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Well what can I say after that showing I,m not going back to watch the Comets again......... Stopped reading the posts half way through....what do people really want. Here is what I witnessed , great racing , a big crowd and good weather. Some fine prospects who are already showing that in the future are going to be stars in the sport. Celina and Sam along with Antii and Tate are new to the championship will take time to adjust to the tracks, Cookie , Claus and Batch all showed fighting spirit. Berwick have a decent side and may get some silverware this year but I,m more than happy with the Workington side, optimist maybe , realist definitely. Most of well done to the management and all who help putting on the Workington show.

I don't understand why clubs don't employ people to go around to all fans houses to knock on their door and keep them up-to-date with everything speedway related. It's maybe not as efficient as suggesting fans use the new fangled Internet but it would keep everyone happy unless they were down the shops and missed the visit.

I think Brum have started better than many predicted . When team is fully settled they could do ok at home . Sad to see some fans !!! In here slagging them off already . Give the team a chance

There is no doubt that Batch was a very talented rider at one time.But In the last few years he is just going through the motions for some easy money 7-8 points is not really a problem for him in this league. It’s not a pretty sight pulling up in last place have just paid £20 admission for some fans.

I assume you are a smart person so what do you think? One can look at this two ways. 1 - the rose tinted way of how wonderful and progressive this is. Equality for women in Speedway. Or 2 The realistic way - This is a PR masterpiece. Lets jump on the equality and diversity bandwagon. The media will be all over it and it may get us a few more sponsors in the meantime. I'll let you decide.

After seeing Troy ride for us in the openings 2 meetings I can only judge him from what I’ve seen while in the Comets colours and in my opinion he’s not given up he’s given it a go and so far I’m happy with him. 8+2 away 7 at home I’ve seen a lot of worse scores so far from a lot “better” riders ….. so keep an eye on them in fact get them sacked!!! Keep it up Troy and welcome to Workington!

100% which goes back to what I said in my earlier post, speedway racing has been open to both males and females since 1988 so quite simply if a girl is the best option then she will get the ride! Unfortunately I feel Celina Liebmanns inclusion in the Comets team is a PC stunt rather than her being the best option!

I just don't think promoters work that way. Regardless of how successful or not Celina turns out to be, if some team needs a rider, in the ever decreasing market, and the best bet available is a female, then they will turn to her A young female finished 2nd in the junior event at Güstrow the other day. Who knows how her career turns out ?

That can be said for quite a few riders, though.

All riders put in more effort than Batch, if he is at the back he doesnt bother.

Bored, so I added up the predictions to get an average. Like the speedway star used to do giving 1st = 7 pts & so on till 1 pt for 7th. 1st Ipswich (6.2) 2nd Sheffield (5.3) 3rd Leicester (4.5) 4th Oxford (4.1) 5th Belle Vue (3.6) 6th King's Lynn (3.2) 7th Birmingham (1.0)

Wow, 1st of April and already it’s a disaster according to some. Give the guys a chance, they’ve not riden as a full 1-7 yet, for some of them getting used to different tyres, and engine setups is a bit of a process. You can’t just copy the next guy. Birmingham haven’t taken a hammering so far, Pawlicki starts next meeting, so I’d see how it goes as they get things sorted. Piling on them after 2 home meetings is a bit stupid really, for so called “supporters” . Sam & Chris they’re switched on guys and they want to win as much as anyone else. There’s a loooonnng way to go yet.

Sunday was the 1st time competitive racing at this level was ran at GT tyres northside arena, so all riders started at a level playing field, some of the berwick riders have been practicing at the track several times in the last couple of years . All worky riders will get better with more competitive track time

Christ like a droning stuck record Just shut the idiot up

Some people want blood. Tigers ran Oxford close , drew at Brum and did ok in first leg at BV. That’s a decent start in my book

Do you really think Worky signed Celina based on either of these ? . More like an expectation that she would be a competitive Championship standard reserve in 2024 . She is two meetings in one of which was very challenging. Anyone who watched a battling performance against Rory Schlein and the beating of Bastian Borke in the same race will have seen that Celina has potential. She is still very much getting to grips with UK racing and bike setup. Comets will give her a chance and if she fails to realise the promise they see in her then they will no doubt do what they feel is in the best interest of the club and its supporters. PR Stunt Nah, gimmickry is not in the Worky promotion make up.

Well you did sack him last year !!!! If you hadn’t I’m sure he would be your R/S

Under 24 and senior teams in Poland. On the Round The Boards podcast last week he explained that nobody from the Championship contacted him until well after Christmas and by then he was already sorted with three clubs.

I remember watching Kauko Neminen walk out of Leicester with a brown envelop full or cash. He was brilliant for us and was extremely happy about the cash payments!!

he has Poland

They’ve largely cut cash out of foootball now - my son is in Edinburgh and I went along to a Hearts match and it was e-ticket - scan your barcode to get in! I suspect speedway will continue with cash for now! having decided not to go to Belle Vue today I might try for this tonight on the live stream - if the weather holds then I might try for the return leg of the Tigers v Aces on Thursday - a shame the days of two meetings in a day are now done - happy memory of travelling up and down the A12 for Arena / Lakeside v Ipswich to huge crowds over the Easter break in years gone by!

The point here is that Osbourne owns /owned that land he never did at Reading,Torquay,Poole.The local council never cared about opposing any of his plans. Since around 2008 they just rubber stamped the sale and subsequent development each and every parcel of land he released and of course no new Stadium ever materialised.When they eventually awoke in 2019 they passed plans that would see the new stadium built but due to the poorly worded s106 conditions he is still in the driving seat showing the inept local council for what it is. Oxford councillors and Rugby councillors showed how it should be done against these chancers and of course well organised protest groups something that has always been missing from Swindon

Exactly, he knows how to play the long game. If they had finished Speedway at Swindon after 2019 saying it wasnt coming back, there would have been uproar. So they string people along for a few years first, then when they announce it the support has dwindled and the councillors no longer care and are probably fed up of the whole thing.

im 20 mins away its been raining constantly for last 2 half hours , but i remember British final last year, never thought that would go ahead . ive eaten all my Easter eggs so what else is there to do.

Point taken but at the end of the day she has a job to do, if she isn`t doing it then her gender shouldn't be the reason to keep her in the team.

Still the same distance for 4 laps though.

How does that mean the track length has changed? They’ve moved the start line back five metres, so you ride 5 metres extra at the start, and 5 metres less at the end of a lap/race.

PR disaster. Only female in league sacked.

Looking at the scores, some optimism for Worky with their new riders once they get dialled in.. Hope the crowd level was good.. That is the main result for Workington..

Regarding Celina, two things can be true, she can/is absolutely deserving of an opportunity to ride in the Championship because of her exploits on the continent and it can also be true that Workington have a savvy promotion and knew it would be good for promoting the club to get in business with Celina. She deserves every opportunity to perform at this level just like every other 4.00 foreign rider who is new to Britain, if she achieves close to a 4 point average this season then it is a highly successful one. She was certainly on the pace at Northside, away from home will be difficult but again it is for most newbies to Britain. The difference between Celina and most other 4 point newbies to the league is that her results will be much more heavily publicised and scrutinised.

I hope she does prove me wrong. I really do. However I see through this as the publicity stunt that it is and if Celina doesn't cut the mustard she'll be cast aside once the novelty of putting bums on seats and the media attention dies away. Some of you may know I ran a Scandinavian Touring team in the 2010's. There was a really good female rider called Nanna Jorgensen I wanted to bring over and I will put my hand up and say I thought it would bring us good publicity as well as giving Nanna a platform. However Nanna was very honest and said she wasn't good enough to race in the UK and I believe she was a better rider than Celina. I also gave outings to Rachel Hellowell when I ran the MDL. The difference now is Celina happens to be in the right place when companies want to be seen as ultra inclusive but I feel she is also being used.

19 heats in to the new season and one pass from what I can remember.

iits prob both . not has Celina opened the eyes up on female riders , she has been welcomed with open arms into uk speedway . lets look at it another way . mr Godfrey invited the new 2024 team and done the fixture list so Workington were the first team to open their season knowing that Celina would attract a few extra on Scunthorpes opening gate .thats smart from him, but it didnt go ahead . more promoters will give Celina space and push she is a lady of talent and will put bums on seats , as they say . Berwick done this when they turned out to be her first team meeting in the uk .. IF Coventry had done something like the , you would be shouying it out . Celina WILL improve and fans will take notice where ever she goes . good luck to her in 2024 .

Very funny, the lad was rattling on about how much he missed riding etc etc and now it's the eve of a new season this is announced. Retired? If true then I would think his sponsors aren't too pleased.

No need for the name calling, you’ve proved who the real idiot is here when you can’t check simple info. First you attack the promotion for not having a match report up straight after a meeting (try travelling back from Berwick to Workington and getting up to go to the track at 11am), then about an injury update (which is posted on socials around 3 and a half hours before the meeting) Then play dumb because you don’t check all the correct channels. The constant negativity on here is boring, and I’ll probably just give it a miss in future. Hope this is eloquent enough for you. p.s the positivity from hundreds of Facebook comments is great to see. Funny that because people post on there with a real name. Coincidence? I think not. Some of the comments on here are great, others quite obvious mickey taking, others are just damn oblivious.

Team was always unbalanced in you're going in with the top 5, That's the pay-off going top heavy. Gilkes not going Championship is a big mistake in my opinion, agree 100% with you .

A few comments, especially on the updates, saying Sheffield's reserves need to get going or they are going to put pressure on the top 5 etc. But that is how the team was built, for the baulk of the scoring to come from the top 5. As Edwards has a sub 5 Champ average, no more can be expected of him (ideally should be a RS) but Gilkes should be doing better. Did he make a mistake by not racing in the Champ this year? I think many were mesmerised by the star power of Sheffield's top end & overlooked their weakness at reserve. All to play for in the second leg. If Bewley had ridden like we all know he can, Aces would already have one foot in the next round.

try another sport to follow . speedway is too hard for you .

Senior moment

Has the start time been moved from the advertised 12.00 start?

Still prominent in the memory banks though. Good night had by all , well maybe not all we did though.

That's so last year!!!

I questioned the decision myself and the supporters near me said it was probably to do with where he was (interfered with where the flag marshal should be). Could put people in danger so always err on the side of caution. I see on the Berwick report he was fined by the referee but not sure if his broken chain was locking up his back wheel and he was trying to release it? On another point it was good to see less gardening at the gate with the clock (could see it took less time than other seasons for the riders to be ready). Speaking to a supporter in the stand after the meeting he said there was always time on the clock when the race started so probably 10-15 minutes saved there. Only complaint from me was the back straight stand lights not working so moved to the exit of the second bend. Does anyone know how far back the starting gate been moved?

First guest booking of the year for Bomber?

Not really, he's got a pretty good record for getting what he wanted. I know he failed with Oxford years ago but he was nothing to do with it this time around. And he was only involved in Cov because BE knew he was good at closing Speedway tracks down! Dont get me wrong I'm not a fan of his, in fact I'm Reading fan. If I saw him on fire I'd go fill a jerry can and make sure the job was done properly! But hes obviously a devious bastard and very good at it. .

Depends a bit on mentality. Some feel a lot of pressure from it. Others aren’t bothered. At Glasgow last year, Tom was definitely the former, and Bomber was the latter.

I think it means that Osbourne is trying his usual tactic to get the council to rubber stamp retrospectively his failure to comply with the s106 milestones so far with the new stadium buildings and painted containers for kennels and pits. It all rests with a new administration in charge at SBC to stand firm and insist he completes them as originally intended and more importantly completes the remaining site to original specs. This is why it’s important for anyone who cares to submit an objection on the sbc portal

The crowd guess was for development league racing last year, 1st time back in the championship since 2018 the H18TORY season, so will have to see what type of crowds come to the GT Tyres northside arena

In years gone by Scunny struggled without an out and out number 1 until Douglas dramatically upped his game. Howarth is familiar with wearing number 1 on his back but after a sub par season at Plymouth, comes on a relatively low average to allow a stronger middle order. I’m not necessarily saying he will replace Douglas’ scoring but at home at a track he knows well I think he will score as a genuine number 1 and add a point to his average.

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...........