mikebv

"If" that is fhte case ... Then just don't turn up.... And state why..... That way the fans will actually understand and more than likely be on your side.. Turning up and just going through the motions means fans will be cheesed off with you after having paid to watch you ride... And a ban won't make any difference to a rider if they are not getting paid anyway....

Lovely, edge of the seat, technical riding.... Exactly what the sport is about... Hope they meet in the final... And there is loads of technical riding for Kelvin to enthuse about...

Leicester have lost RR for Becker... With that, I had them favourites for the title... Without it, Ipswich or Sheffield will comfortably beat then over two legs..

And the fastest he has covered the ground....

Someone with a very high opinion of himself... But. Never backed up by results in any league he races in... The track always seems to be a problem rather than himself... Wherever he rides.. Yet doesn't seem to impact the great many who beat him regularly...

Are you mad?!!!!... If it ain't broken, there is simply no need to fix it....

I read that (right until the bottom line), thinking... "2026? Surely these are what the current regs are?"...

And that's a "negotiated down" contract..... You can see why the UK doesn't hold too much appeal for these lads and, for those it does, you can see why they say "how high" when their Polish paymasters say "jump!"... That contract, at just six points a match (£12k), is worth well over £400k a season... Add a few decent sponsors, and throw in Sweden and Denmark, and not a bad return is it?

Altrincham Town Centre to Manchester City Centre is around 20 to 25 mins in a car depending on time of day... M56, A34 being the quickest when I used to make the journey.. Although via Sale or the Princess Parkway also used to get me in to Piccadilly easily within 30 mins... Both very easy straight runs... Google has Altrincham to Gorton in 25 mins via M56, M60 but "cutting through" via A34 or A6, is even quicker... Simon Calder to play me....

A chance to average drop.... Although... For the Brummies, and the Aces bottom four, how will we tell? 😄

And the huge shift, since fhe 70's, in the demographics of those who live in the cities..

Various reasons... The SGP cost many Aces fans a fortune, (about five Aces matches worth if you went both nights)..., You also have the two major football teams, but also have many satellite towns who have their own pro teams who can deliver five figure crowds... The non league scene, below the Conference, is also very well attended with my lad playing in front of four figure crowds regularly at around twelve quid a pop... Rugby League is also a factor, as, once again, many satellite towns have their own team, with the likes of Wigan having 20k... Sale Sharks deliver decent crowds too, in RU... IManchester Storm Ice Hockey get a couple of thousand and Manchester Basketball and Netball get decent numbers... Add in Lancashire Cricket, with T20 and The Hundred generatng five figure crowds, (during the Summer holidays, with loads of families in place), and you can see that there won't be much left for Speedway from a family's disposable income... Admission costs arei mentioned on the socials by many... If you already attend a "bona fide" pro sport then your money wont stretch too much further, (especially for a sport that has such credibility issues), and also the socials will state that many meetings are "meaningless" given the Aces recent history in reaching the Play Offs.. The City's demographic is also completely opposite to the traditional white, middle aged, male and female follower of the sport... 35000 students live in Manchester from all over the UK and World, and the ethnic diversity numbers in the City are huge... With both sectors having zero interest in watching something your Dad and Grandad go to, or your white middle aged colleagues from work attend... But will pay big bucks to watch some world famous bands and singers, with two venues able to handle over 20,000... And then you can obviously add that hardly anyone below 40 in Manchester has heard of the "World Famous Belle Vue Aces", let alone what they do... 2.75M live within 45 mins of the NSS which does suggest a rather poor marketing campaign doesn't it? Taking all the above challenges into the mix, a decent marketing company would still surely jump at the chance to get 2500 of that 2.75M there each week? The reach must be enormous if done properly, and this is still but a tiny, tiny portion of the local populace..

It means a proper value for money evening of Speedway entertainment... Full of throttle control and crowd pleasing technical riding...

Without credibility, no business can hope to prosper... Or maybe even just survive... UK Speedway is a classic example where that lack of credibility has slowly, but surely, eroded the fan base... The Poole v Oxford was a semi final of one of fhe few competitions ran, and was planned in knowing one rider wasn't available as he rides elsewhere on a Wednesday... It's telling that the sponsors of the comp, like so many other sponsors of the sport, are "in the Speedway bubble", as "outside money" would be more than a bit cheesed off with the lack of respect shown to it, and them, by such decisions.. As I said previously the Mickey Mouse guest system allows such things to happen as it can even deliver an advantage.. The sport needs to take a long look in the mirror, and deliver an operation where it stands on its own two feet, with riders giving equal commitment to it or face a lengthy ban.. They coped without Nick Morris for two years, so I am sure those three mentioned, and others, won't be indispensable... Especially if they match team numbers to availability commitments... In short, they set the sport up so supply exceeds demand... Whether they have the will, or the capability, is another matter...

And teams sign riders knowing full well that they cannot fulfill meetings on certain days of the week, as they are already contracted elsewhere on those nights, so go to tracks having to use guests... It's all a bit Mickey Mouse, so riders giving the UK a miss for their own reasons, or pressure from elsewhere, doesn't make much difference... The guest system is a major part of the reason riders miss these meetings.. No guest system, (and you either use RR or a 2 point unattached rider), and teams would simply not accept the situation, and the rider would have to be there.... As it stands, some clubs can arrange a meeting knowing that they have missing riders, but have already lined up "track ringers" to replace them, making their team better!!! Ludicrous in a so called professional sport... A 28 day ban, given so few meetings now take place per month, is also no deterrent... Maybe a season long ban (and next season too), would sharpen their focus?

Being top of the table and never winning a meeting... The point gained for being within six, for the away team, was dropped, it was said, due to the home teams fans leaving the stadium feeling less than positive that "one point was dropped".... And home victories are, as we know, the main objective to keep a crowd level... Now they can leave feeling that they have lost, after they didn't!!! Typical UK Speedway though... Let's contrive something... Something that didn't need actually fixing too... Maybe spending more time in delivering a fit for purpose operating model, and a joined up, collective, national wide, and innovative, marketing plan would be more beneficial to UK Speedway?

Each match has two points riding on it... Apart from a superheat match... Where there is three... And is it four points available if the 2nd leg ends in a draw as well as the first leg?. ie A superheat for the draw on the night, and a super heat for the aggregate... I have no idea, and cannot be arsed checking, but that would mean two matches scoring seven points, and not five...

Fever pitch excitement......... Sports editor's in the written, audio, and visual media are holding back their headlines and thumbnails until then.... "Who will Ben Cook guest for?" are the words on everyone's lips... (The Aces)....

Does anyone know if the top team picks who they want to race against in this seasons play offs? Anyone?

Getting out of the gate first and staying there around the first two turns was always the priority... With the acceleration the modern day engines bring, the width of the bends at many tracks, the tyres used, and the slick tracks, it is now even more required... An example was Anders Rowe on Monday, he rode the inside to keep Kurtz behind and Holder, who was quicker than Kurtz, couldn't get passed as all followed the one inside line that was available... Get out in front, make yourself as wide as possible entering the turns (at most tracks), and follow (again at most tracks), the one line to use and talent differential can be hugely negated...

Football isn't viable in the vast majority of places, given most clubs are in debt and use expected future money and sponsorship to cover as much of their losses as is possible... Speedway is no different but just on a much smaller scale with umbrella businesses, benafactors and sponsorship covering the shortfall in income v expenditure... It is though, I agree, a lot of work to give a few hundred people something to do every fortnight or so... And how another team will get enough riders to fill it and be competitive will be a challenge given the level of rider used nowadays to fill the ones we have... One thing to consider maybe is if the crowd levels are expected to be so low, then why not just stay at the Abbey? That stadium will more than accommodate such numbers... Maybe ask those looking to move Swindon out of the town that question?

I predicted 8 points for the bottom four at Sheffield but over estimated their capabilty level on a track that you needed to ride out wide in the dirt to have any chance.. Ipswich is much less intimidating and daunting, so will go again with eight points from them.. Cook 4, Blodorn 3, Zischke/Mulford 1 between them...(whoever gets third in heat two).. The usual thirty from the top three off 15 rides, so 52 - 38...

He's never been the best tactically.........

Blodorn, like so many similar riders, has reached his level... He will develop into a regular second string/No6, alternating as the averages change, moving from track to track like so many do in those positions...

If you go with a big top two/three then the weakness will always be lower down... Even more so if you don't use UK riders, so as to use the average reduction advantage to be gained.... Another year in the play offs is an OK season, and will generate a decent crowd for the semi... Personally I would have brought Palovarra in at six when averages allowed and just used guests to cover him on Thursday's away... Zishcke could have done with a year away from the top league but will have a decent average for next season...