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Oh come on Steve, let’s defend the YOUNG lads. brennan 21 flint 19 they ain’t past it mate, they not even began there careers. flint at 19 is holding his own at the difficult no5 position in Berwick team for most of season. brennan been heat leader most of season to at 21. Scoring double figures for belle Vue at the no2 position he also missed a year with a broken leg then a year with covid putting him 2 years behind. so another way of looking at it is, he’s like a 19 year old yes they struggled last night. But with 1 racing line right by the fence. Why would they risk injury when there have important matches still to come. Not everyone can be a dan Bewley, Michael Lee, bartosz Zmarzlik. Them top young riders come only every so often. now I’m not saying they will be world champions. But they will be better than championship riders. 100%

My immediate thought was "isn't Barry Bishop doing this already and with far more passion and sincerity than the BSPL could ever muster"

Yes leave it to the IOW

Yes but you know the bspl will screw it up somehow, one female rider will be unavailable and they will get bomber in drag to guest in place of her

He never touched him - I was there, some 30 metres away with a clear view. In any case he should not have declared himself fit to ride last night. He almost took Douglas out on a smooth track, coming off Turn 4 in his first lap! A danger to himself and other riders!

Looking at the path the rain is taking there is not a cat in hells chance of this meeting taking place... why do they call meetings off a day in advance based on a forecast of showers and then not call it based on a forecast of prolonged heavy continuous rain? Strange

Certainly a worthy and well deserved winner for all he has done in British Speedway. Worthy runner up and third placed efforts too for Danny King and Lewis Kerr. Overall though a desperately poor track meant very little racing after the first 1/2 lap and what could have been a showcase Meeting looked more like a Fixture filler. Brennan and Flint have been at the vanguard of the new generation and have probably exceeded expectations this season but to see them struggling for the odd point in this field does not bode well for their improvement relative to some of their age group peers on the Continent particularly from Poland; Denmark and Czech Republic. May be time for both to try to get regular Polish rides next season if they are to keep up and not get too comfortable doubling up in UK. The step from aspiring to be a Lawson, Wright or King or aiming to be a Tai, Lambert , Bewley is MASSIVE and time waits for no one and they need to be thinking about that very carefully now especially as the U21 opportunities dry up soon.

Just another note on Eric, his wife Bonnie-lovely lady-predeceased him by a few years. She famously kept detailed statistics on all his rides in all his meetings. Reg Fearman who knew Eric very well and kept in touch with him all these years mentioned that Eric specified he wanted no obituary, no fuss , no muss on his death. A cautious and conservative Yorkshireman his wishes were respected. I had a lot of respect for Eric R.I.P.

For the second week on the trot I'm explaining to the grandkids that the match is rained off... while basking in 20 degree bright sunshine. The lawn outside my house (which is prone to turning to a quagmire after even just a moderate rainfall) is dry and firm. I find it hard to believe that Owlerton (three miles away) is any different. Something is very wrong at Sheffield Speedway. Whether it's the track or the people who run it is a mystery but, for a sport which hopes to attract a new generation of followers, a single meeting in the entire six-week kids' summer holiday is an opportunity wasted. My grandkids have lost interest and I'm starting to feel that way too.

Watched a lot of Swedish meetings this summer and they go to extraordinary lengths to make sure the meeting goes ahead. Watched them virtually replace the whole track with new shale so it could go ahead. What do we do, look at the forecast the day before and decide there and then or if it looks like they may have to put some work in then they think that’s too much trouble so cancel is the easy option. Don’t deserve our support.

I think a lot of Pirates are wearing two eye patches

Not sure on Flint but Brennan will easily surpass the likes of King and Lawson. Pretty comfortably.

Cardiff stages the supercross in October, it will be interesting to see if their crowds hold up to other events , also heard a rumour that they told the speedway GP organisers to leave the track in as they were impressed by the air jack holder got off one of the bumps

Buster was right on Sunday when he said it would rain because it,s tipping it down here in Lynn although it is Thursday.

My only criticism of the BSN coverage is that they should show some of the stadium atmosphere(music,announcements, interviews etc)rather than struggling to say something different every time it goes back to Comms or the Booth!! BTW Big congrats to Adam Roynon for his great comments about the Poole track and Stadium. It seems that all or certainly most of the riders - not just last night - liked the track as opposed to some of the keyboard warriors on here. PS. MPT should never have tried to compete. He was depriving another rider of a place in the final - or they could have used a guest.............!

After a ropey start BSN definitely upped their game and been a good product for the most part. Certainly preferable to Eurosport imo and as I've always said think championship racing is better in general

I think riders lie Tom Brennan need to quit the Championship now if they are going to move up in class. Stick with the top flight for now, but they need to concentrate on riding abroad too. The first step, though, is stop riding in the comfort zone of Division 2. Rding in Poland's top league has to be the goal in the end. There is a reason that riders like Bewley and Lambert have moved up in standard, and it's the same reason that many Swedes, Poles, Danes and Americans did the same in the past by concentrating on making it in the top league in the World.

Should be remembered that Brennan missed a season through a broken leg, add that to the year that everyone missed through Covid and he's not doing too badly for his age. He has improved greatly over the last 12-18 months and I think he can be much better than he is now, whether that is to the level that Lambert and Bewley find themselves remains to be seen but he certainly has something about him. Also worth chucking in the Jason Doyle example of a late developer too.

Well done to Sam Masters, its weird having possibly the top rider in the top flight win the second division riders championship but that's where we are now in this country. Every rider gave it their all apart from Batchelor who should have refused the booking and let someone else have a go instead, even Bomber despite starting slow and knowing he could not make the semi finals, still rode his socks off trying to get some points and entertain the crowd. I thought the track was ok, dirt line a bit too close to the fence for most riders liking but plenty were prepared to put their back wheels there, at least with Poole you know they will try and get the meetings on, its a wide track with plenty of room to race.

It ain’t a waste of time it is a local derby and I want Lynn to win

I remember when this used to be a big meeting at sheffield on a sunday and it would attract 3000 fans from around all the tracks. With every rider in the field doubling up/down its just another meeting to riders, 20 years ago the riders would have given their right arm to win this meeting.

Probably from someone closer to your track

I think that’s the way the sport is heading. We are not the only team to cancel meetings prematurely. Supporters will find other things to do. I can understand the promotion not wanting a poor race track due to weather conditions but usually after a few races the track settles down and the racing improves. At the end of the day it’s the promotors decision and it’s them who lose money. In the long run it could be more damaging for the club.

That's an interesting question, as back in the 1960's and early 70's, the "market" for speedway riders was basically Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Sweden. Denmark didn't really emerge until after Ole Olsen, Norway and Finland began emerging in the late 1970's plus there were one-off's from Germany and Holland. Russian, Polish, and most East European riders were tucked up behind the Iron Curtain until the early 1980's when a couple of Poles and some Czechs were allowed to earn some western currency, for themselves and their host clubs. British promoters were able, back then, to dictate who rode for which club, and the terms upon which they were employed. British league racing was a weekday evening affair, with the best riders free to ride FIM events, long-track grass track or other individual meetings at weekends "on the continent". The only time "western" riders got to see Polish or other Eastern European tracks was for FIM World Championship (Team, Pairs or Individual) meetings. The rest of the time, travel there and back was forbidden, or more agro than it was worth. Speedway on TV was a once-or-twice-a-year treat, with highlights of the World Final and possibly the WTC Final on World of Sport on a Saturday afternoon. Eastern European riders were pretty much tied to JAWA machinery whilst the rest of the world benefited from the developments of Weslake, Godden and latterly GM engines. A lot has changed since those days. Poland has changed immensely as a country and speedway in Poland has adapted to change a lot better than the "we're British and we know best" promoters in this country have managed to do with the sport over here. Just as Britain is no longer the epicentre of world football or world tennis, so it's lost that dominance in speedway to Poland, where they get huge attendances, huge television audiences, and huge sponsorships that are powering them to a position where they have to take measures to protect their investments. And understandably so. We have to resign ourselves to having lost control of the sport in Britain, and just as British promoters dictated to the rest of Western Europe how it could conduct its affairs before the Iron Curtain fell, so now we have to accept that we're just minnows in the sport and that we have to fit in with what other countries are doing.

Completely agree and let's be honest lawson is far from a dirty rider

That proposal bears no relevance to the economics of modern speedway.

I heard it from someone in a very in the know position. Not gossip.

Lawson clearly didn’t touch him. The slow mo proves it. I spoke to Lawson the following week about it. He said the throttle goes both ways and Toft had the choice to throttle off. Lawson said he played the same move on Harris the week before in heat 15. Harris throttled off, cut back under him and took the win on the line. Toft could have averted the crash but freaked out. Similar moves are played out every week in the Polish league and this would have ended with Palm Toft being excluded for stopping the race. I am not saying it’s not a hard move by Lawson, it clearly is, but there was no contact. If people don’t understand this, we’ll, take up tiddlywinks.

I would suggest that he paid that as a sponsor for free attendance and advert in the programme.

I've seen worse moves than that overtime, Gollob and Pedersen spring to mind, at the end of the day it's speedway not tidlywinks

I look at these “rain radars” too. Those I looked at this morning for Ipswich, had not just green blobs, but orange and reds for torrential downpours, floods and lightening/thunder. We’ve had a shower a few hours back and that’s it.

Lisa, it's a Poole rider, they will still bring it up this time next year

Lol... you can't just ride through a rider as if he wasn't there, MPT clearly HAD to take avoiding action as Lawson rode straight through him and by the time Lawson DID touch him, however slight, it was only going to end one way.

Didn't touch him a lot though did he? Anyway hasn't this been done to death now!

Should have gone to Specsavers

Let everyone make their own judgement. The view was overwhelming at the time that it was unfair riding. The impact on Plymouth, Peterborough and MPT himself has clearly been dramatic. There are far more dangerous people walking round in society and on speedway bikes than a partially fit MPT aren't there!?? He never touched him - I was there, some 30 metres away with a clear view. Has about as much credibility as Boris saying there were no Parties in 10 Downing Street to my knowledge

There is certainly a few big girls who come out when the track is less than perfect

He should never have been injured, Lawson shouldn't have put him through the fence.

Agreed... I thought Dave Rowe was a lot better without Sam Ermolenko

Don't know how, you seem to know everything going by all of your comments.

And of course Tom is already a World Champion

Not strictly true. When Wright was 21 he was a Premier (now Championship) reserve with Redcar and still riding in the NL. King was riding for NL Mildenhall when aged 20 (in 2006) and Lawson hadn't even started speedway (he made his NL debut aged 22) I think you are being too harsh on both of them, although your original premise that comparing them with others in the same age cohort abroad suggests they may struggle to reach the very top level is not an unreasonable one. I suspect that both may prove in the long term to have similar careers to the three riders you've named.

That narrows down that you're not in Kings Lynn then

Belle Vue would not prefer Mondays as there race night. Any big event they want at weekends.

But everything to do with the fence

Has anybody had any proof that it was said the Grant claimed the wages of the catering from Newcastle Speedway, but put the catering income through his catering account. If true, is that not illegal especially when the speedway account goes bust, and the takings not taken into account to pay creditors.

I agree... but actually winning the league brings nothing else other than a play off pay off for most clubs

Just proves that the kings Lynn call off on Sunday night wasn’t based on the forecast ! Especially as it’s the same people involved with both clubs. Definitely suspicious

I agree Steve, there is no bumps anymore and the track staff did an amazing job especially getting the demolished air fence repaired so quickly.