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Saturday's line up:

I do have one gripe, changing the name to the Buxton bulls, I get they want to stamp their name on the venture but fans can be fickle, remember Reading changing from racers to bulldogs, some fans refused to support it, there is no point changing a name and upsetting a few, get everyone onside from the outset

But! But! But!.... Just think of the massive publicity and financial rewards on offer for winning the NDL!!!! ... Absolute crackers isn't it? Someone really needs to save this sport, and whoever it is, needs to start with saving the promoters from themselves...

The soul of British speedway is back, it’s a stain on the history of this British speedway that it was allowed to close in the first place but it’s back and we move forward, good luck to all involved up in them there hills

Fernando Garcia always dreamt of being a speedway rider and when he was younger he lied to his parents telling them an English club gave him a contract. He had little money but packed his bags and flew to England, he messaged loads of teams asking for a contract. He had no vehicle or place to stay so first night slept in the airport, then next night in a hotel and then when his money was lower (funds for travel) he slept for a week in a train station. He got a message for a guest booking with Berwick and then asked if he had a bike so he said yes, although he didn’t so he found an old speedway rider and bought his bike for cheap, after that he then realised he didn’t have a way of getting the bike to the track so the old speedway riders dad sold him his old van. He completed his first guest booking scoring 3+1, but Berwick then said the injured rider was back to fitness so he wasn’t required. He went back to the old van to sleep and lived off just apples and some fruit from a garden for three days, his phone died and he thought he would call it a day and sell everything and go home telling his family it didn’t work out, when he went to a petrol station to charge his phone Berwick messaged him offering him a contract and with that he lived and rode for various teams for 6 years. The only reason he finished speedway in England was because of covid and he had to move back to Argentina.

The reason Buxton closed was because the likes of cradley and Kent and others were paying stupid points money to riders to ride in the national league and Buxton simply couldn’t do that and it became impossible to field a competitive team, until the last couple of seasons Buxton were pretty much the only team sticking to the pay scales and even when they went over them to compete it was less than half what others were paying

Giving the idiots who organized this ridiculous format an uppercut would be more appropriate. With half the competitors 2 or 3 levels below the top riders why would you expect a crowd. One of the world's best stadiums/venues and nobody in it. Put the lesser teams in a B competition and have them ride at venues where national pride ensures home crowd involvement.

Is Bewley inflatable? A blow up Bewley

The soul of British speedway is back, should never been allowed to close

Part of the problem is those who sit a home and do nothing and then moan about it on forums

Polish League matches had plenty passing at the Week end.It appears to be the way Morris and Co prepare tracks,whether it what the rider want who knows!!

This is a little story from the year after I finished, Buxton had a home match and had 2 riders missing as I think 1 was injured and the other rider had a match for his championship team on the same day so Buxton booked a guest,and used RR for the number 1, this guest was no superstar but it was the only rider really available, he wanted £35 per point plus Tavel plus a tyre plus fuel and he wanted a hotel for him and his Mrs as he was riding somewhere else the next day so was not going home, he was booked to ride at number 4 but on the morning of the match the championship match was called off so the number 4 was able to ride,so Buxton told the guest he would ride at number1 to which he said he wanted an extra £5 per point, for what exactly? ,the meeting was rained off anyway but he still wanted his hotel paid as he was still riding the next day,that was the sort of thing which killed off Buxton, well that and some teams paying gaurentees of £500 for their stars, I’m blowing my own trumpet here but when they had the chance the bspl should of put me in charge of the national league the day I retired.

I see no point in talking about which riders may leave if there is one big league, as they may leave anyway as many have, you can’t stop them. You have to build the product with what is viable and what is available, I think I say it every season, the biggest issue the sport has is running costs, bikes cost to much to buy and run, promoters then have to pay a fortune to them and fans pay the promoters back but everyone except the riders and tuners are losing money. One league or three won’t make any difference until costs are brought under control. At some point the sport in this country is going to have to take more steps back before it can go forward, and I am talking semi pro at best, so National League late 80s but without nine and ten point calibre riders of that time, or the team version of grass track and lots of people go and watch that without big star names. You would have to go smaller size teams until enough new riders can be trained and again that’s where runnings costs comes in plus you would need a proper training program. They had the same issue after the War, different times but the problem is the same, not enough riders.

Buxton were the only Team to stick to the principles that the League was formed for,the others started paying over the odds and look what developed from that.A financial mess that the sport is now in.

... Would you say that you're a tad obsessed with Kelvin Tatum... I stopped at page 2 of your comments with Mr Tatum as life is too short 👍

Same way you can top a league table and not win the title I guess.

Your opinion- my opinion they knew the rules before heat 1 it’s called building the excitement up with a last chance heat- same can happen on Saturday- just go with the flow lol

I have seen some great meetings from Torun.... So why do their track curator's need any guidance from Phil Morris ..? Was he there all those Fridays and Sundays that I watched those great meetings from there?

The winner of the SGP2 should definitely be nowhere near the main SGP series, it's generally years before they're anywhere near the level required to be in the main series if ever at all. The last WU21 Champion currently in the series is Max Fricke who won it in 2016, it's taken him 10 years to get from that level to his current level and he's still relying on wild cards to qualify.

If i want to go to a meeting I go to the venue. What about those that are unable to attend a meeting for family or medical reasons? Nobody is asking you to spend any money on a "cheap and nasty production". I'm not aware that there are any available, anyway. You sound like a very bitter person who doesn't really like Speedway at all. But sensible people regard BSN as a superb service, which provides people with the opportunity to watch the sport they love.

This looks like an interesting meeting in Holland. Not often one sees British clubs riding abroad these days! https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CWwXTGswh/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Dan Thompson, Luke Harrison + Luke Killeen.

I’m with you on that.If it 2 Leagues they have to have more fixtures 2/home away,drop the BSN Trophy.IMO

Reading Bowes article in SS ,I’m afraid he needs a reality check for a mediocre speedway rider.Most of his burn out and stress are his own making.He is obviously not prepared or has the set-up for his ambitions.There are not many hand outs in speedway.

Hancocks protégés have not really shown much in the last few years.IMO. But to be fair he can only advise,whether they are capable is another thing altogether .

Honestly from what I’ve seen Rushen is a better rider,think cairns needs to not think to much about what Hancock taught him and just focus on riding how he wants you can see the Hancock influence on his riding needs to ride with a bit more freedom just from what I’ve seen.

Have seen many “hell of a talent at that age” small percentage make it too the Top.(talking in General).

Looks one hell of a talent on a bike also reminds me of Kelly Moran's riding style.

And I'm sure that everyone will be given a warm wet windy sunny welcome in the snow in July.😁

Friday’s SON 2 is live on TNT Sports 3 at 5.45pm- 1st race 6pm 28 straight heats - no last chance, no final. Should please everyone, even though result might be known with 2 races to go !! Saturday’s SON final is live on TNT Sports 3 at 5.30pm - 1st race 6pm

Battle between the Poles and Aussies for the trophy. Lambert will let Bewley down.

Lots of interesting and some irrelevant comments on here again at the end of another season of British Speedway. Hung up my programme board a few seasons ago I admit, and the demise of the few remaining clubs in the southeast of England didn't help ..... but isnt the problem that there is a lack of supporters who have an interest in the sport in the UK ? Too many other competing calls on people's leisure time . Blame who you like for the slow demise of the sport in the UK, but the bottom line is not enought people will pay to watch it.

Thanks for the many happy memories you've conjured up, and for all of your efforts over the years. 👍🙂

A bit like a Finnish rider riding for team Sweden against his own country, it’s complete and utter pants and the idiots in charge sanction it. It’s difficult to understand why supporters don’t go and watch this spectacle isn’t it.

How can you outscore a team and not quaify. So wrong

Only in speedway could a team accrue more points in the main meeting such as Ukraine and the team with fewer points in the Czech Republic qualifies for the final. No wonder few take this two wheeled sport seriously.

44 heats + build up of Kelvin Tatums commentary so far… dictators around the globe are probably looking into utilising this as the most brutal torture ever endured by man. No doubt about that working overtime jet propelled.

He needs ears in the back of his head.....

Now confirmed

He's now a 20 year old sensation

If the FIM were truly concerned about inclusivity in Speedway they'd pay more than lip service to it, if they were that interested in the development of Speedway in the lesser Speedway nations they should run proper qualifiers where Poland, Denmark, GB, Australia & Sweden etc are made to travel to the likes of Germany, France, Finland etc. etc. to compete in qualifying meetings, much like UEFA & FIFA do with Euro and World Cup qualification. You can't just have these teams turn up at the finals where they're sunk without a trace and virtue signal that you've included everybody, it's exactly what they do with SGP4... look at us developing the kids, they're that interested in the kids that the results from the SGP4 at Vojens are still "coming soon" on the website! At the moment the FIM really have got the worst of both worlds, they're not doing a proper development job and at the same time they're not pulling in the crowds either.

Not me, I’ve spoke out about holta and even some polish riders were not happy about him riding as a pole, I even refused to go to a British final where Rory Schlien rode, in my book when you have represented your country in an official event you shouldn’t be allowed to race for another country, loram and woffinden have never tried to swap nations

and there it goes once again, speedways credibility riding off into the sunset

Sports that think they're right and the fans are wrong tend not to do too well 🤔

At his level,not going to make it in Poland,should not be “ burning bridges” in GB.IMO

It seems that no one is interested in this type of meeting anymore. The structure of the meetings/qualifiers probably needs to looked at and just the final put on as a main event not this format. Poland has no interest until the final and all the so called top riders already grace the Polish league so if the final is in Poland for example hold the qualifiers elsewhere where some of the top riders rarely appear. Just a thought.

My god - there are more people in my local pub than in the Torun stadium. Worst crowd I have ever seen

That's odd. People are making fun of you but, I heard this rumour a few months ago.

Regardless of it's one league or two. the sport has to acknowledge, more so the riders. that riding in front of less than a half decent semi pro football team. doesn't warrant them being full time professional Speedway riders. How has speedway got to such a point? Some riders do work, how many I don't know, but a lot of them don't! The older riders like Bomber will find it hard to cope, but lets face it, he's had a good run. But he like a lot of the others will have to cut down on their bikes and all the little extras they ask for and god forbid get a job!. There are too many youngsters who are no where near the standard to be called full time professional Speedway riders. Lets face it, if it weren't for the bank mum and dad they wouldn't be doing it anyway, because the sport has now got so far out of hand. why in the third division even the second division do riders have to have two to three bikes and big Mercedes vans? Go back to the 70/80s 90% of riders in the second division worked. That was when the sport had a lot more tracks, riders and supporters. It's a sad fact that come next season with all the top riders gone, the only option left open will be for riders to go Semi Pro. The sport in GB has to start to cut it's cloth accordingly, or sadly, there won't be league racing as we know it anymore, just amateur racing like over in the Isle of Wight.

A few things: - massive TV money. It's like 8 mln złoty (so around £1.75 mln) per club per season - much higher attendances - average of Ekstraliga is almost 9500 per meeting. x60 PLN per ticket, that's around 570k PLN (£115k) on the gates. Times 7 in the season + play offs (at least 1 match, most often 2). That's before any merch, food sales, car park fees, etc. - a lot of sponsors. And I mean a lot - sometimes even 2 big sponsors in team name (that's like 1 mil PLN per year, each). That's numbers for Ekstraliga. Slightly less in 2. Ekstraliga: - TV money @ 1.5 mil PLN (£300k) per club per season - average attendances 5000 per meeting. x40 PLN per ticket = 200k PLN (£40k) on the gates. - also lots of sponsors. Understandably, they pay less but still bring a good revenue to the club. Probably also paying less for the stadium hire, as that's hired at cost from the town, not from the greedy greyhound franchises? idk. They can afford it to a point that speedway clubs in Poland: - have paid staff (up to a dozen different functions) - can run closed and open trainings for their riders - do a 2-3x weekly trainings for the youth academy (that's pretty much every club in Poland) - and can run events for the youths at least once a week that are free for the spectators to attend and cheer on the kids. Yes, there is a few failed clubs - Gorzów is struggling with debts since a few years (and went public with it last year), similarly Tarnów barely managed to get to the end of regular season, rumour has it that Częstochowa is not doing well at all either. But on the grand scale of things majority of the clubs can afford to keep driving the earnings of top riders (and not only, also "desired" riders which back in the day were low CMA ones, nowadays are the "Under 24" lads) higher and higher, so...