old bob at herne bay

Seems each year UK speedway continues its downward spiral to the bottom..... less entertainment and lower quantity teams for more money. Kent’s pitch at CL speedway is just a reflection on how few people are bothered to go and watch. Sadly it’s reflected in the sports magazine offering, with increased costs and less detail on match reports. The sport is slowly failing. Reducing attendances will continue to reduce still further ..... initiatives to attract a new generation of fans will fail unless the accompanying adults turn up with their kids. As for the OAPs .... they are a significant % of fans attending the sport, not sure it’s good business to not offer any concessions. Price comparisons with other tracks don’t mean much in speedway.....people who don’t go rarely to save money don’t suddenly start supporting another team. They just find other things to sped money/time. Not sure Kent can support Championship speedway at these prices with the draconian curfew still in place. Let’s hope the track delivers entertaining racing without the all too regular incidents seen at NL level last season.

Historically Kent have used Bank Holiday Monday afternoons in the NL

Might be tempted to have a punt at seeing CL speedway at Central Park in 2020 ....with the more experienced and capable riders there is a chance that 15 heats will be completed within 2hours which now seems to be the accepted avarage time for a meeting. My concern is that with better riders the slick surface will produce FTG in every heat.( Just like Arlington) Scant details on admission prices ,race night , start time and whether any Kent NL team is allowed to run on alternate race nights?

Not sure Mr. Cook got his promoters "licence" returned - dating back from the closure of Lakeside.

Alf Bowtell has been giving 100% for a couple of seasons now, and really hasn’t improved . Never mastered the tight Arlington track, and don’t see him making any impression at Central Park at Championship level.

thought he rode for the Kent Kings ?

The answer to your question is simply not enough people go to watch speedway in the UK . However you dress it up that is the answer. All the various attempts at tinkering with the rules to cut costs, putting the sport on TV, developing young British riders, have failed to increase attendances. With current attendance levels I am surprised that professional speedway can be sustained in the UK.

Anyone care to estimate the sale price of Poole Speedway ? I struggle to understand what I would be getting for my money ?

Surely riders wages are the only variable cost between PL and CL - all the other costs are fixed whatever league you race in ? As for the costs of Kent moving from the NL to the PL, Len will need also 7 riders, or maybe 6 if Drew Kemp rides at number 7.

Red Flag ... the world ends for me once I cross the river ... the Thames that is

Si think the key point is REGULAR fixtures.

"I would say that the change of race night was a huge reason....... " Spot on Gavan. Same thing happened to Rye House. Think I said this about 30 posts earlier. Matt Ford lost interest before the end of last season (2018), club was up for sale , no one wanted in then , handed it over to his son to run. He just took fixed race nights on the chin.... probably knew his crowd would drop. MAybe all the Poole riders who dont fit in the CL will go to Kent "on loan" to Len

Kent running in the "Premier" ! Very surprised that Len has gone in that direction. With the reported additioanl costs of running a PL team stated by Matt Ford compared to even those in the Championship, the Kent Kings Promotion must have some gold plated sponsorship lined up. Mondays at 6.30pm start time will not see many ex Lakeside supporters make the trek from Essex though the "Dartford Crossing" and down the M" in the rush hour to make a 6.30pm start. How many working people from outside of the immediate Sittingbourne can get to the track by 6.30 ? They have good support in the National League and a fine stadium for the spectators ... but I just dont see the crowd growing with the current restrictions on start time. Nearest local derbies Ipswich or Peterborough (100 miles away) so few away supporters are going to make the trek other than on Bank Holidy Mondays , so reliant on "home " support. Berwick HO HO ... maybe they will be sponsored by an airline to fly all the riders and spectators to the track. Sheffield sounds sensible ... they have long aspired to join the PL and thier Thursday night racing fits with the curent fixed race nights.

Its been absolutely pouring down here in Herne Bay (20 miles from Sittingbourne) since 4 am this morning and its still pouring down at 9.20am. IF Sitingbourne has had half the amount of rain we have had here I will be amazed if tonights meeting goes ahead.

If MF is doing this as some sort of stunt as others have suggested, hardly likely to help him sell the club ! Surely it's CL or bust for Poole in 2020....no businessman is going to carry on taking the alleged losses without making major changes.

Speedway supporters are creatures of habit. Poole are a Wednesday speedway track. Ipswich Thursday, Wolves Monday, Swindon Thursday. Don't see the problem with supporters grumbling about moving into the CL .... most of the riders are in both leagues anyhow..... seem to remember Pool in the 2nd division with Steve Schofield being a pretty decent side back in the 80's with good support.

Steady on "screm" ... I am not sure that the Poole boys will be reaching as far north as Berwick unless you pay their bus fare

Seems like another club "tucked up" by the fixed race nights for the PL ? It completely finished Rye House and appears to have driven Poole out of the PL. As for saving money it remains to be seen how much riders who need to "double up" to make UK speedway viable will demand to race if there is only one league.

Track Covers ...... with no disrespect to the poster this oldchestnut is resurrected season after season after meetings are rained off. Where does the labour come from to lay the covers , weight them down to stop them blowing away , and then removing them and the weights? What do you do with all the water that runs off the track covers ? Can tracks leave their covers on when they have stadia that stage stock cars ? Having said that I believe Berwick use track covers so they must have cracked the problems. As for the BSPA owning 2 sets of covers .... ..... nice idea , but whne have the BSPA shown any interest in SUPPORTING the sport in the UK ?

Before blaming the riders, let’s remember WHY this is a “pointless” meeting .... the failure of the Poole promotion to run the meeting in a timely manner.

Didn’t look fit in Saturdays Toruń GP ....IMO

Are there really going to be hundreds of Poole supporters keen to visit monmer ( seems how the toffs say it) green to see the p.off ? If they are really Poole supporters I would think they would want to see their final meeting, hear all the end of season speeches from their riders, promotion team, and see the mechanics races, and the grand firework display? I could understand a few would want to go to Blunsdon to cheer the Wolves .. but that’s on the Thursday.

Met Office Forecast for Wolverhampton ......... Monday Time 01:00 04:00 07:00 10:00 13:00 16:00 19:00 22:00 Weather symbol Chance of precipitation 10% 10% 10% 60% 90% 90% 80% 50% Temperature (°C) 10° 9° 9° 10° 11° 12° 12° 12°

Well done Ipswich. I sincerely hope Holder isnt too badly hurt and makes a swift recovery.

2 tier speedway next season poses a huge problem for Kent ( a MONDAY only track in the NL) as thats a PL only reserved night? Any thoughts teaboy 279?