mikebv

Or detuned on tracks like this... No chance of an overtake on this "concrete with dust"...

Looks like they are riding on glass...😀 Edit. Obviously a ploy to give Nicki and the other gaters a chance v the racers of Wroclaw... Not working so far is it? 😁

Had it only once... A week in bed... Lost over a stone and a half... Could do with getting it again...

Makes sense to say yes... Two consecutive nights means zero time to get fit should anyone crash on Friday.. Bringing the next in line over in less than 24 hours would be unrealistic I would suggest, so promoting Harris into Saturday would be the easier option.. Edit. And also means competitive racing when, or if, they are needed..

As everyone kniws, pretty much all riders get their overall average based on a home average being higher than their away average... Meaning therefore that "6 point riders" will, for most, deliver around a seven and a five... No surprise when they perform poorly away then is there?

It needs to be a radical plan.. Five rider teams maybe to ensure enough riders fill the spots... You could have 12 teams in the top tier, 2H2A, and then 'x' amount of teams in tier 2 running at NDL level with the same 2H2A... 60 riders needed for tier one, with all clubs racing on the best night for them, and not Poland, Sweden or Denmark... Bringing back the GP stars hasn't, as far as I can see, brought back thousands of fans who have stopped going in the past 15 to 20 years, with the UK's Mickey Mouse operating model, and dozens of play off qualifiers, resulting in many who still follow the sport on TV, and going over to Poland, simply "not bothered" enough to attend the POQ's in the UK.. As for admission charges dropping? Good! So they should given there will be a clear drop in level from the current tier one and tier two. The lowering of admission would more certainly reflect the standing of the sport more accurately, rather than the current numbers which are only in place to try and pay riders who are expected to spend big on their kit.. At the NSS, as great as the racing is, it is £54 for me and my lad to watch essentially 15 mins of action. That simply isn't sustainable for UK Speedway.. Less number of professional riders, spending less on equipment, will mean less admission costs needing to be charged.. Charge me and my lad £40 and you would definitely get us there far more often than is currently.. I can watch the GP stars on TV, and over in Poland when we visit, so them not being at the NSS won't stop me from visiting... The current admission costs in place to pay them ride in some "contrived" competition, on a Monday evening, does...

As it should have been as soon as the GP rider mass exodus started over a decade ago..

Kurtz simply couldn't get outside for the first two laps due to having two Lions between him and the fence... He then decided that he was never going to get out there in time to build up enough momentum to pass them in the two laps left, so stayed inside, running closer to the kerb to find that extra bit of grip the NSS has down there.. Nearly worked too...

No! No! No! We must keep team racing with seven riders per team, 15 heats of four lap speedway, and maintain the excellent facility to upgrade your team by using better riders from your competitors on an adhoc, make it up as you go along, basis... The riders should be expected to have at least £20k of kit available at all times and the promoters can then pay them several times that.... And do so through an admission fee that bears little correlation to the standing and credibility of the sport, but has everything to do with paying out those tens of thousands to riders so they can be fully professional in a sport that barely generates 20,000 visits a week from 20 matches across the country... Keep that fantastic operating model that devalues any and all competition's, and there really is no need for any change at all... Rinse and Repeat, roll on 2026... Next on the agenda. Find the next cannon fodder team to make the top tier up to seven teams, rather than doing anything radical...

Are they still sulking about him not being a permanent wild card for the GP's?..

Poland desperate to get Dudek back into the GP's....

With the saddest thing being that all this was crystal clear before a wheel was turned... The Birmingham riders will earn a good few quid guesting for Leicester, Oxford and KL I would think, as I am not sure they would want a rider from a potential play off rival to help them out.....

Which, to put some perspective to it... Around 35 to 40 UK top tier meetings worth of fans...

Kurtz and Bewley....... PC and Mort couldn't have done it any better... And that is the highest praise I can give them having watched those two in Ht13 in those days winning many a 5-1....

That was exactly the same case over 2 years ago... Why did the penny never drop?

Lewis Kerr riding around bends 3 and 4 twice.. Quality coverage....😀

We say it every time for the TV matches... They do p1ss all to attract a decent crowd in for nothing more than a play off qualifier... They therefore get the crowd, and all the negative impression of the sport it creates on TV, that they deserve...

Some are not looking too healthy to be honest....😀... Several hundred with very, very red faces looking at the Grandstand... Oh hang on, no, they are seats....

Riders riding in several leagues can easily outlay well over £30k a season... They need some decent money to make sure it justifies that level of outlay... Hellstrom-Bangs, a couple of years ago, said he spent well over £100k, on his equipment and tuning, in an interview in the Speedway Star, and said that is what is needed to give himself the best chance of success, particularly in Poland...

A completely different outlook then, from now... Big crowds provided "working men" with additional income, who, often several evenings a week, earned, on each evening, more then they earned in a whole week of doing their "day job"... Only the very top riders had the sponsorship and salary band to make Speedway their profession... Nowaday much smaller crowds (maybe a tenth of 40 years ago?), are funding even juniors as full time professionals for at least 6 months of a year, (and for some all year!)... With the ultimate irony being of course that promoters expect their riders to spend tens of thousands on kit, so they pay them even more tens of thousands in salaries... And then collectively get together and devise an operating model that pretty much devalues hugely every single competition they "desperately" all want to win!!! Unsustainable madness and a true race to the bottom, as has been seen over the past 30 years or so, with absolutely nothing changing.... (Other than we had a green helmet cover for a while, which, very surprisingly for me, didn't bring tens of thousands of fans flocking back)....

Birmingham should have been allowed to ride in tier 2, on Mondays... A complete waste of time, money, and credibility for the league itself, allowing/making them ride in tier 1...

I came back to the sport when the Aces went to Kirky Lane in 88, and remember paying either £6.50 or £7 to get in... It went up to £8 within a couple of years! A huge inflation busting % from the initial cost I paid.. This for me was the start of the "big" decline in attendances as, year after year, as disillusioned fans stopped going, the promoters, (instead of doing some research as to why their crowds were dropping), started to offset the drop in income by more inflation busting annual increases... The result being the vicious cycle of less fans turning up, more increases, less fans turning up, more increases, less fans turning up, etc etc etc.. Even today, no research is done as to why fans (many of whom still passionately follow the sport), don't attend.. Many clubs have more followers on their Facebook pages than visit the track each meeting, (their own fans, not generic fans of other clubs who "join in").. With some having several thousand than actually turn up to watch.. Social Media is a perfect mechanic to gain some feedback and then take action to rectify the issues and move forwards.. It will never get used...

But! But! But!.... It's about winning three of the most prestigious, financially rewarding, and publicity gaining, sporting titles you could ever hope to win in any sport in the UK!!!!! It's definitely not about growing the sport in UK, and making the international team so successful that the wider mainstream media take notice of it, (like they did when "England" consistently ruled the roost and like EVERY other sport, that isnt football, focuses on to get their slice of the publicity left that football hasn't used up)... And it's certainly not about having plenty of riders to fill in for absent riders without resorting to using credibility destroying guests, (because they are a "necessary evil" don't you know?) .. ... No, far better to keep flying in the Speedway equivalent of a dozen and more "Carlos Kickabout's" with all of them making it very, very clear, that you are the (at best), third of their priorities, behind Poland and their relevant home nation's league... As you say, madness.... But, not surprising...

The sport does have "more than enough" of a following of those who "love it", yet what it never does is target market them.. Why do those who turn up (every year) at tracks on BH's then sometimes never attend again that year? And, more importantly, who are they? The club's spend nothing to directly market their product to individuals who actually purchase their product "sometimes", or even "semi regularly", yet spend millions on riders, who, clearly, don't put many extra bums on seats by their attendance.. You only have to have an email or a mobile number to see how businesses try to keep punters coming back, as you get bombarded with "special offers" once you have purchased something off them.. Speedway in the UK would be far more successful than currently if it just got those who do know about it, actively follow the sport on TV, and also attend occasionally, to make more visits.. You do that by using the information your punters provide and then target them with specific personal offers to try and attract them to attend.. Much easier than expecting 500 "newbies" to suddenly attend is to get 500 "non regulars" to attend with some inducements, and, as we know, the bigger the crowd, the bigger the atmosphere, meaning, potentially, the more chance of crowd levels consistently improving, as the virtuous circle gets turning.. An example is the BF. The crowd must have been around 2000 down on the previous year. Therefore all those who didn't attend, but did the year before, should by now have had an email offering them 15% off next years event.. Speedway doesn't need loads of "new fans", it just needs to get more repeat visits from those who actually do follow it.... To do that however, you need a marketing strategy fit for the IT generation of 2025...

If the Colts were "the only ticket in town" then their crowds would be up around 1000, and maybe more, I would suggest .. It is indeed good family value but, for many, that is on top of already paying out for watching the Aces, either the week prior or the week after... As for newbies? The "World Famous Belle Vue Aces" would hardly get a recognition nod door to door in Gorton, Longsight, Levenshulme, and City Centre Manchester, therefore not much chance of the Colts being known in areas "on the doorstep"... You only need to see the response when fans get asked to pay just six quid more to watch a double header after the main event featuring their NDL team to see how little regard and interest so many with a team in tier 1 and 2 have in "junior speedway".. As I said, maybe if that was the only speedway they had, many would attend...?