Leaderboard

I think you are missing the point. Chapman is part of the problem in allowing riders to return on outdated averages. This isn't a Poole problem it's a UK Speedway problem.

Exactly... Another grip of mine is the 'PIT STOP' café' Am I the only on to notice that the prices go up for Speedway and Stockcar meetings. When you use the café during the week the prices are substantially lower. I understand the logic of a captive audience , but if you wish to look after your supporters the last thing you want to do is rip them off If the prices are adequate to make the Café viable during the working day, then why would it be necessary to increase them when you have a far bigger custom base....

This Speedway of Nations is a innovative and exciting competition that's never been seen before, and will stop Poland winning everything. Those who point out that the World Team Cup used to be run with a pairs + reserve format and with Semi-Finals, and that Team Ice Speedway has always been run over a couple days, are merely being churlish and not getting with the programme...

This meeting starts at 6pm and is the Peter Craven Memorial Meeting. Belle Vue are the only Speedway club in the world to have run continuously since 1928. The first two riders announced are World Champion Jason Doyle and British Champion Craig Cook.

Would like to say thanks for a very positive report there . I think the stats you used were very fair and very true . It' nice to see a report look at the whole picture not just the short comings . Roll on 2018 and getting settled at my new home over the first few meetings Regards wilko

It's off topic (i.e nothing to do with Scorpions 2018!), but we (Newcastle) have 13.40 pts left and I would hope we won't go 8 + 3.5, leaving us 2pts short.

With the field being assembled maybe it would be worth trying to do a streaming? Presume the meeting is not bound by any BSPA TV contract? The team who film the action at BV are excellent, with HD coverage, so maybe time to dip the toe in the water to see if it can attract an on line audience..? I would imagine if promoted well there would be a crowd of 2500 - 3000, so plenty of potential fans around the country to attract who cannot be there on the night..

That's just it, in fear of being ripped off I'd rather go without. After paying £1 of a coffee at dinner time, I'll be damned to pay £1.50 for the same drink in the evening..

That statement speaks volumes!!!

It has been brought to our attention that fans have been emailing the East of England Showground direct about the change to the start time of the Ben Fund meeting. On behalf of the Peterborough promotion and the Ben Fund organisers we request fans NOT to do this. It will not help, and will only serve to damage the good relationship between Peterborough Speedway and our Landlords.

Guess it's no to J Holder aswell then!

Go for it Wilko. I've a gut feeling you are going to have a good season. Delighted to see you back with the diamonds.

Can you move the conversation - this is for 2018 teams only...

I think you could be right but my prediction will be closer than yours :0

Rubbishio.

Poole..... isn’t it obvious they know a good thing when they see it..... one for the future, unlike one of the past as in ex World Champions who want to pick n choose the conditions they wish to ride in

Some great pictures and the Saturday night under flood lights is brilliant. Looked like good crowds on both days. Thank you for sharing these. Unfortunately I was unable to make it to Berlin on this occasion and really missed the action. For those who have never been it is worth giving it a go and if you can get to one on the European meetings you will not be disappointed. I would also like to thank Conkers and Iris for always providing updates, reports photo and video etc. and other valuable information, it is greatly appreciated and the best reporting you can get.

Wally Loak. The only one I ever bought was the Mildenhall meeting where Mel Taylor stole the NL title from the Rockets.

While I can sympathise with Peterborough re fans emailing the stadium about the change of start time to the Ben Fund meeting us fans were looking forward to a good afternoon of speedway, track walks, riders signing autographs etc early start and reasonable finish time. Now we have been promised a prompt 6.30pm start with hopefully no hold ups and hopefully an 8.30pm finish. In other words instead of an enjoyable relaxed meeting with added extras we now have a rushed through meeting presumably with the extras axed and fans, especially those who have long journeys, who were looking forward to this meeting now deciding not to go. No wonder us supporters are fed up and deserting the sport in droves.

I think it's a travesty in what's happening at both stadiums...plus Coventry of course. When I last visited Cowley about six or so years ago it was in a real state. Personally I can't see speedway returning there despite all the good intentions.

Biggest average improvers by team. Also going to throw out some names who will take a hit on there averages. BV - Biggest improver - Rohan Tungate. Craig Cook to take a hit on his average. Craig will struggle in the GP's imo and with no Championship club this year his confidence might drop especially if Rybnik drops him during the season then meeting's will also become an issue. KL - Biggest improver - Nobody. Poor side imo. Leicester - Biggest Improver - Danny King. Riding at No.3 will suit Danny. Experienced racer on all tracks expecting a good season from DK. Poole - Biggest improver - Kacper Woryna. Should put 2.5 to 3 points on his starting average. Rye House - Biggest improver - KK. Expecting KK to put 1.25 to 1.5 points on his average. He always has a good season after a bad one. Somerset - Biggest improver - Jack Holder. JD will help Jack develop next season Jack should put a point on his starting average imo. Swindon - Biggest improver - Adam Ellis. Should put half a point on his starting average. N. Morris & Bellego to take a hit on the averages if Bellego can end up with a 6.5 average then he has done well. Wolves - Biggest improver - Nobody. Really is a poor side and all of those riders will take a hit on there averages imo.

Thing is in those days Speedway was supported by the National news papers, they could do with getting involved with Cardiff.

Read a piece in the EDP where Niels K Iversen confirmed that he has received an invitation to this meeting. I hope he accepts, BV track record holder & all round class act imo.

Webbo. After paying over inflated admission fee followed by an over priced programme I wouldn’t dream of paying inflated prices for ‘food’ from a greasy spoon. Are you some kind of masochist?

I hadn't seen those reports of the three millennials falling down and all within an hour. I hope there's an immediate and thorough Health and Safety investigation. Whoever is responsible must be publicly denounced.

Trouble is that most of those gaps were for fans with season tickets and forever what reason those fans didn’t attend they still count them in the attendance even though they have only bought the ticket but aren’t actually there.

I was there.The air horns were deafening. As you say, a great atmosphere

The times are a changing...well they have changed a while ago if we are talking about speedway.There will be a place for leisure,it is very important.How many gyms/fitness clubs have opened up in the last decade?Trouble is,there won't be much of a place for an environmentally unfriendly sport in cities and towns that occurs weekly or even fortnightly.Face facts,we are seeing a change in cars and their use coming pretty soon.It will be extreeeeemly hard to defend noisy,dirty motorbikes racing around for a couple of hours every week and especially if they are sharing a stadium with dirty noisy stock cars as welll

What Holder needs to and does do are 2 different things, the injuries he received at Coventry seemed to mentally affect his riding, then the dreadful accident to his best pal seemed to amplify this. Does C Holder have the ability.............YES......Does C Holder have the mental ability..................we will have to wait and see.

Keeps falling on deaf ears

They see it as a way to get people interested in the sport particularly, the younger generation. A night at the Colts for £20 for two adults and two under 18's is affordable for many families. The hope is they will give it a try, like what they see and then become fans and then as they discover more about the sport also support the Aces.

Well I also don’t understand how People can be angry about Szczepaniak. He is on loan from Kings Lynn so Buster knew about the deal and didn’t stop it!!

... and there are a lot more nations who will take part in this brand new FIM pairs team competition, in fact it is now 15 compared to the 12 we had in the SWC ! Slovenia and Finland return, and Slovakia is a new entry !! Isn't that great ? I wonder why Castgana thinks that this SoN will help the smaller speedway nations, especially those struggling badly in Southern Europe (Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria) and Overseas (Argentina, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand), to find new riders. Why would youngsters there suddenly be eager to take up the Sport, just because we now have a SoN pairs instead of the Speedway World Cup. Most of the above mentioned countries did not take part in the SWC, and most of them dont participate in the new SoN either. There should be a development programme by the FIM to help these smaller countires with logistics and knowledge, and if possible money and equipment, as is done in other sports such as Football, Rugby and Cricket. The Speedway of Nations will achieve nothing at all, it is just blurring the sad fact that many countries are no longer able to track a national team of more than two or three riders.

He could well do that i think Woryna will will average between 7. - 8.20) and on this instance i don't think Poole have done anything wrong and fair play to Ford for being a step ahead everybody else.

If you're thinking about riders who can add a point or so on their average, I would imagine the list would be quite long. If we are talking about the rider who average will improve the most then Woryna is way ahead of the rest. I hope he doubles his score, then probably it will open the BSPA eyes and see the pathetic situation they have created by using out of date CMA

There is wrapping yourself up in cotton wool and then there is making sensible and mature choices less than a month before the season starts. If it was a Lynn rider I'd be rather peeved.

Take your poole hat off for a change and look at the bigger picture !!!

Now he has a regular team spot at Scunny this season and therefore more track time I fully expect Jake Allen to be a big improver in 2018.

She's probably got more common sense than Bates.

Makes sense

I get he wants to have a laugh with his mates don't we all but sometimes you just have to make that sacrifice and say maybe i best not with season just around corner in case of a freak accident which this is of course. Main point i would like to make is that if i was a sponsor of his i wouldn't be overly delighted, money available for sponsorship specially for speedway is not exactly big and Josh Bates who quit mid winter will maybe have already put off potential and current sponsors and now this happens where he potentially misses meetings which is not what sponsors sign up for, if injury happens riding speedway then fair enough the sponsors know risk of that as riders do. Hope his recovery goes well and is soon back on a bike for us !

As some will no I’m a cricket fan as well and a member at Trent Bridge- speedway could learn so much about customers service from Trent Bridge from official stewards to box office staff to catering staff they can’t do enough for you as a fan you feel valued they email fans before games about how the club is looking forward to our visit and by the time we get home there is another email saying hope you enjoyed your visit and please let’s us no if there is anything that can be done to improve the match day experience- ok two different sports one cash rich the other not in the same financial league but speedway is up against sports like this and the difference to how fans customers are treated is vast . For me it’s all about being valued as a fan rather than being taken for granted.

Another rib gone. I'm down to my last one!

I managed to to get to the NSS 3 times last season. Meeting 1 was v Swindon in the KO Cup Semi Final. Fabulous meeting that had everything in atrocious conditions. Great racing.Anywhere else, I am convinced it would have been rained off. Meeting 2 was the following night, Colts v Eastbourne. After the night before I wasnt expecting anything special at all. Incredibly, it was again superb entertainment. Track was superbly prepared, passing in almost every race . Inside, outside, through the middle, the young lads could race confidently anywhere at any time,despite the changeable weather. Meeting 3 was a about a month later as the Colts won the NL title v Eastbourne. Once again tremendous racing. An absolute credit to NL racing.The NSS has a superb circuit. I managed to get to Poole 7 times last season. Well, to be honest, I think I saw more full blooded racing in any ONE of those NSS meetings than I saw in any at Poole. Riders were literally bouncing across the track and you could clearly see hestistation. Dont get me wrong, I am Poole through and through and have been since 1955.That wont change. I welcome the track being ripped up and hopefully will produce some better and safer racing. Only time will tell. Fingers crossed, eh?

When there was no BT Sport coverage last season before June/July did the tracks notice a huge resurgence of supporters returning to see meetings live in the previous months?

The real reason could be frostbite of the goolies. He certainly likes finding unusual ways of harming himself. As they say in that part of the world, "daft as a brush".

It's very interesting that the guy who is fronting up the Save Coventry Group, who has probably put in hundreds & hundreds of hours of time and effort into trying to save the stadium for future use stated quite clearly on radio last night that he wouldn't be attending Leicester because he didn't believe that a team racing there & competing at the lowest level represented the Coventry Bees. i wonder if all the posters on this topic who keep telling those of us who have expressed the same opinions, that we are trying to " kill the club" would accuse Jeff of being of the same mind?

The whole point is that he may become a new superstar No. 1, like Zach W and JPB!

Speedway's problem isn't being on TV. Speedway's problem is that most people in the country have no idea what it is or that it exist. Being on tv does not contribute towards that.

The truth is that Berwick find it harder and harder to compete at Premier League / Championship level each year. Occasionally they will get lucky and uncover the odd gem. They had a couple of riders lined up this season until they were gazumped. Hopefully, through time, the academy will pay dividends, but speedway doesn't do long-term.