SteelShoe

It is my perception that meetings covered by BSN in the absence of racing incidents take longer , no data to back that up mind.

Not 100% positive but I do not believe any Worky riders are on a guarantee.

yeah been hard watch Friday/Saturday. Quite a young team some finding their feet and form, the Captain has gone missing when he has been needed to set a good example, provide sound advice and lead from the front.

he said on first TNT Sports televised meeting that he wouldn't be fit for for 6-8weeks, could barely lift one arm above shoulder level.

Worky don't start their league campaign until 7th June , anything can happen in a month.

you sure certain teams in the Premiership aren't struggling.

Well done the Bears, your guys had far less issues with the track than some of the Worky riders who didn't adapt early enough to a track which had more dirt on than last week. There had been some additional material added during the week with more watering and working. Last week the track was that hard the wonder wheel was only scratching the surface. The Bears have a strong team this season and will be strong contenders for all 3 trophies. Thanks to all the Bears fans who made the trip, your guys are making a habit of winning at Northside 😃

One British League next season please.

Think most watching would agree that a switch should have taken place in heat 13, Batch wasn't getting any meaningful track time.

On current form the Bears are favourites. Comets fans will be looking for a big response on home shale from all the team . It is a team sport, every member needs to contribute. Batch owes it to the fans and himself to deliver a No1 and captains performance.

Very on point, his professionalism tonight was severely undermined . How a number1 did not have a bike fit for the purpose of racing could be construed as a dereliction of duty.

Absolute rubbish

Not true

Can't defend the indefensible IainB, I was on the 1st bend and was truly embarassed tonight. How there wasn't a reserve replacement in heat 13 is hard to fathom.

Wonder if BSN release viewing figures ?. It would be useful if clubs currently streaming released some data but this is improbable. In the personal case you put ie where you travel a good distance and the weather is dodgy then I can see the logic in paying for the stream, it makes sense. The issue I have is that streaming in all likelyhood will not be watched by people outside of the combined Speedway demographic so in all likelyhood won't attract any new fans. Any income is drawn from a defined pool of people and it could be argued it is too cheap relative to admission cost. With re to Comets TV, it would be understandable to stream matches against Poole, Plymouth , Oxford and Scunthorpe. Hopefully the home fans would still attend in good weather but it may persuade fans not directly from Workington to stream. If the forecast was a bit dodgy some would resort to the stream. For the northern meetings against Glasgow, Edinburgh, Berwick and Redcar who have a decent away following then the case for streaming has to be less compelling from a financial standpoint. Without data though all of this is supposition. If clubs keep accurate attendance data then any impacts of streaming could be better assessed. Hope it goes well for the Comets but personally I am circumspect on whether there will be financial and attendance benefits.

I believe It adversely affected the gate at Glasgow so they stopped streaming. Why encourage people to sit at home on a lovely day, miss positives such as fresh air, the crack with fellow supporters, sharing a beer or an ice cream, getting involved in generating atmosphere etc etc. Just don't get it. Streaming won't save clubs when the crowds have gone and nobody wants to go because nobody else goes.

Scunny usually strong at home but i hope the Comets can push them all the way. We need to produce something a bit special to put us into a group decider at home to the Bears on Saturday. Come on you Comets race your socks off 👌👍👊

that seems like an expensive ambulance

Crowds dropped off end of season notably against Poole (who were so much better than anyone else and whom we faced in both BSN semi final and the Playoffs with a team weakened by injury to key riders) and Plymouth. Crowds are always lower against the Southern teams and Scunthorpe due to the low number of travelling fans. Conversely we did have some pretty decent crowds earlier in the season. Comets won't be unique in being partly reliant on help from sponsors and I thank them all. Quite a lot of work has gone on during the closed season including the purchase of a new FIM+ air fence and referees box again funded with the help of sponsors but also having a financial cost to Andrew who is on a mission of continuous stadium improvement , just hope he has a fund to help with weekly running costs when these aren't covered by gate receipts.

I agree with this, if I was visiting an away team say within 200 miles then a 3 or 4pm start works well . When visiting most away tracks now with a 7-30pm start I have to price an overnight stay into the cost and hotel prices have gone up markedly especially in the summer months. I would much rather witness live Speedway than watch it on tv.

I thought after last seasons disgruntlement with the Championship fixture list and the fact that there only 16 teams between the Premiership and Championship leagues that there would be more of a push from promoters for a combined British League. For me this would invigorate the sport and inject some renewed enthusiasm. I hope this happens next season inspite of all the arguments as to why it isn't workable.

I was just discussing a later start yesterday say 5pm, obviously we have no floodlights but that should be doable from now until end of August. I think the promotion would like feedback on this and may well consider a poll of fans.

This is a very valid point. I was at the meeting and the racing was indeed very good.

Track prep can't have been easy since the start of the season because it has generally been really dry weather. We struggled to get the usual outside line at Worky for the Scunthorpe meeting because the track was very dry and hard going into pre meeting watering, even the wonder wheel was just scratching the surface during the meeting grading breaks.

I don't like to see riders giving up and Troy does this at times. In his defence he is an experienced rider, it maybe that if he finds himself at the back on a slick track with nothing in it to help him pass then that this influences his mindset. I'm not justifying him doing this because the fans want to see riders race for 4 laps when under power. Two other notable heat leaders who couldn't pass when they didn't come out of turn 2 in front where Danny King and Anders Rowe , the latter made 3 lightning gates to go impressively unbeaten into heat 14 was beaten to the first corner by Fraser Bowes who had only scored 2 points up to that point but Anders couldn't overhaul him. Only really Charles Wright who unsettled Batch on the very inside of turns 1 and 2 in heat 15 really managed to execute a pass of note from memory.