cowboy cookie returns?

Tonight at Ipswich being my first visit for a while showed up the one huge problem that British Speedway has yet again the rule book! The double point or T##t hat rule as it is now know within my circle was brought in if I remember to keep alive meetings that could be a whitewash. So tonight we have A KO Cup match with yes different rules to a league match no double point tac subs are allowed ok fair enough I thought as the rule is daft anyway. But hang on the powers that be excel themselves by not allowing tac subs of any type so we have a match that was a complete white wash & the visiting team manager had no power to do anything about it. So we now have team speedway in the same country with the same sides & 2 sets of rules crazy crazy crazy!!! Please please please can we make speedway simple & easy to follow with out the crap rules & regs!!

Most forms of motor sport have reduced the costs involved but at the same time they have mid/long term plan & not speedway's lets make the rule's in November for 4 months time.

Well written & spot on.

I would love to see an independent body run the sport as I have already stated however even I will admit that it won't happen! But you do need to make the sport better run so I would suggest the following & yes it might cost a few quid but years of cut backs & doing things on the cheap have only given us lower & lower attendance figures so this is what I think. Each Elite & Premier league club to have a junior side that races after each match. If a club is missing a rider for what ever reason they can promote a Junior rider into the team or run with rider replacement but must name a number 8 no guests. Yes its going back in time but if the National league could run with no guests in the 1980s I sure we can now. If the Elite league is to be a true Elite league then it can only run on one day a week to try & bring back the star names I would allow Elite league reserves to double up with a Premier club & by having the Elite one day a week those rider could ride in all there clubs matches in both leagues although in time I would do away with this double up rule. No more double points go back to the old tac sub rule. Team managers would be able to have there top 5 riders ride in any position within the top 5 this & the tac sub rule would mean that the managers can manage the riders they have to get the best out of them. League points scoring 2 points for a win 1 for a draw & a bonus for winning over the home & away fixtures More over the same rules to apply over both leagues & a 45 point limit for team building as that is what is required to draw a match & that limit to be fixed year in year out. So that's it back to the future!

I've been thinking about this over the last couple of day's and the way forward seems clear. If you want an Elite League with Elite riders then you have to go to one night a week for Elite league racing with say 8 clubs & then let the rest form there own league set up where they can ride on any night apart from the night that the Elite run on. If not keep the 3 league set up but do away with riders doubling up & down. They key to the survival of the sport is first off attract new fans & sponsors & I am sure that you can only do this once the power of running the sport is taken away from the bspa & all the rules that we the fans & the outside world see as daft ie golden double's guests etc etc are gone. If the sport was well run then and new people got involved then more young kids would see it & maybe want to become riders then the more riders & fans you have the stronger the sport becomes the eaiser it is to fight to keep stadiums open & the more money you have to invest. I have just woken up & know that we shall just carry on the same path until speedway is a once a month sunday afternoon jolly up in the middle of know way for a few to watch.

While the sport is run by the idiots in charge (bspa) you have little chance of drawing in the punters full stop.

Umm far more Elite riders than our Elite league & no fairground rules. I would say with good weather it would have been far better & lets be honest any speedway that is not run by the bspa will always be better!

Bydgoszcz!

So who is worried now? Off topic but one thing that seems quite odd is that the Witches dropped down because of a lack of funds but now a local Ipswich company sponsors Darcy Ward & Chris Holder to help fund there GP team.............

I agree the crowd at tonight's Swedish match looked low but my understanding is that the track is close to a village with a population of about 2000 so not a bad attendance for the area. The European Grand Prix seemed to suffer due to the weather from what I have read & I think it was also stated on the night. I'm not sure about the Polish league as I haven't seen any coverage from this season. It seems that at least the Poles are investing in the sport ie stadia etc.

Having watched the Swedish league match on Euro sport tonight did kind of show where speedway in this country should go. No daft joker rules Kenneth Bjerre missing though injury and no Guest so just 2 full teams of the clubs own riders using sensible rules to score 2 points for a match win 1 for a draw & a bonus point for scoring the most over 2 matches. Simple! As for the top flight over here then maybe the time has come to run 1 night a week..........

Interesting topic! Having been to Foxhall today I have to say I am concerned for the future. A 'bumper' crowd with large gaps on the home straight & first second bends these would have been packed 3 or 4 years ago for a bank holiday meeting in fact I think it would have been a average Thursday night gate a few seasons ago so concerned point one crowd level. Second point from today the 'blue grove' on the inside line. Now speedway is supposed to be a dirt track sport & the dirt provides the grip well today the bikes were spinning up on the inside so very little grip I suspect! Speedway as a whole needs to look at the bike & track set up & get back to tracks that provide grip & allows the riders to race but I guess you need bikes that can run on deep grippy tracks todays bikes I don't think can. British Speedway needs a complete make over new governing body new rule book & riders riding in one league for one team.

So that was my first team match of the season & not a great performance really we were so slow out of the starts but Gino looks good I can't say too much else on the team as I have not seems them ride as a unit before today. The track looks so slick at the moment & the blue grove was in attendance on the inside. From where I was sitting you could hear the bikes spinning up on the inside line so losing traction but no one seemed to want to head to the outside. Was the crowd really bumper? it seemed sparse for a bank holiday lots of gaps in the home straight & first/second bend.

Well I must say after last night it seems Louis was right over Lanham & myself & a fair few others were wrong.

I read today that Cam Rohan & Gino had been called in for extra training. A little tough on Gino I Though as we all knew that the away tracks would be a struggle at first but he has done well at Foxhall. I would have thought Morten should have been called in aswell after his performance at foxhall on Friday?

He took it too stick two fingers up at Louis I guess!

Farce Friday more like if the reports are true. Rene Bach rides for Ipswich in the afternoon then for Peterbrough in the evening return & we wonder why the sport is going down the s##ter!!!

Martin Smolenski

So the farce that is British Speedway strikes again!! Rene Bach Riding for Ipswich on the afternoon & for Peterbrough in the evening crazy crazy crazy!!!!!

I really used to love the good Friday matches but I am sorry to say that I shall be staying away this year due to us missing Worral & Ellis

Not sure if the sale of Jacobs is good or not I haven't seen enough of him to tell. It would be nice to see the link between Ipswich & Mildenhall start to bear fruit!

We should try & have a round of the European championship at Foxhall top riders & tv a little bit of lime light!!

Anyone know when press & practice day is this year?

I would say when Heeps & Tungate are ready for the EL & Scotty Nicholls wants a swansong at Foxhall is when we shall go EL

Not too long to wait now I wonder what the new race suits will look like? I'm looking forward to this season not been a regular now for a while but shall be this year.