IainB

I said a few years ago that British clubs should be working in conjunction with Polish clubs to be their feeders with rider exchange... got laughed off the forum. Now Ekstaliga clubs are setting up their own feeder clubs!

I wouldn't hold my breath... they couldn't even be bothered to put a press release out about the last home match until it was postponed

They didn't just lose their Saturday nights, they also lost their Friday nights as the FIM demanded attendance to sign in for practice... until they were dictated to by Poland who then insisted riders prioritise their league instead of actually qualifying!

Will they though? I've only read a google translated press release which was a bit garbled, but, If Ekstaliga clubs are to run U24 teams of 7 riders will they still need their protected reserve positions in the A Team, a lot of whom this season have been massively out of their depth? Or will they be filling those 16 places with more experienced non-poles from around the world.

As good as some of the Poles are, they still very much rely on foreign International riders to make up the bulk of the strength of their teams.

Try asking the riders... it's them that get paid

So the contract for the use of Berwick stadium specifically says there shall be no use of track covers in any event and this can never be re-negotiated? And this too shall be applied to every stadium where they run dogs and/or football Weren't they used for some qualifier a few years back?

That wasn't great planning was it... Holiday resort club plans to bugger off up north for the weekend!

The part where you negotiate and work with the stadium

Saturday night? Sunday afternoon?

I don't know if anybody has already commented... but you'd think that Eastbourne would be looking to get a big bank holiday crowd in this weekend with people heading down to the coast this weekend

A successful club always attracts the crowds, what extra initiatives Peterborough have in place to promote the sport in their area, outside of a press release on their website and socials, I don't know as I live in Leicester. There did seem to be a lot of kids in attendance though. The queues, imo, were due to lack of staff at the entrance.

I couldn't believe the traffic when I got there... I was expecting the place to be heaving when I got in, only it wasn't. Must be a covid spike in Peterborough

To paraphrase him he said he'd had enough of dealing with the riders and was now going to take a back seat at both clubs until "the right buyers come along". He wouldn't be selling either club to anybody he didn't think would be no good for the club. Was full of praise for everybody at Peterborough that make race days happen and special praise for the supporters club. Couldn't disagree with anything he said really.

Need more finals by the looks of that list And without wishing to labour the point... oh look Peterborough's 2nd most important meeting of the season (the final would have been, if they'd made it) being run on the penultimate Wednesday in October... The final, the biggest match of the season in the league, held 3 days later, abandoned after heat 13. 2nd leg the next day on the last Saturday in the season... and I won't even go into what happened in the Shield!!!

I've always thought that regional leagues are the way to go, more derby matches

Hardly insurmountable problems

Sunday afternoon is better for kids and travelling fans though, there's even a couple of plum Saturday nights in that list.

It certainly does, but did in the middle tier also, when they were able to run on Sunday afternoons (and Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday & Saturday). With the leagues using almost entirely the same riders these days you have to wonder what the benefit of Peterborough being in the top league is.

Is there a Swedish Speedway Forum?

Yep, I'm aware of that, makes you wonder why they run in a league that restricts them to running 2 nights a week and only run 2 matches during the school holidays then.

Well, that was worth the wait... (to get in ) Although it was a healthy crowd I think the queues to get in were more to do with there only being 3 people on the turnstiles. Some calm and measured words from Bluster over the pa was good to hear. He should come on here and vent his spleen as he seems about as powerless as the rest of us to change the sport! After Kingy shot away to win heat 1 in a time close to the track record I thought we were going to be in for another night of gate and go "racing" with the kind of fast times that only Edwin Overland seems to enjoy. Thankfully things livened up and we were served up with a classic, close scores throughout and some cracking close racing with 2 evenly matched teams. Just something I noticed last night was Jordan Palin appearing to make what looked like the sign of the cross before each of his races, is he a religious lad? Quite unusual to see, I've seen another rider do this recently can't remember who, a young Polish lad I think. And just to bring my pet hate up again, the lack of fixtures this summer... as I was walking back to the car I overheard a kid (of whom there were many last night) talking to his parents asking when the next match was and could they go, only to be told that he was going to be back at school then... so maybe not.

Ah, that old chestnut, the only way that can happen is for @waytogo28 to buy every club, or at least enough clubs to have the deciding vote at conference to pull the sport out of the mire it's in. And although he/she could probably pick all those clubs up for a tenner they'd be taking on a mountain of debt. Unfortunately we're stuck with what we've got unless a Kerry Packer type comes along. We had our chance with Sky TV coverage and blew it.

Why is that then?

... watch this space