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Well it’s a pity that the meeting wasn’t streamed as that was easily the best meeting at Redcar this year on a bitterly cold night. Lions deserved their point and it could have been closer if Morris hadn’t dropped points with and EF and the, quite frankly, ludicrous decision to award Riss the win in Heat 11 (awaits someone to tell me they were right in line and the ref was right) For the Bears the top 3 were as consistent as usual but it was Andersen picking up a decent score that tipped it Bears way. For the Lions Morris, Worrall and Rowe were excellent value but a disappointing return from Jorgensen cost them. Some cracking, close racing on an excellent track, Heat 15 in particular was a fantastic race. Meeting rattled along at a good pace and was over in less than an hour and a half, which was much appreciated considering how cold it was.

On the subject of Ambulances and Paramedics it would seem that with our NHS in the state its in that the only resolution Speedway can have is to have 2 x Ambulances and 2 x Paramedics and other medical support at each Fixture. I won't hear a bad word about the Paramedics at Perry Barr though as there is at least 1 rider in the past few years whose life was saved by them. (Mitch Davey) That awful incident though casts a light on just how unforseen accidents can happen in Speedway that CAN'T be legislated for and for that reason I won't attack the Promotion for the sake of it. My recollection of that night was that whilst Mitchell's life was being saved another rider was being treated for a significant broken bone injury. So in that context even with 2 Ambulances and 2 paramedics and teams; a Meeting would still have been abandoned as both crews would have been working independently and both going asap to A+E. That's an extreme scenario but no doubt a few bashers would still have found fault with it. With regards the refund policy the Club have abided strictly to the letter of the BSPL regulations as they stand. In my opinion they are WRONG to do so and a small amount of common sense and customer relation skills would have quickly come up with an alternative. My question though would be - if the Club deviate from the BSPL specific Rules would they be penalised? Would a memo come from the Ivory Towers to tell them they can't do that as it sets a dangerous precedent. There tend to be 2 types of Speedway promotion in this era, the ones that stretch the boundaries with a customer slant are all too often frowned upon by the powers that be and the ones who act like they don't give a fig about supporters and abide rigidly to the BSPL rules are seen as glowing lights. There are 2 sides to every story and 2 sides to every coin. Strictly speaking Birmingham Speedway have followed the protocols. By all means attack them if you wish but we don't know the full facts and until we do I will reserve judgement. I will be writing to the Management politely to ask these questions and hopfully I will get a reply. I think with a businessman like Nigel in charge who will understand how important good customer service is, I will get a reply. Too many Speedway tracks are closing, we are all rejoicing in the return of Oxford and quite rightly and in Jamie Courtney there is one of those more forward thinking Promoters that are bucking the trend, but lets not forget HOW LONG it took to get Oxford back and how long it took Brian Buck to get Birmingham back too from the wilderness years. Thank You

Awful take, watching riders struggling hitting ruts and lifting, letting other riders pass isn’t good racing. Some fantastic racing at Berwick this season so far, not just Bomber, who’s had a fantastic start to the season for Berwick and Peterborough, the two teams he actually rides for, maybe if you had a number 1 and didn’t have to borrow everyone else’s it wouldn’t matter.

Have to say I thought the "tribute" that was done for Nigel Pearson was appalling. It sounded like it lasted ten seconds which York felt he had to yap all the way through.

Well yeah we the diamonds got beat... But for god's sake I know the team are struggling at the present time but if fans want speedway at Newcastle keep turning up if we win or not coz if the fans don't turn up & the club promotion can't afford to run it & it closes.. that's the end of the diamonds so let's get behind Rob & his hard working staff & keep speedway alive at Newcastle

Some tremendous racing tonight ,certainly no lack of effort from the Bandits riders,we were just outridden on the night, very entertaining meeting.Not one re-run or a faller in the 15 heats.The one thing that was proven though is the present Berwick reserves are not the strongest in the league.

It’s not hatred,it’s pointing out that their treatment of the paying customer is poor.It will no doubt affect their business with new fans can’t see the value for money.Irrespective of print rules in the programme fans on Wed deserve a full refund or free admission to another meeting.IMO.

Great result for lynn last night, with picko flying and worrall at reserve you could be a tough team to beat at home this year. Lawson had a relatively off night compared to normal last night and you still ground out the win. the only question now is what happens next week when PUK leaves. I see sedgeman is looking for a ride in the UK

For anyone interested, ITV journalist, Nina Nannar has written a book about the history of the ambulance. It's a great read by all accounts.

OK 48 hours on.... I usually stop throwing my toys after 24 hours ...apologies its taken longer Moving forward.... Wednesday happened due to the club's short sightedness..... maybe? Surely, something will have to be in place for the next meeting to avoid this happening again ? I'm happy to contribute to a monthly 'fans lottery' (as mentioned in a previous post by Bandits4eva) somebody from B'ham speedway needs to get this scheme set up. I'm happy to forfeit my entrance fee from Wednesday, but I wont be attending again unless something is in place for future meetings. I hope this reads as a fair and balanced view..... Hope I'm forgiven for spitting my dummy out! More importantly.....Best Wishes to Josh for a full recovery ASAP!

Oxford put a good team on track, just beaten by a better team.

Berwick were better than the score suggests, some really good racing , especially Cook and Harris passing and repassing in heat 13, man of the match for me was Connor Bailey, outstanding from the young man

Just through the door, by god that was magic tonight. Might be the adrenaline still pumping but I can't remember a better league match than that. Heats 10, 12 and 13 were out of this world. Team looks solid from 1-7 all capable of winning heats. Fair play to the bandits they all got stuck in final score a wee bit harsh

For a club with one eye on its finances I would suggest not "too bad" a result... Win 46-44 on Sunday and the icing on the cake..

Nice to see Eleven Sports mentioning Nigel Pearson's passing...

I thought they'd have to pay you to watch that!

Just heard the the former Norwich rider is coming up to 100 this month- feeling fine and has just had his driving license renewed-his brother is 106. These speedway guys seem to last a long time-must be something in the smell of Castrol R. Proves there is hope for us all.

The double tap option isn't available but you should be able to scroll through the timeline? We also have been cutting highlights of just the races to save people who don't want the faff in between. I'd say the handover Comms to pits was much slicker for the Oxford meeting as we knew that was an issue. It gets better as it gets darker as they have a light to tell them they're live it's just hard to see in daylight On your first point, do you mean a little like the Polish coverage where two cameras are visible at once? We can clip up replays fairly easily, from different camera angles and different speeds too. The hard part is we don't control the meeting pace like Eurosport do so getting the replays in between races can be tricky. As a whole we just want to bring a product that makes most people happy. We understand not everyone likes the same thing so finding the balance will be key. We want to push ourselves as much as we can, the more signups means the more we can add onto our production for equipment/staff etc. My messages are always open if anyone has any ideas they'd like to put forward.

I personally am just happy to have a local team and have enjoyed both the meetings so far win or lose as have new people I have brought with me that have never seen speedway before I think we all knew we would be up against it this year as did we also know that Poole would be a tough ask home and away so for me that home result was not only a big learning curve for some but also the track staff (yes I agree it was extremely dusty), so all in all even with a loss I was happy with the result

Think it must be a long time since you visited then, that's an old chestnut and far from true about the current track.

I don't think Ray is being disrespectful in making a what he thinks is a valid point. I also think that if someone dies that you don't respect or like for whatever reason, justified or not in the opinion of the majority, that the most respectful reply is to say nothing at all. Thats all I have to say on the topic.

Nice tribute on Sky's Darts coverage last night

2019 when the powers that be thought it was a good idea to use social media to engage with a younger audience.

Spot on. The promotion can’t afford to lose fans so early in the season especially as they have rectified the track which was one of the reasons for poor crowds last season

Let's hope there aren't any draws, then the stupidest regulation since the Tactical Joker will not have an unnecessary impact.

Nobody want to see Birmingham gone, but then nobody wants to spend time, money and effort going to a speedway meeting only to see it abandoned due to a problem that should've been covered by the Birmingham promotion.

That's the most enjoyable evening at the AFA I've had for years. Who doesn't love a heat 15 full of passing when the result of the meeting rests on it. Thought we threw away several points tonight so to still grind it out was pleasing. Also pretty clear to see that Basso's absence on Monday was a significant factor in our win.

Perhaps the camera angle isn't great but that move didn't look that bad and nothing that Hans wouldn't have done in his pomp.

Reflecting on this now having absorbed all the tributes and comments, it's clear that speedway, in the modern age, has lost its greatest ever promoter. I can't recall such an outpouring of grief and admiration for someone involved in speedway who wasn't a rider. Nigel spent years promoting nothing but positivity in so many aspects of speedway that his contributions were quite extraordinary and surely without precedent. Crikey, he even ghost wrote Kelvin's recent book(s)! This really is a case of you don't know what you've got until its gone. A truly tragic loss.

Monarchs at full strength. Newcastle operating R/R for the “injured” BWD. On paper should be a easy home win but with The likes of wethers, clegg, starker and wright all capable of going well round the dale should make for an entertaining night.

It's not hatred at all. Its calling them out for a disregard for the safety of the riders and track preparation

Where is Starkey, hope he hasn't got the rona again,,, cos ye naa what Little Jimmy Krankie is like with a restrictions? (in Scotland),,, probably got a whole load of troops lined up at Carter Bar with lots of forms to fill in!

Is it not Jason worrall

Eurosport starting in early May

It's why it needs a date. If only a couple of riders out there,,, the team that race on a Monday with no rain offs,, has a big advantage. Even better if that team has a hand in compiling the fixture list

Surely it’s 25% of the fixtures of the team that wants to make the change? Wouldn’t make a jot of sense otherwise.

Very good to see so many clubs paying their respects in different ways. Belle Vue did a brilliant job on Monday with silence followed by applause with commentary played over (believe Birmingham did the same as well), a clearly distraught Porky talking openly about his friendship with Nigel at Monmore, and Kings Lynn placing a pint of Guinness on the start line during their tribute yesterday. Such a shame Oxford decided to have one that lasted seconds and was ruined by Peter York continuing to talk over it

I griped about the team they put out in the first match of their season at Leicester on Twitter... got blocked, tells you all you need to know about this promotion

We are looking at this. But wireless cameras are extremely hard to get reliable feeds from unless thousands are thrown at it.

Poole have a CL rider at reserve and r/r for Oxford 's missing rider scored paid 9.

Glad youve not given up but the promotion should listen to fans gripes/concerns and act if needed

We can only race who's in the team, that's speedway isn't it! I'll just take the 2 wins, especially after last year Who knows who will be in, off form etc etc next time round ;D

Or showing faith with the remaining 6 riders?

More than happy to take suggestions of what you'd like to see and we can work on things

Well that’s a pint I owe @Bald Bloke and more than happy to pay up. Basso was excellent, a real threat all night. Thoroughly enjoyed the meeting and what a heat 15 to win it. Josh Pickering just carried on his 2021 form at Lynn and that move from 3rd to 1st was amazing. Spectacular way to mark your home debut. Roll on Monday night, see you at the bar BB

Such sad news , so sorry to hear this . Kindest thoughts to his Family and friends another life gone way too early. RIP Nigel, The Speedway family will miss you.

It is a shame that the new promotion didn’t advertise for a younger, new to the game but full of enthusiasm presenter. Peter York did his best, but times have moved on and the club has the opportunity for a fresher approach. It doesn’t matter if a new announcer is new to the sport as long as he is enthusiastic and gets the crowd roaring, something Peter York failed to do. No disrespect meant in his direction but his time has gone. Announcing Batchelor and Nicholls as the Coventry pairing was shameful. Not realising Stoneman was in heat 11 was another failure. The ref clearly was not informed from the pits that a reserve swap had been made but I could see it when he came out. Just led to confusion and a delay in heat 14 as the ref thought Stoneman had only taken two rides. Perhaps a good solution would bring in a support for York. One who handles changes, deals with times and results, plus uses the mic to whip the crowd into life. There were probably 1000 there last night who went for the first time, got covered in dust, didn’t have much of a clue what was going on and saw their team defeated. Will they be back? It would have been good for York to explain the rules of the sport before the meeting started so the newbie understands what is going on. I hope Oxford can maintain crowd levels.

Nothing new there then.

Same as BWD then..

The Aces showing real consistency in the League Cup.. And Mark Lemon as equally as consistent with his usual tactical capability too reading the threads of the two meetings.. Let's be kind and say he is giving his lads plenty of track time before the real stuff starts..