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Right here we go here are the unfortunate facts Yes I’m a travelling Workington fan but don’t let this distract you from the fact that this was a horrendous advert for speedway! We need people to want to come back and although I appreciate we have no control over the weather but we do have control over announcements and keeping the fans updated … nobody had a clue what was going on unless the speaker system was gone people on the first bend had no idea what was happening. All appeared very unprofessional and especially as the promoter is part of the bspa we need to do better someone come on the centre and announce what’s going on! On a side note respect to the track staff for the work draining the standing water they did do a good job, my only issue is newbies won’t want to return and you can’t survive on idiots like me. Onto the next one! Up the Comets!!

Even jake Allen said on the stream it was just about rideable but not raceable

The Comets/Comics pun has been going since the 80`s, normally by the same person, though it is wearing a bit thin now.

Local football team playing at home so a no brainer not to go head to head with them lots of football fans came after as it's a 10 minute drive

What a brilliant meeting! Track is top notch. Massive crowd. This what it’s all about! Oxford giving everything but being passed inside and out.

First heard it in 1972

It’s a sad state of affairs for the league and speedway in this country, not a solely Plymouth issue when a team is starting a brand new season with only 6 of their 7 permitted riders. Guests are the bane of the sport and it just gives a complete unprofessional look. The fact that teams and rule makers havn’t already come to this conclusion in advance that in the event of injury, there isn’t enough riders to cover and go round is the biggest worry of them all. This has now happened for at least 2 seasons for multiple teams but instead of doing anything about it, just continue to plow on with the farcical guest situation. The Premiership has started to get its act together and is becoming more professional and things are being put in place to make an overall better product - The Championship is being left behind massively.

Was there nobody else there to talk to?

Decent display from Birmingham considering they were writing off as the leagues whipping boys before a wheel was turned, closer meeting then expected helped by the fact that Emil binned it twice which was very unlike him, hats off to Scotty tho, show's he can still mix it at 45.

100% correct decision to call it off. Used my spare evening to visit a relative in Lynn hospital and it was slashing down when I came out at 8:10pm. Clubs often get criticised for getting it wrong, so only right they get praise when they get it right.

Very disappointing travelling 180 miles for a rain off which was ultimately caused by a heavy shower about 30 minutes before start time. The second shower which came after 6-30pm only lasted a few minutes and made very little difference. These are my personal observations and thoughts : Hard to understand why the track was watered with dark clouds approaching. The PA system wasn't functioning properly so nobody had a clue what was happening, we just stood around cold in excess of 70 minutes after the advertised start time before people started walking toward the exit. Not a great advert for Rob who was just saying in the Speedway Star how they are trying to raise the profile of the sport. The track staff did a good job with the track to the point were I believed the track would come to the riders after 3 or 4 heats if racing had got underway. It was observed that the drain on the 1st bend was higher than the track, this contributed to the large puddle of water that formed there. We appreciated getting a refund quickly. It was made known to us at this time that the riders wanted to give it a go but the referee ultimately called it off.

Chances of the meeting going ahead with cook and batchelor present was always going to be slim. track staff did a excellent job but another shower made the decision. At least everyone goes home fit and well.

Glad to see Brummies will not be cannon fodder, in a league of just seven you need every team to be competitive, if one or two are not, it makes the play offs for forgone conclusion to the rest, in which case you might as well skip straight to them.

Bet he still says it over the mic on Saturday, but we will give him a cheer UTC

A VHS tape will be avaiable within a few weeks

Ok, can't do anything about a heavy downpour that was forecast on several weather apps. The promotor was straight out after the rain stopped, actually driving the tanker sucking the water off, so he was being very proactive in trying to get the meeting on. If the call had gone out for 20 odd volunteers to help sweep off the rain water, I am sure they would have helped. Even our number 7 , young Harrison , was keen to sweep the start finishing area! What was a major failing, was keeping the crowd informed and entertained. Just playing the same tape over and over was plain lazy ( All aboard, all aboard...!) What is the point having an announcer in the box if they are unable to communicate with the crowd. Why no rider interviews to break the boredom- new team members, new female etc? From the demeanour of the team manager and Worky captain, on their track walk after sterling remedial work, it was obvious they had no desire to ride. Don't know what Babs Horley was saying to the riders, but personally I have seen worse tracks raced upon? The second shower sealed the event end and finally a decision was forced. To cap it all , the farce to get tickets stamped/ refunds needs to be addressed. Surely someone could direct the crowd to what was happening , which side to queue, what procedures etc. Maybe the tickets should be date stamped as they are being sold on entering the stadium, just a thought? I only had to travel 5 miles home, but did wish the Workington fan parked next to me, a safe journey home for his wasted time and money. As others have said not a good opener, we must do better all round.

Tobias 5+1 from a 4 point 2nd string! What's not to like (eh Martin Hunter?) and a donut too. Ticking the box. 61-29 didn't see that coming. Fab crowd, both car parks full half hour before start time. We'll done team.

Exactly, Tobias shoved a load of dirt in the doubters faces even with a dirt deflector attached!

5 more than what people thought he would get

Massive crowd, live rock band, top quality racing, Tobias the new Zetterstrom, bonkers 61-29 result........awesome quality blend of everything u could ask for from an entertainment venue..... WINborne Road! Well done to all the Pirates, take a bow C'mon the Boys

Plus a Quality doughnut after he got a 5-1 with Lawson!

Absolutely spot on! Not only is he the promoter part of the BSPA, he runs the whole 5h1t show, is it any wonder the sport is in the state it's in? There should be some kind of time window in place to run meetings, much like they have in F1, to stop all of the faffing and dithering. It's the same today as it was 40 odd years ago when I first started attending.

Tobias T said to me before the meeting he had parcelled up the neg feedback hos signjng had brought over tge winter and was going to show what he can do. Was far mire accomplished than expected. Sam Hagon take a bow. Superb debut. Special mention to Killeen who tried all night and battled hard for his points.

They were in for whipping, weather gods has saved the embarrassment

Hahahahaha Soon as I put the stream on at 525 it was evident it wasn't going ahead. Track was soaked, rideable? Maybe. Raceable? Definitely not. Don't think you should be pointing fingers at cook or batch. It should of been called off long before it was.

Hahahah come off it. Track was nowhere near race able. Course Scunthorpe wanted to race we’ve got a team with a lot of newcomers in. I’d rather see 15 good races than 15 gate, go and follow the leader.

He's been a "number one" when at Leicester. So in a weaker league, certainly has the potential to put a point on his average.

Wouldn't say Howarth was signed to "fill Dougie's shoes". Kyle has a sub 8.00 average so is never gonna score what Douglas did, but his lower average allows them perhaps the best second string pair in the league, that could be what wins them meetings.

I am glad that others agree as I felt WTF when i read it. Having analysed it a bit I sort of understood where he was coming from but its also about neutralising the oppositions top 2 - he did highlight (indirectly) what was was an actual weakness as such for the Witches last year in that they were often vulnerable in heats 12 and 14 but that was more about a rider not riding to expectation at times. He mentioned about Wolves 5-1 ing the Witches but the Witches 5-1'd more! In fact in the meetings between the two sides the Witches got five 5-1's one 3-3 and two 1-5's v's the Wolves in heats 13 and 15. outscoring Wolves 30-18 in those crucial heats, bearing in mind Wolves actually won 3 of the 4 meetings between the two the issue wasn't in heats 13 and 15.

Betamax...

Can I ask what your solution would be if you were in charge?…..not being funny……interested.

Track was decent despite the weather Birmingham were good especially in the early heats when Witches weren't gating Milik and Lampart were better than I thought they might be. Flint had a bad night but he's much better than that Ellis very good for the witches when he gated and Thompson was excellent and on the pace throughout

But on Monday Leon did very well, though I take your point. Having a bike that can actually manage four laps wouldn't be a bad start.

We only had one ambulance last night, hope the poor lady is OK. Had to feel for Leon Flint, disastrous night for him. Well just proves that Emil is not a machine and is human after all, fingers crossed he's OK after 2 very nasty offs. Man of the meeting was obviously Adam, but a special mention for Dan who rode brilliantly, that boy can gate. Well done Brummies for the close meeting. And welcome back Daddy Doyle.

Me and the Mrs will be driving over from Sheffield for this. Should be a good meeting looking forward to seeing how Howarth performs as a no1 and a few riders in the Worky team which are abit unknown, think Craig Cook can really make a good year of it and rebuild his career, got it in him to be best rider in championship.

Yes there was a handful of Brummies fans at the meeting. I was texting myself. It was a close meeting once we started, got it done in just over 90 mins. Birmingham were right on form In the first half before Ipswich took the lead and won by 8 points in the end. It was a freezing evening, was in 4 layers, bobble hat and blanket on the backstraight. Enjoyed my first visit here, worth it.

There maybe 2 Ambos there but the Doc may have been required to go with the ambo to hospital

Poole Scunthorpe Berwick Edinburgh Oxford Redcar Glasgow Workington Plymouth

Absolutely the right decision lashing down now - no chance this could have been on!

Maybe the decision was made/rubberstamped by the promotions of the other CL clubs as being in the best interests of all CL clubs.

What would a polish club get in this situation? I'd imagine they will have a clear ruling as speedway there seems to flourish every year in Poland.

So speedway no longer has rules… this could be fun

Whether the decision is right or wrong ( personally think under the circumstances it was right, especially as its 28 days) and it's so unlikely to make any difference to the outcome of the eventual league champions I would imagine, as the teams likely to get to the playoffs won't be affected by it one way or another through a full season.

Do you not consider this forum board to be social media?

9 likes,1person thinks it's funny just about sums up that person.

How does losing your number one to injury before the season starts make you a badly run club. If it were true then some of the most successful clubs in the sport would according to you be badly run. I think the situation proves that there should be rules about what happens when a team finds themselves in the position that Plymouth are currently in. Those rules should take into account the effect on whichever club has been unlucky enough to be facing the problem Plymouth are in and also consider how such a rule affects the sport as a whole. Any new rule will also have to consider what happens if the injured rider then decides not to take their place in the team while riding in other countries or due to retirement. ALL the promotions need to think very carefully before agreeing to any such rule(s) as the last thing the sport needs is another badly written rule that is open to interpretation depending on who is asking.

Think the most important thing is to try & ensure we don't lose any more teams. I really admire the dedication of the owners to try & improve the track & facilities. As a Panthers fan, I would love to be able to go to a similar venue near Peterborough.

Totally disagree, common sense is often lacking in this sport but I think for once it has prevailed. A minor league sport where we should be doing everything we can to preserve and help the clubs within the system survive, I’ve been following the sport since the late 90’s and the amount of teams who have fallen on hard times and disappeared to then never return is staggering, to the point where the bare bones remain. Giving Plymouth no facility and then basically no hope of competing never mind winning would surely turn not only casual fans away but the fantastic loyal support that the club has. The last thing I as a speedway fan want to see is another club fall on hard times through in theory very little/no fault of there own. Why do you want to see Plymouth in a potentially bad situation? Is it so your own club does better? I’m a Berwick fan like yourself and I would much rather have as many competitive teams in the league as possible and teams being sustainable for years to come.

Steve Worrall Alfie Bowtell Ben Barker Paul Starke Lewis Kerr Max Clegg Danny Phillips

Kinda looks that way this year doesn't it ? "This is just another Witch Hunt and everybody knows it"! Sadly, this one at least looks likely to fail.