Najjer

When Vissing was announced they said it’s taken a while to finalise the deal because of the logistics. Presumably this has been aligning calendars with Vissing and Holsted to ensure that situation doesn’t happen.

I quite agree - hence the introduction of the bonus point and the potential for more excitement with aggregate scores and a potential run off too is much better… than trying to decide a winner from a drawn match!

I get the theory behind this, to try and create some entertain towards the end of a meeting to get an overall winner - but to achieve that, surely you are better served to return to the old bonus point system and if the scores are tied on aggregate then go to a run off! The scoring system is one of the few things British Speedway has got right in recent times… and now it was a success they’ve decided to balls it up! Can’t make it up! Edit - missing word in original post

That’s fair enough, but if Proctor wasn’t available and has signed for Birmingham then where were they going then? There is a huge lack of riders and when injuries start occurring then where are they coming from?

More races for each rider which means more money in their pockets too - what’s not to like?

I decided to post this here because although it’s something that effects the Premiership aswell (Belle Vue) it is certainly proving to be a bigger stumbling block for the Championship sides with Birmingham, Berwick and now Plymouth. I called for it before and am amazed that this problem wasn’t foreseen by the promoters and the rule setters in this country. It’s certainly too late to do anything about it this year and change the rules this close to the season… although stranger things have happened! With the way of the world, flight uncertainties and rising air fares/costs, visas and just general lack of rider availability I seriously think that 6 man teams would help with this going forward - that’s without mentioning what will happen once injuries start occurring this year as there just isn’t a pool of riders to come in and replace anybody. This has to be something that happens for 2023.

When you’re dreaming of Tungate, Zagar, Lebedevs, Bewley, Woffinden… and Etheridge gets announced. I can only imagine the disappointment if you was a BV fan

Something that works in Iversen’s favour potentially is that in Poland he’s in a side that can only use two out of him, Kurtz and Lahti. Given the way things have gone for him in Poland the last couple of years it’s not a dead cert he will be riding every match so will be good for him to be riding regular in Britain and hopefully staying injury free.

Riders from the league below is a much more plausible idea to start the season with in my view, yes. Either that or run with their existing squads they have in place or sign up any other free agents.

The situation is pretty rubbish but there is no way they should be allowed to use RR. It’s the sort of thing that gets laughed about in British Speedway and shouldn’t be allowed to use RR for a banned rider at the start of a season.

One thing this rider shortage does prove is that those people calling for one big league over the last few seasons were proved wrong, in that there is nowhere near enough riders to go round. There is probably some legs in the limiting of signing riders over a certain average - but again, you’d have thought this problem would of been foreseen by the governing body and not an afterthought because teams are struggling to complete their teams (in both divisions too!)

If they’ve got Lebedev then it’s a cracking signing. One of my favourite riders to watch for Krosno last year in Poland and should be well suited to B.V. home track.

With the Polish rule still very much in place, it’s abit immaterial but I have said for a long period of time that a good way to get some of the top riders here would be to allow for the no.1 position to be shared. As an example you might have Nicki Pedersen and Tai Woffinden share one position and they could be rotated accordingly to availability, form or just personal preference. If teams could make it pay (and that would be their choice) why wouldn’t that work?

Have you seen McGuiness ride before? “Real racer” wouldn’t be the description I used.

The first year he came over for Somerset, he looked like he really had something about him and especially at home was a real racer. By the end of that season though he already got too big for his boots and went off chasing the big bucks, ironically at Birmingham. Hasn’t really ever cut it since then and didn’t ever get anywhere near as good as I thought he might.

Oskar Paluch is signed up and very much part of the team at Gorzow in the Polish League. A good chance he could be in the Extraliga starting line up when the opportunity arises and also in their U24 side too. With regards Birkemose - other posters have already said about the problems surrounding him. Could be a great talent but seems likely to end up wasting that talent with his unprofessional and not serious approach to the sport.

I’ve just seen the prices and for just about the first time in my life time following British Speedway, I think it’s decent value. £11.99 per match, 17.99 monthly or £109 for the season. If you are a general speedway fan who watches any match on TV then £109 for over 30 matches represents pretty good value I would say. Likewise the £11.99 for one match isn’t high enough to make people stay home who would normally go but reasonable to expect an away fan to pay it. Decent value all round.

Not true - Adam Ellis rode in Poland, Sweden and two leagues in the UK last year.

Greg Walasek was superb in 2021 and was rolling back the years - finished as one of the top riders in Division and led Ostrow to the Extraliga for this year.

Good signing for Grudziadz - but it leaves Leszno well short. Strange for them to allow both Pludra and Sadurski to go out on loan.

He is also currently signed up in Poland, Denmark and his homeland in Sweden - meaning by Polish rules, he is unable to ride in Britain even if he wanted to.

I know that is the case but surely even more so, collaborations together will only then benefit the speedway promotion and the people running the food/bars? Speedway could then track whose buying which ticket with the added benefits and use that to their advantage in future. It’s the whole “we don’t make anything off the food” attitude that is wrong to begin with. Speedways answer has always been when they need to make more money is to just move the price higher and higher to the point where people then stop going. That isn’t a sustainable model.

Oh absolutely - programme boards, wulfsport coats and badges on hats to name just a few aren’t going to win the ‘cool kids’ over but with amendments to the presentation then the racing should (that’s a big should!) sell itself. I’m amazed no clubs offer deals with food and drink with admission to encourage more revenue before, during or even more so after a meeting. There is so many possibilities but most people seem to get stuck on 15 races, family sport and the ‘boys are back in town’ blaring on some awful horns as riders sit aboard a clapped out pick up truck. It’s time to take it up a notch.

Interesting topic having just read all the posts about getting kids, teenagers and families to attend. I often think this is a problem at most Speedway clubs in that so much focus is placed on trying to get new fans through, when actually they would be far better placed to try and get previous fans back who have decided to stop attending. That is of course easier said than done, but you are at least then preaching to the converted (or at least they were at one point) instead of a complete newbie who has no idea what is going on with no connection to the team or sport. When I first went to speedway in 2000 it was billed as a “family sport” and a night out for a the family. I think that’s absolute garbage. It should be billed as an extreme sport. 4 guys racing flat out with no brakes is about as extreme as it gets and that’s the selling point I think.

To an extent it is somebody’s business when they are paying the wages. As a paying fan, they are paying that rider’s wage.