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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?

Was there not more passes in the first 2 or 3 races at Berwick than in the whole meeting at Redcar last week?

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

In these circumstances track covers would come in handy me thinks Oink oink

Zaplecze Kadry Juniorów meeting in Ostrow Wednesday April 13th https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUFh53tN-h8 Cracking meeting- well worth a watch

Castore are the new Puma, only difference being is they charge Armani prices.

correct my apologies but 43 points then you have 4 riders whose combined average would be circa 15 points. It would be pretty disastrous if those 4 only contributed 3 points of the back of three 1-5's. One of the 4 might even average more than the best rider in the other team. You'd be hard pushed to provide an example of a team having 4 riders failing to beat a single opponent. And the only need to do it three times to win the match. The reality is that Workington are the last team to win the Championship starting without a rider averaging less than 8.00 points and they finished someway behind Peterborough in the league table but had riders who had improved by the end of season play offs, from recollection. Noticeably no team started or ended the season with 3 riders averaging over 8. The fact that Poole followed the 3 big hitter policy last season and this would suggest there's an inherent advantage in fielding a strong top two/three, especially in a league where there aren't enough no1's to go around. At the end of last season there were only about 14 riders likely to return in 2022 who averaged over 8.00. With two clubs snapping up six of them it's not difficult to see why some teams are not competitive. You only have to look at the results so far this season to realise there's a large disparity in the team strengths. Can't be a good way to attract supporters in my opinion.

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!

Bad luck for Poole Supporters' who would have been en route by now, and really cruel luck for the new Birmingham regime who have been heavily advertising this meeting for the last week, so wouldn't have taken the decision to call it off, lightly. They have had nothing but misfortune all year so far, but hopefully, their fortunes will change for the better soon.

Exactly, should really have Newcastle maybe Birmingham in NL this year. Eastbourne and Workington next you'd have great base to work from there

Also good to see mentioned on the BBC sport website https://www.bbc.com/sport/speedway/61078406

Stewart Dickson even.

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.

Might take an hour to get out of the car park

Got me hotel room to chill in Admittedly PB is a tad ruff round the edges as I'm well versed in the area as I've been many times. But alas fear not, this liddle piggy goes oink oink oink!

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.

Fair play to you...good luck with killing 6 hours in a sh#t hole as Perry Barr!

Ablitts not riding for the Colts on Friday

I think its more to do with AFC Bournemouth now being at home with a 3pm kick-off and also on TV, which was originally scheduled for the Saturday 16th!!! A 6pm start would have been a bit much for supporters to make both matches.

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

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

I am definitely a speedway fan first and a Bees fan second (just). Hence why I'm doing missionary work over in Leicester while the madness surrounding Brandon is sorted out.

The stream is available on the British Speedway Network watch.britishspeedway.co.uk

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.

That's the roll of team manager covered

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.

You expecting the Devils to get a draw then .

...especially like the reference to the "Moonrakers!"

It is

Leicester to hit 70 and rip them a new one.

Supporters that travel that far, to watch the newcastle team are clearly the best in the league.

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!!!

THE Campaign Group are pleased to confirm our planning application for the regeneration of Brandon Stadium is now live – and now we need your help. The consultation period set by Rugby Borough Council runs until May 6, and all messages of support sent to the Planning Officer will be of vital importance. Full details of how to make your voice heard follow later in this communication, but firstly a reminder of what this application is and why we have submitted it. We first went public with our intentions last summer, at which point we ran our own consultation process and revised our plans based on feedback from local residents, which was almost universally positive. Our application was submitted to the Council earlier this year, and after going through the appropriate processes it is now active and can be viewed via the following link: https://planning.agileapplications.co.uk/rugby/application-details/34048 The most relevant documents to view are the Planning Statement, the Regeneration of Coventry Stadium, and the Statement of Community Involvement, but brief details follow below. Our application seeks to change the use of various buildings at the stadium in order to provide additional community-based facilities in addition to the return of speedway and stock car racing. It should be noted that the return of motorsport does not form part of the application as no planning permission is required for this – it is already the established use of the site. The fundamental changes are that Hangar No.1 on the stadium frontage will be converted into a museum celebrating the history and heritage of speedway and stock car racing at Brandon; the under-stand bar will be converted into a gymnasium incorporating treatment rooms and a climbing wall (open to the local community); and the former dog kennels will be converted into a bar and catering outlet. Further arising from these changes, the dog track will be resurfaced to become a cycle track, with cycle speedway and other cycling-related activities taking place. A large proportion of the tarmac infield will be re-surfaced to allow for the staging of equine events. The Great Britain Speedway Team will relocate their training base from Loughborough University Elite Athlete Centre to Brandon and form a Centre of Excellence, including their Academy system for developing youth riders through established programmes. One question which may well be asked is, why submit a planning application on a site we do not own? The answer is to clearly demonstrate that a viable alternative exists to the policy favoured by the current owners, which has been to shamefully facilitate the destruction of the stadium and cause maximum grief for residents via non-existent security, and to then attempt to use the condition of the stadium as a reason to support a planning application aimed squarely at the building of houses which are not required by the Local Plan. Our application is endorsed by businessman Warren Hunter, whose offer to buy the stadium remains neither accepted nor rejected nearly two years on, and it also has the support of numerous international, national and local companies, as well as individual tradespeople, all willing to provide time, materials and skills to rebuild the stadium. So how can you help? The answer is to send an e-mail or letter in support of this application to: erica.buchanan@rugby.gov.uk or Erica Buchanan, Rugby Borough Council, Evreux Way, Rugby CV21 2RR. This response should quote reference number R22/0071 and be submitted before May 6. It is important to state here that what is not required is a comparison between our application and that of the developers. You are not being asked to make a choice between the two, and the application will be judged on its own merits regardless of the current Brandon Estates submission. Please concentrate on the positives of this application, which will provide upgraded facilities to assist health and well-being in the local community, as well as re-opening the stadium as the UK’s top oval motorsports facility. We believe our proposals represent the most sustainable use of the site, and are entirely consistent with both the recently adopted Local and Neighbourhood Plans, as well as fully complying with policies in the National Planning Policy Guidelines, and are consistent with the wishes of the vast majority of the local population. Please show your support for this application to the e-mail or postal address shown above. A reminder of the deadline, which is May 6.

corruption requires organisational skills