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Very impressed with our heat leader's early season form in that other league

Losing in a superheat is the same as 67-23 🤣

If they steer clear of injuries this side will walk it .Can’t see anyone beating them at home and they ll be close matches when they travel .Hope Dan Thompson carries on is good start to the season.Could they go all season undefeated?

With no competitive speedway or any riders, why oh why is this event being held in Croatia? To expect any of the existing riders to make such a long and expensive journey is beyond belief. Surely Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Italy or the UK would be a more suitable venue for most of the existing riders? This is why speedway is on the decline at the moment with ridiculous planning and promoting of speedway!

Maybe but someone of his standing should have another or be able to fix it for a later race. That particular race was I agree unlucky for Birmingham.

No... Leicester were lucky that Zagar's bike packed up after 3 heats!

dont take it to heart. youve just got a rubbishe team this year

abused 😅 your love affair with danny king continues. I swear you complain more about fans that complain about king more than they actually complain about him

I've never understood this, when promoters, riders or team managers belittle any competition that isn't the league, sometimes they'll even suggest the league isn't that important until you get to the play-offs. Even if they believe that, do they not realise how these comments could affect the crowd? As a fan, I'd want my team to win every competition. Certainly put in the same effort each time, after all fans aren't given a discount because it's "only" the KOC or a challenge match etc & I'm sure riders won't get paid less.

It'll be Sheffield's first outing won't it? And Brummies 3rd, you could catch 'em cold

Thought it was quite a disappointing crowd last night, especially as it was the first home team outing of the season, it also looked quite low at Belle Vue on Monday, maybe not helped by some of the riders referring to it as "only" the knockout cup, which I have heard a few say. I'm not sure why as it used to be quite a prestigious thing to win and is only 1 of 2 bits of silverware on offer. Listening to Drew Kemp after the meeting you would have thought he'd failed to score, could this be why he's not making the progress that he clearly should be, he scored 7+2, a score he's only managed to better twice in the top league around the Hydroscand Arena! Maybe a visit to a sports psychologist should be in order. Also, this maybe pedantic, but it's what I'm here for, I noticed that when Mr Dickson was being interviewed after the match the sponsor board in the background was still showing Eurosport & Pidcock Motorcycles... neither of which exist anymore unfortunately. Add into this the lack of a 2 minute clock and the possible non use of automated starts (they weren't being used at Dougy's testimonial) you have to wonder what they've been doing over the winter. And before @W9 Lion comes on to answer that, I do know what they've been doing over the winter and that is making adjustments to the track and if what we saw last night is a sign of things to come then that's a big thumbs up 👍. Last nights racing was probably the best I've seen around BP and far better than anything I've seen from the first 2 meetings at BV... bring the SGP to Leicester!

Acebelle talking about changes already, love to see it

Birmingham were lucky there wasn't a Croatian Championship meeting tonight. 😉

I think the biggest compliment you can pay Ipswich is that they are top heavy AND rock solid all at the same time so far. They look scarily good.

LOL

Iversen is absolutely a class act, kings Lynn legend

He wouldn’t know… he never gets invited.

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.

Enjoyed my visit to Oxford, the result of course helped. Magic, Gusts & Wright were lively but other than that, thought Oxford were disappointing. Stars looked solid again. Six riders with a win or paid win. Bomber, Jan & Richard all good value but the pick was Niels for me. Looked like the rider of old. Best I’ve seen him ride for years. BTW are Bomber & Ashton guesting for Oxford next week? Plenty of fans on 3rd/4th bends kept shouting “see you next Tuesday”. Strange, can’t see a fixture listed 😂

Kildemand out for the pairs, unfortunately

Anders, Zach and William practicing down the stadium this afternoon

“They obviously offered him a very good deal and his mind was made up” Seems Rew was Birmingham bound very early reading Hawkins’ comments in this weeks Speedway Star. They knew they were bringing Brennan in and had to release one of King, Ellis or Rew but according to Hawkins in the end the decision was easy because it was taken out of their hands when Rew decided he was going to Birmingham.

Might be pushing it it is a 9 day ban for concussion as he is over 20 which starts today apparently. So he could be ok for Riders Championship on the Sunday

Well done Birmingham, shame you couldn't nick the win but sounds like the crowd were the winners.

Only Me! Right I have answere the 2 minute clock earlier. With regards to the signage the interview board and pits signage is supplied "centrally" to all clubs. So it has not arrive yet. The rest of the signage in the stadium is provided by Europress who are the best in the business, high qualityh, delivered in time and understand the requirements of the club.

25th March 2025: Automated start working fine 27th March 2025: Automated start shorted out. Same issue apparently as Kings Lynn and Kent have had. This also wipes out the 2 minute clock. Its a new system for this season and it looks like its very hit and miss. I would be having a word with the QC department at the manufacturer.

He was very complementary about the track last night to Stewart to the point he said he can not understand why he hated riding it in the past.

I bet Sheffield are quaking in their boots after last night's performance! I fancy a win next Thursday!

That ride from Jenkins though to keep GP superstar Bewley behind him,,, with just that one ride, you could then see his confidence grow instantly and carried it on the rest of the meeting. I'm sure he will now have a great season because of it. Also I actually think the track adjustment really will make for better racing,,, well done track team. the last seasons after the first meeting I've already had enough,, but last night was different,, and I will be back because of it

It's March let's not get carried away 🙄 must have missed the trophy presentation 🙈 very giddy some fans 🤣 let's see come October no panic stations yet remember changes can be made if necessary but time will tell on that one 😉

bring on the twitches

You have to impressed with the Ipswich team at the start of the season. Over the two legs all the riders are getting a decent points return. Belle Vue must be slightly worried and you have to question are they good enough when Bewley and Kurtz have an off night, the rest of the team look very flaky.

Fair comment. B*gger, what do we do then? I’m too old to be a RS, how are you fixed? I’ll buy you a bike 😂

Dan Gilkes would do a good job.

Who else is left on the RS list? I don't remember Joe Thompson being particularly better than Hagon in his last spell so not sure that swap would be any better.

I wonder why Zagar didn't appear in 15? Would have done them good to nick am away win so early in the season especially after the spanking they took at home on Monday.

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.

Can we go back to the one-off World Final, Saturday night top league racing in the UK, more teams in the Leagues and no doubling up plz. Bugger' I've just woken up from a lovely dream!

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.

EE &BT customers can get TNT Sport as an Add On for £20/month on a rolling 1 month contract.

I think the first TNT match is King's Lynn vs Oxford on Monday the 28th of April, not sure if a schedule has been released after that.

Going into the city after Belle Vue is totally different to Cardiff. Before and after the GP at Cardiff everywhere was surrounded by speedway supporters, you knew where a lot of friends and groups would be, with Manchester there won't be any 'set places' like Walkabout where it would get taken over on the Friday and Saturday nights, a lot of people won't even bother going into the city after BV, and those that do will be so spread out it will be totally diluted and not feel like there's a big event on. Cardiff was the closest we had to a Polish GP around the city, but BV has the track. Wroclaw and Warsaw you KNOW there's something going on with speedway, in Manchester you won't

To add a bit more context and comparison to another GP I'm attending this year. Block C Seats for the 2-night package at the NSS are £215. So, £107.50 for each GP. I was bought a ticket as a Christmas present for the Wroclaw GP on 30 August. It is Sektor V1 in the Main Grandstand at the Olympic Stadium. This is pretty much the equivalent position between the starting gate and the first bend. Face value of the Wroclaw ticket is 499PLN - almost exactly £100 depending on the exchange rate at the time of purchase. Their equivalent back straight tickets (and seated too) could be cheaper than those in the South Stand at the NSS, but from where my tickets are located at both venues it's not too much different.

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

The simple answer, as someone who works in speedway, and in media in general including the BBC, the whole media landscape is incomparable to how it used to be even 5 or 6 years ago. Did the media lose interest or do they have hardly any staff left to write anything? However many people you think work in sports departments in newsrooms for either print or broadcast media, the reality will be a fraction of that, and really (as already happens) it’s down to those within the sport to lay the content on a plate in order to get coverage. Loads and loads of old long time journalists have left, been made redundant, taken retirement, died etc. So the people who used to bang the drum for speedway on the inside are no longer there. British Speedway sends news reports out on a daily basis, and even in the off season whenever something happens it is released directly to the media to hundreds of places. The way newsrooms work, you have certain sports guaranteed to take 90% of the coverage (mainly football etc), all other sports from Speedway to every sport in the Olympics and beyond are battling for that remaining 10%, and for the most part I’d include domestic rugby and county cricket in that. We also need personalities with a story. You mention Kenny Carter and Wiggy always being on the TV, they would not have been on the TV regardless of how good they were as riders if they were dullards. They were on because they were good value & entertaining. Results are at best going to get a passing mention, I would say the pre hype or some kind of human interest story would more likely get decent coverage, but to do that we need the personalities first. Chicken and egg I know, but that’s the situation. So I’d say it’s a mix of everything, but also don’t lose sight that a lot does happen, you may not see it yourself but it is there. We have regular stories in national newspapers such as The Sun & The Star & Mirror via Peter Oakes & Phil Lanning, we have many local BBC sport shows running speedway features and even live commentaries, we’ve had big coverage of the GB Youth training camp on the north east ITV News recently even in the closed season as such, coverage on ITV on the south coast of Kent I think too. We don’t quite have the resources of other sports at the moment but, people are trying to gain maximum coverage with the resources and contacts we have, and what we have now is undoubtedly better than what we’ve had in recent years. A way to go but we’ll get there.

Nobody seems to have a clue what's going on at the moment, it would be nice to hear something from WBD about what is being covered where... before the season starts! The fans do seem to be at the very bottom of their lists though.

He'll put the wind up the opposition.

I for one am grateful that Scunthorpe are back again for another year. Whether they win or lose is a mute point because normally you are guaranteed a great night of racing. Too many on this forum (across all teams) are negative and critisise everything including general issue related to speedway, that also includes Rob and the management team, but I and every real speedway supporter who goes to Scunthorpe knows that Rob will do everything to keep speedway going irrespective of where it is. Lets get rid of the team blinkers and remember that speedway was and can be again a great family sport where everyone can go along, feel safe and enjoy some excitement on a track that is conducive to racing. Don't keep being negative, it does not help, if you want to critisise offer a solution, it's easy to moan.