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Sounds a bit on an arrogant comment, no rider should risk injury for any team, but why should Cairns play it safe for Belle Vue when he's not even riding for Poole yet?

I'd like us all to just try and remember what age he is and not be too hard on him. If you've played sport at any level you'll know that what's going on in your head can massively effect your performance. Usually talented teens just rise through the ranks maybe with a few bumps but i can't remember seeing someone with so much promise suddenly fall off like Ashton has. I genuinely wish him all the best and hope he gets back to his best.

A couple of thoughts from Cami Brown's match report on Tigers FB page “I knew it would be tough tonight. Victor Palovaara at reserve is ridiculous, let’s be honest. He’s not a reserve, he’s miles better than that." Firstly why is Palovaara at reserve rediculous? Edinburgh were clever enough to build a team where he started at reserve. Remember when Glasgow signed Tarasenko on a 5.00 Champ ave, despite him also being on a 5.00 Prem ave which was about to go up to 6.45 (meaning a converted 9.5+ Champ ave) did Cami say that was ridiculous at the time? Glasgow just used the rules, which were available to all the clubs, just like Edinburgh have done this year. Secondly, no mention of Boughen not competing 3 rides. If he was ill, you'd think Glasgow would announce they are putting in a complaint that he wasn't signed off, not allowing a reserve to come in. If he just didn't fancy it, should Glasgow not say they are dissapointed with what happened & are dealing with it behind closed doors? Do Glasgow not owe it to their fans who paid to watch / for the stream for some honesty about the situation?

I just feel comments about being the greatest world champion of all time are ott, you cant compare eras, in the days of the one of world final there was a long difficult route to qualify for the final, every rider had to qualify on merit including the reigning champion. The night itself you could cut the atmoshphere with a knife, every race counted with no second chances due to a scoring system we see today, there were several riders who could actually take the title. If the current system had been in operation ive ofen wondered how many titles the likes of Mauger would have won, it would have been tailor made for him with his incredible consistency. The GP doesnt have the best 16 riders in the world, there are get out of jail cards thanks to the scoring system and speaking personally the series just doesnt do it for me. Its all about opinion but i dont think you can compare different eras. One other thing some posters have mentioned Tatum saying what a great night of racing as he does during boring league meetings, any non fans watching for the first time must be thinking if this is a great meeting wouldnt like to see a poor one and certainly wouldnt be motivated to go along to their local track if they actually have one.

Been to the track today for a practice which was called off cause of rain, love the place, such a model of a place for speedway to follow, and Andrew is such a nice bloke who has some very valid points about a way forward for the sport

Tatum was truly embarrassing tonight. At least Chris Louis sounded bored - like the rest of us. Sadly the TV coverage reflects the state of the sport at present ... Abi treats the gate selection like something off Blue Peter and the pit interviews just get worse by the year. No wonder the interest is waning.

Daryl Ritchings scored 12 +2.

Additional links for Grudziądz v Gorzów: note that due to the weather, 1st heat will be at 3.45pm UK time in Grudziądz: This VK link for both Ekstraliga meetings: https://vk.com/video-81427162_456239710 Grudziądz v Gorzów: https://vk.com/video-220089063_456246594

I think he would of learnt to sit still ,he was an extremely disciplined individual .

Is he though? How can you really tell when there is nobody else who seems capable of properly challenging him and genuinely putting him under pressure? Nobody else has the consistency. World number 2 Robert Lambert, for example, ended up with 3 points last night. If you look through history, the great champions always had someone pushing them. Funding, Briggs, Olsen and Mauger all had each other. Nielsen and Gundersen had each other. Rickardsson had Pedersen, Crump, Hancock, Adams etc. Since Zmarzlik started winning World Championships, the one rider to properly challenge him was Artem Laguta - and Laguta won and was promptly removed from the series. Zmarzlik's most consistent challenger is probably Lindgren, who is not really a genuine rival. Someone needs to step up to the plate to make this interesting. Can Kurtz do that? I'm not convinced. Holder maybe? It's a shame Bartosz can't be transported into another era so we could really see how good he is. To be honest, if you could do that and transport someone like Egon Muller into the modern series, my guess is you'd see Muller winning multiple World Championships and being hailed as a contender for the greatest of all time.

Maybe Zmarzlik is just so far ahead of the rest? If you removed him then I'm sure Lindgren/Holder/Bewley/Lambert/etc. would share world titles between them, just like previous generations had multiple riders pushing each other. I'd enjoy watching Zmarzlik against the top 5/8 from 20 years ago, too, in fairness. I think he'd be very competitive. Laguta had 4 seasons to beat Zmarzlik btw, and managed it once. I don't think he was a genuine long-term challenger, he just had the season of his life. Like Chris Holder did in 2012. You can't take it away from him, but he won't go down as a true great, I also don't think he'd have won another.

They couldn’t afford me this time

Brief story : The former president of last year for Stal was taking money from the club for his private business ventures. The fans were protesting last year for him to walk but he never did, he damaged the club with simple thing with the fans like changing the 5-1 celebration music and the traditional Kevlar colour (they looked more like Lublin last season). The fans and the president didn’t get on, after these protests and the end of last season he decided to fire Wozniak who was still contracted another year which annoyed the fans. He finally got kicked out the club after an internal audit was ordered by the league and 12 million was found taken and this is where the club were almost ended. Another president came in and the set up a ‘go fund me’ page (which I contributed to) and also ex and current riders auctioned off equipment and belonging etc to make sure the club could find the money to continue this season. Lebiediew was bought as a last gasp from the former president to try and show he was spending the club money and investing. At the time of uncertainty whether Gorzów would continue Miśkowiak fast made a decision to abandon the club and run to GKM, this is why Gorzów fans do not like him. Stal Gorzów raised enough money to continue from various sponsors and ventures and now have good money, the only problem they face is the league put a ban on them spending money due to the audit and issues that arose last year.

Our averages have gone up mainly as you say due to Rowe so I doubt we could do anything as a whole team wise, it would have to be like for like, I think for now we just have to hope for the riders underperforming to improve.

A complete enigma. I’ve saw him almost lap Harris at Ashfield, then less then twelve months later, look terrified amongst under-21s on the same circuit. I’ve saw him win the opening heats at Armadale and Scunthorpe, but look like it’s the first time he’s ever sat on a speedway bike a few days later. Who knows what’s going on? It’s a complete guessing game, but I hope the club clarifies ASAP. Cami Brown insists on commenting on every rider in every single post-meeting interview, but last night, I saw no mention of Boughen.

I thought the same when Kubera scored 6 pts in the previous GP and walked away with 14pts to his name. Yes it's the system, but its a stupid system. Like tonight Kurtz had 4 from 4 rides yet nearly made the final. As for the wildcards, the last two GPs have showed that Morris, Castagna and co are just woke and have no idea. It's suppose to be a world championship, so why leave out riders of the calibre of Madsen and Dudek for Kai Huckenbeck and Kvěch!. Both Madsen and Dudek have scored more in one meeting a piece than the other pair in three GPs!!

Ashton is not a reserve he is a 5.27 rider averaging less than 3 and he was not sacked durning the meeting his dad wanted him pulled out the meeting as his head was not in the right place and the medics would not sign him off so now has a 28 day ban for withholding his services

Yes, but he also likes winning. Not showing up for your 3rd ride and gifting a point to Edinburgh no.7 is final straw for me. If someone can explain to me why that happened happy to be wrong. But that point could be difference between qualify and not

If Glasgow wants to win the championship they can’t carry a 5.27 point rider which is only dew to his rolling average , he averaging less than 3 at the moment and pretty sure any other team would be looking for a change before his ave drops to just over 3

He's not daft, he will be well aware that Boughen is throttling off and completely in the wrong head state to compete properly at the moment. Like others have said Ashton needs to somehow get back into the third division, get a psychologist on board and sort out his issues because the current status quo is doing absolutely nobody any good whatsoever.

Introducing... Elsie Kew

I posted about Boughen last season, no question the guy has natural talent and is really quick but he has some sort of mental block,at the time people were saying lack of experience and it will come in time but it isn’t, it’s something he needs to work out possibly with a sport psychologist because until he gets over it his career will suffer, it’s not just a issue for him though as we saw last year against Poole when he gated and then shut off causing Zack cook to hit him from behind

The track was only unsafe for the engines used today, this is the consequence of years of letting riders and tuners run the sport for the riders and the tuners

I can't think of anyone in the recent past who has been as articulate and sensible off the track and he is a steady improver on it. If he lacks anything it's just the kind of horse-power that some with less ability and dedication seem to attract. He does a lot of work to promote the Sport too and it's a shame that his spell at Birmingham will now ony be for a season. Credit to the Sport

That’s right, not an RS. We have lost RS’s to broken bones, retirement or graduation but dropping one has been a no no so I see us sticking with Jake. It’s up to Mark though.

Here is the full meeting video along with all the behind the scenes explanations etc.

Probably around 7:15

Michelsen having a mare.

1st race 6.15pm UK time- rain on the way

Every rider back then tried to get the jump on each other dont forget you could actually push the tapes without exclusion, movement was common for all riders, there was a misconception he couldnt pass but ive seen him do it many times when needed which wasnt often, even under todays start rules he would have been a fast trapper.

"A change in the averages for June means Birmingham will operate Rider Replacement at No.1 for Michael Jepsen Jensen having had their initial 14 day facility extended to cover the absent Dane." BIRMINGHAM: Michael Jepsen Jensen R/R, Paco Castagna, Tobiasz Musielak, Keynan Rew, Matej Zagar, Jonas Jeppesen, Jason Edwards. BELLE VUE: Dan Bewley, Norick Blodorn, Jaimon Lidsey, Zach Cook, Brady Kurtz, Tate Zischke, Jake Mulford.

Half the problem is these young riders have to much pressure put on them at a young age, and to much hype is made about them soon as people think their the next big thing, same happened to Parkinson-Blackburn/Bickley to name just 2 off the top of my head over the last few yrs, just hope the same doesn't happen to Cairns/Rushden when they start racing regularly.

Additional link for Rzeszów v Leszno: https://vk.com/video-220089063_456246602

World individual Championships [edit] 2019 World individual championship - runner up 2019 World individual championship - 5th 2021 World individual championship - 7th 2022 World individual championship - runner up 2023 World individual championship - 5th 2024 World individual championship - 9th He missed 1 GP last year due to injury, if he'd scored his average he would have finished above Michelsen and did finish ahead of Lebedevs, Huckenbeck & Kvech... unbelievable Jeff!

just watched replay, felt for Kurtz, Madsen really wanted it, shame Kurtz didn't try that inside line earlier think he was only rider who could ride that line that tight.

Maybe you could help him.You seem to know your stuff😝

... and these medical people are always telling us that mental problems should be treated like physical problems. Sounds like when I wanted my mum to write me a sick note to get out of gymnastics at school and wouldn't!

Yes we have always got stick for underperforming riders being released

Drama and Queen immediately springs to mind. As been said he refused to take his 3rd ride and if his head had gone who can blame him.

There’s no way that points scoring system is plausible.Top 2 to Final ,next 4 run off top2 to Final would have been better.Knowing that 6-7 points in the meeting could get you 20 by winning the meeting is laughable in what is a World Championship. Madsen and Dudek are making them look like even bigger clowns with their Wild card Selections.Kelvin trying to pretend the Stadium was packed to the rafters was also a joke.

I’m afraid he needs more than sports psychologist to tell him to get stuck in on the 1st Bend.Its a tough game.Shut the throttle and your history.

Harris has been in the game long enough to understand why clubs drop riders.

Same crap every year, but this was another level, an embarrassment to speedway.

Couple heavy showers where I was one just about on tapes up. 15 years ago would probably been on but not nowadays

Race nights (prob don't want to race Monday/Thursday)? No local league derbies (nearest opposition Belle Vue, hardly "local")? Happy where they are? Could be a host of reasons. They still have to build a team to whatever the points limit is, no matter what league they are in and it's getting the right riders in, not just the "superstars". Just 'cos they (allegedly) have the cash to throw at it, doesn't mean to say they have to be in the "top" league, racing against teams nowhere near (location wise) costing the fans an absolute fortune to travel away to the same tracks twice. Also they would (probably) increase the admission for home meetings, to see, near enough, the same riders they are seeing now. I think I'd be trusting the promotion on knowing what they are doing, on and off track.

McDiarmid not being utilised properly again by the team manager.

The bigger question is do we put far too much pressure on our young riders. a sensational debut season in the NDL doesn’t necessarily equate to a international career. Drew kemp for example was dynamite for mildenhall. Got called up in the championship for Ipswich and scored 14 at Scunthorpe on his debut and everybody’s expectations sky rocketed. big moves to big clubs with big pressure didn’t work particularly well but now he is settled and allowed to progress at his own pace he has blossomed. Ashton was fast tracked to team GB and maybe that was too early ? I just hope will cairns and cooper rushton are allowed to progress in their own time without the pressure.

There needs to be a cap on what clubs are offering these young riders ( wage wise ) as there getting top dollar money but aren't delivering ( some of them ) & yet a rider who's got years of experience behind... Not mentioning any names had to drop out of racing in the NDL as he was only offered a pittance... The speedway game in the UK is dying big time ... & I've supported the sport for over 50 years but it's on the big decline sadly

Jason Edwards talks a lot of sense

IMO engine tuners are like agents in football just adding huge costs to the sport !