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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.

well that was a good few mins read, to pass some time away on a boring nightshift

Try typing the word *sh**. And it recorrects it with rubbishe. Nowt to do with my education levels it’s the autocorrect. But since you can’t pick holes in my argument just get personal then.

Change the washer !!!!

Blimey all this talk of cruelty to animals, they will be wanting to ban bullfighting next!

You have got the wrong end of the stick, (certainly my stick), as usual! I'm saying that those people, probably dog owners (mostly), who will bang the drum that greyhound racing and horse racing (those associated with it) are cruel, while they believe they are anything but cruel to their dogs. How does a dog owner know whether their dog or indeed cat, being forcibly neutered/spayed, has a psychological effect on the animal? How would like your knackers or any other bits cut off (as we don't know if you are male or female)? Some owners leave their dogs 'home alone' when they go to work, for hours on end. The dogs get highly stressed, as the animal doesn't have much of a sense of time. Also, one hour to a dog is longer than it is for us. But of course greyhound racing and horse racing for the 'rent a protest' are easy pickings!

never bought a season ticket in my life and that's been a long time .cant see the value in them .anyway never really been able to afford the layout all in one hit

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

Wise bet. Be good for his development riding Armadale more regularly.

Used to fly then as well, apparently.

How is it like anything ‘speedway included’ when talking about 1,000s of dogs being killed ? Tell me how many speedway riders are put down every year ? Even if it is hundreds that I don’t know about, that is way way less than the number of greyhounds by my reckoning

Very sad news, great rider and captain for Monarchs in the early sixties ,hard as nails and took no prisoners on the track.Served Berwick very well in his latter years.A gentleman to talk too.R.I.P.

Well done Dave - a worthy successor to the great Dave Lanning - streets ahead (or should I say laps ahead) of those screaming hyenas Tat and Pears!!!

So you are proposing a Premier League of three teams then? That will work great!

Great bunch my seven 1./ Mauger 2./ Fundin 3./ Nielsen 4./ Briggs 5./ Rickardsson 6./ Crump 7./Olsen

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??

Giving Berwick`s results this season that may not be a bad thing.

Don't know whether anyone has noticed but Dave has won this award again this year and been congratulated by Peter Oakes in Speedway Star. As well as his DVD and TV work Dave can be heard most weekends, commentating on a variety of motorsport, at various circuits and other venues around the country. Well done Dave and keep up the good work!

Thankfully

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.

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.