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Jesus Christ people you are watching speedway on ITV for free and they finally got a deal done and all you miserable buggers do is moan. Better turn your phones / laptops off and just watch the racing because your negativity is embarrassing somewhat. If you want to moan at speedway on ITV for the first time in 41 years go ahead, but don’t you dare moan about it not being on TV the next time around.

I think most people would prefer it if you were hidden and out of sight.

there's some strange posts on this subject, it beggars belief that something so positive receives so many negative posts. Will Saturday nights showing change the face of speedway, of course not....having it on a "normal tv" is real positive as opposed to just a speedway club stream(no offence to club streams!). There are far more positives than negatives to come out of this. Bravo to all concerned in making this happen.

So anze grmek rode last night at Plymouth then caught the same flight to Poland as Dan Thompson who rides for the same team as zach cook. Cook could have rode at Plymouth and got the same flight but Poole thought they could bring in Edwards who rides Plymouth better than cook but the powers to be were wise to this hence the reduced facility i.e 75% average blatantly caught out trying to cheat or complete lack of commitment from cook or maybe both you decide but these are the facts. Win at all costs backfired on the cheating pirates.

I thought it was a decent evenings entertainment. Clearly not the usual broadcast team from the TNT days, more a budget broadcast team, but that’s down to ITV who were never going to throw tons of money at a one off production. However, I think British Speedway can give itself a pat on the back and consider it a job well done, rider presentations were on point, background promotional material looked fresh, the racing got better as the meeting progressed. The interviews were a bit ‘bumpy’ in places, but I don’t think it detracted from the overall presentation. More importantly there wasn’t any cock up’s!

This is fantastic news. Phil said ticket sales are poor, they need to hand out a load of free tickets and pack the place out then because this is a huge opportunity to sell the product at the best race track in the country. Makes a world of difference with a packed stadium and great atmosphere.

It's hilarious how its always 'we were massively weakened' when the guests don't work out yet when ringers score big points its never 'we were massively strengthened'.

Still this one, the orgainal and going over 30 years! https://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/ The British Speedway Forum has been bringing fans together for over 30 years. During that time it has been far more than just a discussion forum—it has been a community. Members have shared countless moments of fun and enjoyment, formed lifelong friendships, including marriages, and, sadly, mourned the loss of fellow members. Through all of life's highs and lows, the forum has endured and continues to thrive, remaining a place where speedway fans can connect and keep the community alive.

I’ve shared the advert on my facebook urging people to tune in. But why haven’t the promoters of every club not been posing every day running up to the event asking fans to like and share with a CHANCE to go into a draw for free tickets. Lasts years final should have been reposted by all clubs and ask the fans to share and repost again. Costs nothing but another failed opportunity to really push the biggest chance to promote the biggest advert on terrestrial tv. these promoters are not fit for purpose. Couldn’t organise a car boot sale.

That is not solely what this is about and if a few more turn up at the local track that is a bonus. It is the exposure on free to air television first and foremost that the sport will get which has not happened for years and if enough tune in it could open the door to a television contract which the u k sport needs to survive and rebuild for the future. Like many on here you may not like it so don’t watch. If this could lead to top league speedway from Poland being televised on ITV 4 even it is a recording of the match then the exposure of what it can be like could only help UK speedway. Still with all the negative contributions on here, it might as well fail so that all the critics can say we told you so yet those critics do sweet f a to promote the sport.

Until championship speedway returns to a semi professional sport it will never be sustainable. How can our level of speedway be expected to finance flying riders around the world to ride. Leave that to the premiership and return our league to how things used to be when riders had jobs as well. Hardly a big ask when you're lucky if there are 4 meetings a month.

It's an interesting interview with JD, he's always been an honest guy. So has basically just told it how it is. Might get missed but he said that the club is in no danger at this present time, but I can totally see why it wouldn't be sustainable long term to run next season and beyond. I heard an averaged figure that the club is losing per meeting and although not ideal is probably pitance compared to what loss Sheffield and some Premiership clubs are running at. IMO it is more a problem with certain factors out of our hands. The UK cost of living, rising costs of running a meeting and compounded by the British Speedway logic as a whole, when I look around the Arena the crowd levels don't strike me as that bad, the number of sponsorship boards is remarkable, crowd levels are probably what I would expect given what we are and where we are, and the fact we don't live in a pre-90's (pre-digital) age anymore, which is often forgotten on here. Big changes are needed, and promotors like Mark Lemon need to get their head out of their arses and stop believing that a Premiership model with GP riders is sustainable for the good of British Speedway, and think of the bigger picture for every speedway club to survive, that in itself does more damage than anything I believe, it is proven time and time again that the 2nd tier racing is the most competitive and exciting league IMO. 5 man teams would be a must for me for starters, and for the Comets it's amazing how much of a diference the crowd is when we face Glasgow, Redcar, Edinburgh etc. so more localised speedway would help. Fans still seem to travel in numbers to away meetings from what i've seen, and Comets fans certainely repay the favour, there was loads that travelled to Redcar recently for example.

Moderation on this forum ? Yes please, it would see the back of you with all of your aliases with any luck. I live in hope.

Good to hear Tate is back home with no broken bones. 9 day concussion protocol.

The riders wages demands at Championship level are really a major problem but that will never be resolved now.Crowds certainly don’t cover the costs nowadays at most track in UK.Workington is a brilliant set up,shame if that going to be lost to League.The appalling fixture planning (again to suit riders needs) is another factor.Regular fixtures needed to keep fans interested.IMO

Message from former Berwick rider Connor Coles posted on social media. The last few months have given me a lot of time to reflect. As I’ve been working through my recovery, I’ve seen the thousands of messages, comments and well wishes that were sent while I was in a coma and afterwards. There are too many to reply to individually, but I’ve read them, and I genuinely appreciate every bit of support. To everyone who took the time to send a message, say a prayer, donate, support my family, or simply think of me – thank you. That support carried me and meant a lot to me, Kirsty, Isabella, Poppie and everyone close to us during one of the toughest periods we’ve been through. I’ve been asked a lot about whether I’ll race again. After long discussions with my family and medical team, I’ve made the decision to retire from professional speedway. It’s not how I ever wanted things to end, but I have to be realistic about where I’m at. Like every rider, I always thought I’d choose the moment myself, but that choice has been taken out of my hands. Speedway has been a massive part of my life. It’s given me good times, tough times, friendships, and experiences I’ll never forget. I’m proud of what I achieved in the sport and proud to have been part of it. Right now, my focus is simple – keep working on my recovery and be there for my family. Thank you to every club I’ve ridden for, my teammates, sponsors, mechanics, volunteers and the fans who stood by me throughout my career. I’ve never taken any of it for granted. That’s the end of my racing career, and the start of a new chapter. Thank you.

Well a lot of people are commenting on why the forum is in decline, this past several posts is a point why a lot of people don't interact anymore. And most of it is on the Poole page so it's affects their popularity as well. Why can't these pointless posters stop their fued

Finally made it last night - very impressed with the set up there - the track was bladed etc after heat 2 and then after that produced some really good racing. Its a shame its a 2 hr drive for me as I would be tempted to go more regularly but its a great set up and sat in the grandstand on a warm sunny evening watching a 45-45 draw with quite a lot of overtaking I was very happy!

Spot on... Strong viewing figures bring sponsorship to the sport... And adverts to the TV company... If the sport is ever to turn around the tanker then it has to start somewhere... Saturday being that first opportunity...

Congratulations to whoever has pulled that off. British Speedway now needs to make it an event that brings the crowds in

Hang that in the Louvre

Oh dear, nevermind 🤭

Batch had a bad night but u can see in the pits he was working on 2 bikes and heard him say he has ordered a new engine,and ofcourse he turns up week after week,give him a bit of slack.

No you aren't. Yep, I even read this site and take feedback during events.

It simply doesn't matter what they come up with if hardly anyone from the 80 million people in the UK know that you exist... What does a Premiership team cost? £350k a year maybe??. Shave off £50k and pay someone that money to work full time to run your marketing and commercial operations, plus running the "fan experience" on the night itself... With their remit to bring in a tangible extra £100k a season in sponsorship, and attendance increases... Give them full remit to do "whatever they need to", to get, at least, 2500 in the stadium... Free tickets, reduced tickets, database collation, even direct cold call marketing, their role will be to get the team noticed and get "new" money into the club... The more who attend, the better the atmosphere as we know, currently any "newbie" attending would have been in louder, more atmospheric libraries.. You can pay out six figures for a top two world class riders who, due to their small public profiles, will bring in hardly anyone extra to watch, or pay someone a decent figure, (with performance bonus), to get them noticed , and then bring people in to watch them.... I visited a pub on Monday to meet up with an old workmate, a pub I had never used before... I signed up to use their WIFI... Within 24 hours I had a 15% off voucher emailed to me for this Sunday in their restaurant, and thanking me for my custom... The circa 3000 or so who still follow most Premiership teams, should all be known to "someone" at the club,(via the clubs database), and that "someone" then keeps constantly communicating and doing anything, and everything, they can to encourage repeat visits... 500 empty seats just get colour faded in the sunshine... 500 full ones, even at a tenner each, will bring in £50k over a season, and create far more of an "event feel" and atmosphere, plus increase bar, food and merchandise takings... UK Speedway brings in big money in relation to its size, and pays out even more!! It needs to redistribute the money going out to people who could help bring more people in.. And currently, that isn't the riders..

How good is Emma Jones? Very professional, excellent at her job and comes across as a really down to earth nice person too.

Jody Scott is always great to watch. I enjoyed seeing him tonight and was very pleased to see him win heat one. He was the only away rider to knock a point off Bomber tonight and he did it by passing him twice. With so much attention on Cairns and Rushen, I really don’t think he gets the praise he’s due.

I wouldn't say Belle Vue are too strong at all. But we are suffering from the winter problems caused by the Ipswich/Chris Louis situation and the Northampton late start. Arguably Sheffield were stronger than Belle Vue, and were the favourites for the title pre-season. The difference is that Belle Vue moved quickly to replace the injured Dan Bewley while Sheffield didn't replace Jack Holder and have been running much weaker since his injury. Leicester could still finish top of the league above Belle Vue if they replicate their "A" fixture wins at Ipswich and King's Lynn. King's Lynn are a solid side, with a GP no.1, who pushed Belle Vue all the way at the NSS last week, but don't seem to be getting on with their home track (King's Lynn used to be one of the absolute best, what has gone wrong with preparation these days?) Ipswich were done dirty by Louis, but with the new owners, they won't be this weak next year. Northampton of course were badly hindered by the late start and having to start from scratch. But they have a good set-up, decent crowds, and have had EIGHT matches which they have drawn or lost by less than 6 points. It wouldn't take much to turn them around into wins and they'd be quite successful. So certainly nothing is as black as is being painted here. Let's get a good ITV deal, get back Coventry, Swindon, etc, and build everyone up to the Belle Vue/Sheffield level. Let's not be negative and start weakening.

You'll be claiming he only found the will to become World Champion because deep down he knew one day it would secure him an Aces race jacket Without that motivation he would never have made it 😋

As I commented on Karlitos YouTube video: “This is a GOLDEN opportunity for British Speedway, something which the authorities need to take with both hands. Just don’t mess it up! Many cynics may say ‘oh it’s only in ITV 4’, but in order to make a journey, first you have to take the hardest step which is the first. Good luck to everyone involved.”

British final to be shown on ITV4 on saturday

He had only had 4 rides, he hadn't even had a r/r, don't believe him, usual Havvy excuses. Doing a deal to use him in heat 15 and not 14 sounds ridiculous when heat 14 was an easier race for him.

Putting Paco's calamity celebration to the side, last night's meeting was a great example of what speedway should be like. Good track, passing, nip and tuck all meeting, riders pushing for the full 4 laps and a super heat to put the cherry on top. Well done to both teams.

He maybe has a child who needs looking after 🤣

Interesting read also in the Speedway Star this week is the Kyle Howarth interview, where he’s said even the riders are sick of racing at the same places 4 times a season and that alongside the massive fixture gaps is why he’s taking a break from it for remainder of 2026. It’s good to see a rider speak openly about the current position not working rather than speaking the party line of it’s all rosey in the garden. The one big league with 2H and 2A would give them more variety and also a decent amount of meetings to negate the doubling up that a decent amount of riders are doing. The promoters/owners need to look at the bigger picture here and not just what suits them, OK it might upset a few big hitters that want to ride/live in UK but can’t if go down one big league and team average isn’t a crazy amount, but they aren’t going to be around for ever and it’s not like there’s an influx of foreigners wanting to ride over here, so take the bullet now get a baseline in position for the sport and take it from there. If the one league doesn’t work out then can revisit alternatives but whatever have now just isn’t working for riders or fans.

To me that sounds like they have options for signings, but are happy to use guests as they feel they are stronger (perhaps not for long) and want to find the best rider available (obviously). So I don't see why the BSPL should grant am extension of the guest facility for Bowes in this instance. For a heat leader, I can understand clubs struggling for a replacement, but for a reserve, when there's options (Fredriksen, Bowtell, Morley) 28 days is long enough. But this should be for all teams, not just Poole.

Bunch of muppets in here. Batch has never missed a meeting for Comets since he started. To suggest he simply didnt want to ride a track so has pulled out of every meeting this week is ridiculous. Yous lot can't put your hate for Batch aside for one second even though you have riders scoring 0 every meeting.

Craig Cook reassessed to a 5?

CHAMP has been far too strong for a couple of seasons now to a point where it's been exploited by certain Clubs. Merge the NDL and CHAMP together to lower the wage bill and then put a block on riders who ride in any Polish League or Top Flight Danish/Swedish League from competing in the CHAMP in 2027. No fixture Clashes, Lower wage bill and a clear gap in quality between PREM and CHAMP over here.

A great days racing from Poland that had everything from nip and tuck racing to enthusiastic crowds. You could not ask for more as the riders never back off and chase every point. Thanks to all riders/teams for today’s entertainment and special thanks to those providing the links that enable us to watch great racing.

Bloody drones. Show replays with drones if they must, but not during the race.

Please don't quote the idiot as when you do i can see his posts

He has said that he has not enjoyed his racing for a while and is stepping away with immediate effect to spend more time with his family. A sad loss to the sport in this country and I am sure many on this forum wish him well in whatever he decides to do.

Not just Ipswich I would say, the sport is in a mess and the loss of any one team would have a serious effect on the others being able to run a proper model. Your promoter talks a lot of sense, but so did Stuart Douglas when he brought Arena Essex and none of the other promoters would listen to him either because he was new and they don't the idea of change, even when things are in the gutter.

100% disagree with that. I'd argue it's better to have a weak field that qualified than a strong field who got seeded. Problem with using averages is some positions are harder than others, riders could miss difficult meetings through injury, Zmarzlik's team mates don't race against him or are they in fact hindered by finishing behind him if bonus points didn't count. I do believe it would be better running the GP challenge after the final GP, top qualifiers vs bottom GP riders for the remaining spots, probably more chance of the top riders qualifying then.

We'll have to say it's never a hindrance to us and if anyone wants to chat or sit on the bike it's no problem.

Oh fook 😜

Needs to be moderated properly to stop the same few people having multi aliases and posting up garbage on nearly every thread, gets a bit boring after a while😬

First time for me, too. Very impressed with the set-up -- well-marshalled parking, friendly staff, good infrastructure with food/drink/merchandise etc all readily availableand an interesting programme. Problems with the new material on track led to a loooong delay, but communication with the crowd was good and the racing afterwards was excellent. Interesting to see a lot of fans, both adults and children, in Foxes shirts. Encouraging to see this response as the club tries to build its own fan base and not rely on Coventry and Peterborough supporters getting their fix, welcome as they no doubt are. The blue/orange/white colours are striking and the fox logo is a very clever design, immediately attractive to children but with plenty of character and detail to swing adults too. Full marks on that one. If I have a mild criticism it is that the stadium comes over as a tad functional at the moment. Even the odd tub of flowers would help there. But overall a really good and very welcome addition to the sport. Special kudos to the very young and very diligent litter pickers in action on bends one and two, they were great!

Yes back up running. Unfortunaley had to go back to backup from several days ago.