mikebv

In Ht 1... Off the inside...

Always thought they should seed the riders to have heat 20 as the "biggie"...

Kurtz? Can't see him riding Saturday....

Didn't they ask one of the medical team if it was OK to ride?

Motorbike racing in virtually the city centre... What a concept....!!!! Let's not tell anyone though.... Shush..... As you say, sell the entertainment, and the riders personalities, rather than trying to make out what you are watching has any semblance of credibility as a bona fide sporting contest.. Give it a bit of hype and (even made up), rivalry and sell the product not the infrastructure around it..

Where the UK leads, Poland follow...

What a ride. Robert Lambert.... Some great racing tonight..

Strange ride from Dudek... Just had a track grade and yet spent 3 laps flying around the fence losing yards to Hansen who rode the inside all race..

Kendo Nagadrabik...

Reminds me of the Leicester match last night this... Emil...

I would say it was 100% correct... No Doyle so Emil takes as many of his rides as he can.. Much better to see Ipswich race than six of them and a guest... And watching Emil race is always VFM so the more he rides the better the meeting..

Could race on a Friday or a Saturday too...

Almost 3 million live within a 45 min drive... If you cannot get 3,000 of them to attend (doesn't have to be the same 3,000 each week), then you might as well give up.. Just 0.1% of the populace... Surely someone with a bit of capability in creating some hype could get more people there given the huge amount of potential? And, given so few meetings now, even more of an opportunity to make every meeting a "stand alone" event..

Especially given nearly 3 million people live within a 45 min car drive, and on the very outskirts of a major city with excellent rail and motorway links.. With a good amount of those living locally having either gone in the past, or being a relative of someone who have gone in the past.. Many clubs (by rules and design) are the only speedway team for a radius of around 30 miles yet get a truly pitiful % of the conurbation around them attending... A huge opportunity for someone surely?

No! No! No! Winning at home is THE ONLY PRIORITY.. Because.. If you win at home most weeks you can get into the play offs... And if you get into the play offs you could win the title.. And if you win the title, you could get a half page mention in your local paper which hardly anyone buys anymore.. And, after waiting for six months, the following season you can build on the momentum of winning the league by having to change your team to give others a chance, maybe even having to lose a fans favourite or two... Or maybe you could even change the league you race in, as you have had enough of riding in the one you have just won, and fancy changing what nights you ride.... Really, really important to win at home at all costs... Entertainment? No chance mate, get that dirt off that track!!!

Something about one of medical team calling it off due to rider safety issues..

It has always amazed me that clubs don't take on some proper professional marketing people to drive footfall into their stadiums... They will each spend literally hundreds of thousands on their riders each year, who hardly anyone in even the next street will recognise, yet a very minimal amount on actually promoting themselves.. A strange business model..

I think that maybe he has taken on too much? CEO and TM combined must be a full on role, especially considering the SON and BF will also need organising.. (And he needs to find half a million quid for the SON!!!)... He has often seemed to miss an obvious trick when it comes to TAC SUB rides and ensuring "hot reserves" get plenty of rides... Maybe just concentrating on the CEO job, (even if just for this one season given all on his plate), would help him?

Pithy comment..

Scott was there.. Should just have used him... Watching it last night, it did really have no "Wow" factor in any way shape or form.. If I was someone watching in or around Leicester, there certainly wouldn't have been any feeling of "FOMO"... Tedious follow the leader racing, fulfilling every "first out of the gate wins" cliché, with a crowd looking both sparse and "freezing" if those huddled together near the start line were reflective of the evening... As someone previously mentioned, if this racing was in Poland, in front of 10,000 home fans screaming their heads off, you would watch and think "I need to be there"... Not many watching will have had that same feeling last night... Out of the three meetings yesterday, Birmingham seemed to offer up the best (only?) racing... BHM's used to be a huge opportunity to sell your product in front of big crowds... It certainly didnt look like there were any "big crowds" yesterday...

Is he American? I didn't know.. Maybe Kelvin should mention it more.. Smashing...

A brilliant plan... Going for a 0-6.....

I wish it had so far.......

No real point though for that is there..? It is UK Speedway after all.... Rinse and Repeat ad infinitum.. Nothing really changes, so a waste of time and money having investigations etc... Just crack on with the rest of the season and lets get all giddy for the play offs, and the "bumper crowds" they bring, plus the return of Robert Lambert to one of the four teams, and the chance to play the annual "Who will Bomber guest for?" Bingo.. Breaking News. Those who run UK Speedway are not very good at it... They were not very good at it 25 years ago, and stll wont be much good at it in 25 years time.. (Assuming it is still with us, obviously)..

Has it finished yet?