mikebv

An unpalatable truth for all the Promoters unfortunately, hence they don't even try and deliver it... The vicious circle of British Speedway Problem:- Riders costs go up so they need more wages? Answer:- Charge the fans more to pay the riders more money... Follow up Problem:- Crowds drop due to the price increase? Answer:- Charge the fans still attending more to pay for the shortfall in revenue..... Follow up Problem:- Crowds drop even more due to the new price increase? Answer:- Charge the fans still attending even more to pay for the even larger shortfall in revenue... Follow up Problem:- The Crowds no longer are turning up to put money into the track? Answer:- Close the track.... Never once do the Promoters ever collectively seem to sort the 'root cause' of the issues out, the only way the sport in this country can continue, never mind prosper is to make massive, radical changes away from the current malaise that allegedly passes as 'a business model'.. Rob in Scunthorpe deserves much better as he has been one of the few Promoters over the past few years who has listened to the fans and tried to deliver what they want from an evening out at the Speedway... As others have said, especially given the great racing you see at Scunthorpe, if he cannot make it work then heaven help so many other tracks out there who do nowhere near as much as he does to 'get a crowd in'.........

BURRRRRRNNNNNNN HIMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!! BURRRRRRNNNNNNN HIMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!! Loved the way he 'cupped' his hand to his ear when he won Heat One..... Cannot for one moment think he gives a 'flying you know what' people think of him.... One thing is for sure, when he does decide to finish, the sport will be poorer for it....

Sadly 'the fluff' includes getting those '4 blokes on bikes without brakes for 4 laps for 3 points' into a 'team framework' which, as is clearly proven week in, week out, cannot be achieved without a huge lack of the integrity required when putting teams out to compete in a professional league... Those who love watching the '4 blokes' race find themselves thinking 'but why do it and what is it all for'? when one of the teams they see has, for example, five riders from other teams riding for them... As Kelvin T said last week, 'it's a great sport when it is done well'... Never have truer words been said... Speedway, in this country, just needs to find a way to do it 'well' consistently around the country...

So you can only presume from this that no one at GSI knows absolutely anyone in any way connected to the Cov promoters, managers and, riders...? They also therefore must have no phone numbers for anyone else in the whole of the sport (including refs) who may have a phone number belonging to anyone in any way connected to Cov...? And you also must conclude, that they cannot have any access to the internet to be able to send an email to anyone within the Cov set up, or indeed not be able to even get a message out via the various social media links that exist..?? And these people have a massive influence on the destiny and success of the sport....? Go figure.....

Thought the racing was very good... Hardly any races 'strung out', 'incident' in lots of races, not quite 'you could throw a blanket over 'em Nige'! in every race but almost all the races had a 'contest' within it to keep you intererested... You dont need overtaking to make a very good speedway race, however last night there were plenty of races that had passing, in particular Woffy's world class ride from last to first against some of the very best riders out there... Add in a good number of races with Brit involvement, the pantomime villian being played to perfection by Pedersen, and how everyone near me laughed our nads off when Jason 'Mad for iiiiiiiiit'! Garrity did exactly as we had all predicted, and all in all, in front of a good crowd, it was a very entertaining way of spending my evening.... Value for money? Definitely. ...

Often wondered why clubs don't sell tickets in blocks of say five meetings at a time at a 'special offer' rate.... £50 for five meetings would I reckon be great value and mean more people take up the offer than maybe currently buy season tickets?, A ticket like that would appeal I would suggest more to the current 'floaters' like me who some nights simply cannot be bothered to go if for example the weather looks dodgy or it is on TV. If I have already paid then I will more than likely attend I would suggest. (and if one of the five matches is a TV one then £10.00 could be charged for anyone who hasnt purchased a 'five match ticket' as those that have wouldnt feel mugged off).... I have been to BV twice this year as 'couldnt be bothered' to attend the other four so they have had just £35.00 off me. If I had paid £50 for the first five meetings I would definitely have attended all five and they would now be £15.00 better off. (and it keeps people in the 'habit' of attending, a habit that is easy to get out of)! £15.00 isnt much, but how many other 'flouting fans' have the same attitude? I would suggest 'quite a few' so there must be plenty of other £15.00's out there? Season tickets surely cannot 'make or break' the season given the low number that seem to purchase them at most tracks? 100 - 200 people at best? And it also stagnates the use of 'special offers' during the season... As many have already said ad nauseam, if you can have average racing in front of a large, vociferous crowd you have atmosphere and an 'event worth attending' (and revisiting)... As will be proven once again this Saturday in Cardiff ...

was it Kelvin who said something along the lines of "what a great sport this is, when it is done well"?.... not wrong is he??? which is why it makes you so frustrated week in and week out, when, at so many venues, it simply isn't even remotely 'done well'.... great entertainment and what a talent young Robert Lambert is going to be, he is already building an impressive 'CV' of winning races against GP opposition, and it cannot be long surely before he does more of it on that very stage....

Looking at the 'crowd' bet you didnt have to queue!!!!

Speedway is unique isnt it? Most 'enterprises' incentivise their employees through setting challenging performance related incremental pay bonuses.... eg you and the team do well, you and the team get greater rewards.... Not BV it would appear.... They obviously have a 'better plan'...

53 scored and only one aces rider in double figures (just, Max with 10) and 10 bonus points scored... a great team effort.... as for the robins? very unlucky to drop so many points from scoring positions....

Raining pretty much all day till 4pm.. (spent my day 1.5 miles away from the track).. The rain was (at worst) 'light rain' for a time, and was more 'constant drizzle' for the vast majority of the day... As someone on the BV fans website said, the rain should deliver 'natural watering' and therefore a good race track, and if it stops at 4pm (as it did|) will still allow 4 hrs to ensure fit for racing if any issues exist.... One of the main BV sponsors even tweeted that the match was 'definitely on' around 4.30 pm and he was "at trackside"...

wasnt it that the scb have to have someone there at 1pm on race day to ascertain whether the meeting could take place?? must have been caught up in watching the greyhounds if that was the case... no rain after the turnstiles were opened so I can only presume that 'the atmospheric conditions prevailing above' were in some way responsible for the 'undoubted' severe deterioration of the track in the ensuing minutes after the fans were allowed in.?!!!

Because Speedway fans (well the ever dwindling ones that are left), still fall for it?!!!

I think that there is a rule being enforced here that supersedes all others... The "ahhhhh, but this is speedway!" rule.... You know, the one that has done so much to help the sport become the towering success it is today....!

The Comedy Channel????

Fantastic to see someone who can make difference choosing to do so.... Looks like a good initial plan of action to be focused on re training, nutrition , pre season practice etc... Let's just hope the BSPA invest some proper cash into this and don't just hold the pre season practise on the Isle Of Wight as they may regard the place as an 'overseas' location!!! It is interesting that the two stand out performers from Team GB both learnt their racing, in the main, away from this country.... Coincidence?

Didn't he decide not to ride because he wasn't allowed to take part in the SEC as the BSPA don't recognise the event because they feel that this competition can adversely affect their League? The same competition that 'Non British' EL and PL riders have rode, and still ride in, without it would appear any massive disruption to the Leagues!!? Maybe the BSPA just want as many riders 'on hand' every week to ensure that their 'guest quota' per meeting is successfully maintained... Can't blame Scott personally, why put yourself out to represent an organisation who you simply have zero respect for?

I agree, each match over the season has a definate bearing on who will be the final winners of the league... All these 'select' matches every week allows every team the opportunity to pick and choose who they want, so by 'trial and error' by the time the play offs come around the teams who get there will clearly know which guests ride best at which tracks, and this in turn will then steer them as to which riders of their own should suddenly/unfortunately/sadly become 'ill' or 'injured' prior to the play offs starting.....!

Imagine running a business and part of your marketing is to openly inform your customers that every now and then, at a moments notice, you will only provide them with two thirds of the goods that they had earlier paid for and just to rub a little salt into the wound, you will not provide them with even one penny of refund for the products that they didnt get.... Imagine also then being really surprised that 1000's of customers dont come and visit you!? Bet Richard Branson is in awe of a business plan like this...

Lot's of people on here with (quite rightly) a very negative opinion on the events of last night... However as I was watching events unfold I couldn't escape the thoughts that this kind of thing is now simply 'par for the course' with regards to how the sport is run.. I didn't even feel sympathy for those few who did attend because my thought was 'are you mad?' How common place nowadays is 'lets get to ht 10 and call it off' and yet people still incredibly attend a speedway match after a day of rain, with a further forecast of rain...!? As I say, par for the course now that the sport (in this country) lets the paying customer down time after time... Amazed it still has any semblance of a customer base to be honest, it's almost like the fans who still regularly go have become 'immune' to the nonsense..

It's Havvys ball and he has taken it home........ Its the Monty Pythons Flying Circus British Speedway Elite League... Der der, der der, der der, der,der, dee dum dee diddly Deeeee.. The sport is deceased, the only reason it is upright is because someone has nailed its feet to the perch!!! A wakey, wakeyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!! Last one out, turn the lights out... Mickey Mouse has just got himself another BSPA watch......

Where's Elsie???? Part timer........!!!!!

Just like 'track specialist' guest riders turning up to replace injured riders in possession of a sick note written by Dr Zhivago....

Maybe just changing rider replacement rules would be the simplest way? No1_missing then the second and third heat leaders can take two of his rides each? (Or anyone the manager sees fit can take a Max of two each)? Eg No Zagar then Nicholls and Cook could take two more rides each. Use his 'tyre' too... For riders missing down the order then the one above can take one ride (as currently) but the other three can be taken by the two riders below the missing rider, eg Nichols missing, then Zagar takes one, Cook takes two and Fricke takes the other.. Lots of riders have taken seven rides during a meeting down the years so not a new invention.. Maybe six rider teams would also help? Keep two FSR's and it would mean only four other riders needed. This would mean some riders with no team place who could then be on stand by to replace either injuries or out of form riders (just like 'normal sports')...!!!!

and that sounds like a great afternoon of entertainment... however, in the context of what is supposed to be a professional team sport which names a 'Champion' every year, it is a farce... maybe the simple answer is to dispense with team speedway altogether and just run individual events or maybe run the sport like Rugby Union used to be, ie no league table just 'head to head' battles through the season... if you want to run the sport as a league, with winners at the end of the season, then there has to be integrity within the process that gets you to that final position.. currently british speedway does not provide that, but needs to quickly if it isnt to alienate even more of its ever dwindling fanbase