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I enjoyed my first visit to Northside very impressed by the overall set up, one look at the track you can see its designed to give riders the opportunity to race so without a doubt that will provide some great racing, the conditions being hot, dry, and with that stiff breeze that was blowing made it very difficult for the track staff. Its does also seem to have the capacity to be developed further as the club progresses, reminded me a bit of Somerset and how that developed. I will certainly be back, at first it looked like the Monarchs were going to win at a canter but Comets made a great fight back to take the last heat decider. A great day out except for the 45 mins delay on the M6 for an accident and a 1 hour delay on the A66 where i believe the air ambulance was called out, but it didnt spoil the day, congratulations to all that brought the Comets back with this facility.

Enjoyed our first visit to Northside and as like someone said before reminded me a bit of the Oak Tree Arena in terms of the setup. Great setup and viewing all round, well done to the promotion. Racing wasn't great as track was slick and only real pass on the outside I can remember was in the 125 race! Grahn did get round the outside off bend 2 in ht15 though to complete an impressive evening for him. Nice to have a chat to Dan Bewley as well plus the kids both got pics with him. My son enjoyed the kids race too, not as busy as the Coliseum version he is used to but still good. Probably the only thing I'd say was disappointing was the lack of contact available with riders in the meeting both before and after. Certainly plenty of space to do this there, maybe we are just spoilt at Plymouth with the access they afford. Overall an enjoyable night with a couple of knowledgeable locals to chat to alongside me (a few accent issues though!) and i'd certainly like to come back in the future although it's a long way from Somerset!

Nice to read the complimentary views of first time visitors. It was a lovely evening for speedway but the exceedingly dry weather has made life difficult for the track staff. Comets managed to find something that worked in the second half of the meeting to send the Comets fans home happy. Big shout out to Jye Etheridge for riding through the pain barrier. Three of the Monarchs rode below their averages and we were fortunate that Victor only scored the one point after his 15 in the KOC clash. Thanks to the Monarchs fans who made the journey and best of luck for the playoffs.

Following on from the Plymouth team on Saturday having 4 guests and r/r to join there two available riders the Speedway Control Board has seen a way forward and are considering the following ........ 1) All riders will be under contract to the SCB 2) All riders will be graded according to there riding average 3) For every match 14 riders will be allotted to the track with 2x number ones, 2 x number twos etc 4) Prior to the start of the match each pair of riders will be drawn out of a hat until both teams have a 1-7 (like heat 15 at present the supporters will have to fill out the riders in the programme) 5) Each team will then pull on the relevant race jacket and the match can commence 6) At the end of the match the riders hand back the race jackets, head home and await the instructions of their next match Further to this idea there is a consideration of adding defunct teams to bolster the league and will not have a home track but run as nomad teams on other available tracks. This is all tongue in cheek as I'm only joking ( I think) 🤣🤣🤣

Just caught up with the meeting stream. Congratulations to Plymouth for getting so close to winning with such a patched up and below strength side. Redcar should feel disappointed they only won by two. Thomsen was doing well until his falls. Barker will be out for a while so more guests needed for future meetings. Looks to be a great atmosphere and well fun club down there, seemed to be plenty of fans in, well done!

As regards the gate and go track some people dont understand the impact conditions like yesterday bring for the track staff, no matter what the track these type of conditions make track prep really challenging. You only have to look at it to see this is no way a gate and go track, it was created purely for racing and is one of the best in the country in my opinion.As for the proper bar well who is to say in time there wont be something similar to what Somerset had on the first bend?

For point 4) riders should be picked in turn by the team manager... leaving the fat lad until last. Sorry Ben Barker 😂

Hi Mike, The Plymouth website, up until some weeks ago, was built, setup and maintained by an outside freelance developer who had sole access. The club now have the website back under their control, and have been busy revamping and updating the site which can take an age. I can assure you the club are working hard on this and it will be another step in the improvement direction once this is complete and back up and running again.

As he said he'll no be rubbing deep heat on his nut sacs 😂

Or they could dip for each rider, "Dip, dip, dip, my little ship...etc." (Ruder versions are available).

I agree they probably lost money going to Australia and New zealand but they went there for a number of years, along with big cities in Europe. When Speedway Gps go to these places it benefits the sport as a whole, prestige, media exposure, public awarness and sponsors. When Discovery got the contract they said they were going to grow the sport and have a gp in Australia by 2023 at the latest, I wasn't a fan of the BSI but they never to told porkies on this scale. .....

They have and Meredith seems to be part of it now.

Doesn't Andy Meredith do them both? It's a shame he's not employed by the BSPL to visit all tracks during a season to instruct on how to carry out track prep, instead it's limited to some diagrams in the SCB Regs.

Max just lost control .Took a fair whack, glad to see he is just battered an bruised.

Harris really is something else

It was to see if his broken leg would knit together by the time he got back to the pits. Forever thoughtful in Glasgow.

Most things in life now expect people to do everything via Facebook Unfortunately some don't do Facebook

And the huge shift, since fhe 70's, in the demographics of those who live in the cities..

Make it interesting, book Vinnie as a guest

McDiarmid must be the best newcomer of the season. Very good rider.

Seen some very good and brave racing today. Hooky, once again, impressed. I think Hooky has to be our rider of the season so far. Hes doing it home and away for us. Batch, Hooky, and very surprisingly, vuolas done good for us today. Vuolas took a while to get going but once he did he looked very quick. Tate and Jye disappointed. They looked promising after the first heat and tailed off after. Less about comets and more about Oxford now - how does Heeps keep getting positions in Oxford. He's awful.

I was thinking the same thing, Wednesday's match doesn't have much riding on it, so wether he sits it out or tried to ride & had to pull out, wouldn't really harm Poole. But following Wednesday is a much bigger match, so could aim for that if not fit enough for Oxford.

Yeah enjoyed meeting you too - despite the dialect probs ha ,ha. Who knows maybe one day Somerset mind find a wealthy fan generous enough to get that track up and running again.

Looking at the referees score card I see that all times are recorded to the nearest tenth of a second. Does this mean that workington do not operate using transponders? Maybe the reason we had problems with Workington transponders being fitted wrongly on Friday night.

Big blow for him and us, irreplaceable in our team. Hope it is not as bad as he seems to think.

Well thanks for the update doesn't sound like great news, hopefully nothing that pain killers can't help with. Shoulder and wrist injuries, I guess are generally more of an issue.

Wonder if the riders have influenced slicker track prep? . I believe the outside line could be roughed up more for next week, certainly Tate hasn't been as effective on the slicker surface. Quality of racing has to be the main priority because that provides the entertainment but it is also important to win your home meetings. Sometimes you change track conditions and your own riders find it more challenging than the opposition so it becomes counter productive. Recent meetings have been on hot breezy days with high evaporation rates which haven't proved easy to mitigate against. I have noticed with the later starts that by the end of the meeting moisture starts to come back from the ground which coupled with watering at grading breaks has helped. Bomber will utiluse any outside line on Saturday 😃, this has the potential to be the best meeting of the season so the track needs to be a fitting stage with our boys really up for it. UTC !

🍺😝 🍺 oh it is 😁

The inconsistency of the Ipswich team still concerns me…..I am not counting my chickens yet.

Yes the beauty of Derwent Park is the 1,000 seat grandstand with bars underneath which post meeting was well attended by riders and fans alike. I believe there is a bar at Northside above bends 1 and 2 ??? - not been to it. I had a good chat with a Somerset fan who, with his family, was on a tour of speedway stadiums. What a great way to enjoy summer hols. Also beside me was a geordie on first visit to the track. he was less than complimentary - calling it "a gaters paradise"....oh well it's hard to please everyone I suppose.

Agree , Jye going above and beyond the call of duty to ride yesterday and scored some good points .

On the one hand, allowing Emil and Artem back into the World Championships would generate a lot of interest. Whether they are real contenders or not. On the other hand, in the current political climate, bringing the Russians "back into the fold" could generate some less than positive publicity inside and even outside the sport. Imagine the coverage if one of them won it? Either way, it's all publicity. And as Barnum (and others) said, "There’s no such thing as bad publicity". And as speedway fans, surely we want two of the best in the series?

Amazed to see Becker being back I thought he was going to be out for the season! Glad he’s healed/healing well was having arguably his best season to date before the smash

There is no choice. 1v4, 2v3. High position chooses order of legs, I believe.

Track prep at Glasgow is of similar standard to Belle Vue. Haven't seen a poor meeting at either track this season.

Pity he gave up with a shake of the head after 3 :3/4 laps after being passed.

Typical response from a thicko.

Hts 9-13 a total disaster after a really strong start. A meeting Edinburgh should definitely have won. Anyway, that aside - Jonatan, Paco and Jordy were really good. Kye had his moments but the others meh. First visit to Northside and was hugely impressed. Perfectly set up and so good to see a purpose built speedway venue. Hopefully the locals continue to support it - I’ll definitely be back. Free entry for the kids, sticker at the gate and a free post race ice cream means my two went home very happy!

After you regained consciousness you could sometimes speak a language you weren't fluent in before. Like what happened to Matej Kus back in 2007..... Apologies for sharing a Daily Mail article

ben barker had a big crash last night and was taken to hospital as far as i know same heat they also lost joe thompson and klindt was riding for plymouth last night

Great racetrack if your good enough you can make a pass.Harris is a joy to watch round Ashfield makes it look so easy and effortless.Always some decent heats.

Result 1st Poland 12 2nd Denmark 10 3rd Germany 8 4th Slovenia 7 5th Sweden 6 6th Czech Rep 5 7th France/Slovakia 4 8th GB 3 9th Ukraine 2 10th Estonia 1 Cumulative after 2 of the 3 rounds 1st Poland 24 2nd Germany 18 3rd Denmark 16 4th Slovenia 15 5th Czech Rep 12 6th Sweden 9 7th France/Slovakia 9 8th Ukraine 6 9 GB 5 10th Estonia 2

Well unless the Cheetahs win this evening, the top four are pretty much nailed. The top 3 averaging around 2pts per meeting, Redcar 1+, and everybody else less than 1. The average points difference per meeting are kinda interesting. Poole 7.2 Glasgow 4.6 Edinburgh 3.0 Redcar. 2.1 Oxford - 1.0

When the The US President is giving the red carpet treatment to a despotic war criminal; a SGP wild card seems a very small step. The FIM need to rethink their position.

So confirmed now the Gladiators side: 1. Zaine Kennedy (G) 2. Rider Replacement 3. Tobias Thomsen (G) 4. Declan Kennedy (G) 5. Scott Nicholls 6. Alfie Bowtell 7. Kai Ward (G) Fair play to Garry for patching the side up in such short notice. If we didn't have bad luck, there'd be no luck at all!

Just to clarify it was a very well attended meeting, for anyone who didn’t attend and just guessing.

I think traditionally Speedway has been more successful in towns rather than cities probably due to less things to do in towns

I’m not praising BSI I’m just saying discovery are dreadful

While speedway does have a major enemy in planners and ultimately money it also is its own enemy, you can’t even get them to answer the phone or return emails when you need information to take to these planners

A fit for purpose RR would negate guests... Keep it simple... The rider missing can be replaced by the riders above and below twice (if the manager wishes), with a max seven rides each in the meeting... No1 missing? Then any riders can take his place to a max of two of his four rides.. No7 missing? Then a No8 (unattached), comes in and takes two of his rides with the No6 doing the other two... Whatever rider is missing then that is the RR spot... Other riders may get injured in a meeting but that is sport so by all means have an IRR plan to accommodate it... Which includes any rider pulling out missing the next match as a matter of course so as to dissuade any dodgy practice... Ipswich's Tom Brennan making a massive contribution to Leicester winning the KO Cup is nonsense really isn't it? And so many guestfests take place needlessly due to the RR system being so flawed, and are often due to one or other of the teams seeing an opportunity for a few ringers being brought in.. Simply. In 2025 this sport will never be taken seriously by the wider media and public with such a system in place..