mikebv

If it's only half as good as last year it will be worth the admission.. Let's hope it happens..

Agree with most of that however... When I started watching Speedway 2 point men every week raced against 11 point men so the disparate ability level was far wider than it is today.. Put those same riders last night at the NSS and that track would lend itself to much closer racing regardless of age... Same riders, MUCH closer racing.. The different level of ability in races does impact the racing quality no doubt but sub standard tracks like last night just lowers the standard even more...

Unfortunately last night the 'first out wins' mantra was exacerbated by how strung out the racing was... Cook was winning by the length of the straight from the rider bringing up the rear........ Simply due to the terrible track I am sure as most riders were probably more focused on staying on rather than setting up overtaking manoeuvres, but not great as an advert for the Sport... Let's hope for better going forward...

😆😅 Buddum Tish.... I'm here all week...

Leicester got a lot of justified criticism in years gone for their track but Poole's has become very similar over the past few years... By that I mean one line only..... Hit the apex on turn one, drift across to the fence on turn two and then hit the dirt and fly off down the back straight.... Turns three and four ride 3m in from the fence in a radius on the dirt line that forms there every meeting, staying off the 'ice' near the kerb... Why hasnt anything been done as it's been this way now for donkeys....

Great win, well done the Aces.. The track? Wow! How poor has that track become over the past few years? I have to say I never had any doubts about Cook in HT 15. Which for me shows his progress. He truly is moving to that 'next level'.. Even last year I would have had some doubts about him handling a 'big heat 15'. Not anymore though... Let's hope his form continues Saturday as I am sure it will be vital.. Loved also Dan Bewley's elbow on Starke, great to see a young kid not intimidated by a more experienced rider. Big future that lad... Edited: And no guests! "A proper non Mickey Mouse Speedway meeting Nige!"

Great view of the underneath of the main stand roof!!!😂 Has that camera not got a zoom on it? Maybe they could use my phone...😲

Two teams A Cook 8.22 Worrall 6.69 Harris 8.15 Lambert 7.70 Ellis ® 3.70 Total 34.46 Versus B Cook 8.22 Worrall 6.69 Harris 8.15 King or Nicholls 6.16/7.13 Lambert ® 7.70 Total 36.92/37.89 Impossible I know but which team would win the most times out of 10 meetings if they could ride head to head? Especially considering you can bring a reserve in tactically as and when you need to up to five times.. In team B's case, on his home track!! Maybe Rosco could go first with his answer? Would he deliberately choose to go into a Premiership match with a team nearly 3.5 points less than the opponents? 😨

Correct, he's becoming very much an also ran with regards to actually winning the title.... Enough natural talent to pick up enough 'easy' points from favourable gates to stay in the top 8 comfortably, but definitely seems to have lost that fire in his belly to mix it the same as he used to, especially when he doesn't make the start or gets passed.. When behind it seems to now be a first lap attempt to pass which if it doesn't happen he spends the rest of the race riding almost quite ragged trying different abstract lines, rather than the way he used to build momentum by smooth clinical, almost calm, riding to enable a succesful attack later in the race... Never seen him make so basic mistakes like he has this year, eg taking completely wrong lines into bends whilst leading and getting passed, or like last night lifting constantly in the same places to halt his progress losing him points.. Maybe two titles (a magnificent achievement) has made Woffy slighty lose that 'edge' and in Speedway, as everyone knows, that split second decision making is often the only difference between success and failure.. A test of his inner drive I would say the rest of this season. No one on track has more discernible talent than him that's for sure, but just maybe these 'new kids' have more desire to get to that top step he has graced twice already..?

Best year ever for me in terms of racing.... What a Sport when done this well... Must be someone out there who can market it to the masses and make these guys household names.? Love watching Jason Doyle, something 'old school' about him... Loads of skill but a ferocious will to do whats needed to win.... To paraphrase Kelvin "a proper Speedway rider Nige"...

18,996 posts and you say Shaun must have plenty of time on his hands!?... Even a Yank would spot the irony somewhere in that...😁😁

Great post.... Sadly the sport is too far down the line to ever change in this country.... It's now purely in survival mode only.... Literally tens of millions of pounds of Sky money thrown away to deliver what we have today, ie. Mickey Mouse meeting after Mickey Mouse meeting masquerading as a Professional Sporting League.. My 14 year old lads local Football League has more credibility and integrity that any of the British Speedway Leagues, and they don't charge me nearly twenty quid to watch their fixtures....

BV did but they had that many guests it was a bit like Triggers brush in Only Fools where he proudly boasted that he had used the same brush for 20 years...... It only had had 17 new heads and 14 new handles! 😁

It was based on the Maracana...😁

What a sport this can be.... Shame no one can harness the incredible raw material of it in this country....

Phil! Schtum! Schtum!! Schtum!!! The gates haven't opened yet....😨

The Aces (strangely for a Speedway team) are vulnerable at home given the fair nature and excellence of the track, but very good away... Tungate will have been bought simply for his scoring around the NSS and with one eye on the Play Offs... The Aces just don't win "big enough" at home against certain teams to miss out on the opportunity of giving themselves effectively five heat leaders around the NSS... Away from home, their top four have delivered virtually every match and also deliver a fairly high proportion of race wins, which keeps the team in the meeting by preventing heat advantages against them and also means the scores of the other three are less impacting the overall match position.. Sedgmen has done his job so may feel justifiably unlucky but will be picked up I am sure and showed his professionalism last night.. Tungate literally has the beating of anyone around the NSS whereby Sedgmen doesn't, and in head to head play off Speedway that may prove to be the difference if the Aces are chasing down a ten point or so deficit at home, or looking to take a ten points or more advantage to an away leg....

Or Abbott and Costello... Whose on 4.3? Watt? No he's on 2.86... What? Yes Watt, he got a 2.86 riding for Rye House.. Who? No Watt, who does 'Who' ride for? One for the teenagers there.... However not sure about about Abbott and Costello but I wouldn't be surprised to see that the Three Stooges may have played a part somewhere...

I think the issue is "it's the wrong type of Sun" nowadays.....😂😂😂

However, having an injury which means you are out for a month in Poland and Sweden will mean just three maybe four matches missed. Over here you could miss over 20 when riding in two or maybe even three leagues, hence guests (and lots of them) become inevitable.. Poland and and Sweden live with exactly the same issues but still retain credibilty in their Leagues..

And also the main contributer to the No1 issue why it cannot be taken seriously ie guests.. Guests are needed virtually every match due to some fixture clash. Poland and Sweden can work without them in the same sport, with doubling up being used, yet this country cannot.... Simply with the guest system everything is far too easy so no need to work out a plan to fix the issue.. What really is the point of getting teams together pre season when the moment the season starts you can use basically who you like as long as any random average fits..? Craig Cook as an example could ride at No1 for Workington and BV. Say he rode at Wolves on a Monday for BV and picked up a knock and was out for two weeks. Potentially he could miss Championship and Premiership meetings Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday before being fit to ride on the Monday. . 11 guests needed to replace him... In Poland and Sweden he would miss just one match for his team and be covered by a squad member or RR.. Too many teams, with too many team places (seven) per team simply means not enough riders of the required level to make it work... And rather than face that and run the sport with quality rather than quantity, those in charge continue with a make do and mend operating model. And it will never be fit for purpose if you want the sport to be taken seriously by both fans and non fans from a wide sporting audience..

Jim Lynch quoted as saying that "there is no doubt BV have a good team"... Which aint bad considering we only had three riders there...☺

See, I think they could.., Its just that they would only organise non alcoholic beer to be available..... 😂

As missing riders is the main issue to the credibility and integrity to the Leagues couldn't the GP qualifying, World U21 qualifiers and Finals all be done and dusted by the end of April? Many riders do 'pre-season' in Southern Europe now meaning weather is ok, so couldn't the FIM just use these tracks in March, and say the first two weeks of April include the more North European tracks to clear the decks for League racing around Europe? Six weeks and all GP qualifying set in stone for the following year meaning that years GP riders know their fate if they tried to qualify via the challenge. More time for qualifiers to gain Sponsorship and be prepared for the following year too.. U21 World Champ crowned with no impact to League racing and he can milk any Sponsorship opportunities for the rest of the year. We stop League racing for the SWC so why not dedicate time to do the same for other events that drip feed sporadically through the season? One week Team U21 World Cup could also be included in the six weeks prior to League racing commencing around Europe... Some good ideas on here, however you can have as many permutations on Leagues, Team Strengths, PPV TV coverage/streaming etc etc as you want. If riders do not turn up because they are 'elsewhere' and can get replaced by 'ringers' then there is simply no credibilty regardless of what good ideas may exist..

Well done Craig Cook.... Slowly but surely moving into circa world class level.... Reputation globally also starting to develop...