THE DEAN MACHINE

atmosphere sounds amazing in torun today, as well as the riders the fans sound up for it

Before I started riding I used to be that fan that went nearly everywhere with wolves, on coaches to away meetings,it was always the same crowd singing away our songs like Brian karger has no father or we all hate the spoons to the American national anthem, great times and we loved our clubs no matter how bad they were at times, it was a tribal thing now I don’t even go to wolves that often and don’t feel an affiliation with them, I still love speedway but I can’t get behind a bunch of riders that don’t “ride “for that team, they ride for the money and anywhere they can get it,the sport has created this modern way but the riders have pushed it just like the modern bike, the riders have pushed the bike and nobody has ever held them back and we are now riding bikes cost to much for little reward and certainly no reward for the sport, British speedway has got to understand it’s a team sport on bikes not a motorbike sport and when it does understand that the fans are the lifeblood of the sport

Considering the score line it was pretty decent viewing, racing was good and fair play to bv for giving away some free tickets to booster the crowd, I saw a post last week from someone saying the riders don’t acknowledge the fans after a race , that criticism was clearly took on board by the promotion and was visible to see last night, Eurosport camera work is continuing to be a mystery, it’s like they have never filmed speedway before, not sure who’s error but it was clearly TJ in heat 14 not Jason Edwards, they had different colour Kevlars and different number on, Dan Bewley came across well as a co-commentator, something I have noticed at tv meetings is the noise of the bikes and the crowd and general noise is turned down and it creates the illusion of no atmosphere, it’s hard to create an atmosphere but there must be a way of taping into the live experience

Always enjoy reading your posts as you get the point of team sports which speedway clearly doesn’t

Did the tapes hit the camera man there ?

What was the crowd trouble about yesterday at ostrow ? I read it was a miss understanding between Leszno fans and the police ?

Laguta has been practicing at Wroclaw, could we be seeing a relaxing of the Russian ban ?

Just watched this meeting as I was out last night, good meeting, Wroclaw are lost without laguta, magic got away with some shocking rollers in at least 3 of his rides but made a shocker of a start when it mattered in 15, good to hear dan ok

I didn’t know that

I spent many a happy times at Birmingham wheels in my teenage years, not cause of speedway, I was there most Saturdays and Sundays either racing BMX or doing the ramps, we caught the train with our bikes, loved the place and it worked getting kids off the streets, sadly these days the area around the place is less than desirable and that’s being kind, a place like wheels is needed in every town, being brought up with a focus like bikes (motor or otherwise) is a good distraction against the pitfalls of those teenage years

Hope I feel different closer to the day but at the moment I just don’t have the enthusiasm to go, I haven’t missed one yet but this year the series feels a bit flat and I feel the next day would of been better filled with a test match or something similar

Last night at Sheffield showed the best and the worst of British speedway some decent racing and a close meeting and a couple of crashes to keep those who like that sort of thing entertained ,the rest well it was the very worst,

Interesting interview with joonas jeppersen then, he doesn’t sound pleased with the Częstochowa management

The days of the professional rider in British speedway is over, I warned a few years back this was happening offering various ideas at the time to address some of the issues we face on both sides of the fence but I was crucified by certain riders and their fan boys in the sport, until we accept the dire situation we are in the sport is doomed, I don’t claim to have the answers but you don’t need to be a fortune teller to see the dark days ahead, speedway is under pressure from external forces too but it’s main danger comes from within our sport

Random question but does anyone know if it’s in the rules to have a black spoiler on the back wheel, everyone seems to have them no matter what colour scheme the bike is

If Leszno could get bellego to get going they could get something from this, but realistically they will run out of riders in the next few heats ,Doyle allready had 4 rides

Have Wroclaw sabotaged the tractor to get the meeting called off

Leszno team today would be hard pressed to beat a British team

10 points from him and janowski from 8 rides is poor

Are we seeing the next polish sensation in Oskar paluch ?

Even the commentator has sighed a few times like he fed up

Heat 11 a decent race between 2nd and 3rd but unfortunately we get the cameraman who films for Eurosport and has no idea where to point his camera

I get they have to be seen to spread the meetings around but these meetings do nothing for individual meetings

Dreadful racetrack

Think you’re missing the point of team sports, the danger aspect is irrelevant , speedway is and has always been a team sport on bikes not a motorcycle sport, hence bikers don’t really go to watch, speedway should be like football or rugby, it is territorial, poland is a classic example of this, the fans support their team and don’t support any other speedway except the GPs in great numbers, they are passionate about their own town/club like football over here