BWitcher

It wasn't a rumour, it was confirmed by a number of promoters at the time. Actually Heat 13 makes perfect sense as the higher earners will be beating each other.

Lot of flaws in your argument there. If you went from 14 up to losing by 4 then your balanced team didn't get the job done. It's likely for that to have happened only one tac ride would have been used, giving a maximum of an extra 3 pts, so you would still have lost anyway in your scenario. I do understand your point however, the tactical system has always favored the top heavy teams. It favors the losing team less now than it has ever done since tacticals were introduced though.

Here we go again....

Are you living in some sort of parallel universe where the nation is clamouring for speedway to be on tv?

Belle Vue I would expect?

To an extent.. and as they are only on a couple of times a year it's a novelty. Still poor in the overall scheme of things.

All this just beggars belief. It's just so simple, yet 14 years in they haven't grasped it. TV meetings should be at vastly reduced prices, even give away hundreds of free tickets. Pack the terraces. Make tv matches the ones to be AT not the ones to stay at home for. Very quickly you would find it a lot easier to attract sponsorship for tv meetings. A guaranteed big crowd in the stadium, a vibrant looking product being shown on tv. The sheep mentality would soon kick in, some of those sat watching at home will think they are missing out and look to go themselves... NOBODY is going to be attracted when they see one man and his dog watching the current meetings.

Spot on Oldace. Somehow they managed to take the most powerful marketing too of all and use it adversely. Takes some doing, but they did it.

40/1??? Where on earth were you looking. 200/1 was his price! Correct he was.

I do get what you mean and again you've said it again. You must be living on a different planet if you think Kasprzak is an example of a rider with 'character' that people pay to see.

Precisely the blinkered, closed attitude that has led the sport to be in the mess it is. Excuse after Excuse.

And of course the total lack of imagination when it comes to promoting the meeting. For the same reason that speedway should want a big crowd. A large vibrant crowd will attract more viewers than one man and his dog watching.

To be fair, he was simply responding to a personal attack from Tsunami.

Fair play to you for admitting that too Sidney. To be honest, although we disagreed at the time about some of the talent coming through I didn't expect it to be quite so fast. Really not sure what the poster above you is talking about. Sayfutdinov, Ward and Woffinden are 3 of THE most exciting riders on a bike the sport has had in a while. That is what people pay to see, not interviews! Quite where he gets Kasprzak from as being one of the must see 'characters' I do not know!

No mention of Woffinden??

Again Tsunami hits the nail on the head, but fails to realise it.. "An increasing number of this type of 'fan'" he says.. ignorant of why that number is increasing.

I enjoyed my first ever speedway meeting in Portuguese commentary. I couldn't believe they'd found not just one, but two Portuguese people who knew anything about the sport! My Portuguese is still a little too limited to give a proper critique on their efforts but they seemed ok from the snippets I understood.

Its in Russia, I'd put money on it to be honest. Tapes went up very quickly and Emil seemed to know exactly what would happen.. I actually called it before the race. If an EL meeting had served up that racing we'd be hearing about how awful it was. The 'racing' was abysmal.

Indeed. Very, very poor show.

Great post Cockney Rebel.

They got a reward.. by scoring more in the semi then the guy who didn't make it?

Of course, every now and then.. not rocket science though

They will have evolved, as they do in all sports.. some will also have changed due to technology/environmental issues. No doubt increased Health & Safety will have added a few in too. But the core rules, those that govern the on track action haven't changed much, its still 4 riders over 4 laps, 3-2-1-0.

That team operates to a different rulebook though

They aren't equal. SCB explained in his post, there was far more 'manipulating of races' in the past in order to get a tac sub in the next than ever there is now. So if its 'fairness' you are looking at, the current system is fairer. If its 'manipulation' you are looking at, the current system has less. If its 'costs' the current system is cheaper. If its 'tactics (some will call it manipulation)' the old system was better. Despite the above, I prefer the old system, but I don't try and justify by claiming things that aren't true.