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... and all on the back of an army of volunteers that move heaven and earth each week to enable tracks to stage meetings and riders to earn money.

Quick run down my trip to Poland last week, coach from Manchester to Poznan, train to zelona gora , watch meeting stay night , train back to Poznan , hotel booked for Poznan, Poznan meeting called off so sorts out train to Wroclaw., no ticket, eventually get in ht 6, good seat on 1st bend. midnight train back to Poznan, no seat stood for 2.5 hrs on train, back to hotel Poznan, 2.30am, 1, 30 pm train to gorzow, go to hotel , then walk to Edward jancarz stadium, watch meeting walk back to hotel , train back to Poznan, 2.30 pm, then catch coach back to Manchester, 6.30 pm, Monday night , back home at 2 am Wednesday morning,. 🤣 loved it..

Jarek retiring is a great loss. I really hoped he would give one more showing at Ipswich. All you can say is that he was a great asset to Ipswich, a fine servant and alongside Gollob one of the good guys who wore the witches jacket with pride. Jarek, thanks for the memories.

The timing of this coming upto final GP for Brady Kurtz is bad for Belle Vue. He will say he not thinking about GP but is only human and it will be in the back of his mind and won’t be taking any big risks.

I find it incredible that what is mean to be a Professional Sport they cannot even fulfil the fixtures before the Play Offs. That is the shambles the sport is nowadays,and they still expect new fans to come along and be impressed.Its a joke really.

I think one league. The way i look at it is if we lose the top riders then so be it. the standard of riders will be the same so good close racing should be at every track and league will be well balanced. We have a range of different tracks compared to poland so if riders want to improve and learn how to adjust to all tracks they should want to ride in the uk.

I agree with you! Although, and I’m being deadly serious, in Poland and all over media there is such thing as “the lebedevs curse” 2 years before - ride for Krosno = down 1 year before - ride for Leszno = down This season - ride for Stal = …

Nicki Pedersen school of team riding there

Hampel retires. Been a good rider. 👏👏

These were not fixtures that were moved. The 2 unridden matches were scheduled for 28th August (Sheffield) and 4th September (Oxford) in the original fixture list. What were they supposed to do ? Look at the weather and say "oh look it's going to be sunny next Thursday, let's bring that Ipswich match forward a month in case it rains in late August" ? Blaming the clubs for the poor weather is laughable. If anyone is to blame it is the SCB/BSPA for issuing a fixture list with matches finishing just 4 days before the first scheduled playoff fixture, not the individual clubs. The original fixture list should have included a 1-2 week gap between last scheduled league fixture and first playoff to give a contingency period for any rescheduled matches.

Totally agree with all the above. We are making far too many excuses for my liking as a witches fan. Moaning about weather changing the track, moaning about track prep (our problem not anyone else’s so just on with it) and keep using excuses of changing rider positions. This will come to bite us in the arse, ride your best riders in their best positions and build momentum, don’t keep p!sing about with it and wonder why we lose.

Ipswich will certainly need to ride better than that next week. For me it looks like Thompson isn’t fully fit & possibly riding too much. The team has been inconsistent for the last couple of months. Sheffield deserved that last night far shaper & more up for it. Now I’m not the biggest fan of Jack Holder or Simon Stead. However last night Jack demonstrated how to team ride hats of to him & Stead came across very well in his post match interview, and seemed genuinely thankful for the amount Ipswich raised for the riders benefit fund. A disappointing night all round for Ipswich but not the end of the world, could be if they ride like that next week! Finally what a talent Cooper Rushen is, his third ride in the second half 0.1 of a second slower than heat 2 of the main meeting.

I'm sure this season was the first of 3 years at a 40 point limit. As the limit should average at 42, that means a weaker league. But when they vote for a 3 year plan, it doesn't always last!

Going to go to Belle Vue Monday. Weather permitting, been last 2 weeks to Sheffield for 2 rain offs v Ipswich. Maybe jinxed. 🤣

Nah fajfer is good for about 5 points normally on a good day! I don’t think even this match is done and dusted, Stal have really managed some strange results good and bad! I think it’s set to be Stal vs Bydgoszcz personally. Knowing my luck, Brennan to score 0 for Ipswich vs Belle Vue and knock us out, then max out against Stal and knock my Polish team out 😂

Drabik engine was assembled incorrectly and now has broken and leaking oil so he has had to change bikes.

We left Wolverhampton on Thursday around 2pm drove to Dover to catch 8pm ferry to find Mrs had booked wrong date 😂, sorted that out then drive straight to zielona gora (12 hours split driving between me and Mrs ) where booked a hotel for the night, went to meeting, brought merch from the ZG shop then back to hotel, next day had fabulous breakfast in hotel and then drive to Wrocław where we booked in the radison blue hotel, spent the day in the old town where in a market I found a book I was in so brought it lol and went to GP via an uber and back to hotel again in an uber where we were in the bar with all the travel plus lot, next morning drove to Gorzow, parked right opposite track for free ,again purchased from their shop, after meeting we set off home, stopping in services somewhere mid Germany where we slept for 4 hours and got food then got the 6pm ferry back to Blighty arriving back around 11pm in Wolverhampton, I had loaded my van ready to go to Isle of Wight next morning but it was called off so I went to work instead

With the Oct31st deadline for season finish.The play offs should have been delayed till the league program was completed.Till 7 weeks left.Why was deadline not extended it has been in previous seasons? Probably who your are +self interest.

Maybe and all have to move on but he was a fine servant in the UK and many a fond memory of him giving everything to the witches and entertaining around the UK tracks that he graced. My stepson went for the first time to Ipswich and Jarek sticks with him in those days as one who entertained. I really wish him well and offer a big thank you to one of the nice guys of the sport of speedway.

Harsh from ZG but it had to be done tbh. Lebedevs is getting better with every passing year tbh whilst Hampel was heading the other way.

good time fort him to get out i think.

Good servant to speedway

MJJ Balls of steel. 👏

Yes the decades of 'promoting' the sport as 'family friendly' have really worked well !!!!

58,000 views on YouTube alone... Probably more than double who attend every UK track... Need a bit more of this....

Wright by a submission lol

Jake Allen guesting for Redcar. Boxing match in the pits with Charles Wright before the racing commences

Agree with all the comments you've made. Messing around with the riding order is just plain dumb. Very poor display last night - again. IF we don't like a slick track why prepare it like that - Yes yes the rain, but I'd rather see a meeting postponed with it being prepared how we like it, rather than watch another meeting slick track, resulting in a loss and lack of excitement If the riders were holding back, then that is unfair to the paying public. Clearly, with the low attendance, some clearly saw this coming. Crunch time now, results are wiped and the 4 teams start from the same place. Just can't see us progressing. This great team, riding for the last time together are going to falter.

That’s ridiculous !! The SCB have nothing to do with the fixture list and the clubs are the BSPA !!!

Sheffield looked sharp and hungry while Ipswich didn’t. Sheffield clearly came in with a solid plan that paid off, and their team riding was spot on.

Ipswich's bottle?

Who ever does it is taking a huge gamble that probably has a 10-15% chance of working and they will need to be willing to drop six figures it just seems utter madness , we certainly need more tracks but if it was Louis this looks like the kind of experiment that would blow up massively and probably bring the witches down with it. If the stadium was in Coventry it would most likely be a goer but again start at Championship standard don't go all in on a huge gamble and the most expensive gamble of three options also.

Doesn’t really matter between March 15th and August 31st is 24 weeks plenty of time to fit in 12 home league meetings. I am at a lose as to why year after year clubs struggle to make the deadline. Maybe the deadline should be August 31st.

The only problem with that. It doesn't matter how professional they are if they are riding in front of just a couple of hundred people. You could say some of these riders live in a Fantasy world. You have riders of junior standard turning up with big flash vans all the gear. If it means going back to having one bike in the boot of the car, then maybe you will get youngsters who can afford to do the sport like it use to be. Rather than having rich Mums and Dads to rely on. Having said all of that. Speedway unfortunately is a dying sport. It's been on life support for a while now. Speedway was of a different time back in it's heyday. Demographics have changed. No London clubs. No midland clubs bar Leicester. It's sad but it's reality.

Don't want the gap at the top widening hey blue. 14x🏆♣️🤣

Wouldn't be surprised if Nicki announced his retirement, can't see an extraleague team taking him on next year. 49 next year probably time to get out.

Much like the Aaron Ramsdale curse in Football. ZG have got a good squad going for 2026 though so if Gorzow do go down then he'll surely beat the curse in 2026? Kubera, Lebedevs, Madsen and Shamek P is a rock solid quartet.

No, I think when he came back in pits he questioned how bandor thought he had the right to pass him

I'm not that confident, dont think we will get a big enough lead at home,

What more could i do lol

I can't see anyone beating the Lions over two legs, unless Max goes missing again...

I agree and make Belle Vue favourites over two legs. King, Ellis and Thompson have dropped since earlier in the season, with Doyle, Emil and Brennan inconsistent and I think the Aces will do it when it matters.

Plus they only meet once home and away which is a far better proposition.

100% correct Gavan...

The doom and gloom from some fans in here! Sheffield wanted to win more to get 2nd spot thus meaning home leg second leg against Leicester ….. absolutely nothing on this meeting for Ipswich except stay out of trouble No Ipswich rider tried when behind they didn’t need to This match means nothing come the play offs

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. 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.

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...

I note Poole are not racing tonight Wednesday 3rd September. Reasons ? What is the matter with UK speedway, with all this posturing for running 1st or 2nd legs in a P.Off meeting ? In a year noted for drought conditions throughout the summer, once again there is a scramble to finish fixtures in the autumn on off race nights.

I might bed Sydney Sweeney as well.