mikebv

Get those fire extinguishers on stand by...

I like the idea of a Yellow and Red card system... Many stoppages are not malicious but a loss of control therefore give the rider a Yellow and rerun the race with him 20 yards back.. If he cannot make the rerun then a reserve can come in off the same handicap.. For any "deliberate" or "reckless" acts then make it a Red.. Watching a top rider try who maybe moved or touched the tapes, or fell off of his own accord, come from 20 yards back rather than being excluded, would be worth watching.. And considerably much better VFM than having him watching the race with the rest of us..

Indeed, The issue is more the lack of teams as the play off teams are known miles in advance, and the lack of any relegation threat.. Poland runs play offs with 6 out of 8 teams qualifying, however with relegation as part of their model it does mean each meeting still plays a part in the overall package on offer.. Even if it is obvious who may go down like this year.. There is no doubt that the play offs get good crowds because there is "something riding on them", the challenge therefore is to get all the other meetings that lead up to them have that stand point too..

It is... But, hard to quantify how much of a bonus, as very often some teams will clearly be through to the play offs months in advance, which then can reduce attendance numbers in the run up to them, as fans decide to give "dead rubbers" a miss.. 3 or 4 matches like that with a couple of hundred off the gate each time, and the extra come play off time only balances the books with a little left over...

When I watch the play offs at the NSS on the TV, the semi's seem to get a "normal" non TV match crowd, but not much more than that.. The final gets around 1000 more than a usual match I would say..

Hardly anyone really cares... Bomber will surely appear at some stage... We reach the play offs after so many made up, contrived meetings through the season.. And in one Division we have the play offs before the league has actually finished... Lets be honest, the league is devalued to the point of irrelevance well before any play offs start... Personally, if the Aces get to the final I will go as there will be a decent crowd, and a bit of atmosphere, a novelty for UK Speedway, and many of my mates who used to go regularly will also go along too... We will have a few beers, have a laugh, and if the Aces win then "whoopy do".. And if they don't then it wont really matter to any of us.. Many heats of top class Speedway will be what we judge the night on...

A 3 match Test Series would be even better... The Speedway Ashes....

62500 in Cardiff watching Wrestling... Shows what great marketing can do...

As we know... A great meeting in a two thirds empty stadium soon gets forgotten.. An average one in a full stadium, full of noise and emotion due to something truly worth winning being on the line will live long in the memory... Hence, sadly even great Speedway doesn't generate those full houses in the UK, and never will, due to its operating model which drives so many away and fails to engage thousands of other passionate followers of the sport to atrend...

In a sport that relies so heavily on confidence and split second reactions to always be under pressure for your place every time you come to the tapes cannot help anyone...

Indeed... Loads wearing club colour T shirts... It will be bedlam when (if) they pull back the deficit....

I like it . Not full on horsepower as you lock up a little more. Those who can keep their wheels in line the most by bike manipulation are the ones that can pass on it... You still need a fast bike obviously but also a good technique to find the drive needed to pass.. Full house I would think in the home section, and they make some proper noise.... The first leg was a perfect result for the neutral I would say... Torun will fancy their chances if they are even 16 down going into 14 and 15 given the two pairs they nominate from their top 4 in the team can without any surprise 100% deliver two maximum heat wins in their favour... Hopefully a cracker...

Should be a cracking meeting in Lublin... A good (if slightly different racetrack shape for Poland), which if prepared well will give good home advantage and deliver some great racing, and possibly the most passionate fans in Speedway.. Get the cans in and put your feet up on Sunday...

Indeed... All the promoters need now is to find 20,000 others of a like mind and they have cracked it... Might be somewhat of a "challenge" though....

Torun doing well.... Lambert and Holder certainly becoming influential at this level...

They also sell a TOTALLY different product to the fans that allows them to buy into it emotionally.. And that is fundamentally the most important thing you need to follow any team in a team sport... Chalk and Cheese when you compare the two countries... So much so, it is hardly worth being compared as being one and the same.. Always struck me the same as the BDO and the PDC in darts, same "sport", but were two World's apart... And inevitably one went by the wayside whilst one prospered, ticking the boxes of its fan base's and viewers expectations..

Dont get there too soon, or you may end up riding.....

For me... Six man teams... 9 heats where all pairs race against each other.. Heats 10/11/12 is lowest to highest point scorers at that stage.. Then 13/14 two nominated heats.. 14 heats with 8 riders having 5 rides and 4 having four... 2 x HL's, 2 x SS's and 2 x "Juniors" similar to how Poland do it.. Top league have the best ranked "juniors".. 2nd league have the next level "up and coming juniors".. Two leagues based on attendances, not "it is better for us to ride in this one".. Doubling up probably needed until development delivers enough riders (maybe one Div 1 HL per 2nd Div team?) but also clubs get to ride on their best night to get a crowd, and only ride on an off night when on TV.... Eg Poole should ride in Div 1 now but on a Wednesday... Seems barmy that riders can dictate that a team that would enhance the product overall have to drop a Div to ensure these riders can earn money in Denmark... 14 heats saves points money too so pass a 1/15th saving to the fans via admission, (over a quid at all Div 1 and 2 tracks)... And deliver a better RR process to reduce/eradicate guests, (it isnt too difficult to come up with one), so hopefully engage the many thousands who no longer attend regularly but closely follow the sport.. Or possibly just carry on as normal... .

Once more... It all goes back, like so much does, to no independent regulatory body or person standing over the sport, with real consequence for contravention of the rules and regulations not being followed... Nothing will change as it is just too easy to keep the same system, and carry on meandering along fire fighting (quite literally at one track!) as each new self inflicted issue surfaces... In short. A free for all for riders and promoters works well for both.. Does absolutely nothing for the sport in terms of credibility and integrity, which ultimately means no major sponsor or media coverage, but all the stakeholders seem happy with what they have got, and those who attend each week endorse what is provided by their continued attendance... Therefore.. Everybody Wins....

It is interesting reading the many wide and varied ideas as to how the UK can put a team system together that offers up a credible offering.. Rider numbers in teams, team strengths, team numbers in leagues, how many teams per meeting, who should be eligible to ride over here, races per meeting, and probably more ideas on top of those.. Some you look at and thing "maybe could work", some you look at and think "no chance".. Bottom line is "no chance" is the view that will be taken by those who run the sport for any of the ideas mentioned.. The majority of whom are quite happy with the current model as it is "easy" to run, (and if on occasion it isnt "easy" then just make something up in the "interests of the sport").. And the riders will be quite happy too as each meeting gets arranged around their own personal circumstances and they get to ride as many times as they want for any of the teams, as long as their average allows over here, whilst in many cases earning money elsewhere in Europe and also being able to pursue their own individual ambitions.. For the promoters and riders it is a perfect system.. So why would they change it?

What? No Kings Lynn riders? I get the Stars have a meeting but surely a couple could have been made available to help out Sheffield and Wolves again.. ...

4TT's were always the best to watch given the level of rider.. Unfortunately running a 20 heat 4TT could mean 120 points worth of points money to be paid out, rather than the 90 currently.. And say a team averages 40 points over four legs that would be 160 points worth of money to find from your one home leg... The traditional 16 heat formula would mean 96 points worth of money but again a 30 point average would deliver 120 points worth of money to find over four legs .. When some struggle to pay circa 90 now it would be a big ask... Personally I think it could have been done a decade or so ago, as fans still travelled to away matches, and having three sets of away fans may have mad it viable.. Not sure it would be affordable now, given hardly anyone has an away following of note...

With a No1 missing, just let the other 2 HL's take all his rides up to a max of seven per rider.. That way they can take 2 each of his rides, take their four, and still do Ht 15.. The manager may choose to not do that and instead let any rider in form do the same...

When top riders rode in teams and often scored 30% to 40% of a teams score, and more sometimes, with many running 10 point plus averages, with few bonus points included, and often took five rides a match away from home as a Tac Sub, you could maybe make an argument they needed replacing with a rider of similar talent... Especially in the days of 13 Heats and 40 points won you a match, one world class rider could contribute you 15 so was vital to the team.. Nowadays with much less of a difference in the top fives you could easily deliver a fit for purpose RR faciltly to reduce guests numbers.. If you wanted to obviously...

Spot on... And remember, even in the "halcyon days" when the tracks were often rammed with spectators, most tracks only had two or three fully professional riders... And that was only in the top league... One or two "superstars" and another "potential superstar/wunderkind" was what only the very top clubs mainly had... The rest of the riders making up the teams had "day jobs" and were very pleased to earn quite a bit more than a weeks pay from that job in just one night riding Speedway... Ride 20 times a month and you could have half a years salary every 30 days or so.. Do that from March to October and then work through the winter, or go on tour to Austalia if you were a full time pro, and a very, very good living could be had... Now we have "professionals" barely out of school, who cannot even hold down a place in the Championship, needing paying to fund their dreams... What a ridiculous system to have designed...