mikebv

Quite clear the moment it got announced... As was the plan to build a stand that wasn't going to be affordable to many... A truly baffling business decision.... But this is a UK Speedway promoter...

The PCMM crowd must be similar... As for Poole, you charge ninety quid to sit in that grandstand and see how many you get...

Or a park bench....

Bit disappointed by this modern music... Put some K-Tel hits of the 70's on.....

They will have to wear hi viz tonight to do the same.... Fanzone was OK.... Hovering around South Stand waiting for an upgrade chance...

I think the pricing structure tonight is built to help pay for the costs of the other meetings.. Hotel and Transport costs for so many riders and FIM delegates must be huge given the timescale and amount of people.. Maybe the two semis for £25 and £40 combined, and the SON 2 for £20 would have got more there? With a £60 to £40 spread for the Final.. I am going tonight, and £55 is top end for me to stand and watch any sporting event, let alone one for such a minority sport.. Hopefully a nice upgrade...

Especially with no advertising of the event locally... Or none that I have seen.. Four meetings in so few days is the main issue... You could maybe have got 7,000, paying circa £50 in average, for one meeting on Saturday if that was the only meeting... And with 7,000 being between one third and one quarter of the whole of UK Speedways weekly following, that would have been some achievement .

I presume they knew the rules....

Pleased that Lebedevs is there... Great to watch around the NSS....

He's done a Magic....

The hockey pitch is booked for nine o clock, and some have arrived early......

It's OK... It isn't ran by the UK promoters...

Three....

I bet the Americans sanctioned it looking at his performances...

What a ride.....

Jack....... Ooooooops....

Yes... Behind the temp stand and the pitches... Housing are built on the old place...

When he can be sure he gets his name right....

I will be hanging around just in case they do... Got a great upgrade last time.. The camera covering the start line will show a lot of empty seats if they dont move people around, and that will be one of the most used cameras . Personally, I would have shut the back straight for the semis and let everyone sit in the GS, but I believe the Aces now have a food and drink concession on the South Stand so they wont consider it I would think..

Maybe asked to sit there in case a Mexican Wave gets started? The tractor lads and the start marshalls may be doing the same to keep it going...

A great experience... Watching a "proper team sport" with much (pardon the pun), riding on each meeting given the rewards and losses that take place depending on who are successful and who are not.. A real "tribal" atmosphere... With not a "guest" in sight!!!

It is all a team event... Hence Team GB... All medals get tallied for the country for the "league table".. You also have several cycling team events, relay in athletics, several rowing events, gymnastics have a team discipline, and obviously football and soon to be cricket!! And probably a fair few I have missed..

The Olympics... Russian participants under no national flag...

Most of the priority signings, ie the top two, are made the previous season... Hence Brum would have been going to "top riders" still available, and either getting quoted significant sums due to the advantage the riders held, or getting told "not interested, (but see how my season pans out)" by others... How many would they get if "really successful"? 1100? or so?, hardly enough to bank roll an expensive rent and team.. Bottom line is... Not enough people in Brum (as also in other locations), see Speedway as being worth the money for the racing served up, and/or worth the emotional investment you make for following a sporting team... The promoter there must have money to burn, and fair play to him for taking on such a project with history so stacked against him..

They were in a position where they had to put a team together when everyone else had started well ahead of them.. The averages given to their top two at the time were more to help them look competitive, and get decent guests, than actually reflect on their actual capability... Getting Brum to the tapes at the start of the season was the major priority for all, and they were never going to say "this team is wooden spoon material" in press releases, even if most followers of the sport could clearly see they were.. Birmingham simply doesn't have enough people interested in Speedway enough to turn up each meeting, similar to a fair few other places... Fair play to all involved for giving it a go and keeping it going...