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Nonsense. It's one of the worst aspects of the sport in this country & why it's not taken seriously. Poland won't go near guests as the league will lose all integrity. One rider missing from the top 5 & it should be R/R. Any missing reseve is replaced by a club junior.

How many wooden spoons have lynn got in the trophy cabinet in their history ? must be a considerable fire hazard.

I thought the most notable take-away from the meeting was that the match took well under 2 hours and there were only two fallers - a big improvement on 2022's offerings

Ridiculous. Opening meeting of the season and already being covered by guests. Everybody should be forced to use R/R for missing riders unless there is more than one rider missing. Guests are one of the biggest banes of British Speedway.

Excellent that it has been rearranged quickly - has been a great issue in recent years that cup competition gets sidelined and causes issues with getting finals run

It seems to be a new thing they are trying, it then means the riders ride out in order to be introduced to the crowd, without helmets, so no stopping to do practice starts etc. one lap and straight back into pits. Personally I like it - with a normal parade the riders all sit with helmets on then it is a mad rush to get pushed off and absolute total chaos - just feels more professional way to start the proceedings

Track don't need bedding in it was fantastic both days. The 10 riders there put in plenty of laps and from beginning to end it was terrific little bit slick but that's only to be expected. No idea on open sessions but we will be back up for a full weekend prior to season starting

I will be doing the odd meeting and Workington as both the same distance roughly for me.

Away teams' fans too would be the biggest potential audience I would say... Going away several hundred miles on a Monday or Thursday night might not be the most appealing of things to do, even more so when the weather is 'iffy', given Speedway's possibility of a call off... Hardly any away fans attend nowadays so what an opportunity to get them watching their team from the comfort of their armchairs..

All too often in British Speedway, you hear reports of tracks not being up to scratch at the beginning of a meeting and riders unhappy with conditions - whether this be poor prep, weather conditions or any other factors. I notice from today’s match at Redcar, riders were given a chance to spend 1 minute out of track according to speedway updates. Before the start of every league match in Poland, every team can nominate 2 riders to go out on track to check out track conditions etc. Why are we not doing this over here? This can help to eliminate a whole host of potential issues on the horizon (like Peterborough the last week with heat 1 and riders not being happy with the exit to turn 2) and give riders a chance to get on track before heat 1. This adds abit of a tactical element too - do you send out your experienced guys to pass on knowledge or send out a junior to get some much needed track time before their first ride? There is no shame in following in the Poles footsteps if it helps to solve problems and benefits the beginning of meetings. How often do we see matches where the first 4 heats are follow the leader around the inside until the track starts to bed in and dirt moves wider? This one seems abit of a non brainer to me and can only be a good thing.

A very good meeting, plenty of exciting racing even if it wasn’t for a race win. The meeting was very slick too. I like the 5 rider semi, and the 6 rider final Only thing there I would change is make the 5 rider semi 5 laps, and the 6 rider final 6 laps. I like the presentation of the final….. finalist coming out as passengers on big bikes, and then being able to chose their own gate. Overall presentation was better than GP presentations, IMO. Well done Belle Vue, and thanks to ALL the riders for making a great meeting. 22 races with very good competitive racing., in 2.5 hours. If every speedway meeting was held as good as that, presentation and racing, then maybe speedway in the uk could start attracting sponsors and crowds. And thank you to BSN for streaming the meeting. Quality I found to be very good, and the presenters/interviewers were all professional. Well done BSN

Another cracking meeting at the NSS... Got to get a GP soon surely.. The top lads tonight showed when racing together just how many lines you can use (safely), at full pelt... Brady Kurtz for a GP wild card around there (or Charles Wright), and you would have top quality entertainment guaranteed.. Crowd looked very decent too..

I don't begrudge Scott having what is probable to be his last season as a rider picking up a few PL rides ,he has been a great servant to British s/way

I like the idea of a 4tt testimonial meeting, will be looking at getting the stream. Even if I miss some of celebrity hunted. That is committment for you!

I can see where your coming from there Baggy.

Just warming up my old Wessie in the back garden.. Expecting a call around three....

I feel for Torquay Does this sound familiar?

I'm not keen on guests but I'm not keen on six man teams either. Give me seven versus seven any day of the week. This situation has only happened in the last 24 hours and if I was the Wolves manager, I would definitely go for a guest if a suitable one could be found.

Start at 7:15 with the practice and then first race scheduled for 7:30 - that’s that issue solved.

Yer Godfrey pulling a fast one............ he should have done an Eddie Kennett ( 1lap and guests for the season).

This is where things go wrong in the UK IMO, if 28 day facilities are going to be handed out then why extend them as surely a new signing if required could be found within that time? Personally I wouldn't grant Scunny with one anyway (ie NL guest) as its a non speedway injury. All top five absences should be R/R, guests only once multiple riders are unavailable. Guests really do need minimising if not stamping out. As for the meeting anything within ten will be a good result, even though Wolves don't look great we rarely go well there, almost a bogey track.

Only one man for this job. Who do you call? Troy Batchelor.

At the NSS it's the quality of the racing rather than the quality of the field that we go for. Many remember the first Craven meeting when the lineup looked decidedly ordinary but the racing was brilliant.

Time to move on. I'm heading for the STMP.

i remember her father in the film Silence of the Lambs

As of last Friday, Steve has been offered 3 date options by the Poole management for the rearranged Testimonial. He is currently checking rider availability (if possible to retain the original line-ups, unless previously unavailable riders are now possible?), before confirming the new date.

An excellent meeting with many great races. Doyle was a worthy winner, as several others could easily have taken it, but his experience of GP finals may have helped when it counted. The 5 rider semi / 6 rider final worked well and the BV staff deserve great credit for the slick presentation. Not sure about the reason to give the two track reserves two 'match races' but that's being picky.

Thanks Lisa-colette, we have been on board with Paul and Starke Racing since 2016, and can say what a truly genuine awesome guy Paul is, along with his dad Tony and their family.

I give Kasprzak til May.

Averages for a reason, just cause they’re British doesn’t mean you should ignore that fact. Daft logic.

Hi guys, for those that are unable to attend the first meeting at Plymouth on Tuesday 4th April, but would like to watch the event and support Paul Starke, his 4TT Testimonial meeting is being streamed live by Gladiators TV. The stream starts at 6:45pm, at a cost of £11.99, with all profits going direct to Paul. Here is the direct link to purchase the stream. Enjoy!!! https://www.gladiatorslive.com

Those were his Leicester bikes, 3rd ride was his Glasgow equipment

Gary Flint saying lack of competitive track time costing Berwick a few points,then why would you want to start the season with the KO cup,especially as there are few spare dates for most Clubs this season.

It's no higher profile than any other meeting other than being the first match of the season, back in the top league, some would just describe it as just a cup match. And I wouldn't say the end of March is early, tracks have started much earlier in the past, you've got to start at some point.

Correct

Well he’s not touched a bike since last October so I doubt it.

And we would be expected to pay to watch s--t like that

It’s not fair but it’s the luck of the draw when you have an injured rider. This then encourages the team to go and sign a replacement or stick with R/R until the injured rider is back - but doesn’t include borrowing riders from other teams and keeps some form of team identity. The guest system has been a joke for a long time. I remember back in 2008 when Simon Walker was injured for my team (Somerset) who was on a 6.50 average after it being inflated due to a large home average. People were disappointed when he came back from injury after we had Craig Watson and other riders well above his ability guesting in place of him. Should never of been allowed really.

The reason not to do this is juniors are generally used to less dirt and may struggle on a fresh surface This makes a crash more likely which could mean medical delays or fence repairs which actually delay or even jeopardise the main meeting

Had to go old school in the end and use the telephone!

I've often said that the GP's usually start to liven up after 8-10 races - once the track settles in - and they could easily send juniors out before the meeting to get it in shape from the start. There is no reason at all why they couldn't do that at ALL meetings - and EVERYBODY would benefit.

Nicholls tonight

Same here. Although i do remember seeing the remnants of terracing that was curved, so must have been one of the bends. Something that always fascinated me, finding remnants of old stadia etc from the time i saw a report on finding the old terracing from an early Woolwich Arsenal stadium in someones back garden

This isnt true. Doctors notes are all that is needed. Can u imagine someone having to travel to Poland a day after braking a leg?

Bring your sun cream…………… and a coat

I'm sure beer and p#ss taking will do the trick!

To be honest there is no one more disappointed than myself and all the others who have been working so hard at our track for months.

Well I can confirm it was not the drainage that caused Thursday call off, the damage had already been done, I am not sure if people realise how much rain we have had, we have emptied the drains 3 times since last weekend, each drain hold approximately 5 thousand ltrs, we have 8 main drains, they were full each time.

Laptop Streaming isn't stupid at all, it's one of the few things British Speedway does that isn't stuck in the twentieth century.