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Didn't know pilots fans had friends 😜😀. Sorry couldn't resist 😀

why would they have been granted an extension, theyve had plenty of time to sign someone? Some transparency would definitely help when ocurrences like this arise.

Sorry to be defeatist GM but I’m not the slightest bit bothered whether we get fourth or not this year. Lynn can have it. Neither club is getting close to Belle Vue over two legs. To be fair, none of us expected to with the team we were forced to put together.

He doesn't merit it this year.

Bunch of muppets in here. Batch has never missed a meeting for Comets since he started. To suggest he simply didnt want to ride a track so has pulled out of every meeting this week is ridiculous. Yous lot can't put your hate for Batch aside for one second even though you have riders scoring 0 every meeting.

I think you must have missed the point made in a previous post. He was released on licence with strict conditions. He knew what they were but still breached them and was returned to prison. He was then released again, and once more knew the conditions of his release yet still ignored them. And it wasn’t just being a little late for a curfew it was not being where he was permitted to be. There are many apologists on here for him but then there are those that were aware of his actions long before he committed the crimes for which he was jailed for a total of seven years and four months. And that is not a trivial sentence. It seems to me that he lacks all appreciation of right and wrong and, in my view, that is unlikely to change. Ever.

I think Belle Vue have simply built the best team. Yes they are very good on their own track but that's been cultivated as much as anything over a period of time. The obvious key for them now is avoiding injuries.

Think of that prize money for getting to the final........oh ok

They will just play the long game... In a sport with such an ageing demographic, the more the years go by the older those who attended become, and the less likely they remain in such health to attend once more... Plus, you also have to ask, where are the riders going to come from? 15 teams share riders now and struggle when replacements are needed.. Will riders be allowed to sign for two teams in the same division? It is UK Speedway so you never know... !!! If the sport was thriving then you would imagine it would be much easier to fight off developers, as there would be a clear demand for it, unfortunately, there isn't quite that currently... You have to wish them all the best in their endeavours, a huge challenge, but they have come this far, which is, in itself, a fair achievement...

Don’t know what they are expecting from Ellis, didn’t hardly pull up any trees for Ipswich last year when at reserve, can’t see that improving when in main body of the team

I totally agree!! Nothing against Poole but as you say they’ve had plenty long enough now to have signed a replacement rider, so I have zero sympathy that they are finding it more difficult to find a guest. They have been using Harrison and Kennett as reserve guests who are heat leaders at their respective clubs so I suspect they weren’t in a particular rush if the only available riders were weaker on paper than their recent guests.

Once again not picking on Poole, it just happens to be on this thread, but surely 28 days is long enough to sign somebody? Don't think any facilities should be extended beyond that really.

Probably under that new rule " in the best interests of speedway " and of course Poole 😜

My company used to send you vouchers if you hadn't shopped with them for four weeks... It takes 28 days of doing something, or not doing something, to make a tangible change to your life, including attending Speedway!! Yet some clubs go over four weeks without a meeting!!! Utter Madness from a business perspective... The kids are off now and this evening there will be hundreds of empty seats at the NSS, and 2,000 spaces on the back straight... A database, using e-tickets info, would tell you who had been this season and when.. This weekend, or even today, should see hundreds of inboxes of those "infrequent attendees", being filled with £10 tickets and free entry for kids, and an " x" percent off merchandise, (10% off twenty five, 15% off fifty quid?).. (When visiting any attraction someone coming away with some souvenir with the venues name on are more likely to attend again given the constant reminder they took home with fhem). Fridge magnet anyone...! Given they can go so long without meetings, non stop, regular, direct communication is even more important to keep them in the consciousness of their fanbase... During the winter too is just as important, sending Xmas cards, birthday cards etc... 3 million people live less than an hour from the NSS in Grt Manchester, what a resource pool to exploit!!!

CHAMP has been far too strong for a couple of seasons now to a point where it's been exploited by certain Clubs. Merge the NDL and CHAMP together to lower the wage bill and then put a block on riders who ride in any Polish League or Top Flight Danish/Swedish League from competing in the CHAMP in 2027. No fixture Clashes, Lower wage bill and a clear gap in quality between PREM and CHAMP over here.

Up to Jordan. Also if you stop your riders guesting for other teams then when you need a guest other teams will say no. Not sure that is a road you want to go down really.

Polish Ben Cook would be best 🤣

The sport is really just a joke now.Morris guesting for Tigers on Friday.You couldn’t make it up at times.Just enjoy the racing.

Jordan has been declared fit, and more importantly safe to ride. First meeting… as a guest. Not a gripe with Jordan but with the system that allows a rider to miss meetings for their clubs. Then appear for someone else. How does that make sense?

It is a huge challenge and it might still fail but it’s worth fighting for. Earlier this year people were saying nobody would travel to Northampton from Coventry now they are apparently. Stock cars are a bit alien to me but don’t the fans follow the drivers around the country wherever geographically the meetings are .I assume there wouldn’t be a fixture clash between brafield and Brandon. BE have to agree to sell I get that and there’s the Rub, but at the moment all the planning arguments are with the campaign group. And there’s is the money allocated for refurbishment of the site. Up the Bees

Our away form as been decent to. I think people are being very rude to the team marks built. Its a young team as well so was always going to improve as the season goes on

Been saying that for a while, definitely a prospect, had a good meeting at worky in the Ben fund a couple of years ago, now seems to be doing well in the GP2 and Poland

I don't think there was ever a rule about promoting junior riders - it was more a case of if teams had two similar riders missing there could be a "gentleman's agreement" between the promoters to use juniors. Certainly if, for example, one team had a heat leader missing, but the other had a second string missing, it was highly unlikely that juniors would be used.

I think Mayfield will be well aware of what can be achieved with the right team. They will know about the packed Foxhall Heath last year for the play off final.

I agree there are far too many guests, maybe only allow guests for injuries, rather than riders missing matches due to racing abroad would be a start?

It still makes me look twice seeing Northampton in a fixture list. Unreal.

Its ok you can keep Vinnie.

True, good point.

Ooops, that's who I meant. It's my age....

Gotta feel for Batch - scapegoated on this one

May aswel go with the youth no pressure on them and gives them valuable experiance, not going to do anything with brennan or ellis.

Tend to agree but a Play Off semi would at least bring a few quid into the coffers An enhanced attendance coukd also encourage Mayfield as to what is possible if they get the product right

To be fair assuming it would be Leicester is a reasonable shout! 😄 I get to see the Foxes again - it was 47-43 last time i reckon the Witches might get a few more on thurs but we will see if the recent changes have strengthened or weakened the Foxes!

i thought that was a cracking meeting despite the scoreline.

It’s Northampton we’re riding Thursday norbold.

Poole started using the facility for Bowes continuously since Berwick on 27th June. As the SCB regulation states: 010.5 FACILITIES g) injured whilst speedway racing This must be recorded on the Meeting Report by the Referee. This facility will apply automatically for a period up to a maximum of 28 days. The Promotion may apply to the SCB Co-Ordinator for an extension. Not seen this mentioned anywhere online, but must assume Poole have applied and been granted an extension of the 28 day maximum by the SCB Co-Ordinator?

Deserved win for Stars, quick rider summary after watching on BSN King’s Lynn Fricke - Woeful, looked so uncomfortable on him track for a rider with such experience Rushen - Did more than expected even if a bit erratic Harris - Definitely a Bomber type track tonight and he put the points on the board and bar race with Rowe he dominated Cook - Frustrating for Lynn fans, 8 pointer in Ekstraliga, 5 pointer in Premiership, seemed to just go through the motions Kvech - Up and down night Edwards - Scored more than Jenkins would have done so did what you want from a guest in beating opposite rider and more Scott - Excellent performance from the rising star, lovely style on the bike Sheffield Lawson - Hot & Cold, no replacement for J.Holder whose usually good for double digits there Rowe - Top drawer, has to be his best performance for Sheffield Holder - What you expect nowadays, very Klindt like fast out front so poor when behind Flint - Poor early doors came to party late on did what was expected in the end Pickering - You’d think he never ridden the place, poor on track decision making in just about all his races, needs to walk the walk rather than talk a good game if wants to be at the top table Etheridge - Rode like a novice, awful performance Kileen - Slow all night again, didn’t make one start, track dominated him rather than him racing on track

It's a credibility thing for me. I don't pretend to have the answers but borrowing riders from a rival team in a 6 club league is just bonkers. I'd get rid of guests completely if it was possible but even if not they need to be absolutely minimised.

Ellis replace lawson give over hes awful

It does show the state of UK speedway though that due to the complete lack of riders in the UK a fella who 10-20 years ago would have been axed sharpish is pretty much bullet proof and theres another 8-10 like him sadly.

If Craig Cook was a 3 point rider I still wouldn't want him.

Makes Northampton weaker in my opinion.

Surprised Batch has gone.... Been decent recently... Does Mike need him, or Matej, at BV come play off time..?. Fair play to make the changes though, Matej just phones it in nowadays...

Craig Cook reassessed to a 5?

100%, however, at least, 10 years too late... When the Sky money went, and most of the worlds best with it, they should have pulled up the drawbridge and set out their own pathway... Instead, they decided to let Poland and the FIM dictate when they could and couldn't run.. And the 2nd tier got used to having tier one level riders getting subsidised by the upper level... With tier one happy, now the Sky money had gone, to use these riders also at a "reduced rate" compared to having to pay out for these riders by themselves... The result? Too many places being taken by too few riders, which then stifled development of UK riders, with a non stop stream of foreign journeymen entering and leaving using the UK Speedway revolving door... And, just to compound things, to ensure riders could DU, race nights were fixed, (not necessarily the best ones), but that was the only way clubs could actually put out a team of seven riders.. (Apologies, I mean it was done so GP riders could ride over here, because if they did the crowds all around the country would boom wouldn't they, and TV companies would fall over themselves to tender to cover it?!!!!) You have to hope that someone can see what not to do (ie the same old, same old), and build a clear strategy for growth... I like Richard Coleman's comments about just 300 extra at every track would be a game changer, as that puts into perspective where the sport actually is, and is surely a tangible realistic attainment given the conurbations so many tracks sit in... 300 x £20 is £6,000 x 15 matches per season = £90k... It must be worth paying someone a grand a week to try and get 300 extra punters through the door, (any random 300, they don't have to revisit), given the tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, if not millions, on the doorsteps of UK Speedway tracks, less than 45 mins away... Whatever they do decide, this time they cannot afford to keep getting it wrong..

Batchelor has aggrevated an years old left knee torn ligament injury riding the last few weeks at Northampton. Ultimately it's flared up over the last few weeks riding on a rough surface. Comets team boss has confirmed that is the case in a local interview, this weekend is due to be the first meetings he's ever missed in 3 seasons riding for the Comets.

The irony of you calling me a muppet & thick with a post with 2 commas & then a capital letter after them is hilarious, even by your standards.

Batch gets a lot of hate on all public forums/social media platforms. As a comets fan, I dont have a bad word to say about him. Yes its frustrating when he pulls up at the back, but the guy has quite often saved us from being an embarrassment over the last couple of seasons. He hasnt missed a single meeting for us and often scores 8+ points a meeting. We would have had a lot of thrashings last season, more so than we got, if it weren't for batch.

👋 Surely the likes of Dan Thompson can't make a living from watching Speedway sat in the pits in Poland? And he needs to remember that when signing his contracts.

Following the Bates announcement on Monday, it's clear that the Premiership can't continue to exist in its current form in 2027. In the past 18 months we've lost Oxford and Birmingham and it seems certain that Sheffield won't be back for another year. Decades of the sport's mismanagement has finally come to a head. Bending over backwards to comply with an agenda dictated by Poland has had its day. British speedway needs to set its own agenda and not kowtow to foreign stipulations. If it means saying a permanent goodbye to riders preferring to seek their fortunes elsewhere, so be it. For survival we need a single nationwide league of 12/14 teams of riders committed 100% to British racing between March and October. A 24/26 match league programme plus a further 8/10 matches in a split north-south KO cup competition will guarantee teams a weekly match programme (just as it used to be!) The loss of a few "fancy-Dan" racers to Poland will mean much more money available to the rest who wish to compete in the UK, and a sensible rider payment policy will provide ample earnings potential for riders over a guaranteed 36-match season. It now really is a battle for survival of the sport; was it Einstein who said that to go on doing the same things expecting different results is the definition of madness?