mikebv

They should start the season with the KO Cup and then run the Final around July.. Similar to the way the League Cup in Football breaks up the Season and gives two clear focal points. One Final mid season and one Final at the end... One team could even market themselves as 'going for a double' which can only enhance the possibility of attracting fans.. If there is any apathy towards the Competition having it at the start of the season would still mean good crowds looking to see their Speedway again after a long winter.. Ludicrous that it needs just 14 evenings to complete the competition and from April we haven't been able to get it finished much earlier to maintain interest...

Cook should just have rang in and said his van had broken down on the way.. Seems you don't get banned for missing BSPA events for that...😂 Still, it creates another 'guestfest' meeting so not all bad news... It is only a FINAL after all...😲

Down I would say at BV, between 1200 - 1500 a week I reckon 1500 - 1800 was around PAR last year... Noticeable that the clubs that are announcing 'Ups', given the comments from their fans, are, in the main, only reaching what used to be regular attendances... Going back to the level where you once were is only a marginal success in reality.. But a success never the less in the world of British Speedway I suppose.. Looks like Glasgow and the IOW have seen a proper, joined up, advertising campaign pay off? Well done to them..

Their track record over the past 10-15 years or so would suggest you are maybe being a tad optimistic ccr... I believe that the official biscuits to be available at the AGM have been confirmed though, as this was ratified at the last pre AGM.. This year the official biscuit of choice is 'Mcvities Milk Chocolate Hob Nobs', however I do believe there may be availability problems at the local Tesco where they buy them from, which may prevent the Hob Nobs from taking their position on the table. If that is the case, and Tesco do run out, then they can spend up to 5% more and bring in 'Cadburys Milk Chocolate Fingers' as a 'Guest Biscuit'... This can be done without having to seek MC approval... WOW!!! And this is the Leader of British Speedway? WOW!!! PS. Philip, you should be ashamed of yourself, single handedly bringing down the Sport... I believe there were hundreds of thousands of fans planning to go to Speedway that week, inspired by the National Marketing of the Sport, however upon reading your comments they obviously decided against attending... Maybe to get back into the BSPA good books you could do another 'In My View' along the lines of how next season 'More and More Guests For Every Absence' are the answer to bringing back huge crowds and increasing the credibility of the Sport... ! PPS. On a positive note though Phil, sales of the SS must be booming given so many fans are deterred from attending Speedway through reading your article and what influence on the Sport you and your team must have..!! WOW!!! (again)....😨

Promoters for ever have known home wins keeps a crowd... Great racing but constant defeats means huge losses and potential closure... Hence all teams are built to deliver home wins first and foremost and the track will be delivered to suit the home team riders regardless of entertainment value generated... Many Promoters don't even consider the entertainment side of the equation anyway, it is simply winning they aspire to... Hardly anyone goes away to watch their team therefore how they perform away is very much a secondary consideration so an 'entertaining' team away from home wont be a priority in team planning.. Remember for many teams, survival is an achievement, and success isn't measured in trophies won but getting to the end of the season without incurring too huge a loss, meaning they can come to the tapes again the next year.... How important home wins are is highlighted by how so many meetings that end up 'guestfests' invariably have the away team turning up without their Number One and others missing... The home side wouldn't dream of planning in a meeting without their main man and two or three guests unless absolutely no choice, but the away team will agree to ride readily given the same circumstances... Protect your home meeting and crowd level is always the priority..

Cook got abuse off the Wolves fans? Good.... Team Sport is supposed to be emotional, it's supposed to be about passion... It's supposed to mean something to the fans who follow their team... A bit more of it wouldn't go amiss in this Sport.. Good for Cook too to become a personality, get a reputation and get noticed, I am sure he won't give a monkey's what Wolves fans think.. Nicki P does very well out of a bit of pantomime villainy....

Too many teams? or not enough riders?.... Or maybe both...? No matter what system is used, unless this is sorted then the Sport cannot move forwards.. For me run with less amount of riders per team and no one in the Premiership to be included below a four point average.. Too many number sevens are out of their depth, miles behind, and add nothing to the meeting other than to give the number six an extra ride.. Do a mock up for 12 six man teams and do the same for 12 five man teams... Use the average of all this year's top sixes and top fives to ascertain a mean average, convert it to a Championship figure and use this figure for the mock ups.. It would show potential teams and how many excess riders of a reasonable level there could be to cover any replacements needed.. If set nights in the Premiership it would mean DU'ing is a positive as no clashes, meaning hopefully putting rider supply higher than the demand...

I don't think any prospective Sponsor worth their salt would gauge the benefits of getting involved in the Sport from this Forum.... If they did, they probably wouldn't be worth getting involved with anyway given their lack of detailed, quality research.... But just supposing they did, in the past few weeks.... They would have read on here that the KO Cup Final was being contested by two teams with only eight out of fourteen contracted riders there... They would also have read that the Promotion/Relegation play off was being contested by teams who share the same riders meaning they could effectively relegate themselves by scoring points..... They would have also have read about a Club being massively fined for letting one of their riders miss a meeting to ride in Poland whilst also reading that another rider was allowed to miss a fixture to do the same without any punishment... And they would also have read about how an afternoon weather change in Poland one Sunday effected the rules of how a meeting in Newcastle ended up being ran.... All factual information remember, not subjective opinion... No amount of negativity on here could do the amount of damage to the Sport that such an 'operating model' could... (And each week does)...

Definitely a contributing factor but remember this is a 'Final'... I think overall, running a 'guestfest' Final would have negatively impacted the crowd level much, much more.. The 'Wolves' team(s) used will have destroyed any credible standing the event had in the eyes of many of the fans.. Maybe more home fans will attend the second leg as the Aces didn't reach the PO Final so winning the KO Cup might be seen as some consolation by some Aces fans? .. It isn't really is it though? Given its not really 'Wolves' that we are racing against.. And if the Sport's guardians don't take one of their Finals seriously, why should the fans?

Mickey Flanagan does a great story about how blokes with ridiculous wigs walk down the street expecting the rest of the population to collude with them that what is on top of their head is actually their own original hair.... Similarly, British Speedway expects us fans to collude with them that what we are watching actually has credibilty and not to 'spill the beans' to any newbies..☺

And then get relegated?😲 And get replaced by Sheffield?😂

Is it called Surprise Surprise!?..... If so, is it about a British Speedway meeting with no guests....? 😂

Then maybe don't run it at all this week?.. The aim of Speedway in this country is to put meetings on regardless of whether credible or not, which is fine if it also accepts whilst doing this it renders the very competitions they are running as meaningless.. If the Sport cannot be ran under a team ethos with credibility them simply don't do it as you can never be a successful enterprise as it won't, and can never, be taken seriously.. And injuries happen in Poland and Sweden too, and often share the same injured riders as well yet don't lose credibility of their meetings.. Whilst running Domestic Finals using guests it simply screams "its not important, it has no kudos, it doesn't really matter who wins, but we just need to end the season"... A proper ran Sport would see it's domestic finals as a pinnacle of the Sport.. British Speedway sadly obviously doesn't follow the same principle and invariably reaps the income from attendances and wider media coverage it deserves.

A rather selfish outlook NW...😂😂 These promoters need and deserve our patronage, let's be thankful and grateful for the magnificent bounty they put before us week in week out....😂😂

I think a good old proper 'guestfest' will be perfectly apt and will top this season off nicely and accurately... And let's be honest what difference will a couple more farces make?

What, really? One of Polands most famous, well known, well supported, and biggest teams with a Stadium that is amongst the finest of Speedway stadia in the whole world managed to retain their top league status against a team that errrrrmmmm... Has none of the above going for it.... Nothing to see here, move along please.....😉

Surely that's one of the two main reason to have fixed race nights, bring some big hitters back and gain the Sport some credibility in team selections.. ..? Monday (if ten teams), five matches... Then on the Thursday the reverse fixture... Like the play offs show, a return match soon after a meeting can also bring a bit of 'needle' which can only be good for the Sport.. No point bothering with fixed nights if you still will end up with 'guestfest' after 'guestfest'... The danger is if still 'guestfest' after 'guestfest' takes place, the Sport will still end up having no credibility but now on potentially no credibility on untried nights for many teams where they try and attract a crowd base... You might as well stick to racing on nights you feel you can attract the best crowd if that's the case..

I just hope the Poles don't gang up on Doyle and try and give Dudek the title... The pressure to be a Speedway World Champion in Poland must be intolerable for these lads given Poland only average one World Champion every 40 odd years or so.... Especially considering that they have only won ONE more individual World Title than Germany and have the same number of Titles as Wales....! 😉😂

I know the Swedish system GW and as you say it's more like our DU system... (But with structure)! I think it was brought in to give the top Swedish lads more meetings and give the second tier a chance to have these riders riding at their tracks, as well as cover the dwindling amount of Swedish riders available.. What it doesn't allow is for one team in the same League to borrow a rider from another team.. Sadly that is the farce in Britain... Sign Jason Doyle and effectively you have access to every rider in the League and can cherry pick them on a 'horses for courses' basis when he is absent... Every Premiership team riding in the same night will prevent this, and should mean DU'ing becomes a positive in so much that teams will be competitive, riders will get plenty of meetings, and no fixture clashes between the two leagues means more credibilty as each DU rider can ride for his team(s) every meeting.... Having said that, I still believe in Santa Clause, The Tooth Fairy and The Easter Bunny so who knows...😦

The track is also prepared similar to the 'first team' in that there is always plenty of grip... Many NL tracks are prepared very slick (even non stand alone ones)... Maybe the amount of dirt down and the speeds achieved intimidates a few of those who only see it once or twice a year? It might help you win home matches through bike set up but it won't really help your long term development riding on 'blue groove' tracks each week I would say..

Put 'Tom Hark' on now Porky!!!! Der Der Der Der!!😁 Well done Robins... Those 25 point you didn't get off Lindgren and Thorssell made all the difference Wolves....!!! Has the shop got any 'Wolverhampton Wolves Champions 2017' car stickers for sale?😂

Fair decision.... Well done ref..

Shussssshhhhhh..! Best track in Britain, always wins awards etc etc etc.. Noticed old 'Tom Hark' never seems to get played on a 1-5?😂

Thats because its still 1972 in Wolverhampton....😲

The 25 points combined you would expect from Lindgren's and Thorssell's ten rides won't be there tonight... If Wolves deliver less than 20 from them it could be interesting..