mikebv

Well done Craig Cook.... Slowly but surely moving into circa world class level.... Reputation globally also starting to develop...

Went a few times early to mid nineties and it was a fantastic race track... Rose tinted glasses maybe but it seemed every heat was in doubt till last bend last lap... Sad to hear of its demise...

3 when you include the one at Leicester..😁

Good ideas.. However, over the years those who run the sport have had thousands of pieces of unsolicited feedback via forums and printed Speedway media.. The outcome? We are where we are, nothing has changed, but to be fair, why do they need feedback from the fans and ex fans?. Such are the glaring deficiencies and flaws in the operating model only a blind man could fail to see the issues... Those who run Speedway in this country are acutely aware of why people don't attend in the numbers that they used to, hence Buster had a mission for more integrity, credibilty and cost cutting to be brought into the Sport to reduce outgoings and ultimately maybe reduce admission costs.. Knowing the issues and then solving them though are two very different things.... On the very slim chance that those who run the sport do not actually know why crowds are down, maybe instead of the onus being on fans to tell them off their own backs, some kind of BSPA commissioned market research could be done to find out why?.. If my business was failing, the first thing I would do is seek feedback as to why.... Ultimately, I really do think the Promoters have given up ever turning the Sport around in this country such are the issues and the incredible adhoc decisions made daily and weekly to get round them... Cobbling together any old 'Barry White', using any abstract selection of riders, on any random evening just to complete a Speedway Season, is truly the best they can come up with I reckon...

It is often mentioned that 'new' fans are key to the future of the Sport in this country.. However, I would suggest just getting those of us out there who give Mickey Mouse meetings a miss to attend far more regularly, by running the Sport properly, would also deliver some very good turnover and growth.... I, like many, used to attend my home track every meeting, around 50% of the aways, and would quite often go and watch a couple of meetings a week elsewhere across all divisions.. Now due to select teams in the majority of matches I will get to around ten matches a season tops... The irony for British Speedway is the money I save (circa £100 with petrol and admission this week by not now going to Leceister) I put towards the 'Cardiff Fund'... The 'GP devil that has destroyed British Speedway' in the eyes of so many... A lot, lot closer to home lies the problems the Sport has I would suggest..

The more circular rather than oval so straight line horsepower is less influential, and the wider the straights and the bends so there are more entry and exit lines to be taken, is usually the key to those tracks where racing is considered the best.. In Britain obviously many are inside Greyhound tracks so the footprint is often defined by the space available, however I often think track designers when building inside Greyhound circuits often make a mistake by following the same shape as the Greyhound track itself. Many clubs could still have a smaller more circular circuit with much wider straights and bends than the often long and narrow ones we end up with..

It happens so often you can only assume that those running the sport have effectively 'given up'... They must know attendances are affected. They must know meetings such as this are 'Mickey Mouse'. They must know these type of meetings can't be taken seriously in a professional sports context. Yet they still run them... Strange world they live in.. Must be living in the 'speedway bubble' that makes successful business people take leave of their gut instinct business senses....

Don't worry... Lots of Guest Riders are available so no need to plan a fixture list to avoid FIM meetings... Or indeed any other Countries national Championships, other Countries League racing or indeed clashes with other domestic meetings in other divisions using the same riders... Lots of Guest Riders available, (always helps that, makes everything ok)... British Speedway...😂

Me and my lad were also going to go as I have a rare weekend off.. Not paying to watch a select meeting... With admission, programmes, food and a few drinks Leicester would have had around £60 off me... Reaps what it sows Speedway, plenty of potential fans out there if it was ever ran properly. Maybe one day this will dawn on those who run the sport and they will start doing so..?

Too many teams racing on too many nights... Not enough riders to deliver the above scenario with integrity​ and credibility.. Fans therefore don't attend regularly enough to watch contrived, cobbled together nonsense masquerading as a Professional Sport. These issues are the starting point/root cause for all the issues the sport has in Britain... Fix those and the sport in this country can move forward.. Does it have the stomach though to make the radical, hard hitting, impactful changes required? And if it does, no point having a clear plan of action when those below you can veto your vision as it personally impacts their business in what they perceive to be a negative way.. Not seen too much in the way of improved integrity or credibility this season. Maybe next year is when Buster and his team's plan of action will start to be more obvious and take effect? Let's be honest, unravelling years and years of an unfit for purpose operating model won't happen overnight...

Woffy definitely in danger of becoming an 'also ran' such is the level now of the GP.. When up against three of the top eight in the same race you no longer see him as anywhere near favourite (especially if on the outside gates) and this year he is running lasts too many times against this level of opposition... Seems to find himself "unluckily" in the wrong place at the wrong time too far more than he ever did, which is usually a sign of a rider struggling to match up to his rivals... The tape exclusion from the inside grid last night is probably an example of the pressure he feels to get out in front. There is no margin for error this year given the talent on view... Should finish top eight but for him that won't be good...

Or a Kings Lynn heat leader shows up..😁 Well done Poole/Kings Lynn tonight. (Do they get a point each?)😀

Batchelor always seems to guest well for Poole... Kings Lynn must be pleased as they try to get themselves into the play offs..😂

His two watch words were also "integrity" and "credibility" and how he was going to bring both to the sport... 😅 😅 😅 😅 😅 To be fair to the BSPA though, they do take their role in protecting the environment very seriously, so lets credit them for that... Hundreds of thousands more air polluting journeys would have taken place, often of hundreds of miles, if the sport was ran properly over the years so we should all thank them for that....

Whose guesting for the fans who now won't bother turning up to watch Belle Vue v Poole Select? Will the 'fan replacement' facilty be in operation....? Three weeks without a meeting and now this bollox... As Fred Pontin would have said "Book early".... (One for the teenagers there)..😁😆

28 day ban for witholding his sausages...?😁

They all know that one day they will need Mickey Mouse to come their aid too....😁

I remember Phil Jones (now of BBC Olympic coverage fame) being very good at the old BV dog bowl circa late eighties/early nineties.. Where did it all go wrong for him?😂 I may have mentioned this before on another thread a long time ago, but this thread has just reminded me of one particular brilliant bit of presentation I saw at Bradford in 1990, first match of the season.. The presenter (I think Terry Hardaker) had seven cheerleaders all hold up a sign each to the Grandstand... In a line the signs all read out DUKES 90... He then asked the girls to turn round and show the crowd on the back straight where we were, who were obviously wondering what was written... The girls turned round and proudly held aloft... 09 SEKUD......😂 Speedway presentation probably hasn't moved on too much in the ensuing years at most venues!! Priceless😁

Hancock Woffy Pedersen Holder Gollob Rickardsson Jonsson Loram Havelock Crump Hamill Ermolenko Jan O Nielson Gunderson Penhall Lee PC Michanek Olsen Mauger Briggs Moore Muller

How often do a teams seven riders actually be in attendance? A Kings Lynn Select, Belle Vue Select, Wolverhampton Select etc etc simply cannot engender emotional loyalty.... Can anyone really get behind someone who a few weeks before rode against you and had led a defeat of your team? A 'club collective' in Speedway is often nothing more than 'a collective riding under a flag of convenience'...

Very difficult I would suggest to engender the emotional loyalty needed to passionately support 'your' team when it's very rarely all 'your' riders actually there...

Understand that Rob. But the reasons for the demise, in the main, just transfer from one team to the next... Teams drop down or go bust mainly because they cannot compete financially or simply there are not enough riders to go round to make them competitive... You can also then add the self inflicted issue of a poorly performing team not being able to improve their lot (even if they have the money to do so) due to some not fit for purpose average system. Meaning they continue to suffer as disgruntled crowds dwindle... Why should a team four months into the season, if they want to change riders, still have to measure up to the starting average when other teams in the league have spent four months making a complete mockery of it? . Simply there are too many teams with not enough riders to go round. Hence tracks will always struggle until the supply and demand equation is reversed.. When clubs can dictate race nights to draw the best crowds, rather than when their 'employee' can appear.. When clubs can dictate salaries rather than the employee knowing he is bomb proof and will get the same or more elsewhere.. And when clubs have excess riders 'waiting by the phone' desperate for a team place... Then, and only then can the sport move forward and businesses be ran properly... Too many tracks delivering 'poor value' actually impacts the overall brand detrimentally, so sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind and look after the many not the few... Less tracks means more riders available, more riders available means less 'no other choice but to pay' salaries are paid out and riders will have more pressure to perform for the club and fans to retain a team place. Which can only improve the competitive nature of the racing surely? Speedway, until it faces up to this will continue its ever increasing in speed 'race to the bottom'... On the plus side, when it does reach there, the only way is up!!

Agreed... This weekend next year at the NSS would deliver a much larger crowd and great racing. . It's the Great Manchester Run today too so thousands of people visiting the City to compete and support... Spring BH weekend would be a fantastic sporting festival in the City...

Yes.... If needs be for the greater good.. The biggest issue Speedway has is that evolutions theory of 'survival of the fittest' isn't followed.. Too many teams, not enough riders, and costs running out of control has resulted in a 'race to the bottom'... 'It's OK to fail as you can move down' is the mantra. But all this does is create issues for the League these teams enter as invariably they are better equipped to drop to that level than the ones currently there... You can see the positive rationale for dropping down, as all of a sudden teams can become competitive, crowds hold up, or even improve on the back of some success, and costs are slashed, however... As the 'race to the bottom' continues of course it will result in the same thing happening. ie as the 'bigger fish' continue to drop down as their 'sea' becomes too large, the current 'big fish' again become minnows, and as they then can no longer compete they once more need to find a home in 'another sea'.. Too many teams, not enough riders.... Until that is fixed then the Sport won't move forwards organically, ,,,

Unfortunately no title victory 'really matters' in British Speedway, hence its a major reason it is in the mire it finds itself.. Ironically of all the three League's the NL is probably the one with the most integrity an credibility when it comes to the way it is ran, and usually only becomes 'Mickey Mouse' when impacted by the two League's above.. Its Achilles heel is the very different objectives of its competitors, meaning too many 'haves' and 'have nots'.. Ironically by continually accomodating failing teams by letting them drop into the NL, the Sport actually puts pressure on other better ran outfits as rider demand is way higher than the supply. This simply means teams then are understrength resulting in regular (critical to crowd numbers) home losses, or, to remain anywhere near competitive, get forced into paying the way too high demands of riders who know they hold all the cards in negotiation... The 'bottom division' of Speedway should really be entry level which gives young (or not so young) inexperienced riders the chance to progress. Not a 'shelter' for destitute former EL and PL teams who fall on hard times.. The League above should find a way to keep costs down to keep these teams in their League. Bottom line of course is running so many teams nationally, all requiring seven riders, all having to try and reach a similar required set standard, without nowhere near enough capability of resource pool to achieve the objective, will always be doomed to failure...