The Cheese

Betting on points scored by a rider is there now so in theory you could already have fixing. Realistically it's probably such a small market that anything looking even slightly dodgy would be flagged immediately.

Premier Sports have an estimated 300k subscribers, can't see that helping to grow the sport. Sky by comparison had 6m from the last figures I can find, and 26.7m people watched content across all their platforms in the last year. One of the worst things about TNT's coverage is that a big deal was made about it including the free-to-air highlights, only for them to be shown once a week at 2am or something ridiculous. I doubt that it attracted even a single new fan.

I can agree with that, it's a far bigger issue than doubling-up. R/R should be mandatory if one rider in the top 5 is missing for a start. In the top league it should be easy enough to replace a reserve with someone who only has a Championship spot or even unattached which would be a good opportunity to put themselves in the shop window. The term 'guest' should be dropped in that scenario as well. Something like 'injury loan' or 'emergency loan' sounds better.

I don't think I've seen any complaints about it. And it's not really to do with money, just a way of helping players get more games. Each round is heavily featured on the BBC Sport page with live updates, commentary etc. Every game is also streamed live for free on YouTube.

Depends what level of football. A squad player in League 1 for example could be loaned out to a non-league side but still play for his parent club in reserve level matches. And sadly that's probably a more relevant comparison for speedway than Manchester United or Real Madrid. If you dig deep enough into any sport you'll find rules and regulations that look odd or stupid to anyone else. Again with football, we have one of the worst countries in the world in San Marino who are potentially 2 play-off games away from qualifying for the World Cup despite being bottom of their qualifying group with 0 points. Depending on other results, it might even be in their best interests to lose heavily in their last match of the group! Cricket's county championship in this country is decided by a league where teams randomly play some sides twice and others once. Several rounds of games in recent years have been played with a completely different ball which in speedway terms would be something like having to use a 250cc in some meetings. Overseas players can be brought in for one match only which could be seen as guesting. Similarly it's also becoming more common for players to play in one competition for their county side and be loaned elsewhere for another, effectively doubling-up.

After fixed race nights were brought in, I don't see the issue with doubling-up. There are no inter-league meetings, they're two completely separate leagues. It's no different than also riding in Poland, Sweden, Denmark, wherever.

Well done to Ipswich. Deserved winners, despite what the table says they were the best team in the league. Credit to their management who come across as very professional and have built such a strong side over the last few years. Others could learn a lot from them on how to successfully run a club. Good effort from Leicester to effectively take it to the last heat, a few errors on the night cost them a better chance.

The Dan Thompson +1 vs Kemp is down to 4/5 now. Outscored him on both Ipswich visits to Leicester this season, Kemp probably riding better now and will have 5 rides but still you'd fancy Thompson who could end up with a couple of extra himself.

I think Fricke and Doyle are deserving of their places, Woffinden though is certainly a surprise call. On the plus side it suggests he's continuing to make good progress in his recovery from the injuries but it's a big gamble when nobody knows how he's going to perform when he does return. Maybe giving him one of the top substitute spots or the British GP wildcard would have been better. Hope he can prove everyone wrong though!

Well done to Australia, fully deserved that as the best pair. Glad to be going back to the World Cup next year though, it's just a far superior event.

Thankfully, not everyone has such a negative view.

Front page of tomorrow's Speedway Star seems to be suggesting a possible revival of Buxton in the NL.

And with that 'gone list' those that are left include: Kildemand (36), Craig Cook (38), Sedgmen (34), Palm Toft (35), Harris (43), Masters (34), Lawson (40), Kerr (35), Barker (37), Nicholls (47), Wright (38), King (39), Worrall (34), Simon Lambert (37), Batchelor (38), Iversen (43) That's almost all of what would effectively be the top group of riders. If people think they can just about manage to find enough riders to sustain one league now, what about in 3 or 5 years?

I see you got there in the end but they obviously changed it as it was listed as being on 10 when I checked last week here - https://www.tvguide.co.uk/channel/tnt-sports-10 Looking again, tonight's doesn't appear on any of them now as they're showing Major League Baseball instead.

Tuesday and Wednesday are on TNT Sports 10.

Thought both legs were very good, hopefully we can get similar levels of entertainment in the final.

They could have made those quotes from him sound more realistic. "The boy Bartosz is a top, top rider" “You will never get a better chance to win a race than heat 2 at Belle Vue. My missus could have won that one.”

Well done to Zmarzlik, remarkable consistency. Kurtz couldn't have done any more. Good to have had someone else who can truly challenge for the title, hopefully one or two others can make that step up as well.

Brennan winning heat 9 felt like a key moment for Ipswich. Coming off the back of conceding that 5-1 in the previous race, he hadn't looked particularly quick himself at that point so it seemed like a great opportunity for Belle Vue to extend their lead to 10. He did a decent job in 13 as well to hold off Bewley long enough that he didn't have time to chase Sayfutdinov. Doyle deservedly rider of the night though, excellent from him in his last 3 rides especially.

Going back to Prague when Kurtz crashed on the last lap of the LCQ after Madsen passed him, I think that cost him 4 points which might end up being costly. Still, what an incredible season for him and I hope he can do it. Nothing against Zmarzlik but it would be nice to see a different winner.

Featured as the main report on BBC Points West this lunchtime. Mainly focused on the opposition to the plans speaking to the resident next door to the site and someone worried about the impact on the crematorium. Also some words from Steve Park who basically said if this doesn't work out then it's unlikely there's anywhere else.

There's not really any need for it but as a neutral I certainly don't mind seeing another race with the top riders. Before heat 15 last night I was hoping for that result for another chance to see those four. For anyone more involved I understand why it's seen as a farce though.

Excellent stuff from Kurtz. New track for him, slow start, pressure of the LCQ and then last gate choice for the final when making the start was crucial. I thought he'd start to fall away slightly towards the end of the series but he's just getting better at the moment.

It's another sign of the state the sport is in when someone can just go straight back into both leagues immediately after their 2-year ban is up. I don't have a problem with giving someone a second chance but they should have to earn it. I can't recall any comment from Morris such as an apology to his teams and sponsors for letting them down. We never even had official confirmation of what exactly he was banned for seeing as he took the cowardly route of refusing a test rather than admit to his mistake.