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Potential banana skin for the gladiators no room for complacency.

What red blooded male doesn’t ! Oops..just checked the Japanese spelling…move on.

Speaking as a neutral; some of the racing last nite was brilliant, the likes of Douglas, Allen, Worrall, Lawson & King (late on) gave terrific entertainment, loved it. A meeting where you could've dragged non-fans 'kicking & screaming' (!) to watch and they would've said "that was great, I can understand why you enjoy speedway". Good stuff ....

Chris Louis has changed the track, and banking as much as he can making alterations 4/5 times in the last few winters. it’s unfair saying there was a “lack of preparation” it was clear to see how hard Chris and bob had been working all day to get moisture into the track and produce some grip, this week has been horrendous weather hotter and hotter with a drying wind every day. I work on a local golf course and it’s gone from green to toast in just a few days. my question would be, if the material they currently use is just so so difficult to produce an outside line with when it’s so hot and dry, is there a better material that could be sourced to suit the climate and track here at Foxhall? I agree that the stock cars running all over it between meetings really don’t help.

The (tens) of thousands who make up the "silent majority" and have walked away... Cardiff will have approx 100% more British Speedway fans in attendance than will colllectively attend all UK meetings on any week.. Passionate fans of the sport who, in many cases, have "given up" watching Mickey Mouse nonsense like Bomber riding for heaven knows how many teams, with those who run the sport allowing it and thinking "that's ok that, makes perfect sense".. (At the current rate of guesting, Bomber is going to get "Rider of the Season" at several clubs' end of season awards nights).. Not enough riders of a certain level? Then have less clubs at that level, or less team places per team, thus creating a surplus of riders to replace injured riders or poor performance.. Make the supply exceed the demand by making changes to your infrastructure.. In other words. "Basic business practice"... Run the sport "properly", thus making the competitions actually worth winning, and who knows, maybe many of the thousands of fans who have walked away, but still love watching the sport either via TV, or in person at "proper events", will come back to domestic Speedway? And who knows also, if the competitions became worth winning, the league's themselves may attract headline sponsors happy to be associated with them..? Something that would be a "hard sell" under the current way of running things I would imagine..

The structure used to be there but the short sighted promotors ditched it. I well remember the national League running with no guests they were banned. My team Ipswich suffered Dave Norris was out injured and it cost us the chance of the league title. However in every sport injury & luck plays a part. You may disagree and think doubling up & the guest fest is ok but for every one Trees who accepts it there are 1000s who don't. I want to see this sport become successful I want to see it survive & I want to support it again. However in its current guise it does nothing for me and thousands like me.

Surprised to hear that however am not on any social media like Twatter or Facebuik so wasn't aware? If either do post anything stick it on here so we oldies get a chance to read what they say and then moan about it (or... go on al say it... praise and agree with it) Everyone has an opinion right or wrong... Regards THJ

Ar e you Rob Grant ?

The biggest problem with all uk tracks these days over what was available in days gone by are the materials available and what the environmental police will allow you to do. the reason most tracks are clay based is simple. It's available and it's cheap. traditional red shale is still available but it is horrendously expensive. the second is that many things used to be added to the track surfaces in the past to get the shale to bind together and provide grip. the surface now just turns to powder and dust and doesn't bind, hence you go to very slick dusty conditions much more quickly these days. I know in the past from talking to old track curators. The old waste oil used to be mixed into track dressing, to get it to bind. obviously this is no longer allowed. What you have now on most tracks amounts to no more that mud and dirt with some clay mixed in. Add water and this is what you get. Obviously the idea of allowing oil to be put into the ground (from where it came) is a bad one apparently. the tracks of yesteryear are impossible to re create because of that.

I have never read such crap come out of a keyboard warrior as I have reading all these comments. You are all just total nasty people. Nothing Newcastle speedway does is good enough for anyone on this forum. They could be the best but they would still not be good enough for you all. If your not slagging the track it’s the management or it’s the riders or it’s the day they ride and even the volunteer staff have been called. Just pure nastiness. It’s not even freedom of speech or entitled to your opinion chat it’s just pure slagging then off for the fun of it Well I’ve had my rant and I’m sure I’ll get nasty comments back but as you all say I’m entitled to my opinion and that’s mine

We now know 10 of the finalists- Hopefully English comms will be available for the 4 final rounds. Michelsen Madsen Dudek Bewley Piotr Pawlicki- injury replacement likely to be named Lebedevs Smektala Jensen Berge Ellis

ah, work permits - the Brexit bonus

there must be Czech, German, Danish boys who don't ride in Poland

Think the kid and his family are a bit more dignified than that as has George Congreve been... and fair play to them as well... the problem is much more complex and won't be resolved by swapping out a couple of reserves... Regards THJ

A cold October/ November midweek night in front of 2 men and their dug no doubt

The "Polish commitments" comment when dropping Smith, was obviously an attempt to be kind to the rider. Rather than saying "he was so bad, we had to drop him after one meeting". Racing in the U24 league wouldn't stop him racing in the Champ. A more honest announcement would probably be, "we don't like to drop a rider after only ONE match, but when the opportunity arose to strengthen up by signing Bickley we couldn't afford to miss out. Thanks to Jack for his efforts etc"

What the PZM are doing is no different to anyone else offering a contract of employment. they are imposing conditions on that employment that no one is forced to sign, but they do. It's no different to you getting a builder round to build an extension and agreeing to pay them a large fee if they only work on your job and one other at the same time to minimise problems that other jobs they do could take them away from your contract. the builder can either sign the contract with the big bucks or not and go work elsewhere. The PZM are only doing what's right for them (why would they not?) The riders if they stuck together would have huge power, but they never will as they are all trying to get one over on each other anyway. they are competitors for jobs at the end of the day. If you pay peanuts you'll end up with scraps

Thank you, we are trying to save a great club in the South East of England that has been tarnished by a previous management structure We have the support of the stadium owners, the BSPL, investors and sponsors but we are looking for more to get it off the ground, we will work on this...

Plymouth can still use Bomber to guest at 1 at home (8.39 +5%)

Never disputed that, but when you look at the hype when they were all 14/15 compared to now then it's fair to say all of them have been underwhelming in differing levels.

agree you can only do it once .take the chance when you can

But then you risk the opportunity being lost and losing the meeting by a point Poole's top three can beat anyone anywhere IMO so there shouldn't ever be a reason not to use a TS as soon as you can.

You are a card mind... But don't give up the day job because you'll never be a comedian that is for sure... it would take more than a 5 year apprenticeship IMHO... but keep at it God loves a tryer... BTW if I had a pound for every time you have been told that I could buy an Armarni suit to go with those quality shirts... I will use the crystall ball routine aka Septic Meg style for the next little gem... coming to a post near you very soon... Regards THJ

This is the part clubs & riders fail to mention when complaining about the restrictive Polish contracts!

Kemp is averaging almost 2 points above his starting average, while Bickley has fallen slightly he's much the same standard as last year. Palin definitely fallen more than the others.

Bike cleaner

They are not banning them - they ask them to make a choice All these riders are free to choose to ride in the UK. It is their free will to sign the contracts in Poland with the restrictions on participating in other leagues and which additional teams they join British Speedway is simply the least attractive option for most at the moment for a variety of reasons - money , travel , the tracks , number and timing of fixtures

Don't know how anyone would prefer Congreave 0.67 (0.67) over Bickley 3.20 (4.56). While Newcastle are still the weakest team in the league, at least they're slowly getting stronger.

I have no issue with Mildenhall using a guest, if that's what the rules allow. Otherwise as soon as one team gets "special dispensation" then everyone else would want it. Like Glasgow getting an awarded victory after 9 heats, so Redcar expect the same & it's not allowed. Sticking to the rules saves loads of hassle imo

No cos you can only see part of the race like a road race ......

Riders who want to/are good enough to race in Poland, Sweden, Denmark and GPs only race Mondays and Thursdays in the UK. Doesn't matter about the others really does it......

I like Bukhave

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?extid=CL-UNK-UNK-UNK-AN_GK0T-GK1C&ref=watch_permalink&v=1267797873756290

They definitely didn’t share a bike last night. Both had a bike each at least. rothery who knows noting seems to ever get said in press releases to say whats wrong or where he is.

I actually think the old shape was much better for passing, it was just more technical. The problem now is that the curb has been moved further and further in that it's just too far to really get passed around the outside anyone

Family and personal considerations over the pure financial position possibly - or a UK deal at least on a par with Sweden perhaps......

And Turkeys will vote for Christmas......

Regularly, it was the reason the 28 day ban was introduced. We forced rider's to pick the UK or lose a months wages. Only within the last 15yrs rider's haven't given an F about it to ride in Poland's top 2 tiers.

Yes, well not like Gavan to be objective when it comes to Poole is it! Well done to Scunthorpe, I think whoever won deserved it but they probably edged it for me, well they were winning most of the time anyway!

As expected.......

I didn't watch any GPs last year cos I wouldn't pay the money. This year I'm watching with a couple of m8s but I can take or leave them tbh, rubbish tracks so far! Won't bother with the SEC, what's that all about anyway. The SON will probs watch it to see how our boys do.

Think you’re missing the point of team sports, the danger aspect is irrelevant , speedway is and has always been a team sport on bikes not a motorcycle sport, hence bikers don’t really go to watch, speedway should be like football or rugby, it is territorial, poland is a classic example of this, the fans support their team and don’t support any other speedway except the GPs in great numbers, they are passionate about their own town/club like football over here

There wasn't many complaint 20-30yrs ago when we were the dictators. The issue isn't Poland, the issue is our own (head in the sand) ego's screaming foul play. The true reality of World League Speedway we're about 5th in the rankings. 1. Exstraliga 2. Elitserien 3. Dansk Speedway Liga 4. Bundesliga 5. Premiership

Where he gets big, round scores every week... Speaking of which... Look at Skorja

Think Smith rides for Wroclaw in the under 24 league

It's a farce! The lack of riders is purely down to the BSPA/L there was a structure in place not perfect but far better than we have now when every BL & NL team had a junior side. Most clubs would have a squad of 9 to 12 riders. Plenty to fill in for missing reserves and number 8 to cover Rider replacement. It wasn't perfect but there were certainly more riders and opportunities for riders to race. For several years the NL even managed to run without guests as it was banned, forward thinking or what. Its sad that the reason for the state of speedway in the country is the governing body. You can try and blame the GPs or Poland but the rot set in decades ago.

The NDL has an excellent rule -- "any eligible rider in the NDL can only guest twice at the same track during a season" That would be for home or away teams.

It’s a shame they are in it full stop - would be good if this was seen as more of a 2nd division to the GPs

Lack of preparation, the track has never been a good circuit for overtaking but yesterday it was abysmal, which for supposedly a major event was unforgivable. On a boiling hot day it needed a lot of water but the grip or lack of it was ridiculous. Doyle showed just how hard it was when he missed the gate in heat 15 and really really struggled over 4 laps to get third place, quite what lesser mortals were expected to do beggars belief. Is someone able to explain why Ipswich received inside gates for both the semi and final. Jarvis deserves criticism as well, his decision to exclude Andersen in heat 3 was laughable when it was obvious their was some contact with Lawson and some of the starts were questionable as well, some he let go and some he didn’t. As I mentioned earlier my first time using the streaming and it was excellent, it’s a real shame they cannot cover the Premiership league as I would use it every time for Peterborough aways.

Thanks for your comment regarding demo races before meeting, I hope you have the decency to approach me any time at Birmingham with said demo rider! It’s my son you kindly put down in your comments, just let me know when you can make it and bill and I will be there, we only travel 2 hours each way to be Birmingham mascot, a job bill loves and has done for 3 years thanks to Laurence and the promotion, he hopes to get a bulls team spot at end of the season when he is 15, like all the parents of kids who ride after the meeting we do it for love of our kids and we want them to succeed, Birmingham are one of only a few tracks that actually bother having 2nd half racing for them, so next time you make a comment saying nobody is interested etc remember, some people actually are.