mikebv

fair call... teams must know that they are going to win, and by a large margin when they race scunthorpe, therefore its an ideal opportunity to 'blood' some rookies themselves as guests to see if they too can unearth some potential talent out there.. would make a closer more competitive meeting too...

I heard recently that each team now only pay their own riders and not both teams from a meeting, is this correct? if so then this is not a bad idea as a business model to be fair... running the NL meeting as an addition to the main meeting creates a 'value for money' package for the fans who are also, as its a double header, in the stadium longer so bars/catering should also benefit... using a team of 'proper juniors' also can lead to low scores initially which ultimately reduces points money paid out thus providing a cost effective way of hopefully unearthing a few riders for the PL team... if just one british rider comes through then it would have been worth it, yes getting beat each week can knock confidence, however nothing is more important in their development than track time with competition, which scunthorpe seem to be providing plenty of for their riders.. add in a great racetrack and you have a well thought out set up at scunthorpe....

maybe apocryphal as this was told to me by a third party (though he is someone who worked in the pits at BV at the time so I would suggest hopefully true).. one night one of the younger riders in the BV team was having a poor match so therefore sought out the advice of the world's best rider who just happened to be his captain..... he asked Ivan Mauger, 'Ivan, what can I do to go faster'? Ivan replied that maybe the young man should consider cutting off two inches from each side of the handlebars on his bike.. the lad looked a bit perplexed so asked Ivan 'but how will that help me to go faster exactly'?.. 'It won't' replied the great man 'but you'll now be able to fit your bike in the bin!!!'

Agreed, bless him... Terry used to stand in at BV occasionaly and one night he was introducing the riders... He came down the list of riders till he announced 'and at number six Ales Dryml'... However not pronounced as 'Alice' but 'Ales' as in 'the Bitter'!!!!! Brilliant......

One saturday night at bradford, in 1990, the aces were there........ Terry Hardaker was doing the 'honours' on the centre green...... Proudly alongside him stood seven cheerleaders resplendent in their new 1990 uniforms... Each had a square sign which they proudly held above their heads which spelled out 'D U K E S 9 0' to the grandstand, who gave the girls a round of applause...... We on the back straight obviously at that stage didn't have a clue what the signs said until....... Terry then shouted 'that's fantastic girls, now turn round and show the back straight'... This they did in unison and we on the back straight were met with the immortal '0 9 S E K U D' ... And let's be honest, in the 24 years since then, centre green presentation hasn't really got much better than that has it??

remember one evening at kirky lane when cov were the opposition, after a few races cov were getting well beaten so started complaining about how much dirt was on the track.. at one gap between heats Colin Pratt and his whole team came out of the pits and started walking the first two turns kicking into the dirt to ascertain the depth and sporadically pointing to the track and shaking their heads ... moments later John Perrin came out with a bucket of shale, walked between the cov riders and started to spread the shale on the track by hand as if feeding corn to chickens... he then presented the still half full bucket to the cov management and told them they could keep it and take it back with them to brandon so their track could start having shale on it too.... Colin Pratt is said to have replied "I don't tell you how many onions to put on your burgers, so you don't tell me how to prepare a track" !!

best of the night for me (so far!) is Sam's... 'it was only emil pushing watt that made the race easy for davey"... oh and dont forget at the end of every summary when he finally runs out of bollox to talk the "good jarb" sign off...

I hear that... however, you do also wonder how so many foreign riders come over here, make the uk their base, put in several years of graft, (often in the PL) and then eventually become world class.. were they really given loads of support from their uk teams or was it their greater drive, determination and self belief that one day they would succeed that delivered the final result?? I would suggest that an aussie for instance has huge motivation to succeed when he comes over half way round the world to work, (often as a raw teenager) with hardly any 'back up' should things go wrong. This motivation/fear of failure must focus him tremendously .. And I dont see the aussie speedway rulers putting their hands too deep in their pockets to help these aussie 'kids'.. I do get the impression sometimes that to some brits the van with the name on the side, a PL place 'for life' (with a bit of doubling up money here and there), is more important to them than taking the same risky career decisions that their foreign counterparts undertake... Staying in your comfort zone without taking risks, simply means you never progress... Maybe that is also a major factor why we dont produce 'world class riders' on a regular basis?

and therein lies the issue... total lunacy to agree a points limit and then completely ignore its non compliance..... that is why we are where we are today... as said previously, the NL has far too wildly differing agendas to ever make a level playing... therefore with such an obvious imbalance in salaries paid, no-one should be surprised if meetings are not entertaining due to such disparate team strengths..

maybe a maximum pay rate may help to equalize the teams? say something like 10 pound a point...? if everyone had to pay that then surely that would mean riders wouldnt choose to go to the highest payers thus spreading around the talent available and making the racing more competitive..? oh, hang on, just realised, that already exists.... zero sympathy for those teams who pay out far more than the standard rate to attract the best riders out there for each position in the team, then amazingly moan that the meetings are 'one sided'... how in all reality, can they be surprised....? each team has its own business plan in the NL with widely different objectives, finding a 'happy medium' would be I suggest nigh on impossible given the diversity of what success looks like for each team..

Malcolm, I do hope for the sake of speedway in stoke that you can continue and maybe one day go back to the PL... But as a BV fan who used to frequent your stadium regularly, but no longer attends at all, I do have to say that the NL racing was at best 'average' and at worst 'poor'.. To be fair to the riders, I do think the inconsistent track was probably more to blame than their capability... Either way, it wasn't/isn't (in my humble opinion) worth the outlay to attend (plus the considerable fuel cost).... As I say, hope it all works out but those who run Stoke Speedway really need to take a long look in the mirror as if you run a business and it goes wrong, it sadly ain't the punters who no longer give you their patronage who are to blame but 'someone closer to home'... Let's hope Stoke can come back again to its former 'glory'... Used to be a good, value for money night, on a well prepared track five or six years ago....

A good 'diplomatic' answer Philip.... A great speedway meeting... Eurosport must be delighted with their investment for a 'minority sport' on a Saturday night....

Is that a 'one off'?? I read that each location pays BSI an agreed figure and then promotes the event and makes 'what they can' by their capabilities??

How FOOKIN good was that????? What a sport..... One of a very, very few that is actually 'breathtaking' Therefore, how can those who run it.... run it so FOOKIN badly!!!!!

??? Philip, but don't the 'hosting club' have to 'buy' the rights to host the event, hence BSI have a guaranteed income regardless of crowd??

fair comment..... he got a bit of 'barry white' initially but you can see his enthusiasm and passion for the sport,,, and he does it without uncalled for and unrealistic hyperbole... (and SHOUTING)...

Isn't Scotty very, very good as a pundit??? Love listening to his 'experienced' views.... A natural at this lark....

I don't know him mate, haven't ever met him so (like so many on here) cannot formulate a true accurate opinion of him as a 'person'... What I do know is that the lad is 'box office' and whenever he rides at BV the promotion team at BV get my money, (as I usually pick and choose my meetings depending on who the visitors are).... A 'few' more like him and I would bet most 'away' tracks would get at least 300 - 500 more each week....

Darcy Ward!!!!!!!!!!! Magnificent ride lad......... Truly fantastic display of speedway racing from a true natural talent, would willingly pay to watch this kid every week... (ooops, sorry, he rides for Poole and has a 'bit of an attitude' If you believe this website..)... so obviously I must take it all back.... Well done fella...

so not paying Gollob means a financial disaster for the hosting club?? (as I presume BSI wont be reducing the fee to host it)?? Take it Richard Branson isn't part of the promotion team??

says so much about Tai's start to the year... loved watching bomber over the years.... truly sad tonight to watch him... his gating is nothing more than an embarrassment at this level and where he used to make 'magic happen' he now looks like someone hopelessly out of his depth when he finds himself behind... very sad....... let's hope he can get himself in the mix as the season goes by...

wow.... a business that actually values the people who support it... emotional rather than just functional loyalty pays dividends several times over... well done to the workington promotional team... truly a team that has a pro active business plan. I really hope you get the success your vision deserves.... well done....

and quite correct too.. a rider's pay thread indeed.... 'they do it for our entertainment' don't they??

'interesting' lack of sympathy for a man who left the track in an ambulance so far on this thread... If I have read correctly thus far, to summarise the majority of posts made... 'he deservedly got what was a long time coming to him but should have been on his feet when he received it'!!!! tough crowd 'in' this evening.... best of luck to auty, he can be a tad out of control, reckless and a danger to himself and others as we know but let's hope he is ok..

loved the report on the fiasco last week at brandon, fair and factual and asked the 'layman' questions that we all had... great season opener (as always to be fair), thorough, detailed and with great insight.. and, as usual, professional in both visual appearance and content..... it certainly sells the sport in this country at a level that those who actually run the sport could (sadly) never hope to emulate... well done (once again), a truly great publication..