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Have you been in a darkened room all afternoon ?

The problem at the moment, is that the gap between the Premier League & Championship is too small, and the gap between the Championship & National League is too large. With Premier heat leaders riding in the championship, only the very talented riders stepping up from the National League stand a chance. The Championship standard should be more like the Newcastle team this year, which would give riders similar to those above, a chance to score some points and progress. Also, doubling up needs to be gradually reduced, initially only allowing riders who do not ride in any overseas leagues to double up. Imagine in the 1970's allowing top first division riders to ride in the second division !!

Crikey !! Didn't know he was still going.... used to do the speedway at Wembley way back Anyway, Oxford was the last track i visited in the UK !! Wish them all the best for the future, and maybe i might get to visit again this year or next

higher league takes preference when there is a clash of fixtures

I think the reality is there should only be two divisions. Not many might agree but I think that the current Premiership is a decent product based on the TV matches I've watched only. But only six clubs is an issue. At least a couple of CL clubs could afford to compete at that level and sourcing 14 additional riders shouldn't dilute the product too much. The CL should become a sustainable hybrid between the current CL and NL. Used as a platform to progress British youngsters who would be the only riders allowed to ride in both divisions. With the current 4 star riders being reserves in the PL and Heat leaders in the CL. Current CL 2nd strings would become Heat Leaders (i.e. Roynon, Wright, Wethers) with any non UK riders also being Heat leaders. With the reserve births restricted to riders of limited CL experience and 2nd string for those riders with CL experience you haven't achieved Heat leader status. You can then see the career path for a youngster. SGP3, CL reserve, CL 2nd string, CL Heat Leader/PL reserve, PL 2nd string, PL Heat Leader/International rider, SGP. Some will progress more quickly than others, not all will make the grade but the opportunities should be there. And clubs would be incentivised to develop young riders with the overall aim of having British riders competing and winning on the World stage, which is still the best way of getting wider media coverage of the sport. At a more sustainable level perhaps the likes of IoW and Mildenhall could join the CL and it would certainly be easier for new entrants (Workington, Coventry, Kent) to join. Of course the problem is how do the current plethora of Double Uppers maintain their income levels? Without them increasing their demands on PL clubs? My suggestion is to run a stand alone 4TT league akin to the Hundred in cricket. Which would form the content for the BSN. Each match streamed would feature 3 away teams which should increase viewer numbers. You could even include clubs representing defunct tracks (Falcon's, Viking's, Bee's, Wasps, Heathens) to attract those lapsed supporters. There were only 2 divisions in the 70's and that produced an incredible amount of British talent because the opportunities were there with the number of tracks in operation. Now there are less tracks a more structured career path is required. The current CL doesn't really provide those opportunities.

In Birmingham, short heavy shower but sun back out with lovely bits of blue. I've lost a trotter, anyone seen Uncle Albert?

Given that this meeting has been completely sold out for a while now, you'd have thought it was perfect for streaming. No potential loss to the live audience and a chance for others to witness an historic reopening. I don't know if there is a stream but if I had to guess....

I think any rider showing complacency in a team managed by Stuart Dixon will get his a**e kicked.

Insurance... for when the French Open Tennis or world tiddly winks championships are on. Eurosport are being very ambiguous with their statements, leaving them room to move the coverage when they see fit

All spot on 100%... The issue to prevent this though is that UK Speedway is now designed, as its key priority, to provide circa 30 to 35 riders with enough rides to make them a full time living... Which also means that promoters can then afford them as they dont pay all the riders wages but share the cost with the riders other team.. Hence we keep a guest system, regardless of the wider damage it does, as it is a nice little earner to top up the salaries, and an easy fix for the promoters to put a team out on the track.. Less riders of a certain level should, common sense would dictate, mean less riders per team, or less teams in a league... But it wont happen, as the current situation is now pretty much custom and practice... Riders wont ride for just one team given the money drop, and promoters of 2nd Div clubs wont want to only use riders of a "lesser standard" again, given they can use Div One riders now whilst delivering a second level product..

They're not though. Averages are based on 4 rides. If your two best riders get to have 5 rides then they score more actual points than they average. And matches are won on actual points. As I posted before if you've got 3 riders who always beat the opposition that's a guaranteed 44 points. without the other 4 riders beating the opposition. By definition the 6 point riders are less consistent and invariably drop points to the lower averaged rider opposition. It used to all be about having riders who would improve on their starting average the most. Having 3 nine pointers makes that really difficult on the basis you've got to be a bit special to average 10. Now that there's a dearth of 9 pointers it doesn't matter that much as if your 9 pointers maintain their averages you'll be right up there. The format is fine if there are enough top riders to go around but there isn't at present and there's not even enough 6 pointers around to go for a strength in depth line up. Hence a number of teams being under the points limit. So teams aren't even starting level on combined average points anyway. The point which I think we can all agree on is that more competitive teams increase the chances of an improved product which can only be a good thing. Part of the answer to achieve that is to understand the limitations of averages and the heat format and adjust the rules to level the playing field. A bi-product is you'd potentially reduce the demands of the top riders knowing team places are limited which can only help.

Sandhu calling someone else corrupt? Isn't that the pot calling the kettle, er, black?

Bike rack to get rid of - bolts to a standard trailer ball hitch set up. Can be removed from car easily when not used. I have the ball hitch set up if required which was fitted to Peugeot 206. Also number plate light board comes with it. Im in Lindford - Hampshire/Surrey border. Steve

After many many years away, Cheetahs make their comeback. We know it's a sell out, what does ever body expect? Be great to have a look around the place and actually see the Cheetahs race jacket in an actual league meeting. A nice 6/8 point home win before moving on to some team on the South coast on Friday

Jack Thomas having an excellent debut for Oxford this evening.

You've got your views I've got mine. We've discussed them fairly and with respect how it should be

They won it in September so it was only 3 and a bit months in the pub.

Thanks to the Poole supporters who have posted on this site to indicate their understanding. No one wanted another rain off after already having endured one and a second one seriously affected by the rain and postponed after 10 rain-soaked heats. As far as the district of Perry Barr is concerned, it has been allowed to become badly rundown over the last few years, but the City Council have rather belatedly been attempting to pretty it up in time for the Commonwealth Games in July. This has involved removing the old flyover (despite huge opposition from the locals), temporarily closing Perry Barr rail station for renovation, and conducting massive changes to the roads (especially the A34). The objective of course, has been to smarten everything up in order to impress visitors making their way to the games, where the Alexander Stadium has been rebuilt to house 48,000. (What the Council intend to do with the place after the games is something that they still carefully avoid answering.) The situation now, is that the only thing that has been completed is the stadium itself, which I accept, looks pristine and impressive. Everything else is way behind schedule and massively over budget. (The shortfall is said to be in excess of £20,000,000.) None of this has helped Birmingham Speedway. We have had to endure chaotic traffic congestion and disruption for the past three years in trying to get to the stadium on match nights. I live only 12 miles away in Stourbridge and it has been taking me anything up to two hours plus to get there, and this in itself is one of the major reasons why support has declined - people just can't cope with the journey to the track! Some of the descriptions of Perry Barr that I have read on this site though, are very unfair I think. People living in Perry Barr are having to put up with the noise, the mess and all the inconvenience that these road works produce - which is not their fault and not what most of them wanted, so I do think that visitors should be a bit more understanding. Perry Barr isn't perhaps the most attractive district of Birmingham, but it is a much better place to live than the current chaos makes it seem.

I was driving through Perry Bar between 2 and 3pm when it absolutely tipped it down, there was a tornado, hail, lightning, total Armageddon. Afterwards, when it had cleared away, I have never seen the area look so improved.

They also say they have every WSB race live until the Tour De France or French Open tennis is on and then it’s shifted onto Discovery Plus. They do often move the British Superbikes to the Quest channel though.

Android TV and Android apps work differently too making it another 2 apps needed. We've chosen iOS and FireTV as they seem to be the ones struggling most to get things working. Silk browser on FireTV is a bit laggy, and iOS can't use Chromecast due to Apple blocking its use in browsers. These apps will now mean apple and Android have the option to use Chromecast (£20 investment) or go the Firestick route (£20) if none of their current solutions are working. We'd love to include more apps but currently it just isn't affordable. They're VERY expensive!

Yes, they have actually said all speedway GP's will be live on Eurosport 2. Discovery + are covering the GP's advert free.

Whilst not a fan of the "replica shirt" (last I looked saltire was on a blue background) the basic shirts n hoodies not too bad. As a rangers fan believe me in last couple years I've seen far worse merch lol

Wishing all involved at Oxford Cheetahs Speedway every success tonight and for remainder of the season. Hopefully all that attend enjoy the occasion and return. I will certainly look to take the kids during the school holidays as this is now the nearest track to Surrey.

I doubt that the Bates' will have to dig as deep for this week's wages bill but I suspect that the Lions will pull it off. Hopefully we'll also enjoy some closer racing than we've seen lately.

yeah it's a handful compared to what went before it. there'll always be some opportunities for British youngsters by virtue of the low starting average. But with less teams operating and some teams not being able to secure no1's and building strength in depth (even though that's sub optimal) those opportunities are now less and less. There'll always be special talents who are sought after and will achieve regardless. Robert Lambert was probably the last one but they don't come along too often. Others need sustained opportunity to progress. The CL just isn't providing that currently. Don't get me wrong youngsters can't be allowed to have protected team places without progressing but it's fairly easy to say you get 40 CL matches before your average increases regardless of your actual average. So youngsters know exactly what they need to do to retain a team place. I don't think there are any debutants at reserve in the CL this season. How long will any current NL talents continue if they never get the opportunity to progress? It's basically product development. All successful businesses do it but speedway has lost its way in trying to meet the demands of the doubling up riders which has restricted opportunities for youth to progress. They clearly know it's an issue as they wouldn't have announced the rising star system but have had to abandon it after one season because it's unworkable at the current CL level, being full of experienced double uppers.

Little bit early Oink! Snort snort! I am not leaving Poole for another hour! And that will still give us time to have something to eat in the shopping centre before heading to stadium. How do MI5 pigs write top secret messages to one another? Through invisible oink!

Forecast is great after 3pm....there wont be any repeats of last weeks mud bath! It's going to be a cracking meeting....looking forward to this one! I think Poole will be too strong and win by 10 points.

Extensive research/the industry I'm in

What happened to it being an easy solution,,, see what happens when you start to think?

Good luck to everyone involved tonight, congratulations to those that have made this happen - But the most important thing may all the Oxford "fans" go home happy & be keen to come back for more!

You do realise a stream would cost around £3k? Plus a percentage of each sale to payment processing/platform costs. It is not just as easy as saying "it should be streamed"

On the Oink express train, just left Derby. Mix of rain & sun. Short showers. Shud clear thru later #Piratepride Oink Oink

The BSPL effectively killed Rye House by allowing (persuading?) a naive promotion to move up a league and run on a Monday night.

I think you may have it spot on.

Good luck to everybody concerned with the resurrection of Oxford. Spent many an evening booing Oxford from the third bend in my youth, but it's great to see them back. Next is to get my old spot back on the back straight at Brandon . I can dream eh ! Congratulations to everybody who never gave up hope. As Bluebee said go to general speedway discussions and support the revival of Brandon bid.

not many sides will beat leicester at home this nor will poole lose at home .cant see us getting much out of this meeting

No they are away

You're all looking into it way too much. Each team home and away twice is the aim. Keeping it fair and mixed, not just showing the same teams over and over. The fixture list only allows a certain amount of avenues to go down to make this work as well as sticking to roughly one a week.

If it was Glasgow the thread title would have said that Lisa.

Leicester to hit 70 and rip them a new one.

A bit unfair....may be change the word 'worst' to 'least' ? (not sure of attendance figures?) The supporters that do go sound very passionate to me, making them amongst the 'best' supporters IMO.

Glasgow is a fair racetrack now, quite similar to NSS in its shape and preparation. Starkey and stormy should have their moments, complin might find track more to his liking than any others he's ridden so far. Might be trying to put lipstick on a pig but have to be hopeful

Wish I could attend - missed out on tickets for the opener - but I will be coming later in the season as many times as I can. Must keep Oxford going and for any of you who might have missed it go to the Brandon Update thread and GET YOUR EMAIL OFF!!!

I've sent in my email. If Oxford can come back so can Brandon. I've moved out of the area (nearer to Oxford now!) but would still travel to attend some meetings throughout the season. I suggest a link in other topic areas to get as many people noticing as possible.

The GP's are on Discovery+ Entertainment & Sport package, NOT just the Entertainment package Sky are offering for free for 12 months. Therefore if you've only accepted the free offer you WON'T be seeing the GP's on Discovery+. See link for the two Discovery+ packages which are available; Choose Your Plan | Sign Up, Sign In, Manage Your Account | discovery+ (discoveryplus.com)

Saturday`s matches teams Rzeszow v Opole Rzeszow 9 Legowik 10 Miesiac 11 Wolbert 12 Krcmar 13 D Lampart 14 G Grahn 15 Majcher Opole 1 Aspgren 2 RR(ZZ) for the banned Kudriashov) 3 Polis 4 Cyfer 5 Thorsell 6 Hjerrild 7 Poczta Tarnow v Poznan(NON TV) Tarnow 9 Ljung 10 Bober 11 Aarnio 12 Rolnicki 13 Batchelor 14 Swiercz 15 Poznan 1 K Gomolski 2 K Fajfer 3 Holta 4 Chmiel 5 Seifert-Salk 6 Gusts 7 Buszkiewicz

Exactly- i am yet to be convinced that all will be live on Eurosport 2.

corruption requires organisational skills