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I've said for many years and been criticised on here for my opinion, that the only way, the activity of speedway can survive, is to be virtually amateur only and have tracks which are 'tracks in a field'. Speedway cannot continue pretending it's something it isn't. It needs to go back to it's roots and maybe it can grow from that level. The biggest thing killing speedway, is the cost. Costs for the riders, promoters, fans etc. The tracks would have to run weekends only, so the riders and the club members can earn money elsewhere during the week. There is no point starting each season on a wing and prayer. Losing Rye House, Lakeside, Stoke in recent years, in my opinion, was the final nail in the coffin for speedway. Reduce the costs for everyone, I believe it can survive.

It will not be just the "Brazilian" strain that will cause this but the high number of "cov-idiots" s that travelled out over the weekend after a few days of reasonable weather at this time of year. WE ARE STILL IN LOCKDOWN FOR HEAVENS SAKE!

This argument doesn't stand up at all, even if speedway didn't attract non-white people. If Bradford has a population of 530,00 and 67.44% of the population are white, that still leaves around 360,000 white people in Bradford. That's more than the entire populations of Poole and Swindon combined.

When they were introduced I was riding grasstrack and longtrack throughout Europe ( albeit on a sidecar) but I would mix with riders every weekend throughout the season. I can only go on what they told me.

Nah - you will still get pumped most weeks

ATM it looks like the Finnish final will be ridden without a crowd at Kauhajoki on saturday. Meeting starts at 11.45AM and a youtube link will be provided later on that provides a stream from the meeting.

I think you will be proved wrong Plymouth will be far from the whipping boys imo,in Bowtell and atkins we have have a very strong reserve pairing only bettered by 2 or 3 teams imo,Atkins will surprise a few people this year i think he will make good progress Bowtell has been unlucky with injury but if he stays fit he will do fine,Cook,ruml and goret all have huge potential and will become assets so all in all the Plymouth supporters are very excited and hopeful of some exciting speedway this season, I predict we will finish 6th place at worst.

It's not just speedway though. How many Asians do you see competing in or watching any branch of motorsport?

It doesn't really matter where tracks are placed in the UK, the sport is very much on the decline. You can count on One hand (and maybe lose a digit or two) those that get half sizeable attendances on the whole. The fact that speedway promoters don't even produce attendance figures really is all you need to know. Potentially those that actually make a profit maybe less after losing your digit's. I live in Bradford and I'm sure in the short term it would be attended quiet well, but long term like most tracks it will struggle to survive, because in my opionon the product only service's a small miche market and that market I am afraid is very much twindling . You can go on about 000's of reasons why patrons don't come through the door and pay an entrance fee (See what I did there !) the mere fact is Speedway is very, very much a minority sport in the UK and very losely professional these days.

So does that make a borderline rider hovering between the two teams a queen?

Using that argument won’t switching to upright make it more expensive as all the lay down engines / frames will become obsolete as everyone has to buy uprights? also second hand kit will become worthless so anyone starting up would have to shell out a fortune as only new stuff would be available

Remember Kelly Moran giving one a try and saying how much more difficult it was to handle...and this from one of the most naturally gifted riders! Personally I felt that it was yet another move that only resorting in making the sport more expensive with riders having to adapt and for what benefit?

I can only see Jamie at Leicester

And Bewley.

Final 2 signings are Dan Bewley & Jye Etheridge

This is true. However he has little real experience and we have seen him progress. He's a bit of a crowd favourite so I'd exempt him from the general rule.

Maybe for tax reasons

Dimitri berge

Theres not an unlimited supply if young riders who are good enough for this league, were not poland. A few in each team is enough or else riders who aren't good enough will be thrown in too soon and hurt either themselves or others.

Jesus that woman has got me going round the twist; why the hell is she posting about what Redcar have left on the Scunthorpe thread... My fault I suppose I should have read further back in the thread but a mean... Honestly... its a Scunny thread... Saying that I had found another small error on my Scunthorpe team so hey ho... Oh and yes I fully agree REDCAR do have 6.60 left... Back to the Scunthorpe team anyone? ffs I am ready to give up... Regards THJ

I've put your nomination in to be in charge of agreeing final team submissions - Bears would love 7.45 to play with

Charles Wright 9.35 Kasper Andersen 4.86 Jordan Stewart 5.74 Michael Palm Toft 8.18 Anders Rowe 4.27 Jordan Jenkins ** Total: 32.40 Left: 6.60 I know... About both of them... That's the problem though. Scunthorpe = my least favourite team by a country mile. Rene and Tero = two of my favourite riders, both on and off the track. Now do you see what I'm saying? In all seriousness, I wish the two riders themselves and Scunthorpe a successful 2021... Hopefully.

Precisely. If something makes money, it attracts investment. It may not be the whole answer to speedways prayers, but it is a good base to start.

Connor Bailey won't be available, as Glasgow also race on Fridays....

Off to Cornwall for a weeks holiday in July, so hopefully will take in the Leicester match.. And then Poole on the Wednesday maybe (not been given permission yet, but to be fair, it's because I haven't mentioned it yet...) Will be great to see Crumpy again....

The Plymouth promotion have already stated they will not be making any changes except in the case of injury or a rider not getting to grips with the Plymouth track,certainly no changes will be made just to up the points tally its just about becoming established and competitive in the championship which I think we will be, certainly entertaining can't wait to get going.

I really think your promotion has got a winner in Dillon Ruml. I saw him back in 2017 as an 18 year old riding for the American dream team at Kent, and a couple of his races were worth the price of admission alone. He looked a really exciting racer, on a track he had obviously never seen before. Four year on, he's done well Stateside and clearly has ambitions to follow in the footsteps of Becker and Nicol. I would have loved to have seen him at Central Park in 2021 and watched his development, rather than see the comeback of a 45 year old.........

the D of E don't care about averages just employment for Brits above foreigners

throw away those lay down engine plates . strap in a weslake and let the rider do the rest . how long will it take to get the Odsal track burnt through to the concrete/tarmac with these high revving motors . some riders will not be happy until the have gardened through to the base .

One thing really noticeable for me having watched lots of old racing (60/ 70'/80's in the main) on YouTube lately, is how much the entry speed into the bends has increased, and how much more "sideways" the riders get as they scrub off that speed to get round the bends. . The older stuff had riders much more 'open' as they went around the turns which meant they kept a much smoother line around them... Maybe the harder tyres were the reason? Maybe the deeper tracks? Maybe the engine location in the bikes? Whatever it was, there certainly seemed to be closer racing and more potential to overtake the rider in front through track craft and throttle/grip control than currently exists today where riders seem to just hit an apex on full gas, drift up the track, lock up before hitting the fence, and fly down the next straight to repeat the manoeuvre... The width of the tracks at some circuits appear irrelevant as only the same part is used in virtually every race. .. As you can only assume bikes are not going to get slower, then the only solution it would appear is to change the track shapes if we want racing similar to what the likes of the NSS, Peterborough, Somerset and Scunthorpe deliver regularly. .

That may well be the case. All I'm saying is that blaming crowd levels on the percentage of ethnic minorities in the city doesn't make sense. I remember going to a Bradford v Swindon match in what was probably the late 1980s and was pretty much stood alone on the back straight.

I remember talking to Peter Collins at Oxford when he was supporting his son Chris and asking him what had changed most during his time since having left the sport. He told me that in his opinion the bikes had got too fast but the tracks had basically remained the same.

But not including Kelly!

I wasn't suggesting we should switch back to uprights, just wondering about the wisdom of why speedway switched in the first place.

Of course...but my comment was based on the original transition during 1995/96 (?) when that was the exact scenario and the same discussion that took place then. Going back to uprights would only re-create the same issues and for whose benefit?

I have never fully understood why speedway moved to laydown engines. I believe the argument is lower centre of gravity, so a rider can go faster around corners. But there are people who say the bikes are too fast. I wonder if the sport changed to laydown for the sake of it being novel and gave engine manufacturers and tuners an opportunity to make money, as the riders switched.

As far as Goret is concerned I'm sure a quiet word and a brown envelope to Sarkozy will do the trick!!

I think Somerset withdrawing definitely contributed to Plymouth being accepted so I'm glad they spat the dummy

Let's all hope for a dry summer.

Im sure stock's will be a big hit at Bradford and I hope they are for Steve Reese the man as put his money where his mouth is and I wish Steve all the best. Think Bradford could be the mecca of F1 stock cars.

You don't get a vote in an Autocracy... Whether its moaning promoters; riders or fans; its becoming a case of "do as I say not as I do" unfortunately... However has that not always been the case... Regards THJ

Did Justin Elkins complete a meeting without an EF ?

As it looks like quite a few teams will be having double headers with championship and national league matches would it not make sense to run the national league matches to the old 13 heat formula with either 6 or 7 rider teams.Might just help to get full meeting over in alloted time if curfews are an issue.

THREE months is a long time for that to improve ...

....and the data!!

They started with 2 surprises that no one saw coming so would be excellent for the last one to be another one. It makes you wonder why the BSPA were so against them joining for the past couple of seasons. They have been a breath of fresh air and excitement to British season for, hopefully, the new season. Some of the more established promotions could learn a thing or two from the Plymouth promotion.

This was actually the first known example of sponsorship in speedway. Clever lad was Tommy, an abrasive character, but a dyed in the steel wool stalwart of his time.

Won’t be anything Dan Ford (or any other promoter) will be able to do if/when our incompetent government decide there will be no crowds at sporting events for the foreseeable future!!

Now that the BSPL have ruined the National League and existing MSDL. What has happened to the plans for the savior bringing Premiership Junior League? After all ghost teams were forced out and the great fanfare announcement there has been nothing since. Surely the BSPL haven't gone back on thier word?