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Neil Middleditch, Matt Ford, Danny Ford, Gary Havelock, Captain Pugwash, Captain Jack Sparrow, Chris Foster, Thomas Hardy, Richard Lawson, Kristen Scott Thomas, Alan Carr, Zach Cook, Forever Blue, John le Carre', Anders Rowe, Billy Bragg, Lewis Kerr, Sir Walter Raleigh, LBW, Tobias Thomson, PJ Harvey, Pirates of Poole, Will Cairns, Kate Aide, Shovlar, Paul Starke, Lisa Collette, Harry Redknapp, Martin Clunes, The 2nd bend NIDS your boys just took one hell of a beating!

Poole fans leaving early 😂😂😂😂 An absolute rarity in speedway after watching your team just fall short of winning every trophy available. Plastic fans with an absolute embarrassment of a track.

Congrats to the Bears, you deserved it, fantastic team effort. Worked hard all night, we didn’t ride as a team at all.Tobias sadly, been watching it for the past 2 years and the aggressive handlebar turn caused that fall tonight instead of turning it smooth, silly move from Lawson in heat 13 and rightly excluded. Heat 14, why didn’t Zach coming out the second bend wait for Starke, instead riding 3.5 laps then on turn 4 lap 4 tried to slow the race down, should have done that from turn 1. Why wasn’t Lawson out getting his medal? Poor showing if it was gold he would have been there. Well done Redcar you deserved it tonight. Will be glad to see the back of some of those Poole riders. But on a plus the double isn’t a bad season at all, we simply run out of steam. Special mention to Jody Scott, what a trier some of the Poole riders could learn from him and glad to see Danny and Charles up and ok after heat 13 wipe out.

Just got back. Well done to Redcar no complaints from the Poole fans. Such very very fine margins. If poor Tobias had made it over the line Pirates would have been celebrating the treble. Just one of those nights but I feel the team were complacent. Special mention for Jody Scott who put it all out there, an inch from the fence. Certainly a rider on an upward trajectory. Redcar got a very warm reception from all the Poole fans when they went over to their fans after heat 14. Poole fans really are the best out there.

Really? That’s surprising. Wimborne Road usually serves up some fantastic speedway. 🎷

It's the trophy worth winning the least but somehow feels like the biggest achievement of the domestic season!

Well done Redcar, Poole fans leaving in there droves 😂

The Irony is lots of Poole fans whinged about having the 2nd leg at home in competitions and the one when they actually have it they lost.

Speedway is fighting in the face of extremely challenging and unhelpful outside forces too. The list above kind of suggests it is speedway's fault or a lack of interest causing these clubs to shut down. I believe were it not for the lure of land development or one particular greyhound operator who dislikes speedway with a passion, the majority of those would still be running today. Wolves for example you cannot in a million years suggest was a failing prospect as a speedway team. Yes there are many things in speedway which could be improved, but the biggest and most complex issue is stadium ownership / land to race speedway. Taking that list: ARC Greyhound Racing have effectively shut down Wolves, Birmingham & Newcastle for various excuses. Land being sold for development has claimed: Coventry, Cradley, Lakeside, Rye House, Peterborough, Swindon, Stoke and Covid brought things to a head with Somerset which has also now been developed on part of the land. Eastbourne - Owners down want to run speedway There are still tracks at Mildenhall and IOW, that's down to other decisions and personal arguments as to why they are not in the league, but the tracks are there. So as we can see, the big issue here before we get into the sport itself is land ownership. That is the reason why most of these clubs are no longer here. Birmingham would absolutely be running next year if the stadium hadn't been taken away, as for most of the rest of that list. It is a massive problem, however just saying use it or lose it doesn't make a difference, the developers do not care even a tiny bit. They also don't care about the letters of support or petitions which are sent in when a track is under threat. But there is good news, the Coventry appeal ruling is now a significant piece of case law, and it is going to make life an awful lot harder for people to do what they have done in the past again, without first providing a suitable alternative for a sporting venue. And that means not just whacking a 5 a side court down in place of a 100 year old speedway stadium. To this effect, I have only this week recorded a podcast with a man called Brian Connolly, he is a speedway fan but also a former solicitor and planning expert. He played a significant role in getting the team together to defend Coventry, and he's also had some success this week with Peterborough. He's also working on Rye House, Lakeside and Swindon. You can listen to it here https://pod.fo/e/3430a4 it is the 2nd part after the Poole stuff. It is interesting and shows the realities of what has gone on, and how there can be a way back for these tracks, but speedway has to learn to outsmart the developers, and we are getting there thanks to people like Brian and his contacts. There are many battles to be had in speedway but this is the biggest one, and hopefully the tide is turning, slowly.

That has made my day, well done Redcar and Captain King...

Poole fans leaving before heat 15 🤣🤣🤣

"No doubt about that"

Cook and Kerr are brilliant if they miss the start.

Tommy Jansson also had a great style... Smooth, controlled and fast... So lucky to watch the likes of him and PC race in my first few years of watching the sport.. An absolute tragedy what happened to him...

Bobby Ott ... I once saw him "fall off" but kept hold of the handlebars, kept astride the machine, and then uprighted the bike as it was still sliding across the track!! He got excluded because Ronnie Correy laid his bike down behind him thinking Bobby had come to grief.... As Ronnie lay there, Bobby was flying down the home straight . 😁 And then was going mad that he got excluded... He used to practice his balance by riding a unicycle and certainly could ride a bike at angles, but still with speed,that few others could muster...

Poole fans what a disgrace walking our before the end of heat 15…… Said it before the fan base are fickle and can’t handle losing Well done Redcar the track awful and what was Lawson playing at I just hope Cooper Rushen does not go there next season it could ruin his career

Congrats red car your deserved it! Jody rode amazing! Put some dirt on the outside finally at Poole and they couldn’t ride it 😂 lucky they didn’t do the same against Glasgow or it could have gone different! Congrats both teams for trophies though ! 🏆

Just tuned in. Has the racing been any good?

Rakers physically pulling the dirt off the track now as well 😂, the desperation is embarrassing.

I hope upon hope that if the Premiership remains in its current form next year, there are more than five teams contesting it. Five teams would not only be boring but would make a mockery of the sport. It was bad enough with seven teams but five teams (maybe racing each other six times in the league alone) would be madness. Fans would soon switch off with the same riders week in, week out. If the two leagues do not amalgamate (my preferred option but I understand the pitfalls), then please have at least seven teams in the Premiership.

Certainly agree on John Cook & Bobby 'Showtime' Ott. For armchair riders, I considered Gote Nordin & Bengt Jansson set the bench mark for Leigh Adams to join it a few years later.

Piates look to complete the 3rd part of the treble for a 2nd year running but can the Bears 🐻 go out and spoil the Pirates ☠️ party? The Bears 🐻 certainly have nothing to lose and will be giving it everything to overcome the odds starting with a 2 point lead. Teams Pirates ☠️ 1. Richard Lawson 2. Tobias Thomsen 3. Lewis Kerr 4. Zach Cook 5. Anders Rowe 6. Paul Starke 7. Will Cairns Bears 🐻 1. Charles Wright 2. r/r Erik Riss 3. Jason Edwards 4. Jake Mulford 5. Danny King 6. Jody Scott 7. Ace Pijper

A super year for the Bears, would live to keep the same six to be fair. Think we will start with Wright, Pijper, Mulford and Edwards. Would love Scott back but sneaky feeling he will be back at Oxford. Would not be a huge surprise to see Allen here. Feels like whatever happens though, the promotion will put a strong team together.

Thought we were lethargic from the start. Kerr was rubbish, Rowe struggled, Lawson has been brilliant but the last three meetings he has been off his best. Bye to Tobias, Kerr, Starke and by the look of it after heat 15, Zack Cook. As for heat 14, no way was Starke beating Scott. Now having seen Thomsens crash, he lifted, jerked the handle bars and lost the front wheel. Tried to recover but no way of saving it and off he came. Just needed to be smoother and the crash wouldn’t have happened. Hope he is not badly injured and makes a good recovery. End of the day Redcar got their reward for perseverance. Battled all night. So we end up with the big one, the league, plus the KO Cup. Considering how the team has ridden for the majority of the season, that is a remarkable achievement. We will start again in 2026 with a very different looking team. Bring it on!

Brilliant temperament from Scott, he's been the difference tonight and deserved to bring it over the line 👏

All on the line and that’s what we get. Gate and go. Gavin Parr should offer Middleditch the trophy in exchange for preparing a track for entertainment next season. Woeful speedway. A terrible advert for the sport again.

If someone put that move on Lawson he would be throwing a monumental tantrum.

Well done Redcar. Congratulations on the BSN cup. No complaints we had run out of juice.

Generally it's been diabolical! Danny King had a good race in 8 but 12 was phenomenal!

The answer is obviously ”yes”. What a ride from Scott again. So unlucky. I actually thought Edwards held Scott up there. That was an easy 5-1 for Redcar. @BoringNeilMiddlo, GET THE TRACTOR OIT AND REMOVE THAT DIRT.

Good response from Jody Scott 👏

Wow Danny king overtaking 2 riders in 1 race🙂 you dont see that very often at poole.

What a complete tool.

Your sidekick Shovvy will have to wear his covid mask if the baked beans are still doing their work LBW! Another treble for Poole the best club the 2nd division has seen.

A 5 team league (if that's what you can call it) is very much the business as usual model, which has been proven not to work over the last 30 years. It's not the radical change that has been mooted.

But you cannot run a five team league and expect fans to follow it... And to get teams to move up just to employ many of the same riders that they do now, but on more money, doesn't look like something too many would bite your hands off to take the opportunity... Any TV money will be key if anyone decides to move up, with, at least, a decent six figure income from it being the requirement... We have said in the past on here quite a few times that the sport is on life support but it has struggled on, often due to its capability in making things up to get by on an adhoc basis... You do feel that now though it truly does need to stop the sticking plasters and get the patient healthy and out of hospital with a clear, well thought out and fit for purpose health plan to complete a long term full recovery.... But. Given where the sport currently sits, that will be a huge challenge for those who have seemed to be quite content as to what they have delivered over the past decade or so...

Best 16 year old i saw was Woffenden - had everything from such a young age. Spent 2 years at Rye House having fun on his bike so hopefully these boys can do the same. The sport gets very serious when you start riding in Poland!

I accept all that Ian, My point was more about how the sport would manage to fill these teams with riders of any decent standard nowadays, than if there was enough fan interest to keep the track going .. However, on that point, it has to be recognised that at most of those tracks no more than 1500 regulars would have been impacted by any closure (and well under 1000 at some), which doesn't help the cause when it comes to gaining the traction needed to deliver a large level of local protest, and engaging those big numbers to get maximum publicity... We can only hope that the last decade doesn't get repeated and Speedway can turn it's current fortunes around...

I have to say I didn't get the impression that the original post was suggesting it was speedway's fault, it was simply stating the reality. While I agree with your general point, I don't think we should completely disregard "use it or lose it". Ultimately, it's been so easy for developers to claim the land and build on it, because we are a minority sport with a dwindling number of attendees. It's not to say that they wouldn't have done the same anyway - it's their land after all - but how many tracks would've closed down if they had genuinely good attendances and were profitable for their landlords? I'm confident Newcastle would've survived, and would Eastbourne's owners turn down a healthy financial stream if it was available? The sport just doesn't have the financial or political clout to even begin fending off any of these developers, never mind winning the battle against them. When you compare the number of football stadia that's been closed down and built on against the club's will, the difference is stark. It sounds like some positive progress is being made with what you've mentioned, I would love more than anything for a real difference to be made. Ultimately, though, while it might not entirely be speedway's fault, or due to a lack of interest, that the clubs shut down, it's hard to say it didn't play a pretty big role. A successful, thriving sport is less likely to have their stadia and facilities taken away than one that's struggling.

Frank Smart Leigh Adams Rafael Okoniewski and I always loved watching Carl Wilkinson, a style I'd never seen before or since.

.

I think it goes back to the 70's and 80's when football had a major issue with hooliganism... Hence, it seemed a potential marketing idea to advertise itself as somewhere you could take your kids to watch a team sport in a "safe environment". Sadly, in line with so much that still exists within the sport, something that may have have been fit for purpose 40 to 50 years ago is still being used in today's very different times... Any marketing company worth their salt would focus on the danger, speed and almost gladiatorial nature of the racing, and focus on the personalities of the competitors to let them become "stars", (with the odd bit of personal needle a bonus, even if made up for a bit of hype!) You only have to see how Nicki P became "box office" playing the pantomime villain, with the producer even ensuring his return to the pits was filmed after a defeat knowing a reaction would come... The well meaning custodians of the sport really do need to take a leap of faith and bring outside marketing people in to almost relaunch it with a fresh 21st century approach... After all, as you say, doing what they done for decades isn't showing any sign of getting the cut through required is it?

Exactly this! Speedway is an "extreme sport" and should be marketed as such to attract a younger demographic. I watch more Grasstrack nowadays, I think this suffers from the "family sport" image as well. There's a YouTube channel, Grasstrack SPORT.com, featuring the best! crashes. Is there a Speedway equivalent for crashes and fights?

The ‘Fat Lady’ is already warming up, Bears couldnt get a Guest for a cup final which just about sums up the way their season has petered out. Easy win for the best team in the league , Bears did well to get so far without Riss in all the competitions.

John Cook

Thought Rushen's weren't allowed in the SGPs?

I keep seeing various fights at ice hockey matches, so I asked some ice hockey fans do the players get fined or get any form of ban if they fight and the reply was no it’s practically encouraged, although if you have too many fights you gets points and then get a match ban, so why do we take such a pussyfooted approach to any kind of handbags

https://legalref.judiciary.hk/lrs/common/ju/ju_frame.jsp?DIS=160551

But they don't charge me twenty seven quid to watch it happen...

And then put admission prices up to £30 so we can watch even more sub standard riders and rip the public off some more