Noelinho

Running on an off-night, not amazing weather for spectators, perhaps uncertainty about meeting completion, long time gap between meetings I think all factor in to turnout. BSN streaming the meeting might have been a factor too, but I think the others were bigger factors.o I wouldn't say turnout was significantly down on the usual though to be honest.

Because 1) there wasn't a fundamental problem with the track (and Justin Sedgmen himself said he didn't think Starke's crash was caused by the conditions), and 2) they can't send the tractors out as soon as the red lights go on - by the time they'd cleared up Starke and his bike, the decision to cancel the meeting came really quickly (about 2-3 minutes). I don't think you can blame the track staff. The track was holding up well and still kicking up dust in heat six.

I walked past Peter on my way out and I can't speak for him but he seemed quite disappointed to me. I know the social media guys had a good laugh at the Plymouth call-off, which really just seemed like good-natured banter, but they generally keep their counsel on these things. They don't often say much and stay in the background but they're quite switched on from the fans' side of things. They took a lot of flak for the Leicester call-off a couple of years ago and they did become more proactive about re-arranging meetings when weather looked like it could be an issue. @Cookiefan already mentioned Basso was a constraint on start time - I wonder if availability of other days (which has been discussed here earlier) might have left them in a tight spot for dates. We have definitely run meetings with the track in much more challenging conditions than it was last night - the Test match against Poland last October comes to mind. I still think it was possible to complete the meeting last night, but I understand why both sets of riders would feel the need to play games, either calling it off before heat 10, or once you got there. I do think the ref should've been stronger and pointed out the relative ease the riders other than Broc rode the track once it was damp (Starke's fall was a mistake), but the heat 10 rule doesn't really work for a knockout match. I also watched the first part of the BSN stream from last night - the cameras made it look much worse than it was in person! The wind was blowing, and it was dark, but the camera made it look a lot more miserable than it was.

Alternate Fridays for the Tigers/Monarchs, with the very occasional Sunday match, would be logistically possible. Glasgow have completed 13 home fixtures in 24 weeks. Our season didn't start until 15th April - that could come forward to the start of April (although we advertise the season as starting in March), and Jubilee League/KO Cup matches could be on Sundays, with league on Friday nights. Could even run double-headers, like Berwick do for Bandits/Bullets fixtures. I think there's still a valid question of desirability and how many Monarchs fans would travel, but from a purely fixture logistics position, I think it could be accommodated even with both clubs using Friday nights. Rain-offs might need to be re-arranged for another day of the week, though.

To be fair, I turn up to watch the riders. A meeting without Basso is less interesting, just like a meeting without King/Lawson/Worrall would be less interesting for Poole fans. Fans want to see their teams' riders in the playoffs where possible, rather than lots of guests and R/R. We have to make allowances for injuries, but I don't think anyone would be satisfied with makeshift teams.

Just hold all speedway meetings at the Principality Stadium

Yes, I agree, after some thought, the heat 10 issue does cause problems. Requiring these matches to go to heat 15 would certainly help avoid some of the politics.

Also, Connor's average at Ashfield is about 8 IIRC.

No water went down on the track from when I arrived. Starke's back wheel gave way because he went far too fast for the conditions. Watching from the 4th corner, he was always hitting the air fence. I've seen people ride the fence there enough to know when it'll end well and when it won't. He was far too optimistic.

The track would've been more of a gaters' track, but it was totally ridable. The last heat time was faster than half of the GP Challenge times.

That's not true. Won't be a complete refund, but will get a rain-off ticket.

It's not even raining. This is all because Broc didn't fancy it and Starke thought he was Basso on a baking track in mid June. I suspect mixed in with a bit of home team not wanting to give away home track advantage, but the referee should see through that. Can't blame teams from trying it on when refs are gullible.

Meeting cancelled. Unsafe. Load of nonsense, although it will probably help Glasgow.

Hate to point out the obvious, but going wide like that was always going to end up with Starke in the fence. That was just silly.

Wonder wheel is out.

Radar just got a lot worse too. If the rain we've had is enough to stop the meeting, there's no way they'll go again - expecting more in the next 20 minutes.

Looks like the ref is walking to the pits. The track seems fine to ride, but it will be processional as it is now. Looks like Tom Brennan wants some track work at turn two.

I think that was more Broc than the track, to be honest. He drops his head fast at times.

Exactly. The biggest problem is referees too often let riders off with it, so it's always a shock when a ref decides to exclude.

Raindrops falling now.

He'd been invited to the tapes by the starting marshal. Time had expired. He'd been tapped by the marshal and continued to ignore him. The ref is entitled to exclude him. He wasn't even sitting on his bike at the time. I could see it coming.

Stevie Worrall throwing a tantrum. Was gardening well beyond the 2 minutes and ignored the start marshal. Tonight's ref isn't messing around. He's a picky one.

We'll find out at about 7pm!

Basso's in the zone, running up and down Hawthorn Street. Ominous clouds, but they've looked this way all afternoon and they've not leaked yet...

Given BSN are covering the tie, I wonder how flexible they can be about times? And realistically, with the geographical difference, a decision would've been needed yesterday.