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Is it only me that feels a tad sympathetic towards Plymouth? They sign a 7 MSN team and through no fault of their own the number 1 is injured pre season. As a result of moving to Saturday race night there are few, if any, suitable replacements. I wonder if it would have been easier to get a replacement for Tuesdays? They do a load of work on the track, and are met with a very wet winter, meaning, perhaps unsurprisingly, it hasn't dried out in time. Who'd be a promoter in a sport that is not a great money earner if not a loss maker?

There was not many positives to take from that performance was there. Berwick moved out from the white line where the Comets riders bar Vissing were not interested in going out there. Heat 3 mind needs noted Comets on a 5-1 and stopped because Berwick rider had not cleared the track, staning on fate one !!!! He should have been fined for that.

If Workington are relying on the present day Cook and Batchelor then it’s going to be a very long and hard season for them.

I shall be buying the stream tonight. I live in Ipswich so there is no chance of me going to watch live but it will help swell Berwicks coffers by purchasing the stream. Every club should do a streaming service.

Really..I would like to think that most speedway fans turn up to watch good speedway and not fret whether they have guests or not and aren’t really talking about the championship being left behind..just enjoy the entertainment that’s on offer and try to be happy

Also good to see their NJL team wearing the same team suits really smart looking suits too

Newcastle’s track is smoother than this, awful.

Poor from Kemp just leaving his bike on track

I admit when we started the track work back in October, we had some nice weather and we were cracking on with everything nicely, then the weather changed and we've had to endure the wettest winter for 250years apparently. Definitely effected moral, then losing nico through no fault of our own was very disappointing however we have stuck to it and I reckon it will pay off in the long run. We might not be fancied for any success, but we won't stop trying.

https://x.com/glasgowtigers/status/1774024585924563210?s=20 Looks a bit better in reality thankfully!

After all the negativity he got on here, he deserves his plaudits.

Health and safety has now got to stupid levels of stupid. So for that reason it was probably H&S.

Transponders are only 99.9 percent perfect.

Rained pretty much every day for a week. The track was in good condition considering the battering it’s taken

there will be a lot buying the stream from workington who could not afford or have the time to travel 200 people streaming is good revenue for the club and money they wouldn't have got otherwise from travelling fans. I'd have been looking at £80 fuel plus admission so most away meetings would cost over £100. A lot of money for a speedway meeting

He comes across as a really likeable guy. was joking with the track staff before meeting.

The haters said he wouldn't get near to scoring 4 and first meeting too. So I would say that is a win. Only going to get better when used to the track imo.

It's the fruits of the nice Mr Russell's labours in playing the viability card and stepping aside to leave a clearer path. Removal of the covenant leaves the greyhound position in their own gift and leaves them able to cease them and leave the stadium to rot until the council relent - which they will.

Links for Edward Jancarz Memoriał: http://kergel.ucoz.lv/index/live_stream_2/0-12 https://vk.com/wall524629028_43 https://vk.com/video524629028_456239281 https://vk.com/wall-19139906_185026

What happens when you have two seven man teams, not even using RR, and there's a four-man pile up in Heats 1 or 2? It's then five a side.... And if they are using RR it then becomes four a side (exactly as it would with six man teams).. However, as four man pile ups occur once every Preston Guild, the vast majority of meetings would never be impacted.. And if it does then "tough luck, but guess what? That is sport"... And, if you run six man (I mean rider teams, sorry Celina) you would then have "subs on the bench" to come in and not need RR in the first place.. The issue facing the sport is too few riders being available at the right ability level that Div 2 want to race at... Div 1 are "just about" getting away with it by having only seven teams in the league.. Any more and they would struggle too...

Everybody's got a great plan, a superb solution. Until they get punched in the nose. What happens when you have two six-man teams, each using r/r, and there's a four-man pile-up in Heats 1 or 2?

Yes. It wasn’t a good look for us. Very rare indeed. the start Marshall’s were standing in as our normal ones were away regarding the track. And this is a massive bug bare of mine and this is my opinion why a lot of riders never make the step up from NL to premiership. that track was absolutely spot on yesterday despite all the rain we had. The premiership boys would have loved that. but because the youth system and NL give all these youngsters tracks like motorways they don’t know how to ride when there is a bit of grip. they then have to learn how to ride with grip in competitive action thus knocking there confidence and eventually being lost to the sport. so I dont like doing this but I blame the riders for not having the skill to race and not the track itself.

This didn't age well :-)

With a fit for purpose RR facility another to add to the solution.

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.

I think Poole should have given Perry a 4th ride, surely it's more important to give him track time than to win by 32 points instead of say 30?

The Comets are against local rivals Berwick Bandits in Workington's first meeting of the season after the Ben Fund fell foul of the weather. Hopefully it will be dry and the racing will be good , oh and a home win too.

Freddie Hodder very impressive rode the 3rd /4th bend like he had been there for years.

What was wrong with track Looked OK to me and lots late passing Weather been terrible in area past few weeks so hats off for getting speedway on Others would wish same You can please some of folk all time etc and others not

Tracks was fine for this time of the year. You should’ve seen it 15 years ago when it was like a roller coaster.

If that’s good, I’d hate to see it at its worst.

Not the result the us comets fans wanted but never mind. First meeting out of the way, half the team probably never even heard of Berwick let alone laid eyes on the place. Vissing superb, batchelor was steady, areas for improvement obviously but it’s early days. Hopefully nothing too serious with Cook, onto tomorrow.

I'm beginning to wonder whether we have lost our direction a bit with the Colts. I attended yesterday but became quite disillusioned and left before the end, something I've only done previously because of other commitments. I'd say that yesterday's meeting was the worst I have seen since the move to the NSS. So much went wrong and, whilst most wasn't deliberately intended, something doesn't feel right. I have always enjoyed the Colts and attended as much as I can. But we seem to be switching the focus away from giving the young guys a chance and relying on older riders who frankly are not going to progress. Nothing personal, but I'd say using Marson and Muff isn't what this league is about. My view is that we should be using younger riders looking for a chance to shine, we saw a few in the Leicester team. Maybe this is one of the reasons the attendance was so poor for a Bank Holiday meeting? I, like many others, will never forget the first match at the NSS and the home debut of Dan Bewley. I'm sure that experience has made watching him progress even more enjoyable. And, in subsequent years, there were more young riders to follow like Sam McGurk recently, not all made it but following them was interesting. Indeed, watching Freddy Hodder progress has been great. I may be wrong but I seem to remember two years ago he had his first race win when Harry McGurk shepherd him home. Yesterday Harry looked a very different rider and I wonder whether he can get back to the form he showed then. He doesn't look comfortable on the bike. I know not all will agree but this is not meant to be negative, it's just an observation you may well disagree. .

Any sign of trackrat, he likes a flat white

Well, l disagree, but that's what a forum's for.....

Not forgetting Masters on a T/S scoring 0 points. I think with Poole's upgraded track prep, the Oxford riders seemed caught out with set-ups. Super night though. Live band (not to everyone's taste but then music never is!) plus some terrific racing in front of a huge crowd - many of whom I hope are back for our next tough meeting against............Plymouth!

Well having slept on it, that has to go down as the perfect, if unexpected first home meeting of the season. A huge crowd, a new look team, and an opposition touted as possible title challengers. The BSN format has no room for errors. A home defeat and you can virtually say goodbye to the trophy, so it was with some trepidation we faced our rivals up the A34. But any fears were soon dispersed when Lawson saw off track specialist Masters with ease and Tobias Thomsen leading Masters for half a lap. Killeen got stuck in to win heat 2, and was possibly Oxfords most impressive rider with 8 points. Best I have seen him at WR and he was quick and smooth, for a change! Oxfords 3 and 4 were woeful. 6 points between them but only 1 point scored against opposition riders when Heeps beat Max Perry. Boughen was tailed off on all his rides, as was Atkins. These riders though are a different kettle of fish around Cowley, and Wednesday will come around quickly enough for some retribution. Though they will need a miracle to pull back 32 points. The new Poole track was in great shape. Bends one and two are more banked and allowed two racing lines around the boards and up the inside. Same as bends three and four with Brennan’s charging under Heeps on bend three and Benn Cook around the outside off the final bend to pass Masters. An impressive opener from the Pirates. But a tough meeting awaits in the return and Oxford will be gunning for revenge after the humiliation last night. Get your tickets at see you there!

Unfortunately as a general rule British speedway provides awful customer service. Those who pay the expensive entrance fee get taken for granted quite often. If you want to attract new customers and keep them coming back it goes without saying that things need to change. Not sure those currently running things have got that in them though unfortunately.

Off the pace, BUT it's a track he's historically struggled on. 4 points from 15 rides (mainly at reserve) in previous appearances.

Neither has Jenkins. Has looked terribly slow for Ipswich in the first couple of meetings, and didn’t look much better here by the look of things. Early days though.

Waking up in sunny Scunthorpe ready for our trip to Berwick! Hoping our guys get some track time today and it’s a good nights racings!

Didn’t go ahead track was too soft from the that fell overnight. I believe there is a session on today between 2-4.

It is very much "rinse and repeat" on here isn't it when it comes to the same old issues being outlined... The comments made could have come from any meetings ran in similar circumstances over the past heaven knows how many decades.. The only real surprise I have is that some still seem surprised... It is UK Speedway after all, a very small minority sport, ran, in the main, by well meaning amateurs, who use the sport as an "expensive hobby", with very little skill set around leading "the customer experience" at a public event... So don't set your expectations too high, and that way you won't be too disappointed.. Any "newbies" may not go back again, but the "die hards" who persuade them to go there, will, so no real net loss to the business.. Maybe it's worth copying and pasting some comments on this thread, ready for the next similar occurrence, to save time.. Then just change the names...

Clown

Well, I'm glad the streamers were being kept up to date with proceedings because there was precious little being said in the stadium to the fans. All I heard was an announcement that it wouldn't be starting at 5:30 and then a load of horns blasting over the PA... what happened to the TV themes of the 80's?

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!!

Idiot

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

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.

At a risk of attracting howls of disapproval, can I just say that, for an adult who wants to sit, under cover, to watch speedway, Berwick are offering the best deal in the Championship. Especially when you take the 10% early-bird discount. Only £18 -- and you could bring a couple of young teenagers in with you free. I'm not going to list all the other clubs' prices -- that's their business -- but the Jewson Bandits are certainly offering the best deal around this year. Oh, and parking's free, too...........