leaving Sundays free]), One World Individual Final/GP Qualifier (qualifiers and final Fri to Sun), One Youth Champs (U21/U19 Championships (qualifiers and final Fri to Sun) and One World Team Cup/SON Finals(qualifiers and final Fri-Sun). Appreciate that FIM need to allocate meetings across all their members but how much does the Hungarian Federation benefit from hosting an U19 qualifier meeting? And how much does it cost riders to navigate Europe to hopefully qualify for a final later in the season when they might even be injured/out of form. SEC series could run midweek. That would leave 13/14 weekends which are entirely free of International events. Providing Poland weren't allowed to expand into the gap would those 13/14 free weekends (or Friday and Saturdays assuming everyone will still want to ride in Poland on a Sunday) plus 4 in April, allow British clubs to run a domestic league on those defined weekends (noting some clubs Ipswich, Sheffield, Poole would still stick to their traditional race night). Not necessarily including GP riders who may be out of the price range but with some certainty that their defined team would always be available (barring injury) on those weekends. It appears that the scattergun approach to the FIM calendar doesn't benefit them or the riders and has a detrimental impact on domestic (British at least) leagues. And without those domestic leagues those International products will start to look all a bit one dimensional.

In the best”Interest out the Sport”rule,of course

BSPA site says RR for Jakobsen http://www.speedwaygb.co.uk/news.php?extend.39544

Macgregor likes to be the centre of attention when it comes to controversy.

Not having a Premiership football team soaking up all the local media coverage is a big plus. It was noticeable the extent to which speedway got pushed to the sidelines in Reading when the Royals made the Premiership, and I recall similar complaints from Matt Ford when AFC Bournemouth hit the big time.

Just been one meeting staged, so guess Wolverhampton are league champions. 28th July 2021 WOLVERHAMPTON 29: Tom Spencer 9 Sam Woolley 8 Jacob Fellows 7 Bailey Fellows 5 BELLE VUE 6: Kyran Lyden 3 Tim Colley 3 Stephen Whitehouse 0 William Richardson 0

You're the only one who cares

We start off well then go downhill as a season progresses. Always there or thereabouts but always seem to come up short , it’s like groundhog day.

A possible double League champion for Rory Schlein?

Rising Stars should be kept as reserves even if their averages are preventing it. Like the Polish under 21s,

thought that was only the sunday meetings!

Well yes, I assumed you got it from somewhere official

The cost of getting Redcar speedway from a brownfield site to being open for racing in 2006 (in a very basic stadium) was in excess of £250,000 which equates to nearly £400,000 now. On that basis, when you add in the cost of an air fence, if the existing one can’t be used (and something that wasn’t required in 2006) you are looking at £425,000 for a basic set up. The other end is a purpose built stadium like Belle Vue. It cost in excess of £9m. I’m really not sure what you’d get for £150,000, but I doubt it would be anything like the proposed Newcastle set up