martinmauger

As above, much respect. RIP....

S'right, I know folk who travel to watch live darts in a packed room where you can't actually see the action but watch on a TV screen. Like you would at home. Can't really knock the arrows game as it is very popular though it does absolutely nothing for me...

True. This ^^ would almost double my hypothtetical fortune. Sigh....

" My next door neighbour asks, "What's speedway?" ". Like many others no doubt, if I had a pound for everytime I've been asked this, I'd have an awful lot of money. A true tale I've told before: not one person I've 'actively encouraged', not exactly forced (!), to watch speedway - either in the flesh or on the box - has said "what a load of rubbish". The only semi-negative comment, ever, has been "it's just motorbikes going round a track". One fine day a lady at work and her family chanced upon beach racing, at Mablethorp I believe it was, and she and her family (husband, 1 boy, 2 girls) stayed until the very end. She even asked when telling the tale "was it the speedway you are always going on about, it was very exciting. we'd love to see it / that beach racing again". Not exactly extensive market research but, again, many could probably tell smilar tales.....

This ^^, plus meetings dragging on for too long. At Hull in 1970's / 80's non supporters club members could travel on supporters club coaches but paid a bit more. Join the club and your next coach trip discount pretty much paid for membership so quids in. Well prob 1 quid in. We took 15 coaches to the league decider at Coventry in 1979 and 7 to the 1981 World Final at Wembley and we didn 't even have a rider to support as the late, great Ivan Mauger sadly DNQ. Signing Ivan in 1978 certainly helped with away support, mostly there was a coach to every match anyway but Ivan's arrival guarranteed at least one and more often 2 coaches. Best visiting support to Hull at that time was probably Coventry, often bringing 2 coaches for a mid-week match. Think a few away coaches ran when Hull retuned in 1995 but fans made their own way to away fixtures. I miss the camaraderie of those away trips....

This ^^....

Adding my 2p's worth: the competition went better than I thought, Polish crowds didn't necessarily agree, flippin' brilliant watching GB battle all the way to the very last race. Agree it the final heat was more about who didn't finish last than who won the race, sadly some might say, but it was a pairs comp so probably 4, 3, 2, 0 scoring might have been better for the final heat, if not the entire compeition. And I enjoyed the tension/ excitement of the 'absolutely, positively must get a result' so-called pressure heats, and only have the one Final. We don't know the GB thoughts / tactics before the last Fnal 2 heat, but possibly riders aren't used to others slowing down in front these days to block and / or the charteristics of modern engines don't permit it safely. We saw the Zagar / Manzares incedent and in Final 1 there was an almost a repeat with GB v Smolinski, we could debate forever. I will say GB as a team rode the best they could and should be proud. Rossiter did the right thing using Lambert as much as he did, while there was no guarrantee Cook would have done better, Rosco couldn't risk maybe using a heat to risk it. He had 2 riders going good, so use them. I don't buy '2nd is the first of the losers', you can't win all the time and 2nd is still very good': use the silver medal as motivation to turn it into gold next time. Finally, Tai is obviously the more experienced at this level of the 3 GB riders, and it showed, and was on his own track for the Finals the others will no doubt learn from the SON, but whether some like him or not: he rode freakin' brilliant....

Speaking as a neutral, apart from GPs & SON, it matter waaaay more when you have someone to follow. Ok, competition of 2 halves, another meet to go then go to last heat, whatever, who cares some awesome racing & GB ARE LEADING !!!! Not often we can say that, enjoy it is my advice....

Oh and forgot manged to view the clip; a mystery as I watch speedway on Youtube all the time. Anyhoo; not perfect, as mentioned some framing & sound issues, but a good first effort. TV, &video filming and production is nowhere near as easy as many folk think so much to think about and remember, the OP asked for some feedback and got it, looking forward to the next one....

Nielsen & Gundesen were two very different riders with different styles, both started relatively unspectaularly results-wise but then acquired the same habit of winning. All. The. Time. If only either had 'defected' to become a Brit in 1980's, woulda made a heck of a difference. At roughly the same time Tommy Knudsen arrived, a very good rider but not quite the standard of those two. Then came along Jan O Pedersen, more Gundersen than Nielsen, but arguably even more exciting to watch. And another winner.....

"THE Jury is still out of a number of issues with the SON. Firstly, the title of the competition is a nonsense. It tells the greater public nothing, especially from a media point-of-view. It is a World Championship and should include the word world." S'what I've said alll along, no-one (non-speedway folk) I've spoken to about the SON, and I tend to speak about speedway a lot (!) had any idea what it meant until I told them. Most then said "why not call it World Pairs then?". I said that too. The dust will need to settle before more permanent plans are made, hope the return to SWC myself, so what if the Poles kept winning for fun, the Danes did before and England / GB (albeit featuring Aussies & Kiwis!) did before that. Too bad if you are not good enough to qualify with and race the 'big boys'; it's called competition for a reason, to find the best. Onto tomorrow & tonite then: so Rosco is gving Woffy Cookie & Lambert a run in the practice to see who is going the best to finalise his plans for the event. Hope they all go well and GB can give the rest a run for their money if not get a medal position if not win the thing why not, innit to winnit. You never know, though mostly we do....

Just seen this (don't post or read as much as some), not criticising I meant they didn't have ther 'grid-table' like graphic across the bootm of the screen as in the GPs showing e.g. Red Gate1 Tai Woffinden GB ??Pts, White Gate2 So and So ??Pts, Blue Gate 3 Robert Lambert GB ??Pts, Yellow Gate 4 So and So Else ??Pts. Y'all know what I mean....

I'd say Peter Kildemand is an a-typical Dane for riding style and that Martin Smolinski is a bit of a character....

Can't get clip to work for some reason (so much for Win 10 which is supposed to solve everything), so can't comment directly but making a generalisation: at many tracks the roving mic person has interviewed folk when bikes are running and you can't hear a blooming thing. Hope the new venture works out, good luck....

Should have typed "Have to say I'm friendly with someone who works for BSI and can confirm the race bibs in SGP, SON & SWC are designed and made exactly how orgnisers BSI & the sponsors want them". Still just sayin'....

Thought the SON went ok-ish, but the formula is well complicted, doubt viewers at home could follow it, the graphics didn't help just the minimal design unlike the excellent GP coverage. Track was good shape but needed more dirt on the outside, but can't beleive some countries can't even raise a team of 3 riders, there must be some junior who would at least make the numbers. I'd be surprised to see this competition continuing next year, it was supposed to make it easier for smaller speedway countries to compete as they couldn't get a team 4 or 5 good riders together, seems some can't even get 3. Also I'm following the IOM TT on ITV4 a well mental sport; 200mph through streets and villages. Don't understand the different classes, but it's still good to watch and peeps say speedway is complicated (ok, we know it can be). But as mentioned before I watched SON at my biker mates' house and they happily recorded the TT in order to watch the SON live, I may have neglected to mention GB weren't competing last nite (!), but we still enjoyed it. Still, Tuesday nite to look forward to, when GB will be rdiing, see how that pans out, I'd also go if I could...

Have to say I'm friendly with someone who works for BSI and can cofirm the race bibs in SGP, SON & SWC are designed and made exactly how orgnisers BSI want them....

And me 3, we'll see how it pans out....

Ideally both, but most suits don't match or show the correct number. Eastbourne changed their club colours to suit their sponsor, fair enough if helps keep their club in business, but the suits don't even have a logo or 'Eagles' on the front....

While riders know what they sign up for, who would really after travelling 4 hours or so, p'raps on a hot day, feel up to taking 5 or maybe 6 rides, driving home or to an airport, work on equipment (at least clean and maintain it) maybe make a few changes or repairs, then do the same again. Rinse, repeat until well tired. Riders reckon once race fit they mostly can ride 7 nites a week, it's the travelling that tires them out, thought about this a few times I for one need my sleep & really wouldn't fancy it....

Ona very similar subject, in about 2000 me and the girlf were thinking of staying at a caravan park about 30 miles outside of Hull, on enquiring in the reception among the usual stuff I was amazed to find 30+ leaflets advertising Hull Vikings. Never seen 'em before, nor had anyone I spoke to, and being a collector of such things I naturally 'collected' a couple. Reception was unstaffed, not a good impression, so couldn't ask who had dropped the leaflets off.....

Well so far it isn't exciting me that much, it's 'just' Best Pairs under another title and we already have a best pairs championship. I didn't see a lot wrong with the Speedway World Cup nor why they couldn't run both side by side and hope the new SON doesn't replace the SWC permanently. That said, I will be watching as I view as much speedway as possible, mostly on 'the box' it has to be said, and I hope the competition is a success. Interestingly, and I've mentioned this before, I will watch at least Event 1 on Saturday at my bikers mates' house and they will happily record the Isle Of Man TT programme to watch later as they do enjoy watching Brit Tai Woffinden going handlebar to handlebar with the best in the world....

The local Asda now displays a smallish range of leaflets advertising local attactions: animal parks, stately homes etc. Well today I picked one up which is all about Santa Pod Raceway, drag racing, and it occured to me that speedway could benefit from such a leaflet campaign. I seem to recall leaflets depicting speedway info & fixtures were available at tracks in mid 2000's. The numbers of leaflets in Asda of the same subject increase and decrease so are at least some are being picked up and replaced. Interestingly none of the leaflets I've seen in offer any kind of discount just the basic info: what, where, when and how much. Just sayin'....

I was talking to folk about speedway and everyone corectly guessed what Best Pairs meant and also the Speedway World Cup but no-one knew what Speedway Of Nations meant. When I told them they said "why not just call it World Best Pairs ?". Good question....

Another very good issue, only just managed to finish it. It must have interesting and at the same time extremely difficult due to the timing, but a great tribute to the great man....