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Bring back the track rakers,that's what I say.They always done a great job in the day,you never got a build up of dirt then as it was brought back after every race,and there was no delay to the racing.

Think people need to watch the incident again. He may well have broken his footrest, but that wasn’t what caused him to fall. He was simply being chucked all over the place by riding through the high dirt pile by the fence.

Getting a bit fed up now with the groundless insinuations about the Owlerton track being a danger. All speedway tracks have their moments of horror, but Owlerton is no worse than any other. This myth seems to have kicked off because Ben Cook had a shocker on bend two which knocked him senseless. But, to be fair, he was racing again ten days later. The only other accident of note at Sheffield during the 2024 season was the one which finished Emil Sayfutdinov's season, which occurred NOT on the allegedly "notorious" bend two, but on bend four, and was put down to Emil's over-exuberance to catch the race-leader (i.e. his own fault, rather than any fault of the track). Every venue has its share of bangs and scrapes every season, but nine times out of ten, riders get up and walk away, albeit licking their wounds rather gingerly. But for the record, the last time the Sheffield track saw a rider incur "life-changing" injuries was 2014, when Taylor Poole fractured a femur, causing him to draw a premature veil over his racing career (and that wasn't on bend two either). Speedway can be a dangerous sport at any venue and all tracks make every effort to ensure that rider safety is the paramount consideration. The problem is not helped by alarmist voices making baseless "wall of death" insinuations.

History suggests you should prepare yourself for a massive disappointment 😁

re-sign or resign? lol, you had a lot of Tigers fans worried there!

Am I imagining those 4 people on each bend with rakes and shovels every time I go then ?

It's a great place from which to view the meeting.....you'd have thought that incentive alone would suffice?

Clubs need to start making their own plans for special fixtures and arranging friendly matches outwith the leagues and KO cup. I'd love to see some international invitational friendly matches.

Nothing to do with that - suggest you look into what happened & who was involved.

you are right the list is endless and the sport is badly run but i think the poor cardiff crowds is a result of external factors too cost of living in terms of affording to travel stay and eat/drink in the city covid the 2022 ploughed field and probably the novelty of the event wearing off a bit

Maybe not too massive as I would think expectations were very low in the first place

Make or break signing tomorrow. Need to get someone from the Ekstraliga 2 League in Poland at worst.

I think you may be wrong, but I bet that won't be the first time.

So sad to see...

im guessing its the mention of mr ribbons

That was the battle. The Peterborough Local Plan stipulated that if AEPG didn't include Peterborough Speedway within their plan for that parcel of land where the stadium sits then they should provide a like for like replacement on the remaining Showground land or at an off-site location. The first proviso was then of course knackered because PCC had already approved planning for the rest of the EoES. AEPG never had any intention of fulfilling any of their responsibilities regarding an on or off-site location for Peterborough Speedway and Peterborough City Council let them get away with it. Mick Bratley laid it out quite clearly at the appeal meeting that the club was only asking for what the Council's own policy stated. PCC then ignored their own local plan and those sporting safeguards that they themselves had incorporated when they moved from their sensible EoES policy LP31 of 2015. They threw Peterborough Speedway under a bus & will no doubt be clearing up the mess over the next decade along with most of their disastrous decisions. This has nothing to do with the Labour Government, it has everything to do with weak, incompetent, self interested, easily influenced councillors who only see £ signs & not people and community.

Well with Ghost teams such as Newcastle being allowed to ride again, surely a challenge match could be arranged?

As far as I'm aware there has been no announcement from the Sheffield promotion that they are going to try and rectify the problem. Indeed, I don't even think they've publicly accepted that there is a problem. Would be nice to know if anything is going to be done before the season starts but all seems to be very hush hush?

Re-sign👍😂

Probably try and spin the signing of Drew Kemp as having unfinished business. Something must have changed otherwise it is a big mess up allowing Harris to move on when his average would be quite handy now. Big own goal not having a full team in place when best season ticket offer was on. I know of at least five who refused to buy them without knowing the team and now they will just pay and go so unlikely to attend every match and the stadium will also miss out on the secondary spend. I suspect they are not the only ones sadly.

Quick enough to resign for this season though.

James Sarjeant, Kyle Bickley, Willie Lawson and Nathan Greaves would appear to fall into that category.

Proving you've never actually watched Speedway at Sheffield or you'd know that there are many passing places around Owlerton... notably the dive bomb into turn 3 or a big sweep around turns 1 and 2 🤡

Even as a Sheffield fan you can see the Emil one was due to him having to hit that dirt line that had built up next to the fence to get past Jack Holder, problem being there just wasn’t the room available to get man and machine through the gap as Jack had ridden (safely wasn’t fencing Emil) as wide as he could. Whereas the Ben Cook one was mid track on bend 2, he was nowhere near the high line when he crashed, that one was simply pilot error and with him being extremely lightweight he had no power to control yhe bike and it spat him off. Seen plenty of incidents where riders hit the dirt line on bend and it stops/slows them down due to the sheer volume, but again over last few seasons most accidents/falls have been pilot error. The Emil crash could have been stopped if as people say the dirt had been moved in from 3ft away from the fence to mid track but after a race or two it’s back there again and then fans whinge due to tractor being out again as you’d need possibly 4 track staff on each corner to rake that in with the size of Owlerton

You are all apparently writing this "stop gap" off - but just say he does REALLY well - then we all know stuff happens - so its an opportunity to grasp for a young rider with ability and the right mindset.

Could you elaborate? Great to see the endeavour behind the project and hopefully it will be well supported. Quite an achievement having it covered by the BBC in the first place. Well done to all concerned.

But Emil was forced wide and had no option but to try and get round so it wasn't really his fault. Just one of those things I suppose.

Sayfutdinov was chasing jack holder hit the dirt and air fence & bounced onto the track where he collided with Harris who was in 3rd place Harris couldn't avoid him sadly watch it again on you tube @IainB child

Emil broke his footrest down the back straight and however skilful he is there was no way he was going to get around the bends after that

Oh dear.

also tais comments on his tour he says riding the third and fourth bends at owlerton is the biggest adrenalin rush as hes never quite sure if hes getting round in one piece when riding wide because of the grip and visibility i very much suspect all the dirt being left so wide is a home advantage tactic but there is a fine line when safety is potentially compromised

He's been confirmed on the British speedway announcements: https://britishspeedway.co.uk/championship-rider-announcements/ I don't make the rules. I'm merely a deluded fan that decided to collate this year's list 😊

Bullsh!t. Unfortunately for you we all have eyes. Emil being the racer he is and type of fella he is, went for it but got caught up in that huge pile of dirt that gathered by the fence and it almost stopped him dead in his tracks. It’s dangerous and you know it. Stop trying to deny something which is blatantly obvious to everyone with a pair of eyes. Correct. Again, unfortunately for you we all have ears as well. Chris Holder literally admitted live on TV that there was an issue with the track and had been for some time.

You guys have a challenge with Newcastle select, often wondered why we can't have a similar fixture for what was the Tyne/Tweed trophy. Still can't get my head around the fact that when we have our 1st official meeting on the 19th, we will already know who the Pairs & Riders Champions are.

British Speedway regarding young up and comers and general top riders is in the best place it has been for a long time - since 2000 and Lorams win you have only had one rider at best from the UK mixing it in the top 8. Now we have two and they are only going to improve , plus a list of young future top riders coming through. i don't see the reason for UK speedway falling apart as being anything to do with lack of riders coming through. Its the people running the sport that are ruining it.

Chris holder even said the track was dangerous in a tv interview & jack holder won't even attempt it when it's bad also !!

"We have scoured the globe, left no stone unturned, etc etc etc"... "However no one was prepared to race over here at the moment, (and we asked some very top level riders)".. "Therefore, we have signed (fill in second string level riders name here), and feel that he, like the rest of the team, can put a point on their averages"... "Teams with strength in depth can often be very successful, Peterborough for example etc etc etc ." ..

A guy who couldn’t be bothered to ride in British Finals and turned his back on Team GB? Behave

In one way it's a positive that Oxford (& Birmingham) haven't completed their teams. You'd think they could very easily sign British based riders like Batchelor, Kerr or Sedgmen, I can't imagine any of them turning down a doubling up spot? They are already based here, so don't have to worry about flights etc. The fact they haven't signed them must mean they are looking at stronger options, which has to be a positive right?

Call it the Alan Wilkinson Stand then.

I don't think hotel availability & cost are going to be a factor for any GP at the NSS. It's unfortunate for anyone who wanted to stay in the centre of Manchester this year that Park life (whatever that is??) Is on at the same time, but with the limited capacity of the stadium, hotels aren't going to be as in demand by Speedway fans as they were in Cardiff. I don't know what the capacity will be exactly, but Wiki says 6500 with temporary seating. I would have thought that Belle Vue fans alone and northern fans within an hours drive, or train journey of Manchester would take most of that, without the need for hotels. In Cardiff there were probably 5000 hotel rooms for an attendance of 40000 in it's heyday at the Principality. Manchester's hotel capacity far exceeds the stadium capacity. I'm not having a dig, but the GP at the NSS will be no more significant to Manchester than Stockport County playing at home. It's an unfortunate fact, but the number of people who regularly attend Speedway in the UK doesn't come close to filling a large stadium, so Cardiff relied on attracting a larger audience, outside of the hardcore fans, and initially, it did. In Cardiff, Speedway took over the City for the day and the atmosphere and vibe of the day was significant to anyone who was not a regular fan. In Manchester city centre, nobody will even know it's happening. Again, that's not a dig at Manchester, it's the same in Prague, great city but the Speedway is lost in it. I simply don't accept that hotel prices, costs, Covid or any of the other reasons stated in the Star, lamenting the loss of Cardiff were the reason for the declining attendances. Rugby & other major events still prosper there. For me, the significant factor was moving the date into the holiday season & pitching it against the opening day of the Premier League season and a full football league programme.

I'd get one if they signed someone who can win Heat 15!

Cant think of many recent injuries or any last season. With his experience and commitment to British Speedway I think he will be one of the top men in the Championship.

My apologies I forget about the German and Danish ones what I meant to say was that WBD are not event promotors . They do however still have some very good ideas and plans on how to move the series forward with further progress made on possibly having a London GP if all the logistics and arena availability was to fall into place for another year

We have someone who wants to open the sport again in Swindon, but the Council are adamant they have no land available. Private land searches have also drawn a blank so far. Clarke Osborne continues to sit on what's left of the Abbey and let that deteriorate and not complete the new bits he threw up to enable houses in the car park. No doubt to eventually be allowed to demolish it for more houses. We are presenting our petition to Full Council on Thursday, but fully expect lots of lip-service and verbal support with no end product from the Council.

interesting new number 7 ( as on the confirmed 2025 champ signings ). wish him well and hope he bags some good points and does not get released in July . hmm , lets see what happens ehh .

Big set back for the campaign https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crke4ryl0y8o Anyone involved in the Wolverhampton or Peterborough campaigns should take note of deadlines if thinking of something similar.

Liebour council again enough said !!!