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I'd dare say you could go to the local shopping precinct in Ippo and ask 100 people if they'd heard of Jason Doyle and/or Emil Sayfutdinov and barely any of them would have... and the same probably goes for them having heard of Speedway... You may just get the reply "oh is that still going, I used to go" or "my dad used to go" but even they are an ever decreasing number.

Sean Bean, Jessica Ennis-Hill, Michael Palin, Arctic Monkeys, Joe Cocker, Def Leppard, Gordon Banks, Helen Sharman, Sebastian Coe, Harry Maguire, Harry Maguire... your boys took one helluva beating tonight 🦁

Only in speedway....a club/rider being punished...end up with a stronger replacement??? 😀

This could be potentially the best thing to happen in British Speedway this year, if a return is possible any time in the future. Good luck to John and Jon in their efforts to achieve this and I am sure it will be heavily supported by all speedway fans around the world.

As some of you may know, for my sins I am Director and minor shareholder in Birmingham Speedway. Now isn't the right time for me to comment on the rights or wrongs of Promotional decisions on team building etc. Nigel Tolley has bankrolled the club for the past few seasons and for that the Brummies fans and sport in general should be grateful, otherwise the club would have folded at the end of the 2022 campaign and a poor team is still better than no team at all as I am sure many fans of defunct tracks would agree. With 2025 being the final year for the club at Perry Barr, Nigel obviously wanted it to be a successful one, so his plan was to put together a side that on paper looked as if it would be in with a shout for the play-off's. As I say the make-up of that team or planning around it isn't for me to comment on at this time, but what I will say is that unfortunately the support in terms of numbers coming through the doors and promised commercial deals have failed to meet expectations. I am not sitting here typing this to disagree with anything people have said on this thread, far from it. I am just highlighting that intentions were for the best even if execution wasn't and that expenditure had to be reduced to ensure that the club continued to fulfil all it's obligations. Cheers, Paul.

Covid 🙄Was thinking of coming to this but instead I will spend my hard earned money going to see the loch ness monster, funny enough that doesn’t exist either, at which point does British speedway start treating its customers with a bit of respect

Zagar and Musialak making sure they have a nice average for next season, personally I don't blame them.

Fingers crossed then. 🤞

As I said, they already have go-karts and motocross there so noise shouldn't be an issue if it is the Beddington Lane site. And it's mainly industrial round there.

Surbiton Raceway is a good shout but I don't think there is much spare land there to accommodate what they have planned. The only other place I can think of which does have additional land is where Traq Motor Racing go-karts are on the Mitcham/Croydon border on Beddington Lane. Not only does it have go-karts but a motocross track as well.

Agree on every point apart from the 15 mins of entertainment... There is zero to keep me entertained during the gaps between racing.. 1970's music? Really? I attended an indoors MX event in MCR ten years ago and every Speedway promoter should have gone to it... The on track action was only a part of the evening.. You could win a mini MX bike, (just £5 a text), and 1000's of dads texted in. (Me being one).. They fired, via air gun, t shirts (all small so kids got them), into the crowd, and my lad got one... Each rider had a merch stall, with shirts, photos, selfies etc.. And Monster Energy Girls... (Ahem)... The guy in the middle kept the evening flowing, the music reflected the hi octane, adrenaline fuelled sport... And I didn't have a clue who anyone was but paid seventy quid for me and my then 12 year old lad... And it was worth every penny.. Some on here say that the gaps between races is a chance to talk with those they stand with and haven't seen since the last meeting, which is fine.. But what do those attending for the first time do? Twiddle their thumbs? A high octane, adrenaline fuelled sport should have an off track package that reflects it... UK Speedway's off track entertainment is truly dire...

SHEFFIELD: Jack Holder, Anders Rowe, Josh Pickering, Lewi Kerr, Chris Holder, Justin Sedgmen, Nathan Ablitt. LEICESTER: Max Fricke, Luke Becker R/R, Ryan Douglas, Kyle Howarth, Sam Masters, Drew Kemp, Joe Thompson. Leicester surely to progress to the final? A brand new, full racenight programme has been produced for the rearranged semi-final and will be available inside the stadium for just £4. Any supporters who still wish to complete their season’s collection and get their hands on a limited copy of the original issue will be able to do so by purchasing one from the Speedway Office. £25 entrance £4 for a prog £4 for the last prog £3 for parking £36 night out for a meeting that's on BSN... bargain!

We’ve even got a one sided El Crapico.

Not surprised you put Harry Maguire twice as he plays for Man Utd so is used to getting a beating!!

Come on the Lions! Excellent performance.

For those who get the speedway star, my point about bikes going no faster these days despite the money spent is on page 23 and just to add heat 1 at Sheffield tonight is the same time as Hans Nielsen in 1985 at owlerton

No wonder some give it a miss, 4 pounds for a prog, 3 for parking!!

Think one of the biggest problems is speedway machinery. Even at amateur level it's either expensive especially to maintain or dreadfully unreliable. If you've a product that's more or less moto cross based machinery, most will do season after season with reasonably priced routine maintenance.

Great effort from Knudsen in the Danish final, now if only we can get him riding 😀

But where are the riders coming from? The prem is struggling to track 7 similar standard rising stars, the champ clubs are scratching for 2 pointers and whats left of the NL is tracking riders that are realistically second half level. Numbers in youth rounds are hardly encouraging and the amateur scene has been hammered into the ground. The dilution of the sport started 10+ years ago and now the price is being paid. For every Cairns or Rushen you need another half a dozen "lesser but competent" riders coming through, the sports journeymen that keep the places filled and they are what are very much lacking at present.

Apologies Pinny. I had been up the pub for 6 hours to celebrate my Son in Laws BirthdayI should of read twice, and posted once 👍

An induction day for his apprenticeship. You don't miss the things that could map out the rest of your life.

I believe BSN pay each clubs a % and as it can be streamed world wide so people in places like Australia or USA are contributing to the clubs and I subscribe and so I’m contributing to teams that I wouldn’t necessarily attend so yes it may discourage people from actually attending it is at least contributing to the clubs

I don't think that BSN help the situation. I have a season subscription, I am recently retired, and tend to travel by train to meetings. Normally I would jump on an EMT for Sheffield v Leicester tonight but frankly, its feet up on the sofa with a bottle of wine for me. Speaking to other fans they do the same if the don't fancy the opposition, its to cold, to wet or as its been recently to hot to stand under a low metal roof for 2 hours.

Can't moan about birminghams managed decline really . Im not convinced that with a top 3 side they would accrue more support anyway . Drury seemed to do ok in the late 2000s but that's a lifetime ago . I do think that the time has come for one league tho or at least an overhaul . 6 teams does not a league maketh

This forum is dammed if you do and dammed if you dont, it’s funny really. Now it’s all about how expensive the tickets are, when I suggested a few months ago to reduce the cost to get more people in the stadium the reaction was “you won’t get more people because it’s all about the poor promotion”. Again, if people haven’t got something to moan about they aren’t happy, look at the comments on here when even a SGP is on, still people moan about boring racing, maybe change your sport would be my suggestion. Ipswich town tickets were about £40+ a pop last season and they couldn’t get a win at home for love nor money. People still packed the stadium every week though. The football wasn’t good, but people still supported. I don’t believe it’s just down to money, it’s a factor yes, but not solely money. People pay for many other sports without a problem, it’s more the product with the guesting, no loyalty with the riders, no jeopardy in the league, other stuff like that.

I was there too! Yes it was expensive but it was 3 hours 10 minutes of non- stop entertainment. I'm going to see Maiden on Saturday at the Olympic stadium, again around the £100 mark but again it'll be around 2 hours of non stop entertainment... although they are operating drummer replacement lol

Would the fact that present day Guns n Roses sound absolutely terrible have something to do with it? Seen them live in the MCG here in Melbourne a few years ago and left half way through they were that bad.

Because the country is going broke, are you not listening ? Folk are feeling the pinch and picking and choosing, it’s not just speedway, it’s gone past speedways ills now ,I see it everywhere now,in everyday life work and play,folk are genuinely starting to cut expenditure and speedway unfortunately is way down the list, big events are surviving at the moment as they generally one offs and not every week but even those are not selling out like they used too

We now have some of the best riders in the world finally on British shores. Yet people still would rather “pick and choose” their meetings and not support the sport. There is no excuse. People on the forum need to actually start attending matches and helping the sport out inside of constantly moaning about this and that. Latest I heard was most matches are “qualifiers” for the play offs. That’s an embarrassing reason to not attend. Polish fans could think the same around this time of the season but they love the sport and just go to watch races. Too much negatively on this forum. Turn your phone off on a Monday or Thursday night and actually go out and watch some speedway instead of just chatting BS. Belle Vue have two of the best riders currently in the world but still can’t be bothered to attend until September as they always state… why?

What I think everyone needs to grasp is that speedway is just not a trendy sport and there is no younger generation of fans flocking through the gates anymore. Its 99.9 percent surviving on the old guard. Ok, there will be one or two clubs who are making a decent profit from good crowds but they are very much in the minority. The amount of clubs that have closed in the last few decades speaks volumes. The sport in the UK has been wrecked by lazy promoters who wont drag the club they promote into the 21st century, scruffy stadiums, ridiculous rule changes by the governing body and riders taking the complete urine. Thats just a couple of major problems, the list is endless. I have said it for years now, the only way out of this is to completely re format British Speedway and change the league structure. Two leagues sharing the same riders with riders missing every meeting just don't work.

Thanks for your input H Man(you're one of the good guys connected with Brum). Could you tell us why Birmingham Speedway have been on a downward spiral since LR got involved?

Covid 🤔

Don't think it's a case of Sheffield being poor on the night, I just think Leicester are a very good side and R/R is making them even stronger. Howarth and Kemp have upped their game this year and Douglas is getting better, Masters returning to his old rock solid Wolves form backing up a proper No.1 in Fricke who's dialled in on every British track now.

I’d be surprised if Birmingham get through the last two months of the season at this point. There will be around 75 die hard oldies at PB on Monday and that’s being generous. Wouldn’t blame Nigel at all if he threw the towel in. Have to feel for him, as bad as he is - he has poured his heart and soul into the club and had no success.

nice one Frickey.

Depends on your criteria. Målilla MK (Dackarna parent organisation) have a very organisation for arranging GP:s. But it is very in the middle of nowhere. Västervik have a very good track, but they claim that their pit area is too small for SGP. Sannahed is a good track, but Sannahed is a bit off (30 km south of Örebro) Eskilstuna has very good facilities (except parking) but track is a bit meh at the moment. Located about 12 km outside town but would probably be bus transfer available. IMO those are tracks that a GP maybe could be held at. Västervik are fairly close the city. Norrköping and Motala are in the city or in the outskirts of the city. Hallstatvik is also central in the municipality in which they are based. Gislaved is also quite close to the town.

Sh@t it

Bit naughty from sedgman there

He couldn't even get them out for the Billy Sanders Memorial Trophy, so there's no chance he'll get them out for a junior meeting!

Did you used to be Steve Boxalls mechanic......🤣

He did you’re correct. Last he spoke about it a couple of months ago,he was struggling with timelines to get the riders competing in the actual event, and the experienced top class riders who he wants to attend also, to all be there at the same time. He wants the likes of Doyle and Emil there to help the youngsters and give them advice. He was working hard on a resolution to get all the pieces of the jigsaw together. Haven’t heard anything since.

Louis also stated in the winter that foxhall would hold some kind of individual junior meeting of some kind, do we have any news if that is actually happening?

Of course they won’t know them! And that will simply be because they’re not speedway people, obviously. The target will be to entice back those that are 50/50 about going, used to go and still follow it from afar. The crowd have 100% increased at Foxhall since Doyle and Emil have been in the team, that is undeniable.

You think the problem is as simple as black and white, make it cheaper and people will come, they won’t, the sport needs a rethink and be cheaper but it’s not a simple as just reducing costs and rearranging the deck chairs, I don’t want to break confidentiality of some people but what is being paid out is in a couple of cases quite frankly stupid, not just riders, the product is poor and has been largely responsible for the decline in crowd numbers but the crowd figures this season are down to in some cases alarming levels because the country is broke and the public are reflecting this in all sectors not just speedway and maybe for the first time the people who run the sport realise this, as I said I was told about an idea but I can just see the reaction now and I get it but what’s the alternative because I don’t see one

With full teams both guaranteed to be in the play-off final, but the loser still has a chance when they meet the winner of the Extraleague play-down final( loser relegated) to see who is in Extraleague in 2026.

A Mickey Mouse Sporting League.. Four guests and RR? Not a problem, please take it seriously like we do, and form an orderly queue... Swapping two guest riders (so they ride for both teams) in the middle of a play off final ? Not a problem, please take it seriously like we do, and form an orderly queue.. Bomber helping Ipswich knock BV out in the semis, and then representing Sheffield to beat Ipswich in the final? Not a problem, please take it seriously like we do, and form an orderly queue... First v Fourth in the play offs? (Unless of course commercially it is better to change the rules?) Not a problem, please take it seriously like we do, and form an orderly queue.. Adam Eliis and MJJ only agreeing to ride for the first few weeks of the season, and their club, and the umbrella organisation, not informing the fanbase? (And then making them out to be the bad guys, even though all on here knew the reality).. Not a problem, please take it seriously like we do, and form an orderly queue.. For me, the wife, and my lad, it is over £70 to attend... Come on UK Speedway, treat us with a modicum of respect as to what you serve up.,. And, who knows, we may attend more...

Laurence Rodgers gets some shameful treatment on this forum from complete and utter muppets, some of whom are supposed to be speedway fans and incredibly Birmingham fans, not one of whom has actually played any part of bringing anything to the table in regards to introducing a single rider into the sport (probably), gave any encouragement to the same as making a point of chatting with juniors before meetings asking if they require any assistance in the sport, (if so they are hiding behind a keyboard which is even worse) personally I have had dealings with Laurence for a great many years and his encouragement and support is beyond any other promotion, he’s always been very supportive to all the juniors and young riders and always keeps in touch regarding the next meeting, how many clubs are actually doing that?? And to think all clubs are still required to do something to promote junior level, he’s doing it every week not just once. Remember once it’s gone it’s permanent and then you have nothing to moan about, however, judging by some he is getting the blame for that also! Shameless

If Gorzow stay in Ekstraliga the 2026 team is almost completed with the removal of Fajfer, Thomsen, Vaculik, Krok, Chatłas. 2026 team pending: J. Holder R.Tungate A. Lebedevs Ptr. Pawlicki M. Drabik M. Pollestad O. Paluch

If only she had remembered where her glasses were. It all makes sense now...