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How. Many. Times.

I do have an interest in Speedway and I apologise if this was not clear. The last meeting I went to was Kent in June 2019. Unfortunately, living in Guildford there are no tracks nearby. But I have previously held season tickets at both Reading and Wimbledon (obviously quite some years ago in both cases). I do watch all the TV meetings but don't have Eurosport so will have to make do with highlights on Quest for the league meetings. I have subscribed to Speedway Star since 1995. Hopefully I can make a meeting later in the year but I don't know right now. I know I don't have many posts on here but I do regular come on here and sometimes just browse, catch up on the gossip etc. I am quite a shy person so don't always 'take the plunge' and post stuff.

Anders Rowe by far the best.

Yeah but they are on a speedway track tonight

Hear! Hear! Fans should have zero expectations from Speedway Promoters that what they will be watching would pass as a 'professional sport', or even 'professional entertainment'... How many years of experiencing this kind of thing happening will it take before fans (those who still go), finally realise they expect too much from the Promoters..? "Yer pays yer money and yer takes yer chance" when you attend a Speedway Meeting... Will the track be ok because it has rained too much/not rained as much as forecast/been too sunny/not been sunny enough/been too windy/not been windy enough?* Will all the riders be there or will some be in Poland/Denmark/Sweden/Somewhere else?* (with the express permission of their clubs who agreed to the meeting you are paying for knowing it would be a 'select' side being put out).? "Caveat Emptor" when it comes to Speedway I would suggest.. Keep your expectations as low as can be and you can rarely feel let down.. They do their best I am sure, and often for the love of the sport rather than expecting to make any money.. Well meaning amateurs who surround themselves with more of the same, pursuing an often expensive hobby... Whether it's good enough or not is judged by how many still attend I suppose.. Or possibly, more accurately, sadly, by that much, much greater number who no longer attend.. Bottom line is moaning won't change anything as plenty have moaned and walked away yet we still have the same issues now that have been around a long, long time.. Those who still attend should stick with it and accept that every now and then the sport will shoot itself in the foot.. * delete as applicable..

Why is being gay worth celebrating?? We're all the same, we should treat all as the same. It would also be classed as Homophobic if there was such a thing as 'straight pride'.

Who is Glasgow's man of the match ? Craig Cook , Sam Jensen or Gary Havelock ?

Great boost for the club as a whole.

Don't bother trying to guess lottery numbers this weekend... Excellent performance from the diamonds

The blue and gold by 30. Just don’t see this being a contest I’m afraid.

Should never have got the spot in the first place.

Definitely a genuine and pertinent question. I think Ray Stadia's response is a very accurate summary of the situation. There are limited funds for promotion and it's up to the promoters to use them wisely. Local and social media are obviously important and they can engage with the current fans. They are not all old despite current views on that subject - my 25 year old daughter enjoys going to speedway and her older sister would attend if she was in the country! As for local charities certainly care needs to be taken in that direction. The first question must be : would the time be well spent for speedway to get involved? Organized charity is not always considered as such a virtuous institution. Look at the National Trust. In fact the whole charity sector is increasingly seen as bloated and self-serving with many of the directors paid extravagant sums. I could imagine the response of older supporters who see the endless emotive adverts on daytime TV saying 'Not again!' when faced with a charity fund raiser at a speedway meeting. The Ben Fund is, of course, an honourable exception as it directly relates to speedway. I personally think there needs to be a significant shift in thinking at the BSPA. It is a promoter's forum and considers the sport with these people in mind. It would do speedway some good to have some independent supervisory body which takes into consideration the fan's experience. Unfortunately this idea was shot down some time ago. And I won't venture into that controversy. Anyway, good night! I'm still looking forward to my first meeting this season after a Leicester rain off after traveling for over an hour to the stadium.

Really enjoyed it tonight. Good crowd, full strength sides and some really decent racing for a first night, especially when some riders are getting back into the groove after so long out. I thought Wolves were unlucky. It was probably the right decision to exclude Douglas when Holder came down in Heat 7, but I've seen them go the other way plenty of times and Bates couldn't really get off the track when he crashed. Wolves would have probably had a 5-1 there which might have changed things. I was really impressed with Luke Becker. He looks the next USA Grand Prix rider to me and after taking one heat to get used to the track, he was excellent. The rest were solid with Morris being the pick of the bunch, but not enough heat winners cost the Wolves. The lockdown has made be realise how much I like the sport and I think I took it for granted before. It was great to be back.

There's no point in trying to deny that last night's meeting was a complete disaster and has done no good at all to the image of Birmingham Speedway or speedway in general for that matter, but this was the kind of night that all tracks in their turn do experience occasionally, and it doesn't make Birmingham a poorly run club and nor does it make Redcar villanous opportunists! Unfortunately, when these things do happen, there will be a hard core of supporters who must have someone to pin all of the blame on - and for many of these, the regular target is Laurence Rogers, who like him or not, is actually one of the hardest working people in speedway. When I arrived at the stadium in the early afternoon, Laurence was surrounded by a posse of officials from Birmingham City Council who were obviously grilling him for detailed information regarding the covid rules, and he was still with them over an hour later, and when I looked in at the speedway office, he was wading through the mountain of paperwork that had been left for him to complete. I admit was surprised at how dry the track looked, but I could understand the reasoning for delaying putting more water on. When I rang my wife at 5.30-ish, she informed me that it was pouring with rain in Brierley Hill (only about 10 miles away) and the gathering of black clouds above the stadium seemed to indicate that we were going to get the heavy shower that had been forecast for Perry Barr. In the event, all we had were a few spots, so although the decision not to water, was obviously the wrong one in hindsight. Regardless of that though, the track was not in very good condition having only been used once for practice since 2019, and I wouldn't dispute that both sets of riders were not particularly happy with it. I thought we were in a similar situation to Wolverhampton's a couple of weeks back when their opening meeting had to be called off after only two heats - the track staff did their best to put the surface right, but only succeeded in making it worse. The injury to Jordan Stewart just about put the seal on an unhappy evening, and I sincerely hope that his injuries aren't as bad as have been reported. I don't feel that the condition of the track was in any way the cause of the crash, but very few people I think, would disagree that the abandonment of the meeting through lack of medical cover, wasn't the correct one. The old system of two first aid men picking up an injured rider by the arms and legs, and just throwing him onto the centre green, went out of the window 30-odd years ago! As far as the match score is concerned, Redcar were well on top at the time of the abandonment, and I doubt whether the Brummies would have been able to pull back the deficit, and a fair outcome would be for Redcar to be awarded the match. I know that the referee was asked to do this, but this is a decision which no referee has the authority to make - as those who were asking this referee would know perfectly well. If the BSPL do decide that the scoreline should stand though, this would be a wholly just conclusion and one which I don't think many Birmingham supporters would disagree with. In conclusion, yes, it was a disaster of a meeting, but they do happen occasionally, and I for one am not put off my chosen sport through one bad night. I'm not asking anyone to agree or disagree with me. I'm just offering my own take on an unhappy evening.

costs extra

I don't get the Gay pride thing at all, nobody should be ashamed of their sexuality but being proud of it is like being proud of having dark hair or blue eyes, it's not an achievement. While we are on the subject how come Homosexuals are always grouped with transgender people or those who refuse to identify when it is all completely different things that are not any more to do with being gay than straight in many cases. Are we to assume that every gay person thinks there should be no sexual identification? In which case why would they be proud to be gay? Or are we to assume that all straight people are completely unaccepting of minorities while all gay people are completely tolerant of all other aspects of sexuality and identification? Or, as seems most likely to me, are we to assume it's about the loud minority yet again needing to make themselves feel more important while the majority just want to get on with life regardless of what they think about sex and identification?

Sure she will find a way after the Euros. The Edinburgh variant will take hold by then.

Actually you beat what's behind you.

I would agree with that. With so little time between the start of the stream and the 1st heat and after the failure of the cast option it didn't give long to sort out the problems so I ended up with a crude mirror of a phone screen on my TV with peripheral icons via Google home app. It did the job so I stuck with it as experimenting further meant missing more of the action. If it hadn't been for the unfortunate lengthy delay I would have missed half the meeting. Having said that, I too was impressed with the production and will certainly purchase again if I can resolve the casting issues. I can't believe the comments on social media complaining about the cost of the stream though.What do people expect FFS ? After putting on a meeting at considerable cost with no paying spectators in the stadium, coupled with the production costs of the stream. "Too expensive" "short sighted" they are all moaning It cost me £38 for the takeaway we ate while the 4 of us watched it & only £11:95 for the stream. I know which I enjoyed the most!

Thats breathtakingly arrogant . Maybe those riders weren't at it because the opposition rode well and didn't allow them.to be at it

Bit disrespectful to Newcastle just maybe they had something to do with you being awful it might be they made you look like that.

Good job you don’t know what your talking about haha

52 38 final score. The first bend heat one injury to Rory Schlein killed any chance of a point stone dead. Hopefully not too serious an injury. Have to give 10/10 for the stream. Worth every penny. Several camera angles, good commentary. Would buy again if there’s a good meeting lined up. A special mention to Ben Cook who really got stuck in and made some tremendous passes. Enjoyed the event. Not the result.

Well they can have over a 7 pointer to replace any of them but should be Proctor imo.A 7 point rider should be capable of staying in the main body of the team.

Wow must admit I was expecting a hammering tonight, happily proved wrong though great effort from the Diamonds.

What a prospect Ben Cook looks

I think IOW qualify, but the BSPA would rather threaten to ban rising stars getting extra track time than encourage them!

Rory is always a heavy scorer round Glasgow , hopefully it’s not too serious and he is back quickly.

How good would it be if there was a fully functional speedway track available with a promoter willing to put on regular meetings for the NL riders, rising stars etc to practice against each other & improve their skills. Sure the BSPL would be massively in favour of that seeing as there are so few meetings in the NL.

What people have to think is Plymouth were late getting accepted into the league when most riders had all been picked up. They were thinking for the future and establish themselves in this league and get the interest of the general public. Remember they are now the only team in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset. They therefore took the bold step of bringing in top heavy Jason ad Bjarne. This would leave them with few points to play with but what UK riders would be available. They would have to look for riders never before tried in this country but had some experience abroad. They are all young and could make it in the future. Everyone knew they would take time to settle. They also had bad luck with injuries to both Jason and Henry before a home meeting was even held. From what I have read the first match was a COVID sell out with a number of new fans who came out of interest and can’t wait to come back and the crowds will increase as COVID restrictions ease. The long term is the important thing not play off places this year. The improvements to the stadium and track are beyond belief. I have been many times over the years but only seen it from the road when coming home to Dorset . Well done all and the future I trust will be rosy. Well done to the promotion they deserve to succeed

After a weeks training out in Poland with Rybnik, Leon Flint guests tonight for Redcar in their home meeting with Birmingham.

Funny you should say that Jonny Depp said the same thing.

Now for a 7pt+ man for Proctor and we should be competitive.

By lad Soupy ya pushing this one mind... lol... it was posted last month Kyle is guesting up at Edinburgh... read back in the posts more than the last half dozen... Tero Aarnio now guests for Newcastle at home on Sunday... Regards THJ

I suppose there could be a 'proud to be human' event. However, am I proud to be human? No I'm not!

If you don't already, you should subscribe to Backtrack magazine if it's real insight into an ex-rider's career you want. We find they open up to us if you ask the right questions and know your subject well. Retro Speedway (retro-speedway.com)

It is now clear that Crump's accident was, unfortunately, a result of rider error. Would you now like to apologise for your biased, provocative and incorrect post ?

Gary may new team manager

Hopefully a Glasgow win and a Cookie maximum .

KL won't win a meeting all season. I feel for the fans.

Perhaps then we should be having a national speedway week or month....... It would obviously need to have at least a 5 minute slot in every msm news bulletin and anyone not attending a Speedway meeting in that time would be labelled as a narrow minded bigot

On this forum, we are constantly told the average speedway fan is upwards of age 50. Upwards of age 50, is likely to mean they are less tolerant to gay celebration events, so, in my opinion, I don't think it will go down very well with the average supporter. It's a generational thing. I'm 63 and I have no issue with LGBTQ+, but at the same time, I don't want my nose 'rubbed in it', which is what society seems to want to do, with many issues.

Having a wee break from watching speedway on the telly ( yeah thanks Nicola ) to take in some of the live and in the flesh variety . Should be a cracker against the reigning champions . Wouldnt mind Berwick lowering their colours though

Can I not have fish & chips before the meeting and a pie before the Cubs match?!?

What a crock of rubbish.

I don't think Speedway should go down the 'adopt a trendy cause month'. Other sports feel compelled to display how virtuous they are, kneel for this, stand for that, wave for the other etc. Where does it end? Colour blind awareness month (No red, green lights) Left, Right, history month, where riders ride clockwise, then anticlockwise in alternate heats. Empathy for loosers month, where the rider finishing last gets four points? Enough of this wokery.

Maybe early days but I question why the promotion let James Sarjeant go and retained Willie Lawson.

Well done Newcastle maybe not the whipping boys some thought.

By that befuddled logic football must be successful because many people involved with it are highly intelligent.

No to Speedway celebrating Pride. Not because Pride isn't worth celebrating (it really is) but if Speedway did it, it would be an embarrassing, clumsy load of old crap along the lines of much of the way British speedway is run/presented generally