BlueIn2Red

It’s an odd one from the outside for sure, but the two promotions/management teams are very close, which I think probably explains it. Not suggesting envelopes of cash or anything though, of course. (Although BV riders taking it easy in heats 12-15 would have me suspicious!)

“Playoff speedway at its best” … hmmm.

It’s the scale of the wins, not the pure fact of winning. Surely more fans would prefer to see a 40-38 than a 60-18?!?

Such a shame that one of the best attended tracks has such poor racing. I honestly don’t really know why the fans keep coming back, seeing heavy home wins and very little overtaking every week. But they do, so I guess you can’t really criticise the management for preparing things the way they do.

Why don’t TNT show the points again? I’m pretty sure Kelvin’s maths is wrong. I make it RL 142, BZ 141, BK 139.

If they call it now do they take the points from heat 20 to determine the GP points? The commentators haven’t actually covered this and it seems rather critical!

Thoughts on BSN charging extra for the Premiership playoffs? I must admit I thought the “full season pass” I was paying for included the full season. Although to be fair the playoffs in previous years have not been on BSN at all of course. On balance I’m going to pay the extra, but it was a close run thing to be honest.

The strangest thing about the Ben Cook exclusion at Sheffield was that the referee had access to the BSN replays as well. Fair enough sometimes they get it wrong in the heat of the moment, but when you can view footage multiple times? Bizarre indeed.

Odd reply - his post was not referencing yours.

The fact you are unaware speaks volumes. Anyway, let’s move on from racism and get back to speedway.

I hope the moderators are quickly on nonsense like this.

It’s inexplicable - both commentators are saying it. Can’t they read? Or is the joke on us and this particular Cairns is pronounced like this?!?

Felt so bad for Rory and Emma during that transition - you could tell they were both being screamed at in their ear pieces. Excruciating to watch!

Agreed, I’m enjoying it too. Albeit the beer probably helps. The track looks promising now too, think we’ll see some great racing later hopefully.

Camera coverage seems pretty decent to me, not perfect, but definitely meets the “competent” bar. I think Emma does a good presenting job too … let down by those she has to work with unfortunately (including the director, who manages to get an embarrassing pause in every scene).

To be positive for a change - I like the on screen graphics being used. Two minute clock, race time, time gaps, all things you’d think would be obvious to show, but I’ve rarely seen it before.

That was shockingly bad really. Surely it’s common sense to at least try and smile, even if you are very nervous?

The problem of course with that is that there is a significant lag of the tapes in front of riders in gates 2 and 3 vs the magnets themselves. So doing this would essentially guarantee they’re at a disadvantage. There’s no easy solution to this unfortunately, since not excluding the tapes offender, as has been suggested, would result in more gambling (or going deliberately when they see any movement). Personally I think keeping the starting rules simple (exclusions for tape touching, anything else is allowed) is the way to go.

You think they should start while people are still queuing to get in?

Pics can be deceiving, there wasn't enough dirt imo. A big pile on the infield (ready for stock cars on Saturday) though! I'm also a bit surprised they didn't lightly water it during grading breaks. The result was too dry and slick, meaning the outside groove didn't quite work, despite some valiant attempts from various riders. Even with these issues though, the track was still pretty good for a first attempt, very smooth, and I think it has great potential as a speedway track, a good size, shape and camber.

It’s rammed here, great to see!

It’s rammed here, great to see!

What does a reduced facility mean please? (Grandstand seating now sold out for tonight btw.)

Yes it’s fine. Can be a bit chaotic with the really big crowds, but I doubt that will be the case for a normal speedway meeting.

£27 for a grandstand ticket, is that “normal” for the top league?