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Interested to know why you feel his statement was stupid - having read his comments in full he was addressing the entire issue of meeting postponements / rain offs and the habit of postponing things perhaps on a whim. I was at the aborted BV match and I personally felt the track would and could be ridden - the bikes never warmed up and not one rider either offered or was asked to test the track, or at least not one bike even rode a lap to test things. - came away feeling not enough had been done on that one! The annoucement said they were going to scrape off the surface and then after some token efforst the annoucement was its off!! He was really alluding to was a lack of professionalism and consistency - he cited that in almost 200 SGP etc events they had only 2 rain offs. If the sport is to be taken seriously and thrive which is, i think what we all want, then somehow things like this needs addressing. Yes there is perhaps a element of the (naive) newbie having a say and perhaps ruffling a few feathers etc but, in part his comments were perhaps aimed at both promoters and riders. If things don't get more professional / improve etc etc blah blah waffle piffle and Mayfield decided to say exit speedway in 2031 etc everyone will be back about missed opportunities and why won't the big money men touch our little sport! The change (largely in attitude) has to start somewhere!

Spot on, for me it was similar to attending a metal concert, it's not mainstream, gets zero media coverage but you're all there to watch you're "secret" thing... while everybody else is watching Taylor Swift (Football)

It’s that yearly experience of knowing where you’ll be on that weekend, with like minded people, enjoying it all again. The riders mingling with the crowd beforehand… and feeling proud of the fact that only in our sport would this happen , down to earth lads. ( the riders)

That's probably it in a nutshell - and I don't think the promoters did enough to try to retain those people (I'm one of them) - and, without them, the event became unviable

Typical you moaning about something to do with Poole

Not for the organisers, who lost significant sums of money

Agreed others have also discovered that the hard way as often it can be a big gamble leaving it late especially when you then bring the riders into the equation who may well be less than willing to ride.

Oxford or Poole

I miss it, it brought a different demographic to Speedway a younger and often female demographic that you just tended not to see at league Speedway, some of these were foreign but a lot seemed to be British. I know of people with little to no interest in Speedway who used to attend from Leicester, so there must have been others. As league Speedway is followed by an older, more male demographic, a lot of who arent interested in actually having a good time socially or enjoying the atmosphere that a big crowd generates and only interested in "the racing" and filling their programmes in before a race is complete and standing there in stoney faced silence offering no applause when a rider comes round and acknowledges the crowd... when they stopped going it only left "the normals" and that just wasn't enough to sustain it. (Controversial, sorry if that's you). It's done the sport as much damage as the loss of Wembley did back in the 80's and it's going to take some coming back from. I went to every one and enjoyed every experience I had... even the ones with crap racing. I only stayed over twice, never in Cardiff, never went just to get p155ed up, never paid more than £30 for a ticket after year one and just had a cheap maccies to keep the costs down. With the 14 odd tracks we currently have running today it's difficult to see how the British Speedway showpiece event can attract a crowd of more than 6,500 ever again in the current setup.

Speedway at Cardiff felt like a big event, a spectacle. Speedway at Belle Vue feels like another meeting. Manchester will never replicate the roar when Harris passed Hancock on the final bend.

I went to every Cardiff gp too and I miss it very much. It was an occasion and a big event, now it is great racing on a great racetrack but a lot less people see it live.

Well, there's ckall else to do with every speedway match in the country being called off this week, when they mostly could have been run with some effort from those involved.

We had absolutely biblical rain in Leicester for over an hour during the night before the Sheffield match last week yet the track was dusty after a couple of races, yes we did have 30 degree temps during that day but with the wind we're having at the moment and around 15 hours of daylight I do feel this was a bit of a premature postponement. When you've sat and watched a GP qualifier from Glasgow at the weekend being ridden, often in driving rain, on a wet track you have to wonder why Ippo meetings get called off so easily... like the BV match the other week! Have the Foxhole drainage problems resurfaced?

Friday forecast looks ok Saturday and Sunday dreadful

Definitely didn't hodder the better rider.

Typical Poole cheating by using a different lower average for a rider 😜🤣

Hard to expect riders to be at their best when they are not getting regular track time.

That's why I questioned the 6.71 on the June 1st Declarations, issue 14.

Hodder is averaging more than Perry this year. He had a higher average (riding in a tougher position) last year. Glasgow made the right choice. Now if Perry keeps improving, then good for him & good for Workington, but that doesn't mean Glasgow made an error.

Cardiff could never match Manchester for quality of the racing . It had different things to offer though. To some people, that was just as, if not more important.

Being from a rugby league family , my parents went to Wembley every year for decades , to the challenge cup final. It was their sabbatical. No matter which teams were there , they went. Fans from everywhere attended. Speedway needs that sabbatical in this country. Wembley used to be it, then it was Cardiff . It’s vital we get a new one. The supporters deserve it . Whether it could happen is another story .

Round 6 next Tuesday 9th June with 4 matches yet Premier Sports schedule shows no Speedway on live.

Went to every Cardiff GP, but don't miss it. Manchester is better - Friday's meeting last year was better than any meeting staged at Cardiff.

Any business, regardless of industry, cannot hope to succeed when your "opening hours" aren't regular... Expecting your customers to have to constantly check when you are open, rather than just knowing due to consistent opening is asking, and expecting, a lot...

The track was definitely a factor because a percentage of the supporters were there for the social side of the weekend as well as the meeting itself, so track conditions, although important, weren’t the be all and end all. So they continued to come. However another percentage of the crowd went first and foremost for an exciting meeting with good racing, the social part not important, so when track conditions didn’t allow that , they became dissatisfied and stayed away , therefore numbers continued to fall. That’s how I saw it.