HGould

Somewhere in Spain this week. Matt Ford asked if he could show the benefits of "cloud seeding" (to artificially order rain clouds at set pre designated times) procedure he proposes to keep the dust down at Poole but it went a bit ** up!

Plymouth may be playing an absolute blinder "Devil take the hindmost" (excuse the pun) Just got to wait for the 20 riders linked with Glasgow who don't make the Tigers chosen 7 and cherry pick the best 5 remaining for themselves

I guess they'd best give David Mason a bell to find out how they ran NDL on a weekday that probably just about broke even on the kind of rental they had to pay ARC. The question is would those 400-500 who turned up then turn up now or would they turn their nose up at it??.

He appears to have arrived in to adult Speedway with something of a reputation from the Youth ranks of being a bit of an "indian rubber man" e.g he falls off a lot but bounces very well. He's certainly got no fear from what I've seen and is frigteningly quick. He probably has the raw speed and talent to go a very very long way BUT to do that he'll need to stay fit and he'll need to learn race-craft and race-craft is not having the throttle on the end stop for 4 laps! I've read he has guidance from David Norris, a great rider and a fantastic charachter but again, I'm not always convinced great riders are the best mentors. How do you Coach someone who is a natural and a bit of a maverick is always a challenge in any Sport as you can't coach out what comes naturally without affecting that natural ability. A bit of a conundrum really. The one thing he can control though, and which should be taught him very quickly; is his behaviour respect and decorum OFF the track, as that will get him in to more bother potentially if he can't rein it in.

I'm going 55-35 here to Poole I think Lawson will be on his A game, Brennan will have actually put Poole first unlike the 1st Leg and actually arrive awake and up for it and the Cook brothers will be supercharged by one of those GP type engines they seem to be able to borrow from fellow Aussies when the chips are down!...I can see those 4 amassing north of 45 points. I think the remaining 3 can chip in 10 between them. Masters and Scotty will fight valiantly but I can't see them getting heat advantages in 13 and 15 this time under the relentless Poole top 4 pressure.

Sad but sadly inevitable. Hemmed in by the Stadium Owners to a Monday by BSPL to only being able to ride in PL on a Monday by Stadium future that no one can guarantee beyond next September it seems by 3 Football Clubs all attracting near full houses in PL / CL and astonishingly League 1 by a vibrant Test and County Cricket ground by an increasigly diverse populous the vast majority of which have no affinity with Speedway by a Sport with an aging support base whose aging to slow death is only beaten by the Conservative Party Cannot and won't fault the commitment and enthusiasm of the current Promotion or the one that preceded it, nor those who fought so hard to bring the Sport back to the City early this milenium.... Sadly I think this is the end, and Tolley and Co join the growing list who can at least say "better to have tried and failed, than not to have tried at all" at least we've had 3 seasons we may not have otherwise have had!

The NDL is really a couple of Clubs light. It cannot be allowed to die! The glaring geographical gap in general is in London and the South East. Is there no chance someone could use Iwade again, like Kent did in 2023?. Could be a "generic" South East labelled Club to attract supporters from those clubs who have closed in the past 10 years or so?? Surely they could make NDL work financially? I understand that Buxton is still operating as a Track, really Buxton was "everything that is positive about NDL at its peak" - with Stoke sadly gone as a venuw and Sheffield / Scunthorpe really too much of a composite to be viable long term, could someone not get Buxton up and running again. Mildenhall too is too good a venue to sit unused, could one of their former promoters not consider an NDL season in 2025??...

Try putting both arms in a jumper standing on one leg!

The risk of another bang on a clearly deeply concussed brain in the timescale since his massive crash the week before last massively massively overrides any possible reward of racing this week, next week, any time this season in my opinion. How many of the scribes on here (aside from the few ex-speedway riders or possible rugby / motor cycle typs sports competitiors, boxers ) have ever suffered from a concussion.??? I had a mild one playing Rugby in my teens, believe me, it's something I've never forgotten and the affects can be dormant and long term. He is a decent young man with the best days of his career ahead, far better for him to show up and spectate, take his deserved adulations as a team member and contributor to the respective ultimate trophy wins, and get himself off back home, some rest and relaxation and come back as recovered as he can be next season. I sincerely hope that is the outcome!

I think the one benefit from this addition of manchester is that it might at least provoke a bit of interest from the BBC in the days before and during the Event. They have become very Manchester centric and biased in their reporting since relocating to Salford. Hopefully for once Speedway can get some free publicity and a bit of a boost. Certainly the BSPL should be all over this possible angle / spike in awareness.

Vinnie to Glasgow Sam back to Oxford

They will have who they want. No-one will be exempted. This is Speedway. This is Poole Poole are run by one of the 4 Management Committee Members; Oxford are NOT. The Cabal will meet, the Blue and White smoke will be spotted above the roofs of Rugby. Vatcher will be called in to adjudicate on behalf of the Cabal - erm sorry CCB - Cabal Control Board. He will pronounce forthwith- "The Rules are the Rules until the Rules are unfair Rules for those that make the Rules therefore on this occasion the rule makers have trashed the Rules and made new temporary Rules for the good of the Cabal (stet - Sport)...."

100% this! He's a rider with a high ceiling and he could end up in GP Series. Concussion, especially deep concussion is a potentially silent killer. IF he has had some sort of initial seizure he will need some constant monitoring for a period of months and plenty of rest and relaxation. Even if he hasn't had a seizure, the nature of the crash (as descibed) suggests he'd be VERY wise to sit out the remainder of the season. He may be restricted initially in terms of long distance Air travel but ideally he can get home, get some sun on his back and come back fit and fresh next season. You simply cannot take risks with head injuries and concussion, fractures / muscle injuries you may be able to "patch up" - the brain you most definitely cannot!

I'm glad somebody else feels the same as I do. My immediate reaction to seeing the discussions about replacements , when the lad was on his way to hospital under blue lights with paramedics in attendence (which is not a good sign at all) ; was one of uneasiness to put it mildly. Unfortunately I have witnessed a fatality at a speedway meeting in the 1970's and a separate crash that resulted in paralysis and let us all pray to whoever our God is, or even if we dont believe in one, that this incident has an ending that is as positive as it can possibly be!

This may or may not be controversial but i think the biggest issue at PB isn't always the preparation or lack of it, especially considering access and access to watering problems a rented Track brings. The bigger is I've long thought is the shape. It's classic 2 valve / Upright designed shape following to contours of the out dog track and for reasons of necessity (understandably so) the access to track lighting and electrics. Its a problem that befalls any track where Speedway is the "junior sport" and/or which Speedway does not own. I think it would be suited, if Stadiums Owners had ever agreed and lets be honest it's too late now, to a makeover very similar to the one Swindon had. Reduce the length of the straights by 20-25 metres and widen and bank the tuns a bit more by cutting in to the centre green. Every old upright rider I've ever spoken to tells me the same things, modern uprights rev far too high and don't make for better racing as we have a generation of throttle jockeys few of whom know how to feather a throttle to create grip. One exception I noted to this during this season is Brennan, and in his NDL days, he uses the throttle much more like a far more experienced rider or one from the pre Upright era.

The Sport and specifically Championship needs a 21st century form of 1970's "Rider Control". It worked well for a decade or so until Olsen / Mauger threw their dummies out of the pram. In fact in a pre social media age it generated a fair bit of excitement to see who you had been allocated, with twice as many teams and probably 10 x as many regular fans. Even if they as an example graduated a Heat Leader list to furnish 2 per team; and a Second String list to furnish 2 per team; and then a stpulation one of the 3 remaining riders was 3 points or lower it would even things out a fair bit better than it is now. IF any Rider objected, h could decide to sit out the CL, but as we all know, no CL heat leader can realistically just ride CL and that applies to the majority of second strings...

At face value that's about as positive a statement of intent re the Dogs as we could have hoped for. The use if the word "in" re September is far clearer than "by September" I guess. I'm a bit surprised, though happy, that it will take so long to transition. I think the one UNKNOWN is whether Dogs will run a FULL schedule to September or taper off during the summer as the owners wont want to have the scenario of far fewer Dog Meets they would want Full Schedule. At least NT can go to the BSPL and declare a season to "September" is possible. BSPL may be wary of a scenario like Lakeside > Rye House but at a push I suppoe IF it closed with Brummies having an outstanding final to race either Owners would allow it or we could use ahem...Leicester - we can but dream of Finals! Over to Nigel T I guess!

Clearly issues I was not aware of but hopefully the current Birmingam Owner can at least pitch his case to the new Site Owners. On a separate topic, very sad to read in the past few hours of the passing of Peter Mason. Peter and David worked their proverbials off in very difficult times to keep Speedway going long enough for the new owner, who seems to have far deeper pockets, to take over. Peter and David were anything but local but worked incredibly hard and I always found Peter in particular very personable and willing to stop and chat on Match night. Their efforts should never be forgotten in support of Speedway in Birmingham.

Clearly there are some issues I was not aware of that Brian Buck has referred to in his comment. Hopefully though there may at least be an opportunity of Speedway (and Stocks) getting back in to very much possibly improved facilities under the new Billionaire Owners. Unfortunately timescales would be 5-7 years.

With respect to you, I think you need to give your head a bit of a wobble. Stock Cars and Go Karts were taking up about 3 acres in the midst of a cesspit of contaminated waste, illegal dumping, drug dealing dens and in a prime piece of land within the view of the Second Cities Centre. Those venues were not even venues, they were old underused decrepit facilities. They have committed to cleaning up the whole area and building world class facilities on the Site that will be not only the best in Britain but amongst the best in Europe. It has diddly squat really to do with football, that's a small aside to them, what they see is a significant piece of land that they can purchase for about 5% of it's long term value, the chance to invest a few billions and recoup tens of billions. They haven't closed a Stock Car track to do this, what they may have given just a slight chance for in the future is "an Oval Track Motorsport facility" the might offer option for Speedway IF Speedway can get a small toe in the door.

It is worth pointing out though, and hopefully Nigel Tolley is not hidden under a rock on this issue that the new Owners of Birmingham City have just bought the old Wheels Site for an absolute pittance in terms of land value to build a new 65000 seater stadium, a sports village complete with retail / entertainment outlets and a secondary athletics track (needed to attract Global events to the main stadium). They have got Gary Cook on board who did very similar to the Man City Etihaad development. I'm sure given US links they will be looking at Stadium MX / Monster Trucks etc and all kinds of Xtreme Sports as an income stream somewhere on the development. Somewhere in the region of 75 acres for £30,000,000. They have already started decontaminating the land. The Land value alone once cleaned up will be worth around 5 x what they paid for it. Now surely that could be the last real bit of accessible sporting real estate inside the City boundaries where some form of motor sport venue could be tetained / added. Plans include a direct tram link to the City centre, a new railway station on the intersection of the main lines running in to and out of Birmingham New St / Moor Street and the new HS2 link in Curzon Street etc. An Oval tracked linked to an electric Go Kart facility on 3 acres of land in the corners of the development (adjacent to a railway line to mitigate noise issues) is not too wild an expectation surely. The openly say the Football Club will be about 1% of the annual return on the investment they are making in terms of income. You'd hope Tolley and Co and may be even the BSPL are knocking on someones door to at least enquire!. We're not talking a bew NSS hre but a functioning and available 3-5000 venue to sustain Speedway in the West Midlands area!

Wants to drop a 21 year old whose career trajectory is continual improvement who has the nerve and cheek to overtake probably the most consistent CL rider of the past 4-5 years but allows said CL master craftsman up his inside as he won't try to clamp him down in to the next turn (no doubt probably be wiped out if he did). Very strange logic. PS reported on Speedway Updates that a close member of the lads family passed away yesyerday btw! (many riders would have cried off).

No chance. Every farmer in Devon and Cornwall is out all day Friday and Saturday in the Summer from dawn til dusk. Practising Team Riding in Tractors and Combines along every stretch of the A38 and A30 - rolling roadblock to annoy Tourists!

There is a serious danger of a self perpetuating doom-loop scenario killing even more Clubs here. The avowed intent of the likes of Adrian Smith initially and then Phil Morris and very much supported by the likes of Rob Godfrey, was to have clear blue water between a televised Premier product and the Championship product. The logic being, its easier to sell both products when they are not blurred by the fact that 80% plus of the PL riders double down. The race by several CL Clubs to compete and pay money they cannot / could not afford is clear and it looked like we were beginning to see some clear blue water with a lowering of the CL limit, bringing in some sanity and a refusal to continue to pay PL heat leaders big guarantees to ride in the CL. It seems from this thread that the lunatics have regained control of the asylum; and if the CL limit rises again and the return/continuance of almost all CL teams looking like PL lite and running 40 point averages with one or two CL Clubs having 3 PL level heat leaders and others left with one or none, then the self flagellating doom loop starts all over again. This scenario killed a buoyant NDL circa 2017 - 2018. The root cause is the prehistoric belief that the UK can compete with Poland and the big fish mentality of some in the CL who can't or won't play in the big league because of the prhistoric belief UK PL has to race on a Monday and a Thursday, despite the fact that it now has no relevance as the POles do what they like and stick 2 fingers up to everyone. The are 2 simple options (1) Run the PL matches on a Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday; Thursday; Friday or Saturday and allow those CL teams who have the infrastructure to move up, to move up (2) Make the PL genuinely Elite by allowing far less doubling down of anyone with a PL average over 6 and turn the CL in to a League that is CL Lite and NDL rich bringing through the next generation. We are seeing elitism destroy football, it has half destroyed Rugby Union and is slowly eroding County Cricket. Clubs like Poole / Glasgow / Oxford should not have to be in the CL if they wish to be in the PL but only the race day obsession is preventing them. The Poles now race on a Tuesday / Thursday / Friday / Saturday / Sunday if it suits them, the Danes should no longer dictate what occurs on a Wednesday and very sadly Swedish Speedway is in an even more precarious position that the UK financially.

Guessing it won't be Richie Worrall Kyle Bickley Craig Cook Michael Palm-Toft Ulrich Ostergaard for starters... Possibly A Poole legend or the annual appearance of Eddie "1 lap" Kennett