crescent girl

I would say it is -- much -- easier for a promotion to refund an online payment than rushing about with bags of cash 'on the night' at a rained-off meeting.. All online retailers can make refunds at the click of a mouse these days.

Just a small amount of buffering near the end of the match where l was, but missed nothing important. Agree results, or graphics, would be appreciated by folk not so familiar with the riders. George Rothery and Kieran Douglas the two who exceeded expectation and impressed most, l thought. Useful league point for Berwick.

Working fine now! Roll up, roll up........

£6.99 is a good "early bird" deal for the first official speedway match in the UK for 18 months. Weather forecast for Saturday looks good, the teams are competitive and l would suspect there will be a healthy crop of interested neutrals logging on in addition to fans of both clubs.

With regard to the last remark above, I should clarify that I have no specific knowledge on live streaming of either match. I have been presuming there would be streams, but...................

At last! An official speedway match to preview: Bullets: 1. Leon Flint (captain), 2. Ryan Macdonald, 3. Greg Blair, 4. Ben Rathbone, 5. Kyle Bickley, 6. Kieran Douglas, 7. Mason Watson. Stellar Devils: 1. Nathan Greaves (captain, 2. Sheldon Davies, 3. Tom Woolley, 4. Lewis Millar, 5. Danny Phillips, 6. George Rothery, 7. Gregor Millar. There will be a great many 'maybes' about this, and other early-season NDL matches, but we have to be happy that the season is actually going to be up and running. The teams will clash again in West Lothian on Friday 7th. Both meetings are behind closed doors because of soon-to-be-eased Covid restrictions, but will be live-streamed by the respective clubs.

It is most certainly being streamed, right around the planet. As to a programme, l don't know about that, l'm afraid. Fuller details to follow, you can be sure...

Seven days to go!

Does it matter? The Bullets' 1-7 has been approved, so his (and the other six riders') averages will accumulate to less than the infamous 35 points.

Two weeks tonight!

Berwick is a football/speedway stadium

Will there be French subtitles?

And what's your point? That they shouldn't be allowed to pay their way and have a good skid?

Expect some wildly differing levels of co-operation from the various councils, counties, cities, even countries.......

Very interesting and encouraging announcement today about Monarchs' plans for an Academy conduit -- leading from tiny toddlers' bikes right up to the Championship team.

Closed P&P for the Bullets at Shielfield tonight. Plus Berwick Academy NJL riders such as Luke Harrison, and a few invited guests, mostly called either Pijper or McGurk......

Isn't it P&P for just the Bullets, plus Academy (NJL) riders?

Looking at the IoW situation from afar, l'm baffled as to why such a go-ahead, progressive promotion (as l'm repeatedly told they are) felt they couldn't continue to promote their terrific brand of speedway in what would be a nine-team NDL? All the reduced points limit would in effect have meant is they would have to replace one seven-point rider with a new three-pointer -- and if their promotional ideas are so effervescent, their shows so attractive to their public -- surely this shouldn't have been a deal-breaker? The NDL set-up seems to suit the other eight teams well enough -- what is it that the IoW promotion feel would prevent them continuing to put on their much-acclaimed presentations?

I'll stand by my original post - - four doubles, two singles and a stream.. A nice mixed selection box!

That's an interesting thought. Let's imagine that everything goes well, crowds return and there is a Championship Pairs (at Somerset, a handy neutral venue, the night before Cardiff) featuring all twelve clubs. A Plymouth walkover - - or are there any other opinions?

You think?

Yeah, we could each be right -- or wrong! I was taking my data from the BSPL site, which listed four. Now the Bullets (and Bandits) fixtures are on club website, it is still a bit hazy, as the club site has Bandits v Newcastle on BOTH June 19th (which would be a double-header) and July 3....... BSPL have that match on July 3rd, as has the Newcastle website.

Well, these are special times. What has happened in the past, in every walk of life, far beyond speedway, has been swept aside by the global pandemic. While the Island promotion have every right to decline membership of this year's 3rd Division, it might be worth thinking that, if the team average had been set higher, say at 39 or above (as l have seen quoted as their preference) we might not have had an eight-club NDL this time around, with other teams unwilling, or unable to join the league under such terms. While having every sympathy for the deprived Island fans, l personally feel their promotion's withdrawal might be seen in hindsight as a somewhat excessive reaction to a decision which has been accepted by the remaining eight clubs - - with just a whiff of the terrible Coventry/Peterborough furore from a few years back....

Berwick's fixture list at present offers only four double-headers (incorporating NDL matches with Belle Vue, Leicester, Kent and Eastbourne) plus two stand-alone NDL matches (Newcastle and Mildenhall) and the opening meeting of the new UK season on May 1 (against Armadale) which will be a closed-door event, streamed live around the planet! If this schedule is maintained (fixture-lists can prove pliable) having just four double-headers may retain their novelty as 'special occasions' and allow extra promotion of the matches at the appropriate time. Despite a personal preference for stand-alone matches, l readily submit to the financial advantage of running the occasional (and four, over a season, is about right) well-promoted CL/NDL double-header instead of two separate meetings.

Bullets might be pushing it to finish 11th, but Bandits will be much higher than 9th......