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Lidsey and bewley both practised today

I was impressed with Max Clegg yesterday, looked good and riding a number of different lines and looking fast. Jorgensen also looked good and seemed to be really attacking the track as was Bjerre. Phillips still has me concerned, still doesn't look comfortable around Brough but time will tell. Love the kevlars, especially the big white Diamond, just missing the word 'LADA' underneath in my opinion.

How was that cheating? No rules were broken? It was sour grapes from the promoter who got out-Forded!

With many fixture clashes, and guests needed, due to riders riding for several teams around Europe and domestically.. An amazing plan... Signing employees who dictate to you, the business owner, when you can and can't open your doors to your customers..? It will never work as a successful business operating model, because quite simply it cannot.. Yet, year in, year out, this is the model they use... No surprise really then that the sport in the UK is where it currently is... As everyone knows... Keep doing the same thing and you will keep delivering the same results...

It will be another delay in proceedings while he votes are sorted. There's enough pissing about now at meetings without adding to it.

I can't believe any adult would think this cup gimmick is a good idea. Its meant to be a serious sport.

I have been a supporter for nearly 60 years, in Edinburgh and now where I live in Somerset. BUT I will not be attending many meetings this year. WHY? Because of the ridiculous clearing out of riders at the end of the season. We were in the Premier league with the world champ riding for us. Now he's not and we are down a league, with only one rider from last year. Sorry guys but that is not the way to engender loyalty. No concession entrances so I will be voting with my feet. I like Bill and Debbie and what they have done but they have to work with a broken system. Accuse me of being a dinasaur if you like but it cannot be viable to keep managing the decline like this.

From a neutral (Redcar) supporter, Lewis Kerr looked very good at Ben Barker's testimonial meeting yesterday. Hope he has an injury free season. Certainly deserves one.

You are right, there isn’t a great deal wrong with the action but unfortunately lots of other stuff around it is poor, some out of the sports control but many things completely within. I’m thinking poor stadia and facilities, poor customer service when the weather is bad, poor promotional communication, expensive admission, failure to appeal to a younger audience, bad presentation, poor track prep and meetings dragging on. Obviously not every track or every week but these things occur far too often and people unfortunately vote with their feet.

The same two riders can't be used in both heats. To me it sounds like your best 4 riders on the night will be in hts 14 and 15 the fans are just deciding the heats they would like to see them in.I think team managers would be foolish not to name their top 4 for ht14.

Precisely, we need to see it in action to decide whether it’s a good idea or not. Don’t see how it can be slagged off until then.

Could understand with KP missing Leicester as Saturdays are not a Premiership race night, but Thursdays are so why is he missing this meeting. It shouldn't clash with Poland.

Im not so sure. I think any of them barring Paco could hit 6.5 this season if they have a run in the right position and i reckon that will be enough to take the jacket. Didn't ash Morris almost end up at number 1 for Newcastle last year?

See, he ain't so bad after all

An excellent article which critically analyses the state of speedway today. 1) Speedway is stuck in the 1920/50's the engines are unique, expensive and have no longevity. 2) The promoters and riders are overpaid and aloof of the supporters. Who solely pays the wages, bills and running costs? 3) Looking for a Barry Hearns or any other benefactor while the tracks close and attendances dwindle, is definitely not going to happen. Unfortunately it's a slow but predictable decline.

As per usual, the website will catch up at some point. Given that football and speedway clash in that case you'd have thought that the priority would have been to get the message out to the majority. An add on to today's P&P new item would have been easy enough.

Odds on Wally being the first no show of the season? First to fence an opponent? and First to have an own team scrap with Danny Ayres?

I have to say i have nothing against Drew or where he chooses to get his kevlars made its just a really poor example from Len of how costs are rising as in examples like this they are not rising he is just choosing a more expensive brand. All other clubs blame stadium rent or medical cover increases to duck out of it so nothing new but he would have been better of saying we have signed an expensive team that i expect to get a lot of points so need to up the gate money.

Just to say good luck to all Pooles opponents this year and hope the cheats finish bottom.

How - and why - is it worrying? There is nothing written there that we didn't already know. It's been covered to death on the BSF. I don't think the head-in-the-sand attitude comes from the supporters; we all know British speedway is in trouble. The apathy from supporters stems from the fact that realistically, there is bugger all that we supporters can do to stop the rot... Steve

So Polish rider has a clash of challenges matches and has to be at the one in his own country ie the federation that issues him with his racing licence. Seems pretty straightforward and understandable to me. Not really getting the whinging.

I was being polite. The whole thing is a load of turd. Somehow I must stop myself coming on here

No, but you can vote for the worst of the 4. But more worryingly I can vote on any match which benefits my team, even when they are not riding

You have said exactly the same as me but in reverse... I thought it was 2007 but never mind and if someone opts not to wear a team suit it can't be a team suit can it... jeeezs... Howay man giz a break... read what av rit... 4 or 5 of the guys had sponsorship which included Kevlars 2 or 3 didn't... a team suit in this reference is 7 riders all wearing the same team colours... doh! Regards THJ

Geoff rules changed a while ago, if a rider has been in speedway for 10 years he can apply/be put forward to be considered for a testimonial, does not have to have at a club/with same promotion for 10 years, the powers that be decide if one is granted, imo I find this wrong as every Tom dick and Harry could be entitled to one, but lots don't apply, maybe it's just ones who like money apply, oops what have I just said !!: )

I cam look at most pics from the 70s and u can tell who it is by the leathers and face mask and handlebars now they all look the same ! Unless i am getting old .

The BSPA have confirmed arrangements for the 2019 Premiership Supporters’ Cup. The competition replaces the top flight’s Knockout Cup this season and enables fans to have a direct influence on meetings, by voting for riders to take part in heat 14. The voting will take place via each club’s official Twitter feed and enables both supporters and team managers to be involved in the process. Following heat 10 of each fixture in the competition, the team managers will provide the names of four of their riders for the heat 14 vote and these will appear as a poll on the Twitter feed of the respective clubs, allowing supporters to vote for their preferred representatives in the race. The polls will be open for 15 minutes, and the top two riders from each team in the poll will compete in heat 14. These riders, along with the riders for heat 15, will be announced following heat 13. It should be noted that riders who compete in heat 14 cannot also compete in heat 15. It will be the team managers’ decision whether to leave certain riders out of the heat 14 poll should they wish to be certain of their availability for heat 15. The format of the competition sees the Premiership clubs divided into two groups, with the winner of each group progressing to a two-legged final. Races prior to heat 14 will be run under the old 13-heat format. Group 1: Belle Vue (@TheAces), Peterborough (@PboroPanthers), Wolverhampton (@WolvesSpeedway) Group 2: Ipswich (@ipswichspeedway), King’s Lynn (@KLSpeedway), Poole (@poolespeedway), Swindon (@SwindonSpeedway) https://ipswichwitches.co/fan-vote-confirmed-in-supporters-cup/

Im hoping this is just down to it being a challenge slotted in as an extra after other plans were already in place If it becomes a more regular occurence it wont go down well and cant be defended in the way it can for these season opening practice matches

Was a great meeting to watch ,The track was really good to race according to the 2 riders I spoke to and i was told it was stewart Dickson that did the track for this meeting

Don't spoil it.. I am 51 and feel like a spring chicken when I attend a speedway meeting... Not many places in life that I attend where I am in the youngest half.. (Or maybe even quarter?)...

Not keen on team suits. I think back to Oxford in the 1980s, and we had Hans in sleek black leathers, Wiggy in distinctive day-glo green, Cocker in his chequered-leathers, etc. The leathers were an extension of the personality of each rider. Team suits and that's lost. Not only that, but it's a significant cost that most clubs simply cannot afford.

I believe the Witches were offered victory parade on Saturday but declined as Bomber was needed for BSPA press duties and Danny King wanted to go out for a practice so the management said No.

Will miss my trip to The Oak Tree to support The Robins this year, very good racing and set up there.

at times when I have been has been too much dirt on, and that means nearest the fence wins every race. Good to see passing inside and out and a lovely surface yesterday. Hope that will continue as when Owlerton is good, it is as good as any of the bigger tracks.

You just made me feel old!!

FROM the SGP website ... Torun boss Jacek Fratczak says Jack Holder didn’t suffer serious damage to his foot in a fall which forced him out of his side’s challenge match at home to Rybnik on Saturday. Holder was involved in a three-man pile-up with Rybnik duo Kacper Woryna and Sergey Logachev in heat 10 of Torun’s 53-37 victory. The Aussie and Logachev took no further part in the meeting and Holder returned to his base in Britain to recover. Fratczak played down the crash and is confident Holder will be back in action against Lodz this Thursday. He told Przeglad Sportowy: “Fortunately, the injury is not serious and the rider has returned on his own to Great Britain. “Now the most important thing is to care for the leg. Everything stays on schedule and Jack and the whole team will appear this Thursday against Lodz. This will be one of the last tests before the first match in the league.”

If he remains in the number 1 jacket all season i will be staggered

The most entertaining part of todays meeting was when the guy in the Tiger suit (believe he's the mascot) fired the tee shirt onto the roof of the stand instead of into the crowd for someone to catch. Classic!

Forgot to mention guests and R/R, which probably do people’s heads in more than anything else. Not saying it’s a simple situation to solve because it’s not but over recent years there have seemed to be more injuries and fixture clashes than ever.

Agreed. Worrying thing from Cam’s perspective was the quotes from Ritchie Hawkins that he took a knock to his “troublesome wrist”. Seems the lad is always going to have problems with that damn wrist! Little doubt that injury is/was a major factor in him not yet fulfilling his undoubted potential.

Wow wasn't expecting that! Looks like David had his bikes sorted from last night. KP riding in Poland looked quick too, scoring 8+1 from his 5 in Lodz. Just hope Cam and Richard dont have too many lasting effects from their crash last night.

Do why know what numbers all the riders had? Couldn't be there unfortunately Not even in the same country to be fair!! Think Max Clegg will surprise a lot of people next year

josh mcdonald in the sheffields meeting today along with kyle bickley as reserves . kick off 4 pm .

The article was as accurate as something intending to be neutral could be. A Glorious past and nearly 75 years of joy - I enjoyed nearly 50 of those and still love watching on TV - especially the GPs and Swedish and Polish leagues. I watch the UK matches that BT broadcast but they look like the poor relative to other speedway on TV. I went to around 8 matches in the UK last season ( King's Lynn ) and never thought that it was value for money or great entertainment with only one or two races worthy of the name per match. I would still be prepared to pay for a decent live stream of UK matches ( not of course at the Sky or BT level or quality ). I have proposed this several times but the BSPA have never given it a trial. That's a pity. IF it survives ( UK speedway ) it will be in a very different semi-pro form but will need to be marketed very differently and properly. It is a very pale shadow of what it was now and cannot be revived even if one promoter does end up owning all the clubs in the "top" level.

Wallinger talks a good game, very much doubt he will bring it to the track.

Wonder if we should actually start a 2020 thread for this http://www.scunthorpe-speedway.com/?p=9607 That's what you call forward planning!

Crikey what a complete mess! How people still prefer individual suits with bibs to team suits is beyond me. The fella on the right looks like he’s using a ten year old suit dug out of the lost property bin!

Well done new Rebels skipper Chris Harris, big 15 point max for Ippo last night.

Lesson is don’t pay on appearance ,pay on performance. Imo

...personally I always preferred race jackets and the choice of individual leathers. It made it easier identifying one rider from another.