Islander15

I can see some home losses unfortunately.

So no action this weekend but fortunately still 4 meetings on the following weekend.

Some interesting meetings in the first 2 weekends already! One question... Are Torun stuck with Miedzinski all season now?

I hate it! There’s never a reason for a meeting to take longer than 2 hours, unless there’s a serious accident. But even then, the time it takes to sort that out must be the interval and only 2 heats later

It really is dragging on now! So maybe there is hope that it’s a decent European rider who just doesn’t want to commit to the UK until everything is certain, close to the start of the season?! As if it’s Kennedy or McDonald then surely they’d already be signed up by now and sorting out their transit over here.

Fair point. I hadn’t considered that.

So what has his average been recorded to from 6.52? And how is he eligible for an average reduction when he’s not been out injured?

When is Division Two starting?

Likewise and this is what concerns me about the now mandatory ticket booking in advance.

Absolutely that is a factor! Especially as there is so much filler in speedway and sometimes complicated rules, it does make it more enjoyable when I can understand the commentary and tbf I like Dave Goddard much better than the shouty twins

Yes that will probably be a problem for those who want to watch on a Sunday. I recall having that problem in the past with Eurosport and wanting to watch minority sports so no doubt the same will happen there with speedway this season. Personally as long as they’re shown, even delayed, I’ll just watch them on Premier Player online when it is convenient for me. It’s for this reason that it’s annoying that they aren’t showing the Friday matches. But some are better than none.

Well it looks like I’m in the minority here but I will be prescribing to Premier Sports. It’s unfortunate that they’re not showing all the meetings but I’m often unavailable on a Sunday so I can watch them when I like during the week on Premier Player, which is a lot more useful than finding a dodgy stream or relying on it being uploaded to YouTube etc. Meanwhile they will show the Copa America in July that I’ll watch too.

With no viable direct replacement for Allen, isn’t it time to admit that a double change is necessary? Sign someone like Mountain, Kennedy or MacDonald to replace Pijper (which arguably strengthens the team anyway) and then get BWD at number 1 for a full season whilst he’s still got time to plan to come over here!

What are people’s predictions for the season?

Good luck Connor!

I’ve not noticed this before but all 4 French teams are within a 20 miles radius of each other! So how do they do for crowds as this is a really small catchment area for each team? Or is it basically that all fans attend every meeting and there’s not quite an intense rivalry between teams, it’s more about watching speedway?

£15 is far too expensive for a 3rd tier, let alone whatever the BSPL want this league branded as now! Also with the number of double headers now it effectively drives the price down further and makes Kent look even more expensive.

Good to see JPB get a team place. A young and progressing rider that has personal problems but there’s absolutely a good rider in there

It does usually, but rearranged due to Covid.

The fixtures could easily be run later in the summer when quarantine is no longer a problem. Even if not vaccinated, travel is likely with a negative swab but it unfortunately adds to the expenses.

If you genuinely think fans won’t attend the Premiership or Championship meetings just because the IOW are putting on an individual meeting or open event, then you are highly mistaken. It isn’t BSPL ‘turf’ when the Warriors have withdrawn from the league and association I hope the BSPL don’t attempt to block this attempt, but in reality it will make no difference to any other club’s businesses. At the end of the day, the Warriors have a surprisingly high number of core island based fans who have bought into the Bishop & Widman plan and frequent, but ever changing, holiday makers. So they have no direct rivals.

In terms of speedway, does that really matter though? It’s clear that no French fans would travel to IOW and from an IOW perspective it didn’t matter if their meeting in France has fans or not. It would only be the riders and management travelling to France and they’re likely to need vaccines or negative swabs anyway, the same as anyone else travelling for business or leisure this summer.

Barry Bishop confirms that the Isle of Wight have staged preliminary talks with the French League!

I think it’s actually a very strong team. You honestly have to bear in mind how weak the league is this year! Lots of teams have 3 or 4 3pt riders but the Cubs only have 2 and they’re both at reserve. The second strings should beat all the other 3pt riders and hold their own in general at home, especially Halder who must’ve done hundreds of laps around Beaumont Park by now. Then there’s a proper heat leader trio. Lawlor looks as good as most in the league, maybe not upto a Clegg or Greaves standard, but he will regularly win races home and away. Then the Thompson twins are riders who should definitely put good points on their average. I imagine they’ll ride like genuine heat leaders at home and do pretty well away. Also remember they’re two of the few riders who can argue that they had a near normal season last year, so that should put them ahead in terms of development. If the play-offs existed, I’d have this team in my top 4.

People keep mentioning what other teams would’ve come to the tapes with a higher points limit. But it’s been documented elsewhere that Mildenhall, Kent, Belle Vue, Plymouth (if they remained) and Eastbourne were all were happy with the usual points limit. I am not aware of Armadale or Newcastle’s opinion but they were both in the division for 2020. Only Leicester and Berwick definitely wanted it lowered who are actually racing. All the other teams who wanted it peered aren’t even NL clubs!