mikebv

The team structure therefore is the issue that needs resolving... Last year, the top tier could have ran with six man teams and made seven third heat leader level riders available to replace missing riders... Two "top riders", two second strings, and two reserves (without RS's), could be the model to follow... Most third HL's either ride in Poland/Sweden or DU (or both), so it wouldn't be like you are expecting them to buy kit in the off chance they get a place... Some argue that "what happens if a rider gets injured and a team is one rider down?"... The counter argument is, how many times does that actually happen? Less than 5% of meetings? And a fit for purpose RR/IRR facility would also mean you wouldn't need guests, or be seriously disadvantaged by losing a rider during the meeting.. "Guests were around when Speedway was popular" is something some use as a reason for keeping them or "there is no other way", and in the old 13 heat formula, when you had No1's running 10 and 11 point averages, regularly scoring between 25-30% of a teams points, then you can understand why that scoring needed replacing.. Nowadays there is less reliance on the No1 to score such a high percentage of points per match.. Any sport that wants to be taken seriously needs credibility, and also needs jeopardy... UK Speedway seems to always want to remove jeopardy by making up rules to try and negate it... The recent final had a Birmingham rider in it, to replace a second string, when a fit for purpose RR facility would have meant it not required... eg Danny King takes two rides, Dan T takes two rides.. The same last year with NKI riding for the Aces to replace a second string... Both finals pretty much being ignored by the national media, with minimum recognition from a wider public base, outside of the local community of the winners.. The sport is crying out for mainstream media acceptance and coverage, as this would send it skywards overnight in relation to where it is now.. Just an extra 500 at some tracks would double the attendances, and mainstream media coverage would surely deliver that...? And mainstream media coverage would bring in much bigger sponsors from outside the sport... To get that they have to find à way to stop using "Ahh, you see, this is Speedway" as their reason for having rules that impact the sports' credibility and start to see the sport as it should be.... An exciting, high octane, adrenaline fuelled sport, ran by and for professionals, with credibility, jeopardy, consequence and integrity... It has so much going for it, with the racing as good as ever for me, so getting it right "off track" has to be the overriding priority ..

Social Media can massively mentally impact these kids today... Resilience and a "who gives a f**k what you say?" attitude are in much shorter supply these days given the kids are exposed to non stop feedback and, sometimes, trolling... Getting things "too easy" in life can also dilute ambition and sacrifice, which can also prevent growth, desire, and development... Any semi decent kid seems to be the "next Woffy" according to too many, with the reality being that to get to World Class level, by the age of 18 to 20 you are usually beating World Class riders if not regularly, then at least more than occasionally... It sometimes appears that any 16 year old kid that can beat riders of the same, or similar age, gets expectations well above what his level truly will be... Which can only put unrequired pressure on... Joe T in the play off final is a clear example of pushing these lads into top tier team places that they are not ready for, and can do nothing for his confidence, however, hopefully he will put it into context and continue to show gradual improvement to reach a decent level in the sport...

The part re guestfests and DU's, I 100% agree... And "one league" would bring variety... Unfortunately fans of teams used to watching Kurtz, Emil, Bewley, Holder, Fricke, Doyle etc, and paying around twenty five quid to do so, are going to have to see a significant reduction in admission costs to watch some of the riders mentioned, (if the riders who ride in Poland are not there).. And even if they do sign these riders up, they will miss so many meetings every week on Fridays and Saturdays, that it would make the league a complete farce... The top two division clubs seem to average between 500 to 1500 or so, and their rents won't be dropping, nor will their expectations of their riders to spend quite frankly ludicrous sums to compete, therefore admission costs cannot drop too much I would say... And any reduction in admission wouldn't see enough increase in attendances I would suggest to cover all the costs, given the dilution of the riders on show... A true conundrum for people who have demonstrated many times that they may not have the skill set required to sort out the issues...

It would be a challenge to get enough people to lay out circa £25 to watch some of those riders... No disrespect to them, but the admission fee would need to be around £15 to watch them ride and that wouldn't cover the "best riders" fees... My lad plays semi pro football as an amateur, (£10 to watch), and it would be like the league was set up to allow him to play against Mo Salah.... That tenner to get in wouldn't pay Mo's wages....

A completely different time, sadly... Most of those riders had jobs, and rode for excitement, and the "good money" they could earn for two or three meetings a week.... Lads in mundane jobs by day could be "heroes" in the evening, and go home with more than a weeks worth of money from their usual job for just one meeting.. And admission costs made a massively lower dent in the fans' disposable income than happens today... Plus, many ran Friday and Saturdays rather than Mondays and Thursdays... Now it is "two top bikes" minimum, sign written vans, hotel costs, flight costs, tuner costs, and a travel schedule that Jet2 would go dizzy with... 100's rocked up to the many training schools across the country, some sharing bikes they purchased together,(old several owners kit so didn't cost the earth), some riding old bikes fhe tracks had, hence there was a conveyer belt of potential talent, and, most riders only had one team so they didn't block progression like the majority do now by having two teams each, which erodes places for others... The Poles have "dozens" of riders who organically travel through a development structure as they know that to keep their sponsors, fans and TV happy, it is important to have "new talent" coming through regularly... They don't want to end up like the UK with guestfests and doubling up and down rife, as that will end the same way for them that is has for the UK... One league unfortunately looks unachievable if you look at the numbers of riders, unless another 20 or so want to ride over here, and given Poland ride Friday, Saturday and Sunday, (with the odd Thursday thrown in for good measure), getting another 20 would be very difficult indeed, unless like some tracks have done, you sign riders who you know will miss quite a few matches, and just accept guestfests as being the only way the sport can be ran over here... If you don't get more riders to come over, and run with one league, then many riders at six and seven (if they stay with seven per team), would be well out of their depth I would think... I personally think having a "Super League" with six, six rider teams, could maybe work, using only riders of say 4.5 points and above averages, and then they also run a 2nd tier team alongside all other teams, with three or so of their top tier riders, plus second tier level lads making up the rest of the tier two team... It will keep the DU'ing for many riders that they say they need, and still have a top tier at a significantly higher level to sell the sport to TV and its viewers...

Scott "Well ahead of his time" Nicholls had the answer... Rock, Paper, Scissors... Sorted.....

And it also means fans having to pay out a fair few quid in the same month... Workington suffered from this when they won the treble, with fans not attending each meeting... Having all the finals at the end of the season also gives no time to build crowd momentum on the back of any success, as the season just stops... Advertising yourself as (insert Competition name here), "Champions/Holders" can only spark interest locally in your next home meeting, and onwards through the rest of the season, I would have thought... I think completing the league first then the cups is the way to go, as advertising your self as "The Champions" for as many meetings as possible can only help crowd levels... And it also gives clubs well out of league contention early in the season a chance to still have meaningful matches until the end of the season, rather than "dead rubbers" which have no impact on play off positions...

It's interesting that those who run Speedway as a "stand alone" business seem to do quite well each season... Generally much better than those who run it as an expensive hobby, or get it subsidised by stock cars... Maybe when it is your day to day income stream it focuses the mind more? A few more like Chris Louis and the sport would be in much better shape...

They need to get a bit WWE.... Tai shouting into the camera, "Arm gonna fence the ass off you Zmarzlik!"... Doyley telling Madsen "Yer gonna wish you hadn't qualified, bacon head!".. Dan screaming to Jack Holder, "With all due respect Jack, I hope we have a really good meeting and some great races against each other, and may the best man win'.. Well, maybe not the last one... Etc. Etc. Etc.

They had better get the track sorted so you can pass on the outside then.... Dan will end up paying to get back in on some nights.... It would be a good move for him though, as it would definitely sharpen up his gating as you cannot be fourth into turn one at Foxhall and keep expecting to win like he does at the NSS... And he also can sometimes get passed on the inside at GP level, given he tends to ride mid track and wider, especially on the tighter tracks, so having to ride the white line more at Foxhall will also help his overall riding level grow...

All proper "working men" sponsors.... Who knew their target audience will all be in attendance... And Speedway was to the "working man" a "cheap night out" in relation to his disposable income... Many Aces fans would watch United or City then attend the Speedway in the evening .. You are looking at £150 and more, with admission costs, transport, food and drink, to do that now... And with mortgage costs, mobile contracts, satellite TV costs, gas/electric/water bills, car ownership costs, and all other "mod cons" that people have these days, that disposable income has shrank hugely... Getting someone (even a "regular" never mind a "newbie") to pay out circa £30, twice a month, to watch Speedway, which has no major financial reward nor public awareness, must be a massive challenge....

The challenge is to get that kind of jeopardy and consequence into the qualifiers... And to get a decent away following at each meeting to deliver some atmosphere.. The racing today is no better or worse than 50 years ago when I was a kid, I would say.... The huge difference is the lack of atmosphere nowadays driven by such low (mainly home team following) crowd turnouts for the POQ's... Back then even an average meeting was worth attending given the crowd participation and interaction.. Give the majority of the POQ's greater relevance and the sport can only benefit... Another opportunity also maybe to get the league completed before the KO Cup... A night where a team wins the league should then generate at least one more meeting to maintain the "feel good" momentum created by the victory... Instead, we invariably have a six month hiatus and when the "Champions" do come back, several of their riders will often have left to meet team average rules... It would also give those not reaching the PO's a chance for silverware thus maintaining interest in the season for their fans, with every meeting having relevance... NB. I do accept there is always a possibility that some non completed POQ's could still get run after the final to give the Champs an extra match!!!

If correct.... Czstochowa cutting cloth accordingly to pay what they owe this year? Would be better swapping with Bydgoszcz and let them put a better team out.. Gorzow too look seriously under the level needed .

They were also sponsored by national companies, (Newspapers and Tobacco companies for the big ones), which delivered some big appearance money for the top riders, and big prize values.... And for many tracks who held such meetings, it was the only other chance you got apart from the league meeting to see the "superstar" from Belle Vue/Cradley/Coventry/Exeter etc... Newspapers and Tobacco? Both of a different time and showing great decline in the amount of people purchasing those products... Sounds familiar....

They used the average reduction for UK riders brilliantly.... Only Sheffield may have prevented them winning the final, and they will be kicking themselves to lose the semi from such a strong position... (However, according to the rules, they should have rode against the Aces in that semi!!!).…. Well Done Ipswich...

I bet Drew will be out first.....

Never going to win with just five riders..,.

Maybe that is why Drew is sulking. ?

They are not avoiding the issue.... They are just not knowledgeable enough about the riders....

He may still have pulled up in third, as still technically at the back...

Kemp unlucky again.....

Unlucky Kemp.....😁

Correct decision... Tatum and Allen keeping up their 100% wrong opinions..😁

Barry Briggs? . 😁

Nose strips out in force. . Emil had one on Monday so that must have made him ride so well...😁