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Was done at the request of those stood near you so they couldn't hear your constant whining.

Just run six rider teams in the top league if not enough of the required level of rider.. No RS's, No Makeweight's... Each race having four riders who actually "have a chance" of winning... Use the other two divisions for young UK rider development...

Is anyone really surprised though...🤨

I'm not sure anybody really cares anymore...

Tough opener for Berwick against a team that’s had plenty of track time. You could see some of the Bandits side were rusty. Cook has had little or no competitive laps. Kildermand just back from injury, but looked sharp. Looked like he may have re injured himself in his last heat. Borke clearly suffering from his previous injury and looking very uncomfortable all night. Hagon looks low on confidence, a shadow of the rider who scored double points with Poole at Berwick last year. Dale Wood can gate, but he looks a bit wobbly. Hopefully he gets used to the track soon. An upgrade on Hodder. Bandits star man was Drew Kemp who looked like he’d max if it wasn’t for a shed chain. Lots of bad luck for the Bandits, otherwise may have sneaked a win. Good to see Craig Cook get a couple of morale boosting wins.

Having spannerd for a few riders over the years I can say here and now as much as I like Nicki I couldn’t spanner for him

Good showing from Perry so far, great to see

Yeh, but he’s right,the presentation is stuck in a time warp,every track is the same!!

Not like you to talk sense. I expect you did it by accident. Leicester protected him as their RS so no one else could have him. Then drop him straight away once there's nowhere else he can go.

Why always Birmingham?

Both Ekstraliga meetings: Shestakov Ekstraliga: https://vk.com/video-81427162_456239689 Lublin v Częstochowa: https://vk.com/video-53550004_456242124

I thinks it's harsh & too early for a couple of reasons. 1) Hagon hasn't had any Champ matches yet to compare his form to Gilkes. 2) Leicester "reserved" Hagon as their RS, meaning no other team could secure him in the draft, to then drop him seems odd. To "reserve" Hagon rather than hope someone better was available when it came to their pick, must mean they had a lot of faith in Sam's ability, where has that faith disappeared to?

The Berwick side of the pits is going to be a real barrel of laughs with Stewart Dickson, Craig Cook and Sam Hagon in it... throw in Drew Kemp when he gets his inevitable binning later in the season and they're going to need another team building day on the go karts 😉😂

And this is where Phil Morris needs to do his job and mediate if there is an issue. At the end of the day Ben Cook has been riding in Poland all of five minutes and reached the required standard by learning his trade in the UK over several seasons. So in the politest terms they can stick their millions and Foxtrot Oscar.

Ultimately it probably was the right decision, I just hope that he's given the time and backing.

Gilkes replaces Hagon

There are 3 teams clearly better than the other four... With one of them clearly better than the other two.. The other four then get split into pairs... Oxford and Birmingham being the bottom pair.. From the moment all the teams were announced that was going to be the case as the vast amount of comments on here clearly showed, (and Bet365's odds!) Never quite understand how, each year, after a few weeks into the season, some fans call out how poor their team are when it was "blindingly obvious" before a wheel was turned how much adrift they were from the better teams... "We have gone for strength in depth, with each of our team capable of putting a point on their average".. Translated: "We wanted to sign a world level rider as we know it is the only way to be successful, but we couldn't get one"..

I’m sure Leszno will try make it longer than 8 weeks over here now

Grudiadz used to be such a good race track when everyone was round the fence but for a couple of years now it’s a gate and go track

The sport needs his dad ('s sponsorship )

Unfortunately I’ve never seen Hagon pass anyone in Lion’s colours! It’s definitely the right call for Leicester (what’s to lose?). Whilst I’ve been critical of Hagon, he comes across as a very likeable and upbeat person. I really hope that this hasn’t deterred him and that he continues to race and reach whatever level he can reach. The sport needs him!

Tracks absolutely rubbish. Riders out of control bouncing all over the place.

I don't agree. They are professional speedway rides as such they just like any other professional sportsman have to perform. He's lucky. Due to lack of riders now a days, these boys get a good run. Back in the day, you wouldn't have lasted five meetings with what he was scoring. There would have been at least two second half riders who would have replaced him. As someone else said on here. " Lambs to the slaughter" There shouldn't be a so called rising star in the top league. As for Sam, he's had a fair run if you include last season if you breakdown his scoring from last season. it's not good reading. Hopefully he get his confidence back riding at reserve for Berwick. He has the ability to have a good season at Berwick. I think getting dropped by Leicester will do him a favour in the long run.

Whoever thought the gold on Lublin’s Kevlars was a good look 🙄

Mickey Mouse replaces me in the crowd...

I give up on uk speedway sometimes

BIRMINGHAM will be without Matej Zagar for Monday’s (April 21) two meetings against Belle Vue due to visa complications. Club CEO Nigel Tolley explained: “Matej has been riding on a temporary visa whilst his permanent one is approved - this is standard practise. “It is valid for one month and has now expired. “Matej’s application for a visa has been in progress since February but, inexplicably, has not yet been issued. “Process times are quoted as being three weeks and no reason has been forthcoming for the delay, we have been chasing daily. “All other Birmingham riders have all been processed in plenty of time. “We very much look forward to Matej rejoining the team when his illusive visa is issued.” The club are allowed a guest up to 75 per cent of Matej’s average and as such, Lewis Kerr has been booked for both fixtures against the Aces.

Might need to put it on the Leicester thread

I also think Leicester is quite a peculiar track and takes quite some mastering even from some of the more experienced riders, so bringing in these riders with little to no experience of it is not helping. To have a Cubs/Fox's team and not be developing through that is a big mistake, the club seems to have alienated the 2 best riders from that system in the Thompsen's and Cairns inexplicably wants to plough his furrow elsewhere. The club made a big thing about the signings of Mountain & Perry, they don't even seemingly come into the equation. Mr Dickson seems to like to wear his ruthlessness as a badge of honour and has mentioned that he's not afraid to make a change a number of times in the media... how about just getting it right from the start? 🤔

I disagree with that, it is a sport & if you're not performing, can't demand a place all season. But I do feel, and this is for all riders, there should be a minimum amount of matches ridden before you can be dropped, maybe 8, at the very minimum 6 imo.

I spoke to Cooper Rushen and his dad at Leicester press and practice day. They both stated they haven't given much thought about 2026, although did say somewhere southern would be a preference - mentioning both Oxford and Poole. Of course, ultimately depends who offers contracts, etc., so who knows?

Comets running scared. All joking aside thought this had a good chance of going ahead as not a huge amount of rain fell over night and with a dry and windy day ahead thought it would’ve been fine.

You'll be fine @IainB. At the Cheetahs on Wednesday, Schroeck kept going on about how they want to get the meeting done quickly as they've got to get back up to Leicester in the evening.

Don’t think anyone’s advocating a change of rule for this year. If it was decided not to include heat 15 riders in a new season rule then teams would be built with that in mind. Personally I think it should be scrapped.

Ah, my bad, thanks for that!

The progression of the likes of Brennan and Dan Thompson is down to their ability and not down to the RS system. The system doesn’t even have an age restriction? We’re talking about the top flight of the sport in this country and we’re throwing riders into the lion’s den and then coming up with race formulas in matches to ‘protect’ them. It’s a professional sport with paying customers and the participants have to be good enough. That’s the real world. You can’t say the RS riders need to be given a chance because they are all riding in the second tier. As/when/if they are ready, they can step up.

I'll never be a fan of the superheat. But if team managers had to choose 2 riders who hadn't ridden in heat 15, there would at least be some extra interest in that. Under the current format, heat 15 is often a re-run of heat 13, and the superheat is often a re-run of heat 15. Fans of speedway teams love their lesser-talented riders as much as their big-hitters. I would love to see some of the so-called 'second strings' take a bit of glory in a deciding race - however silly the superheat may be.

Lamberts getting worse.

I am not in any way confident that this will be successful due to past experience with other venues, but it won't be through lack of finance. The stock car person who has had the 'offer on the table' from day one is a multi millionaire who owns one of the biggest vegetable wholesale companies in the UK. His interest in reopening Brandon is purely based on his sporting interests, not turning a profit.

Agree it should be a 2 man run off.But that’s Speedway,nothing is simple.

If you are going to have a deciding heat to determine a win, then one nominated rider from each side, one wins, one loses would suffice, the stupid 4-3-2-1 points fiasco where one side can win the meeting by finishing 2nd/3rd is a daft idea, even if you put 4 riders out on track, then the winning side should be the side whose rider wins the decider .

£25 for 30 heats, I don’t think that’s outrageous and it’s not ‘juniors’ it’s NDL some of which have been riding for several years and a few are even championship riders !

🏆🏆🏆

££££sss

In each of the last two seasons you’ve used Mulford and Bailey at RS, you also sent for young Brit Connor mountain for a hotdog when he was doing a solid job to bring in Tate Zischke. i have no problem with these things but you carry on with this rhetoric of “belle vue are saints” and everyone else are cheats and evil especially Ipswich and it’s just so bloody tiresome, and then tell everyone else they’re trolls!

Now all they need are new fans 😀

Personally I'd have kept the 3-2-1-0-1-2-3-4 scoring system which awarded the away team two points for a draw anyway. One of the best ideas British Speedway has come up with in recent years and they scrapped it!

Can’t wait to see the new look Bandits in action this weekend, no matter the results it’s sure to be all action against the Tiggers. The promotion really have worked wonders with this 1-7 and they looked fantastic in the new race suits at the press and practice.

Do you really think he's earned millions? Maybe, but I somehow doubt it? I do believe he has earned well, but millions might be pushing it?

Really shows what the GP’s are missing regarding Artum and Emil.