mikebv

A very good meeting on a pretty decent day weather wise.. No dust at all....

Any advance on 1pm?😁 British Speedways collective planning for its busiest day of the season looks as good as ever... It is Good Friday they are riding isn't it? Friday this week? At Belle Vue? The one in Manchester?😁

Spot on, And lets face it, its just another one of the many 'select sides' that will tour the country this season... At least the Cov meetings will have no bearing on the league the way all the other 'select teams' will have... Anything that keeps Cov in the public eye, no matter how it's delivered, must be a good thing..

Simply.. Just run it like a proper sport should be ran... Just run it with integrity like sports with independent governing bodies are ran.. Just run it so the Championships are won by bone fide teams, not select teams, thus giving the Championships credibility. Meaning winning one actually is an achievement delivered by the riders of that one club and not down to being delivered by a seasons worth of 'ringers' being used, which ultimately renders any achievement in winning as fabricated... Race on evenings when you can get your best crowds, not when your employees can 'fit you in'.. Race on lighter, warmer, evenings during the Summer more often rather than cramming meetings in on cold, dark nights in late March, early April, late September and October.. Have as many riders per team as the talent pool and budget allows. And then decide on a meeting format based on this. With the aim of the format to put four similar standard riders out in every heat... In short, (to stop rehashing 1000's of comments on here). Simply unpick almost everything the Sport currently does, make the obvious required changes currently staring everyone in the face, and maybe then it will move forwards..

So thats this season covered. The reasons for the huge indiscriminant amount of credibility undermining guests used in the past ten years or so was what then? As for a monthly boycott? Tens of thousands the length and breadth of the country have already shown what they think of the way the sport is ran by doing their own season long boycott.. And doing it year in, year out... That hasn't managed to change anything so I cannot imagine a 'once a month' boycott will make any difference... And let's be honest, at some tracks you wouldn't be able to tell if there was a boycott or not such are the usual crowd levels..😁

What went wrong? Imagine going to a bank manager with British Speedways business plan? 1. We will pay our best employees far in excess of what we can afford. 2. We will allow all our employees the right to work elsewhere on the days we are open leaving us short staffed. To back this up we will sign an agreement to allow other overseas companies to have the first option on our best employees.. 3. When our employees are elsewhere (either in this country or abroad) we will have an arrangement to use employees from our competitors, even though we realise that this will lead to an obvious 'conflict of interest' and be deemed 'a bit Mickey Mouse'... 4. We will only open on those days our employees kindly inform us they are available rather than open on the busiest days which will give us our highest income. 5. We will attempt to build our business on the 'emotional loyalty' of our customers, but will do our utmost to ensure that our employees will have very little local affinity (if indeed any at all) with their customers to enjender it.. 6. Our prices will not reflect the quality we have on offer but will simply be set high to offset the heavy cost base we have decided to run with. 7. Our major target customer profile are families, however we will use out dated media to try and attract them and utilise a business premises infrastructure that looks and feels like the 20th Century never happened, never mind the 21st Century started... 8. We will seek major investment from TV to promote our business but will only use this cash to pay our best employees. (The ones that miss the most days from work as they are invariably elsewhere). What we won't do is use this investment to reduce prices or improve the premises, or indeed, the overall customer experience. 9. Year on year we plan to reduce the quality of what we produce but supplement the inevitable drop in customers by putting in inflation busting price increases to the customers that stay with us.. 10. We will utilise a 'flexible' operating model, one which is subject to change on any whim, meaning ultimately our customers will, over time, have very little faith in the way the business is ran and ultimately stop coming... Bank Managers, fill your boots, you know it makes sense..☺ Although I do have to say I think any reasonable Bank Manager may spot 'one or two flaws' in the 'cunning plan'...😆

Another excellent Speedway meeting.. Certainly spoilt at the NSS... Highlights were our reserves, great to see two young Brits giving it absolutely everything. Every point gained meant the world to them it appeared. Cook looked superb. Gating or not. He picked a line off the second turn time and again on the first lap, that sailed him past his opponents and to the front. I can see the responsibility of being Captain helping his overall performances this year. Being 'the main man' in the team wont faze him at all but will make him thrive I reckon.. And special mention to Kenny Bjerre, five yards down to KK and HA in the last race as they entered turn three lap one, ten yards in front of the pair as they exited turn four!. They both rode mid track, Bjerre put his back wheel in the dirt, two feet from the fence, and flew round them! Looks like the wide open spaces at the NSS has given Kenny his mojo back! Shame Cook nearly fenced him on bend one lap two as I presume he thought it must be KK howling 'round the boards' so moved out to block the move...! 😁 A very solid Aces team performance overall, when you look at the heats in the programme in most of them they have one, and often two, riders that you can easily consider as race winners... Not a bad position to be in... Early days obviously, but if the team can keep that commitment level they won't be far away at all come the end of the season.. One thing is for sure, with this racetrack it won't be boring! And we are now just two meetings away from the Final!!!😀

All are getting new suits as the logo on the ones to be used this season is no longer allowed due to copyright infringement problems encountered.... (Nothing to do with the previous promotion by the way).. The race jacket currently used covers up the old logo and the new logo will get incorporated into the new suits...

No, the point is 7000 thought Free was good VFM, less than 1000 the week after felt the usual entrance fee was VFM... As has been said before on this forum, the Craven Shield meeting after the Elite Final with Peterborough and Reading a few years ago (possibly the finest ever) was watched by around just 500.. Simply people were not prepared to pay the admission cost that Speedway felt was the 'right one' for that meeting, but they were prepared to pay the entrance fee for the Final and it delivered superb entertainment... Therefore, clearly the entrance fee does have a huge impact on whether fans attend. The price of everything on sale is THE key determinant as to the success of its customer purchases and particularly whether that price point offers VFM... Speedways consistent yearly dwindling crowd base would suggest the current admission costs don't meet VFM criteria, however get the price v VFM ratio correct and it's proved crowds will come. The skill is to get this balance right... Like anything else, a Speedway meeting will have a 'VFM v Price asked' tipping point.. Speedway just needs to find its balance point..

Didn't Lakeside geta rumoured 7000 a few years ago when everyone was let in for nothing? Don't think anyone cared about what quality of racing they were going to watch... Think it 100% was the cost of admission (or lack of it) that got them to the track... Or, at the very least, it played more than a 'little part in attracting the punters'

I currently have 100 lots of thirty pence on me, send me a hundred quid and I will send you the lot.. Even pay the postage...😁

Sky Sports have exclusive coverage of the Co-op Funeralcare International Open 2017 from some holiday camp in Blackpool... Adding bowls to its growing portfolio of sports such as netball and kabaddi.. Says everything about their attempts to fill air space for little cost.. Still. At least the bowls managed to get a sponsor.... Wonder if the atmosphere was 'dead'.. Buddum Tish...... 😂😉

Then why don't they sell £15 for two tickets every match to everyone rather than to season tickets holders only..? Seems a barmy business plan to sell a 'few' season tickets when you could use the same admission fee to try and attract thousands....

All fair comments.. Bottom line for me is simply admission costs keep the crowds away the most.. For me and my 13 year old lad it costs me £24 to stand up at BV, to sit its a minimum £30, £33 being the top figure. We get a seat each at United for £45 in total with the same £10 cost for him to sit down.! Add on the £3 parking and the programme and you are looking at £30 before any food and drink. Meaning circa £40 for a visit to Speedway to stand up for two hours and often much more.... £40 for a tiny minority sport unheard of by vast swathes of the population.. Run one match a week and that's around £160 out of your monthly disposable income.. What that has done therefore is render Speedway 'an occasional treat' for many families rather than something they can afford to do regularly. You only have to see the demographic of the average Speedway fan who attends. Male, white, middle aged and above, attending invariably by himself where he meets up with like minded mates.. Getting two thousand a week paying £15 is equal to one thousand paying £30 in admission, however much more lucrative in the bars, car parks and programme sales... And much better also in generating the type of atmosphere that not only holds onto fans but attracts them too.. A self fulfilling prophecy... Get lots of families there and it becomes 'an event' which the kids will want to be going to again and again. Have the odd lonesome family there by themselves and the kids will think they are being punished by their parents making them attend...😕

What marketing push did they do on the night to get some repeat visits? Anyone know? A few hundred people extra in a 'captured market' environment should deliver plenty of further income if a business gets it act together... Let's hope Sheffield did it well..

Only when anyone praises any other club, riders, or track and doesnt mention Poole.. Starman sees this as an 'obvious oversight' on behalf of the poster, maybe even seen by him as tantamount to a personal slur, such is the gravitas of the 'mistake' perceived to be made.. He will then always feel the need to rectify the situation by telling everyone how great Poole, and anything connected to Poole is, in relation to any random comments made, or thread topic... Be careful if you do mention Poole though and are less than complimentary (no matter how fair, accurate or constructive any criticism is) as you may find yourself embroiled in an ongoing, never ending thread of nonsense comments, one where, as it evolves, may slowly start you to almost lose the very will to live...😆 Welcome to the 'Premiership' section.... Be careful out there....😁

But apart from fantastic exposure for the sport, a great day out for 40,000 fans, a fee paid to the BSPA and the sport being showcased in an professional, modern thinking way... . What has the British Speedway GP ever done for us??? (Apologies to Monty Python)!

Is the tide in???😁

Day off today, looks like time to get the popcorn out. ... Over to you FF.... Now, Salted or Sweet..?

Having to pay for satellite time certainly focuses attention I would imagine... I remember at Hyde Rd that the complex wanted the Speedway done for 9pm so that the fans could go and spend money on the funfair and bars... Bikes went in one gate and out the other, with the bikes for the next race on track well before the riders from the previous heat had entered the pits... If it could be done over forty years ago (running 13 heats and a full second half in two hours) then surely the same could be done today for 15 races?

Not a KL fan but.. For me if I had two jobs and one paid TEN times the salary of the other I know which job I would focus on getting absolutely 100% right.. A natural response I would say, either consciously or sub-consciously..

Just have BT normal broadband, no issues with BT Sport's quality of viewing... (Apart from Michael Owen obviously)....

My lads School pays for those with 100% attendance to go on a trip at the end of the year... Alton Towers, that kind of thing... You also can only go on other 'educational days out' if you have over 93% attendance... This system brought in by the Headmaster when he started 4 years ago has helped move the overall School attendance from 90% to over 96%... No 'everyone gets rewarded for being average' in his School. Winners are heralded as an inspiration to others... There is hope.... Anyways, back to the IOW... Barry Bishops contribution should be printed off by every track in the land and stuck on their office wall... I sincerely hope all the hard work delivers long term success to the club. One thing is for sure, if it doesnt, those in charge can look themselves in the mirror and know they have done everything they could to make it a success.. Again, (this time for British Speedway), with people like this in the Sport.. There is hope...

But isnt Doyles deal a two year one, with this being the second? If so. No Polish rule changes applied when he signed it so there shouldn't be any 'additions' to it.... British Speedway, once again, making the usual, short sighted, half arsed, not fit for purpose, make do and mend, make the best of a bad job, bodge it and scarper, lets try and please everyone except the fans, mickey mouse, make it up as we go along, tail wagging the dog, etc etc decision.... When it should simply protect its own brand and product... Why make decisions that mean more Guest riders are needed? Why make decisions that mean more meetings use Guests and thus become nothing more than 'select' affairs with zero credibility in a context of a professional sport? Just Stop Doing It BSPA!!! Lets be honest, the Sport in the UK is at rock bottom so what actually is there really left to lose by running it properly, ie with integrity and credibility. ?. Start doing that and people might start taking you and your sport seriously.. And who knows, maybe even attend more/start attending again......