IainB

I'm no track man either, but yes we do keep hearing this line about not watering the inside once it becomes slick, it's almost as if somebody once said it and then it's become gospel. It doesn't seem to happen in other countries, watch any meeting from Poland or the GP's and they flood the track all over after every 4 races, no dust problem there. The water cart should have been out after heat 4 at Leicester yesterday, instead they left it far too late. I'm not sure if it was the tractor or the bowser that broke down, either way it all sounds as if it was left rather late in the day for track prep to begin. From the way the centre green presenter continues to gush about Stewart Dickson it sounds like he pretty much does everything, not sure if this is true but if it is he needs to start delegating responsibilities a bit.

This was a return to the bad old days of Leicester speedway. With rain always forecast for around 6pm it started half an hour late and then the first match was run with no urgency at all with the storm clouds gathering in the distance. They did the usual thing of not watering the track during the match until it was too late with the crowd being covered in dust and then when the water truck did come out just watering the very outside where nobody ever goes. The state of the track was shocking and was down to the base on turns 1 and 4... surprised me the ref didn't go and inspect it.

I didn't think you were interested anymore?

The Pavlova collapsed

... and does it say Pavlova?

Also didn't Simon Wigg favour riding on the continent in Grasstrack/Longtrack instead of riding for his country...

There were a number of TV meetings that were very well attended because they were heavily promoted, either free or big discount, which shows that when the effort is put in people will turn up... sadly these days the only promotion that we tend to see is the "if the fans don't turn up, I'll have to think about whether it's worth continuing" style of promotion

Dr Dr Please!

Forum stalwart

Lions have finally binned off Bates... Does this mean the return of Gemini?

Yes... but the PL know they could get just as much money by going to BT, Amazon, Disney etc. Which puts the PL in a postion of strength... look at the lower leagues, they have play offs all be it not for the top spot

I wonder if Bomber caught any of the balls in the pre-meeting catch session... I'm picturing balls hitting him in the face and flying everywhere and him keep falling over his skipping rope

I think the trouble with Tai's ideas as far as the BSPA are concerned is that it's going to cost them money Crumpy it is then

didn't he just get binned off in Sweden?

would you invest in British Speedway? a Kevin Keegan

I think Golden Doubles were more of a cost saving exercise, as for Play-Offs, that's the price you pay for having TV coverage, only Football has the financial clout to be able to say no to Play Offs

And how much promotion do you think there would be to encourage people to leave the house and watch Tai if he did ride here? Back in the day (late 70's/early 80's) I always knew when the world champion was in town... I don't know how, I was only a kid, but I knew none the less

What about those Michael Parkinson and Alan Titchmarsh adverts about funeral planning... there's a whole captive audience sat there waiting to watch those adverts

I think the BSPA have pretty much washed their hands in the development of young riders and subbed it all out. You only had to look for the non-existent promotion of the recent WU21 team event at BV, it wasn't even mentioned on their website or twitter feed until the day of the event. As for TM, what about Rob Lyon, didn't he resign because the BSPA refused to back him with his ideas that seem to have now been pretty much fully implemented... maybe time to return to Rob?

I've been looking at a lot of the old sky matches recently, from when they first started televising it and it shocked me how much the crowds had fallen off in the last 20 years. Looking back then the matches seemed to have a carnival atmosphere and the coverage was quite innovative with the drive thru studio... sadly it looks like the BSPA blew it

The Aussies have Doyle and Holder, both brought up in the UK when the leagues were a lot stronger. Kurtz hasn't really kicked on in the last couple of years, the others that you mention remain to be seen what, if anything, they'll do, I don't see how they'll step up a notch as they're in exactly the same boat as GB, weak league and no test matches, the exception is Fricke. He does seem to have applied himself and although not quite there yet is approaching world class... IMO

1) I don't think we should be beating everyone because we are British, I see the quality of a fit Lambert and Cook and I think they should be beating the likes of Germany and challenging the non elite riders in the SoN field when fit... I was responding to "If anyone expected anything other than last then you need to give your head a wobble"... and if Cook and Lambert had been fit we wouldn't have been so far adrift 2) Like Emil's performance over the weekend. Or Zmarzlik if the Poles had won 3)That's absolutely not what I said at all, what I said was Bomber's performance made GB's performance as a whole look a lot worse As yet there is nobody and without a stronger domestic league or regular test matches there's unlikely to be. I found it very interesting listening to Jaimon Lidsey the other week on BT Sport where he said he came over to Europe and went straight to Poland and then came over to Britain to take 2 steps back to take 3 steps forward. Australia must also be worried that after Max Fricke there seems to be very little and I suggest that if Aussies keep coming over to ride in the British Leagues that they will also stagnate and not reach a higher level, it's no coincidence that GB, Australia and the USA are no longer serious players on the world stage, other than those riders that progressed from the UK when the league was a lot lot stronger than it is today

Come on, that's all very easy to say after the event, even without Tai and a fit Cook, Lambert... and Bomber you'd surely expect to beat the Germans and be giving Sweden and Australia a run for their money, along with Germany. GB probably had the most equal "Pair(s)" out there and I would have expected a number of 3-3's and the odd 4-2 Yet again, Poland prove themselves to be the biggest chokers in world speedway, just 3 world cups in 20 years outside of their home country and 1 world individual champion in the last I don't know how many years When the SWC first started, nearly 20 years ago now, it was such a refreshing change, a festival of speedway, there's so much wrong with the SoN as a "Team" event I'm not even going to get started on it, fine run it as a pairs event but they really do need to get back to a SWC type event, no matter who keeps winning it, maybe just don't keep having it in Poland every year But they kept saying they were there, commenting on the weather "here" and the atmosphere "here"... are you suggesting they were lying? I've got to disagree with that, you can't ignore last years Silver medal. I think most teams proved that they have an elite number 1, as we do and a capable number 2, as we do. Any team losing their elite rider would have been struggling, Holder for Doyle? Lindback for Lindgren, Bjerre for Madsen, G Laguta for Emil, Zmarzlik. I think what made us look so bad was Bomber's performance, who in all honesty, who, before the event would have known he'd have been so so so so far off the pace? Personally I would have gone for Danny King in that spot based on both their starting abilities

I doubt it would make much difference tbh. I think the answer lies in the strength of the domestic leagues. It's no coincidence that Poland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany have better/stronger leagues than GB, which is where riders really learn their trade

And what happens when those riders don't "make it", you've just wasted 5 years