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I refuse to ignore this subject. It’s one of the more interesting topics on this forum

the failures at Northampton began long before a wheel was turned ,, it was almost a secret except to speedway fans ,that Northampton were opening . lots of potential fans not even aware there was going to be speedway ,,it was a massive investment to get Northampton up and running , and IMHO some of that money would have been better placed elsewhere , bribing a current championship team to step up . and investing in Northampton to start in accordance with the bspa rules and run in the championship , A championship season would give newbies a good few new teams to watch ,not the same 5 over and over , and championship fans a new venue to see , seems like a winner to me , a successful first season ,building and retaining their own fanbase ,and revenue from away team supporters while a home fanbase built up ,,season 2 a step up a league allowing the bribed team to step back down

Ford last seen chasing klindt to van with pen and paper and big brown paper bag

The Poole track is back to normal I see gate and go and no passing …. Tells you all you need to know when Klindt is unbeaten

Long term future secured, as is a new deal with Unipart. And the icing on the cake is the impending return of Riss. Mega news!

Excellent statement from the club tonight, all good news around the future of the team, car parking and Erik Riss.

Hausl is young. He should improve. Lambert's scores are heavily padded by beating very junior reserves in heat 2. You don't get to do that riding at 2. His Scunthorpe performances have not matched his guest appearance at Ashfield.

Was there last Thursday. Not giving up after one home meeting. Already have tickets for Thursday meet. Sure one or two riders not coming up with the goods, but lets give them a chance. Took my daughter & granddaughter last week. Though my daughter had been with me before (to MK), my granddaughter was completely new to this. she thoroughly enjoyed it and is looking forward to this week. Speedway can hardly afford for such a facility to fail, especially with people giving up so soon!!

I know it would be a bit of a faff but couldn't NKI use the train, its a couple of hours from Brussels to St Pancras, walk to Euston approx 10 minutes, train to Northampton takes just over an hour. Get him a railcard to save some money.

..as opposed to the usual Ipswich suspect talking his usual b0!!○<ks.

Poole will absolutely walk the league again this season

Excellent news on the speedway front.

If Klima goes well then Mayfield need to sign him tomorrow night permanently, Simply can't afford to let him join a Club like King's Lynn or Sheffield if he goes well. Foxhall wouldn't be a problem for him considering he's a Plymouth rider.

Poole fans trying to downplay their chances as usual it’s just comical Barrmg the number 4 position each rider in the Poole team should outscore their opponent Poole by a minimum of 10 points

A battle of reserves should be close. But I think the pirates have too much fire power in the 1/3/5 positions. And Lawson and Zach in H13/15 will be too strong for Klindt and Co to live with. Lawson might be unbeatable again

I thought so to, and also thought it would be a great idea... World No2, pretty much guaranteed to hit you 12 and over at home, so would "protect" races, thus keeping the score close at worst, and do it from the back if needed... A "new hero", for the kids in particular, to latch onto... I thought, given it was a "collective", who made it clear how important it was to launch a sixth team, that they would have sorted them out a very competitive team.. They seem to have settled on two number 3's, three second strings, and two reserves...

Bandits need to win big, to ensure bonus point next week. Aggregate wins will be required to qualify for playoffs this year

Track shape looks good, just more of an outside run needed, and I am sure that will develop.. They could do with a couple of "racers" in the team I think to utilise the whole of the track... I thought maybe Kurtz or Bewley would have been allocated to them... Two riders happy to use the boards, and two of the best three in the world, so something to sell to the locals if either had ended up there...

I would suggest most fans in the country support a "losing team" given the same teams, in both leagues, seem to reach the play offs each season now... "Winning at Home" being the priority for most promoters, and is the key to their tracks being able to ensure their "die hards" come back regularly... Enjoying the racing, and the social interaction... Northampton have only really been seen to have been beaten "once" in the eyes of most of those attending that first meeting so far, given their away following will have been minimal at those defeats... They will also be paying out lots of points money from their one income so far to pay for the several away meetings the imbalanced fixture list set them up with, so will need a decent few consecutive crowds at home to help balance the books... The next few meetings will be very important to the success of the venture... Opening a new team in a sport with such a small national following, with minimal public and media awareness, and making it work, is a massive challenge... So, best of luck to all involved, let's hope most of their opening night crowd (the locals within it at least), stick with them.. Edit. And as for needing 10 wins for it to not be a "one season wonder", even if the crowds settle to around not too many below 1000, that would run a decent level Championship team next year.. The landscape of UK Speedway could be very different next season.. The success of the long term venture is very much linked to the next few home meetings...

Can̈ really only see a Poole victory , it would need a big upsurge in form from Jordon Jenkins and (possibly J̌ason Eðwards) for Redcar to get more than̈ 40 points

Disillusioned is the wrong word. It was always going to be this way. I've been through this before, at Elfield Park with a Milton Keynes team that was never competitive and crowds drifted away as a result. A winning side is paramount for a successful endeavour, especially with newer fans yet to see the intricacies of good racing whatever the result. 5 meetings is almost 1/4 of the season. I get it, it is what it was always going to be, but it needs more to be worth £25 a ticket.

Think Harris is working on getting his average down under 8 to guarantee a Team place next year.🤔

On the face of it looks like Poole had prepped the track to be gate and go and it worked because apart from NK the Bears struggled to come out of turn 2 in front, it was all over after that. I know it has been discussed many times on here but Poole don't have to cover their paying customers in dust and prep a track that provides very little in the way of entertainment when they build such strong teams.

Did same thing last year, but that rider now can't score many points now 🤣🤣

Good news for Oxford. Hopefully Erik has some more answers now with his illness so he can prevent it from coming back. 🤞

Gav are you ok? You hate Poole and the track, so am surprised you are watching it. I don't even dislike Ipswich and i wouldn't stream their meetings. But each to their own, I'm sure the club appreciate the money.

Take a bow Nikolai Klindt. Impervious. Never led. Had the perfect setup, rocket launched from the tapes and was away and gone. Track tonight suited him. Too slick, underwatered and perfect for a gater of his magnitude. Some good racing though. Our reserves were tremendous, and Kyle battled from the back. In contrast, other than Klindt Redcar were abject. Long journey back for their travelling fans.

You not missed much. Poor tack for GP racing.

BELLE Vue are delighted to confirm a bumper afternoon of racing at the National Speedway Stadium this Sunday, May 10 (1pm). The club will be staging the JR Ashworth & Sons Colts Academy Individual featuring several rising stars of the current National Development League, as well as 500cc and 250cc sections of the British Youth Championship. Whilst Belle Vue are not competing in the NDL this season their commitment to rider development remains strong, and several recent Colts riders will return for the event. 2025 team members Freddy Hodder, Harry Fletcher, Jack Shimelt and Billy Budd are all included in the line-up. Colts joint manager Graham Goodwin said: “We've always had a loyal following for the Belle Vue Colts, and we're looking forward to welcoming back those 2025 Colts team members for this NDL standard meeting, so we hope fans will respond and come along to welcome them back. “They're going to face tough competition from a number of Championship riders, with Ace Pijper (Redcar), Jordy Loftus (Edinburgh), Ryan Ingram (Scunthorpe), and Jamie Etherington (formerly Workington) all gaining second division experience along with Freddy who is progressing well at Glasgow. “Mickie Simpson, Senna Summers and Stene Pijper are all solid NDL performers, and at the bottom of the age range we have 15-year-old Ollie Binns, who is quite local to us in Cheshire, and is just starting out on his NDL career with King's Lynn.” The JR Ashworth & Sons Colts Academy Individual will be a 14-heat individual event, made up of 12 heats plus semi-final and Final. All of the riders are aged 21 and under, with an average age of 19. In addition, the meeting features the 500cc and 250cc sections of the British Youth Championship, run over a total of 19 heats and two Finals, meaning a packed schedule of 35 races in all. Turnstiles will open at midday with the parade at 12.55 ahead of the opening race. Admission prices will be set at regular Colts levels – Adults £15, Concessions £13, Junior (12-17) £6, Children (11 and under) Free, Family £36, Programme £2. JR ASHWORTH & SONS COLTS ACADEMY INDIVIDUAL: Billy Budd, Freddy Hodder, Harry Fletcher, Stene Pijper, Mickie Simpson, Ollie Binns, Ryan Ingram, Jack Shimelt, Ace Pijper, Jamie Etherington, Jordy Loftus, Senna Summers. BRITISH YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP (500cc): Charlie Luckman, Kayden Mundy, Rocco Webb, Jayden Bailey, Oli Bovingdon, Dylan Huthwaite, Casper Kluczniak, Liam Morris, Stene Pijper, Emerson Betty, Ollie Binns, Charlie Southwick, Seth Norman, Harry Fletcher. BRITISH YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP (250cc): Kane Newby, Finley Theobald, Archie Rolph, Demi Blu Harris, Charlie Fletcher.

Yes i thought that Kurtz was earmarked for "Northampton" but i suspect the longer that things dragged on over the winter, then Kurtz would have run out of patience and needed to get his 2026 calendar sorted out, so had to stick with BV. As for the current predicament, perhaps as Peter Oakes suggested recently, Northampton could be helped-out, by way of being granted "special dispensation". For instance, being allowed to try and sign a rider (of suffiently good standard) who is only required to ride in home matches. Whilst this wouldnt solve the problem of being vulnerable to heavy away defeats and a poor attraction, maybe a little flexibility with guest rider averages could be allowed with the proviso that those riders do not appear in heat 15?

To have a sixth team, yes, but the thought of it being better than any of the existing teams, I think they coughed at that one. 🤣

They're doing better than I expected actually, with some close(ish) scores away without them ever really threatening to win a match. What hasn't helped them is the fragility of the league and a club's inability to cover adequately for injury, this has been shown over the last few years with the loss of Doyle x 2, Sayfutdinov, DJ Woffy etc. etc. the strength in depth of the league is just not there when one of the "big" points scorers gets injured.

Line up for R1 Toruń:

I dont think the FIM give a toss about speedway .except the money they can take from licensing and FIM event promoters , they certainly don't care enough to to make any effort to promote speedway across the world , they actually do very little on behalf of speedway. and apart from the loss of money wouldn't care if speedway no longer existed

Agreed. Support through thick and thin. Plus, 2026 is very much a consolidation year given how late they started. I'm not sure what some people expected?!

Agree with a lot of this... but I would suggest that they would need to have at the very least a competitive team for their home fixtures to keep the interest going... and without a proper facility for Iversen... and now needing a decent replacement for Zagar... it's going to be very difficult for them to be competitive... I do remember one season at Eastbourne where we were fighting at the bottom of the table for the whole season... in the end finishing second bottom above Swindon... but the majority of the home matches were close and exciting, and we did manage to win a fair few... so the home support was kept at a decent level...

Round 7 timings announced Friday 29th May Czestochowa v Wroclaw start time 5pm UK time Lublin v Grudziadz start time 7.30pm UK time Sunday 31st May Torun v Gorzow start time 4pm UK time Zielona Gora v Leszno start time 6.30pm UK time

they do seem to have some decent facilities at that stadium, more than most tracks and that makes a difference to make the night more enjoyable.(as long as they are not rip off prices) ill be going down when Bellevue are there,

I would absolutely disagree that success or failure on track is a moot point. No-one wants to support a losing team. And while I'm a speedway fan first and foremost and can get enjoyment from meetings even as a neutral, I'm not the 1,000 new fans they'll need to make this a success. At the very least, the league table at the end of the season should show 10 wins if you want this to be more than a one-season thing, and this isn't a team capable of 10 wins. As for who could come in, I'm sure there's riders out there who would welcome another 20 meetings, especially if they're already based in the UK like Jason Doyle, Tai Woffinden, or even Robert Lambert. And then there's Rohan Tungate, Keynan Rew, Luke Becker, or some promising young Danes? I don't know, I've not followed things closely for a few years so I might just be being unrealistic.

Ignored 👍😁

Sorry, not gone back that far

I wouldn't say they are written poorly at all, in fact it's very clear, riders use their most recent average. Jeppesen has a 2026 Champ ave, but doesn't have a 2026 Prem ave, so they use his Champ ave converted. I think this rule is stupid, but also very clear.

Musielak gets a wildcard for the 3 finals

It wouldn't be an upgrade. It would be a facepalm.

Probably was for Jakobsen but he has said now fit, but worky need 2 guest reserves this weekend

In the Speedway Star NKI said it could be up to 12 weeks before the doctors give him the all clear to fly... Possibly 3 months of not even a six month season?... Ridiculous... They need some support given its a brand new venture with zero "recent" history... Luke Becker doing well in Sweden tonight...

Does anyone else think it's crazy that Northampton are not being granted a full facility for the missing NKI...? It's not their fault that he's injured and it's not their fault that he's being advised not to fly because of his injury... Surely this is a perfect example of where the infamous "In the best interests of the Sport" rule should be applied... We have a new track starting from scratch, trying to attract and retain new fans... but in a sport that prides itself on having No Brakes...they are being asked to operate with an artificial hand brake applied... Seems ridiculous!!!!

You might want to think again as he is already upto speed as he finished 2nd in the Italian championship meeting and it was the very first meeting he’d competed in !

Im not sure Sam is someone who could be “payed off” he is from a family with a long speedway and motorcycle racing history. Not to mention they have plenty of money of their own. I’m quite sure Sam dosnt struggle financially in his speedway career.

So Joe shows some kind of form and then go to hell he’s kicked out. Can’t do the lads confidence a lot of good. Damn if he does damn if he don’t come to mind. He can’t win poor sod.