IainB

As a Cov fan at that time, I think we were all surprised on each of his British Final victories, despite home advantage!

I think many of us on this forum have grown up watching "SPEEDway" at tracks like Eastbourne, Arena Essex, Rye House, Wolverhampton, Newcastle, Edinburgh etc. etc. the list goes on, the sad truth is the performance of the bikes these days does not always make for a great spectacle at these types of "TECHNICALway" tracks unless the track is prepared to a very high standard... which is not always the case and seems a vanishingly small window with current day engines . Polish tracks do all seem to be a very similar shape with similar shale, with no sharp turns, where pinning the throttle seems to be the order of the day and where if your engine and setup is fast enough it doesn't matter how good a rider is behind you they will not get past. The variety of our tracks in the past has been enough to attract riders to the UK to better themselves with the skills of setup, throttle control and riding technique. Polish Speedway has always been well attended well before it going stratospheric like it has these days. I've seen my fair share of Polish Speedway and they have crap meetings, as we do, I've seen some real dross at the NSS, especially after rain when the track is heavy when it's very much gate and go, there's just a lot more people watching those type of meetings in Poland. The more recently built tracks in the UK have generally followed the Polish style of track, Leicester being the obvious exception! The rest have to work within the confines of the stadium in which they are located. The British Championship should always be held at Belle Vue as it was at Coventry previously before some bright spark decided to move it away in 2003.

It'd go the same way as the Finnish, Norwegian, Italian, Slovenian, Croatian, Australian & New Zealand GP's I'd have thought.

11am! Don't they know teenagers don't get out of bed until at least 2pm! ⏰

That seems to be the way with other nations governing body's, meaning compulsory return for many riders.

The @bikesontnt TwitterX account didn't even mention the opening GP over that weekend. It's hard to be glass half full when you're working with an empty glass.

Or worded it badly 😉 Realistically it's Belle Vue or nowhere for a UK SGP, surely.

Thanks for responding... I must say though this thread has been quite tame, you should login to a Poole one when they're on telly 😂

As a matter of interest, what stopped you going between the early 90's and today?

It needs to go back to a weekend staging to attract a crowd imo. I myself travelled up for the PCMT on a Monday night but have never been to a BF on a Monday, I did attend both weekend fixtures though... that's just me though. Do you know something we don't? Is Buxton a runner for a GP?

That was ridiculous! If that's the last Speedway race I see, I'll die a happy man 😮

Or just throw away the key!

Wow! They got this tyres changed quickly! All other tracks take note!

I don't think the powers that be had any choice other than to switch from Eurosport to TNT though did they? It was WBD that made the decision to close Eurosport down in the UK.

This meeting has not even reached the Speedway public! As I've posted elsewhere, punters didn't turn out for the qualifier either yet they will turn out to watch a load of contrived teams each week, although admittedly not in great numbers... it's a real head scratcher 🤔 Have to add, that the action tonight is very much the exception to the general rule though.

Regardless of what happens from here on in, what a classic British Championship it's been and a great advert for the sport... it's just a shame there's not many there to see it. Can only hope it's got blockbuster viewing figures!

Did you go in the end?

You're a card 😂

Oh God! All the Poole fans will be along in a minute ☠️

You'd have thought they would have closed the main stand down and moved everybody over to the back straight... the opposite of what they do with the Colts meetings.

At the rate the SGP is going, never say never!

Seen bigger crowds at press & practice day 😂

Yes, please do that, I've quite enjoyed your silence... yet here you are again! You still enjoying what WBD have done to our sport?

Why do you say that?

NEWS FLASH: The sport is in tatters, I've watched its continued deterioration over the last 50 years and nothing about that pleases me at all.