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Showing content with the highest reputation on 09/04/2025 in Posts

  1. 1. Leagues to be run on the Danish system of 5 rider teams with maximum of 1 GP rider per team. 2. Each team to name a squad of 6/7 riders. 3. Teams to run on their preferred night and if rider/riders are unavailable, National League riders to be drafted in. 3a. No guests under any circumstances, redeclarations allowed once per month. 4. North League; Belle Vue, Sheffield, Berwick, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Redcar and Workington. South League: Poole, Ipswich, Kings Lynn, Leicester, Oxford, Plymouth and Scunthorpe. 5. Teams having National League teams to stage meetings after main meeting with same format as Danish system. 6. Teams not having National League teams to stage second half with minimum of 6 heats. 7. North and South winners and second places to meet in semi finals and final. 8. League cup to consist of all teams and drawn in first round with 1 from North and 1 from South. Overall winners of each match through to quarter final with team losing with highest aggregate score to go through also. This is all fantasy, but something needs to be done now. Everyone to look at the big brighter future and get over themselves.
    5 points
  2. If a PL & CL merger is confirmed, expect some CL clubs to be shafted when it comes to allocating riders, as has happened in the past in 1965 & 1995.
    4 points
  3. The millions of pounds worth of prize money difference between finishing 2nd or 3rd makes it a huge meeting
    3 points
  4. Looking good, despite the dodgy drainage... šŸ˜‚
    3 points
  5. I don't think it'd make a blind bit of difference to crowd levels, that's down to marketing and the entertainment at the event, not the rules.
    3 points
  6. But the rain off was in August, so even if that was the last fixture there would still be an issue now !! I watch stock car racing regularly and I distinctly remember one 'summer' where I got drenched on all 5 Saturday's in August. No matter when you run the season there will be meetings postponed.
    3 points
  7. 1. Leagues to be run on the Danish system of 5 rider teams with maximum of 1 GP rider per team. 2. Each team to name a squad of 6/7 riders. 3. Teams to run on their preferred night and if rider/riders are unavailable, National League riders to be drafted in. 3a. No guests under any circumstances, redeclarations allowed once per month. 4. North League; Belle Vue, Sheffield, Berwick, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Redcar and Workington. South League: Poole, Ipswich, Kings Lynn, Leicester, Oxford, Plymouth and Scunthorpe. 5. Teams having National League teams to stage meetings after main meeting with same format as Danish system. 6. Teams not having National League teams to stage second half with minimum of 6 heats. 7. North and South winners and second places to meet in semi finals and final. 8. League cup to consist of all teams and drawn in first round with 1 from North and 1 from South. Overall winners of each match through to quarter final with team losing with highest aggregate score to go through also. This is all fantasy, but something needs to be done now. Everyone to look at the big brighter future and get over themselves.
    3 points
  8. Lots of failing businesses bring in a troubleshooter to assess their business model, operating model, and customer service plan... If such a person were asked to come in I am sure they would suggest the following.... * Open your doors when your customers want you to open, not when your employees tell you they can work... * Stop opening your doors knowing you havent enough staff, meaning you end up borrowing employees from your competition, which isn't a good look... * Set a payroll budget and stick to it, and ensure your marketing budget is sufficient to generate the required interest and population reach. Don't overpay employees to the detriment of the marketing budget... * Collectively market the business nationally and target families with young kids with all season round offers, given you are in the entertainment business... * Take every opportunity when on TV to make your premises look full, and make it somewhere those watching at home would want to visit... * Ensure what you are delivering to your customers has credibility, integrity, and is done at a competitive price point that accurately reflects the quality of what you provide, not what you think you actually provide... * Have a customer focused refund system should you not he able to provide the required service on any given night, especially to those who have travelled from further afield to attend your establishment... * Have clear, unambiguous Quality Control measures in place that all must follow to ensure the brand is never damaged. As you are only as strong as your weakest link... * And. As you are only as strong as your weakest link, ensure all work for the overall good of the business, and never in isolation.. I am sure there are plenty of other suggestions too...
    3 points
  9. Can't just think about one club blue,speedway as a sport is going down the pan,everybody needs to widen their outlook and consider the wellbeing of all clubs
    3 points
  10. Well well well. The mighty Ipswich crumbling at home to the fast track specialists. play offs come at a perfect time for the tigers
    2 points
  11. Hi made it in time for heat 3. There was a mysterious electrical fault affecting the ref’s controls, which held things up for another five minutes. This should have been held at KL, then it wouldn’t have started until 8:15 … although, thinking about it, if it were at KL the match would have been called off yesterday …
    2 points
  12. Modern day riders across the board think everybody owes them a living and are beyond greedy when it comes to money. Very few if almost any would do anything for nothing, not like back in the 80s. Yes I realise they need to spend on machinery etc etc but they all make far more than the average working man so you'd think they'd give something back. This along with unreasonable admission prices is among other things that's destroying Speedway.
    2 points
  13. A few years ago many people said the same for October, it'll be August next! Rain can happen at any time of year.
    2 points
  14. Last night wasn't the original staging of the meeting, that was last week in August if you remember, and if it could have been ran Monday or Tuesday it would have been on, both days in September however Ipswich have planned today, in September Doesn't matter when you plan to run, it can rain in this country
    2 points
  15. How do you know if the Ipswich track has adequate drainage (let alone "adequate enough")? The huge amount of track work done in recent years has also included changes to the drainage - which is limited to some extent by whatever already there (a stadium built in the 1940/50s and a speedway track originally constructed in 1968. And, of course, the duration and volume of rain is a contributing factor. Trolls never let reason or facts get in the way.
    2 points
  16. Id take issue with your statement of "as often happens" re injuries and withdrawals early in matches I have no data but I'd expect the number of times a side has lost 2 riders in a match is tiny So no different to running IRR now - certainly not the reason to reject a change that could provide far more positives than potential issues
    2 points
  17. Good idea, sadly you just know that whatever was delivered would be shambolic and embarrassing. Cricket is an interesting comparison because they've reinvented their sport as something fast paced, entertaining, and appealing to the younger generation. If only our sport was set up for that sort of crowd, what with 60-second races, music, entertainment opportunities and high speed motorsport....
    2 points
  18. If you could get Poole and Glasgow to join the "Super League" then that would be eight teams, (if all current ones stay in the top league).. Just 40 riders needed, at five per team, currently 85 ride in the two top leagues.. These eight can then ride in "Div 2" (if they want to), meaning the likes of Glasgow can still run at a lower level against "local rivals", and Poole can race on Wednesday's still... Utopia would be a 14 team Div 2, ran at Championship (ish), level, with a decent few KO Cup rounds, with the top four from the 14 team league meeting in the play offs... 20 ish meetings per season, if all teams ran in Div 2, and all done following the Danish model, meaning plenty of rides for the riders, and, given logistics, plenty of guest opportunities too for them as the season progresses... Make the "Super League" guest free, and sell it as the pinnacle of the sport, with credibility and integrity...
    2 points
  19. Bring back the 4 Team Tournament,Going back we also had the silver helmet match race over 3 heats.
    2 points
  20. By the way,, hard chargers are good,,its not a criticism.
    2 points
  21. < 50% => minority But It is certainly not a 'small minority'
    2 points
  22. Surely that was back in the day when the British league and National league were separately managed and administered. Many would say now that the Championship should be separately managed!! Mr Morris was brought in as Chief Exec of the Premiership only - nothing to do with Championship or NDL/NDT!!
    2 points
  23. Wasn't there so can't comment on the actual performance. Just saying that you can't assume that Sheffield would have finished top. Anything could have happened last night that could have affected performances today. It just seems that every season, supposed supporters of speedway seem to want to spend the whole time ripping it to pieces and finding fault with it rather than enjoying what we have. The table is what it is, the playoffs are what they are. Whether you agree with them or not, that is how the sport functions now. Better to embrace it than vilify it. Speedway is a secondary sport to me as I was brought up on 4 wheeled motorsport and spend my weekends travelling the country watching stock car racing. By the same token as many on here say about speedway, stock car racing is nowhere near the sport it was in the 70s and 80s, but you can either let that get you down and moan about it, or you can enjoy what you have while it is still there. I have said for a while that stock car racing has 10-15 years left as either environmentalists or H&S will bring it to an end. I don't want to be sat there when it is all gone wishing I had done more, I would much rather get the most out of what is on offer while I still can.
    1 point
  24. Well that is so embarrassing for the Ipswich riders, needing to be beaten away to then decide to turn up at home, if that’s the case they have disrespected all the paying home fans, so I would suggest the above is untrue or there would be many unhapppy fans. Also, Brennan commented that Sheffield were gating better and we have things still to work on for next week. So let’s as Ipswich fans, stop making excuses for them.
    1 point
  25. Well, Sheffield deserved that. They looked hungrier and way happier on the very slick track than Ipswich. King was awful in his first two rides, Thompson has gone backwards at Foxhall and Edwards is not at this level. Hawkins howler not putting Ellis in in place of Edwards, Ht 12 I think. Holder made some good starts near the end Gate 2 was seemingly best. Ipswich will be nervous heading into next week.
    1 point
  26. will be if we can get chris holder going
    1 point
  27. Paid 11 for Anders at Ipswich tonight, must have found his gating gloves!
    1 point
  28. Home advantage in play offs ?
    1 point
  29. In all honesty, probably not, but as we can still mathematically finish 2nd it is not a nothing meeting.
    1 point
  30. Seven teams, riding 12 home meetings meant eighty four matches in total.. If you started in April and finished by August end that is 43 Mondays and Thursdays combined.. 43 Monday and Thursdays on which to run... Take out the GP week and that leaves 41 nights for UK Speedway... Six teams racing twice per week, one home and one away meeting, (which is perfectly feasible given fixed race night priorty was the reason for having them), and that would allow a maximum 123 matches to take place during that 41 evening timeline, (3 matches Monday, 3 Thursday).. We needed to complete just 84 matches, not 123.. And that would still have left September completely free.. Given those munbers were so heavily stacked in their favour, and even with the KO Cup, (which starts at the QF stage), and Poland just using the odd Thursday whenever they saw fit, the optics of a "professional sport" not completing any league, let alone its "flagship league" doesnt look good does it? Some tracks went three weeks without a meeting, which, given you can make lifetime habits change in just 28 days, that is also a risk to its attendance numbers, let alone league completion... Loads of fixed nights on which to race, yet we will still have meetings potentially ran after the winners of the same competition have been declared..
    1 point
  31. Yes I know it was last week, if that’s the popular opinion then the BSPL should have no option but to move the play offs IMO. A sport that is a comedy show continues to become one when you don’t even finish your official fixtures. That’s why Poland laughs at us, and why we have no large number of fans… it’s nowhere near a professional run sport.
    1 point
  32. Stuff like this is purely nostalgic and will not work in modern day speedway. 4 Team tournament alone wouldn't work because where are promoters going to finance rider costs for 3 extra away meetings for top riders going by the old format. It's the same crack as people saying there should be a one-off final etc. Speedway needs totally re-invented from the top down just like domestic Cricket has with the Hundred. The only way to do this and keep the top GP riders riding in the UK is to have a separate summer holidays competition, a 'Super League' with maybe a modified format. Team names do not matter one bit, I was always sceptical but franchises work. And people soon find a team to support. 6 Teams would be based around tracks with large followings/finances and the ability to draw big sponsorship and fans in from other teams, 5 man teams (squads with no guest system) sticking to the usual Monday and Thursday priority race nights from mid July to end of August. 30 riders required with plenty to choose from. Example (recognisable to other sports fans) team franchises would come from; Glasgow Manchester Sheffield Midlands/Leicester London/Oxford Bournemouth A normal 14 team league ran at championship standard would be ran alongside this as usual from March to October for your weekly speedway fix. I don't think the standard of rider correlates to the size of the crowd. The rivalries and standard of racing builds this. How else can domestic speedway survive? It can't keep going the the it is! Unfortunately, I don't think some of the people running the sport would have the foresight to come up with a 5 year plan to incorporate this 'Super League'
    1 point
  33. Bright with warm sunshine now! Washing now hung out
    1 point
  34. He posted that Monday would clash with a Swedish rearranged fixture but that the Ipswich Semi would have priority
    1 point
  35. Don’t spoil a good rant by the anti-Poole non speedway attending troll with the truth. You’ll turn him into Glug Glug Glug rather than Bob Bob Bob as he sinks below the waters of Herne Bay
    1 point
  36. There'd never be a wet meeting run with the Holders in town 😁
    1 point
  37. Ellis rode tonight in Denmark scoring 11pts from 5 rides !!
    1 point
  38. We were on back straight going into 3rd bend and it didn’t look wet to us either, what was different though was the only line was right by fence and that’s not how Wrocław usual is
    1 point
  39. Maybe you only need to trot out that line when you fiddle the semi-final draw? šŸ˜„
    1 point
  40. Yes just saying Poole is not to blame on this occasion, we get enough flack, speedway is a shambles in general, as you say it is going down the pan with more clubs closing, I have been to many of the clubs that have closed. I thought Morris was brought in to help, he has done absolutely nothing.
    1 point
  41. 5 man teams required then initially until such time as can attract others from around the world back or produce more home grown
    1 point
  42. Too right.....awfully football style chanting...almost cringe worthy outside of football
    1 point
  43. It’s absolutely pointless comparing it to football. We don’t have the following, certainly in this country, to keep people interested in 2 home meetings a month. Football has millions of fans in the country, speedway be lucky if there’s 10% of that amount of people who attend regularly. If it is one big league, then the clubs and bspa need to lay down the law to the riders. If you signed for a British club before anyone else, then that league takes priority. I get Poland pays the big bucks, but it’s about time someone put them back in there box. They tried being sly a few years back and that soon got overruled. If not, it’s simple, the riders who want to ride over here will, the ones who don’t, well, see ya later. With the polish u24 league not running after this season, there’s going to be a lot of young riders wanting spots over here, a select few may find themselves riding in the second or third division over there. A rotation of a week at home and a week away wouldn’t wash with me. I want to see weekly action at my home track, I’ve known people lose interest because there was a 2 or 3 week gap between meetings. And before anyone says about going away, try going to a midweek track, when my nearest is 2 and a half hours away, working full time and having a family.
    1 point
  44. Championship definitely needs more meetings imo. Worky recently had a run of weekly home meetings and the crowd held up well even with holidays and the usual many summer attractions in the area. It was good to talk about who is it next week rather than having a gap of 3-4 weeks without a home fixture. Need to change the current model it has stagnated and proved detrimental to British Speedway for too long now.
    1 point
  45. Scrap the "stupid heat"
    1 point
  46. Whatever they do, the must have the plan to get more people into their tracks... By whatever means necessary... Big crowds means better atmosphere, and better atmosphere means better meetings (regardless of the actual racing quality), and delivers that virtuous circle of people wanting to attend again... And interests potential sponsors and media... Most races, regardless of whether GP or NDL riders are racing, are from the gate and strung out, and has been that way since I started watching in 1969... The difference being the size of the crowd maintains the atmosphere which then generates the repeat visits... Although, the caveat is it also must be allied to you having an emotional attachment to your team, which currently isn't the case given so many times "your team" are not really "your team".... Kurtz and Bewley are great to watch on a Monday, but, I would almost guarantee, many more would watch them on a Friday or Saturday... Which shows that those nights are key... The challenge therefore is to use those nights more.. The personnel on show may be different though than what many "die hards" would want to watch, but there isn't enough of them currently to justify continuing on the same pathway... Alternatively of course, they could just run the sport properly and make the sport credible with some decent reward and kudos for winning, and have an admiisson cost, and marketing strategy that brings people in.. And, therefore keep doing it on a Monday and a Thursday.. That though, so far, has proved somewhat elusive hasn't it?...
    1 point
  47. It sank due to the amount of water on it. It's now been declared a Dam !
    1 point
  48. I used to go to meetings with soldier boy met him when i was staying in the union jack club in london as i was going to Kings lynn v Belle Vue by train, he was going along too we missed the last train back and had to thumb it remember him eating all the drivers sandwiches. 🤣
    1 point
  49. I think that's a good call, get a US rider back in the series! Vaculik has been dreadful so far this season and has been in the series many years, failed to qualify and to me doesn't deserve to be in next year ahead of others. If Emil and Artem get wildcards that would also be great.
    1 point
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