mikebv

Let's play "Tai Bingo"... Print out and mark off these phrases as and when they appear over the next few pages.. "He's a disgrace", "He's letting the fans down", "He's not even British", "He's an Aussie", "I be if it was at Wolves he wouldn't have missed it", "He doesn't care about British Speedway", "First Belle Vue, then this, no wonder nobody goes to Speedway anymore", "He seems to think he is better than everyone else", "When there is no Speedway left in this country, maybe he will think what more he could have done to help it", "I hope this backfires and he fails in winning the World Title", "I bet he will want us to support him at the SWC, yet he couldn't support British Speedway", "They shouldn't let him ride in the SWC", "I for one won't be supporting him in the GP this year" "My five year old son is heartbroken as we had decided to go and watch Tai in the British Final", "He's a disgrace" (again), "He's an Aussie" (again ad infinitum), "He's not even British" (again etc etc etc).. Most bases covered there I would suspect... Oh hang on... "You never see a 'True Brit' like Bomber doing something like this", "He is not only disrespecting the British Title and it's previous proud winners but the Queen and all her subjects too"... There, now that ought to cover everything... I didn't fight in six World Wars for my King and Queen for this, Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells..

Looks like Sky were right... Be interesting when BV eventually get up and running how the track covers perform (when they eventually arrive).... If they prove a success in getting on those frustrating meetings where on the day the weather is fine but the damage is done to the track leading up to race day, then maybe Sky will start to insist all get them?...

Maybe Sky feel that they need to take the decision making process away from the clubs? Is it over 100k that I have seen quoted per match to set up their equipment? Many have been the comments on here suggesting that meetings only took place in poor conditions "because Sky was there"... Well they won't be the scapegoats anymore by the sounds of it... And given the usual adverse impact to attendances of a Sky meeting. Will the Promoters be secretly pleased if Sky duck out now and again?

Not sure if it happens.... However the way the sport allows riders to double up and then not use the EL average for team building, can only lead to speculation if in the PL a rider often gets beat by riders that he regularly beats in the EL.. Similar with riders who don't have an EL average because they dont have a PL average to convert, hence come in to the EL as 'second reserve' Savvy teams looking for a good tier 2 reserve next season could pay decent NL riders this year not to ride in the PL just in case they score 'too well' thus meaning they come in on the lowest possible average to the EL... A loophole that needs closing. Instead of being a breeding ground for GB talent the 'fast track' berths could end up with 'professional reserves' who will be able to negotiate good deals knowing the impact they can have on a match result..

Looks like it will cost Poole a good few quid in points money this year.. Luckily they have the fan levels to support it.. Be interesting to see though if that is still the case after a couple of months of '60-30's every week, which could easily happen given the level of many of the other teams... Not having a go at Poole by the way, they have put a team together that is within the same limit every team worked to. However I would suggest that it will soon be pretty evident that their 'real level' is well ahead of the 'theoretical level' that someone came up with using I presume some kind of calculus for team building purposes... The problem the sport has is that this 'theoretical level' number will be used all year for teams to 'strengthen up' even though a team can be miles in front of this number. Ultimately meaning hardly any real strengthening takes place at all, as it's more 'tweaking with cosmetic changes' rather than "with this team we can win the league changes" that many teams often find they need to keep an increasingly disenchanted fanbase turning up weekly.. Maybe finances, and/or rider apathy to riding over here, may dictate that teams can never turn their season around, but the system should exist to allow a team to improve up to the level of 'the best' if they could.. That could only make for a more competitive league surely? Reading the many 'from the gate', 'pirates gated in front' comments, and the massive margin of victory, I wonder how many of the as quoted 'huge crowd' will be enticed back the next time Swindon are in town? Especially when they have been, by then, potentially not the only ones to turn up and offer meagre resistance...?

Dont forget the Boat Race.. Always hits attendances that......

Surely any meeting scheduled is 'on' right up till 'tapes up time' unless called off previously? If the weather was poor leading up to an event, and a track was unfit, as a fan you would expect the club to try everything within their power to get the match on with track work taking place right up to start time (seen it loads of times).. Therefore as the track is unfit at BV, the management team are doing everything they can to correct it and get it fit for racing... Just the same as any other track would.... (Subject I presume to permission from Cradley, Edinburgh and Wolves being granted)....

The 'American model' is something that I have believed for years could be perfect for Speedway.. However,.. The NFL, NBA, NHL are ran independently with pretty much a 'rod of iron'.. Therefore all teams sign up knowing the rules are for the collective good not any individual.. Any team bleating and making threats of closure if they cannot get their own way doesnt get allowed to do what they want, but are given short shrift and faces the wrath of the lead body with real consequences.. Ironically in the worlds most regarded capitalist country their sports are run on almost socialist lines... The weakest can survive over there because they are still financially very solvent through the strength of the collective, and the equal financial rewards through the shared business plan... Imagine that happening in the BSPA?

Year and years and years of 'survival of the weakest' has helped deliver the current situation... With the ultimate irony being for even those 'successful' the costs involved in bringing that success can threaten their very existence.. And all to win something that no one outside a meagre following even recognise as an achievement... A very strange business plan indeed... Maybe less teams with the inevitable less team places could provide higher rider supply than demand and help clubs with what they have to pay out whilst providing more quality riders per team? Less actually may mean more with regards to Speedway?

Think the plan is to always get the 'bumper' meetings in on Good Friday and Easter Monday... The earlier the Easter, the more likely preparation gets impacted by poor weather.

Saw a couple of the lads practice today for a few minutes.... Cannot wait till tomorrow now!!!

I can only presume the only thing left for any 'green eyed monsters' to criticise is the sun might be too bright!!!

Pretty sure, given the size of the stadium, that after a few meetings you will have plenty of room in the 'standing area' to get out a fold away chair and watch the meeting sat on that.... With a tartan blanket across my knee, a flask of bovril in my plastic "gola" shoulder bag alongside my tupperware box of corned beef and beetroot butties, a new 'home made' programme board done for 2016 and 'robert' will indeed be my uncle... Now where have I put my denim sleeveless jacket, I must make sure that there is at least one space left on it to sew on my new Aces patch.... Happy days, roll on 2016....

If what is being described happens, it could look similar to the way cycle speedway is run... I.e. in cycle speedway, the Elite League team will have 'top riders' from various teams, who usually represent 'their own' clubs in various regional comps, taking to the track for them... In the regional comps, the EL team still put out a team of a lesser level of 'their own' riders.. The regional comps are the usual weekly matches with the EL running around once a month, with each team meeting home and away once... Might be an ideal solution for British Speedway to get the top riders back, create more 'local derbies', and equalise team strengths better for the non EL matches which would make up the majority of the seasons fixtures..? Throw in a national cup and/or a play off system for the 'bread and butter' league based on the top regional winners and you may have a decent, consistent, product to sell?

Looking at the 'banking' of the track with even the straights not being level, I am sure that the drainage system will be excellent... Especially considering that the 'centre green' is G4 so any large amount of water running on to it wont soak the same as natural grass.. How many meetings get called off due to damage done leading up to race day and then on the day itself you have 'perfect speedway weather'? Well hopefully that will be minimised massively and allied to this those 50/50 matches also go ahead more often than not meaning fans turn up rather than not risking their cash....

Who said it has ever started????

I think this rumour came about because a bspa forum attendee heard someone from KL say that they were "going for a Gerd Riss" !!!! I'll get me coat.....

Really? Airing your dirty laundry in public never makes for good PR does it? Bet the promoters are impressed...!😯

Maybe the 'right answer' should come from the BSPA via some detailed explanation of how the rules will work this year? Would save a lot of conjecture and misinformation... Just a thought...

Where's me popcorn?!!!! Going to be good this... Kids are off so need some fun..😁

Of course there will be some manipulation, it is Speedway after all mate! It would though provide supporters of a poorly performing team with some optimism that their season can still be turned around.. Far too many times a teams' season can be over by May with no realistic chance of the required level of improvement.. If the whole seven man average of the team with the highest figure at the time of the window is used, it would also help negate the big advantage teams can get by having the best reserves... As previously mentioned when Crumpy came back for a 'cameo' the fast hemorrhaging loss of fans stopped immediately with many returning.. Maybe more 'top riders' could do a similar few weeks rather than a full season.. Also let's be honest a poor team isn't good for either the team's business or the success of the wider league as a whole. My team have been poor for many years till last year and I am sure wouldn't have been a big draw card away from home resulting in a drop in attendances.. I know I have, on many occasions, looked at a poor opposition line up a day or two before the match and thought 'not going to bother' as you can foresee a one sided drubbing on the cards. Race nights, getting more top riders over etc etc can all be considered as a way of getting fans back.. Maybe just finding a system that keeps all the teams competitive from March to September will keep the stadiums fuller?

Great idea...😀😀

Wouldn't it have been simpler to just increase the number of allowed DU's to four per team..? If we took the top four from each PL team as being of a decent enough standard, then that would provide 52 riders.. The EL 8 teams would 'only' need 32 of them, thus leaving a further 20 to cover all the various absences.. Put in place that each EL team can have no more than one DU from any PL club, and that if one of the EL teams reserves are also PL then they cannot again have a DU from that team and surely it is workable? Even with any Aussie work permit restrictions their must be enough riders to provide easily 32 riders with plenty of 'spare' Having tried and tested riders rather than 'untried' riders surely has to be better? And it will also help re-assure suspicious fans who usually think (often with good reason) that many of the new rules brought in are done so with vested interest for an individual team at the forefront of it's integration, rather than the overall good of the sport..

Be interesting to see who the 'unheard of, untried, new to this country' No.8 and No9 are for Poole.. Two names I have heard being considered are Nicolai Pedersensson an up and coming young Dane, and Gregori Hancockski, an American buck of Polish descent so won't need a work permit... I am pretty sure neither have ridden over here before which means that the integrity of the new rule (should it officially actually exist obviously) will be as beyond reproach as so many other rules have been over the years..

Havent the 'top riders' ridden over here for most of the past 20 years and the crowd levels have been decimated in this time? I actually think that the way the league restricts teams in putting competitive sides together all season long has had far more impact on the ever dwindling attendances than possibly any other reason considered. (Apart from maybe an admission fee which reflects more the out of control operating cost levels rather than the sports standing in the consciousness of the wider sports watching public).. Look at these numbers.. 2011 58 - 22 2012 72 - 15 2013 56 - 30 2014 70 - 25 2015 65 - 27 These numbers are the points scored by the top and bottom teams at the end of the season (Brum has not been used for 2014 figures as they didnt complete their fixtures and BV who have been included in 2012's figures had two matches not raced) I can virtually guarantee that the teams bottom of the league each season, cut miles adrift, ended their home meetings with far less fans than they started the season with... I have mentioned elsewhere the year we brought Crump back, to do so we had to lose Risager as we would have been 'too strong'. He went to the team who were at that time 50 points in front of us!! Absolutely Crackers! The sport takes great lengths for everyone to start the season 'equal' yet every year there is a huge disparity between the top and bottom... The solution? Possibly with there being 28 matches, maybe after 10 and then 20, a 'transfer window' opens and all teams are then able to strengthen up to the team with the highest average? This may also help bring 'top riders' back as teams (like BV did with Crump) realise desperate measures are needed to appease discontented supporters who have voted with their feet, and the riders may see a shorter term contract as a possibility.. One thing is for sure, as we see year on year, teams getting hammered at home week in week out will be racing in front of an ever decreasing fan base.. Maybe working out how to lessen that all too familiar scenario would be more beneficial to the sport overall than a 'lets get Tai back and everything will be ok' plan? Competitive teams, all season through, may not attract any new fans, but I suggest it would help the clubs down the league in particular maintain most of its fan base which can only help the sports overall position. If it includes 'top riders' great, if it doesn't, so be it...