Shadders

Not as simple as that. With the Bandits financial situation the use of club assets is paramount. Gappmaier is usually pretty solid at home, but away from home (Sheffield apart) he’s usually worse than useless. Etheridge is clearly still carrying an injury. Coty Garcia and NBJ were way down on their last Brough Park scores. Too much pressure on Aaron Summers tonight, but young Leon rode above what was expected of him. The Diamonds were just too sharp. Nothing wrong with the track, in fact I’ve seen it a lot heavier in the past with most riders struggling.

Starke at 3, Gappmaier at 4, is that correct?

You missed Worrall knocking Summers chain off in the opening heat with the Bandits on a 5-1? Advantage Newcastle after that result. Write the Bandits off at your peril, but they won’t be the pushover they were in the Championship Shield meeting at Brough in April.

Yep. Jon Armstrong and Paul Burnett spring to mind

Can’t remember if it was last year or 2017 when the average age of the Stoke side was touching 30

Difficult to call unless the line ups are known. Guest or RR for Doolan? Will Garcia be fit? How will Newcastle’s new signing do? (2 from 3 on his last visit in 2016)

Support by putting money into the club in the form of admission to the stadium, but not a fan.

You’ll need one at Newcastle. They won’t be nearly as bad as they were in April and you ain’t getting much from Dany, Jye and Leon.

Not sure how up to date the green sheets are. They have KD at 4th in the Bandits averages. Etheridge, Gappamier and the reserves eligible to take an RR. Seriously weakens the Bandits and must make Newcastle favourites to progress in the KOC

Depends what you mean by an “average fan”. I guess the vast majority of Bandits fans that attend home meetings are only interested in what happens between 7 & 9 on a Saturday evening.

Doesn’t matter which way you look at it. That’s a good thrashing

Sure, but many more have disappeared completely, even since 1985 when I first went to speedway.

Very few teams own the facilities they use. They are at the mercy of the landlords. Go back and look at the number of housing and trading estates that now stand on the sites of former speedway stadiums

Many tracks closed because landlords had sold the stadiums for redevelopment. Not always because of the clubs financial problems

When Rye House were decimating most teams at home in the mid 2000’s there were very few complaints and crowds were generally around the thousand mark. Most promoters would kill for attendances like that these days.

But better than nothing of course. Don’t forget that most weeks Proboards use the exact same tweets copied over, so they’re basically the same. The only difference being the individual score charts.

Same tweets that are used most weeks for the updates sites. What was wrong with them?

3 rides at Eastbourne next Saturday then

Another reason he’s safe is because he’s a Berwick asset, so no loan fee to pay.

Yeah, I’ve learned that since moving up here!

Current Met Office forecast is possible light rain around 7pm, getting heavier as the evening continues. Difficult decision for the promoters. Risk starting the meeting with the possibility of an abandonment, or call it off early. No covers down, so the track will be heavy.

Nope, just instinct and experience, having lost the team I supported for 33 years due to financial difficulties

4-0 down, why bother?

I hope you’re right and I’m wrong

Bandits start their Championship campaign this Saturday Early weather forecasts suggest rain all morning and into the early afternoon. Hopefully the track covers are down. Early attendances haven’t looked great apart from the Glasgow and Edinburgh meetings. Hopefully the warmer weather will bring a few more in, but without a significant away support I’m concerned that the plug may be pulled before the season is out. It doesn’t help that they’re going against the first GP of the season, which will no doubt affect the attendance. Hopefully I’m way off, especially with the team starting the season off in decent form with a final to look forward to.