marko

I think one of the reasons why the public are so cautious about travelling to meetings when its wet is because for many years, promoters have lied about the prospects of meetings going ahead, "we have had no rain here, the track is in excellent condition" but then you get their, and puddles are all around coupled with a wet track, and it has not just happened. Promoters now are stuck between a rock and a hard place, if the weather does not come, will people actually believe them when they say "everything is ok"? reap what you sow etc

Correct me if I am wrong, but a long time ago (late 80s/early 90s) I have something in my memory about meetings could not be called off until a ref arrived and validated it, and that there were occasions where a local ref (not always the one booked) would be called in well ahead of time in order to make that decision earlier than waiting for the booked ref to turn up, an hour or two before start time?

One thing is for sure Smarzlik will do almost anything to win, risk vs reward, doesn’t always work but he is riding on supreme confidence, not only with his equipment but his own ability.

Kicking myself, didn’t bet at all in the end but could have made a good amount on Bartosz

Tia might be suffering from what I have long called the Brent Werner effect. For those that do not recall or were not supporters back in the day, Brent was an American rider, not a world beater but very good at second division level, would never settle for a safe second but once he had a kid, that all changed and he was never the same again. Not all riders suffer from this but many do, as I do not have children myself I am unable to grasp this, but I imagine it can alter ones perception of life.

You can get 9/2 on Smarzlik winning round 3, that sounds very tempting as an each way.

Eurosport simply playing with speedway, if your going to do something, be committed to it, it would be better off on premiere sports, all speedway under one roof would be so much better. Sweden, Poland, Britain and the GPS

I don't about a lot of the Non GP Polish riders but Torun look strong, so +2 makes me cautious about placing a bet on them.

Actually Paul is 45, I know this because his birthday is almost the same as mine and he made his debut in1991 aged16, I was 19 at the time.

I would replace Batchelor now, if he wants to lower his average fine, go do it for someone else, Sheffield no doubt pay him good money regardless of what he scores on the night, they are entitled to better. He is ripping Sheffield and the fans off and will then go back to Swindon next year on a nice reduced average.

Wolves didn't use Sam Masters in heat 15 so I felt robbed on him scoring over 10, then I logged in and found out I had hit the wrong button and selected Sam to score under 10, Happy Days

Throwing a lot of eggs at Masters tonight, first to outscore Craig Cook and 2nd to score more than 10, but Sam is a man on red hot form. Ostergaard +5 was tempting but number one is a very hard number to score points from.

Can Nigel even work for BT Sport, he is also a Talksport employee, BT Sports is aligned with the BBC (the competition)

Only too happy to support the objection, no speedway is Essex and I doubt we will have again, same with London, got to protect this place, also made mention in my objection that it will affect local businesses, such as in my case Harlow, as they have some stores that are not in my area and I won’t visit them unless I am in the area.

By getting his average down I assume he is throwing wages away too? In not then no wonder the sport is in trouble. By that I mean a rider is getting paid for 10 every week regardless, so if he only scores 4, it’s no skin off his nose, and his average goes down to boot, meaning the next club will get the benefit too, it’s all wrong.

Yes Cityrebel and pre internet you could understand it to a point, but once the internet came about there was no excuse for just being honest, it was a meeting at another track, Ronnie had nothing to lose by being honest with the fans, instead he caused resentment which may have affected his home gates moving forward. I personally would still consider going to a meeting if a promoter was open and honest up front, the promoters do not like the internet because it spoils their ability to fleece the fans and exposes all their wrong doings. They would rather tell a lie and say sorry than tell the truth and seek sympathy.

Back in the 80% and early 90s I used to rely on the speedway star or speedway mail for news on upcoming meetings but in those days and until the late 2000s I would go anyway. But even the internet isn’t always helpful, I recall Arena Essex going to Swindon in the pairs final in 2003, a load of fans went and when we got their found out that Joonas Kylmakorpi wasn’t there and was never going to be there, Mr Russell kept it quiet much to everyone anger.

Nothing new unfortunately, I can recall many seasons within the last decade where you get to the school holidays and Lakeside might have two home meetings during the time over the six weeks.

Many years ago I ran an online speedway fantasy league (called Tightlines) I had a guy called Dale Allitt in it at one stage, might not be the same Dale that is now TM at Lynn but it’s seems probable, anyway he didn’t last that long in the game as he was thrown out for lack of participation lol

I was not there but remember hearing about it, for some reason the name Lew Stripp springs to mind but it could have been any ref from that era

I put 12 on Toruń +2 at 5/6 but according to other thread it’s been called off

Gutted I had a few Bob on Toruń thinking they would probably get a good away win

The same Chelmsford born, Arena Essex rider Chris Mills?

Something else which is seldom mentioned is with crowds going down so is the likely effect of lack of volunteers, and that is something speedway depends a lot on, back in the 80s there seemed to be more track staff than there are now, (using Arena Essex as an example)

Someone posted about losing interest yet still being involved, it’s so true, Arena finished 3 years ago and the current first division is something of a joke but I still love the sport, I get my fix from clips on YouTube both current and old. Someone even posted the recent Witches vs Wolves meeting, is that Kevin Long still doing the MC on the centre green? Sounded like him, one of the better ones given my 30 plus years of following the sport.