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Hope not,,,, he gave up his place,,, and that's how it should stay

Got to feel for Chris Louis

Totally agree.As i said i can now watch it Monday but may change my mind if they decide to make changes.Although the riders you mentioned would make the line-up so much stronger it would be totally unfair on the riders who have already agreed to ride in this competition.

Luckily it never rains in Manchester. Gotta say thanks to Chris Louis and all those that have helped and given their time like Bob the trackman for the efforts they have put in to stage this.

Be totally unfair to expect Joe Thompson or anyone else to drop out

Shouldn't be given the chance - his choice to give it up for Poland If someone drops out now he shouldn't even be on the list to call

Fundin on the podium for 10 years on the trot , missed 1966 was banned back in 1967 to win it a bloody remarkable run of consistency

Weather fine and dry all weekend and Monday

Of course we had too. Unless your new to speedway that's a really poor post.

So could if Joe Thompson is dropped can Leicester fans ask for a refund and Ipswich fans for that matter?

I hope he and Ippo see some money out of this mess

That's funny because it's called the British Final and all riders riding in it have British Passports. Let us know how you get on with your prosecution

Great to see a live meeting. some good racing..... inevitable that some riders starved of racing or practice did not show their true form... Very impressed with Jordan Palin’s racing ability at this level ...augurs well for the future. Great to see Dan riding so well. Ultimately we had a meeting and still have had continuous racing since 1928... Well done Belle Vue

You joke, but look on You Tube for Robin Reliant banger racing.....

No villageidiot, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery... Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit

I'd be more concerned about the weather in Manchester on Monday lol

Been a problem at Ippo for years, you come off turn two and it funnels down the straight..

National unlimited Banger World final, dont believe any of the major stock car formulas are running world championships this year.

Even us Witches fans who are only of an age to know the new track agree with the last sentence - it would be awesome!! Even with the existing inside line if it could be reshaped to encompass part of the stock car track to give greater width (particularly off 2 and 4) it would be great

All polish league participants have signed a contract to say they will give Polish meetings preference. therefore Dan had no choice

Who gave u the leg up doris

Hope they've remembered to tell the company doing the live stream and more importantly the riders !! 2021 can't come quick enough for me surely it won't be any worse than 2020 - will it, I'm totally p....d off with 2020.

I think someone should tell the local news this has been moved. Just been on and they saying it going on without a crowd,, but looking unlikely with the weather. No,,, it's been moved to belle Vue already you donuts

Why he turned down his place? As did Cook and Wright so they shouldnt be back in. But hey it speedway so probably will.

Hopefully Dan Bewley might be able to ride now.

Yes, it was indeed a four-teamer. Union Jacks (Wilson, Collins, Jessup, Betts, Simmons) 34 Lions (Booey, McMillan, Hunter, Pusey, Chris Morton) 26 Australasians (Mauger, Cribb (who replaced Briggo), Boulger, Sanders, Valentine) 26 Scandinavians (Persson, Nilsson, Soren Karlsson, Stangeland (replaced Finn Thomsen), Ollie Nygren (replaced Rikhard Helsen) 10 Top scorers were: McMillan, Mauger (10), Collins, Simmons (9), Boocock, Wilson (8). All from four rides. The 'Second Half' was a Testimonial Trophy knockout, won by Collins, with Persson second and Cribb third (Wilson retired). What a wonderful Sunday afternoon that was, and it didn't matter that it took hours to get out of the car park afterwards!

IMO no Russians should be in the series with what Mr. Putin was up to in Salisbury, and with what poor Mr, Alexei Navalny has gone through. Just as with athletics a stand, however feeble it may be, is called for. You shouldn't be able to go around the world poisoning people and expect to get away with it. Sorry for the Russian riders if it happened but only the Russian people can realistically have any effect on this lunatic.

You think it costs nothing to maintain a stadium / track even without rent ? Even a house with no mortgage has bills to pay! My local clubs costs are around the 25 thousand mark wether they use it or not as they do pay rent and for 12 months not just the 6 that the ‘ season ‘ takes place.

Football clubs still have wages to pay and are running matches behind closed doors, the majority of promoters are just biding their time and have no costs (unless they are bound by rental agreements).

No matter what the meeting is called it is nothing more than an invitational meeting with contestants more than likely chosen with a calculator and phone book. As you say The British Final, along with the BLRC, lost all credibility years ago and that is reflected by the apathy of some riders. Sadly this pandemic has put the red lights on and if ever the sport had a chance of a total rethink, restructure and rebuild this is the time to do it. The Promoters' Conference should have a lot to discuss this year even though there has been no competitive racing. Time to move the sport forward.

Ove Fundin......... simply the best.

One wonders if British Speedway actually knows who their demographic is, I know it likes to think of itself as a "family sport" but from what I see on the terraces it seems to be an old persons sport even though the competitors probably see it as an extreme sport, so who do you aim your stream and pricing at? I don't agree that "the stream needs to be aimed at those who dont attend Speedway regularly but know it exists and maybe used to follow it" or the neutral... I consider myself a fan of F1 but have never been to a race, having said that I do subscribe to the F1 channel, I also quite like to watch the odd Football match but would never pay to attend one or watch one on PPV TV... it's really quite complex when you start to think about it. Maybe they could/should be looking to team up with their "broadcast partner" to see how this can be made financially viable, maybe using the Eurosport Player

Spot on in the top five all time greats Steve.

I have read comments around how cheap it is at £10 compared to going as eg "all the family can watch" with the suggestion that if you paid to watch it live the cost of two admissions at adult level and two at kids level, with food, drink etc would be around £50 to £60.. I think that misses the point.. The stream needs to be aimed at those who dont attend Speedway regularly but know it exists and maybe used to follow it, and also the many thousands of fans around the country who have no affinity to either side on show. And the amount of 'families' who go is minimal when up against those who attend alone I would say.. If I wont pay £18 to watch it live now, then I probably wont pay £10 to watch it on TV.. Especially given you can watch so much Speedway on BT, Eurosport and Premier from the comfort of your armchair, (which you have already shelled out a good few quid a month for).. I would imagine given the pandemic the streams will be a perfect time for a 'toe in the water' to see how it goes, and I hope it goes well.. But going forwards when up against the Satellite broadcasters who can provide around 15 to 20 meetings a month for circa £60, then I would think the £5 per meeting price point will be nearer the mark than a £10 one to get fans to purchase the meetings 'regularly'.. Maybe with the technology of today, the stream could be blocked locally around the home teams area to encourage fans to attend, but to be honest I would think that the vast majority of regulars who still go now would go anyway, so it's not really them you will appeal to via a stream. Unless its maybe 50/50 if a meeting will go ahead due to poor weather, but even then you will still be getting some revenue in rather than zero if they stay away as many do at present when it looks like a meeting could be called off.. The target audience for any stream has to be the utopian "everyone who follows the sport in the country that wont be there in person", which is a massive market even for Speedway.. On a 'normal' week, if every track had a meeting I would suggest 20,000 to 25,000 or so will attend, many of whom will watch 'any speedway' on TV... I would also suggest at least that many again (and probably many more) still follow the sport but hardly attend (if at all). These people currently pay no money directly into the sports coffers yet many will have used to put "plenty" in until they finally 'gave up' with UK Speedway. Yet still watch as much of the sport as they can via TV. You only have to look at the high 5, and sometimes over 6 figure viewing figures for Sky and BT over the past ten years, to see that the interest is still very much out there in the UK to watch domestic Speedway.. Get the pricing right and it could be a real winner for the sport as a collective, however, I do think that working as a collective is the key.. If clubs do it as individuals, and stand alone, then I dont think it would be anywhere near as successful as all working together to share costs and share profits, maybe with exclusivity deals to broadcasters to maximise that potential and deliver a consistent quality of stream.. Speedway has more % 'neutral' fans than a great many other team sports, fans who just love watching the racing, so streaming could be a great way to harness that and make some real money for the sport as a whole.. Streaming really could be a game changer for clubs and the sport in the UK, with, as just one example, more revenue coming in from local businesses who can build their brand awareness by advertising during the stream to the locality that they serve. Speedway has so many natural breaks it would be perfect to use some of the time as advertising slots.. But again, it will only ultimately work if that price point is right and you get enough people to sign up to it regularly..

Think Fundin did 10 years on the bounce too!!

That's Chris Harris on Flint's bike. Crump was riding for Belle Vue

For me superb quality. This is the way forward, don't know the costing involved but if the clubs can make money from pay per view it has to be done

but worldwide there must be tousands, if into tens of thousands in with the snouts in the trough. Being as there must be so many surely at least one if not more will blow the gaff to tell the world who these unknown uper powers are.

Let's say £5k for arguments sake. Do you think it would be easier to persuade 500 people to pay £10 each to stream the meeting or 1,250 at £4 to stream the meeting? I'd say 1,250 at £4 is a far easier sell than 500 @ £10.

Robert Lambert piping up on twitter wanting a free link & moaning about £12.50 to watch it, The absolute rubbishhousery of the lad, while British speedway is on it's financial ar$e

I don't blame him for blowing his top. I've been to two non league FA cup ties this week, with good crowds inside the grounds. I would have felt perfectly safe at Ipswich, social distancing in a large capacity stadium.

Mine arrived too, great read as always....

Elite is when the participants earn the majority or all of their wages from the sport in question Grassroots is when the participants earnings from the sport are the minority of their income speedway unfortunately sits in both camps, Stock Cars sits only in the Grassroots box

So all the governments around the world must be telling lies cause this bogus virus story is pretty universal and hitting a second time in lots of places. If it’s a load of lies there must be thousands upon thousands around the world complicent to the lie which to me sounds incredible.

Received mine the other day and read every page. 100 edition, lets hope for another 100 and many more. Well done to the team who produce this and keep fans like me still in touch with the sport while racing has temporary stopped

Sad to see political comments on this site....especially ones spouting bile as we see above. Everyone is entitled to their opinions but please keep politics off this site....it simply makes you look bigoted and stupid.

Another great read...interesting interview with Ron Henderson who had shown much potential at Newcastle but decided he had had enough and returned home to Australia. Unfortunately he was involved in the race that ultimately cost the life of Christer Sjosten when Christer ran into the back of him.

Mine arrived yesterday - read it from cover to cover. Another great issue. Hard to believe it's 20 years since Simon Wigg passed away - I could imagine him in a similar role as Scott Nicholls's tv presenting now.

Having in the past seen my football team fall foul of so many poor refereeing or linesman decisions after watching the replays on M.O.TD I was always in favour of technology to eliminate injustices. However after witnessing the farce of VAR completely ruining the Premier League in my opinion, I would be against using it in Speedway. It's easy to watch the slow Mo's in retrospect and criticise the referee who has to make a split second call on if it's a perfect start or a jump but I'd rather live with the odd mistake being made than go down the technology route to be honest. We enjoyed Speedway's best years without it.

100 editions - that's some milestone I remember picking up that first edition and subscribing at the Stoneleigh event Also remember the celebrations of Fisher and Janniro in the car park at securing the purchase of a 2nd hand transit - it never ceases to amaze me how excited Americans can get over the most mundane of things