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I’m sick of dusty tracks, it’s not just Poole it seems to be everywhere in current speedway and ultimately it makes for crap racing, put some god damn water down and if the riders moan tell them to sod off and do something else, it seems no consideration is given to fans getting covered in dust these days, Poole attendance levels are maintained by their winning ethos but for a play off meeting I thought that crowd was poor

So Kings Lynn needed Sheffield to not pick up a point at home vs Northampton and then win and take the bonus at Northampton (today) to sneak into the playoffs. Max Fricke, currently employed by Kings Lynn, then accepts a guest booking for Sheffield, and proceeds to score 9 points. Yeah, that makes sporting sense to me. Riders have no affinity to a club, it's simply a living. I always know this is how it is but there are days when I question why would I invest my loyalty to a club when the riders basically couldn't care any less what racesuit they pull on....

What’s BSN got to do with how Teams prepare tracks they provide a standard service to all tracks during the season.Hitting Clubs on the pocket closes them down these days.Silly statement IMO.

I do believe it, I’ve been there, I have prepped a couple of tracks over the years and have been in enough meetings to know how riders moan, the riders are the first to moan about the tyres not up to the job but you put dirt and water down which would help the tyres and they moan cause the engines which “they” choose don’t like it, this is why the dictatorship that is riders running the sport for the riders needs to stop

Really great to see Lawson back to his usual self, bodes well for the remaining meetings. Slater is getting better by the heat, Zac is a handful for anyone, Lewis was sluggish to start yes but got it sorted, Kyle is more than was expected, Will had issues sure but can still win heats, Rushen is pulling his weight too. None of the opposition will be taking anything for granted The knee jerk track criticism that inevitably follows any Pirates home win is just background noise, and the querying of why Pirate's fan's enjoy watching their team win is......kinda puzzling?

I think people are getting confused about the nexus of the issue, it’s not about tracks being slick, it’s not about tracks having home advantage, it’s about the practice of clubs allowing the track to be a dust bowl which does not do anyone less the sport any favours.

UK Speedway would benefit from a one hour round up, magazine type programme each week, with a couple of riders in attendance.. Making them personalities and identifiable... Mix in a few of the best heats from around the country, and a "what's on where?" over the next seven days...

Seems very encouraging and the reasons behind not showing the Premiership play offs makes sense but given that the final tends to draw in the crowds I would have hoped that an edited version could be shown on ITV as a round up to the season and whet the appetite for 2027. Also interesting to read Phil Lanning’s views on the subject. This also has some merit with a weekly round up rather than live meetings but the main thing has to be to get the sport in whatever format on a free to air channel to reach the biggest potential audience.

It is not Poole's fault speedway is on its arse. Speedway at Poole is a business, a business that makes money, there are not many clubs that can say that so they must be doing something right.There was passing last night but because Poole were doing all the passing some people are not happy.

I understand Poole want to keep winning, as that brings the fans in. But I don't feel it's a choice of poor track = winning, good track = losing. Poole have the strongest team, so why not prepare an awesome track for the fans to enjoy, while winning?

Put some f**king water down, heat 1 and it’s a dust bowl, there is no need for dust at all on an evening meeting

Fair post from you Gavan. Although about the world cup, i would say plenty of people moaned about the track at the time. But i guess that is just comparative to how tracks were prepared then. Although Poole was dusty last night (what can be done if riders don't want it watered) it wasn't deemed unfit like tonight at Northampton and bet no one moans about that!

Not forgetting a promoter who was famous (notorious??) for preparing the track for his home riders!!

I think that's an acceptable number, if you want paid more, score more, simple!

Quite a bit to unpack here: do you think the money that BSN pays tracks makes a material difference? In the best Sky years it was just over £100k a club but now? Maybe £8k. Boycott away but it won’t change anything. Secondky, clubs that take the mic? In what way? Poole supply a style of entertainment for their fans that seems to work. And, regardless of what people might like to say, winning is entertainment. Demolishing the opposition even more so. The co-promoters make a living from speedway - are they unique in UK? - so they’re also happy. Finally, what’s Morris got to do with it? He is CEO of the Premiership, something that should be clear to all. Whether that means the Championship don’t want him or the other way round, I don’t know.

Need to start boycotting BSN who give money to tracks like this, I am not giving money to clubs who constantly take the mic anymore, I am done, I would sooner buy a few streams from Belle Vue and watch that even though it would be a lot less value for money. It the only way, hit clubs in the pocket, the BSPA wont do anything neither will Phil Morris it seems.

It’s the scale of the wins, not the pure fact of winning. Surely more fans would prefer to see a 40-38 than a 60-18?!?

Dean you wouldn't believe the hassle the track staff have when they want to put water down. Lot's of moaning from the riders, which I find odd as same riders usually ride really well after track grades.

That meeting tonight was as entertaining as anything I have seen at Armadale this season.

Photo on the wall of a new wetherspoon at Manchester airport called the belle Vue, just opened 😄🏁

Riders running the sport as usual.

I would guess Poole! He doesn't get much credit at Ipswich.

Good job ITV weren't at Northampton tonight

Yep despite all the positives so far this really is a massive shooting in the foot.

Purposely didn’t buy the stream as we knew the racing would be garbage Cant blame the Poole fans for going though as I go to Ipswich when I can but wouldn’t expect a neutral fan to buy a meeting from Foxhall Trouble is Poole fans are just in their own bubble …can’t criticise the track can they Poole only want to win we have seen that over the years and they will do it any cost …. The fans are notoriously fickle as proved in the early 90’s when they couldn’t get anyone through the gates As for riders these days they wag the tail they are happy for slick tracks with no passing set the bike up to gate and game over Riders back in the day were far more skilled than the current crop you had natural motorcyclists who could ride anywhere not just the big fast tracks Joe Screen….Mark Loram and latterly Darcy Ward…. These guys could ride anywhere … the only one close to them is Bewley I always remember seeing an interview with Todd Wiltshire a few years ago saying the best rides he had seen were Mark Loram Darcy Ward and Andrew Silver at Arena Essex and the skill involved….and then seeing Loram race the boards at Exeter Poole used to be good …. Find the race between Havvy Loram Hancock and Hamill on you tube or the World Cup at Poole The fact is Poole is run as a business now and it wasn’t back then … to keep the Poole fans coming they have to win which means making the track crap to suit the likes of gaters like Lawson and Kerr Poole look after their riders no question but it would do Cooper the world of good to have a better home track

Nonsense. 😲 It is obviously a second half final. 😉🙂

Your first post isn’t all that clear,but since it is about dry dusty tracks I’m sure Poole are not the only one that is dust bowl.Again it is the riders preference.IMO

Other than Poole, Ippo or Belle Vue most other speedway clubs have near zero value and given Buster must have chucked in hundreds of thousands over the years he won't let it go for buttons and I can't see anyone willing to take it on either. To be fair on paper team looked decent this year but again just hasn't happened.. Re rising stars great idea but at championship level not premier level.

Most riders are blissfully unaware of the score during the meeting. But are fully aware of their own scoring.

I have nothing against rider want to ride inPoland and earn big money.Why should GB speedway suffer from that.BSPA need to sort it out though.If Charles can earn more setting pits good luck to him but not to the detriment of GB speedway.

Don’t see much wrong preparing track for home riders.Its a Professional Sport ,riders should be able to suss it out after a ride plus they visit the same tracks every season should what to expect and bike set up. Set ups are the Modern day excuse.!!!, throttle jockeys are the modern day rider though.

Proof that an audience is still around for British Speedway. TNT was just a hindrance to the Sport, It's a dead channel that changes it's name more times than Katie Price changes her appearance. Behind a pay wall as well and barely anyone who isn't already signed up to the channel would take out a subscription just to watch British Speedway once a week for 6 Months of the year.

ahh well all is well in the world of British speedway then....how on earth do you think last nights entertainment will attract or appeal to anybody watching/going for the first time?.....the average age at last nights meeting must of been over 50, so please don't come back with Poole are doing something right.

Quite possible that club's make more from their own streams than through BSN coverage. The club streams are generally pretty comparable to the BSN product, but presumably BSN has a bigger audience?

Because Poole are successful? It’s hardly the Ford family’s responsibility to save British speedway. That’s down to the management board so you should be asking what they’re doing about it. Leadership and development comes from the top but how much do we see?

I think they like to buy the Poole streams so they can come on here and have a good dig at Poole and the track, this forum wouldn't be the same if they didn't

Is that not the exact reason the sport is on it's backside? Pull the ladder up jack, we're doing alright...

Why are Poole one of the best supported clubs in the Country then.Name the Clubs with so called better entertainment with bigger Crowds.Speedway in GB is dying mainly due to the riders demands.IMO.

Why should it be Poole’s job to advertise the sport? And does anyone really think that changing Poole’s track would have any impact on the sport as a whole? It’s my view that, without Poole, the sport would be in an even worse position as they provide a goal for others to reach. And look at the delight when someone beats them. Every team can build to the same limit. But some give up before they’ve even started - or take chances on riders that rarely work. Before the “winter of discontent” (2010/11?) kicked off, Allen Trump said that when looking at team building for Coventry, one of his first thoughts was “what are Poole doing?” That hasn’t changed.

Whether its 40-38 or more in my case 49-47, a close meeting does add something extra but it can stressful too, and going home after a defeat always was a bit of downer because every season my hope was that little Arena Essex would at least win their home meetings because I knew success on the road would be rare. Take out the aggregate bonus point though and that changes the dynamic completely, scrapping a home win means a lot more, and remember when they were giving extra points for winning at home by more than six? I recall the late Jon Cook saying that often made narrow home wins feels like you lost.

That's the reason it's a 5pm start to allow extra time to drive from a southern airport arrival.. but probably a guest fest for the other missing riders. And they wonder why fans are pissed off

what a complete embarrassment last night was, Poole took track prep and maintenance to a whole new level, seen some rubbish shows in and around speedway over the years but that was an all time low.

What’s your professional view on this, Dean? Having never ridden speedway, my perspective is; Poole build strong sides that have the ability to entertain, so why are their home meetings absolute brain damage in terms of quality speedway? Is this accurate, or am I missing something? That was a complete waste of money tonight.

If they manage to bag an ITV4 slot then I hope they can put together a 6 or 7 Round British Championship where riders can potentially gain some bigger sponsorships and have these as the live meetings alongside the play off semi and finals A weekly or fortnightly highlights show would be good covering best action from PL and CL would be a good addition League racing wont work for live TV not speedway anyhow

There are parties still interested in making it happen for 2027

Ellis could be a bit on the young side.

Match fixing at it's finest this one

Not many do that to Douglas around there! Especially this year.

Agree especially on the rising stars. That’s run its course for where this league needs to be heading. There’s a real lack of talent in that age pool and they’ve added riders to the list that just shouldn’t be there. There’s also a huge disparity between the plum two or three that everyone would pick, and the rest who are just making up the numbers making it all a bit of an unfair nonsense. Set the limit and then crack on building how you want within that limit.

According to Rob Godfrey in the programme notes from the championship pairs, they are monitoring the situation closely and there are people prepared to run it