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It's because it's not the racing which attracts the numbers, nor is it cost alone. People need to feel they get value for money and have a good time when there. Not stand around disengaged - it's engagement which is key.

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Plymouth are going to be doing a behind the scenes documentary that on the face of the preview looks really good and likely to give a real good insight to speedway both with Plymouth and the wider British speedway. could be a game changer for the sport if used and marketed correctly from people other than just Plymouth.

i do worry for my club this season though, the activity on my belle vue facebook page is down by more than double in interactions, im guessing a winter of delays have made people just give up on the sport

Pretty much it... Add in almost zero atmosphere due to hardly any (if any at all), away fans, and it certainly isn't an "event" that stirs the blood... The Play Offs are similar to when a small football team get to Wembley... All their "followers" turn out, yet the week later, the usual "fans" are in the ground with the "followers" sat at home, (maybe), checking the score now and again.... The sport needs root and branch radical change if it wants to carry on.. Having to charge £25 to stand and watch, so you can pay riders what they want to ride for you, riders who will put hardly one extra person through the turnstile, meaning you have minimal budget for marketing, or enhancing "the match day experience" is truly barmy from a business perspective... Yet they continue to slavishly follow the same business and unfit for purpose operating model... Amazing...

Not the first time he's done that, I commented on it when he used to ride for Leicester. You get the feeling that if he took the sport seriously (difficult I know) is that he could be a far far better performer than he already is, a Floppy Norris/Jason Doyle type, maybe not to Doyley standards but certainly Floppy. He seems happier to be a better than average journeyman than and clean up in the CL to supplement his bread and butter of being a plasterer. I think one of the main reasons may be, as you've mentioned many times, the lack of jeopardy... Ippo are in town! Come and see them! What's at stake? Well, nothing much really, it's just a qualifier But they may not qualify! It's almost impossible for them not to qualify They're the current league champions! But there's only 3 of those riders are in the team this year Okay come and see Tom Brennan & Tobias Musielak then! I'll catch them next time Ippo are in town, for the B fixture, a KO Cup tie or a play off tie... or any number of times over the course of this season as a guest rider Oh don't bother then! Okay 👍

It’s no disgrace to not be able to ride a farmers field

Aces would have won by 30 if Brennan and King weren’t riding

expect a good 50% of them attending the GP will be local aces fans, for example in March i paid out for GP Tickets, belle vue season ticket and BSN, approx £600 for me, but im lucky i can afford it Many have to pick and choose there meetings now after spending £100 plus pounds on the GP, them tickets are equivalent of 5 race days and will sacrifice the 5 matches for the GP, it happened last year. we had good crowd against sheffield and leicester but that was down to one being a rival and the other being bank holiday. most clubs will also take a big hit when BSN are in town this year, Belle Vue themselves play a part in this though, there is no where near enough effort put in to selling the sport to new people, no advertisement, no banners anywhere, we dont even have anything in the local paper about us

It will be up to Connor/his family to decide if and when anything is released not the club. The club asking people to be patient and not speculate seems very reasonable to me.

Riss needs to retire at this point. Hes been suffering with this illness since 2023 and its looking increasingly unlikely that its going to get better. Needs to do himself, his opponents and club a favour and sadly admit defeat. The sports dangerous enough without a condition that seemingly effects his vision at random times.

Yes. His record at NSS is not as bad as some think. Has just collected two more engines I think so we'll see what pans out but I don't agree that he'd ever go into a meeting with a defeatest attitude. Had to smile at his April Fool joke though about the weight of riders😁 I agree wIth others that away from home he should be riding at No.2.

Lawson did score 6... but 4 of those points came from beating his team-mate. (Nicholls 3 times, Edwards once). In reality he scored 2 points. One from one of his 2 meetings with Kildemand, and one from beating the 16-year-old RS. Surely having Brennan and King paired together was a waste of the two best riders, when they both could have been winning races separately.

It clearly needs radical change Phil... And has done for around two decades when the GP's and Poland started to impact it... A contrived, Mickey Mouse operating model simply doesn't cut it in a 24/7 digital media age... Winning either league carries almost zero prestige, publicity, or rewards... With the Play Offs usually sorted by the end of May meaning dead rubber after dead rubber to September... The inescapable fact is that the UK version of the sport can be perceived as no more than a hobby for many promoters and a money making exercise for the riders... Hence doubling up is rife so costs can be shared and riders get what they want from two teams, and both those teams can then afford them... And guesting is rife because (as one ex rider once told me), "It's the cherry on top of the icing on the cake. Kerching!".... Covid should have seen root and branch change, yet they decided to carry on doing the same old nonsense that still exists today... They need to sort it, and quick...

The Lawson bike talk really is moaning for the sake of moaning tbh. Lawson's Dirty Bikes -> 6 Points from 4 Rides.......Nicholls and Hellstrom-Bangs Clean Bikes -> 1+1 from 6 Rides. Clean/Dirty bikes really didn't make make a difference at all, Just got beat by the better team on the night.

The tedious attempts at points scoring with regards to attendance is all a bit pointless as NOBODY has any right to crow about their attendance as they are all rubbish. I few hundred more here or there is no kind of win for a sport that use to attract thousands. Sure discuss on track battles but with regards attendances we need to lose the me me me insular thinking of the previous guy and look at the bigger picture collectively. Given the well documented and well know issues at Belle Vue we are still the only club to have had support that allows us to remain in the top tier. Other clubs chop and change when their support drops off again and this impacts us in our league as we don’t know who we will be against from one year to another. Having said that I’m not expecting Ipswich to drop down again as Colman is a breath of fresh air when compared to the cartel member he rescued the club from. I think he will be a wonderful ally but hope he doesn’t alienate himself from the home crowd as the wind of change takes hold.

What a lazy b*stard. Another mindset I absolutely detest. This is the exact thinking British speedway needs to get away from. It’s not about a bike being ”shiny and new”, it’s about professionalism, preparation and standards.

Wish they’d scrap the tactical sub rule, or at least make it only available for a shorter window for an away side to even up the home track advantage. tac sub or no tac sub belle vue would’ve made that home advantage come true I’m sure over the course of the meeting but the tac sub undoes so much of the hard work from unfancied underdog witches last night and impacts the chances of the bonus point over two legs massively

If the line ups stay like that then Czestochowa have a chance of a draw!!!!

Fricke said after the meeting that it's s big change for him and he's getting used to things, I remember him making a slow start at Leicester a couple of years ago so I have no concerns, he'll be fine. Kvech has been excellent at the AFA since his very first meeting but is struggling to find the set up on what is at the moment an unusually slick Lynn track, he'll be fine too. The reserves were much better last night and I expect them to carry on in that vein, they both have so much potential.

Pretty decent effort to be fair from Lidsey beating Fricke x3 on his home track. Jaimon Lidsey - 3, 1, 1, 3, 1', 3, 3 = 15+1

Exactly this, had very few issues overall since BSN first came available, yeah had the odd dodgy meeting with minor issues, but its been unwatchable the first 2 meetings thus far via the web browser on my parents smart tv, considering they bought a new smart tv to be able to watch BSN to start with and now all of a sudden it aint compatible, tbf their both 85 and wouldn't have a clue how to mirror it from a mobile or a tablet.

Witches would have won if it wasn’t for Kurtz and Bewley

Which just proves the BSPL is not fit for purpose, and the sooner the old die hards are removed the better.

Some shocking posts about Tate and using him to have a weak pop at the club as a whole lacks class. This lad was showing bags of promise before his awful crash, a crash that saw his bike dismantled whilst he was still impaled on it. There’s a few posters on here who delight in sticking the knife in with comments like “sick note” and “turd” for riders still working through the after effects for racing injuries. It’s a special kind of scum that gets their kicks that way.

You miss one obvious fact When 16 - 17 year old British lads turn up with the sponsored van festooned in Stickers, 3 CL Class bikes festooned in Stickers, dad and mom and 10 relatives all wanting free tickets and a couple of PL level mechanics and wanting more a point than most CL teams pay an experienced second string plus bonuses and all other sorts, then actually keen potentially progressive early 20's European riders who are here to race and learn can overall be a far more economical option. Then when these 16-17 year olds do anything remotely notwworthy they feck off to one of the "big clubs". That's after they have signed for your NDL team at 15, only agreeing because you promise them a CL place if they perform well, and when they do, they still feck off to another CL Team, then its not hard to wonder why some young british riders who think the Sport has the money it had 20 years ago are quite simply pricing themselves out of the market.

Not too sure, a Facebook comment came from Andy Harrison, probably Luke's dad 😄

CAR PARKING UPDATE Oxford Speedway Promoter Jamie Courtney has issued the following statement: “I was made aware of issues with parking at Unipart last week and have been working to resolve the situation ahead of Wednesday nights fixture against Plymouth “Despite positive conversations between ourselves and Unipart, there remain a couple of issues to resolve and so I am not in a position to confirm that a deal has been reached for the rest of the season “If you have booked for a place at Unipart this will be honoured and I will continue discussions in the expectation that the situation can be resolved ahead of our next fixture on May 6th “For those who have not booked a place at Unipart there will be limited parking at the Stadium made available on a first come first served basis “I appreciate how frustrating this situation is for our loyal fans and I can assure you that I am doing everything in my power to resolve the situation to everyone’s satisfaction”

I can’t see them axing him this quickly but we have to be honest it’s been a very disappointing start from him. Wouldn’t mind so much if we’re seeing the effort without getting the results, but where is the entertaining fence scraper busting a gut to reel people in? It’s bizarre how far away from that type of rider he’s looked.

I fear you're right, maybe he should have done an Ivan Mauger this season and just ridden at home. I assume he's just building up a nest egg this season in the PL

Multiple post

Play-Down thing has gone way OTT in order to produce more meetings so they can make more Zloty's out of Canal. I'll never buy into a 5th Placed Ekstraliga Team being a serious relegation candidate as they'll need to lose 2 x Two-Legged Ties on the spin vs. Teams that finished below them in the table as well as another Two Legged Tie against a Team that wasn't even good enough to win the Ekstraliga 2. League.

Yes we at Ipswich absolutely loved gate and go it’s what we dream about Your pedantic patter around Belle Vue having the best track is rather tiresome …. We all know you have the best track yawn Your Tom??? Binned him and kept Blodorn lol

There is no way Louis would have had Lawson turn up with dirty bikes, he was a stickler for professionalism

The issue is currently being worked on and the club will make an announcement with all the relevant information as soon as everything is confirmed. Taken from a message on OSSC chat

i think both teams can be happy with that result

He was out in the town the night before

But ... the point is that most, if not all, tracks can say the same. Better attendances for big rivalries or Bank Holidays, yet the extra people aren't tempted back for "normal" meetings, even at the NSS where very good racing is expected. Why not? It's not a new "cost of living" thing, it's been happening for a while, and needs to be addressed by the sport as a whole ...

No wonder lawson was poor turning up with bikes not clean. Not very professional

To be fair, the Aces followers do make up a large portion of the GP crowds, easily the largest single contingent... As you would imagine given the locality... Therefore I can see why crowds drop, (like last year), in the weeks leading up to the meetings, given the cost.. You also have people like myself, and nine others, who will attend the GP's but are not regular visitors to the NSS, due to, as you say, not having any real engagement for UK Speedway meetings that have little importance.. There are many more "Followers" than regular "Fans", like at most tracks, with the GP's bringing them out... The key for the UK version of the sport is to re-engage those "Followers" to become "Fans" again, as it would seriously boost the attendances around the country...

Does it matter how long it takes to find out what his injuries are ? Let's just hope they are not to serious and he gets well soon.

I feel like this perspective is shared by those running British speedway and in my opinion, it’s the biggest reason British speedway will die (as a competitive sport) in the not too distant future. Far too many people tolerate mediocrity and outright amateurish standards, accusing those (myself included) who demand standards and improvement as ”moaners” and ”negative”. We all want the same thing; British speedway to thrive, but I believe some of use are already anticipating what is coming while others bury their heads in the sand.

2 meetings in and not a penny spent 😂

If anybody runs into a Northamptoningham fan at King's Lynn can you explain to them why they've not been knocked out of the Knock Out Cup if they lose 😁

Thought Woffy was quite refrained for him - think he only swore twice! Doesn’t bother me either way, he is what he is. Nice to hear/see that he is getting back on form Not an exciting meeting, track looked very dry and dusty with no grip - hence the times were all 3 seconds off the normal pace I’m guessing. Fair play to Leicester and a deserved win

Gavan doing Gavan things, comes running to the Poole thread as soon as he thinks there is a dig to be had.

Hello Tapewrecker, Youonlyhave2minutes, etc,etc. Back again are we? You really do need to have that attention deficiency looked into old lad.

Why not? If you’re going to put it out there, face the consequences and own it when it turns out to be bullsh!t.

Just isn’t the money for the role but hopefully Phil will still be involved in a more advisory role and possibly on a pay as you go basis . If the TV deal had come off he would have been very involved. i still do not agree that clubs didn’t take the initiative of broadcasting one meeting a week free on You Tube to satisfy sponsors and try to attract more new fans all they had to do was pay the production costs which were minimal compared to the full tv production costs. The best way would have been to pay BSN to produce one meeting a week for free YT broadcast as that would then give them the opportunity to upsell their subscription service of people want to see more and could have sold race sponsorship for the season