MattK

Speedway, the only business where they address falling sales by increasing prices and reducing quality!

Spot on Mike. Swindon used to send out an weekly email newletter, but this died a death a few seasons ago. The funny thing is, when Swindon did £5 entry they had around double their usual attendance. This shows there is an underlying support for speedway in Swindon. The problem is, the next week entry fee is back up to £17 and attendance back down to usual levels. There must be a sweet spot, somewhere around £10-£12 would be my guess, which would maximise income.

The problem is, even when clubs do these offers, they are very poorly promoted. Swindon have done both this season and yet I work for the largest employer in the town and there wasn't a single poster, flyer or whatever promoting these offers.

The problem is Clark Osborne is an old hand at this. He appears in the papers every few months with a pretty looking plan for the new stadium and says work will start "soon", just a few more hurdles. The local MP gives reassurances to fans, but ignores the fact that these housing developers regularly run rings around politicians and councils. The local rag is pathetic. There are far juicier corruptions stories in Swindon that they ignore. Why would they upset anyone in a position of power by asking pressing questions about this development?

It's six of one and half a dozen of the other. Yes they were poorly attended, but clubs treated the fixtures with contempt by not re-arranging rain-offs for months and eventually forfeiting meetings. People talk about 20/20 revitalising cricket, a properly organised, run and promoted cup competition (i.e. out of the BPSA's hands) could be the speedway equivalent.

If we are going to continue with two separate leagues and up to four doubling-up/draft riders, then the Elite and Premier Leagues HAVE to run on different nights. I'd like to see three nights per league identified (Elite Mon, Wed, Thurs and Premier Fri, Sat and Sun) and a concerted effort by all clubs to move their respective race nights to avoid clashes. It shouldn't be too hard with three nights to choose from.

Any amalgamation of the leagues would have to offer benefits to both the current Elite League and Premier League promoters. Clubs like Scunthorpe, Berwick and Workington struggle financially in the current Premier League. How are they supposed to afford a competitive team in an even stronger league with higher costs? I am a strong proponent of one big league, but it has to be pitched at current Premier League levels, which means getting rid of any rider with an Elite League heatleader average over 6.50.

Have Leicester given up on the season already? Surely they could have got better draft guests than Oliver Greenwood and Lee Payne given Auty is second in tier 1?

How many hours of legal profession's time went in to this case?

You start with a statement of intent. EL on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. PL on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. If even half the clubs who currently ride on an "off night" are able to move, this would significantly reduce the number of riders missing due to clashes. Then over time, as clubs re-negotiate their lease agreements with their landlords, they know which night(s) they should be aiming at. It's not rocket science, but it take a genuine desire from promoters to reduce riders missing meetings.

I find it hard to believe that given the choice of say three nights, most clubs wouldn't be able to accommodate it.

If you're going to have half of every team riding in more than one league, common sense would suggest you arrange for the leagues to be run on different nights?

On his web site it states "As a Government Minister, Justin is no longer able to join APPG’s..." so it is true, but maybe it's not as big a conspiracy as people are making out.

How many home meetings do Belle Vue have left? Their fixtures say five but the league table has them only having raced eight, which means they have six?

I would be very interested to see an official link with that in it. I'm afraid it sounds like wishful thinking. However, there was a covenant on the land surrounding the current stadium, restricting its use to employment purposes only, but this was given short shrift by the council who say pound signs when plans for a few hundred houses were submitted.

The requirement is that no more than 200 houses can be occupied "until a contract for the construction of the New Stadium has been entered into". The problem I see with this is that I'm sure Stadia UK can find a friendly builder who they can "enter into a contract with" safe in the knowledge that no work will ever be forthcoming. Secondly, would the council want to enter an expensive and elongated legal battle while houses are sat empty?

Quite simple really. Compare the two heats below: What is the difference between Doyle in Heat 13 and MJJ in Heat 16 (battling for second with Batchelor)? Nothing, they make an almost identical pass of the rider in front. What is the difference between Harris and Batchelor? Batchelor gives his rider room, whereas Harris turns left on Doyle. Heat 13: https://youtu.be/QHvfyfpAzmk?t=51m50s Heat 16: https://youtu.be/QHvfyfpAzmk?t=1h3m53s As I said, it would be interesting to know what the rules state. Maybe Harris is perfectly entitled to fall and get Doyle excluded. Maybe Batchelor should have shut the door on MJJ. Personally, I would like the advantage to be with the rider passing, rather than the rider defending.

I'd like to know what the rules say, as Doyle was in front of Harris, carrying more speed than Harris and there was definitely room until Harris turned left. As you say, riders were making "clean" passes going into turns 1 and 3, where the slower rider left room. If this continues before too long there will be no passing.

Marketing

I'm confused (doesn't take much) but by the end it the Cardiff GP the track is pretty much unridable. Therefore, how will having a pre-meeting make the track better for the actual GP next week? Alternatively, if they plan to re-lay the track before next week, doesn't that invalidate any testing of the surface done yesterday?

The other problem with Elite League averages is that the changes to the heat format means comparing side by side rider averages is increasingly problematic. For example, Rider A above can beat six opponents to achieve an average of 8, but if he rides at 1, 3 or 5 the calibre of rider's he is against will be much higher than if he was riding at 2 or 4. Another way of putting it was someone at Swindon trying to convince me that Jason Garrity is the third best rider in the league, as he has the third highest average (he was implying that Coventry were somehow "cheating" by having Garrity at reserve). I pointed out to him that Garrity, as a draft rider, only rides against other draft riders and each of the opposition secondstrings, therefore comparing his average with a secondstring or heat leader was meaningless.

Swindon always needed to drop two riders (Kildemand plus one other) in order to fit Ward in. The question is, do we drop one of Morris or Batchelor in order to satisfy the "two over 7-point" rule, or, if Batchelor's average is now below 7, we can drop one of Zengota or Howarth and keep both Morris and Batchelor.

Why should Belle Vue receive all the income from the shared events at the expense of other tracks? IMO they should get at most one shared event per season, same as any other club.

Phew. I mean DAMN. Oh, I've forgotten what we're even trying to achieve here.

Swindon still have one more meeting in June, so all is not lost.