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Well worth the trip up... The racing wasn't "great" throughout but that was due to the Bears consistently getting out of the starts regardless of grid number... And the track being too dusty and slick for the first half of the meeting at least . Never seen a watering done after just heat two before, but it definitely needed it... It looks like a track that needs a good soaking given the camber is big...... The 2nd half of the meeting was much better and heat 13 was a cracker... But why no lap of honour? Where I was stood, on the home straight with the Redcar fans, (a good number there too), it literally killed the atmosphere generated by the great race.. Atmosphere, driven by tribal opposition, is what they sport desperately needs... Paco (one of the guests), wheeled around after his win in heat 14 so I presume some riders know what is needed... The food van ran out of chips, (a disaster it appeared for some), and I must admit, trying to protect my burger from dust was a challenge... The place itself is fantastically well laid out, with the viewing platforms all round the track providing a great view.... And there must be god knows how many artics worth of aggregate used to make the pathways!! The track is great, with my only slight criticism being the wide outside runs on bend two and four seem to make riders lock up a tad rather than letting the bike run like the NSS does. Are the exits narrower than the very wide entrances to the turns? Or was it just a lack of grip meant the outside line wasnt working as much as would be liked? The kids race attracted plenty, are kids in for free? There were plenty there... The centre green announcer is definitely one of the better ones I have seen... You can also hear what is being said around the stadium as the tannoy seems to work...!! And the signs from the town outskirts telling you that Speedway exists and, even more importantly, where it actually is, and when it runs, look professional... £20 a ticket? Value for money for me, I hope the crowd levels meet what is needed, it looked like around 700 to 800 tonight which I presume is better than break even? If you haven't been, definitely give it a go, great set up, and very good track..

Yet another meeting goes by with a depleted team, what a waste of a potentially good season. More great team management, everyone bar your number 1 can take a rr ride but you give 2 rides to your 2.35 average number 8. Ritchings is a value option on his average but come on. Classic today at the Chargers meeting, who needed a guest in the team. Freddie Hodder being interviewed said that Schrocker called him up to guest, only to be informed by Hodder himself that he actually rides for the opposition so would be unable to take the booking 🤣

Ben Barker riding shortly after having his appendix out, charging onto the track with a replacement bike for Nicholls, directing track prep... meanwhile somewhere in Poland, Klindt is sat with his trotters up!

How come the winner of the "kids" race looked about 30!! 28 day ban 😂

Ben certainly did well on a rough, patchy track. However, wouldn't it be better to prepare a good racing surface and allow your riders to show off their skills? Look at Kemp, Jeppesen and Smith at Glasgow on Friday they were very competitive compared to Saturday night where they appeared to be a bit tentative.

Agree it’s falling short on some🤣 Great crowd in attendance yesterday so naturally it took longer to exit the arena and long may that continue! I’d wait whatever it took to get out if it meant a great attendance for our club! Imagine Mancheter united fans getting upset that after a game there was alot of traffic leaving the area…🫣

Quite rightly 😂

Today’s word is sarcasm .

Well done to everyone who contributed to last night’s Ben Fund collection , a fantastic £1885 was collected

I think when it comes to club streams you've got every right to be biased, it's the clubs own channel. To be fair I did the Workington v Poole club stream and that was pretty Worky centric..! 😂 Then next week for BSN a bit more on the fence.

What a moron you are ...

It seems that the make-up of teams has no bearing on whether some folk will turn out on a nice Saturday night in the summer wanting some entertainment for their family... which in one respect is great and you've pulled in half your available floaters by running on a Saturday. Now if you could combine that with credible teams in credible competitions that would bring in your other half of floaters who are looking for more than just entertainment but a sporting spectacle. Hopefully then you start to build some traction with the media etc.

No, its because over the years and sometimes nowadays you have had blue grooves, bumps, holes, dust and all manner of bad stuff. It's a shame because once upon a time it was a great track.

As a neutral I’d rather watch a Plymouth meeting than a Poole one. Darryl Ritchings had a cracking race which hopefully gets him a deserved team place somewhere

Just a general thought. The racing at Ashfield has went downhill since Meredith has been involved. As the saying goes, if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it. No need for him to be here. Racing has been great for years without him.

I have no desire to see him in the UK again

Tobi did well i thought in his place. They got the win and BP so they didn't miss him much.

I hope you dont mean restrict the crowd so you can get out quicker ?!?!?

More chance of Celina coming back.

The mental strength of these riders is incredible, another example is Chris Holder not the rider he was but still a very good rider after a terrible crash that put him in a wheel chair for months and seeing what happened to his best friend, incredible grit.

A bigger crowd means more traffic to get out of the car park, also with the comets being beat, people just head off home rather than mingle about talking about a win

Smith done well at Ashfield on Friday night, to be fair. Hodder and Perry have been fantastic this season. We literally couldn’t ask for more. Two teenagers with that little bit more pressure on their young shoulders due to our team building approach, but they’ve literally given 110% in every single race. They’ve had some tough meetings - inevitably so - but meetings like last night’s shows how resilient they both are.

Some great on point observations there mikebv. Getting more water into the track pre meeting is something we definitely need to be working on doing especially in the absence of rain in the 12 -24 hours before the meeting. The signage which has just gone up this week looks great. This can only help keep Workington Speedway visible and increase conscious awareness that it does actually exist as a credible sporting family option. Continuously putting the supporter experience right at the top of the clubs priorities in all aspects has to be the only way forward. How well the club is doing on this should be gauged periodically through feedback surveys.

Ben Barker’s a top man. He’s the sort of character you need in the pits with a proper selfless mentality. I find his interviews on BSN so insightful. At the CLRC, he was telling the cameras how he had no track intel because he was the only Plymouth rider there, so the only rider without teammate to share track tips with. He guested for us in the home defeat to Poole earlier in the season and gave it 100%; something you seldom see in a guest.

Good back to back wins for the bears and we always like our visits to workington. Took a wrong turning and got lost so was pleased to find the posters near the track lol.

Have to agree, Klindt doesn't get a ban because Plymouth don't mind being weakened! Turns out their guest did well, but doesn't sit right with me.

Having Jonus at 2 paid off though,countered Villads very well at Ashfield.Hagon was woeful.Wouldn’t matter where you put Hagon in Top 5 IMO,you don’t know what he will do from race to race even at Shielfield.Glasgow were there for the taking tonight and we failed miserably.IMO

Don’t think he is like other poles, he is an all action rider wherever he rides, he would never be a world champion and wouldn’t be a even a real contender but has shown this year especially he doesn’t mind giving zmarzlik or any rider a hard time and doesn’t seem to mind bouncing of fences either

Good racing is great but there is something that hasn't been discussed.. ....how did Vinnie manage to get himself stuck in the toilets!! 👀🙈🤷‍♀️

Maybe the difference between staying open and closing

Sunday People i believe

It does take me ages to get away from OT... I have wrote to Sir Jim Ratcliffe and said that 70,000 every game is simply too much... And had he thought of reducing it to around 40,000 so I could get home quicker. . He didn't even answer my letter .. In fact, I have seen plans for a 100,000 seater stadium being built... They just don't listen do they?

Ipswich tend to sign riders with ability but much more importantly have the right attitude and professionalism. jason has all of those in abundance.

Maybe so, but all of the Aussies and most of the Brits are based in the UK, which would make it fairly easy to run a test series in the summer. Where there's a will, there's always a way!

And to Ipswich's credit they snapped him up, one of the best reserves now. I like Jason Edwards talks a lot of sense.

I can almost guarantee that this will not happen. There's a reason they didn't bring him back and that reason was proven right by his actions this season. Also, he doesn't fit. Come August 1st we'd have to drop 2 riders to fit him in, and he isn't worth that.

It does, he could replace either Jack Smith or Sam Hagon -- but to make such a change on the strength of one audition could be a risk.......

Next years squad.

To be honest Gazc, I don't know anything other than what you have mentioned. Allied Mobility are included with other sponsors on the Workington Comets Facebook account now.

That is how it is supposed to work but according to Catalan no one does that anymore and just asks the rider. I suppose in this case it doesn't matter as Danny Ford has said in the past he would never stop a Poole rider from taking a guest booking.

As there are at many tracks not just Poole. It seems to go through stages of being bumpy then smooth then bumpy, it is usually better later in the season. Agree it used to produce better racing than it does now, the same can be said for many tracks particularly Kings Lynn.which used to produce fantastic racing years ago.

There are many tracks very similar where genuine passes are rare but Poole gets more moans than most because we are successful. If the Plymouth meeting last night was at Poole we would have an endless stream of moans about the track. When you are at Kings Lynn tomorrow see how many genuine passes there are.

Sorry but your response has baffled me? Don't you think that speedway riders are "professional sportsmen" (in the higher leagues at least)? The territory is surely outlined in the rule books which I would assume states that at any point you may be required to take a drugs test? Your last question re encouraging drug taking doesn't even warrant a reply in my opinion.

What a brilliant Speedway meeting! Saturday night, big crowd, great racing, a competitive field, a wild card capable of winning the meeting, knowledgeable and informative commentary (1 of them anyway), proper scoring system and start tarts... it's how the SGP series used to be... I didn't even mind paying for it!

Me too on TVP sport

Instead of speculation perhaps the authorities should canvas those riders who are prepared to commit to riding in the UK first and foremost and calculate how many riders are available to ride every week on a race night that suits a UK club, not Poland or any other European league fixture list. Reward those riders who are willing to make a go of it in the UK by guaranteeing x number of meetings based on the commitment to ride. On the basis of the foregoing, determine the make up of teams, be it five, six or seven riders per team. Then look at whether it works on one home and away or two home and away or a mix with 4TT plus league racing. Also have a Season long individual UK championship with rounds held at every track and a grand finale at say Bellevue one year then Glasgow the Poole etc, share it around. The idea is build for the future on what you know you have not the uncertainty that prevails today where it is a case of finger in the air and hope. True speedway followers will be happy with competitive racing week in week out, others who crave the worlds top riders will follow them through the many individual tournaments be it a GP or Euro championship or Poland where in the case of the latter money seems no object when it comes to enticing the top riders. Speedway UK cannot compete with any European racing partly because of Brexit but also it races on a night when riders can earn some pocket money here because no other league is daft enough to pick Monday as a race night and I suspect that most who ride in Poland etc do not keep the best equipment in the UK so you are probably not seeing the riders at their most competitive. Unfortunately all those on here who could make up a committee that could give some direction and work with the promoters to get the sport back to where it should be would be largely ignored yet they are the same people who week in week out put money into the clubs by crossing the threshold of the turnstiles and helping keep the sport going. A message to those in charge, engage with your punters.

I have a feeling Simon Lambert will be released from Scunthorpe soon

I think you are being a tad cynical, everyone knows on sits on the top table that the presentation is fit for purpose why else would it continue if it wasn’t? On the other hand it could do with a tweak or two, black leathers to start with and possibly use of the latest Jap engines and introduction of a track spare (and that is not the person running the shop) and of course 13 heats to save on costs. Maybe introduce a rule that allows only Aussie, South African and Scottish riders to compete in the league. Those changes would fix it for sure.

MJJ is the wildcard

Emil and Artem are both Polish citizens. They pay their taxes in Poland and are allowed to vote in the Polish Presidential Election.