mikebv

There is a quite significant saving if what you read on the Newcastle and Eastbourne threads are accurate re payment.. With Eastbourne paying "too much" for the 2nd Division according to other promoters.. Probably far too simplistic, but maybe the conversion rate they use for averages is also linked in some way to points money conversion too? ie it is "easier" to earn more in the 2nd Division so you get less per point? I would also think that the 2nd Division teams could drive a harder bargain too as so many of the same (decent), standards riders will be relying on that second job due to very limited overseas opportunities... And. Let's be honest, given the crowd numbers the sport has, it shows hardly anyone really cares who wins either league title anyway so you might as well be "successful" for less.. Poole's crowds from what I have seen and heard are at the top end of the scale of any club in the UK, but wouldn't I would suggest get another 500 or so through the door if top of Div One rather than top of Div Two... And of course from an entertainment perspective you get to see virtually all of the best riders riding in the UK each week just like the Div One fans do.. I would also suggest that a few Div 2 teams should have taken the same decision and dropped down to Div 3 in a similar fashion, although to be fair, the Div 3 standard was messed about with which maybe dissuaded them from doing so.. 1000% the correct business decision for Poole, but not surprising as over the years they have made many good busines decisions... One of the sports major issues is the way some run it as a "money no object" hobby bringing salary inflation into it.. If all had to run it as a pure business to make themselves money to live, then I am sure many decisions made collectively by those who run it would be a lot different.. And the sport would be in a much healthier position because of it..

Let's hope the racing improves in the next three meetings.. And that we get the best two race tracks on show in the final...

I was expecting him to do a rendition of YMCA....

Headaches, fever, high temperature, neck pain, a dry constant cough... And moving early at the start of a Speedway race... All Covid symptoms....

Nigel gutted...

"What an atmosphere".....

Phew.... Glad Hans managed to get up after that.... The speed he slid off you feared the worst...

Not quite as good as the Polish play offs so far is it?...

I hope it's not another "five year plan".... If all the "five year plans" that this sport has had in the UK had ever been implemented.... The sport would be celebrating its bicentenary....

Were they South African..?

They had the European Champion. Who is a GP rider next year.. And sport often isnt "fair"... That's the premise behind it that makes it watchable... Can an underdog upset the favourite..? eg was it 'fair' that Anthony Joshua was several stone heavier, and a good few inches taller, than his opponent on Saturday? Didnt stop Usyk taking him apart did it? And the Polish RR system can cover a top rider quite adequately... You win or lose as a team.. Not a hybrid, contrived, "for one night only", septet... Because if you allow that... Not many will be interested in watching it, televising it, and sponsoring it...

What absolute nonsense... Never heard anything so daft in all my life... Zmarzlik should have been the guest allowed for Lublin.. Given Gorzow didnt make the final, they should have changed the days of the play offs to allow him to ride for Gorzow AND Lublin... Or at least allowed Gorzow a ZZ facility to cover his Lublin outing on the same day if a fixture change couldn't happen.. Thank goodness the BSPL dont run the sport like their Polish counterparts do... It would be a disaster wouldnt it?

Watching the presentations.. They just "get it right" in Poland dont they?...

If only it had a tenth of that.... Great to see Dan putting two excellent performances in... Certainly made a big contribution to the overall win... Got to be in the SON....

"Wind that "f@cking flag back up, quick"....

Hope there isn't a 5-1 and a 5-0 to Lublin....

Well done Wroclaw.... Another fantastic night of Speedway.... When it means something this sport is awesome.....

You get a better volume on the bikes and crowd noise Dave... And the interviews and panelists discussing the races... And I can't understand them either... Another excellent meeting so far again.....

Me too.... People moan about Kelv and Nige getting carried away.... They should listen to these lads...

Great race..... Some very good racing again in Poland... When it actually means something, it makes a huge difference doesn't it? Both to the standard of racing and the levels of crowd numbers....

Looks like a full house in Ostrow.... With the obvious knock on effect of a great atmosphere being created....

"FREEDOM FOR TOOTING"!!!

At the NSS the back straight stand is an 'acoustic barrier'... Seems to work well as when you are stood behind it you dont really hear the bikes. Height and depth I presume absorbs the noise...

Even if they faced Eastbourne in the final, and they dont have a team..... Good old plucky Poole.....

They do need someone to save them from themselves at times I feel.. I look at them sometimes like I would an "addict" as they often show some similar traits of the addicts I have had contact with.. ie A great desire for their fix (in this case Speedway and owning a team).. A belief that what they do and how they run the sport is "acceptable" although deep down many will know it isn't... A belief that they can make slight changes to improve their situation, but actually avoid ever solving any of the fundamental root causes that brings them so many issues.. A failure to seek, and then take, advice as to what is going wrong as the truth may be too hard to handle.. Keeping everything about them almost a secret and never letting anyone "from outside" in close.. And a justifying of their adhoc decision making to try and correct their latest self inflicted setbacks, rather than not inflict the setback on themselves in the first place.. With "Just making it through" seeming to be a clear sum of their ambition.. And just like addicts everywhere they will spend fortunes, yet have very little to show for it.... And by that in UK Speedway terms it means hardly anything in the way of national (and even local) cut through and recognition, and no major sponsor to lessen the money they put in as individuals.. . Therefore you would think that they would at least seek some feedback and maybe do some information gathering as to why so few now attend compared to even ten or twenty years ago wouldnt you..? The key for me as to who can help them are the many tens of thousands who sit at home each week and no longer pay their money into the sport in the UK... Even more people than the ones who actually attend I would suggest.. Yet these people will still follow the results closely, and attend SON's, GP's, FIM meetings etc in the UK, and have a huge love of the sport. (And even travel abroad to watch league speedway)... They just cant justify paying the kind of sums now expected to be paid to attend UK Speedway for the contrived output that is on offer.. Which is a shame, as the raw material of the product itself is fantastic... It's just how it is packaged in the UK that lets it down, and dissuades so many from purchasing... With huge irony the Promoters are both the saviour and the destroyer of the sport in the UK, so maybe opening up to their fanbase (both those who still do and those who no longer attend) and accepting at face value what they are being told could be just what they need to help them move forward... A great many love the sport and would be delighted to see UK Speedway flourish because, ultimately, everyone is on the same side.... As, if the sport disappears in the UK, (as it's current annual run rate of tracks closing suggests it eventually will), then we all lose..