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Still this one, the orgainal and going over 30 years! https://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/ The British Speedway Forum has been bringing fans together for over 30 years. During that time it has been far more than just a discussion forum—it has been a community. Members have shared countless moments of fun and enjoyment, formed lifelong friendships, including marriages, and, sadly, mourned the loss of fellow members. Through all of life's highs and lows, the forum has endured and continues to thrive, remaining a place where speedway fans can connect and keep the community alive.

Moderation on this forum ? Yes please, it would see the back of you with all of your aliases with any luck. I live in hope.

Following the unavoidable -- in no way the fault of the speedway promotion -- postponement of last Saturday's BSN Series Semi-Final, speedway roars back into Berwick (OK, Tweedmouth if we're being accurate) this Saturday, with Plymouth's Gladiators storming the Shielfield fortress. Huge kudos to promoter Jamie Courtney and the good guys at Landels Electrical at East Ord (01289-331545) for putting in the hard graft necessary to restore the stadium to its full electrical glory over the past few days. Remember Landels Electrical if you have need of sparky assistance, domestic or industrial, in future -- always try to help the people who help speedway! Although both clubs are in action on Friday night (Bandits at Oxford, Plymouth at Edinburgh) they hope to be at full strength on Saturday night: BANDITS: 1. Peter Kildemand, 2.Jye Etheridge (C) 3. Victor Palovaara 4,Jordan Jenkins 5. Nick Morris 6. Jack Smith 7. Reid Battye. GLADIATORS: 1 - Danny King (C) 2 Joe Thompson 3. Daniel Kilma 4 Ben Barker 5 Scott Nicholls 6 Azne Grmek 7 Ben Whalley. The appearance of the amazing 48-year-old Scott Nicholls -- a 7-time British Champion -- in the visiting line-up is a huge attraction. Ever since he appeared in third place in the 1989 British U-16 Championship at the age of 11 (racing, and beating, boys up to five years his senior Scott has proved one of Britain's best, as well as most durable stars. Recent maximum performances tell us Scott remains very much a speedway star -- as ever, it will be pleasure to welcome him, and watch him, at Shielfield this weekend.

Even when I started going in the mid 80's every winter 2-3 clubs would be on life support but some semi rich fan would step up and keep the club going for 2-3 years before rinse and repeat. I had stopped going by the time Sky stepped in and as many have said it was a huge opportunity missed for a reset but the promoters let the number one's hoover up all the golden eggs. From my time following the sport 84-93 in truth I'm amazed it has still survived to present day , I think as others have said probably the only chance of survival moving forward is to become a feeder ground for Poland.

I guarantee uproar from the supporters of any team that signed him until he scores a bagful of points , then it will be jason the hero he's done his time give him a chance . and far more uproar from the supporters of the teams he takes the points off , however that of course is all hypothetical now , because his second chance went out of the window on a nothing technicality , brought about by the very people who gave you the rape gang cover ups !! and courts that let violent rapists and murderers walk free

Interesting that he says "Poland + One League" next season means exactly that... Not "Poland and One Country"... Which means DU'ing for many, should they decide to ride over here and not Sweden or Denmark, will not be an option... As for his ideas for Speedway in the UK?... All very basic, and common sense, however, they are exactly the same as has been discussed ad nauseum on here for around 20 years at least.. And are all clearly needed... Hence, you can only presume that those running the sport are acutely aware of all the issues they have themselves caused by their lack of vision... But that they simply don't have the capability, be it either financial or the individual leadership skill set, to unpick everything that obviously will need to be unpicked.. Because, given how glaringly obvious the issues are, they would have already started to do so if they were capable people wouldn't they?.. Having personally been fortunate to work with CEO's and Main Board Directors of one of the world's largest retailers, for many years, Richard Coleman comes across to me, as someone with the same political nuance and "bigger picture" skill set that I used to see and hear from those at that rarified level... Not sure how the significant number who are quite happy in their own insular, hobbyist world will receive him though... As his positive vision for the sport in the UK will be a million miles away from theirs..... Best of Luck to him though, UK Speedway is certainly as low as it has been for probably 60 years, so what an opportunity for positive change.. Should those who run it be open enough to allow it..

Hurt himself? He put Reid Battye out the game for nearly three months!

I signed up to the new one after seeing a post on facebook saying that this one had ceased to exist and that the new one was replacing it. Clearly this was misleading - I won't bother with the "new" one as this one has far more history, members and banter.

Cook has let this team down masively this season missing them early crucial meetings which we could easily have won if he had been bothered to turn up. Just a pity Klindt was not available a couple of weeks earlier as I agree Kemp is not the same quality. I think Jackobsen is a decent rider but needs to just calm down a little and be patient instead of making stupid attempts to pass, he going to really hurt himself if he keeps that up.

so absolute major crime then !!! and definitely worth all the hatred he's going to get . went into an area he shouldn't have by mistake or deliberately . so hang him from the highest tree !!!

I have to disagree with the batch comment. Batch has been our best rider of the last 3 years. This season he's had one or two bad performances snd the rest acceptable. I would've brought batch back this season as well after his performances as number 1 last season. Hind sight is a wonderful thing but im sure the promotion probably thought jeppesen and cookie would be 1 and 5, with batch at 3.

And whose fault was that ?we had a massive opportunity when Sky was on board but 0% investment by promotions - they just took the money and ran - every track should have could have invested in track covers should have could have invested in junior racing like in Poland Sweden and Denmark - track surface should have been improved better grading equipment investment in stadiums so much that’s should have could have been improved so little wonder Sky Sports walked away

I posted what I believed is ideally required not what is realistic or possible

Today’s Speedway Star. He’s been here all of five minutes and he already knows. We need more Richard Coleman’s to come in here, because sadly I fear he’ll be a lone voice and he’ll be completed ignored. “Ipswich chairman Richard Coleman believes British Speedway’s model of self governance must change as he calls for the Premiership and Championship to move further apart in Standard for 2027”

B ) is not and never will be an option. No TV deal in 2027 would pay out the numbers to make top tier Speedway "exclusive". It's not just the BSPL that needs to give their heads a wobble, it's very evident fans do too. It's why a a whole, we don't get listened to either. The concentration has to be on maintaining and/or expansion of what we have. There's still this mentality amongst many fans that we're a big player and we're not, it's not even close. Banning doubling-up (if it's 2 leagues) and guests would be a catastrophic move in such a weak position the sports in. Selfishness is what is killing our once loved sport. It's as simple as that. Me, me, me, me, that is all that's the focus for promoters. Doubling-up and guests is not, never has been and never will be the problem. That is such a fickle issue to this sport. Years gone by, we owned the sport. Everyone wanted to be here and 1000's would turn up to watch. Terrific atmospheres up and down the country. It's now Poland's sport. We need to get over ourselves and embrace being their support act. I've said it before, we can really strengthen our position by being a feeder league to those guys and it's us fans and Promoters that need to get their heads out their ar5e and work with and alongside Poland. Only then, could the pendulum swing back or way. Switch the mindset away from rules and regulations. They will absolutely fix nothing for nobody.

Hope he does get a team place somewhere and can get on with his life, he's paid his dues.

Pity you can't drag your great track nearer to where more people live, but at least you don't have a Premiership Football club next door.

Or a tactical call off,rider availability??

In the Richard Coleman YT interview he mentioned how difficult it had been for Mark Lemon to put a team together... Quite an incredible scenario in reality isn't it?...😁 Sometimes, the lack of outside media interest, and therefore scrutiny, isn't the worst thing in the world...😁

Spot on its telling that most on here desperately want the support to succeed but I would guess 90% of us no longer attend and I must admit even if I had a track close to me it would take a lot to tempt me back even though I still love the game. The last four races from the world team cup where Poland pipped us in the last race were everything the sport can be brilliant racing, all four nations still in with a shout going into the last four races and the place going mental in the final heat brilliant stuff.

Think they're missing out there. Richard Coleman said the stats for the Ipswich steam show it's people well outside Ipswich who subscribe, plus those not fit enough to attend any more.

I get the sentiment, however, to many Promoter's, they are doing "their job"... Which, to them, is to put on a Speedway meeting with, (hopefully and ideally), 14 riders in attendance.. Any 14 riders within some ultra flexible adhoc framework... To the majority of Promoters they see funding their hobby, giving riders a chance to earn money, and putting on a Speedway meeting for people to attend, as being their contribution to the sport in the UK... Moving it forwards isn't on their agenda... Independent governance, jeopardy and consequence of meetings, prizes worth winning, and scrutiny of your infrastructure, costs money...

He’s a very impressive figure. Those that sometimes get the Speedway Star but not always, I recommend picking one up and reading the full piece about British Speedway as well the SGP and his thoughts on Emil/Laguta.

A few weeks ago, i gave Batch some clog on here. So to be fair, giving credit where credit is due, he had a good meeting Monday & seemed to be making a real effort. No more issues with bike? BUT! Dispite beating Holder & running Rowe all the way to the line, i feel he let the winning point slip in Ht14. Letting Flint (not a bad rider, but not scored a bean until then) catch him on the line was, in my view, poor riding. However, NKI coming in 3rd was also poor. Giving Batch & NKI benefit of the doubt in Ht15. Pickering seemed to be riding better lines & had more mph in his engine. Disappointing the scoring from Klindt, Lidsey & Zagar. That's 2 home meetings on the trot that NK hasn't stepped up!! Lastly, have to say that was the best RACING so far, the passing & re-passing was very entertaining. Long may it continue.

Who would be a promoter eh? Afterall we all know what we think we might or should do - but of course most plans don’t survive first contact or in a speedway sense everything works until the tapes go up!

Well, well, well...... the same happened at Redcar on Friday !!! Making a bit of a habit out of it ???

Did the football club help towards the cost of bringing the Electrical Firm in, or did the Bandits have to fork out the cost themselves (I'm presuming Landels didn't do it for free, of course, if they did, good on them) ?

Not racist in the slightest! It's just you trying to get attention by bringing up race. Clown

Holm Jacobsen is riding out of control most of the time.Needs to calm it down a bit.IMO

His own airbags 😁

I hate the 'they risk their lives...' thing. No racer is 'doing it for the fans'. They start out doing it for the thrill and would race in front of no one for their fix. When the thrill goes they do it for the money. Maybe they do it because the fans or the winning give them a sense of purpose, and it's not to say they don't want to entertain, but the idea that they are some kind of martyr is a mad concept I can't buy into.

Would be interesting to know who puts these teams together? Plain to see batchelor ain't going to take any risks anymore, if anyone comes near him he doesn't want to know. Holm jackobsen can't stay on the bike, it's fall after fall. But every season we are going with unproven riders. Vinny foord has not progressed at all. Signing Drew Kemp to replace Craig Cook has been a disaster, which isn't really suprising. Kemp would never be a replacement for cook, and before anyone says it, yes cook probably had to go, but should it have been more than one change while jacobsen was still on a assessed 5? So who does pick these teams?

Well done to Jamie and Martin Landels, have clearly been very hard at work.

Well what can I say 🤔 as predicted, but on a dusty track the water cart only came out in 2 of the 4 grading breaks, the last few heats were like watching through a dust storm, granted Lawson's pass in HT 15 was good, but the rest of the racing if you can call it that, was not exciting. But the pilots fans will be happy. On a brighter note was good to meet up with a few names on here 😃 and I'm now an honorary member of the NID corner 😄

Completely fair and no disagreement from me - Lidsey is a bit like Brennan at Ipswich you felt they had the chance to step up and so far they haven't made it! Hopefully both will. You would likely keep Lidsey on potential tho as you feel he will get back to where we think he can get / be. I did expect more than 4 from him however.

Just got back. Other than Jeppersen who battled throughout, Workington were pretty awful. Good crowd in tonight but men against boys. Track on the slick side and regularly watered but dusty later in the meeting. Race of the night heat 15 with Jeppersen leading and a Lawson trying to get through up the inside. Start of lap four switched to the outside and went all the way around. Great ballsy riding to bring the house down. Nice to meet Neila before the meeting. He predicted a drubbing and that’s what was given. Safe journey back.

Let’s be honest… nothing will change. This conversation happens every season and still the BSPA serve up this tiny little “Premiership” league. The fact they were originally willing to run this season with a five-team league should tell you all you need to know. Whether Sheffield run or not, the powers that be will continue to bury their heads in the sand until the inevitable “we can no longer financially run a league structure in the UK”. It’s very bleak.

Garrity's assessed average is too high for Poole

What is wrong with speedway? I’ll give you an example of the last meeting I attended. Bearing in mind I was converted to speedway from football 18 years ago. It took me over an hour to travel to my nearest track (I know that for many fans this would be a short journey) I got to the entrance, had to wait 20 minutes as there was one card machine. Into the stadium with very poor facilities. Bought my own chair to sit on some scaffolding. After every 4 heats, there was 15 minutes of track grading and watering with nothing to keep me entertained in the meantime. Within 2 laps of track grading there was already a blue line. Dust everywhere. Racing was poor, I have seen much better entertainment in the youth championships. This is nothing against the owners/promoters who are doing their best to keep speedway alive and I am forever grateful to them for doing their best. We need to create some sort of a buzz around speedway, make sure it is the place to go to. It is such a shame as I really used to love going to speedway. Speedway has not evolved at all to cater for the fans. How about introducing some more interactivity (I.e letting the fans ask questions during the meeting/ choosing which riders would be interviewed/voting for rider of the meeting). Or how about this for even bigger blue sky thinking: you take the top 3 scorers from each team and get the fans to decide which 2 from each team contest the final heat. People would say this would advantage the home team, but it would level itself out in the reverse leg. You could even do the same and have an extra heat where the fans choose who ride from the lowest 3 scorers from each team. I have said before, just get someone independent in to look at the sport, make some radical changes which we may not like. What have we got to loose? It saddens me that the sport is on it’s knees.

Needs to be moderated properly to stop the same few people having multi aliases and posting up garbage on nearly every thread, gets a bit boring after a while😬

I've given up, posted not long ago about how I haven't attended any meetings this year. Shame and sad. Reason one is money, I'm saving and losing speedway hasn't bothered me too much in the slightest, I only miss the chit chat. Speedway is now expensive to attend. Reason two is the lack of importance, Its sad that I don't care if my team wins the cup this year. I honestly couldn't give a monkeys about it. I could probably put another dozen reasons why I've given up but all of it has been mentioned previously. Until they implement real change I'm not going back. What does the change look like? I'm not sure but I want them to TRY something new at least. Its still the same boring usual suspects in the play offs with the same teams on crap tracks followed by tractor racing. God I could rant on but you don't need to read it. Oh and for those supporters still claiming the premiership is necessary, just look at your attendances, how many clubs are closing or losing money and if the sport is better off with it. I personally have completely given up with it. The premiership DOESNT WORK.

Can we shut this thread.

This is such an uplifting forum. When I’m feeling a bit down I love coming on here to read everyone’s cheery positive thoughts on the ol Speedway 😁

Because it's 2026 and not 1986

Where do live mate?.. I'll be around about seven tomorrow...

I’m on a mission fella!

I liked what they were trying to do at Leicester on Monday v Ipswich but it all fell apart when some of the riders broke cover and started to do some gardening at the starting gate and others were putting helmets on before their name had been called. Seriously guys, just don’t, show some respect to the paying customers. aaargh drives me nuts!

99% Not a fan of the flag, especially if it stops the rider doing a wheelie or some other such trick

I’ll also add, taking a victory lap after winning a race. Riders, just bloody do it, it costs you naff all and you’re doing it for the people who contribute towards your wages. Take it a step further collect the team flag every time and take that on your victory lap with you.

I think Emma Jones made a very good start. Never a fan of Abi and very surprised about how many people seem to have liked her, now she's gone. I got into the habit of muting her content.