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I hate to say "I told you so" (not really, I bloody love it😂) but... I told you so! Surely his time in Speedway is over?

For the last 9 years we have been wanting a GP at this wonderful racetrack, for this year our wishes were finally fulfilled. I was concerned when it was then announced there would be 2 nights, why do we need 2 nights, no other GP has had 2 nights not only will it make it more expensive for everyone (nearly double price) but anyone not local would need a (expensive hotel). The ticket prices have now been announced and I’m dismayed. Last year’s ticket prices for SoN were bad enough and showed by the empty extra grandstand, thought they would have learnt from that but no they made it even more expensive! One night price is expensive enough but for 2 nights there is little discount. It’s depressing. Will I be there, yes I will reluctantly pay it but I only live 5 minutes away. Thousands won’t be paying it now though. To make matters worst for Belle Vue this will affect crowds levels for the next few months as those local who do choose to pay it will pick and choose the league meetings they go to as can’t afford both.

It is well known Cook has had a long battle with his mental health. In these days we try hard to make it noticed as a serious illness. Yet there is not one thought or consideration about how he is. Only assumptions regarding letting another team down. It’s a horrible place to be, I’ve seen it many times. One week you’re on top of the World and looking forward to the future. It can suddenly change over night to not want to even leave your house. It’s quite obvious he’s faced some demons but FFS, let’s take a step back, then judge in sickness or health.

The news about Cook comes as no surprise does it? He ceased to be a viable team member at the Premiership level at least two seasons ago. It highlights the enormous loss that Dan Thompson is to the club and team. I don't know how he has been allowed to desert Leicester but whoever is responsible should be sacked

There was a reason why the Workington promotion choose Batchelor over Cook, and was always going to be the right call. Was hundreds of social media comments at the time questioning why he wasn't going to be back at the Comets, but Andrew and Steve knew best. Don't think Leicester will be affected too much, but for Berwick it will be a disaster

The new Sheffield captain. No surprises for me Picko the man.

Red flag when Workington didn't retain Cookie in conjunction with the two years previous to that with other clubs. Hopefully Craig can sort himself out in another avenue. I certainly don't take mental health lightly and the affects it can have

Nonsense, the event will be amazing, the size of the crowd is yet to be determined. Stick to tnt then, me I prefer live any day of the week, you don't get great life experiences from a TV set.

You have to question Dickson's judgement... everybody Cook has ever ridden for have binned him off and we took him back after letting us down on numerous occasions previously

Even if he starts the season, it's only a matter of time before there's some kind of drama, he'll have to be working with the manager who he let down at Leicester!

Even IF they do sell out- people will have less disposable income for other speedway events/merch etc and the prices for children is ridiculous- we want to be encouraging families/children to speedway for the long term health of the sport!

I live about the same distance from Cardiff as I do Belle Vue. The appeal of Cardiff had clearly declined for many but I carried on going to the end and never missed one. The sub-standard line up and the comical points scoring system was already enough for me to decide I wouldn’t be doing another GP anywhere in a hurry.

GTF!

The problems with the new fence is a short term problem that cannot be resolved in time for the Fen Tigers to return to league racing this season but it does not derail the project and hopefully we will see some competitive matches later this year and a return to league racing in 2026.

Whilst I am prepared to be convinced otherwise, this should not come as a surprise to anyone. Signing Cook was always a gamble.

Cookie to win it 😂

Surely the staging costs are minimal compared with Cardiff... The cost to hire a 60k stadium for a week, plus the cost of equipment hire, shale and manpower to build a track is way more than a temporary stand for 2 nights.

Sorry to say your gonna need a new rider, he is just not committed no more to speedway but uses his mental health issues at the drop of a hat. To be honest if he does have issues as bad as he makes out should he really be riding a speedway bike professionally ? He has let Leicester down massively today and with the same team manager can not see him riding for him at Berwick. You will be better off without him as even if he did actually turn up for your press day he will let you down this season at some point just like he did at Workington last year.

The only good thing is he is only letting one manager down, not two. Got to say it doesn’t look good for Berwick🤷‍♂️

Waste of money. Riders have their own sponsors on them, I get that, but it's now a club/sponsor expense rather than the riders' responsibility. Much prefer a race jacket and suits which show the individuality of the riders.

The forum has been running very slow for me lately to the point where I can’t be bothered to post or it will post multiple times.

Leicester were never gonna challenge this year whatever with all due respect. They only just made it through last years semi (with huge help from the ref) against an injury ravaged Ipswich without our top end so this year having Howarth instead of Lawson they don’t have a snowballs chance. Just don’t think an on the way down Cook with all his issues is as big a loss as it seems.

Massively! Feel a bit sorry for Berwick to be honest.

100%. Correct decision by Andrew and team to go with Batchelor instead. I think it was the correct decision anyways but this just proves it.

Lewy, just read others posts. Hope that's sufficient for you.......and please stop your personal insults.

Has Jim Radcliffe bought Ipswich?

Sheffield are, rather cheekily, plugging their season tickets as 12 meetings costing less than 2 meetings elsewhere 👏😂

He's definitely in the wrong game then. He needs to retire and go and work for some Local Authority or something... where he can live the rest of his life on the sick.

Heard a few weeks ago that berwick could not get in touch with Mr Cook regarding size for kevlars, bandits management got in touch with worky and used last year's size. Maybe Craig has put on weight and could not fit into the said kevlars, so on a diet and will return when they fit 😆

Riding on the Sunday instead in Rider's Championship

If they all turn up this will be a belting meeting, wouldn't like to pick a winner.

I’m still surprised he is granted a licence to race

Dan Thompson is a huge talent, certainly impressive with Ipswich.

I think MJJ's replacement has just made himself available from Leicester today 😂👨‍🍳

What I will say though about Leicester, they’ve never been shy in making changes so although the starting line up isn’t a title winner, it’s how you finish that counts the most. The side in the latter months could look totally different to the one that starts the season.

No idea why that posted three times 🙄

My preferred choice is Holford Lane (5-10mins) walk from the stadium. https://www.google.com/search?q=holford+lane+great+barr&rlz=1C1GCEA_enGB1043GB1043&oq=holford+lane+great&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgCECEYoAEyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRigATIHCAMQIRiPAjIHCAQQIRiPAjIHCAUQIRiPAtIBCjExMzQxajBqMTW

😂 You’ll see what I mean this morning when the pictures come through from today’s press day. You’ll be hard pressed to tell the difference between this years to last years so just seems a bit daft to me to fork out for brand new kevlars when last years are still ok. Especially when all we hear from riders is the moaning about spiralling costs of riding! I’m still stuck in the past anyway and prefer the old race jackets but that’s another story. I do understand the need for matching team suits though for the professional look.

It’s Clarke Osbourne I’d imagine

Paying for another empty stand again

I hope all those people that wouldn't pay £23 for a ticket at Cardiff are crying into their Hotpots 😭

He probably rolled out the hay fever excuse, he did that quite a lot when he was a Panther...

Love Adams, brilliant rider in league speedway. Stylish as they come. However, calls of him being the best rider to not win a world title are a bit off. He really never looked like winning one and was in the GPs for a long time.

For a contrary view I usually turn first to the Foreign Newsdesk - all the contributors do a great job and I'd happily see them given more space. I agree with you that it's rare to find a rider interview that is genuinely illuminating and that given the circumstances the Star does well to keep going.

I've also taken Speedway Star for a very long time - since I first followed Birmingham in 1953, and I think they do very well to produce such a good quality magazine - especially during the close-season when there is not too much going on for them to report on. If I have a criticism, I think far too much space is devoted to foreign affairs. Last week there was a double page spread about a training camp in Denmark and this week's edition has an extensive similar feature which has just taken place in Poland. There is also the weekly "Polish Scene" and quite extensive reports of European, Australian, and American events and plans, none of which I find particularly interesting. Rider interviews are tending to be a bit repetitive too - with a big overuse of the description "cool" in too many of them - and I dislike and object to, the growing use of casual bad language in some features. These are generally, fairly minor criticisms and I'd say overall, that Speedway Star is still a pretty good read.

Is one of them "The Briggo Bone Dome"?

If Ipswich is tricky,, good job these riders don't have to visit lakeside, wolves and Eastbourne anymore then

there might be a number of people on this forum that would be interested in the answer though

I would actually disagree on that front, for the Star to survive it needs to cater for the older generation as they are the only people that pay for print media these days. A magazine that caters for the younger an generation won’t sell as the younger generation don’t buy magazines/newspapers and I would imagine (although don’t have the stats to prove it) also are on the lower end of paying for media content that is online behind paywalls