1 valve

Discovery Sports Events (DSE) are the organisation who promote the Speedway GP series and by and large work on organising the actual event and partner ticketing agencies and similar sub contractors to deliver the final product to fans and content to (WBD Sport) media outlets. It was obvious from their initial involvement in promoting Cardiff 2021 that they were on a cost cutting exercise. Smaller flags, less fireworks in the after meeting show to name a few items. Whilst this "saving" was most probably a benefit for that meeting, what the cost cutting did was take the shine off the overall experience which folk actually felt. So with lower crowds attending the following year, more cuts were made to finally deliver the prophecy many felt - Cardiff was doomed. Its a fact of basic economics that costs increase year on year. Sure they can be managed but what you don't do in established sporting events is cut costs and reduce the spectator experience. They simply wont come back... London would be a great opportunity to reverse the trend - and would remain positive for a good few years so long as the eevent continued to provide "quality" experience and entertainment. Unfortunately, it appears DSE are run by accountants which is a shame because as my old CEO use to say "Finance guys should never be allowed to run a business, they simply are too risk adverse to have sufficient entrepreneurial spirit and courage "

The tourist board report around 12 million UK residents visited London last year on day and short stay visits. This figure was the best since before Covid hit and forecast from hoteliers and the like are predicting an increase for 2025 resulting in the highest number ever of domestic visitors to London. Apart from Singapore and a few other "small" capitals dotted around the world all large city's (including Manchester & Cardiff) suffer from a level of undesirable behavior and frankly this has been the case for many years. Still no reason to doubt that a well promoted speedway GP event held in London would be nothing more than a total success.

Actually there was more like 5500 folk attended as many went to both Friday & Saturday which just about maxed out the venue.

He will need a current contract with a British Club. However, if due to injury he is unable to "work" he can continue to reside in the UK for the duration of the permit/contract.

With a professional promotion staging of the event, a London GP would have a great chance of succeeding. A few things to consider. The London Stadium is in Queen Elizabeth Park which those who have been there know it would be a perfect venue to hold the fans zone and more similar attractions. The cost of "hiring" the stadium for a week is circa £180k - £400k all food and drink is licensed so no revenue from that source. There would be the cost of laying a temporary track, which because the stadium can accommodate an athletics track could be much larger than Cardiff and closer to that at the NSS Dates would need carefully sorting given the requirement of the resident football club. London holds a significant attraction for visitors from both home and abroad being the third highest visited capital in the world As such tour operators from all speedway nations would jump at the chance to create packages to London. An anticipated attendance of 40,000 for a summer meeting would be on the conservative side and additional revenues could be created from holding SGP2 meeting the day previous - the stadium holds 60,000 and the athletics meeting being held on the 19th July is sold out Any sporting event held in London attracting 40k + attendance is a magnet for sponsors especially if it is a one off & TV coverage is planned. Revenues from title and other sponsorship packages would comfortably cover stadium costs. I started this post with "With a professional promotion staging of the event" & this is an issue. Unfortunately whilst many folk involved in UK speedway understand the sport, they appear not have similar levels of knowledge or means/contacts to successfully promote an event of magnitude. That said, third party independent sports promotion companies can help. And Benfield Sports did a fantastic job of realising the vision which became Cardiff GP.

His note will cover absence for up to 7 days. Nothing to stop him riding on day 6 if he & the medical team decide he’s fit to ride. Of course, riding in the meeting may “aggravate” his injury meaning a further 7 day note will be issued. 🤨

Males sense, with Beckers average being second highest it means that Max can take one of the rides and on current form the remaining three rides should produce a decent points haul. However, things could change if Luke's average falls to three or lower and or another rider incurs injury resulting in a significantly long absence

I agree that most probably the various vested organisations were happy with the attendance on both nights especially Saturday which was the original date for the Manchester GP. As we know, the Friday event was a replacement for Cardiff and clearly the losses incurred last year were avoided this time around. However, as a newsworthy spectacle an attendance of 7k does not compare with ones of 20k plus so if the objective is to avoid losses maybe even make a small profit then by all means keep to the NSS as a venue but say goodbye to the opportunity of creating worthwhile awareness of the event and future significant sponsorship.

Ideally for a British GP, There needs to be a track like the NSS situated in a stadium that can hold a minimum of 15000 seated fans. However, we all recognise, this sort of venue is not available especially if a permanent track is a pre-requisite. So, we are left with two choices. 1) Stick with the NSS and accept that at best 7000 will be the max capacity and that includes standing. 2) Find a stadium that can fit a track larger than Cardiff in it but not at a ridiculous cost to hire. Regarding the 2nd "option" does anybody have a suggestions for a current location with a sufficient footprint to fit a "larger than Cardiff" track in it? A longer term solution could be Brandon, should of course the stadium become available. If it does and with no plans for greyhound racing to resume then the existing footprint incorporating the dog track would provide the opportunity of proving a NSS type/size of track and a much larger spectator capacity circa 20K

“First bench bunching” is not recognised by referees as a reason for ordering a restart with all for riders included. Meanwhile, “unsatisfactory start” is. why? Ask the officials.

Not really. Once any material capable of absorbing water reaches its saturation point then it means all pore spaces in the substrate are filled. After which any further water applied will run off and gather elsewhere- ie puddles.

See 2nd post in this thread which is copied from Leicester website.

Ok, but taking you thinking to the point of implementation means riders could be forced by a promoter or organising body to ride in any meeting they wish them to appear in, irrelevant of the riders own wishes. Such exploitative practices where individuals are forced to work against their will are the crux of modern day slavery which is prevented by suitable and agreed contracts of work/employment/engagement being put in place.

Riders are not contracted to ride in an individual event until they accept an invitation to ride/compete, so refusing a booking cannot attract a fine or ban.

The line up for the meeting is indicative of the current state of British speedway. in days gone by there were two semi finals feeding through to a top quality line up for the final. Now we have only one semi final made up of Premiership reserves & championship second strings which reflects poorly on the so called development of British talent. Sad to see!

The possibility of a section 215 being issued would put the onus on Brandon Estates to clear the site or at the very least be used as a bargaining tool to keep the price of acquiring the derelict land at a reasonable level

I don't think many (if any) folk would disagree with you on that point.

By restrictions, rather than physical barriers such as land borders or existing buildings, the new stadium had a limited amount of land allocated for it to be built which was fully utilised. In case you were not already aware, the land fans walk past on their way to the stadium from the car park was not available for speedway having been earmarked for the development of football & BMX facilities. Which have not come to fruition.

Not actually true. There was a restriction to the total space allocated for the speedway stadium to be built which impacted the area available for the actual track. That said, whilst there was absolutely no chance a circuit the size of the NSS could have been accommodated, the original straights were built too long for the accompanying bends and hence the well deserved negative comments aimed at the track from the outset. However, since then a great deal of work has been carried out over time to modify the inside length of the track giving more room for entry into and exit from the turns together with banking more than one racing line and yes. passing opportunities From what has been recently stated, work continues on improving the banking which can only be a positive point and a great deal of effort from many folk over the years has for a very large part finally addressed the original (mistake) design.

What a very strange & insensitive comment. Clearly, as stated, the family have decided to let Tai decide when & what details are released regarding the injuries and treatments he has had to endure. In the meantime, his wife & mum have taken the opportunity to sincerely offer heartfelt thanks & recognition to the folk who in the immediate aftermath of the incident made all the right calls to save Tai from an outcome far more final than from what you think are newsworthy injuries. Those of us who share concern over the health of one of speedways greatest riders have been please to read the message and will continue to abide by the request not to speculate any further in preference to waiting for further official updates to be released at a time whenTai and his family decide is appropriate.

Could be Polish speedway propaganda being “leaked” in their efforts to remain the “untouchables” of influencing how speedway operates their way.

No. not even even with covers. Simply because the track was perfectly dry as the introduction of the riders was commencing , but then the heavens opened with continuous heavy rain for 90 minutes - such conditions making it simply impossible for any outdoor/permanent speedway track to be raced on. great shame for Dougy & the assembled fans as a fantastic line up went to waste - for now

Sorry. I should have said "the lack of sufficient admission facilities" Four being insufficient hence the 30 minute delay of the start to get folk in. However, credit where credit is due. Four is far more sufficient than the two at Leicester. And to close - it was great that NKI got such a great and well deserved turnout for his testimonial.

Ok, so my journey time was quicker than expected, Yes, I got a program, Yes, I got to stand where I wanted too Yes I appreciate it was a good day for NKI. No, I did not appreciate the 30 minute delay to the start of the meeting due folk turning up late No I did not appreciate the lack of admission facilities which caused the long queues. The point promoters should recognise and act on, is that customers (sporting event or supermarket) do not like unreasonable length of queues to get in or pay for the prodct...Example, last week, went to premier league football match circa 50,000 attendance. Arrived at stadium gate 30 minutes prior to kick off, qued for less than five minutes to gain admission using pre purchased ticket, had a beer, a pie, took my seat 5 minutes before kick off...and guess what, the match started on time!. Surely, speedway can have some willingness to provide a quality product, start to finish instead of relying on the willingness of supporters to accept a poor offering. Which judging by the fall off in spectators over the past decade is the outcome of poor promotion is fast coming home to roost.

Blimey, that was one hell of a queue you were anticipating. But at least you were seen close to the appointed start time 😉