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Do Poole fans get a Matt Ford christmas hamper voucher everytime they big up a Pirates rider., must give out hundreds this time of year

That's their choice. I've followed speedway for over 50 years and watched it been totally decayed by mismanagement and greed over the years. British Speedway has gone from being the jewel in the crown that riders from every nation wanted to ride with 20 teams in the top division all featuring at least one, if not two, WORLD CLASS riders down to a Mickey Mouse level where even top Brits are posted missing. The BSPA oversee year after year of embarrassing errors and as long as promoters own team come out smelling of roses then that's OK. The only way British Speedway will grow and improve is when a totally independent administration takes control. And if I can't be arsed then maybe it's because I have finally got my priorities sorted.

It may well be diluted and at present some say poorly run or run with self interest in mind. However it is still with us and those who chose are able to do so whether in person or streaming. In 1980 there were 20 teams in the equivalent of the CL and now it looks as if we are down to 9 so we are not exactly in the golden age for Speedway - but we are still here. There are clearly a huge number of factors involved in how we have arrived at where we are. At present there appear to be only temporary sticking plaster solutions to keep us jogging along until someone comes up with a grand plan to turn things around. Debatable if that will be possible and even less likely if support further diminishes so it is vital to hold on to and consolidate what we are working with at present. Some say costs are too high and poor value @ £20 or whatever for 90 minutes stood outside and only 15 minutes racing, but that is what Speedway has always been - except delete 20 and insert applicable substitute. Anyone old enough to remember the early 60's may recall that kids got in for the equivalent of 7.5p and adults about 12.5 p and riders could well have been on 50p a point if they were lucky ( Alan Weeks on BBC TV once mentioned that Barry Briggs got 10 bob ( 50 p ) a point ). Point being this is 2022 and it costs what it costs to run a Speedway meeting and keep a club afloat. Where are we now - max. £90 a point "capped" - suggests one heck of an income required to keep in business. Have never been a great subscriber to this "value" argument. Everything's relative on that score i.e. some ( not all ) may easily spend £20 on an evening and p**s it all against a wall never giving it another thought - it's all down to personal choice and rightly so, Only saying !

He was one of many. The EOES needs shale, not clay...

I think the 21 year gap that OGT pointed out, has had the biggest impact.... Also, the stadium isn't great for watching speedway (IMO) and the location is a nightmare at times..... I dread travelling to the area.

Lawson has been a fantastic rider in the championship for many years now. Don't get all this talk about number ones, an out and out number one is a rider who leads from the front and wins the big heats and Lawson is one of those.

For me it sums up that running a speedway club is expensive. I struggle to understand why promoters and riders aren’t actively trying to make running it cheaper. It seems a no brainer to me.

I can not believe they picked Allen over mountain. Absolute shocker that. sums up British speedway when a Brit improves but means they are penalised

It could also cause problems if one of them gate as the top riders generally leave a racing line Open for an opponent

Thought Lee worked on railways so hardly full time maybe they could go when he's on strike again

Lynn too.

Not bad as you get 13 free programmes, and are able to watch 3 races per meeting from the centre green which i think is usually a fiver. You can also buy a riders kevlars before the season starts for £300, have you name on them if you wish, and you get them at the end of the season. Not bad if thats your thing.

because it would require some radical decisions that they seem unable to make. The dog should be wagging the tail but the reverse is the current situation.

That's not a bad deal on a season ticket.Didn't realise you got your programmes chucked in with the price.I may decide to get a season ticket this season,something I haven't done for about 30 years.

Personally I think Mountain is on the way up and Allen is on the way down .

Mr Tomalin is obviously a very shrewd businessman, so he will be aware that if he can't find a new site quick, he will lease the speedway for next season, & try to secure the new site in 2024.

How many different 1 to 7 is that you have put together,,,, must be an all time record.

That would make an unbelievable gift for the youngsters! If I’d have managed to get a pair of Siggy’s leathers back in the day when he was my idol growing up, that would have been something I’d have treasured.

And closed with in 6 weeks!

Emil - 8.00 Sedge 4.44 Holder 7.16 Basso 6.83 Artem - 8.00 Cook 4.06 Jenkins RS Total: 38.49

……..and the inexperience could could possibly cause some strung out racing which isn’t ideal.

And there lies the problem. We have a standard that we can't afford. Championship Riders should be semi professional and certainly shouldn't have paid mechanics. Riders were paid £1 a point in the Provincial League in 1964. This equates to about £25 at today's prices. On this basis £90 sounds too much. Riders were semi professional, all but the top men had day jobs. All riders just had one bike. If it blew then they used the track spare or were out for the night.

Buster doesn't own the land. However why would you buy Peterborough speedway without having a site secured to develop a new stadium when you lose your current home? That would seem like good business sense to me.

Flappy said last week that it was being held up by the purchase of some land for a new circuit....no reason to disbelieve that.

No they won't be. They are only allowed to race in Poland, as it's against Polish law to discriminate against their own citizens - both hold Polish citizenship.

I think it will be Rasmus Jensen or tungate personally.

Was 2022 really a Failure for Ipswich? They finished 2nd in the league, won the pairs. Their first trophy for years. Yet it would seem because they missed out in the play off semi final to the eventual winners, they failed? I guess to some they did, but those people would very hard to please ever. The Wolves thing, I agree, They were weak at reserve, and have done exactly the same this year compared to other teams. They said that was their achilles heal, and yet could have employed the likes of Hans Andersen at reserve had they set up slightly differently.

Not enough people are interested in speedway and in any case, why would they be? What aspect of the sport would attract people who know nothing about it and have probably never even heard of it? The sport was lost to the city for 21 years, that's a lot of existing and potential fans lost to something else. The first few seasons back were fairly successful, crowd and team wise, then it kind of came of the rails and has struggled to repeat the "glory days" since. Football is the king really, Villa, Blues, Albion and Walsall all within easy reach. That's where the sporting interest largely is. Edgbaston come the 20/20 stuff too, packed out.

Jenkins, Edwards and Thomas all improved over the season after getting there initial first chances at being an RS , They should all improve further in 2023 just as Flint did in his second season of being an RS I was a bit critical of 000Jenkins at Peterborough but he made me eat my words so be prepared to admit you were wrong also Gilkes will take a few scalps as well

Yeah but there’s no rider guarantees this year so that’ll sort this whole mess right out…

Fully agree. Each and every off season, fans hope things behind the scenes have a huge shake up and things are promised yet nothing ever improves, only gets worse. Its alarming how bad the sport has became in the UK now whilst other motorsports seem to be thriving.

Birmingham just never seem to be able to make it work, how many different promotions have tried and failed there? For such a large city, you'd think crowds would be higher. Looking at the team building for this season, its hard to see that changing in 2023 either. Looks like they've splashed the cash on their number one and don't seem bothered about the rest.

100% Lynn's season really is dependent on 1 rider. He's anywhere between a 9 or 5 average, that's massive for the season. As for the 5 figure sum, I wouldn't be too concerned as that could just be £200.01

We will always savour 2019 when we won 37-53 at Ashfield though.

Tonight's Gladiators TV rewind match stream sees the Gladiators vs Berwick Bandits in their Championship match back in May. Stream Premieres at 7pm. Enjoy!

I also rate Ben Trigger, and I wonder whether another of last year's Centurions might be in the frame in Rhys Naylor?

With all the issues to be sorted for the Panthers to continue racing in the future no disrespect to Buster but he wouldn't of had the drive to keep pushing Its a blessing in many ways that someone else has come along in the current climate who it so far appears is willing to push though the many barriers and issues involved and keep the Panthers alive for much longer than initially anticipated .

Does anyone know if Emil and Artem are riding in Sweden? They are not in the GPs, so they only have the Polish league? Both are very rusty and want to ride regularly.

Oh ok thanks I hadn't read that.

100 percent hans will be back, otherwise they would have said thanks for his service like the others. I agree with flappy…………. 1. TBC 2. Andersen 3.holder 4.basso 5. NKI 6. Ben cook 7. Jenkins as for the number 1. I have no idea, maybe a pole ?

I'm sure KK will do what KK has always done, blow incredibly hot & cold. Expect a fair few 3 0 3 R. It's whether the 3, 2, 3, 1', 2 nights occur as often as the 0, R , R. The thing is with the Stars septet, Klindt is almost as inconsistent. It will be Jorgensen most of the year, I'm sure of that. Not convinced he'll prove to be better than Kerr and possibly Blodorn over the course of a season.

They'd go bust mate. British Speedway doesn't get the attendances to have an Elite 1 & 5 pairing. Paying customers on the night don't turn up for regular league meetings if the weather forecast is dodgy and they don't turn up for meetings that are televised either.

Still Buster. He is winding down a bit and taking a step back like he did in 22, with Dale and Alex doing the day to day stuff. Alex said the club is in good hands and will be for many years to come. Reading between the lines i think Brady will take the promotion over in the future.

Hume may be at Leicester, I seem to remember he was good there when he rode for Poole.

Think you've just proved my farce comment....

Sadly the hardcore seem to be the happy clappers who will gobble up whatever is served and roll out the “keyboard warriors” or “people always moan” lines when challenged. All the while digging deeper in their own pockets to pay a silly amount for a worse product year on year. A protest of sorts may make an impact but I’m sure the aforementioned fans would never back it. Then the crowds wouldn’t suffer much at all because the fans who’d vote with their feet largely already have done so.

Why the hell are we,the paying fans, putting up with our sport being diluted by those who actually run it and yet will probably expect us to pay more? I am honestly having a serious think about which meeting I will attend next season and although only a single individual whose presence won't be missed at least I know I'm voting with my feet (and wallet) Maybe if more fans did the same in an organised manner promoters may come to respect fans and their income?

Don't think it's a bad side. If cookie gets back to being 9.5 plus rider and hook and lasse can kick on after a season of learning then could be challengers (by that I mean to win it don't need the standard "they only need to finish 6th of 9" response). Of what's been announced/ assumed I'd say better than Berwick, Oxford and scunny and about on par with Redcar and Glasgow.

Congratulations to Diamonds85 who is this year's winner!! His winning team had big rises for Trigger, Perry & Freeman and around a point rises for Atkins and Bowtell whilst Morley & Sam McGurk stayed relatively static. 1. Diamonds85 49.64 2. Sings4Speedway 48.07 3. PotteringAround 48.05 4. Marky_Mark 47.96 5. Islander15 46.23 6. Bloom89 46.20 7. DJC 45.32 8. Secsy1 44.67 9. Hawks 1975 43.80 10. ljriley90 43.79 11. Technik 43.73 12. Mac101 43.51 13. szkocjasid 42.75 14. Bluenose 41.69 Lots of people were unlucky with Luke Killeen not getting a real average, which undoubtedly would've been quite high. The highest averaged 3.00 rider ended up being Ace Pijper but the only person to pick him was Secsy1. The next best 3.00 man was Max Perry who was only selected by 2 people (myself and our winner). But 4 of you went for Ben Trigger, including the top 2, who nearly doubled his average. Otherwise the best option turned out to be Connor Coles who added nearly 3 points on his average. Meanwhile lots went for a combination of Crang, Ablitt & Atkins who all put on a point or just over to end on similar figures.

Tate Z is looking more and more like the must have signing for any Championship team looking for a rider on an assessed average.