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Criminal is an understatement. Glasgow's last home fixture (excluding the GP Challenge) was on August 5th and the Tigers may only have two more home fixtures this season if they don't make the Championship final via the semis. That's six out of EIGHT Friday evenings where Ashfield will lie empty over the summer months before we get into October. The planning of this season by the BSPA, especially the half-assed Jubilee Cup, has been nothing short of a disgrace.

Simon Lambert is already in Panthers team for tomorrow, replacing Ostergaard.

You certainly seem to dislike everything regarding Poole Speedway.Don’t really see any issues regarding the track Poole.Maybe not to your liking,but when riders like Harris can make it look easy ,I’ll go by that.

Unfortunately despite all the good ideas and suggestions put forward on this topic, no one in authority is listening nor will those in charge take a inward look at what they are dong to the sport. None so blind as those who do not want to see comes to mind. Riders want to earn an annual salary in a six months season while the rest of the population has to work twelve months. (If they have winter jobs are the pay rates demanded by the riders over ambitious) They have expensive equipment that is not robust enough to cater with the work that it is required of it hence the regular expensive overhaul after a few races that adds to the cost. Most of the tracks in operation today were not built for today’s machines and on the subject of tracks, the entry point in terms of costs for new tracks, in order to cater for the bikes and safety aspect etc., is now so high and even if you could find the land who in their right mind would invest in a project where the business model is dictated by third parties who have put nothing into the new track and will basically tell you when you can open and run meetings unless you operate outside the current set up and follow the IOW. The sport is not a joke, it is some of the parties involved from riders to track owners and as has been said before, as long as the punters turn up no one is going to take on board the possibility that trying something new might just be better option rather then sticking with the current format with dwindling support on the terraces. Today people are rarely prepared to wait yet it can take two plus hours to run 15 minutes of racing. Younger people lose the will to live whilst waiting for the next heat to be run and if they do get hooked, how often is the team made up of guests and Mr R/R. Nothing will change just fewer and fewer people bothering to go to a track and the way the cost of living is going speedway however good it can be will be way down the list of spending and many will consider that it is not value for money if attending a live meeting.

That doesn't appear to be true in Poland...but then in Poland the crowds are younger and more partisan, whereas here, they are much older and "don't make a noise by me"..."don't fly your flag by me"..."don't blow your horn by me"..."a nice cup of tea, anyone..." Younger people lose the will to live when surrounded by a crowd old enough to be their grandparents. Hands up any young person who goes down to their local Derby & Joan Club for their Friday night out, on the pull? So how about another radical suggestion? Youth Zones on the terracing, where young people can do young people things without someone's granny tutting at them all the time? For all the other changes to tracks, equipment, organisation etc, unless the attraction of the next generation of fans is addressed, the sport will die out, LITTERALLY, as the fans die out. And at some clubs, that's not far away.

That and the fact Poole know that Plymouth will have to rely on mainly NDL riders on Wednesday with several options with Danish commitments and several others booked for Big Als meeting at PB the same night. Thats the reason the bullies are so desperate to rush things through.

Personally i hate cups and other comps mixed up with the main season. Run the league fixtures May-July, Play Offs can then be in August with the bumper holiday crowds. Quick fire KO cups could be run in Sept with any teams that want to enter, fixtures must be completed in week 1, week 2 etc any cup fixture not completed doesn't count and 1 leg aggregate goes through. Theres no need to be stood around on a freezing night in October watching the trophy deciding fixtures with poor forecasts and miserable crowds before the season limps to an end.

Lewy, I met you earlier this season on a visit to Plymouth and we had a nice friendly chat with no animosity. You came across as a decent knowledgable fan and a good guy. But as soon as Poole are mentioned on here you grow a pair of horns and slag our club off like there’s no tomorrow. Rather than look at Poole green with envy and jealousy, surely you should think that you want Plymouth to aspire to where Poole Speedway sit. Still the biggest speedway club in the U.K., regardless of what league they are riding in. Middlo’s testimonial was pencilled in for last night for many months. No one knew what teams would be in the up coming playoffs when the date was announced. But Matt Ford wanted to give Middlo a prime summer date when the biggest crowd could be achievable. A damp October night wouldn’t bring in the thousands that turned up last night. But for injuries the lineup would have been great. Tony Rickardsson flew in from Sweden, and Mark Loram travelled down to sign autographs along with Havvy and Sam Ermolenko. Many Polish riders wanted to attend but were barred by their Polish clubs. You personally might not think it but Middlo is held in very high esteem by the worlds best riders and Hans Andersen WANTED to be there to support a manager who was a guiding hand at the start of his career. His crash was very unfortunate as he entered bend three on the outside of his team mate and just lost it. He was knocked out so automatically is out for ten days. But he wanted to be there. It looks like Poole v Plymouth playoff meetings take place next week. Let the best team win.

I'd argue that the NL was ultimately a disaster for speedway, and as I recall suffered from just as much instability as the BL. Yes, it allowed maybe couple of the teams that dropped down to survive and even prosper (Ipswich and Sheffield), but others also fell by the wayside as the NL filled with professional riders. The NL refusal to allow its riders to be used by the BL also limited progression and forced BL teams into using even more guests. In any two-tier system, the bottom tier has to support rather than compete against the top tier, as it's the existence of the top tier that ultimately keeps costs down for the lower tier. I think few would disagree that the merger of BL and NL, and the creation a couple years later of the 'one big league' wasn't well done, but had the BL collapsed than it would have just have transferred its problems to the NL. I think speedway crowds were generally dwindling throughout the Eighties, although some BL teams still got (by today's standards) quite healthy crowds just as some NL teams struggled. We're now back to the situation though, where the powers-that-be have totally got the split between the PL and CL wrong in terms of costings.

It's not meaningless for Hans. Just read the reasons why he wanted to do it.

Also a big nod towards Tom Brennan. Obviously a very promising, talented young rider. I heard him interviewed after gueating for Berwick last year. Came across as a very level headed young man. Thanked the club for the opportunity etc. To keep progressing as he has, after all the things he has been through over the past couple of years, speaks volumes for his character. Now to crash on Monday, be told by the doctors to rest for a couple of weeks, then come back two night later. Says all you need to know about the toughness of a speedway rider. A different breed.

Lambert, Wright & Spooner in the PL, in addition to R/R. You just couldn’t make it up. Going as expected After years of uncertainty I now actually don’t care anymore. British Speedway is a complete farce, run by complete self centred idiots.

Seems to ride the nice smooth track at Poole

Before criticising the Panthers team, why not give them a chance? Harris and Basso could prove to be the difference tonight.

On the form this season I would think every Berwick fan and their dog would want him to stay next year. Although results have not gone their way some of the racing at Berwick has been sublime . I think the gate and go myth has been well and truly put to bed

Agree he does like to get signed up early,but he won’t sign for who only has verbal agreement for next season. IMO.

Permanently or as a guest?

Would be very surprised is Harris returned to Perry Barr.

After my go at Buxton training day a few years back..... they would have to be desperate. Oh wait.....

For me... Six man teams... 9 heats where all pairs race against each other.. Heats 10/11/12 is lowest to highest point scorers at that stage.. Then 13/14 two nominated heats.. 14 heats with 8 riders having 5 rides and 4 having four... 2 x HL's, 2 x SS's and 2 x "Juniors" similar to how Poland do it.. Top league have the best ranked "juniors".. 2nd league have the next level "up and coming juniors".. Two leagues based on attendances, not "it is better for us to ride in this one".. Doubling up probably needed until development delivers enough riders (maybe one Div 1 HL per 2nd Div team?) but also clubs get to ride on their best night to get a crowd, and only ride on an off night when on TV.... Eg Poole should ride in Div 1 now but on a Wednesday... Seems barmy that riders can dictate that a team that would enhance the product overall have to drop a Div to ensure these riders can earn money in Denmark... 14 heats saves points money too so pass a 1/15th saving to the fans via admission, (over a quid at all Div 1 and 2 tracks)... And deliver a better RR process to reduce/eradicate guests, (it isnt too difficult to come up with one), so hopefully engage the many thousands who no longer attend regularly but closely follow the sport.. Or possibly just carry on as normal... .

Spot on, when you think the sport can't get any more shambolic the BSPL or whatever they call themselves these days seem to manage it.

Looks good enough for the stock cars.

One is James Wright apparently….

The only way that a salary cap could ever work is if the BSPL centrally contracts and hires out the riders to teams. Other (mainstream) sports can afford expensive auditors to go and check conformance, but speedway hasn't got the money for them and no doubt much of the sport still runs on cash-in-hand anyway.

Unlike Leicester, Poole will be prepared to ride on an off race night if needs be

That's simply supply and demand. An 'in demand' has always been able to do that as long as someone is willing to pay it. I go back 10 years to when the 2nd division introduced a voluntary pay cap at £55 a point. It took less than 2 hrs before some promotors had torn it up and offered more. If you look at Poland in the last 12 months, they have made significant changes to get pay rates approved and public, with them trying to rid the sport of it's under the counter cash payments. Promotors moan like F### about riders demanding this that and the other and in the same breath, they go and pay it. If someone offered you more money for your job, would you consider it?

I'll be making the trip to Lynn. I'm a Panthers supporter till the very end.

Fair enough mate, maybe I should say it was a ridiculous time to stage said meeting with the playoffs next week, it's like the fA staging a testimonial 1 week before the cup final with the majority of players to play in both fixtures. Just want til the seasons end,that's my point.

If you are going to do a job , do it properly. Airbags are easy to change if you have the right people doing the job.

Sorry Lewy I can not agree with you that it was a meatless meeting. Middlo has been a great servant of Poole and speedway. He was one of the people responsible for bringing Hans over and giving him his start in the UK which has lasted over 20 years. I do not believe the bad fortune of the Gladiators this season. Such a great team built but ruined by injury. Eddie was injured in that first meeting but with the state of speedway at the present time could not be replaced by another rider of similar average. I agree that it is doubtful Eddie would of maintained the average he started with but how can you team build with the present riders after the season started. If Lawson had stayed in place of Eddie Plymouth would be very strong. However, no contract was signed so he was entitled to change his mind. Plymouth must build on their success this season with great fans and management but remember Poole and Middlo have given speedway great riders and in my view added a great deal to speedway.

Not forgetting some great video messages from Darcy, Davey,Bjarne, Krysztov Cegelski and Kacper Woryna. Well done to Nigel (MMX Events), the Piratecast boys and all the other helpers. The Matt and Helen Ford reveal was brilliant. Also some really positive comments from the likes of Doyle, Holder, Harris and Kurtz about the Poole track surface being the best and smoothest its ever been.

Now it's the weather's fault, never had any problems at the 4TT, which was in the middle of the day, just admit that the cheap tyres are rubbish, riders now have so much equipment forced on them, all of which is a very nice little earner for someone. As the old saying goes, buy cheap, buy twice, or in this case buy cheap, buy 14 times.

A great point loved watching Andrew Silver ride but always believed Martin Dugard was a better rider.He improved so much with the help of Hans Nielsen team riding everything.In a way a way Martin could of ended up as just a Arlington homer a bully but he was terrific had a great career and finished when he felt the time was right.

But this situation was known before the season started, if there were no rain-offs everyone's season would finish at the start of August (bar KOC & PO matches). Clubs had months available to plan extra fixtures if needed (Ashfield Classic, NL Challenges against Armadale & Berwick)

Glasgow and Redcar are proper race tracks, Wimborne Road most definitely never been.

On behalf of all minnows in all sports let's hope they aren't bullied in to organising against their wishes with 5 days notice when the big club bullies are playing stupid games. Besides the weather forecast suggests any match in the South on Tuesday and Wednesday is very likely to be washed out. What next, Poole trying to stage both legs?

That goes for any team at any track

I would have thought a decent guest for Palm Toft and RR for Andersen would have been a better way to go and possibly attract a few Panthers fans but Lambert and Wright do nothing for me and like a lot of others I will pass. Like a lot of others on here I will not travel to watch an uncompetitive team. Crowds so far at Peterborough have been good with Mondays attendance very good but this attitude to guests is testing everyone’s patience.

Well done to Bomber on last night's maximum,also congratulations to Leon on his second title was good to see Liam Carr spannering for him.

Well done Leon. Champion! And to Ace on a very decent showing, with a heat win and a second

As they just said on commentary, despite a few of the original line up withdrawing, we have still seen some good racing from the youngsters which shows that its not just on eor two decent riders coming through either. Kids well down the points table still going out and really giving it their best shot in each heat too - good attitude.

Bickley has a jarred neck muscle. On the Berwick website saying he misses out while Leon and Ace compete.

This is the problem I have with their statement. It implies the track is somehow at fault. The tyres are the problem, it just so happens that Peterborough highlights the problem more than elsewhere. How long before they need 2 tyres at Scunny? They were using 2 last year.

It does. As I said earlier, at Peterborough you can be spinning for almost the whole lap - it's a full throttle circuit and it's shape/banking make that essential. I've used tyres with more wear on than Basso's had (Barum and Mitas) and they didn't puncture. His only got a hole like that on bend 3 because he was riding it flat having punctured on bends 1 and 2. They are clearly not up to the job in hand. If they continue to have to use Anlas then they need 2 new tyres each for each meeting at Peterborough as a minimum. The engine issue will not be solved whilst Poland rule the roost. Does anyone else recognise that we seem to be having more injuries now than ever, even with air fences and a lot happen in Poland. The violent lifting should simply not be happening but it needs the FIM to take charge over these machines. Already we have tracks having to be bald/slick otherwise riders can't cope. Watching speedway from years ago there were some really rough and bumpy tracks but they got on with it and coped OK and still raced each other. It's the cart driving the horse. Shame.

My feeling is that, despite the engines being tuned etc., the 250s are much more evenly matched. This naturaly leads to more closely fought races and puts more emphasis on rider skills. This is just a theory of course, but it seems to fit the facts. And this post, that appeared whilst I was composing mine, seems to be in the same vane. An interesting side note. Someone prominent in the speedway world said in my hearing recently that the worse thing speedway ever did was to announce race times. Hmmm, makes you think.

I thought the track was fantastic considering, Buster did an absolutely cracking job once again! He wasn't going to be at the showground yesterday, but obviously he was needed to come to the rescue after the rain (and I'm glad he did!)

I would put you down as a comfortable armchair ride, maybe with a little tot of cognac in a cup holder on the bars now that you’re re a country gentleman I never knew anyone who rode , that deliberately tried to copy anyones style . If you’re going to make it from junior to fully fledged rider I think you’ll just develop your own style. I wish you luck Steve in your future career .

For all of us I'd say.

I don't necessarily think the commentators need updating. I think what's needed is this need to lie when it's a crap meeting. No other sport does it. Football, Cricket, Rugby etc, if it's a bad game it gets called a bad game. If someone's playing awful, they get called awful. The constant positivity has a negative effect. Take Cardiff yesterday for instance, it was a horrible watch, yet the commentary was bigging it up. If you're new to the sport & they're seeing the commentary bigging it up, why are these people going to give the sport a chance? They'd think "if this is good racing, I'd hate to see bad racing." JUST STOP THE LIES, WE DO HAVE EYES

and I imagine riders/bikes of yesteryear would have struggled to slide on that track. we can't keep blaming the bikes for every ill. Sport is about being fitter, faster, stronger, skilful or more intelligent/fearless than your opponents. yes there has to be regulation of the machinery but the clue is in the title 'speed'way, the whole ethos is to go faster. this isn't a tortoise and hare sport the hare should always win. and we see how thrilling the sport can be when the riders are given the right surface to perform. different if the bikes have become unrideable on all tracks but to an extent that's self regulating as the riders wouldn't use bikes they can't ride. look at football. I love the retro matches from the 70's but the standard was rubbish because the pitches were awful. fast forward to 2022 and now Coventry are cancelling fixtures because their pitch isn't good enough, I bet its way better than what teams used to play on. but the authorities have realised that the sport should be played on surfaces that reward skill over chance or strength. Speedway should be no different.