King's Lynn Stars 2025

[mikebv]

1 hour ago, TTT said:

I love Poland as a country, It's the best Country in Europe imo but I just find the Speedway dictatorship hypercritical and a bit of a joke tbh.

They complain about injuries and threaten to withdraw riders starting permissions for British racing when the fact is all of the worst injuries happen in Poland (Woffinden and Becker recent examples), I don't see stretchers being whelled out on a regular basis in Britain, Denmark or Sweden.

The owners don't really care about rider welfare in Poland and they're more than happy to put the riders health and well being at risk by forcing them to ride in Ekstraliga meetings when not fit enough and then having the audacity to demand that signing on fee's be returned in full if they get injured (Rider welfare only matters to them when injuries occur outside of Poland)

Polish Managers always complaining about riders riding in Britain when the fact is, It's actually beneficial to the riders to ride in Britain as it's not a coincidence that all of Zmarzlik's closest challengers in the GP series over the last couple of years either all ride in Britain or have bags of experience on British tracks, If it was the opposite and the Polish managers were in the right then why aren't riders like Kubera challenging Zmarzlik instead considering that they make Dominik look like a superstar on Polish tracks every week in the Ekstraliga.

The UK lads currently challenging BZ wouldn't be at that level if they rode in the UK only...

Their kit wouldn't be of the same level for one, as the Polish money massively helps that...

And, no disrespect, but beating Championship HL's and SS's each meeting wouldn't move them upwards into the standard required to compete with the best...

Their constant exposure to riding against the best in Poland has elevated their own levels...

As for making riders pay back signing on fees if they get injured riding abroad...? 

That is fair for me, given the size of the contracts these lads get ..

If I am paying someone £25k a week and they tell me they want to work elsewhere too, for around a tenth of that, I would reserve the right to put some caveats in play...

Without my money, their earnings would be around just 20% of what they do get, therefore my investment needs protection...

Polish teams cannot just pluck a similar top level rider out of thin air, from another team, like you can over here, therefore one of these lads missing has a huge financial impact should that team get relegated or miss out on the play offs..

Hence, quite naturally, they want them to reduce all extra risks..

And Poland pay for rehabilitation even if "their riders" get injured riding elsewhere...

Rehabilitation that benefits the riders UK team too...

I often read that Poland and the GP's are massively responsible for the ongoing demise of UK Speedway..

The biggest issues lie much, much, closer to home...

Edited July 1, 2025 by mikebv

[TTT]

25 minutes ago, ShanoXtra said:

I would say a lot of this is untrue and slightly disrespectful to Poland. When was the last time 'factually' someone was threatened to be withdrawn from British speedway and not 'hear say'. I would also argue that Doyle's massive crash at Kings Lynn and Emil's big crash at Sheffield were just as damaging to Polish speedway as is Tai's and Becker's. You don't see stretchers in Britain because you see a few part time volunteer's slowing jogging over to help out whereas Poland brings on the medical team fast and often ambulances even when not technically needed.

The owners go to the hospitals and often pay big money (clubs) to give the best treatment and help the riders anyway possible. The riders aren't forced to ride injured and I don't know where people get that from, Emil wasn't forced in the play offs last year for Torun and neither was Doyle this year.

Zmarzlik was closely run by Lambert last year who wasn't riding in British speedway and also Lindgren who done only a part season for  Birmingham. 

I understand your frustration but I think you're directing too much blame at Poland. 

Emil in the play-offs last year, Think Tarasenko was also another one last year.

Emil's wasn't because he was back riding for Torun, Doyle's was a rarety I'll admit that but Poland can't moan about injuries that occur in Britain when a vice versa effect happens in Poland which is what I mean about being hypercritical because it's the same playing field for both sides.

If the owners truly cared about their riders then they wouldn't ask an injured rider for their money back because that's not what you call support, A support system like the SRBF would never have the same mentality and again highlights the double standards, Can't be painting themselves as saints by paying for riders treatment but then also demanding their money back if a rider can't physically ride for the rest of the season because it's just hypercritocal again, You either support someone in need or you don't.

Lambert and Lindgren are riders with bags of experience on British tracks as I mentioned in my original post which is the problem I have with the Polish managers who moan about riders riding in Britain whilst trying to brainwash the riders and the fans into making them think that it's affecting their careers and performances by choosing to ride in Britain when it's the complete opposite, If it did effect them then they wouldn't be Zmarzlik's closest challenegers along with the Aussie riders and Bewley.

Look at the riders who don't ride in Britain, Vaculik does nothing most of the time in the GP's outside of Prague, Kubera who looks like a superstar in the Ekstraliga but does nothing in the GP's, Madsen couldn't even hold down a place in the GP's and came up with excuses almost every GP round as to why he was getting found out.

Piotr Baron is the latest example of brainwashing by trying to make out that Kvech had a brilliant meeting due to him not riding elsewhere when the reality is that Jan had a good meeting because the entire Zielona Gora 1-5 were muck on the day.

[Spoofer]

25 minutes ago, TTT said:

Emil in the play-offs last year, Think Tarasenko was also another one last year.

Emil's wasn't because he was back riding for Torun, Doyle's was a rarety I'll admit that but Poland can't moan about injuries that occur in Britain when a vice versa effect happens in Poland which is what I mean about being hypercritical because it's the same playing field for both sides.

If the owners truly cared about their riders then they wouldn't ask an injured rider for their money back because that's not what you call support, A support system like the SRBF would never have the same mentality and again highlights the double standards, Can't be painting themselves as saints by paying for riders treatment but then also demanding their money back if a rider can't physically ride for the rest of the season because it's just hypercritocal again, You either support someone in need or you don't.

Lambert and Lindgren are riders with bags of experience on British tracks as I mentioned in my original post which is the problem I have with the Polish managers who moan about riders riding in Britain whilst trying to brainwash the riders and the fans into making them think that it's affecting their careers and performances by choosing to ride in Britain when it's the complete opposite, If it did effect them then they wouldn't be Zmarzlik's closest challenegers along with the Aussie riders and Bewley.

Look at the riders who don't ride in Britain, Vaculik does nothing most of the time in the GP's outside of Prague, Kubera who looks like a superstar in the Ekstraliga but does nothing in the GP's, Madsen couldn't even hold down a place in the GP's and came up with excuses almost every GP round as to why he was getting found out.

Piotr Baron is the latest example of brainwashing by trying to make out that Kvech had a brilliant meeting due to him not riding elsewhere when the reality is that Jan had a good meeting because the entire Zielona Gora 1-5 were muck on the day.

Doyle wasn't asked to return money just because he was injured. That's incorrect.

[TTT]

Last thing on the situation otherwise it'll just drag on lol and I don't want to clog up the thread.

I just hope this nonsense ends in the winter and we have one big league with no GP/Ekstraliga riders.

Fair enough British owners have made a number of never ending mistakes in the past but we've got to take into consideration that they're also trying to run a business albeit some of them poorly lol.

It's difficult to run a business when you're ending up with R/R or below average guests due to Poland most of the time.

[1 valve]

1 hour ago, TTT said:

Last thing on the situation otherwise it'll just drag on lol and I don't want to clog up the thread.

I just hope this nonsense ends in the winter and we have one big league with no GP/Ekstraliga riders.

 

Do you envisage Ekstraliga 2 riders also being excluded from a one "big" league?

[TTT]

1 hour ago, 1 valve said:

Do you envisage Ekstraliga 2 riders also being excluded from a one "big" league?

No tbh, Think we'd be able to work around that.

Couple of riders may miss a couple of weekend meetings if it's one big league with race nights throughout the week / weekend but British clubs wouldn't have to be on edge on a weekly basis like they currently are.

Not many riders who ride in the Premiership currently ride in the Ekstraliga 2 league now.

[cowboy cookie returns?]

15 hours ago, TTT said:

Doesn't matter if Poland put Jan Kvech on a leash now tbh, King's Lynn's season is over anyway.

Hopefully next year it's one big league and no big names as it'll be much better rather than clubs having to be on edge when the Polski's make up excuses 24/7 when the reality is that Poland are the ones who are at fault for almost everything.

I complete disagree Poland aren’t at fault for any of British Speedway ills. 

They have a product that has consistently over decades drawn crowds in big numbers no boom or bust for them. Poland have a product that people want to be involved in, and increasingly since the collapse of communism business has any to invest in. 

Why the Poles look at moving the product forward & innovate in their country we dither around with half baked crack pot ideas.

The Poles have got Extralega 2 up & running alongside with the under 24 league. Britain can’t even make the premiership a success.

All of this brings us to a point where the Poles can dictate what happens if they wish too though growing their league structure while we mismanage ours.

From a selfish point of view at Ipswich it’s been great having Doyle & Emil after years of dodgy heatleaders. 

To have Emil don the witch for 3 seasons has been magic I think a fare few thought it might have been a 1 season wonder. The guy is pure class & id love to see him back on the heath in 26.

However I think the uk is head for 1 big league or a very watered down premiership while keeping the admissions costs high. 

In short there are plenty of people who could be blamed for the current situation. The promotions of the 70s & 80s who didn’t reinvest in the sport. 
 

The promotions of the early 90s who though infighting threw away the opportunity that was amalgamation. Finally those involved in the early days of Sky.

or maybe just the British public because they just don’t want speedway on a mass basis, one thing is for sure you can’t blame the poles!

[ShanoXtra]

1 hour ago, TTT said:

No tbh, Think we'd be able to work around that.

Couple of riders may miss a couple of weekend meetings if it's one big league with race nights throughout the week / weekend but British clubs wouldn't have to be on edge on a weekly basis like they currently are.

Not many riders who ride in the Premiership currently ride in the Ekstraliga 2 league now.

From the bottom two leagues, just looked at stats and these do:

T.Brennan

A.Ellis

C.Wright

R.Douglas

J.Pickering

E.Riss

L.Becker

T.Musielak

K.Rew

M.Zagar

N.Klindt

N.Bloedorn

A.Rowe

N.Iversen

S.Masters

R.Lawson

L.Flint

Edited July 1, 2025 by ShanoXtra
.

[arnieg]

8 minutes ago, ShanoXtra said:

From the bottom two leagues, just from memory:

T.Brennan

A.Ellis

C.Wright

R.Douglas

J.Pickering

E.Riss

Ben Cook

Becker

Musielak

Rew

Rowe

Klindt

Zagar

Blodorn

- all ride in PGE2

[mikebv]

But apart from all of the above? 

[SuperStarsFan91]

Klindt back riding in Poland Thursday now, so we’ll have no Klindt, Kvech or Cook away at Leicester 😳

[TTT]

44 minutes ago, ShanoXtra said:

From the bottom two leagues, just looked at stats and these do:

T.Brennan

A.Ellis

C.Wright

R.Douglas

J.Pickering

E.Riss

L.Becker

T.Musielak

K.Rew

M.Zagar

N.Klindt

N.Bloedorn

A.Rowe

N.Iversen

S.Masters

R.Lawson

L.Flint

Most of them ride in the National League, Not Ekstraliga 1 & 2.

[1 valve]

2 hours ago, TTT said:

No tbh, Think we'd be able to work around that.

Couple of riders may miss a couple of weekend meetings if it's one big league with race nights throughout the week / weekend but British clubs wouldn't have to be on edge on a weekly basis like they currently are.

Not many riders who ride in the Premiership currently ride in the Ekstraliga 2 league now.

You will have seen the list of riders who currently ride in the Polish “lower” leagues, very few who would give up riding there in favour of UK. 
Add the Ekstraliga 1 riders attached to UK clubs and you have the best part of 28 riders to do without or put another way 4 teams worth of riders. 
Of course there would be enough riders available to run a league with doubling up removed which with the inclusion of NDL riders would mean “one big (watered down) league” of seven/eight teams. 
“Death by a thousand cuts” comes to mind. 

[ShanoXtra]

One big league without top riders will be the straw that broke the camels back. Everyone will end up with Birmingham crowds.

[ShanoXtra]

43 minutes ago, SuperStarsFan91 said:

Klindt back riding in Poland Thursday now, so we’ll have no Klindt, Kvech or Cook away at Leicester 😳

That’ll be a postponed meeting for sure. 
never heard of an RRRR before but might Thursday 😂😂

[TTT]

2 minutes ago, 1 valve said:

You will have seen the list of riders who currently ride in the Polish “lower” leagues, very few who would give up riding there in favour of UK. 
Add the Ekstraliga 1 riders attached to UK clubs and you have the best part of 28 riders to do without or put another way 4 teams worth of riders. 
Of course there would be enough riders available to run a league with doubling up removed which with the inclusion of NDL riders would mean “one big (watered down) league” of seven/eight teams. 
“Death by a thousand cuts” comes to mind. 

Over exaggerated list imo.

Our teams would still feature riders like Masters, Lawson, Wright etc. Reason as to why they D/UP in Britain.

[SuperStarsFan91]

11 minutes ago, ShanoXtra said:

That’ll be a postponed meeting for sure. 
never heard of an RRRR before but might Thursday 😂😂

Klindt originally wasn’t picked by his polish team to ride on Thursday, but after riding well here last night they’ve now picked him 🙄🙄😂 so we’ll be without Jan, Ben and Nicolai… I imagine we’ll get guests for Ben and Nicolai and do R/R for Jan 🤷🏻‍♂️ we’re screwed though clearly 

[StarBoy]

1 hour ago, SuperStarsFan91 said:

Klindt back riding in Poland Thursday now, so we’ll have no Klindt, Kvech or Cook away at Leicester 😳

Where have you seen this? Rzeszow have declared their 1-7 and Klindt isn’t in it

[Zagarmeister]

One big league is fine by me. If it's watered down that's equally fine.

I want to see good racing, not superstars.

Think it was 1996 we had the one big league when Eastbourne won and it was a very enjoyable season.

It would be great to go see KL away at Scunny and several other tracks, as well as see some new teams at Saddlebow.

(which is how I will always refer to it)

Assuming I still support the KL sh#t show.......................

[1 valve]

3 minutes ago, TTT said:

Over exaggerated list imo.

Our teams would still feature riders like Masters, Lawson, Wright etc. Reason as to why they D/UP in Britain.

List isn’t exaggerated at all it. However I agree some may opt to give Poland a miss. 
But in one big UK league with eight teams (that’s just the math sum of available competent riders) they wouldn’t be able to double up and the  meaning no more than two meetings per week a reduction by 33% or one meeting. the one missing being the higher paying Polish one. 
Not sure how many riders will wish to reduce their income.