Leaderboard

It was Basso in the crowd with his new red laser pen

The main reason Speedway clubs fold is due to largely, poor stadia, compared to other sports or activities on offer, no promotion, a near total disregard for their fan base, an amateurish “show” confusing rules, no meaningful competitions, which this leads to very little credibility and therefore exposure in media and the failure to attract sponsorship or investment. The failure to tap in a young audience on social media platforms. AFTV (Arsenal Fan TV) have approx 1.5 million followers on their YouTube channel alone. It was started by 1 man (many since and before have shows/podcasts resulting in exposure, advertising, merchandise resulting from this & expanding revenue streams). AFTV don’t have anything to even sell… no game/no club/no museum/no access to players… the list goes on. Speedway bosses have a product they could market to the whole world, they could interview riders, ex riders.. referees.. supporters, do bike examinations, show behind the scenes, team manager interviews, merchandise, tickets… do podcasts, show old clips… ANYTHING… what do they do… next to idiot all! I used to attend Rye, from when my parents took me from 6months old.. we went to Mildenhall, P’boro, Lynn, Milton Keynes regularly. Rye was a great venue, with potential if there was investment for it to be a picturesque stadium and good night out. I’m not sure the track design/set up, like Wolves gave that good racing.. Yet, you’d have these old codgers as track staff, smoking as they came out, some fat bloke as start Marshall with his top barely over his belly, waving to his mates on parade, the contrast being the riders & their bikes pristine. It’s shabby.. scruffy, lazy and embarrassing.. it’s professional sport.. that should apply to staff too. Image and perception is just as important. The latest trend to keep the sagging tapes from hitting the track floor is the ORANGE TRAFFIC CONE!! Seriously.. it looks rubbish on TV.. well it just looks rubbish. Add in the weather factor and all the other issues people raise. Address the above and you may just get the footfall back. Many well known high street shops disappeared because they didn’t adapt to the modern day market place.. and Speedway could well be that equivalent. That’s my opinion anyway.

Agreed and a great strategy if true. We may go down in the end but it's not a done deal, there is hope (and questions to answer) and the club needs high profile people like Michael Tomalin, Bratters, Councillor Julie Stevenson etc in their corner. Developers want a smooth ride and thankfully people are waking up to the detail of their application and the PCC planning document and process to ensure that all are held to account.

As evidenced by the wide range of opinions on forums such as this, speedway fans can have very different views on what they want their speedway to be. Some want close racing with loads of 3-3s, some want loads of passing no matter who wins, some want as many 5-1s for their own team, some want 4-2, 2-4,4-2 as long as their team doesn't lose. Some want to see 'top' riders in winning teams, some want teams of equal strength. All options can be exciting for some and boring for others.

Sport is different though, it's tribal, it's your team and you should support them through thick and thin (in sickness and in health) it's the team representing all of the history built up through the years and your local community... or at least it should be and it is generally the case with most other sports. Speedway on the other hand decides to throw away this proven tribal instinct built into humans and instead decide to hire a bunch of mercenaries, who rarely stay with their team from one season to the next, can barely say "we" or "us" when referring to the team they ride for, instead electing for "them" and decide to go and ride for other clubs around the country and world during the same season. So yes I can easily see why people "vote with their" feet and stop going. I am more of a fan of the Sport than any particular team or rider, I do support a team (Leicester) but having had my team taken away from me numerous times through the years, I'm a lover of the sport in general.

For the record and having spoken to MT, he’s still involved and attention has now shifted more towards getting all the new plans turned down for the showground. And in my opinion that is more important than what’s happening at the moment team wise. Buster is the one who owns Peterborough so it’s down to him to sort out the rider situation not Tomalin. He has also invested a lot of money into the team already so this attitude of busters that’s supposedly been heard as ‘we can run r/r and guests all season if needs be is ridiculous. Why should tomalin be the one that forks out more money to obtain another rider??? It’s busters job as owner

Shouldnt have been allowed last year either. Farcical. Guests are ruining speedway, teams have no identity any more with too much doubling up and random guests all over the place. And we are being asked to pay £20+ to watch.

I see no reason for a "super heat" I don't know what's wrong with a draw? Never in all my 30+ years have I ever heard a fan, rider, promoter or TV commentator ever complain that a draw shouldn't be allowed! In this case heat 15 was a last heat decider, Leicester could've won, Belle Vue could've won or there could be a draw - that sounds an exciting finish, without the super heat

Good meeting in the end; some issues for Lions to overcome though, especially re Max not getting going properly yet. We seemed quite slow, not sure if that's down to set up or lack of dirt off the main racing line, noticed it most with Chris Harris going wide and finding nothing to drive him on. Re Belle Vue Tom Brennan found it tough going too, and after I'd waxed lyrical about him so it was probably my kiss of death. Ryan Douglas as a guest was always going to score a bucket load as he loves the track, definitely tipped the balance for the Aces in the end. I'm still not sold on the super heat, nor do I really understand the point of it. It just seems weird to not just say it was a draw, 1 point each and that's it. Why should a team get another point for essentially a scratch race when we already have an aggregate bonus anyway? It makes the league table look weird as well having a draw win and draw lose column, I had to try and explain it to some newbies tonight and it just sounded absurd.

I'm sorry, and no disrespect to him, but when the likes of Connor Coles makes the start off of the massively advantaged gate 4 and the likes of Josh Pickering can't get anywhere near him... it's that Speedway racing?

https://vk.com/video-53550004_456241264?fbclid=IwAR1_lgJ8Xpp27_I-uSzfpU4MBWmKhRLHA7OKgWKrEyaeLBn5aJcOdMzdEqk https://vk.com/video-19139906_456240094?fbclid=IwAR1VpDuppWPAPItFcHMWylqLP5HXIatDlby45n0Gt9-aLtsdgdxJPcmuqeg

I'm not sure they are on paper personally.

I agree entirely. For the last couple of seasons since the showground closure was announced. Chapman appears to have given up entirely on the Panthers. Team building has been disappointing to say the least, but he still expects supporters to pay good money to watch average riders on a poorly prepared track. The crowds at the showground have been exceptionally good compared to some other premiership teams and I think they deserve to see better quality riders, not a team of leftovers that nobody else seemed to want this season.

Let’s just face it if a rider has a bad night and is interviewed there will always be an excuse or reason for it.If Richie had made 5 gates it would have been a different story no doubt. It was gaters paradise but we’ll have witnessed in many times before all over the Country.

Considering the 'prize' they got taken on after winning 2018 Prem title, maybe he should be a bit more respectful/professional towards former club.

Agreed but Buster 100% said he'd rather run guests and R/R all year that shouldn't be accepted as supporters either. The way the club is being ran currently is poor and whilst the future of the club is the priority letting a whole season drift is stupid also.

He certainly would be ,but really using a guest from a Team in your own section doesn’t help credibility.

Well done to the Bandits great result.Edinburgh we’re woeful,track prep suggested gating was paramount.Bickley really needs to apply for his job back at Tesco’s.Dick Barrie’s rolling about the track with excitement was surely worth the admission money.

I can't remember ever seeing a gate that was such an advantage. Fair play to Berwick didn't see that coming. Bickley be as well chucking it at champ level, terrible

I'm on my way to Armadale because I think that I maybe able to win a race off gate 4... and I've never ridden a motorbike

The quiz ran for 4 weeks from 18th April until 9th May. The numbers grid remained the same. The results of each quiz were: 18th April - Barry Briggs (12), Ole Olsen (3) and Clive Hitch (48). 25th April - Jim McMillan (30), Ivan Mauger (1) and Jimmy Gooch (96). 2nd May - Soren Sjosten (19), Roy Trigg (6) and Bernie Persson (24). 9th May - Bengt Larrson (11), Bruce Cribb (10) and Ronnie Genz (95). Theories: 1. Entrants made their picks and the promotion simply selected the winners at random and allocated the numbers thereafter. 2. There was a predetermined list of riders and numbers and it was just your luck whether you were correct or not. Either way there was no logic involved. Could it have been a mad attempt to encourage programme sales?

If Leicester lost the super heat with Fricke 4th, after he had just finished 4th in heat 15, I can just imagine the comments on here!

Get the track right to produce good racing, & the average supporter would accept a few defeats.

Buster needs to get over himself and just be civil. No one likes everyone they work with, it's life. It must be emotionally draining to be that bitter about someone.

It's been poor since he took over to be honest. I never got the feeling that it was more than sustainable speedway without ambition and speculation but to make up the numbers. I hear what Bratters says about it being more about mitigating financial losses but most clubs seem to manage and still offer hope with the objective (probably misplaced given the reality) of success. Given that the club is fighting for it's future then the last thing that it needs is another crap season sucking the life out of it. The buck stops with the owner I'm afraid, irrespective of what other members of the management team or sponsors say.

I've calmed a little now from last night. It was an enjoyable meeting but also frustrating. It's all about fine margins and we are just not cutting it enough. Against Peterborough we only just won and they had a heat leader missing BUT the track wasn't ideal for racing so difficult to judge. Home to Ipswich was a Doyle and Emil masterclass and I just came away thinking I've seen some class riders show us how it's done. This time I'm a little more concerned, allen is struggling if makes a poor start and makes you wonder why we just didn't just sign our asset Connor mountain ? His average would have been lower I think and is a English Leicester asset? Most of the fans I spoke to last night are going to be patient with Fricke. We all know he's a great rider and I think he will come good. Morris was superb last night and proving his worth at home. Lawson is Mr consistent, Harris is doing his job at 4 and sedgmen is been out best rider . Dan T was also better last night..just missing the final piece to fit which is fricke coming good. I'm a little concerned but also optimistic. Think if we lose at home to kings Lynn the fans may vote with their feet..

Most fans would still be moaning if your team had Holder in for NP.

Surely a contributing factor is that Oxford are a better team, unfortunately people see one meeting on TV and think that what it is like at every meeting.

Voting with your feet is never the answer, thats the main reason speedway clubs fold. I would have thought that was obvious to a Rye House fan.

I'm not too sure why people are moaning about the track. It's Poole's prerogative to make the track as advantageous as possible for the home side, no? They'd be crazy to try and make it suitable for the opposition! And it's also a bit too early to write the track off completely - it was one meeting. Nobody was really complaining about it after the Oxford win. It's a long season so I'm sure it won't be that bad every week.

Skidder 1 , yes you are absolutely correct ….. I have witnessed this first hand during the season in which Hackney Kestrels were invincible …… thrashing every team in sight every week - it became a bore tbh, yet some supporters just loved a 5-1 in every heat. I enjoyed going to the away meetings more than the routine drubbings of opposition at Waterden Road They would be disgusted if an away rider won a heat - denying a Kestrels rider a maximum. Expect several more one sided meetings at Wimborne Road this season. I was defo a 40-38 home win ( 13 heats) with a last heat decider supporter. Make room in that Pirates Trophy cabinet …….

They were along with Mick Fletcher and the Selfie King Barney Kennett. Bert Harkins is a regular visitor.

Even with Pedersen the team was a state. The whole Holder situation messed our season up.

After this season, it really is time to make it one big league now. Forget North and South divides, throw all the sides into one league and if it means 5/6 rider teams, then so be it. Bring back a premier trophy style comp to start the season. Split teams into 3/4 groups. Race all those fixtures before the league starts. Have no gaps during the season and a fixture every week. Fans are the backbone of the sport and its high time the powers that be listen to them. Fans want a team of riders who they can associate with their club every week of the season. Not once every three weeks and seeing their riders riding for other teams. Guests every single week. Its just a farce how its currently ran. Calling meetings off a day or two in advance because of weather forecasts. Baffling. I stopped attending league speedway when Newport shut in 2011 and haven't been to one league meeting since. Don't get me wrong, the set ups were a shambles back then but they appear to be a whole lot worse now than what they were then. Even now when watching clips on twitter etc, you see some great on track racing but the whole presentation in the back ground just looks and sounds a sham. Its time the sport moved with the times. Every other sport has. I certainly wouldn't part with around 50 quid to watch league speedway every week anymore if I lived in the UK. Admission, a few pints and some food plus petrol and parking etc... it would be well worth the cost if it was a modern day / night out. Instead of spending every off season tinkering with silly rules, renaming leagues and competitions and sticking another nail in the coffin, it needs a younger bunch of people who are in touch with the real world who are willing to rip the whole rule book up and start afresh with a view to bringing in bigger, younger crowds. One thing I will say is despite most clubs websites being rubbish these days, the social media is really good. Websites don't matter as much anymore as barely anyone views them, social media is where its at and most clubs do a very good job on that front.

Human nature to enjoy a bit of karma when it comes your way Was good enough for Plymouth!

I think the time has come for Kyle Bickley to accept that he is never going to make it as a speedway rider

Great team riding by Rory & Jye to ride Connor Coles home for 5-1's... shame the Captain cleared off and left him to get passed when they were on a 5-1 or they would have won by more

My 1st point about Stadia, is still a good and very valid point.. they may well cover the costs, or they may not.. but the point is & you have essentially agreed is that they are old, uncomfortable often dirty and not suitable for the modern day sporting experience.. I’m not saying that is a club or owners fault, but it’s a negative to go with the many other negatives, many of which they can control. They don’t even have to come up with idea.. it’s been done for them. Football referees… same kit, varying colours, bright, modern. Why can’t clubs strike a Sponsorship deal with someone who provides say Black, all in one overalls. They have their name on the front.. advertising space can be on the back of the overalls for any other companies who wish to Sponsor. So, all leagues/Tracks and track staff have a standardised “uniform” which speaks of cohesion & adds a small level of professionalism to the show. Get some younger track staff, not blokes of 40+ Have walk out with riders (possibly their heroes) at parade, as they do in football. It’s hardly groundbreaking, costs idiot all.. the kids will probably love it & want to go back.

Didn't reallise that you are a KL fan ??

Do feel sorry for Plymouth Speedway that the local Soccer Team is one of the most progressive outside top 2 tiers and likely to go up to Championship and the Basketball Team doing well too. If footy team do go up likely to sell 20,000 season tickets and have massive local media interest. No idea what Plymouth break even is but hopefully their crowd builds up as it warms up weather wise. I do wonder if Saturdays may work for them in summer months especially with no footy? Also they streamed every meeting last year and is that counter productive and made some walk up support a bit lazy? . A group of 3 adults is 60 quid through gate yet probably a fiver profit from stream. A hundred like that is £1500 from your top line before they've had food and drink every meeting.

Well not every rider doubles up, with the crowds these days, perhaps Britain should be semi-professional, lower end riders like Simon Lambert work as well as race, riders who want to become World Champions (Tom Brennan) race abroad as well?

Not to say that hardness isn’t in him, wouldn’t have got as far as he has without it, was more a comment in reply to the original poster saying he thought he was going into to challenge to world titles - for that you’ve got to have another edge and it can’t just flit in and out. There’s been plenty of riders with all the talent that never realised that final step - Leigh Adams, magic janoski a couple that spring to mind

How will riders afford the loss of half their (doubling up) income?

I thought Gilkes was harshly excluded in heat 6. Kerr didn't make contact but if Gilkes hadn't turned hard he would have. All four back for me. I also thought Barker was slightly disappointing - especially when he threw away the lead in heat 14 - while Turner was impressive in his first competitive rides at SBA. It was somewhat fortunate that the rain (which had not been predicted anywhere) fell because initially the track was a dustbowl. The amount that came down was just enough to make the surface fit for good racing without ever looking like causing an abandonment. On a final note, I thought the crowd was poor.

No.If Poole was in the prem they would have him in a heartbeat…He wasn’t allowed to ride over here for some reason? Ad that to the Holder gate when he let Buster, his team mates,the fans and ruined our season. Then he posted the Panthers kit out, now liking the NP thing. The blokes a joke imho

He has 7.16 average for a reason.

First time there in a few years. The improvements are clear to see. The racing was really good. Enjoyed that. as Ian said. Speedway was the winner

Cracking speedway match though!

Sedgmen has raced in a couple of preseason racing in uk and was very busy in Australian meetings in the offseason, plenty of track time, Allen has been unlucky with cancelled meets not forgetting press day,this week is a busy week for the two of them which can only be good