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i think running on a night that suits the fans not the riders has been a big driver of their success.

https://ipswichwitches.co/louis-thanks-departing-sayfutdinov/ Really nice words. And interesting about him being “alienated” in some quarters for bringing him in because of the war.

At the football last night seeing how the crowd applauded both witches and Fabio just shows how this town backs its own. Not to blow smoke up our own but what other town / city does it like Ipswich? You can say Manchester has the better football teams for sure… but Ipswich town / witches / Fabio and even Edd really does back the town and brings you to feel proud of being from Ipswich which hasn’t been the case in so many previous decades. People from Ipswich should be so proud of the entire success of Ipswich.

Think they're hoping a chunk of Oxford fans will turn up to see Premiership Speedway. It's so risky though and I'm surprised it's even being considerd tbh.

Rents won't come down though, neither will the riders costs of those who do get a team place, (of all levels)... And if no TV deal, it will remove a huge amount from the budget..... Even "staying the same" might just be a pipe dream.. Which isn't going to help move the sport forward in anyway, shape or form, is it? The hole they have dug for themselves over the last two decades is certainly a very deep one to climb out of... Unfortunately those who sleep walked themselves into it, are also, in the main, the same ones trying to get themselves out of it...

There is no chance they will be reduced.IMO

if prices stay the same it'll be far too much

I should hope that it is well publicised with the attendees! I just don't see what's the harm in letting fans know when it is, or when the outcomes will/might be known. What is decided at the conference impacts on everything for next season, even if the only outcome of a conference was 'everything is the same as agreed last year' would be newsworthy given that would be a first. I'm not asking for an invite or a live broadcast of the discussions, my point was that finding out the conference outcomes is of interest to many fans, I don't see the harm in telling fans when to expect an update. Plymouth announced yesterday that they will announce another signing on Friday. Scunthorpe announced in advance that they would be making an announcement (the signing of Pickering). It is not unusual these days for sports clubs to tell fans when news will be released. What would be your problem with saying the conference is on this date, we will let our fans know the outcomes that night, shortly thereafter, the next night or whatever timescale that you went to set?

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...

I can't see the logic in running a prem team at an existing club under a different name, it just strikes me as more desperation to get the numbers up in the top league, I just hope whoever is taking this on has uber deep pockets as sadly I fear they are going to need bucket loads of cash to burn, would love to be proved wrong and its a success.

facts them though unlike yours

I can’t stand the miserable sod. Got a face like a slapped arse

Spot on. “Tomorrow’s a school day” by and large an excuse.

know the facts you t0ss3r

The more kids involved the better the crowd will be, give them something to want to go for....and it makes me laugh when i read"but its a school day tomorrow" but will quite happily take them to football which can finish past 10pm

Attending sporting fixtures is way different to going to a pub. This past Monday 41476 turned out to watch Sunderland v Everton. On a smaller scale 2820 turned out to watch Tamworth. And a good number of the people who went were kids with at least one parent - even though next day was a school day. Make Speedway interesting, consistent, worthwhile & known about and folk will come.

I'm pretty sure Monday's and Thursday's were introduced to allow riders to double up and not to attract the star riders... as proven by their absences throughout the season. You only have to go into a boozer in town on a Monday night to see how dead the place is.

Top man Chris Louis. Used to love watching his dad take on my beloved Bradford in the 70s and then support him for Halifax alongside Kenny and Doug etc

“Generally quite negative” That’s the understatement of the year!

Way back there was always a table near starting gate with a phone on it - a link to contact the referee. And on a regular basis, following something happening in a race, an upset rider (often plus promoter)would march angrily from the pits to use the phone to vent this anger. The crowds loved this and added to the call for a refs action - although a ref never changed his decision. But it made the crowd more involved in racing action. I presume though it was stopped because referees were given too much grief? So as you say nowadays everyone seems too nice, but it was fun while it lasted for sure.

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

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.

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

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

Which of course, he had absolutely nothing to do with. It's ludicrous that anyone would have that mindset, although I suspect they are feeling a tad silly now. He was a breath of fresh air in the Premiership, and a fabulous lad to boot...

Wrong. Monday & Thursday were dictated by the BSPA to placate Poland and the riders who wished to race there and the UK.

This is an opinion I have formed over the last few seasons too.

Absolutely horrendous crash at Oxford, he opened the pit gates with the force he hit them. I seem to remember his mum came to the track a few weeks later to thank the medical staff for everything they had done, I think he died but they pulled him back. When he returned in his 1st ride he was understandably a bit tentative. Next race he went for it, full tilt. I'm not ashamed to say he's got bigger balls than me.

Don't disagree at all 1 valve we all know you could add all of the below in just for starters Run on best nights for fans A decent tv deal for clubs not swallowed all up by number one's High profile premier league sponsor End of guest fests every week Decently prepared tracks Meetings starting on time Meetings not dragging on for 3-4 hours In a perfect world not staging meetings in stadiums that look like they have been bombed by the Luffwaffa Efforts really made to promote the team/awareness locally I know all of the above is easier said than done but if the powers that be want to save the sport the above are all reasonable starting points.

Actually - Monday & Thursday nights to see the (for now) top riders in action. Plenty of other clubs to see racing on the other nights - although prevailing attendance & sponsorship does not appear to be making those clubs hugely profitable sellouts - to say the least. As said elsewhere on this forum, it isn’t a single magic bullet that’s required to get UK speedway back on a growth journey (or even stopping the decline) it’s a good number of things which need to be addressed and put in place in a coordinated manner. One without the other is wasting precious time and certainly if the clubs/promoters cannot see or agree that working individually is of no long term use to the sport.

It’s negative talk because anything else would be deluded, we are where we are and it always feels like those in charge say the right things, but then go and continue to do what they always do. If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got!

Totally get your response and you could even through Oasis into the mix when talking about icons and backing your own, I just referenced that on here as I don’t think those football clubs United and City would ever support the speedway like town does the witches. That’s why I put Manchester football is too big probably and doesn’t notice the aces, although I apologise if they have been involved with walking out at the stadiums etc too! (Again, this isn’t a dig at anyone on here for saying we are better) it was just to say well done to all of Ipswich.

Back in the 90s I could name every rider just by looking at a race pic in the speedway star, now I would struggle, as they all look the same.

Its the same here with support for United and City and Ricky Hattons support was off the scale he took a reported 30,00 fans to Las Vegas for his title fights plus both sets of football fans attended his funeral. Obviously Ipswich is smaller than Manchester but the support for sport down there cant be knocked, the town should be proud. Was great to see Fabio win he put in a great performance.

I think the Aussies can make it up as they go along! There are certainly some 'easier' states to enable qualification.

Amazes me that you manage to stand up given the giant size of that chip on your shoulder .....

The BSPL usually issue a statement of the main AGM outcomes by the next day, occasionally the same day!! Most - not all - people on forums such as this are generally quite negative, so to wait a day after decisions are ratified is more than acceptable imo. So let's look forward to 13th.. or the following week's Speedway Star.

Not good enough, I'm afraid. But crucially, Speedway is supposed to be a Sport. Naturally, Supporters like to know what is going on. Not everything, of course not, just little slips of information. Supporters like to feel involved in their Sport. After all, these Supporters are their Customers, their bread and butter. Sadly the attitude to the Speedway Publlic, and indeed the General Public seem to be the old mushroom theory - keep then in the dark and cover them with ****. They'll be back next Season. Doesn't work these days.

But no club sponsor on their chests...

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.

I used to love watching Crabby smashing the phone up in front of the main stand at Loomer Road when arguing with the ref, all pantomime stuff but got the crowd going ☎️💥👍🏻

I'd be happy if it is the BV side as I don't see anything to worry about tbh. PHB, Blodorn, Zischke & Mulford is a terrible tail even in a watered down league imo.

Current rules 4.50 but with our apparent interest in the lad the rules might be altered for ‘26 and he could be 5 or above. That will depend on our proposed lineup.

A shame to see Danny leave - almost as much for his off track/mentoring with some of the younger riders. Hope he gets fixed up somewhere. Would love to see if we could build a team to keep Pijper/Scott at reserve (if we can entice Scott to stay). Would mean a slightly weaker main body but would always leave us with good reserves.

If you fell on him 😉😂

I will be talking about the lack of riders on speedway 360 podcast in a couple of weeks and how we go about getting more riders involved

Results: https://live.baansportfansite.nl/event/1113/dsc-lelystad-vs-middlesbrough-tigers-lelystad.html Photo's: https://www.baansportfansite.nl/nieuws/2763/engelse-les-in-de-polder-middlesbrough-tigers-winnen-in-lelystad-met-overtuigende-64-26