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A great evening which brought make memories of 1998. One thing stood out tonight and that was how all the riders were constantly looking for each other and team riding when possible. the team spirit and camaraderie looks the best it’s been for many years.

You lot will never believe me... but there's been some fantastic action tonight!

16th of July 1969: Humanity puts the first man on the moon. 🚀👩‍🚀🌜 27th of March 2025: Leicester Speedway unable to put a 2 minute clock on the centre green ⏰️

By signing the World Champion for the play offs ... 😖

Glad Birmingham put up a good show tonight, Management have worked hard over the winter and it wouldn't be nice to see a repeat of 2024 every week.

I wasn’t well enough to attend tonight, so watched the stream. I can’t recall seeing a better meeting than that at BP. Every race had something! Hats off to Brum for having a real go and probably would have nicked it on the night if not for Zagar’s misfortune in heat 13.

You've just described @mikebv 😂

turned into an embarrassing threat this

Morally, if everybody knows the rules at the start of the season, then I think it's fine, when the play offs are fiddled at the end of the season that's where things start to get iffy... but don't get me started on all that again!

@LagutaRacingFan to make outlandish excuses for MJJ's poor performance

They had no money left after buying GP tickets😅

Can only assume that he didn’t have the confidence in his second bike? Must admit, I thought the guy previously had an attitude problem with the Lions track but he well and truly put that to bed tonight. I thought he was superb. Change of subject, but how long will Dickson persevere with Hagon? The RS priority is to outscore your opposite number at home. When he gates he’s easily passed. If he doesn’t, he’s not capable of passing. Was Dickson put under pressure to retain him from last year? Regardless of any politics, the lad must be on borrowed time. There might not be obvious better replacements out there, but when you struggle to score anything, who else would be worse? The likes of Craig Cook and Drew Kemp have had more than one chance under Dickson, so why couldn’t Joe Thompson have another shot, unless those bridges have been burnt.

Schroeck did(n't) say: “It was the Iversen show. We had this meeting in the bag, we were by far & away the best side over these 2 legs. When you take him away, it wouldn't of even been close.”

Oooo it's dead on here,,, mmm, I wonder why 🔔

The sad reality is playoffs or no playoffs the eventual champions is almost always decided by injuries

So now the events are selling out, the whinging has got down to the level of moaning about the cost of a cap, some sunglasses and a blob of AmbreSolaire? There's some sad case about

Lions will still progress even if they get thrashed on the night!

I watch them on the telly though.... That must count....

Making the trip down this evening. Looking forward to seeing the setup at Oxford. Will be my first visit since 2001. Hoping for a good evening's racing.

I've just read that Leicester will meet Sheffield IF they can manage to beat Birmingham tonight.

Yes, I'm aware of that, but I did say 'fan base' and not people who regularly attend. I was including the fans that will turn up for big events like play offs but not regular fixtures, so I don't think my estimate is unreasonable for a GP. Probably a lot of fans couldn't afford to go on Monday after paying for their GP tickets? 😁

Yes as you say "don't stuff this one up Ippo", i'm really looking forward to the meeting but probably won't relax until we have 41 points in the bag. We watched the BSN stream from Belle Vue last Monday what a great result with good riding from every rider in the team, especially Dan Thompson who got rider of the night.

It is a translated Sportowefakty article

Bewley possibly only won at Cardiff because of Laguta and Sayfutdinov. Bewley and Holder got into the GP's when the Russians were kicked out. Who knows who would be in the GP's if that didn't happen.😁

Tonight possibly GM because Doyle doesn’t quite look back on it yet. Otherwise I’d never back Kurtz to outscore Doyle at Foxhall. Kurtz outscored him three seasons ago but took an extra ride to do so. Since then hasn’t really got close. Would never back against Kurtz beating him here though because he’s probably the best visiting rider I’ve seen in recent years.

Me too, and the same design flaw still exists with the air fence to this very day.

You still have riders picking and choosing even with it being at the start of the season. Nicolai Klindt not riding in this meeting? Richard Lawson not riding in the pairs?

Kurtz seems to have continued his great form from the end of last season and agree that he is the main threat for BV... I wouldn't be surprised if he beats Doyle a couple of times, which is saying something at Foxhall. Overall though expect the Witches to hit at least 50.

That was the year of Chris Holders awful crash I believe and Poole were quite rightly allowed an injury replacement. Anyone who feels a badly injured rider cannot be replaced at any point in the season is not my kind of folk. Anything that negates the impact of an injury to one of our hero’s is to be commended in my book. The current system adopted by the BSPL that sees guests - the former necessary evil of the sport - as the preferred option is lunacy. Play offs are not compatible with speedway as a way of determining the champions but this has been done to death over the years and forgetting logic it’s just down to if you like them or not. I’ve never seen a full play off since they came in.

Jesus! That could have been written by me! The guy needs to stop complaining, get a life, post something positive etc. 😂 Whereabouts on Facebook was this copied from?

Copied from Facebook American defeat. Losses amounted to millions. Even Poles are fed up. There were bold visions, announcements of global expansion, and a surge in popularity. It culminated in the purchase of a new podium and new boxes for the riders competing in the Speedway World Championship. A new promoter can have big problems. When it was announced in 2019 that the rights to organize the Speedway Grand Prix series would be acquired by the global brand Warner Bros. Discovery from the USA, everyone expected a total revolution and the opening of new markets. Speedway was supposed to function similarly to MotoGP, with speedway riders competing year-round on every continent. Today, it sounds like a joke. After three seasons, none of the goals have been achieved, and sponsors, fans, and even players are beginning to turn away from the new promoter. Although Bartosz Zmarzlik has already won the World Championship five times, these competitions are beginning to evoke less and less emotion in our country, too. Initially, the organizers cited the pandemic as an excuse, but today, activists and fans respond to such excuses with a pitying smile. It's not just speedway fans who complain about the level of Grand Prix competitions, but also the competitors themselves. Even though they received a substantial raise immediately after the new promoter took office, they're slowly losing patience, and the fight for the World Championship is no longer fun. It's already known that the company Infinite Reality will no longer advertise on the competitors' Kevlar clothing this year, and the organizers haven't been able to find a replacement. In the fourth season of Warner Bros., Regent Discovery Sports has had to admit defeat and insert the logo of the World Championship instead of its biggest sponsor's logo. According to estimates, this could result in a deficit of at least several hundred thousand dollars in the World Championship budget. When we asked representatives from Grand Prix about this, we received only the perfunctory answer that Infinite Reality remains a partner of GP. However, this is nothing compared to what could happen before next season. Although no one from the management of the energy drink giant Monster wants to be identified, representatives of the company are sending unofficial signals that they are dissatisfied with the way the World Cup is going and their collaboration with the organizer so far. This year, in turn, is the final year of the current contract, which, according to unofficial information, is worth up to one million dollars per year. According to our information, the company is currently seriously considering withdrawing from the Grand Prix series and changing its strategy. If this happens, it would be a blow to the World Cup organizers from which they may not recover. Talk is slowly emerging of a losing streak, as this year's series will be the first in over 20 years that the legendary round will not take place in the large Cardiff stadium. Fan interest waned until the tournament eventually became unprofitable. This year's competition was moved to a smaller venue in Manchester. Next year, the last major venue, the PGE Narodowy, will disappear from the GP calendar. The Poles decided it would be better to take a break and organize the Team World Cup finale. The loss of two series' calling cards certainly won't make negotiations with potential sponsors any easier. In addition, there are growing rumors in Poland that the promoters at Warner Bros. themselves might have had enough of speedway racing. It's a sport of discovery. Although this hasn't been confirmed yet, it's possible that the promoter won't have to stay with speedway until the end of its current contract, which runs until 2031. Due to the strange decisions of FIM representative Armando Castagna, Polish fans have lost interest in the Grand Prix series, and without funding from Poland, it's difficult to think about developing a full-fledged product. There are currently no news of plans to broadcast the series outside of Europe. So far, it hasn't been possible to organize a single round in Australia, let alone the US or other countries. The new promoter presented his tenure as the beginning of a new era in speedway racing, and no one currently associates anything good with such a slogan. The recent rule changes are not only completely incomprehensible, but also threaten to distort the sporting competition. The senseless adoption of models from other motorsport disciplines could lead to a distortion of the competition for the World Championship this year, and the decisive factor may not necessarily be the direct duels between the drivers on the track during the tournaments, but rather the times achieved in the morning qualifying rounds alone. - I have the impression that the fans and the players themselves weren't expecting such changes. Most tournaments can only be watched online, and given the low level of competition, I didn't even want to buy a package. I think the vast majority of speedway fans in Poland will do the same next season. On the other hand, if we have enough of such races, it's difficult to pin our hopes on the Germans, the Czechs, or the Swedes, because the sport is beginning to play a marginal role there," admits former Polish national team coach Marek Cieślak.

Can't be arsed frankly!

In all honesty you can't win with this meeting. If you have it at the start of the season with a full strength line up, people are moaning that riders haven't even ridden for their club yet and it doesn't feel right and if you have it at the end of the season, riders pull out and people complain.

Anyone with no knowledge to Speedway would simply say "oh, right, OK." and walk away or say "what the fook are you talking about." If someone tried to explain baseball or NASCAR to me, it's going over my head. Absolutely no chance of understanding or assuming someone's in decline from a nonsense conversation. That's far to much credit to the average Joe on the street.

Częstochowa v Wrocław, sparring, 26.03.2025: https://www.youtube.com/live/LUz6oXTP_iQ?si=BiVbU2DwibysEp91

I see the level of debate is really high in the Prem section!! 😂 2 times in 29 years is quite poor tbh. Plus even if you do 2 in 3 years, not as good as 3 in a row. I remember Birmingham finishing top in 2013 and Poole 4th and we won play offs.

Not sure about the 16/20 point win shouts myself. I think Belle Vue will be smarting after Monday and determined to show that it was just early season gremlins and that there isn’t actually much between the two sides. Not sure they realistically believe they can go through, but they’ll want a fighting performance to prove a point.

Are they really the Champions though? As all teams know the rules they could easily run at 58% effort all year and sneak into the play offs, assuming they don't care where they finish and then put 100% effort in to the "title"

Yeah Kemp is a gater but isn't all that hot if he doesn't make the gate, watched him to many times when he rode for the Witches and when things got a bit nip and tuck with other riders he'd back off to easily rather then mix it.

They could literally have "The Masked Bandit" on parade and get the thousands on the terraces chanting: Take it Off! Take it Off! Take it Off! And then reveal if it's Craig Cook... Or Rider Replacement for the season.

Toruń v Poznań, sparring, 25.03.2025: https://www.youtube.com/live/UgpVgcBoI9s?si=ADHWOCkv2u1Ts_M_

Toruń v Zielona Góra, sparring, 23.03.2025: https://youtu.be/sRwSSg2am0s?si=Vq0PXiRIu525Tq63

Why? Starting the season with two high-profile matches with the best riders, who are actually going to be there rather than being injured or not being bothered. Typical speedway fans though, lose their minds when there's change or they don't like something!

They did hold tickets back in grandstand for the one day sales. they have to. They can’t tell you there will be one day tickets and then say there isn’t any when they are on sale. I worked it out that there is around 400 tickets saved for Wednesday for the one dayers. pricing I thought was a little steep in the grandstand but Bloodyhell they sold way quicker than I thought so they got the pricing right. all they got to do now is use the money they got from this to improve the south facilities before the GP hopefully

Got to hold them before Poland starts up I would have thought.

Shut up Jock (strap)

This is why I work in the City of London.

I know someone on a bike forum who has disc+ subscription but the bike racing is being moved to a higher tariff so his subscription is useless Sign of the times in rip off Britain im afraid

This a Mildenhall 2025 potential return topic. So why not just stick to the actual subject. Stop deviating and get behind the actual potential return of a speedway track and embrace it.

Birmingham are certainly doing their bit to give youngsters a chance and give them track time . They have had British Youth rounds, staged the British u 19 and 21 meetings. The club are forerunners in getting kids out on track on REVVI bikes, have 125cc and 250cc chances and demo rides, now putting three sides in the MDL plus putting out a side in the NDT in 2025 .