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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.

Oh dear, who let this one out!

I hope so to Bettsy was a rider i loved,great racer nice guy a one club man after his apprenticeship glad he stayed at Lynn,Robert the same if he rides in th Uk Stay at Lynn why move get a testimonial he is a talent and can improve again.

I will reserve judgement until we know for sure.....

And Arlington, the Dugards own Eastbourne

Always helps when you own your own stadium and have big financial clout to make improvements on and off track. If it wasn't for your current owners Glasgow would have probably been lost to the sport so just count yourself lucky. Newcastle do very well considering they only have access to the stadium on race day.

Arthur and I think Alan as well, were BSA works riders. Martin, I am pretty sure was Arthur’s son. Arthur was known as a pretty fast starter ( I can’t really say gater in Moto Cross ) and was often first away but had a bit of a problem with fitness. I remember him once stopping at a pub in a pretty big trial , and having , in his words, “a couple of dinners “ ! Back to the point of the thread, Vic Eastwood one of my heroes as a youngster, but it broke my heart when he left Matchless and rode an ‘orrible two-stroke, although with hindsight I can understand that as a professional rider he had a living to earn, and the big heavy four stroke Matchesses had had their day by then. In memorium, Vic Eastwood, a great rider.

Let’s hope it’s not that predictable. For what it’s worth I don’t think it will be.

Ha ha, that’s a classic coming from you. Please compare infatuated responses. You never stop commenting all things Poole.

It was Martin Lampkin and his brother Arthur. Think there was another brother too, but I don't remember any Dave Lampkin. Of course Martin's son Dougie Lampkin later went on to become more famous than all of them.

I see it now on the website.I didn't disbelieve you as i know you are trustworthy and must have seen it somewhre to put it on here. Well it's a big welcome back to Robert,that put's to bed some of the rumours from some that thought he wouldn't do th UK this coming season.

Sportowefakty reported earlier today that Ekstraliga fixtures will be released next Wednesday, 11th December.

My advice is get to as many as you can, the thing I miss about the second division most since Lynn moved up nine years ago is the away trips and tours with plenty of weekend meetings. Some great people from this forum to be found at those tracks too.

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

If you say so. But should he be SENT there? As in bills paid trip down under...

Holder over Batch is a big NO from me as would take Batch every time.

If the master plan is to drop Stoneman and then have x2 4pt riders at reserve then it’s still not an amazing team. History has shown us that you don’t need 2 ‘good’ reserves, but you need 1 ‘excellent’ one and tbh the other will only take 3 rides regardless.

Nice look back to the fantastic 1976 comets in the "ss" this week , steve lawson shows a true gentleman he is saying how much pride he has in both his sons.

And Dan has had three years to be where he is, and Josh beat him in one of the last NL fixtures. I hope he is not rushed this year and hope there is a NL northern team that will give a ride and a settled place. If only Buxton was to reopen and give the likes of Josh ,Sheldon, Joe A, Kean Dicken and Keiran D regular rides, and a starter home for Archie when he is ready.

In the 60''s the second half final often provided the most passing and the home number one passed two riders with a swoop around the last bend to win at the chequered flag. Everyone was entertained, I went home happy and couldn't wait for next week.... ... when I got older I was told the money was shared equally in the last race and the riders agreed who would pass who. It's when a Promoter promoted entertainment. A big thank you to Bill Bridgett and Mike Parker for my formative years!!!

Moto X have 30 riders hitting the first bend, which narrows massively from a wide start and sometimes they crash... Superbikes and Moto GP have 20 or so riders aiming to get the pole position coming out of the start, and sometimes they crash.. Short track has many riders from a staggered start in a race and sometimes they crash. (On UK speedway tracks).. British Speedway with just four riders on track has sadly had fatalities and serious injuries.. It's the nature of Motorsport that there are crashes.. One rider by themselves can crash and suffer severe injury. Having seen 8 man races from two starting points it is very exciting with so much happening over four laps.. And as it doesn't look like any time soon that most tracks can deliver enough exciting racing from four riders to keep the punters coming back often enough, (be it down to track surfaces, or bike characteristics, rider standard etc), then we have to look at the possibility of increasing the excitement value by other means.. Given the 'tenuous' way Speedway is ran as a 'team sport' in the UK, I would suggest most who go regularly attend for 'the racing' rather than the team aspect.. Therefore, focus 1000% on improving the racing as an exciting spectacle which leaves you wanting more...

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.

Could the new points system lead to cheating ? If points from heats 1-20 dont count toward the Championship could a rider who is safe for the semi let a team sponsor mate win a race so that he also reaches the semi. It will happen.

Castagna is really really bad for the sport. He is misleading it in a totally wrong direction. Speedway is such a special sport - a team Sport first adn foremost - and as such is absolutey different to any other from of motorsport. That's why I am a speedway fan and couldn't care less about road racing or motocross. They ususally only have one long distance race and have to award championship points for that. Speedway has 20+ heat races, plus semi and final, were the riders EARN their points. Perfectly easy to understand. And the winner of the last race in a Gradn Prix (the final heat 23) is the winner of that particular SGP, regardless of the points total scored in all of his races during this meeting. By the way, the winner of that final race DOES actually get the most points (in that race, that is) - three points , compared to two points for second and one for the third. So what, if the rider who wins the final, has not scored the most points on aggregate from all of the races he has ridden that night, nothing wrong with that. It's perfectly fair that he does not automatically get the most points, when he has got beaten more often than another rider/riders. There is absolutely no need to award artificial points in Speedway. I hate this stupid stupid decision by the FIM. Castagna has to go. First they abandoned the hugely popular SWC and gave us a "Speedway of Nations" to fall in line with the "Motocross of Nations", "Flat Track of Nations" and "Enduro of Nations", and now they spoil the SGP by changing from a perfectly fair points scoring system to a totally unfair and unwanted artificial one. I'm fed up. What's Your next idea, Mr Castagna? Do us all a favour and please, please resign from Your position !!!

Castagna comes out with a load of rubbish. And a lot of poor developments for the sport under his watch

Maybe they could add another heat. B Final for the 4 riders knocked out in the semi final. To decide 5th to 8th place.

There is an inverse correlation between the number of wildcards and the integrity of the WC system. The more wildcards, the less credible the system. And am I the only one that thinks it's a bit odd that one rider can qualify three ways, all at the same time, before the end of the current GP series? And they say being the top scorer in a GP and not winning the meeting is an anomaly.

What a joke!!! In 2019 you could qualify for the Final with 18pts plus 3 pts for the win (ie Madsen in Torun) & someone could finish 2nd in the final having scrapped into the S/f with 7 pts then a 2nd in s/f & 2nd in the final giving them 11 pts. Yet in 2020 first gets 20 pts 2nd gets 18 pts. What a joke!!! And 5 wildcards. All about money!!! Thats probably why my Cz GP ticket for Prague was 10% more & now nearly £49!!! They couldn`t get 4 wildcards right this year with Lindback selected (LOL). They should be concentrating on getting the SGP venues sorted rather than wasting time messing about with the pts!!! Still only 6 venues announced. What a bunch of ....... we have at the head of this sport I love!!!!

WHY WHY WHY What an absolute joke. A rider can have 6 perfects rides (18 points) and finish last in the final and get 14 points. "IF IT'S NOT BROKEN"

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...