DaveWayne

You do realise there are 2 GP riders in the other semi as well ? One who has a very slight mathematical chance of a bronze medal, and the other in a fight for a guaranteed place in the series next year. Why would it have been OK for them to race last night, but not fair for the Belle Vue riders ? Common sense would have been for the semis to start a week later, after the final GP.

Not entirely true. The lesser formulas that don't attract much of a crowd pay to race, but the bigger formulas don't. They also receive prize money for placings, some formulas get 'start money', and also the F1s get free admissions for 3 mechanics.

Depends on the meeting format. Usually 10-15 races at 5-6 minutes each, so 60-90 minutes in total. So yes, probably 25-40p per minute.

I'm intrigued to know what people think they should be paying to watch professional sportsmen, including some of the best in the world ? As well as watching speedway, I am a regular at stock car racing and football. My football team are in League 1 (3rd tier), and the match day ticket price is £30. Stock car racing, depending on the formulas racing as there are different levels, varies generally from £20-25. When it is a bigger meeting, such as the British Championship or the European the the prices is closer to £30, and this weekend is the World Championship with advance tickets at £42 and on the day price of £48. In comparison to this, I don't think that £25 is too high a price for top league speedway, and would expect an increase for the play off semis and final.

Could yes, but haven't done to any of the other play off contenders this season. Closest they came was 18 against Sheffield, but on average they have only had just under 10 points home advantage over the other 3.

These were not fixtures that were moved. The 2 unridden matches were scheduled for 28th August (Sheffield) and 4th September (Oxford) in the original fixture list. What were they supposed to do ? Look at the weather and say "oh look it's going to be sunny next Thursday, let's bring that Ipswich match forward a month in case it rains in late August" ? Blaming the clubs for the poor weather is laughable. If anyone is to blame it is the SCB/BSPA for issuing a fixture list with matches finishing just 4 days before the first scheduled playoff fixture, not the individual clubs. The original fixture list should have included a 1-2 week gap between last scheduled league fixture and first playoff to give a contingency period for any rescheduled matches.

The match that hasn't been ridden was programmed for 28th August but it was rained off, so even if all other matches had been ridden this would still have missed your deadline. People are constantly blaming the clubs but does anybody know who actually sets the fixtures ? Surely this is done centrally by the SCB or whoever based on information provided by each club ?

I'm not sure what table you are looking at, as the one on British Speedway shows Sheffield on 1127-942 and Ipswich 1123-947. In my calculations Sheffield are already 9 points in front.

I fully understand the team mentality. Admittedly I don't go every meeting, but Sheffield are still my team and I have been watching them for over 40 years. I am also a season ticket holder at my local football team so I know the hurt when your team doesn't perform, and expect that anger to flow on here. That wasn't the moaning I was talking about. It is the people who constantly complain about the way the sport is run, fixture planning, guest riders, playoffs, etc. It isn't the 1970s/1980s. The sport has changed and it is far better to embrace what you have and try to enjoy it, than spend all your time harking back to the good old days as they are never coming back.

Wasn't there so can't comment on the actual performance. Just saying that you can't assume that Sheffield would have finished top. Anything could have happened last night that could have affected performances today. It just seems that every season, supposed supporters of speedway seem to want to spend the whole time ripping it to pieces and finding fault with it rather than enjoying what we have. The table is what it is, the playoffs are what they are. Whether you agree with them or not, that is how the sport functions now. Better to embrace it than vilify it. Speedway is a secondary sport to me as I was brought up on 4 wheeled motorsport and spend my weekends travelling the country watching stock car racing. By the same token as many on here say about speedway, stock car racing is nowhere near the sport it was in the 70s and 80s, but you can either let that get you down and moan about it, or you can enjoy what you have while it is still there. I have said for a while that stock car racing has 10-15 years left as either environmentalists or H&S will bring it to an end. I don't want to be sat there when it is all gone wishing I had done more, I would much rather get the most out of what is on offer while I still can.

But had Sheffield won the home leg, then maybe the Ipswich riders would have been a bit more up for it tonight and wouldn't have lost, so the table would still have looked the same as it does now.

This aged well. 😉

Home advantage in play offs ?

In all honesty, probably not, but as we can still mathematically finish 2nd it is not a nothing meeting.

But the rain off was in August, so even if that was the last fixture there would still be an issue now !! I watch stock car racing regularly and I distinctly remember one 'summer' where I got drenched on all 5 Saturday's in August. No matter when you run the season there will be meetings postponed.

Hard chargers like a couple of the Sheffield team ? Bit harsh when you have Doyle !! It might be a 'nothing meeting' to you, but the result of this will decide 2nd and 3rd in the table, which impacts on home advantage for the 2nd leg of our playoff.

That would be the same meeting when Doyle stepped up onto the podium to collect his loser's medal and gave double middle fingers to the whole watching crowd just because he got a few boos ? Did any Ipswich fans include that in their emails of complaint ? Or did you only complain about the rider you don't like ? I guess it's possible you had all taken Tai at his word and not hung around for the presentations. 😉

In which case everyone gets a refund, and they allow season ticket holders free admission to the play off semi. Not difficult really.

Maybe they are hanging fire till after next Thursday ? If Sheffield lose at Ipswich then this meeting won't influence who meets who in the playoffs, so it can be 'cancelled' and remove the need to delay the start of the playoffs.

Posted on the Sheffield website around 10pm last night : If anyone has difficulty in attending the restaging date, supporters should e-mail re-admission ticket details and bank details to office@sheffield-speedway.com and refunds will be issued once it is confirmed and announced.

The thing is that people are looking at it from a spectator's mentality, not a rider's. They are adrenalin junkies and don't have the same concerns as the average person, otherwise they wouldn't race at all. Having raced on various tracks up and down the country (on 4 wheels, not 2), I can assure you that Sheffield is without doubt a challenging track, but also very exhilarating to race on. Yes, the riders will admit it is 'dangerous' but once they are out there that goes out of their mind, and getting a win at Sheffield will give any rider a kick.

I'm pretty sure there is. 😉

I believe the rain started some time between 6 and 6.30, so the turnstiles were already open. Are you suggesting that once it started to rain heavily they should have close the gates and leave people standing in the rain ? Everyone will have a readmission ticket which can either be used for the rearranged fixture or refunded so it's not as if the club have gained by opening the turnstiles. The only winners last night are the stadium owners who would have gained rental income and sold food and drinks to the punters.

So you are just looking at Thursday's when Sheffield didn't ride ? Moving any one of their other fixtures to one of these dates would then have a knock on effect on other teams fixtures as well. I was looking at when this match could have been run sooner and the options were far more limited, as Ipswich were already riding on 4 of those dates. 1st May can be knocked off your list as that was British Semi Final night. There were no matches at all on 8th or 29th May - was this specified by British Speedway for some reason ? Last week in July was set aside at the start of the season for KO Cup Finals so no league meetings programmed.

When do you suggest they should have run it then ? Looking at both team's fixtures, either one or both were riding every Thursday from the start of April to today, other than May 8th and May 29th when there were no Premiership matches at all. Didn't Lynn also get dog's abuse for calling off a meeting the day before and all the experts on here saying the forecast rain didn't come and the track would have been perfect ? The forecast for Sheffield in the late afternoon was for light rain and none after about 6pm so in theory the meeting could have gone ahead. There was a torrential downpour just after 6 which made the track unrideable and the track staff did everything they could but not all the riders were happy to race so the ref called it off. How is any of this the fault of the Sheffield promotion ? How long is the journey from Ipswich to Sheffield ? 3.5 to 4 hours on a good run ? Assuming nobody wants to risk getting there at the last minute, I would guess most fans would be setting off between 2pm and 3pm. Do you expect them to be psychic and call it off 3 hours before it has even rained ? I would say that it is likely it won't need to be run anyway. If Ipswich win at home next Thursday then the playoffs will be sorted without this match.