Ipswich v Belle Vue POSF Leg 2

[marko]

And so the biggest issue British Speedway is summed up, the league matches do not matter to the fans and sometimes not to the riders, the play offs do matter to the clubs who see it as possibly a break even pay day, but for whatever reason not all the riders are equally invested and some fans are smart to that, so if league matches don’t draw and the play offs by design or accident don’t draw, what is the point?
 

I don’t have the answer, I think we will lose more clubs as the sport in the country will become a very small league setup with maybe only seven or eight home fixtures a season plus a koc match or two, or become similar to what Isle of Wight do or what grass track does, a few meetings a season. (That won’t be viable though if speedway is the only sport in said stadium)

Edited 7 hours ago by marko

[SPEEDY69]

So that was the worst meeting I've seen at Foxhall this year.  Smooth slick tracks do nothing for entertainment. Brennan was fast, his race times much quicker than anyone else, hope that continues to the SON!

Kurtz has ridden worse at Foxhall this year so don't think he wasn't trying but was just very bad out of the start.  Bewley looked good when he popped out for a win but when behind didn't try the outside line once.  Blodorn, Zischke and Mulford did all they could, it was the top two stars who let the Aces down.  Heading into the GP, Doyle will be feeling more confident than Bewley and Kurtz.  Emil was just awful.

I'm hoping for Leicester to make the final as I don't really like any of the Sheffield riders🙂

Edited 7 hours ago by SPEEDY69

[IainB]

1 hour ago, marko said:

And so the biggest issue British Speedway is summed up, the league matches do not matter to the fans and sometimes not to the riders, the play offs do matter to the clubs who see it as possibly a break even pay day, but for whatever reason not all the riders are equally invested and some fans are smart to that, so if league matches don’t draw and the play offs by design or accident don’t draw, what is the point?
 

I don’t have the answer, I think we will lose more clubs as the sport in the country will become a very small league setup with maybe only seven or eight home fixtures a season plus a koc match or two, or become similar to what Isle of Wight do or what grass track does, a few meetings a season. (That won’t be viable though if speedway is the only sport in said stadium)

Some of the riders with certain attitudes are a cancer in our sport and like all cancers they need removing. To have riders minds (and often bodies) elsewhere is not what the fans pay to watch. There's no buy in from many of the riders and if they don't buy in why should the fans?

Come and support your team... but your Captain is really only interested in another competition, your number 1 earns more money on a Sunday in another country so won't be riding on the Saturday night... and there's far too many examples to continue to list on here, we all know what goes on. I DO NOT blame the riders, they have to do what is right for themselves as self employed participants but in effect they are competing businesses!

But are there any other team sports that operate with self employed participants? Like I said in an earlier post, riders should be salaried employees it's the only way to get buy in. I know it will never happen and for that reason team Speedway will probably die a lingering death.

The days of understanding that your rider had bigger things on his mind are now unfortunately a luxury of the past and has probably, in part, led to the dwindling crowds we see today. It's just not acceptable in todays age of league only Speedway.

Edited 6 hours ago by IainB

[ABS]

1 hour ago, mikebv said:

Just seen the scores from last night, (as I was a "Dad Taxi" I only watched from Heat Four to Seven and then went to bed after watching four heats of riders riding around equidistant apart for four laps), and noticed Dan only got 4....

The same as Brady....

Yet, seemingly, he "tried" according to some on here, so escaped criticism from the Witches fans, (baffled why they would be bothered about the Aces riders but there you go)...

A good job he did try though as if he didnt, his score would have been even less.... 

Only saw him in one race and he gated and won, but noticed he ran two lasts, which on that track would be no surprise if you didn't gate..

Amazing how this sport fails to "showcase" itself when on TV, most sports ensure the "playing field" provides the maximum opportunity for those competing to show off their elite skills to a watching nation..

UK Speedway, instead, actually allows riders like Emil and Dan to NOT demonstrate their elite skill set to those watching at home...

Maybe if no GP/Elite riders next year then the money saved could go into track covers? As, getting the track raceable to provide entertainment, (especially on those "dodgy days") must be the No1 priority surely for promoters if this sport is ever to become more popular...

I have watched 19 heats in the last few days and the vast majority have had riders almost a full straight apart, from front to back, with all riders a similar distance apart..

Not a great advert for "top level" UK Speedway is it?

But it starts and ends with what "playing surface" is provided..

 

 

I would love to have seen how the armchair experts would have fared off Gates 3 & 4 in their opening rides. Delighted that Brady came through the meeting unscathed and look forward to him being back in 2026 to lead the Aces into battle, hopefully as World Champion.

[therefused]

12 minutes ago, IainB said:

Some of the riders with certain attitudes are a cancer in our sport and like all cancers they need removing. To have riders minds (and often bodies) elsewhere is not what the fans pay to watch. There's no buy in from many of the riders and if they don't buy in why should the fans?

Come and support your team... but your Captain is really only interested in another competition, your number 1 earns more money on a Sunday in another country so won't be riding on the Saturday night... and there's far too many examples to continue to list on here, we all know what goes on. I DO NOT blame the riders, they have to do what is right for themselves as self employed participants.

But are there any other team sports that operate with self employed participants? Like I said in an earlier post, riders should be salaried employees it's the only way to get buy in. I know it will never happen and for that reason team Speedway will probably die a lingering death.

the riders are a big reason the sport in this country is the state its in. cant make it pay without doing two leagues, everyone doubling up, its all a big mess at this point with basically no solution. 

[IainB]

6 minutes ago, therefused said:

the riders are a big reason the sport in this country is the state its in. cant make it pay without doing two leagues, everyone doubling up, its all a big mess at this point with basically no solution. 

I do think there are solutions but nobody brave enough to implement them

[Youhave2minutes]

52 minutes ago, marko said:

And so the biggest issue British Speedway is summed up, the league matches do not matter to the fans and sometimes not to the riders, the play offs do matter to the clubs who see it as possibly a break even pay day, but for whatever reason not all the riders are equally invested and some fans are smart to that, so if league matches don’t draw and the play offs by design or accident don’t draw, what is the point?
 

I don’t have the answer, I think we will lose more clubs as the sport in the country will become a very small league setup with maybe only seven or eight home fixtures a season plus a koc match or two, or become similar to what Isle of Wight do or what grass track does, a few meetings a season. (That won’t be viable though if speedway is the only sport in said stadium)

Very well said. 

[Youhave2minutes]

25 minutes ago, IainB said:

Some of the riders with certain attitudes are a cancer in our sport and like all cancers they need removing. To have riders minds (and often bodies) elsewhere is not what the fans pay to watch. There's no buy in from many of the riders and if they don't buy in why should the fans?

Come and support your team... but your Captain is really only interested in another competition, your number 1 earns more money on a Sunday in another country so won't be riding on the Saturday night... and there's far too many examples to continue to list on here, we all know what goes on. I DO NOT blame the riders, they have to do what is right for themselves as self employed participants.

But are there any other team sports that operate with self employed participants? Like I said in an earlier post, riders should be salaried employees it's the only way to get buy in. I know it will never happen and for that reason team Speedway will probably die a lingering death.

Great post, said how it actually is. British Speedway can be such of an embarrassment at times. A dying sport in this country I’m afraid

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

I don’t care if a rider has a bad night and doesn’t score or gets 1or 2 points as long as he gives it his best and that didn’t happen with Kurtz last night, in his first 2 rides he was shutting off down the straights, it wasn’t till his last ride he actually looked like the rider he can be, in my book that’s unacceptable, we paid over £120 with petrol to watch 14 riders give their best and Kurtz and to a point sayfutinow didn’t give it, zischie was had a poor night but at least you could see he was trying and pretty much riding to his ability,I feel sorry for any BV fans that made the trip last night, you were short changed, also considering the size of the crowd and it was big the atmosphere felt flat 

Edited 6 hours ago by THE DEAN MACHINE

[Fromafar]

7 minutes ago, therefused said:

the riders are a big reason the sport in this country is the state its in. cant make it pay without doing two leagues, everyone doubling up, its all a big mess at this point with basically no solution. 

The obvious solution for me is we have take step back towards basics and rebuild with riders who’s main commitment is to GB speedway. Doesn’t matter their potential ,riders like Nagel Bowes,Klint and others are not really helping the situation .Its obvious there intentions are to breakthrough abroad( I’m not blaming them,it just the way the sport is run in GB that we put up with it). Don’t know what outcome will be for next season but we need a radical shake up.

[PhilTheAce]

my pennies worth

 

first of all massive congrats to Ipswich, won easily and deservedly so, wont blame the track as it was the same for both teams

 

emil 5 points, bewley 4 points yet its all Brady this, Brady that, wasnt good enough from any of the riders that have more important meetings coming up, sadly british speedway is what it is, the lowest standard league in the world, i dont blame any 3 for being to cautious, but also emil wasnt gating, brady wasnt gating, dan wasnt gating, and if you wasnt gating you wasnt doing anything.

 

we have been bad all year at ipswich with kurtz and dan being poor then so not sure why the shock now tbh.

 

again well done ipswich, belle vue need wholesome changes next year which i think we will get

[IainB]

1 minute ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

I don’t care if a rider has a bad night and doesn’t score or gets 1or 2 points as long as he gives it his best and that didn’t happen with Kurtz last night, in his first 2 rides he was shutting off down the straights, it wasn’t till his last ride he actually looked like the rider he can be, in my book that’s unacceptable, we paid over £120 with petrol to watch 14 riders give their best and Kurtz and to a point sayfutinow didn’t give it, I feel sorry for any BV fans that made the trip last night, you were short changed, also considering the size of the crowd and it was big the atmosphere felt flat 

Reminded me of Ashton Boughen!

[Col]

54 minutes ago, SPEEDY69 said:

I'm hoping for Leicester to make the final as I don't really like any of the Sheffield riders🙂

What's wrong with Etheridge?

[PhilTheAce]

and @THE DEAN MACHINE watched Zmarzlik do very little with no effort in sweden on his own track just before the GP 

[Steve0]

Looking at previous visits to Ipswich this season, it was an expected easy win for the Witches - which they deserved as they were the best team over the 2 legs - even with Emil being below par.  I like both Dan and Brady but you could see they weren’t interested last night (which I understand), but if I was a BV fan I would have been very annoyed that they didn’t give 100% to at least try and get my team to the finals.  The wet surface didn’t help but it was the same for everyone.  You could say it was very poor scheduling to have this leg a few days before the biggest meeting for both Brady and Dan - surely it would have been better to have the first leg of the other semi last night and then we would have seen the best of Brady and Dan - as we usually do!  TV schedules and SGPs are obviously more important than the dwindling fan base in the UK and that is why British Speedway is going through a slow, lingering death.

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

As a fan without a team I’m glory hunting this year, come on the witches 

[Youhave2minutes]

3 minutes ago, Col said:

What's wrong with Etheridge?

Inconsistent 

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

13 minutes ago, PhilTheAce said:

and @THE DEAN MACHINE watched Zmarzlik do very little with no effort in sweden on his own track just before the GP 

Then that’s unacceptable if he didn’t try but I don’t know what he scored as I don’t follow Swedish speedway    Just looked 8 paid 9 with a race win from 4 rides, doesn’t sound like he wasn’t trying to me, no unnecessary risks maybe butt Kurtz wasn’t even trying until his last ride 

Edited 5 hours ago by THE DEAN MACHINE

[GeneralMelchett]

5 minutes ago, Steve0 said:

Looking at previous visits to Ipswich this season, it was an expected easy win for the Witches - which they deserved as they were the best team over the 2 legs - even with Emil being below par.  I like both Dan and Brady but you could see they weren’t interested last night (which I understand), but if I was a BV fan I would have been very annoyed that they didn’t give 100% to at least try and get my team to the finals.  The wet surface didn’t help but it was the same for everyone.  You could say it was very poor scheduling to have this leg a few days before the biggest meeting for both Brady and Dan - surely it would have been better to have the first leg of the other semi last night and then we would have seen the best of Brady and Dan - as we usually do!  TV schedules and SGPs are obviously more important than the dwindling fan base in the UK and that is why British Speedway is going through a slow, lingering death.

It kind of goes against the pre meeting rallying cries about giving it a big effort. Don't talk about giving it the big 100% effort to get to the final if your actions on the night indicate otherwise. 

Each fan can make their own mind up, I've seen Brady trap and beat Emil / Jason at Ipswich a few times so he can and does do it. Given the track i would have expected him to put the big effort into gating and getting in front. He diodnt seem to be able to gate - nor did Emil for that matter.

Anyway good that the Witches had no complacency and we got the result we sort of all expected anyway - who will they meet in the final!!

[mikebv]

1 hour ago, Col said:

Zmarzlik only won one heat in the Elitserien semi final second leg at Lejonen (home track) on Tuesday night.

On a not too great track, he took zero risks.....

Finished on eight off four...

Just like last night, if you gated first then great, if you didn't, then just make sure you didn't crash...

Last night, riders kept themselves several bike lengths apart due to their vision being impacted if too close to the rider in front, and also the higher than usual risk of the rider in front falling and then getting collected by the rider behind if he was too close...

And any riders using the outside ran the risk of locking up and high siding..

I saw the replay of one race and Brady struggled to turn the bike, straightened up, and locked up badly on bend four...

He then got filled in by whoever was third....

Easily could have high sided and bust a collarbone..

I think that ride made his mind up for the rest of the night...