ouch

I’ve watched speedway for 52 years, all over the UK & Europe. I don’t expect Dan or Brady to win and often they don’t. The GP’s in Manchester highlighted this with Dan. I didn’t expect him to pass Holder in the LCQ but when he did, I and most of the stadium were exhilarated. There is a big difference between riders busting a gut and not getting by due to the skill & speed of the rider in front and those who cannot pass due to the track they have to work with. The latter frustrates the hell out of me to the point I no longer attend speedway other than that at the NSS. I check in on updates and watch the Dmax highlights show and I’m of the opinion I’m not missing out attending only 30 meetings a year instead of 60-80 as I previously did. I’m in the British Final/GP’s NSS type race camp and just don’t like (and never have) gate’n’go/follow the leader, whatever you want to call in type speedway but appreciate that some do. The updates site details meetings since 2005 involving Loram, Screen & Ward at Eastbourne, Lakeside etc. I recommend taking a look as the comments are incredibly similar to today’s meetings despite the skill of these riders.

So now and for the last decade or more we have had no really great riders that can pass. Not even Crump was immune to dropping points on gate’n’go tracks if he missed the gate. Instead of making tracks so only really great riders can (possibly) pass, why not make it so the not so great riders can pass and we can all be entertained?

My issue is not the quality or skill required to make a pass, it’s the infrequent or total absence of this at some tracks. I will never get bored of the RACING at the NSS but I and many others get bored with some of the heats that are served up regularly at other tracks. There needs to be a minimum of two racing lines at all tracks that are successful used throughout the meeting and not just once in a blue moon that then somehow is used to “prove” how good a track is. Funny how things change and now throttle jockey is a derogatory term when back in the day it was gating tart. I know which I’d rather watch. Looking forward to this one after a fallow period at the NSS. Two teams tied on 31 points at the top of the table should make a spectacular event with both teams optimistic of a good result. The Aces are slowly clicking into place as the play offs approach. If Norick has got over his niggling injuries and Zach continues his improvement it could be ominous for other teams as we all see how Dan & Brady will step up at the big events. Tate still making baby steps in the top division but with the amount of laps he has I’m expecting the real deal any time soon.

My issue is not the quality or skill required to make a pass, it’s the infrequent or total absence of this at some tracks. I will never get bored of the RACING at the NSS but I and many others get bored with some of the heats that are served up regularly at other tracks. There needs to be a minimum of two racing lines at all tracks that are successful used throughout the meeting and not just once in a blue moon that then somehow is used to “prove” how good a track is. Funny how things change and now throttle jockey is a derogatory term when back in the day it was gating tart. I know which I’d rather watch. Looking forward to this one after a fallow period at the NSS. Two teams tied on 31 points at the top of the table should make a spectacular event with both teams optimistic of a good result. The Aces are slowly clicking into place as the play offs approach. If Norick has got over his niggling injuries and Zach continues his improvement it could be ominous for other teams as we all see how Dan & Brady will step up at the big events. Tate still making baby steps in the top division but with the amount of laps he has I’m expecting the real deal any time soon.

Oh no, what’s happened now?

Maybe we could adopt the same thinking the health service used during Covid and entice retirees back. Heat 15 Morton Lyons Dugard Loram I’m sure there is dafter ideas circulating around Rugby.

I think a lot of vocal fans on here are like me and don’t like gate’n’go speedway. I’ve learnt over the last few months that it is arrogant of me to project my views onto others when there is a preference for this kind of thing. Looking at the updates site only confirms this as more fans attend this kind of meeting than not. Also I did buy into the media hype regarding races like the British Final & the recent Manchester GP but can appreciate now it was just that - hype and not to everyone’s taste. Enjoy your speedway I say, however it comes as there are many that can’t nowadays.

Could be that long ago when Andy wasn’t our track man (it was his Dad, Colin). Andy is the best imo, by some distance. If it was 2015 then Kirky Lane at that time was not for the faint hearted, for riders or fans.

When was this?

What you have described happens once in heat 4, other heats have riders of a similar calibre more often than not. We run an RS system to promote British rider development so we will have one or two heats where the standard might seem great. Would it be best to drop the scheme?

7.85 putting him 4th best in the league after Max, Holder & Dan. https://britishspeedway.co.uk/2025-rider-statistics/

I decided to have a look back at the set up for the top league in 1976, I just arbitrarily picked that year from a period when the sport was riding high. Though we had more tracks the issue of top stars not being available to all and the repetitive nature of the same clubs challenging was just the same. It’s easy to name certain riders when harking back to the old days but there just wasn’t enough to ride for each club. In 1976, Birmingham had Alan Grahame, Cradley John Boulger, Hackney Dave Morton, Halifax Christ Pusey, Hull Barry Briggs in his forties, Wimbledon tragic with a number 1 and Wolverhampton Jimmy McMillan. All fine riders but the gap between them and the Olsen & Collins of the time was the same if not more than the gap now. Jettisoning top rides is not going to save our top league, however if they had a 5-10 plan to get speedway back to where it should be and they could prove their reasoning then I’d accept it. I just feel if they did it then we would see no benefit and the sport would continue to die. I not saying this in a holier than thou way but Belle Vue’s operating model regarding team building needs to be adopted throughout. Dan (3.00), Brady (7.50), Jaimon (4.00), Norick (4.00), Tom plus Max (4.84) etc are riders brought to the club that we have invested time and effort in seeing them reach their full potential. This also generates an identity with the club that the fans can engage in. The problem for other clubs in doing this is the fact there is little longevity in top league participation. Ipswich (2019) & Sheffield (2021) are considered top clubs yet only recently did they move back up to the top league, I’ve got older soup in the cupboard and this doesn’t allow the rider development as mentioned above. If we can, we need to stop this yo yo ing of clubs from year to year. Having said that in the past, clubs would move up when ready and not when cajoled into it. When Ipswich moved up in the 70’s it was on the back of a very successful period of rider development with many team members moving up with them. The problem with doing that nowadays is the dreaded doubling up that has been allowed to grow at an alarming rate so you move up into a league where “your” riders are already participating with other teams. The sport once again painting itself into a corner.

The Aces would, just as we have with Max to Leicester when they moved up and it was great to see Tom riding at number 1 last season at Birmingham. We wouldn’t want to and it’s hard to see our lads moved on after the work put in but there is a bigger picture here.

That’s amazing and has to be applauded. When you take into account you had the best crowds in the league back then, to increase them without the top stars, the cost of living crisis and many other factors impacting the sport, Poole really need to be coaching other clubs on how they increase crowds from an already healthy level. Well done.

The weird thing is that Robert was riding on an assessed* average so he needed to complete 3+3, which he didn’t do for either Belle Vue or Kings Lynn so he remains on his old average. The problem is when Sheffield wanted to use him as a guest I informed them (BSPL) that he couldn’t due to being assessed* but they said he’s not (all of a sudden, brown envelopes at the ready) but they never treated his average as such ie rolling. When you weave a tangled web it is very easy to trip yourself up, best to just stick to the rules. Second year running that Bates tried to circumvent the rule book at play off time and for the latter he was successful.

What the hell are you doing to our Tom? He went from last pick RS to leaving us on a (old school with bonus) 7.16 average in 2023. He has added 0.25 to that and he has Jason, Emil, Chris etc around him. It’s not working for the poor lad. We need to get him back at the ATPI track days with Jason to set him back on course. #Back the Brits.

Well who cares if we’re out the cup, at least we’re still top of the league. Er………

Belle Vue had their gating gloves on for the victory in the A fixture which is an essential part of speedway away from the NSS. We should be winning this but as we’ve seen on many occasions this season our poor gating has left us following the leader for 4 tedious laps. Jaimon should be on for double figures and this together with our top two should see us home.

Be good to have a Comets v Aces challenge where you keep Tate and take Dan and we draft in two Colts riders to fill our team. Problem is finding a suitable date for all the riders in question.

Very entertaining meeting with passing in thirteen heats and not just The Aces as several heats had passing & repassing. Had the scores been called a bend three lap one as is the case with speedway these days, we would have lost 37-53. Thankfully, for me anyway, the races produced my kind of speedway, not to everyone’s liking I understand but just brilliant in my eyes. Heat 15, Brady out Fricked, Fricke - wonderful. Sadly our injury jinx put paid to the bonus but I still feel we’ll remain above Kings Lynn in the qualifiers.

Not as interesting as you actually answering the question. I didn’t get what you were up to until it was pointed out to me but I’m no feather in your cap when it comes to catching a victim. You’re definitely not the first to hook me and unfortunately won’t be the last. Whatever floats your boat. Bye.

Hate it. Unless they get injured again and don’t complete a foreign fixture.

Yes. As I was with PC, Kenny Carter, Tai, etc etc etc etc……

I did say I’d cover your new topic (championship) once we’d got your initial topic (league) out for the way. I’m unable to go first as I cannot find any proof of Brady doing what you’ve accused him of. You will have this information to hand as nobody would accuse someone of wrongdoing without being able to back it up when asked. I can see now why you anticipated a long discussion when really it could have ended with just one answer to a simple question.

I’ll happily discuss the new topic of Brady’s involvement in championship events once we’ve got the league topic out of the way. I’ve asked a very simple question regarding his league appearances as it was his foreign league clubs that you mentioned in your initial post and it was this that I responded to.