LunnasPerm

Speedway and wine, plus your partner shares the same hobby. You, my friend, have the life. I salute you.

Four meetings, every single week? Wow, that's impressive. If you don't mind me asking, how much do you spend on the speedway? Between petrol, entry, a programme and food, you must spend hundreds on the sport every month. Good on you. Do you with family or friends?

I don't know, I have absolutely no idea. To give you a bit of background, Inhavent regularly attended the speedway for at least five years and only recently have I returned to regular viewing. Hence, my knowledge is limited. However, since you're asking, let me make an uneducated guess: Peter Andrè.

I'm intrigued; who?

If someone could explain the silencer matter, it would be appreciated. What affect does a silencer have on racing and why?

I actually disagree with the suggestion that the season should be shortened to avoid postponments due to weather. My first issue with such a proposal is that the off-season is long enough. October-to-March, five months, is an incredibly long off-season in sport. For the fans, it's a very long time to be without their favourite sport, so to suggest that it be increased - with what is nothing more than assumption that the change would create a higher quality of racing - isn't approporiate. Tracks should receive more protection from the weather. The sport made huge strides with the introduction of air fences, but a simple protective sheet or covering of the track would go a long, long way. Similar to what is used in tennis, but tailored to suit a track. It doesn't require a great deal of work or supervision to shield a track from the weather. Referring back to the duration of the close season, I hold serious issues and concerns with those running the sport in regards to this. How on earth was Belle Vue's new stadium and track not ready for the opening night? That was and continues to be a monumental disaster. It's bad management of epic proportions. Then, we had Edinburgh; their press and practice evening, normally event for team building, turned into a casting and audition session for their number seven race jacket. They had five months to build a side, but couldn't. That, again, is horrendous management which, let's put our cards on the table and be honest here, has short changed the fans because Dan Bewley isn't old enough, big enough or good enough to compete at Premier League level. That's the reality, no matter what way you wish to look at it. Football clubs often have less than a month between the final game of the season and the first day of pre-season. It's poor, unorganised and unprofessional rubbish from dinosaur management. What do I want, personally? Ridiculous rules like the double-points tactical ride; gone. Regular, preventable postponments combated via track protection; yes. The Belle Vue and Edinburgh matters are simply laughable, in my view. It's almost frightening, from a business perspective, that those two instances were allowed to happen. It's embarassing for the sport and ultimately, it shafts the fans which, as someone said elsewhere, will result in their being no domestic speedway in ten years time.

I hate, sorry despise people who prettily attempt to correct people. Especially when their input is wrong. Your input isn't just wrong, it's irrelevant. Nokia's CEO cried at a press conference late last year when discussing their technological status in comparison to Apple, Google, etc. They didn't move and they lost. They missed out on billions because, whilst they didn't do anything wrong, they didn't do anything at all; move, adapt, adjust, etc. Your link is in regards to Nokia delving into the digital health market; nothing more than an acquisition at this point. While Apple dominate and continue to pioneer, Nokia's failings have forced them into this.

People bother because they want change and I think it's evident that it needs change. Someone hit the nail on the head, in another topic I believe, when they stated that if British speedway continued on it's current path, then in ten years, domestic speedway won't be around. The falling crowds and yet the constant burial of heads in the sand reminds me of a recent article I read on Nokia; they were happy with what they had, failed to progress, adapt or change to combat dwindling numbers and now, they face extinction. Unless a fuss is made at fan level, nothing will change.

As I mentioned elsewhere, Sky still have tomorrow's live meeting as Belle Vue and Poole on their schedule. I'm not doubting that it isn't, I'm looking forward to the meeting at King's Lynn or wherever it is, but it shows that Sky are putting as much effort into their social media based speedway section as British speedway is into itself; little.

Is it? Sky's website still has it down as Belle Vue and Poole. Even that emphasises emphasises the unprofessionalism of the whole thing. Sky have dedicated employees fixing Jim White's tie ahead of a cricket update at 2PM on a Wednesday afternoon, but they can't be bothered updating the utter mess that is their speedway schedule. I feel sorry for Belle Vue fans. This would not happen in another sport.

An absolute car crash of events. Is there another sport in the world where the close season is as extensive, October to March? It's unacceptable. Let's be honest, we're not talking about a three-tiered, bowl-like arena with 70,000 seats and 150 VIP boxes. In footballing terms, it's a Conference Premier stadium. For that stadium, and I include the track's surface in that, to be unfit for purpose is a grave, grave error of preparation and judgement which falls accurately on the lap of the Belle Vue promotion. I'm assuming tomorrow's televised meeting on Sky won't be going ahead, will it?

Is this a movie or a series? Someone mentioned episodes. I still remember Schlein making his debut at Ashfield, guesting for us. I'm sure it was 2002 and back then, 16 year-olds would turn-up wearing hand-me-downs, like Kenny McKinna's kevlars from 1996 or James Grieves' orange Wolves costume. Not Schlein, he had the full, brand new Bhuna. Purple and yellow, if I remember correctly. He was excellent and dare I say, lightyears ahead of the 16 year-olds I've seen recently when he was at that age. He nicked a point on the last bend, I'll never forget that, but he also wheelied onto his backside at the start line. You could see that he had potential and I was gutted when I found out he was an Edinburgh asset. He progressed very quickly and although I haven't been a regular for a few years, it looks like stepping-up to the Elite League halted his progress. I honestly thought he would be a Grand Prix rider one day.

I used to live 12 miles from Ashfield and that would take around 30 minutes, but I recently moved and I'm now only 7 miles from the stadium. It's still a 20 minutes journey, largely due to the city centre traffic.

It genuinely amazes me the volume of fans on here who respond to constructive criticism like an aggressive dog would if you attempted to steal it's bone. The saying "burying your head in the sand" doesn't even begin to cover it.

Will tomorrow night's meeting between Belle Vue and Poole be going ahead on Sky? Will this be Belle Vue's first home match of the season?

Sixteen pages. What speedway is missing is... me.

Removing the tactical ride rule would be a good start. I remember it being introduced years ago, but if I remember correctly, the selected rider started 15M behind the rest. At Ashfield during the Scottish derby, Sam Masters won a heat that he was always going to win. However, his points counted for double. Why? His team were terrible, that's why. I understand the reasoning behind the rule, but it's unfair and rewards poor performances. Its footballing equivalent is, if a team goes three goals down, their opponents goals are bigger. It's mental.

It definitley didn't. I have absolutely no way of justifying this belief, but I'm certain that it didn't. I used to travel the country with my dad to watch speedway. Ashfield on a Sunday afternoon was guaranteed, but we'd also fit in Armadale on a Friday night if we could. We went to Workington, Berwick, Newcastle, Belle Vue, Poole, Exeter, the lot and it was exciting. I was there the night Berwick's three Czech imports - Rymel, Makovsky and Franc - made their debut at Shielfield against a Bjarne Pedersen inspired Newcastle side and what a meeting that was. That fourth bend had more passes on it that night than Iniesta has completed all season at Barca. I was at Poole for the World Cup final in 2004 when Hans Andersen "cost" Team Great Britain the title. It was in that meeting that I witnessed the most incredible race I've ever seen; Gary Havelock and a little Pole who's name I forget, but it was four laps of passing, inside, outside, outside, inside. I'm sure it's on YouTube and it's worth a watch, it was speed versus knowledge and I'm sure Havelock won. The Scottish derby and Edinburgh's meeting at Berwick were boring, compared to those I used to experience. I wish I knew why, but I don't. Then, that Sky meeting at Leicester (It was that bad, I don't remember who they were racing) was beyond poor. I have a lot of respect for those riders because they put their safety at risk, but that meeting was abysmal.

What on earth are you talking about? You're beating around the bush with "yes, you're entitled to" and "I didn't say this" nonsense. Your entire post could have been expressed in one paragraph, but you drew it out and for some reason, I kept reading, assuming that something of value would appear. I won't be wasting my time with another one of your posts, so don't quote me again. It will be ignored. This is a huge factor. As I said previously, I paid £17 to get into Ashfield. For the Old Firm game at Hampden, I paid £1 more. That is incredible. As a comparative example of value, I would say that's like buying a bottle of water from Aldi, then buying the same one from a BP petrol station. It isn't vaue for money.

I don't understand your intention, here. You agree with my post which you quoted, but you don't want to discuss that, you want to argue about my topic title, is that right? I think it is. If so, do one. I'm entitled to my opinion and, having been to two meetings in the past two weeks, plus watched the speedway on Sky, I've came to the conclusion that the sport I once loved is boring. Deal with it. Your suggestion that a post's number of likes is in any way a reflection of its validity is laughable. I've agreed with a number of posts on here, but I've never liked them.

Why is that? That, like the old Elite League rule of one Grand Prix rider per-club, is a quality reducer. The higher the average, the better the rider; the lower the average limit, the lower the quality. Speedway shoots itself in the foot, once again. Illogical.

Am I right in thinking that the average limit for each side is now around 42, rather than the old 45? Is that correct?

"Barking". "Ben Bonkers". :lol: Live at the Apollo awaits you two. Looks like I've touched a nerve, here. You know someone's a wee bit riled WHEN THEY TYPE IN CAPITALS FOR MORE EFFECT. A quick search reveals that Cook was excluded by referee Dan Holt for throwing a punch at Barker. Barker didn't hit him. Now, I'm hearing of Sam Masters attacking someone as they're lying on the ground. I'm just saying...

Tree or no tree, her inclusion of football is astonishing.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Barker once on the end of an assault by Craig Cook which rendered your rider disqualified from the meeting in hand?