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So we save a whopping £1 on last years prices for second division speedway? Terrible. A more realistic price would be £14.

i often think skids is living in some fantasy,ford wonderland,at the risk of being reprimanded i will be missing meetings nxt yr as always take youngest grandchildren on caravan holiday in devon may half term or school summer hols

You're not staying in this country then! it is almost impossible for the majority of fans to go to every match even if they could work round holidays , there is sickness, family matters , bereavement, loads of things that could stop you going especially as most fans are not youngsters.

Wow a can feel the burn... Ow Ow Ow... break out the Germolene E45 and Sudocrem... is that the best you have got... Oh and if I can put you straight I have never bought any rides? (Illiterate numpty) friendship as this is how it has worked in the past Newcastle want to sign a rider (and Workington for that matter) Darryl Illingworth Allan Headly and Steve Whitehead all came to me and said we are trying to sign X; Y; or Z; and they will only sign if we can come up with extra sponsorship would you be prepared to help by stumping up XXX pounds to sweeten the deal and I have never refused and to be fair to the three mentioned they were always genuine and courteous and kept me in the loop and told me what they were trying to achieve... Now the current Balloon who built this team used to hand my name and number to riders and say go to this bloke he will sponsor you "but don''t tell him who you got his number from" now that is taking the urine big style... However anyone sent to me for sponsorship who has ridden for one of the clubs I follow(ed) got something and even down to injured riders who got help whilst they were out. In fact when I won the money draw at Newcastle once I gave that to an injured rider.. by the way all of the riders grassed up the provider of the name and number... Every one... Why do I do it... well here is the rub; its not to ingratiate myself with any rider and certainly not to benefit my business as I have never had one lead come from sponsoring any club or rider... its because I want Newcastle to do well and whether that is in Speedway Football Rugby Ice Hockey Basket Ball Table Tennis or Bar Billiards as a Geordie and son a of Newcastle I want my home town club(s) to do well in everything they do... If giving a rider a few hundred quid to get an engine tuned or buy a new crash helmet or support their travel in and out of the country and it makes them a happier and more contented rider which has the knock on effect that they ride that little bit better for my club then so be it... Honestly you have no idea... just another one of Mr Speedways gay little incubuses Regards THJ

Wasn't going to join in until all teams announced but only a couple of riders for the Pirates left to be announced and have two days of work to get through. Berwick. - Look solid enough, hopefully some improvement from youngsters Flint & Bickley, but I don't think Summers, Etheridge or NBJ are going to improve and will be found wanting in heats 13 & 15 especially away from home. Birmingham. - League entertainers take 1. I like this team as it always looks ike it'll always have a strong reserve (Castagna/Shanes/Morris) but unless THJ has a stellar season (and who knows what to expect) I don't see much improvement at the top end and no doubt Harris & Garrity wil lmiss the gate critically at the wrong time in heats 13 & 15. Surprised Hume wasn't signed at reserve Eastbourne. - There is room for improvement from the youngsters at the lower end and the top end is solid enough, will be strong at home and may surprise a few away. Edinburgh. - Masters could push Cook for Championship #1, Worrall & Pickering are decent heat leadlers. Can't see there is much more to come from either Lawson or Sarjeant and the other two riders are complete unknowns. Glasgow. - Strong top two, both regular top scorers at Championship level. Bailey, Jensen & Nicol should all improve but one will always be in the team so may struggle then, the other two signings are a little uninspiring. Kent. - League entertainers take 2. Solid top 4 but like Brummies all are capable of missing the gate at cruical times, Heeps does blow hot & cold and needs to be more consistent. Two youngsters who should improve but the signing of Ledwith is a little odd. Leicester. - There top 5 will blow teams away at times when they're on their game, all are capable of having better 2020's than 2019's with the exception of Proctor. If the Thompson twins are competitive they could have another good year. Newcastle. - I'm glad the Diamonds are on track but unless Smetana & Skorja settle quickly they are going to struggle unless Wright recaptures is form of around a decade ago. Mountain is an improver but could struggle as he could be in the 1-5 quicker than he might have expected to be. Poole. - Strong top 3, Ellis is also an improver less convinced there is more to come from King or Worrall. Neilsen has been a promising reserve for too long now for whatever reason, just don't think it's going to happen for him. Redcar. - Look the strongest team to me. Riss & Wright are the best spearhead, both could push Cook for Champiosnhip #1 if they can stay free of injuries. Potential improvement from all the others in the line-up which is what wins titles. Scunthorpe. - League entertainers take 3. Like Berwick, solid but lacking in top end strength. Palin & Ayres could improve. Somerset. - Decent top 4, it's looking unlikely Bates will ever reach the potential he showed a few years ago sadly. Don't think there is any room for improvement from any of them however, but the youngsters at reserve could go either way. Play-off certainties: Redcar, Poole, Leicester. Play-off maybe's: Glasgow, Eastbourne, Birmingham. Also rans: Edinburgh, Somerset, Berwick, Scunthorpe, Kent. Woodspoons: Newcastle.

Birmingham have introduced a brilliant new offer .10 ticket season book for £145 +50p off the programme. This gets you into any 10 fixtures of your choice at Birmingham.

http://www.savecoventryspeedway.com/news.php?extend.4172 There could be a sign of better news to come here.

Get the riders and a bike or two into schools, offer some free tickets out to the kids. It's not like the tracks have not to the space to fill. I'm not sure of attendances nowadays up and down the country but surely if each promotion pick out 3 or 4 schools each week and gave them even 200 tickets between them to include a few adults to chaperone them, the increase in Programme sales, food sales and maybe a souvenier or 2 would help. If for every 50 tickets they give away, it peaks the interest of a kid who persuades a parent to bring them along in future, it has to be worth it. There has to be a "cub" or an asset, even a former rider who could be at the track and let the kids sit on a bike and help sell speedway..

It was the thing to do on a Saturday (or whenever) night when there was only three TV channels and no Netflix, no games consoles, fewer gastropubs and nightclubs etc etc. Every top rider in the world rode here and the sport had household names through terrestrial TV and newspaper coverage.

I actually think that if you get the track right, then racing today is better than it used to be. Old shaped tracks don't seem to work so well with the modern bikes. Swindon is a good example of how reshaping and shortening a track can improve things. Belle Vue, as an example of a modern track, can provide better racing than I remember in the past. That race where Fricke was in last place for much of the race then went round everyone on the final lap, for example. You never saw races like that in the 1970s.

Anyone would think Redcar have been flooded with trophys the last 15 years!!!!!

Newcastle fans have got their Xmas wishes ... a team to support in the 2020 season. many other fans out there that can only dream of being in their position .. Workington. Coventry, Oxford, Rye House , Lakeside, Reading, Bradford Good luck to the Diamonds for 2020. Can't afford another team lost to the History books.

That sounds like my breakfast at Cardiff for the gp weekend

They should ask the riders who likes pairing up with him 39 years old next season and still hasn’t a clue how to team ride should be no where near team

It seems some Promotions are starting to do some 'out of the box' thinking.. Maybe some actually do come on here after all and we should charge a consultation fee? The next stage for me is a loyalty ticket for those who attend 'now and again'.. Say attend five matches and you get the sixth half price? Five more and you get the next free? Something tangible that you feel rewards you.. "Keep 'em coming regularly" has to be the output of any promotional venture... And when you have punters attending events through habit you are a long way down the road of being successful.. My team have, I would suggest, circa 3000 fans who attend over a season with various degrees of attendance levels, ranging from the die hards to the Easter Bank Holiday one offs, resulting in a huge disparate number from their best attendance to their worst.. Enticing those who attend once or twice to attend five or six times, and those who attend five or six times to attend ten or eleven is the key to overall success.. And easier to get them to do that I would suggest than get 'newbies' to become regulars..

Why had Gater1 stopped supporting Poole? On to his third team in a few years! Strange lad.

As I've posted before I don't really know much about dog racing so I can't comment about the animals welfare but what I will say if anyone who jumps on the animal rights bandwagon and claims that horse racing is cruel and barbaric are very naive and easily led or they have absolutely no knowledge of how the horses are trained and looked after. They are probably treated better than humans. Their stables are immaculate and are the equine equivalent of the Savoy with prices to match. Everyone is entitles to their opinion but what folk must understand is a thoroughbred racehorse is a trained athlete. They are ultra competitive. They are individuals and have their own temperament. They have a jockey on board to guide and encourage them but they are not forced to race. Surely you have seen a race where a horse has refused to start? A loose horse will continue running not because it is a stupid beast and it has been trained to do so. It will continue because it wants to beat the others (even though there's no jockey on board). Unfortunately though horses do get fatally injured. It is horrible to witness and no racing fan enjoys seeing it. When it happens it is usually instant (broken neck), but if a horse incurs a leg break, etc, the care they receive is immediate and the the horse is "put to sleep" within minutes. It's horrible yes, but if a speedway rider suffered a fatal crash or a driver is killed in motor racing do we say their respective sports are inhumane and should be banned? Of cause not. Someone posted on this subject that horses are killed every year in the Grand National. This is highly inaccurate. One unfortunately died this year but prior to that the last fatality in the race was 2012.

wrong person

Bad news is that Leon Flint hasnt been re-signed by Belle Vue Colts for their NL team, good news is that Kyle Bickley has. IMO its very important for Leon to race at NL level, maybe there`s a NL home track just up the road for him.

He's still only 16/17, plenty of time for him to "crack" racing abroad!

Why wouldn't committed fans go to absolutely every home match? Surely committed fans arrange their holidays outside of the season's fixtures or if there is a gap in fixtures mid-season? The Southern away meeting discount is a good new incentive alongside the existing10% discount off club merchandise and the invite to the club P&P day at Poole. I've sorted my 3 passes and booked my holidays in early March and end-October!!

I’m sure speedway seemed better back in the day because the crowds were bigger and the atmosphere better.

I'm not going to miss this. Will be my first speedway race after being a devoted fan on youtube etc. for the last seven years. Also my first trip to Europe. I would appreciate any advice on where to sit (going that far for a race I'm not going to worry about cost of seating) and hotel accommodations. Transportation etc. Really very excited about this! Looking forward to any recommendations.

As a team one trophy last season. Hardly a flood.

Obviously you're new to this game of signing riders. With your great depth of knowledge, which riders did we miss out on.

Lets get a few facts straight... Birmingham is run by a Labour council, whose decision it was to demolish the flyover in Perry Barr. The driving force were Councillors from wards far away from Perry Barr, who paid no regard to the Liberal Councillors of Perry Barr or to the people of Perry Barr, nor to the objections of Walsall or Sandwell Councils. Such is democracy in a Socialist controlled City. Andy Street is a Tory Mayor of the WEST MIDLANDS, i.e. NOT Birmingham, He has no jurisdiction over Birmingham as was shown by the fact that his opposition to the demolition of the flyover counted for nothing. Labour policy is one of "the motorist is the enemy" and people need to be coerced into using more public transport in order to save the world, or at least to improve the air quality in the inner city where most Labour voters live. As has been said, it's going to be 25 months of hell in Perry Barr, the price that has to be paid for a better future.

If you look at the styles of both riders in some of their clips they can certainly ride big tracks. In most of their rides they are last, but only just and the opposition are usually world class and sometimes GP quality. The Czech rides the big tracks very tight which is a good sign, and George Stancl, who I believe will be in the pits with his fellow countryman, has said he can ride tight tracks very well. OIven where they are now, and who they regularly ride with, I don't see them being on 5 very long. Same goes for James W, who still rides grass tracks very well, and once he gets back to regular riding will not be at reserve for very long. That would be good news, but it would also use Rider of the Year Max to go down to reserve again and that will makes us about the strongest team in depth, with heats 13 ad 15 being our only weakness. It's great, and our history to bring on foreign riders bring them on for eventually to the world stage. As Fromafar has said above, we could've been stuck with riders getting on season after season, but it's more exciting that you know you are developing riders and watch them grow as riders. We already have that success with the Gems team, so why not for the DIamonds as well again. Breeding 4 World Champions has been very satisfying in the past, so let's see what we can do with our two latest riders. Great night tonight, the PTE was packed out with several new fans amongst us, along with a nearly sober team manager and owner who also supplied the buffet on offer. Things are looking good, and there is currently a great anticipation with the return of the DIamonds and everything that is happening at the moment. I thing most people would just like the season to start now. How things change Eh.

Me! Thankyou so much to all who voted, genuinely shocked to have won.

Disaster for Kent!

I am sorry to learn of the passing of Doug Templeton. He and his brother Willie were fine servant to all of their clubs and to speedway in general. Doug was one of the many riders who was "made" by the launch of the Provincial League in 1960. Prior to that, he was confined mainly to second halves at Glasgow, but with the extra rides he got in the PL he quickly developed into one of the best riders in the league. Doug was always the better rider of the brothers. He was hard and uncompromising on the track, but very affable off it and always connected well with supporters - and even though he was regarded as one of speedways hard men, he could take it as well as dish it out, and this was why he was held in such respect by other riders and the fans. My condolences to his family and close friends on their loss. May he rest in the peace of the Lord.

Not sure you can take all these comments as facts or from experts. I guess if you say horses are forced to race and that is cruel, you can say pet dogs are forced to run and pick up sticks !!! It isn’t behavior you would see a wild dog or a wolf doing ...

Yep and the kid worked wonders... he was brilliant and very much part of the team and he had a little crisis in confidence half way through the season which was understandable and he even said he would understand if he got cut and no one would hear a word of it.... the Worky promotion stood by him Jacko gave him a cuddle and so did yours truly and a bonus of 20 quid a point at ipswich did the trick and the rest is H18tory as the saying goes... Regards THJ

6 pints of Theakstons Old Peculiar washed down with 3 Sneck Lifters. Ohh I forgot desert 1pint of Titanic Plum porter.

That's the longest dinner hour I have ever had without having anything to eat... at least something good come out of it... but me Greggs shares might be down at the end of the day... Doh!!! Must get back to work Regards THJ

Just think 2018 and Workington as to what can be done... Whether you think Claus is a Number 1 or not hes got the job so lets see what he can do with it.. we have struggled in 13 and 15 the last few seasons so the bar hasn't been set very high for him to be fair; but he's aggressive on the track and goes for it and the Brough faithful will appreciate that... Clegg has taken 9 or so years to break through and never mind Connor its amazing how many riders come to Newcastle and either pick up; kick on; or kick of;f their carers... I have no doubt that Skorja will give it 100% and if he wants to succeed what better place to do it and prove the detractors wrong. THJ certainly has no self esteem issues, fought for Queen and Country; had a reasonably successful career; raised three normal and well adjusted kids; like my fellow man; enjoy wine; woman and song;; not necessarily in that order and respect myself; if not my body and I am quite happy being a fat lad with typical male pattern baldness and failing eyesight... Your last comment sums it up; big gamble and yep lets hope it pays off; for me the cup is definitely half full at the moment. Regards THJ

And taking children out of school and also being able to afford to go every weekl

Shame Leon Flint gets dropped because as a 16 year old improving young Brit he's what the National "development" League should be all about!

Nice Polska league fixtures 1 runda: Saturday, 4 April 2020 / Sunday , 5 April 2020Gniezno - ToruńŁódź - DaugavpilsGdańsk - TarnówBydgoszcz - OstrówSaturday 11 April 2020data rezerwowaSunday 12 april 2020data rezerwowa 2 runda: Saturday, 18 April 2020 / Sunday19 April 2020Toruń - ŁódźTarnów - GnieznoOstrów - GdańskDaugavpils - BydgoszczFriday 24 April 2020data rezerwowaSunday 26 April 2020data rezerwowa 3 runda: Friday 1 May 2020 / Sunday 3 May 2020Toruń - OstrówGniezno - DaugavpilsŁódź - GdańskBydgoszcz - TarnówSunday 10 May 2020data rezerwowaSunday 17 May 2020data rezerwowa 4 runda: Saturday 23 May 2020 / Sunday 24 May 2020Ostrów - GnieznoGdańsk - BydgoszczTarnów - ŁódźDaugavpils - Toruń 5 runda: Saturday, 30 May 2020 / Sunday, 31 May 2020Łódź - BydgoszczToruń - TarnówGniezno - GdańskOstrów - Daugavpils 6 runda: Saturday 6 June 2020 / Sunday, 7 June 2020Bydgoszcz - ToruńTarnów - OstrówGdańsk - DaugavpilsŁódź - Gniezno Thursday , 11 June 2020data rezerwowa 7 runda: Saturday 13 June 2020 / Sunday, 14 June 2020Ostrów - ŁódźDaugavpils - TarnówToruń - GdańskGniezno - Bydgoszcz 8 runda: Saturday, 20 June 2020 Sunday, 21 June 2020Bydgoszcz - GnieznoGdańsk - ToruńŁódź - OstrówTarnów - Daugavpils 9 runda: Friday, 26 June 2020 / Saturday 27 June 2020 / Sunday, 28 June 2020Ostrów - TarnówToruń - BydgoszczGniezno - ŁódźDaugavpils - Gdańsk 10 runda: Saturday 4 July 2020 / Sunday, 5 July 2020Gdańsk - GnieznoDaugavpils - OstrówTarnów - ToruńBydgoszcz - Łódź 11 runda: Saturday 11 July 2020 / Sunday 12 July 2020Toruń - DaugavpilsŁódź - TarnówBydgoszcz - GdańskGniezno - Ostrów 12 runda: Saturday, 18 July 2020 / Sunday, 19 July 2020Daugavpils - GnieznoTarnów - BydgoszczGdańsk - Łódź Ostrów - ToruńSaturday 25 July 2020data rezerwowa 13 runda: Saturday , 1 August 2020 / Sunday , 2 August 2020Gdańsk - OstrówBydgoszcz - DaugavpilsGniezno - TarnówŁódź - Toruń 14 runda: Saturday, 8 August 2020 / Sunday, 9 August 2020Ostrów - BydgoszczDaugavpils - ŁódźToruń - GnieznoTarnów - Gdańsk Sunday, 16 August 2020data rezerwowa 1 runda finałowa: Saturday, 22 August 2020 / Sunday, 23 August 2020(a) 4 w tabeli po części zasadniczej - 1 w tabeli po części zasadniczej(b) 3 w tabeli po części zasadniczej - 2 w tabeli po części zasadniczej In case of promotion of the team from Łódź to the final round, the team will play their first semi-final match in Łódź. In case of promotion of the team from Toruń to the final round, the club from Toruń will host the match of the 2nd final round.Friday, 28 August 2020data rezerwowa 2 runda finałowa: Saturday, 29 August 2020 / Sunday, 30 August 2020(a) 1 w tabeli po części zasadniczej - 4 w tabeli po części zasadniczej (b) 2 w tabeli po części zasadniczej - 3 w tabeli po części zasadniczejFriday, 4 September 2020data rezerwowaFriday , 11 September 2020data rezerwowa 3 runda finałowa: Sunday , 13 September 2020zwycięskie drużyny z (a) i (b)Friday , 18 September 2020data rezerwowa 4 runda finałowa: Sunday , 20 September 2020zwycięskie drużyny z (a) i (b)Sunday 27 September 2020data rezerwowaSunday 4 October 2020data rezerwowa Promotion/relegation play-off 1st leg : Sunday , 4 October 2020 2nd leg : Sunday 11 October 2020

Delighted to see that there will be track alterations at Berwick never been impressed with the track.... I used to do Edinburgh ,Berwick and Glasgow for a weekend away.... Berwick was in the middle of a weekend away.... would not travel to Berwick for a stand alone meeting When they left Berwick centre and moved into the wilderness they had a brilliant track Hope they do enough to turn it in to a good track

That’s not the point at all. I’m saying Aussie results don’t translate to European form. Prime example being List and Tungate for that matter. He was in a field against one of the top u21 Aussie riders. Cook who came 2nd.

It was a shame that Doug was in his prime, age-wise when Scottish speedway was in the doldrums, late 1950s. If he had been riding regularly he would have reached even greater heights but with the farm he could not reasonably move south of the border. He was I think 30 when the Monarchs reformed in 1960 without a great deal of top-flight experience. Nevertheless a great rider and a true gent. I met him at a VSRA dinner and a thoroughly nice man. My condolences to his family. Is Margaret still with us??

Interesting to read of Alan Sorensen in the latest edition of 'Backtrack'. I seem to recall that he was the protege of the late Geoff Curtis and resided at Geoff's old lodgings whilst in Britain? I remember that Alan rode at Cowley for a short while (Geoff was destined to join "The Rebels" before he was so tragically killed).

Maybe they are making the football pitch smaller, so that the players don't have to run as far.

What are you mystic meg remember the diamonds almost didn’t make the tapes for 2020 great to see how positive you are. Maybe you could have purchased the club and put a better team together I guess we will never know

Surprised that Newcastle have brought two new riders in to complete their team but both, especially Skorja, are at an age where their best days should still be infront of them.

Now that the full team has been revealed, personally I would just like to go on record and say a massive thank you to every single member of the new promotion team, and Rob the new owner, for getting this show on the road for 2020. The future of Newcastle speedway was clearly in doubt just a matter of several weeks ago, and your combined efforts have made sure that Sunday evenings will continue at Brough well into the forseeable future we hope. The team already has its detractors and some who would detract from the drama of last night's Christmas party, but I'm sure the genuine supporters will come along and support this team even if we have to hold our breath in heats 13 and 15. I think we could well surprise one or two!

Well it's a vastly different looking team and , as most of us know very little about the new guys, it will be interesting to see how they get on. A few weeks ago there was the real prospect of no speedway on Tyneside and now they have a lot of new riders to look forward to watching. Look forward to seeing how they perform.

Poole ran a junior team there 1972/3, a number of riders went on to appear for poole including Martin Yeates,len Davis,Geoff swindells,Russel foot and Dave buttigeig who would have gone a lot further in the sport but concentrated on go- karting I believe and became a world champion.steve lomas and Brian chaldicot are others who rode for other teams lomas(Weymouth,hackney,wolves,Edinburgh and Boston),chaldicot(Bradford).mike broadbank was in charge of the training.

Prices need to be dropped to compensate for the drop in standard. it’s no good dropping the standard every year and hiking up the prices. It’s all about value for money. I’d never buy a program but assume most do, so on average say it’s £20 admission for an adult. For what? To stand around for two hours watching 15 minutes of racing. The rest of the time is filled with tractor racing, an out of touch presenter waffling on about scores from the week previous which 99 percent of fans will know anyway. Music from the 70s. It’s just not the in thing anymore. speedway, in the UK at least, is a 10 pound sport at best. A lot of people value 20 quid a week and is a lot of money to them. That’s before they’ve bought a few pints, a burger, the kids drink and food etc. There is absolutely no value for money in speedway in the UK 9.9 times out of 10.

Dave Goddard is a breath of fresh air in the commentating world and fully deserves this award. Well done Dave Goddard!