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Thumbs up to the Comets management 😄 just been in town and the local electronic advertising board at bottom of Ramsey brow, main entrance into the town, has a message for all to see. Thank you to all supporters and sponsors for supporting us 2025 season

Can you join border force - that's a better effort than the current lot

Have to totally disagree there, King is definitely Number 1 material. 2nd highest away average in the whole league behind Sam Masters (9.30) Plus won 49 heats in total, Only Masters, Lawson and Harris were ahead of him.

This is were Speedway will (and always has done) fall down. How to maintain that engagement at live meetings? You're trying to attract the next generation which have the attention spans of a fish. For a newbie, going to a live meeting today, 2½ hours for about 40mins of entertainment, if you're in to practice starts & laps of honour. Otherwise, it's 15mins of entertainment. For that privilege, it cost £25. Also, the quality of the Stadia in the UK, for any middle/upper class citizen its horrific. The truth is, British Speedway is lower class trying to sell itself to the affluent. This is were it's not working. 100%, the attendances would be far higher if it was £10/15 with an Offy, a Vape Shop & a Turkish barbers selling class A's. The sport would be as big as football then 🤣

Beau Bailey will need to finish in the top 4 in a Aussie state championship to be able to qualify for a uk visa.

All those things are great and may have got a lot of people through the door but when they attend and stand out in the cold/wind being 'entertained' by someone on a mic talking drivel or just music for what seems like an eternity balanced against the 15 minutes of actual races, of which two were interesting then most won't come back. It's the entertainment at the track on the night which has to improve - and I don't mean just more races. More interaction, more involvement of fans in the night, interactive social media, rider interaction, play areas/side shows and many other ideas that people have mentioned before.

Danny had a hand injury so it had to be managed, so he took fewer ht 15s. Danny is a quality rider, but he is also good with younger team mates giving advice and helping. He's a great team man.

Tunners would put on a point at the bare minimum riding the NSS every other week. He’d be a far better signing for Belle Vue than anyone else IMO. Having watched a fair bit of PHB the last couple of years as well, he’d be a huge home favourite very quickly. Track is tailor made for him. Keeping the best top two in the league as well and you’d outgun everyone else in 13 and 15. If that is the team, I think we’d see @AceBellerise from the dead very quickly on here… 😉

This is what we’ve done to attract fans to Belle Vue over the last decade or so….. Have an advert on local radio over an extended period of time. Have an advert in local newspapers over an extended period of time. Have an advertising board on some of the busiest roads in Manchester. Have posters in shops and businesses. Had out flyers in local shopping areas. Have a float or attend local fairs and carnivals. Attend local trade shows. Give out free tickets to schools and businesses. Take bikes and merchandise into schools to accompany the talk they deliver on the sport. Be featured on local tv news’s 4 or 5 times between March and October. Have a regular editorial in local papers. Have a 30 minute highlights programme on a local tv satellite station. Form a tie up with local groups and offer free entry and supporters club membership. Attend (and win) local sports team of the year awards. I’ve probably missed a few others.

Agreed but I think they’ll bring him back, they are loyal to a fault with a lot of riders and Hume also seems very popular with the casual Bandits fan, you can see that just by looking at the comments on Facebook for the last couple of seasons. I think for similar reasons we’ll see Jack Smith back despite the fact he has probably peaked in his ability he seems very popular with the promotion and fans alike. Personally I would have neither if your goal is to try and win a trophy or at least make the play offs for the first time in over a decade but that doesn’t often seem the goal.

Think it is financial suicide for any team to make the numbers up in the Premier League.

If that’s what’s being considered it just shows how much trouble the so called Premiership is in.Desperate times for the sport.If that’s their answer to keeping a failing League. Cant possibly see how that will be viable.

Luke Harrison’s Facebook page has been implying he won’t be back at scunny next year. Would be a tremendous shame as he’s developing nicely however I understand his dad will want him to try different tracks

This is exactly what I am getting at. You need to make it easy to stumble across as well as keeping it short enough to keep viewers engaged (not too much nothingness between heats).

Many amateur and semi pro sports teams on YouTube do it themselves... A 4k Go pro camera being the usual camera of choice... Some have over 250,000 followers and subscribers... 20 mins the maximum needed to maintain the interest of the "younger generation".. Making the riders the stars being just as important, (maybe even more so), than even the action on show... Pre meeting arrival of the riders, track walk snippets, a bit of action interspersed with pits conversations, post match celebrations and sound bites from the managers and riders.. Speedway clubs should have done this, at least, five years ago... However, middle aged (and older), white males generally wouldn't see the huge opportunities that such "programmes" can open up given the algorithm used will take you from one to another... Another opportunity missed by only using those within the "speedway bubble echo chamber"....

And, I must admit.... I was completely unaware of pretty much all of them... The half hour on satellite TV was, I think, on M and Motors which was a US cable type local station, which I saw once... I do live in Stockport though, not Manchester, but do drive through the city often and haven't been aware of any billboards other than SON and GP ones which appeared when their events were held in Manchester... Good to see such initiatives are alive though, but there looks like there still isn't the output for the input... And, once again, it is done at local and not national level, which is where the sport needs to be marketing itself using a professional marketing company...

I dread to think what attendances would have been like at Belle Vue if none of the efforts listed above had taken place?

Speaking as a former sponsor rider's start off grateful end up demanding , maybe just my bad luck but it happened almost everytime

Bluey Scott, Charlie Monk, Nils Paulsen, Trevor Redmond, Bruce Ovenden, Willie Templeton & Graham Coombes. Maury Mattingley on bike, Two Aussies, Two Kiwis (3 if you count Trevor), One Norwegian, One Englishman and a Scot. Not many 2.5% reductions there......

Something that never gets mentioned about Poland and their huge pay structure is riders can also get huge fines/deductions from the clubs for sometimes the most innocuous reasons like mechanic wearing wrong team shirt at a match or not displaying PGE extraleague sticker on back door of van or whatever but one thing it does do is get 100% dedication from the riders, it gets discipline and as a result you get a product that has credibility

The thing is... If someone is "OK" at spending a quarter of a million to keep a Speedway team going... They would do the sport far more good by just putting that amount up as prize money... Many come on here saying "sponsors pay for the No1's" when someone mentions the cost of them and that the gate revenue wouldn't support their inclusion... Again, these "wealthy sponsors", putting in high five figure numbers, at individual tracks, would raise the sports profile NATIONALLY far more by using this money to make a "huge" prize pot, than any individual rider would raise it by riding for any team... Literally MILLIONS has been pumped into the sport by TV, Sponsors, admission money and the deep pockets of the owners.... And the return on such a huge investment is what we have today... A strange "insular" use of an enormous resource pool that could have got some traction if used more broadly for increasing the sports awareness amongst the wider UK public...

Northampton Saints with Travis Perkins as Team sponsor to tie in with Rugby union team was the latest that I had heard.I believe there is some people who are involved in both sports that are part of this new venture. Them work progressing through the summer to move to Northampton later in year or 2027

Wouldn’t have thought a single Lynn supporter would be at all bothered with that. Maybe I’m wrong but I’d say the majority if not all, would be over the moon to sign up a genuine class number 1 and the leagues best rider this season just gone. Wasn’t just the heavy points he scored either, it was the way he scored them. Seemed very entertaining which I’m sure the Leicester fans will verify. Fricke would give the club and supporters a massive lift.

Heard from a good source it's Eddie Kennett.

The sinking ship called the Premier League is heading for the rocks. Loss of UK venues has been a major factor in recent years. Their defunct club supporters have all probably been lost to the sport never to return. Established stadia with a speedway oval and capable of housing a few thousand patrons in reasonable comfort aren't out there. An ever ageing but dwindling nucleus of speedway supporters with fond memories of past glory still cling on to the wreckage in traditional speedway hotspots. Attempts to promote clubs from the Championship League have been tried and I cannot name one that has been successful ? Costs of operating on the Premier League (although a closely guarded secret) and the restrictive race nights of operation are certainly a major issue. The money for riders is in Poland nowadays, why any of them ride in the UK can only be for personal reasons, it cannot be for the money on offer. WHEN will the league decay into one league and a training Conference league ? The PL cannot hold out for much longer.

You've proved my point. Speedway (and the others you mentioned) were not viable, hence they chose to redevelop the site. Wimbledon previously closed in 1991 for exactly the same reason. And both 1991 and 2005 were periods when Speedway was in better shape than it is now! There is absolutely NO chance of Wimbledon, Coventry, Swindon, or any other closed tracks being revived and the sooner these campaigners open their eyes and get on with their lives, tbe better. Everyone is getting excited about Buxton - that won't last the season for exactly the same reason. Speedway. Is. Not. Viable.

Removed

Whilst Lawson seems to have signed a contract in Denmark, he could do be back with Pirates. When they wanted to resign Ben Basso they said that they could avoid any clashes with his Danish commitments. And it's not like speedway is every week in the UK these days. Plus they run a squad system in Denmark, so Lawson might not be needed/wanted there every week. Whilst there isn't much room to improve his average, his scoring would be a big loss to the Pirates, even if it allowed them to be stronger elsewhere. I'd be surprised if Lawson wasn't a Pirate again

Sounds like he is our new No1 then😃. I like Danny great professional and team man. He goes great at the GT Tyres Arena. What I question in the No1 position is, is he the man who will go out in heat 15 and win you the meeting. Time will tell by the sound of things 👍🤔😃

Or a big gain for another club (worky) 🤔

He thinks we are all as stupid as he is.

There is a lot of negativity on here, and little wonder. Our Sport seems to be staggering on being wafted around like a leaf in the wind. I don't know what will happen when Rachel Reeves starts increasing this Tax and that Tax. I feel that disposable income in most homes will be needed for food, mortgages, rents, fuel, electricity and gas etc.. Things are very bad at present - things could get even worse soon for all of us, not just Speedway Supporters. I sincerely hope I am wrong, but I'm afraid I cannot see a light at the end of the tunnel. Sorry.

Worky I expect

Got his location as Poole ?

Ummm and his average is so high, ours is the only sport you get penalised for doing well, hope I'm wrong.

It would be just our luck if the only one over 8 rule came in again. The first time it was implemented was at the end of the 2017 season and after decades we finally had two riders with 8 plus averages and sadly had to let Bjerre go. Many teams had two riders over 8 during those decades but would you believe it as soon as we do a rule comes in to break us up. Dammit. Apart from 2017, Dan & Brady are the only other two to achieve such a feet in all those decades. Fingers crossed a purely random rule doesn’t affect us again.

Much needed here IMO

Agreed.... Those "magical nights" I grew up with at Hyde Rd, with thousands in attendance, (often including 100's of away fans), simply wouldn't have happened the same if they had ran on Mondays or Thursdays... The honourable exception being the KO Cup Final v Reading on a Wednesday night where over 20000 were in attendsnce... Amazing to think that UK competitions could actually get those types of crowds in those days..

Was it ever thus? I am really sad about Danny King. Great Rider in my opinion.

Just another track that got bigger crowds at weekend when the majority of the country has its leisure time... Regardless of who turned up to race....

Just an observation but my experience of Rye House from the early days of the open licence and the Ace of Hearts to the time that the Rockets moved from Rayleigh to Rye House (and many a rockets fan took the coach from the Weir), RH was a weekend track and Saturday, Sunday and the odd Bank holiday Monday but no way should it ever have been run as a week day track. It a great venture and a shame that it has been lost to the sport.

bring back black/yellow helmet cover lol

As we are all keen avid speedway fans and use this forum to have fun with other fans from around the tracks, my concern like many others is the potential drop off of the sport in the UK. It has always been the case that fingers are pointed at the things that dont help the sport by the powers that be whilst the sport in this country is being left to diminish to the point clubs will disappear once their owners one by one walk away. Its about time fans are listened to as barely any clubs are financially stable and all that seems to happen each AGM is rulings/stipulations to further detract from the wonderful spectacle speedway is by further adding penalities to a failing sport. The biggest concern for me are the cost of riders which seems to be driven by the cost of parts and the requirement for it to be used as a professional revenue and the subsequent lack of fans which maybe down to various blaize approaches over the past 20 years has created a disconnect for fans on the perifory. We need to act now to give the sport in this country a chance of survival. Fans deserve to have a voice and be heard on the top table as without fans only vast individual sponsors will float any club.

My main concern is Kerr's "mechanicals", he's poor meetings in 25 have all too often come down to avoidable mechanical issues, what he really needs in 26 is good machinery and somebody to prepare his bikes in a thorough professional manner. Spanner men can play a crucial role.

Any chance of borrowing a magnifying glass.when I zoom in it goes blurry

If Danny King does find himself without a team place that will be a disgrace , a servant of British speedway being shafted like that , no wonder nobody outside of this sport takes it seriously

Is it not He Bangs He Bangs 😃

Have you ever been to Buxton ?, if you have you will know it is basic and in a very beutiful part of the world, no worries about development out where they are unless you want to develop a new breed of sheep, as for being viable I think it will be providing the NDL stays as it has been for the past few years, which is primarily a development league, it was only when teams such as Cradley, Birmingham, Eastbourne used the National league as a competitive league and paid much more than the old £10 per point and mileage that forced teams such as Buxton to have to pay over the odds to entice any rider that had above average ability, prior to that Buxton was a very good nursery for young riders and Buxton generally more than held there own when silverware was up for grabs. If you have never been to Buxton I suggest you take a drive out you may be pleasantly surprised, I have NO doubts Buxton will last the season.