mikebv

Not sure about that.. Some close matches this year between the two with Jason Garrity being the obvious difference between the two.. His paid 35 points including three DNF's at BV in the four matches has had a big impact.. Should he be missing for any reason and I would suggest Cov wouldnt be too keen on taking on the Aces...

Pkoc??? Play Knockout Off Cup???? Never catch on that name....

Take a bow Scott Nicholls.... Heat 13, inches from the safety fence, the match virtually won with Zagar in front and he produces 'the pass of the season'....! (Don't need him involved with Team GB though, no young Brit could learn from him)... Good crowd at BV tonight, very solid team performance, if they reach the play offs and can deliver a team effort like that, not many would fancy taking them on home and away...

The lack of 'one night' speedway is one of the main reasons 'guests' exist... If all the EL matches took place on the same night then riders in the EL couldnt ride for anyone but their own team.. Look at Poland on a Sunday and Sweden on a Tuesday.... However just because you CAN do it, shouldnt mean you do.... No one can really take seriously a sport that is only one step below the WWE in relation to contriving the outcome of matches.... Maybe watching any four riders racing four laps in the name of 'sports entertainment' rather than it masquerading as a professional team sport is the answer? In fact, thinking out loud, you could have someone like Jason Garrity shouting into the camera before a race "I'm mad for it me!", "Get outta my way Noddy coz I'm comin' through!!!".... Could catch on....

And the biggest irony is the way promoters completely dismiss the notion of 'squads' as they are too expensive.... Yet every week they must pay out thousands in 'guest' fees.....!! Effectively using the whole of British Speedway as a huge squad system.. Surely having a squad where 'no ride/no pay' costs the same as employing guests every week? (If not more as the old 'supply and demand' kicks in)... Oh, hang on, just remembered, only using riders within your 'squad' will prevent teams 'cherry picking' track specialists as guests through the season.... That won't be 'in the best interests of speedway' will it...?

To paraphrase and apologies to 'The Drifters'.... Saturday Night At The Speedway.. Who Cares What Riders You'll See... The Way The Sport Is Run These Days.. Will P1ss You Off Inevitably...........

But not in some other countries.....

I am sure Zengota rode 100% for the Aces.... The ridiculous thing though is why you would expect someone to perform 'out of his skin' to deprive himself, and his team mates the chance to make more money and get some success later in the season! As for Krcmar,when re declaring these days, particularly with the lower end rider, you may be better off taking someone on who CANNOT ride in your remaining meetings.. Such are the rules you can then bring in riders on a 'horses for courses' basis to tactically improve your team.... Both the above situations are yet further examples of the self inflicted bollox which mean the sport in this country, as a team competition, can never be taken seriously by anyone other than those people who say "I just enjoy watching four riders race each other over four laps"..... The ever dwindling number of 'those people' obviously........!

Maybe the owners of the Stadium and the House could go on 'Judge Rinder'.. I think he is now the 'highest court in the land' isn't he??...!!!!!

Must admit, I've hardly been this season, regardless of position in the league, simply had enough of farcical encounters with 'select teams' week in week out around the country as Speedway masquerades itself as a 'professional sport' When it's not worth winning a competition with so little integrity, it's not worth paying a ridiculous entrance fee to watch it... Missing most of this years meetings has meant though that the 'Cardiff fund' was well covered so 'every cloud and all that'....! Four Lakeside riders there tonight, eight guests/double uppers/downers/in/out/shake it all abouters, oh the okey cokey, cokey.... You put three riders in, you take four riders out, in out, in out etc etc.. Happy days.....

well said.... and the ultimate irony is that in the "fight to be the best", those who succeed win a league title that hardly anyone cares about anymore given the fact when you win it half the league have invariably helped you to do so by lending you riders throughout the season....!! risking bankrupting a club to win a competition with zero credibility? couldn't make it up could you?........

Agreed, why though doesnt the bspa get sky to display all the weeks' fixtures during the 'summing up' at the end of the programme? Just maybe someone watching near a speedway track with a 'vague idea' of their local team and what the sport is, might be tempted to go along after watching the racing on the tv?? Lots of 'play off' impacting meetings this week and none at all mentioned in any detail...

Realise we are going to have a National Stadium in Manchester, however one of Speedway's balls ups (amongst many I know) was not collectively purchasing the old Hyde Rd stadium... Therefore could all promoters and sponsors involved in the sport (and stock cars) get together and purchase Brandon? Would provide another 'all year round track' for training, like the new BV but in the Midlands and also deliver a major financial asset for the sport if that land value was on British Speedways balance sheet...

Sadly, family tickets are not the way to go though.... Even if they look like value for money, hardly any families with teenagers attend... The reason is simple, not many teenagers want to go out to an event with their mam and dad, they want to spend time with their mates... Charging them over six quid wont get them to the speedway I can assure you.. Letting my lad and his usual 'posse' of 15 'bros' and 'sisters' in for nothing and you may just have a chance that some will take to the sport (all his mates know he goes but not one of them know what it is!)... Obviously 'k-tels hits of the seventies' may need to be updated to the playlist of Capital Radio which may be a stumbling block too big to overcome!!!!

No wonder nobody goes then eh? The best price for a family of four for one months worth of speedway is £168 out of the family's monthly disposable income.. Add on programmes, and the inevitable food and drink and around 200 quid a month would be the outlay... To watch 60 minutes of speedway.... A scary position the sport is now in if that is the 'best prices' being charged to pay its costs...

especially when there is genuine demarcation between the riders levels.... all year nielsen has had the same amount of rides as worrall for us.... tier one and tier two would appear to be a 'clue' as to their respective abilities you would have thought??? therefore why not use the more capable person to do the same job???

Often Speedway tracks try and attract 'kids' by offering them free entry when accompanied by a full paying adult, which is a fair idea, however.. When 'the kid' gets to 12 at BV then he has to pay £6.50 (or more likely his parent will)... The irony of this (and its flaw) is that around 12 years of age kids who have attended regularly now start to get involved more with the nuances of sport, eg how averages effect team building, how rules are made and why. (Good luck with that by the way), filling programmes in etc They also around 12 start to seek other ways of spending time entertaining themselves ('hanging out' is my lads favourite occupation)! This invariably involves 'mates' of both genders too as hormones kick in.. Speedway would be far better suited letting everyone at school age in for nothing at all as maybe some would then stay with the sport at 18... If you gave out 500 tickets to the local comprehensive I would imagine a 'fair few' would attend just to 'hang out'. For those tracks in particular that get all the food and drink income it must surely be a winner as a couple of hundred burger and coke buyers cannot be a bad thing. And the more that attend the less the crowd will resemble a 'darby and joan' coach outing which your average teen wouldnt be seen dead at... Let's face it, kids of 12 - 18 dont attend now so letting them in for nothing wont decimate the clubs finances, and it may just mean some return in revenue when they reach adulthood after gaining an understanding and appreciation for the sport?

Probably most of them!!!!

It maybe could if you charge the crowd around £30.00...... The problem is the vast majority of those who no longer go only feel the sport is worth about a tenner... My team 'allegedly' pay their Number One 3k a meeting. 'If true' (and around £200 a point does appear to be the going rate for a No1 if you read comments from those 'in the know') then that means that to pay him for a home and an away meeting they need to take £7200 (inc vat) to pay him the 6k..... That is over 411 full paying adults at £17.50 per meeting just to pay his salary... Utterly ridiculous when you consider that the No1 rider from any team wouldn't lose 411 off the gate if he didn't ride, nor add 411 extra to it when he does... As no one seems to know exactly the attendances at tracks due to the 'omerta' of the promoters I can only guess at the attendance at my track, however I would suggest 411 paying punters is (at least) over 50% of the total who attend.. Doesn't leave much left over to pay the other six riders for two meetings a week does it?? Barmy......

and sadly no drive, desire or ability it would appear to reduce the costs which will allow the £10 speedway threshold which so many seem to have set in their minds as 'the value for money' level... everyone can see, especially the promoters I am sure, that the sport cannot carry on charging what it does and expect to survive never mind prosper... radical decisions are needed, with riders affordability being the biggest and most fundamental issue to be fixed... keep spending what you haven't got coming in and there really is only one inevitable outcome.. even the Finance Minister of Greece would't contemplate using British Speedway's economic plan...

Reduced admission must always be a dilemma for the promoters who do it.... The simple reason is that the inevitable increase in crowd merely demonstrates to them the fact that the usual admission costs are far too high whilst at the same time also clearly demonstrates that at 'the right price' a big crowd will still attend the sport.... The dilemma therefore is how to deliver the outgoings for the sport which facilitates enough income from such admission fees every week.... Easy to say, much more difficult to do, however the massive prize on offer is clearly there if they can... Just as an aside, do any of the promoters who do this reduced admission ever take email details, mobile numbers, home addresses etc off the crowd to target them with more offers to get them to attend more often??

"A standing ovation for Krcmar"..... From everyone in the standing area!!!! Well done Nige....

I think people just make any nonsense up and they then try and pass it off as fact.... Only last week someone told me that there are two teams who between now and the end of the season are actually planning to run the meeting when they clash without any guest riders at all.....!! He must think I am daft.....

Speedway in this country, in its current guise, simply cannot carry on with its totally inappropriate operational and business plan if it is to survive, never mind prosper. However, noting one or two comments in the past two months or so from various promoters it may mean that maybe, just maybe, the penny has dropped and as a collective they are finally coming to terms with the fact that what they have now is simply unsustainable.. Let's hope eh? One area that I do feel is a massive opportunity is the collective marketing and collective merchandising of the sport. Merchandising in particular is something that could be a money spinner. Why not copy the NFL model in the way that the profit from every shirt/scarf/baseball cap/pen etc etc sold goes into a central pot and is shared by the teams. This would also mean better profit margins through buying in bulk as a 'League/Sport' and by having just one 'make' you can build a clear 'Speedway Brand' which the wider general sporting public will start to understand... For such a minority sport with all teams relying on each other it does amaze me that they all seem to work in 'splendid isolation' rather than working alongside each other for the benefit of all... One idea I have thought of which may be a potential money spinner is an 'unlimited season ticket'. Speedway is quite unique in the way many fans attend to watch 'the sport' rather than having any affiliation to the teams on show. Therefore why not offer, say for £500, a ticket that allows you into any meeting all season (maybe excluding playoffs but you get a discount ticket for those?). . There could be one ticket across both Leagues or if they want to still work in isolation they could run their own Leagues' ticket independently... . Attend 50 EL speedway meetings and each meeting will have cost you just a tenner. Could the 8 EL teams between them get 1000 fans to purchase this £500 ticket? If so that would generate half a million quid for the League .. If both leagues work together could they get 3000 Speedway fans nationally to buy this ticket? If so that would put 1.5 million into the sport... In these days of high fuel costs, maybe this would get a fair percentage of the crowds back as the more Speedway they attend, the better the value for money their outlay has been, and as we all know, the larger the crowd, the better the atmosphere, the better the atmosphere the more likely you and others are likely to return....

From what I remember, it did take much longer for races to start as riders seemed to take it in turns to anticipate the start after one had tried it... If the same happened today could the bikes handle being revved so long? But this being Speedway instead of a lazer they will use a torch from B&Q with some red crepe paper over it held on by a 'lacky band' and the person holding it waving it from side to side making that noise out of Star Wars... Zzzzzzzzzzeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrr, Frrrrrrrrrrzzzzzzzzzzzzz, Zrrrraaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr