mikebv

Now isnt that the truth.... Surely cannot be another Professional Sport in the UK where winning the National Title means so little? With the ultimate irony being that so many try and manipulate situations to win it, but by their very actions then render any victory completely worthless.... Who really cares who wins such contrived nonsense? Not the thousands and thousands who no longer attend this annual farce obviously......

So the MC are using an EL average for this situation but didnt use the EL averages when setting up the reserves tiers in the first place? For that they used the PL averages didnt they and ignored the EL one if applicable? But it doesnt matter anyway now as the reserves can now become heat leaders and anyone can now be a reserve....? Is that correct? Have I sussed it?

Good business sense having an NL match first up... First match equals a big crowd regardless of level of meeting.. Much bigger than a normal Colts' crowd I would suggest.. Will get another big crowd then for the first EL match.... And the track should have had a good stress test before the EL riders ride on it....

I bet 95% of BHS customers who still go through their doors are also never negative about them too... As were, I would imagine, 95% of Woolworths' customers who were loyal to them... Right up until their inevitable demise.... All due to a failure to change with the times and realise that their ever dwindling, ageing, customer base were not happy with what was being provided and no longer regarded parting with their cash with them as money well spent.. Sound familiar?😖

No! No! No! Four riders in a race going around a Speedway track.... That is what's important, loads of people say so... Dont worry about the politics of the sport just enjoy the racing... These rules dont keep any fan away or make those who still go become more and more disillusioned with the sport till ultimately they give up as well.... Us fans should just turn up, pay our money and watch the great spectacle of four riders of any given varying degree of ability, riding around under whatever 'flag of convenience' is appropriate for them on that particular night..... Lets not try and bring 'integrity' into the sport.... (Probably cost another fiver a night if we did)! Great Post by the way Coventry Bee, sadly as we know all too well, your views will be echoed by thousands but ignored by the few who run the sport.....

Never happen.... Changes to regulations are not even announced to the public never mind who has put the change forward and it's backers... The reason is simple.... Anytime a new regulation is announced on here, within minutes, several posters will have dissected it and delivered every obvious pitfall, loophole, and ill thought out detail... When you make so many mistakes it is far better to hide behind a collective anonymity.,.

Integrity in the sport.... It is after all, 'allegedly' a Professional Sport that ultimately delivers a National Champion... Therefore the current half arsed/botched up/cobbled together/make it up as you go along bollox, simply isn't fit for purpose and therefore won't be supported in sufficient numbers to be viable... Four riders in each race, all of commensurate ability, all contracted to the teams advertised, surely isn't too much to ask..? If it is, don't bother with team racing in this country at all, and just make the sport an individual competion with a few fantastically well sponsored meetings at each track that deliver great prize money and a field of riders that see the prize fund as worth winning and deliver hard, tough, racing 'entertainment' in their desire to win it... Oh, and World peace...... (Thought I would include something easier to achieve than 'integrity' in the sport)..

Are you talking to yourself Starman? Explains a lot.....

Presume it means its the fans fault for complaining/not attending as they simply don't understand how great a night at the speedway actually is...? Does David Brent run Speedway? Gareth get me my guitar!😀

And given the rules this year, could maybe all end up at reserve during the next six months!!!!!

Shame.... Got to be a 'classic' somewhere before the season finishes....

Could we have Holder guesting for Charles Wright?

Because it was live on Sky? Because Leicester's team had just lost the last two matches? Because Leicester's team is widely regarded as the worst in the League? Because Leicester's reputation for poor quality racing goes before it? Because the weather was a bit ropey around Leicester and Speedway has a novel way of not giving it's customers their money back if the meeting doesn't go ahead or only partially gets completed? Because maybe even a tenner is seen by many as 'too much'?

Good points... As it appears ad nauseum, everyone says the meetings we remember most fondly are the ones with the big crowd in attendance and the subsequent atmosphere it brought, which ultimately made the racing seem better.. Yet the sport sets itself up with admission fees that by their very level will far too often, preclude the possibility of a 'big crowd' watching it... As has been shown on many occasions at various tracks.. Let people in for free = A massive crowd attends (so it shows the support for the Sport is still out there locally and nationally).. Let people in for a tenner = A much bigger crowd than normal attends (so it shows that the 'price point' is significantly important to the fans of the Sport) Let people in for Circa £17 = We get what we have today (so it shows the support don't see this as a value for money price point and as the admission fee grows the crowd levels drop).. A big crowd engenders atmosphere which by definition lends itself to people returning to sample 'more of the same'. Thus a 'virtuous circle' gets created... A small crowd engenders zero atmosphere which by definition lends itself to people not returning to sample 'more of the same'. Thus a 'vicious circle' gets created.. A 'vicious circle' that Speedway has been in for the past 20 years or so... Maybe though, it is happy with what it has? ie fewer fans but more sponsors covering rider costs? It certainly means less focus on the need to Promote the sport as most sponsors seem to be fans themselves, with many seemingly in it just for the 'kudos' rather than having a specific product to sell locally off the back of their sponsorship, thus meaning crowd levels won't necessarily need to be part of any marketing plan for them... Maybe it is just us who feel more need to attend and the Promoter's are quite content with what they have? Certainly 20 years of not reversing the trend of diminishing crowds would suggest that they are...?

We had four 'ringers' when we won at Lakeside last year! GP challenge and PL meetings clashed I think... Those points ultimately put us in the play offs.... Part of me wanted AJ to ride in the Final as he was great for us in the Semi but winning with him would have been a bit of a farce, so even though he probably would have done better than Zagar did over the two legs of the Final, at least it was the BV team that rode...

For a good few, four riders, clutch start, no brakes, no gears, no fear etc etc is enough... For them, it will never be boring.. Sadly not enough anymore it would appear share the same enthusiasm... Those happy with watching any four riders ride round will always have that 'functional loyalty' to the sport... Unfortunately trying to get what is essentially an individual sport into a team dynamic means it often struggles to get enough fans to buy into their local team, and bring with them the 'emotional loyalty' that would make the largest difference to its fanbase.. The irony is that in clubs' quest to 'win at home' and 'everyone be equal' to maintain its following, it then uses various 'ludicrous' scenarios such as literally sharing riders around under some contrived average limit... Why have emotional loyalty for a team that can technically be made up of anyone at anytime depending on circumstances? Watching a team made up of riders 'not yours' would I would suggest make the result irrelevant for most fair minded sports fans.. Maybe even boring to watch when the results ultimately don't really matter...?

Natalie used to be centre green presenter at BV so knows her stuff...

Thank goodness for 'supplementary regulations' eh? Where would the sport be without them...?

Part of me actually thinks that arranging meetings where you can get a better rider in as a guest is now actually a 'tactic'.. And all the while the sport's credibility decreases bit by bit by more 'self inflicted' nonsense that any other 'professional' sport would find laughable... Never actually learn these promoters do they?... Edit : Thought guests were only for the Number One this year? Summers is there isn't he?

I believe in League Two next season, if a team is losing by three goals then they can request another set of double sized goalposts get brought on for the team leading to have to put their goalie in... The losing side will only be able to request this between the 20th and 70th minutes though...😁

I think that was the original interpretation from the initial announcement.... Tier one riders could swap I believe was the thought... Looks like it has changed.. Mind you, it is only 08.35 as I type so maybe it will change again by the time match starts this evening....

I think that given the way crowd levels are going we cannot be too far away from having a 'register' taken at each match to confirm our attendance, like we had at school.., So yes potentially you could be banned as when you answer to your name with "here Sir" they will send you home knowing you shouldn't be there... Be warned though, anyone who should have attended, and didn't for whatever reason, eg looked at the 48 hour weather forceast and decided to 'wag it', will need a note from their parent or guardian at the next meeting explaining their absence... eg "Dear Sir, Michael didn't attend the match between Leicester and Swindon because......." I'll let you fill the rest in.....😀

Unless of course his PL average is used ... (Again)!

Bit early in the evening for me.... Not getting the snacks and Stella out till 8ish so nicely warmed up for the boxing... Can you save it till later fellas?

I did, but only because it was there... I still attended the matches I was always going to frequent, to watch MY team, but watched many a match with two other teams that I had no affinity with, with a glass of something in the comfort of my armchair... Made a few quid too!!! Shame it isn't on anymore.... Speedway in this country now is pretty much down to the 'die hards'... Let's face it, if we have accepted the 'Barry White' that has masqueraded as a 'professional sport' over the past 20 years or so then quite frankly nothing is going to stop us attending in the future... Having a Speedway meeting on Periscope will for me, not prevent those 'die hards' from attending, nor will it bring in any extra punters having caught a glimpse of the sport.... I would suggest more of a threat to the crowd levels is the recent penchant for calling off meetings several days in advance seemingly on nothing more than someone observing 'Incey Wincey' building her web anti clockwise... Even the 'die hards' may decide to say 'sod it' a lot more regularly if that continues.. Maybe the BSPA should consider sorting that out as a priority rather than spending their time worrying about someone filming a Speedway race from a phone...?