Ben91

The first point isn’t true. About a third of League Two football grounds are bigger than Dean Court. Speedway is a minority sport. Of course there being a match at the local Premier League ground on the same night would hit the speedway attendance.

Beggars belief. May as well just make the entire league a big knock out cup. They might get the fixtures completed in time that way too.

These things, while they seem insignificant, aren’t to the sponsor who has shelled out to have their name on the race suits. That said, fans have been short changed in terms of seeing the best rider in the world tonight and it also potentially impacts the integrity of the final outcome of the series. Hope Doyley is ok, that was a nasty off.

This is where the simple answer is that assessed averages should be different for each league in the first place.

Glasgow are the new Poole these days.

I’d say it’s an ambiguity, it’s certainly an inadequacy, therefore a loophole. By the dictionary definition at least. Either way, done is done, and it’s given us all something to debate on here… I agree. Glasgow have done nothing wrong. The opportunity for them to do that shouldn’t have been there in the first place though.

Loophole: an ambiguity or inadequacy in the law or a set of rules. It is a loophole. Fair play to Glasgow for exploiting it. It’s legal, but it is a loophole. I’d assume the promoters in both leagues agreed that assessed riders should come in on a five without checking with the other league to see where they stood on the matter.

Yes. Because it’s nothing to do with the rider, it’s all to do with the ridiculousness of the rule. And of course people would also moan because Poole would have been involved.

The issue with Tarasenko’s assessed average is that it was the same in both leagues. Glasgow just managed to take advantage of that loophole.

Have you got a link to where I can buy some of these rose tinted glasses please? The four riders on the track has never been in doubt. That’s always been the draw. It’s the rest that has been, and still is, failing massively.

GP riders swear if they get a camera shoved in their face after something happens that they’re not happy with. No speedway rider needs PR lessons, not enough people care.

Rocked the boat in the name of winning and didn’t even make the play-offs. Lol.

If I was in Ashton’s shoes the person I’d want to be around as much as possible is Scott Nicholls for sure. He’s been there, done it, got the T-shirt and will know the pitfalls someone can fall into. There’s always more than meets the eye in terms of points scored solely. Judging by how he’s been going Ashton is doing great. Comparison is the biggest thief of joy as they say. He’s not Tai Woffinden, Lewis Bridger, Dan Bewley, Danny King or Drew Kemp etc. he’s his own person and will find his own path. Hopefully that will lead him to the top of the sport. It’s why I’m adamant that this place (or speedway socials) is the worst place for a rider or their inner circle to be. One negative comment will be more resounding that a hundred positive ones.

Hopefully the lad and his family/support system are as far away from this place and speedway social media as possible. That’s the first piece of advice for any rider in fairness. Judging solely on updates comments his five points last night were more impressive than his seven the meeting previous.

That’s the tribal aspect of sport I suppose. I don’t really get it with Speedway, but then Rye House never had huge local rivals so the option of popping down the road to see some speedway at a rival track isn’t there for me. That said, if my football team closed down I would absolutely not be going to support our rivals even if they did happen to be the next closest team to watch.

Things are always best when kept simple. There’s nothing wrong with three points for a win, one for a draw and nothing for losing, whether you are home or away. It places an emphasis on winning every match. An aggregate bonus point being up for grabs isn’t too complicated to grasp either. Superheats aren’t needed in any event. If the aggregate scores are level then there’s nothing wrong with a good old fashioned run off.

I think it’s important to remember that Speedway is firstly a sport, secondly a form of entertainment. That comes in the form of the racing and potentially if the league campaign contains an interesting title race. I enjoyed Rye House’s 2005 title infinitely more than the 2007 title because we finished top of the table in 2005. We snuck into the play-offs in 2007 and then Sheffield (who were awful around Rye House) did us a massive favour by beating Kings Lynn over two legs in their semi. And I said I’d never become one of those people who hark back to seasons from almost two decades ago…

It is if you don’t have BSN (can’t justify the cost) but do have a TV subscription that includes Eurosport. It’s sadly a quite half-assed approach if so. Not showing any meetings until a couple of months into the season and then reaching the allotted number and clocking off until the play-offs by the sounds of it. In direct conflict to what I said above, if the TV deal was to be cancelled and BSN took all of the meetings (thus also building a comprehensive library of archive footage over the years) it would then be well worth it to subscribe, particularly if they offered a full video on demand service of past meetings.

That is true. But if there are no play-offs then the regular league meetings become more meaningful and more attractive propositions to attend. A couple of good crowds a season for a cluster of clubs isn’t a good enough reason to render the majority of the rest of the season pointless. If anything it probably hurts the integrity of the sport more. Especially with the convoluted play-off format we currently have.

I think herein lies the answer. Fans won’t flock to a venue and team that were once their rivals. Should a new venture start with no ties to former clubs (and therefore no rivalries), then it becomes a more palatable option for otherwise partisan fans of other clubs.

The solution here is to fall back on race night priority. Not ideal but there’s a reason it’s there. The better solution going forward would be to put play-offs in the bin completely.

Weakening a partnership in the middle order for three heats just to have a stronger rider in one (harder) heat makes little sense. As an entertainment spectacle for fans having a strong heat 13 is great but from a tactical point of view three points from any other heat counts just the same. The aim is to win the meeting, not just do well in an individual race.

Jeez. Absolutely no point in racing league meetings then. They should just find a way to shoehorn the other club into the play-offs.

I understand your point, but if your partner cheated on you repeatedly and generally treated you awfully would you walk away or keep going back just because you love them? It’s a similar principle. Looking at the crowds the sport attracts these days I’d say more people have taken the same action I have than not. To get to a meeting anywhere it would take a two hour journey for me, if Rye House were still running perhaps I’d think differently. I get my fix these day at GPs or through TV meetings that are part of a subscription I already pay for. Fair play haha! Far from negative. Just realistic and don’t like to see a sport I love being run in to the ground. Plenty of fans out there like me who could be attracted back, not much being done to do so.

Some people actually follow through with it when they say they’re fed up of the dross that’s served up and are going to walk away. Doesn’t mean they’re not fans of the sport, but of how it is run. I’m a Speedway fan but it would take a lot to get me to a domestic meeting these days. Doesn’t mean I don’t follow it. I just refuse to hand over my money because doing so tells the people running the clubs they’re doing a good enough job. They’re not. “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Albert Einstein.