mikebv

Great news Dave . Some brilliiant racing last year.... Even better, week on week, consistently overall, than Poland in my opinion.. Let's hope for the same this year...

Richard Lawson in the Speedway Star wasnt impressed not to get asked.. Him at five would have been very useful...

Seems to be making some decent progression this lad....

FFS!!!! It's their FIRST meeting!!!.... With (hopefully), lots of people there who have either some vague idea of what Speedway is, or havent a clue at all what it is all about... What a load of bollox involved when all that needs to be done is a close meeting, with Northampton winning...

Should have given him a "Special Burger"....

I think most attending will have an expectation of "first night teething problems".... And it would be truly amazing if all went perfectly to plan... Let's hope 3000+ attend as that generally would mean the crowd levels, after the novelty has worn off and generic fans from other tracks have all attended, will settle down to a decent level.... Running out of programmes, (and even chips!), would be a good sign.... Best of luck to Mark Lemon, and the rest, the weather looks decent so hopefully a good turn out...

Was the driveway really, really soaking wet?.. Even though there hadn't been any rain for a week?..

1969 was my first meeting... And as an eight year old in 1976, I learnt my very first swear words... "Peter Collins is riding in Germany tomorrow in a Long track meeting so tonight we have Larry Ross replacing PC, let's give Larry a big Aces welcome"... Sitting in E Block I heard a unison of "For F***s Sake!" from the many "old men and women" sat around me...... You had obviously paid your money to get in by then, unlike today where you know well in advance that the "star turn" on the bill, is being replaced by an "understudy"... (Zero disrespect to Larry, who became another favourite of mine... When maybe a few hundred proclaimed "For F***s Sake!", in those days their money was already in the till... Nowadays, when a few hundred proclaim "For F***s Sake" two days out, they haven't laid out any money, and may decide not to... What you could get away in the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's and even the 90's, you simply cannot anymore due to the internet... As Woolworths, Dixons, Toys R Us, Wimpy, Ratners, Debenhams, Burtons, Top Shop, and a myriad of other entities that didn't adapt and evolve, can testify to...

I think Dean summed it up the best... "Going through the motions"..... Sadly, I would say he is spot on... Best of Luck to Northampton, I will be there at least once this season, hopefully many others will do the same...

It's almost like some riders don't take UK Speedway seriously.... Still... Just as long as they can "bob over" now and again, as and when they can, and honour us with their presence, we will welcome them back with open arms, and it all will be OK.... Have the Northampton Promoters done a "Welcome to UK Speedway" pack for the first time visitors?..

Strange call running a guest for their opening night.... I suppose it does get "newbies" used to it "early doors"... I would have thought RR would have been the choice given four of their riders would get more track time, and money.... Let's hope Kyle doesn't become the match winner, as he would become the Northampton fans' first hero!!!....

The top stars do bring in crowds, if the infrastructure around them generates interest. Hence I have paid nearly three hundred quid for two nights of Speedway at the NSS in June.. However, they also need to be (at least) cost neutral, which when Sky gave the sport circa one million a season, they were. (They took most of the money)... Nowadays, with lower crowds, and no TV money, I would question whether having them in the league over here is cost effective, particularly when hardly any marketing budget is then available.. As for the nights to race on, running on Mon, Wed, Thu, Fri and Sat was ideal for those top tier tracks whose long held traditional night wasn't just a weekend... Poole is an example in the UK whose race night is paramount to their business plan, regardless of the infrastructure around which league they are in.... And Plymouth are an example of moving to a weekend and seeing fantastic growth... That flexibility of "my best night to open" looks like it is key to the sports future.. The racing today is, for me, as good as it ever was. I can look back with those rose tinted glasses and remember my all time hero, Peter Collins, 50 years ago, winning every race, on the line, after passing all three opponents around the outside, at Hyde Rd... The reality of course was "PC" won around seven races in ten by half a straight or more, given he was that good, and often rode against two point average make weights... The difference being that there was well over 10,000 other people in the stadium with me, making noise, with, at least, 500 or so from the opposition... 50,000 at a Cardiff GP was a fantastic event to be at, the racing however wasnt ever much above OK.. Somehow the UK version of Speedway needs to generate crowds, (with plenty of away fans), to generate atmosphere. Which then generates engagement and repeat visits.. That would be a game changer and a whole new future...

If true... (And I dont doubt it given your links to the sport).. It is ridiculous... Any sport needs a successful national team to get publicity for its domestic product, so needs its best competitors there.. Hence Cricket and Rugby Union ensured they had exclusive central contracts for players so they could dictate when they played the domestic game, meaning they were always ready for International matches.. In "minority" sports, national success sells it to a wider audience, and media, not any domestic success... There must be over a dozen riders (currently), better than the young man, not including Woffy and Ellis who have injury issues... It would be like England taking my lad to the World Cup because he plays semi pro level football..

Everyone has the right to be offended... But it is their choice to be so, no one puts them under pressure to take offense... If you are someone who is open to, and OK, in taking offense... Then just accept the right of someone else to offend you...

Great news.... Fingers crossed it all works out.....

24 years ago... You had Sky Sports coverage, usually a match per week, and around a million quid put into the league a season by them.. Meaning Sky Sports News showed highlights on top of the live action, which was often on SS1.... The largest Sports Channel on the planet even sponsored the league via their Skybet arm... You also had (apart from Mr T Gollob), the worlds best 20 or so riders riding over here... Riding on nights that clubs could engage their largest crowds. which meant Wednesday racing, Friday racing, and Saturday racing in the Elite League... A very different offering than what we have today...

Making it actually "mean something" is the No1 challenge, but also, therefore, the No1 opportunity.... It will take a complete overhaul of what currently is allowed to take place, but the size of the prize in the end surely has to inspire those who run the sport to at least give it a go... Alternatively, if those who run the sport in its current guise, can see no need to change, (like you can quite believe), then there never will be any chance of delivering the potential the sport still clearly has given the "raw material" of the racing it has to work with....

A truly baffling decision... Team GB should be the best five riders the nation has... No disrespect but the young lad isn't anywhere near that level, even if you don't include Woffy... Maybe the many more experienced, (and better), GB riders turned down the meeting?....

In my experience, on many social media websites, the "Happy Clappers" are often those within the "bubble" of whatever the business, or entity that the Social Media account is discussing.. Maybe doing some volunteering, or are related to someone running the enterprise... And, quite often, not having to pay out any money to use the business they defend... I've said before. When I ran Supermarkets in towns and cities across the country, getting on the towns social media was "Gold" given the brutal nature of the feedback given by those who would never speak the same to your face... Getting told your crap, publicly, isn't the greatest feeling in the world, however, when they tell you why you were crap, and, even better, give you potential answers to resolve the issue, then, just by listening to, and engaging with, your customers, you cannot fail... Getting told your great by "Happy Clappers" around you, clearly has no merit, or use, at all... Any business desperately needs, for growth, people to tell them what they don't want to hear...

You did agree that the sport was in a "tad of a mess at the moment"... Fair play... You are obviously someone very calming to have around in a crisis... Lets hope today goes well for Northampton and a great new dawn appears from tomorrow for the sport, with new modern thinking people entering into the sport, bringing it into the 21st Century, thus launching a huge national marketing campaign which engages those hundreds of thousands of latent, and potentially new fans, living within an hour of a track, to attend.. See. I can do it....

It's a sport that doesn't follow an operating model that any team sport should.. In the UK... A team sport should have emotional engagement.. For good or bad, but never, indifference... UK Speedway doesn't engage that emotional attachment... Who cares who wins competitions that have little prestige or financial reward? And can be won by other teams helping you win by loaning you their competitors, often to the detriment of their own team, their other riders, and (most importantly), their own fans.. The sport is full of Hobbyists who are quite happy to rub shoulder to shoulder with a level of rider that they simply couldn't afford if they solely had to pay his wages... Hobbyists who are quite content to put out "any Speedway" given winning or losing won't impact them positively, or adversely, to any serious degree.. Basically Dean, the sport has ran its course, still using a 60 year old operating model, without any major customer focused changes... (What you could get a way with 60 years ago, you have no chance in a 24/7 instant media)... It is now nothing more than a conduit for riders to try and earn a years worth of money in six months, with a willing promoter happy to enable them to do so.. The fervant, almost indecent haste, to ensure six teams in tier one, so plenty could double up, clearly showed that... The sport has become mundane, which, ironically, given its ultra exciting raw product, is an indictment on those in charge... The sport needs energy, desire, ambition and passion from its leaders... It seems to have none of that..

An unusual, but novel idea....

They did stop it for a short amount of time.... Fan numbers dropped, and feedback wasn't good.. So they brought it back...

Yes they do.... And also plan games in knowing 100% that their players will be playing Ice Hockey somewhere else in another competition... However, they fix this by lending and borrowing some of the best players to each other through the season... It really works well...

Yes, still going.... And, quite popular with families... A small sport in the grand scheme of things which seems to have progressive leaders, with ambition to grow... Not sure if you noticed. But they do have perspex to stand behind if you go again....