cowboy cookie returns?

I’m not necessarily talking about the racing. The Portsmouth Southampton football match that was screened on ITV was as dull as dishwater. In fact quite a lot of live football I have seen has been uninspiring & certainly not highly entertaining for the majority of matches as you would think for a sport that is dripping in money. It’s the product people want to be involved with the entertainment value of the spectacle is secondary. Get the competitions & the overall product right.

I don’t get all this if there was more speedway at weekends more would attend. If you make the product & the competition’s something that appeals to the public then they would attend whatever night it was on. Ipswich have always ran on Thursday nights & have always historically & currently attract some if not the best uk crowds for speedway. The product & value for money is the biggest driver.

He has had issues with engine tuners all year. Started the season without one & hasn’t really got going. If the league structure stays the same & he wants to come back next year I think he’ll be on a quote bargain average. I’d love to see him back but I’m not sure he’ll be up for it.

Pure greed from Lemon. Something about him I can’t stand.

If the sport here was run in a professional manner & the supporters had that bond with the team as their riders that could happen here. We are now in a position where riders over here in the main are just hired hands who ride for your club one night & someone else the next in in the uk.

That’s to watch a professional product in a competition that actually brings kudos & means something to win it. I doubt they would pay that much if half the team doubled up in the championship & used guests to cover injuries. A far cry from British Speedway. If British speedway was attracting full houses & had people waiting on List’s & ballots to get tickets they could probably warrant higher prices. At the moment for many people 24 quid isn’t attractive let alone 27 for what is on offer.

Ipswich need to get off to a good start on Thursday. Kurtz & Mulford both had good heat wins at Ipswich last time out. we cannot afford to have a opening 6 heats like we did against Lynn in the cup or Sheffield last week. Game on let’s see what happens. Doyle alluded in his interview that Ipswich would rough it up & go & play on Thursday.

The play offs are wide open, it’s impossible to predict.

Doesn’t really matter between March 15th and August 31st is 24 weeks plenty of time to fit in 12 home league meetings. I am at a lose as to why year after year clubs struggle to make the deadline. Maybe the deadline should be August 31st.

Louis with the backing of Tru Group could be a shout. They already have a good working relationship with Deane Woods at Ipswich.

Ipswich will certainly need to ride better than that next week. For me it looks like Thompson isn’t fully fit & possibly riding too much. The team has been inconsistent for the last couple of months. Sheffield deserved that last night far shaper & more up for it. Now I’m not the biggest fan of Jack Holder or Simon Stead. However last night Jack demonstrated how to team ride hats of to him & Stead came across very well in his post match interview, and seemed genuinely thankful for the amount Ipswich raised for the riders benefit fund. A disappointing night all round for Ipswich but not the end of the world, could be if they ride like that next week! Finally what a talent Cooper Rushen is, his third ride in the second half 0.1 of a second slower than heat 2 of the main meeting.

The guys just need to stay safe & not take any risks if this goes ahead. looking at the forecast it looks doubtful if this will be on, if it is postponed when is this going to be run by Monday. Also given the Ipswich home meeting must be doubtful with the forecast in this part of the world this might also need rescheduling before Monday.

Speedway in Poland is the complete opposite of the uk. It’s a proper professional sport that brings in crowds sponsors & tv money. No Micky mouse rules guest feats etc. It allows a proper connection between the team & the supporters giving the tribal aspect. This leads to the chanting & people wanting to wear the club scarfs etc Its everything uk speedway should be.

To be honest there isn’t any option now. To few riders to little investment over many years, no real development programme & to few opportunities to ride. The sport has gone to far down the road to failure to turn around now.

It won’t work now because we are to far down the path to collapse. With the right business model back in the day it would have worked like every other pro sport that runs with a squad system.

Back in the sands of time if the sport had been run correctly a proper squad system could have been established doing away with guests & rider replacement. While also given opportunities to more riders for track time. it didn’t happen & we now have a situation where to keep 2 leagues going 50% of the riders double up between the leagues. Totally farcical.

Personally I think the play offs are wide open. Belle Vue have been poor on the road but Lemon will ensure his riders are jeeded up for the semis. Sheffield are possibly the most up & down of the 4 teams but again more than capable of stringing decent performances together. Leicester are possibly the most consistent team at the moment. They certainly cannot be written off. My team Ipswich, while on paper & with the results they have had at on the road should make them favourites. However since Doyle & Thompson have been back we have been inconsistent. Making hard work of things & not performing as a team against Lynn at home in the cup. Anything can happen these play offs are wide open & should be great for the neutrals. If you support either of the 4 contenders it’s going to be stressful!

To be honest there needs to be a way that in the event of the meeting being postponed any travelling supporters are entitled to a refund. That way you may encourage additional supporters to a travel. Yes you would still be out of pocket for the fuel & food etc but at least the admission fee would be coming back to you.

UK speedway was never ran professionally & the great chance of creating a future was blown when the Sky money was wasted. The fact that the poles have a product that attracts huge crowds, investment form business & more than one tv company broadcasting the league live is down to their hard work & running the sport professionally.

If the regs stay the same I think we could have the same 1-7 next year as we have now.

I’d be happy with that Ipswich team if the regs stay the same which I think is unlikely.

Unfortunately Dean I think you are right. The writing is on the wall for the whole of uk speedway. A very sad state of affairs that the sport finds its self in. A shadow of its former self & light years away from the Torun v Wroclaw match on Sunday. I really hope that a way can be found to turn the fortunes but I believe it’s to late.

Possibly Ipswich

Wouldn’t go anywhere near Magic he has been shocking this year

Definitely not passes on lap 1 are just the first part of the race settling down. I learned that this from a very experienced speedway mind on here.