New Science

Lakeside ran only 15 home meetings this year,if they ran less it wouldn't be worth bothering,we need a regular fixture list,weekly speedway.This 'more is less' theory was tried this year and didn't work

Not surprised to see you jump to the defence of Mr Pearson again Phil,I think Nigel ranks about 3rd behind BSI and the BSPA in your defence of all things establishment in speedway,although your reluctance to defend the protagonists in the Belle Vue / Poole farce said an awful lot

Spot On

With respect Phil we see this statement issued every year and frankly nothing changes, I know its your job to give the "next year will be better" but nobody is buying it anymore.The only reason the Marketta is on the GP calender is because it is in Prague ! History tells us Prague (great city) Marketta (poor racing)

Or 2 Swedes ?

Tai got a mention on BBC 5 live news tonight although speedways favourite media partner insisted on calling him Wolf- en- den. Hopefully Tai can retain the title to give the BBC a full 12 months to get his name right !

The fans that were watching in the old days are pretty much the same fans that are watching now ! why have they lost the passion and if they have why do they still go ?

Interesting and refreshingly honest match report in this weeks speedway star from Paul Rickett reporting on the 13 heat Retro cup fixture at Sheffield last Thursday.He reports"The message from the 13 heat exercise was that,even though the scoreline was nip and tuck all the way through,if the promoters really want to turn the clock back to the old terrace thronged days,then on this end of season evidence they might be better off addressing what is more and more becoming the problem of supercharged processional racing"Some reporters particularity the one in the local newspaper I read regularly describes meeting as thrillers when having attended I know that they were not.The problem lies with that most speedway reporters/journalists are fans(think Nigel Pearson)and are loathed to paint the sport in a negative light.Also today expectations of the sport have become less than they were,a heat with a pass or a meeting with 5 passes in total are labelled classics when they are not,similarly with crowds,anything over 1000 is deemed huge by the commentators,when in reality a few years ago that figure was just the norm.The recent meeting at Poole was no where near the standard of the classic Play off final of 2010 and the crowd significantly less.Unfortunately speedway took another direction after 2010 which may go some way to explaining why the racing is more processional and crowds are reducing year on year !

Sort of smoke and mirrors effect

I know I am a bit late on this topic but here's my thoughts on last weeks GP.Thought the stadium was excellent although when I got to my seats they didn't exist ! I'm somebody who likes to take in the whole atmosphere of a GP day so arrived at the stadium early 2.30 to sample the fan park (as Cardiff) In reality there was very little to see or buy and not even a beer tent,with very little around the stadium the scene was people hanging around waiting for the stadium to open.One of the best thing about Gp days are sitting around a table with speedway fans having a chat and a beer(thats why I love Poland and Cardiff),Sadly this was not the case in Stockholm.Although the crowd may have looked good on TV (clever camera work) its probable that if the lower tear had been fully opened then the total attendance could have been fitted into this leaving the top 2 tears empty.My worry is how they are going to grow or even maintain this event.It had the same feel as Gelsenkerchen that the 1st year could be as good as it gets,maybe its time to accept that 24,000 is the maximum you can achive for a GP in Sweden.Similar to Poland the speedway heartlands in Sweden are not in the 2 big cities,with Mallila back on the calender its questionable whether fans will continue to travel to Stockholm.Add on a large travelling British contingent 700+ which wont be as sizeable in years to come.Surprisingly didn't see many Danes and understandably not that many Poles due the cost of living in Sweden.Also went to the meeting at Hammerby on the Friday,racing was pretty good on a big fast track,meeting took an age to complete,7.00 start 10.15 finish,beer was cheap thou although it did get pretty cold late on.The people were very friendly and made the race announcements in English as well as Swedish,they also acknowledged the Brits in attendance who outnumbered the Swedes 3-1.On the whole a good weekend,Stockholm is a lovely city (not cheap)

I saw it happen to Belle Vue courtesy of Ermolenko and Correy in Manchester in the early 90's

The people who crave the return of the tactical substitute rule would be the first to complain if for example building up a 10 point lead against Poole then were on the end of three 5-1's in a row in the last 3 heats courtesy of Holder and Ward to lose by 2,how is that fair.The old tactical substitute rule encourages top heavy teams and reduces the impact of a genuine 1-7 team.,at least with the double point rule riders have to race against opponents of similar ability ,not simply gatecrashing heats 8 and 14,the 2 weakest heats in the meeting.

He's pictured with all the Monster riders who win a heat.First time he has been seen in the same shot as Antonio Lindback for about 3 months ! Don't forget some tremendously fast equipment tuned by the best in the business Peter Johns Your easily pleased ! First 16 heats there were only 2 passes after lap 1,once the guys had sorted themselves out on the back straight your could basically fill the programme in with confidence.Not good enough for league racing let alone a G.P. Well done to Tai another controlled performance,not sure a fully fit Sayfidinov would be able to live with his pace,now in a great position to become World Champ,lets pray for no more injuries. Speedways European Championship does have the copyright for Pearson to call Ales Dryml 'The fast gating Ales Dryml',he wasn,t allowed to use that line last night under no circumstances.

Not sure why in good old G.B we continue to be terrorised by these so called EU laws..In the Polish league it states "each Extraleague team will be required to have at least 4 Polish riders per match and 2 of whom must be under 21.Poland are in the EU ,no problem with the B.S.P.A insisting on 2 Brits per team

You will probably get your wish of less foreign riders,more British riders,no Grand Prix riders etc but I doubt if the price of admission will drop.If the standard set next year is a Premier league standard 1 big league,current Premier league promotions are not going to drop their admission price.The Premier league is not awash with money factored in the expensive of a compulsory air fence.If the standard is somewhere between Elite and Premier then expect current Premier sides to actually increase admission.What were most likely to end up with is a diluted standard for the same admission cost.If promoters make savings and then pass them back to fans with reduced admission we end up where we are now albeit with a lower turnover.

Seeing that 2 clubs in the National League currently charge £12 and 7 clubs in the Premier League charge between £15 and £16 currently (both leagues not awash with commuting foreign riders) how much do you seriously think admission is going to reduce by ?

There is a chance that Tai could/might become world champion this year.If this happens he will look for the biggest contract of his career at his clubs.Can't see Tai riding for 'beer money' in Britain in what will be an enlarged Premier league.If the Sky money goes the days of the Elite league superstars/grand prix riders are gone British or not.

Elite league clubs may be happy to downsize to reduce costs but Premier league clubs are no way going to increase their costs to meet the Elite league half way.If there is one big league it will run at existing Premier league level probably ruling out any rider with an Elite league average of above 8 baring in mind Craig Cook is the best rider in the current Premier league.Not sure how this will go down will Elite league fans and whether they be willing to pay current admission prices to watch it.

The reason it didn't look busy at Peterborough was because there was nobody there ! nothing to do with camera angles.When we have to shove people together to make it look artificially better its a poor show.Maybe the BSPA could supply a truck load of mannequins to be rolled out at every Sky meeting just to create the desired illusion.

So you believe Sky are quite happy to show a product played out in a deserted stadium.Its embarrassing for Sky and its embarrassing for speedway !

You couldn't blame Sky if they pull the plug.When they cover meetings "live" nobody turns up to watch them.Everyone seems to want to keep the Sky coverage as long as its 'not at my track' and they can watch from their own armchair

On the flip side the crowd at Peterborough tonight is one of the lowest I've ever seen for an Elite league fixture.It seems a live Sky match and the speedway paying public still have an uneasy relationship ! Couldn't really blame Sky if they pulled the plug.

It will be good to see teams report significant profits this year rather than the considerable losses that have been reported over the last couple of seasons

Much anticipation tonight as Togliati had a great chance to showcase itself on the world stage.Yes great stadium,yes great crowd but if thats the best track they can produce for their biggest meeting in front of millions on TV then its a poor show.I'm sure the usual excuses will come out(weather,local track staff etc) but in all but 5 heats nothing happened after lap 1,not good enough for a meeting attracting the worlds best riders.Some on here are loathed to criticise as most are happy just to have speedway on the box.

Yes it was quite strange tonight,quite a few heats finished with 2 riders within a 2 bike lengths of each other and not a whoaaaaah in sight.Much better if you ask me !