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Sheffield fans delighted with Kurtz. Away fans arguing about if we should have had Kurtz, Auty, Pickering, etc. Only in speedway...

He can easily get back to his 2018 form you are lucky you have him to see everyweek i never tire of watching Robert ride a real talent.

Ah... the great Terry Betts, lovely guy. But don't forget the wonderful Tomas Topinka who had 15 seasons with the Stars and scored over 6,000 points in 578 appearances. Both riders were also really stylish and smooth on the bike. Great times!

Assuming that all the other clubs have made significant improvements? My only concern is....and I'm not being negative....we have a team that''s capable of beating any other team when all are firing, but on the flip-side, we might be 'beatable' by the weakest team when they're not? I'm extremely happy with our 7 and look forward to seeing some proper action at PB this season..... If I had to choose between thumping everyone every week and winning the league, or seeing some great racing and not quite making the play-offs, then I'd choose the latter! May be it's my age?!

I’m pretty sure Glasgow would have Craig cook as #1 even on a 12.00 average. It’s a statement of power, and consistency in the big heats 13 and 15 which often are match winners

Vic Eastwood, the very successful scrambles/moto X rider passed away on Sunday. You may say what has Vic's passing got to do with speedway, well, probably not much, but he did race machines which had Hagon frames. I did buy a bike from him once, at his shop and was a gentleman to deal with. RIP.

Scrambling on Grandstand, happy days. RIP Vic, who was one the biggest names in the sport, along with the likes of John Banks, Badger Goss and of course, the legend that is Arthur Browning!

3 lapsed fans of my acquaintance would return if we got a genuine, big name, #1 i know the sums need to add up but I think many fans need a hero in the team. A 7.5 point #1 who loses heat 15 every week is never a hero.

If by any chance, we end up 2 points below the points limit I will be really, really annoyed.

There are exceptions to that, and Wethers appears to be an exception - no discount was applied for 2019 on his 2018 final average.

Does Matty Wethers qualify for a 2.5% reduction?

It will all become a lot clearer after the talk in on Tuesday, when they will be discussing their plans

Segment? Which part?

Good to see five of the team back for the new season.

How come? Thought you were a Swindon supporter?!

Was at derwent park helping alan middleton when he got a telegram off a rider who couldnt make it , i think it was the charlie williams meeting anyway he rang big Arthur browning after 3 pm can u get here tonight no probs came the answer and off he comes from the birmingham area in less than 4 hrs , can u see any off todays " stars" doing that!

I watch a lot of 'old league Speedway' on YouTube, mainly from the eighties, and a hell of a lot of it is pretty garbage to be honest. Even allowing for the one camera, independent, straight to video coverage of the time.. The main differences to today when it's garbage is that back then the crowds were bigger so the atmosphere was there, and riders were mainly part time and hadn't spent fortunes on machinery to take part, so didn't expect/need big money to compete.. Nowadays you get pretty mediocre racing, interspersed with the odd great race.. Just the same as happened back then.. Definitely worth watching a few YouTube League meetings from the eighties and nineties if you have an hour to kill.. Pretty poor fair in the main and definitely not too dissimilar to what we get today at most tracks..

A very good scrambler (as it was in those days). Used to watch him when scrambling was a feature on Saturday afternoon TV. Dave Bickers, Jeff Smith, then they brought Torsten Holman and Rolf Tiblin (names if I remember right). Great stuff. Another good in bites the dust.

Since Glasgow has been refurbished , there has been a large increase of females, especially younger ones attending. Before refurb, you just wouldn't use the toilets as they must have been the worst in the country, no light only 2 female toilets in the stadium. Now they are plush, with running hot water, having nice toilets do make a difference for us women who attend speedway, Glasgow crowds are now about 50/50 male and female, so I would say that it should be a bit more of a priority. That may be a reason why crowds are going down in places. I go to the pairs event, track and racing brilliant but viewing is awful, especially for short people like me and not enought toilets, and they ran out of programmes 1hr before start of meeting, which was shocking.

Well, what a terrific team we have assembled for our first season in the premiership. Nicki is Nicki, I'm sure he'll be an astute rider on home and away tracks. Howarth, Holder, Grajczonek, Kurtz and Lawson are all very quick around Owlerton, so we should be in for some entertainment and big scores at home! Away from home, I worry about a few, especially the reserves, but a new season means a clean slate for everyone, and I hope both Kurtz and Morris can do their bit away from home too. Either way, its an exciting time for Sheffield Speedway and huge well done to the promotion for the team they have assembled. Up to us as fans now to get behind the momentum and pack Owlerton out and prove we are right to move up to the Premiership.

You know your stuff Rough.

Think they might be, come the night of 14th Dec

Oh dear, who let this one out!

Thanks. It’s all slowly coming back to me now. A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since those days !

Thought they would get an idea when they stuff away the previous takings !!

But obsessed with all things Poole.

Maybe so, but they bring out the home crowd.

Totally agree Steve I think 2020 will be a great season for Ulrich

He isnt.. Kurtz is better at Owlerton look at the race results between the two in the last few years.. Kurtz wins more often than not

Poole dont have good away support other than Swindon so no big loss

Yes agree NP will be a draw, short term, good luck to them. - but not on the consistent level of Poole visiting away venues.

The Latter.

i believe both businesses are not without significant risk,particularly over the next 2/3yrs

The aussie on a 2 has a British born Mother and has a British passport and has chosen to be British , unlike some of our British born Aussies that used the system and have chosen to ride for Australia.Connor wants to ride for GB not Australia.

Adam will be the best at home. I could easily see him average some crazy number at home like 11.2 or something.

We've been over this subject time and again and it's just not possible. To many factors in the way. Rider's wages are one thing, with certain clubs pay better than others. Rider has to be interested. As an example not fact:- Jason Doyle is on £400 a point, he has to go to Peterborough who can only afford £200 a point. Should he have to accept that? Of course not, he'd probably feel better off giving the UK a miss. It was bad enough when a draft system was used for reserves. Some rider's refused due to distences to travel etc. If a team can afford 4 heatleaders and other clubs can't, so be it. That's sport.

I understand he had a couple of good scores towards the end of the season, but on Chris Harris' engine ! he will be ok as long as he has the machinery under him

I cannot see firstly that Hancock should have the headline as it is obviously between all the southern Track promoters , and secondly I cannot believe that this is not an option for all clubs to admit season ticket reduction on visitors to the tracks . It would encourage more season ticket sales and encourage supporters to travel more

What about Danyon Hume for a reserve spot Tsunami? lesser riders getting bandied about exciting to watch and English I hope you are keeping well.!!!!

Thanks sage of the highways of the Continent.

2019 fixtures 11th December 2019 2018 fixtures 18th December 2017 2017 fixtures 13th December 2016 As a rough guess 1st /2nd week December

Sometimes it's best not to 'peek behind the curtain'.

When I first attended the sport it was heavily pushed on billboards around the old Hyde Rd track, and around the country as a whole, as a sport that provided "thrills and spills" for your money. Now it provides a "family sport" for (pro rata linked to inflation) much more money than you paid then.. Whilst never wishing injury to any riders the sport needs to be more "thrills and spills" and less a "family sport" to get people in I would suggest.. As I've said before Ipswich did it and the only downside for me was it was too long so riders got very spread out over the 16 laps.. And in the US when I watched it 'lesser' riders than over here didn't crash any more times than in a four or a two man race as they became accustomed to having so many on a tiny track.. Lots of sports have incorporated what could have been construed as 'gimmicks' over the past 90 years or so of Speedway's existence, often based on the feedback of their fans through either research or simply the fact less started to attend so "something had to be done".. And many of these sports have benefited accordingly.. One thing we know however is that doing the 'same old, same old' each season, sadly, isn't cutting it.. Something 'radical' might put off a few 'die hards' (personally I doubt it as they by the very loyalty they show/prove they will attend 'anything put in front of them') and might just reignite the interest of the (literally) thousands who used to attend regularly (and not too long ago either), and also maybe will attract some interest from new fans.. One thing for certain though is that if we don't try something new then obviously we will never know..

25 points for a gp win and everyone else keeps the the points they actually scored in the gp. To me this would of been better.

I agree if its tight but if a rider has 11 or 12 after 4 heats a dropped point or two wont matter. He'll still get 1st pick. It will happen or at least a suspicion. Particularly if the rider who is helped is gunning for the title. Only top 6 qualify for 2021 so up to 9 riders may have little to race for.

Bet Phillip Rising doesn't agree with you ?

F1 has about twenty races a season where points are awarded. SGP has 10? meetings a season when you can do up to 70 races and/or wins. Its totally different. What a load of zh1t to mess with the scoring.

What a load of rubbish. Complete throwback to the way they used to award points, which was abandoned for a reason. EVERY point should count.

I think too much is read into who actually provides the coverage and more should be considered about what they actually get to show.. Sky, BT, and Eurosport are not 'Speedway's saviours', they are just TV companies showing the sport.. Their production capability might add weight to the racing or it might not, however.. If the racing isn't up to any great entertainment standard (as we sadly see most weeks in the UK meetings), then it doesn't matter who shows it nor how great their presentation and production skills are.. If what you are watching doesn't maintain your interest, then it doesnt matter if it's 'free to air' or not, and that can never be a positive for the sport. In fact it could work very much the other way and disconnect any potential new fans, or ex fans who may think about returning, completely.. Doesn't matter who shows the sport if it doesn't deliver on the track...

The current scoring system ensured that we had three riders still in with a shot going down to the last few heats this year. Closest we've got to replicating the drama of a one off Final for a while. In round one you'd have had Madsen squeezing into the semis on 8 points and walking away with 25 at the end of the night. That sort of swing can badly distort who the best rider is over a 10 round series. They should leave it alone. No issue with the other changes.