Leaderboard

I just want to say congratulations to Mark and his team at Plymouth in achieving something really quite special this season for speedway in the West Country. Mark has truly worked his socks off, like us he gives literally all that he has in trying to ensure that fans, riders, sponsors and officials have a brilliant night out - he has delivered. He takes pride in his events, pride in his stadium, pride in his "show". People of Plymouth, be proud because you have a good one here and you are now starting to see the acorn Mark planted grow in to an Oak. Businesses are starting hear of the Gladiators, and now have pride in aligning their brand with your club, fans are flocking back, great food, great service, good people. Long may it continue. Congratulations.

So according to a Craig Cook tweet,,,he had family issues,,, not mental health issues. Bit silly of Ipswich putting out statements that are not true. Or was that the only way of getting a facility? Very strange indeed

Whatever format the league(s) take next year, Plymouth will be competing and Richard will be riding. Surely some positivity is exactly what speedway needs at the moment. 21 league season not yet over and already we can’t wait for the next one down here.. Carry on breaking with speedway convention Mark. We love it.

Good attendance ,great racing, great track no issues at all,slick presentation, early start to team building for 2022,Good get together afterwards around the bbq polish sausage very popular with riders and fans. No begging bowl at Plymouth not bankrupt as many predicted riders wanting to ride for us as they know they will get paid bring on next season.

So 8,000 fans in a stadium open to the elements over two nights is more appealing than 40,000 on one night? I don't think so.

Bottom line is Cook withheld his services for whatever reason and clearly Ipswich reported that and rightly got a facility. The upshot of that is Riders are then given generally a 7 day suspension or longer depending on circumstances, as the Ipswich press release says his return is subject to SCB approval. A lot of the problem is clubs don’t properly explain riders absences, Pedersen and Palin are missing for the Panthers, nothings been said explaining why, either by Peterborough Plymouth or Scunthorpe. Its doesn’t help but fuel suspicion and rumour on the internet.

Pleased to see Plymouth on the upward spiral mate another forward thinking promotion with a vision can only be a good thing. Top signing in Richard Lawson also for next season things are looking good for the future down Plymouth way well done .

Thought that was the norm now in 21st UK league speedway .... that and regular delays and oh tractor racing. Usually get one good "race" and that's "worth the admission money alone" That's why I rarely go to meetings nowadays.

You'd know

Could be drone footage of Boris Johnsons head An overgrown area covering an unused facility

It took you 6 pages to tell us we only need 1 page

Yes they bloody do!

I get bored watching live speedway on TV, long breaks for adverts, plus riders taking an age to get settled into their start positions for races! Watching it after means you can fast forward lots of wasted time!

"Ladies and Gentlemen. Give it up for the 2021 Division Two Play Off Champions!".... "The Glasgow"... "Tigers/Monarchs/Bandits/Bears/Diamonds/Scorpions/Lions/Eagles/Gladiators/Kings/Brummies/Pirates" (Pause for a deep breath)... "And now let's hear it for your fantastic 2021 Division Two Runners up who pushed them all the way"... "The Poole".... (Another deep breath)... "Pirates/Monarchs/Bandits/Bears/Diamonds/Scorpions/Lions/Eagles/Gladiators/Kings/Brummies/Tigers"... You would need a couple of big old winners and runners up trophies to fit that on the roll of honour of them wouldn't you? And also need around 50 of each of the winners and losers medals.... With plenty of lads being awarded both... !!

At the end of the does it REALLY matter ,whoever wins the league,at the end of the day there won’t be enough room on the Trophy for all the guests that all the Teams have used. It’s all a bit farcical really.

I would expect the second tier to be a cross between the championship and the NDL. The poorer relations to move 'down'.

Thirty seconds of applause at the NSS on Monday in memory of Taffy.

Realistically its a big catchment area, if theyve survived crump and bjarne they should survive lawson et all

Let’s pick some of the bones out of your argument. Redcar struggled for a decent crowd because of Havelock, his demeanour towards the fans and his budget for the team reducing the product to a bottom of the league regulars. A new promoter came in, used the same budget but with a complete different mindset in producing excitement around the place and doubled the crowd and more. The new management trio have continued on with that trend and made it even more successful. Do you not think Redcar pay rent to the council for the STMP? Everything inside the stadium belongs to the club , it was just a rubbish tip when the track was constructed and, unlike Brough Park, not a structure was standing so Redcar have built from scratch. Access to revenue streams….yes they have, through their own efforts. They only took over complete catering in 2020 . Sponsors….all clubs are responsible for generating their own so that’s down to the club to source. Watered down product …promoters choice, just like the clubs management structure, Redcar have a team that works, how many staff did Grant get rid off/ bring in to help ? His choice. Redcar were in the doldrums, but turned it around with positive, enthusiastic management from 2017 onwards using exactly the same budget that Havelock had. They have shown it can be done. Newcastle , take away the non disclosed debts they inherited, which should have been identified, have no different challenges to any other club this COVID affected year but I do understand Grant walking away from the stress of running a speedway club as even the Redcar management , who are all volunteers, are finding it very stressful in these challenging times.

You need to be a headcase to ride a speedway bike don't you?

I would suggest 9 from 4 completed rides is far from” not showing up”.Every point matters for different reasons.IMO.

Chris Harris not showing up in the big meetings. How glad I am he's someone else's problem

Yep. He missed 3 (?)years when he should have been at his peak. Typically racers, as opposed to gaters, have struggled to be as successful later in their career. (Gollob is an exception).

People just love to have a moan don't they...

Take Chris Harris as an example 23rd August rides for Peterborough, 25th August rides for Birmingham & finally 26th August rides for Ipswich. Anyone who can't see the issue with that or defends it are part of the reason this sport in the UK is finished it's utterly crazy & provides no credibility end of!!

the horse has already bolted on this one, we're much too far down the line to make any changes now

To be honest I never saw any problem with that when there were simply too many clubs... Instead, at that time, this natural evolutionary process that strengthens any species or entity, was completely ignored and everything was done to keep everyone going, no matter the impact to entertainment level, and league credibility. .. Now it's very much a different time and clubs are being removed from the UK map at an alarming rate, therefore all Promoters need to work together and support their "weakest links"... As without them all inevitably will end up disappearing too..

If next season remains the same as this, more track closures will be inevitable. Maybe the survival of the fittest, is the master plan.

Perhaps it could signal the start of a more formal breakaway from the establishment

Even though I live in Yorkshire I have kind of adopted Plymouth as my Championship team and always look out for their results. They seem to have had a successful year so far so well done to everyone concerned. The other team I have a soft spot for is Berwick. Here's hoping both teams can look forward to a successful 2022!

So if its two divisions (plus the NDL) you have a Champtionship No1. If divisions are merged, so its one professional league and an NDL you have a No1. Err no brainer IMHO. He rides Plymouth well, and whatever pans out in the Winter the club have secured a Number 1 for next year. Well done to all concerned.

All I read is positivity from the club so it isn’t a surprise really. If a top rider becomes available you would like to think your club would try and sign the rider, especially if Pedersen does retire.

Deadline has been extended is my understanding. Covid has caused a lot of disruption in the speedway world.

Do you think there will be middle tier next season.Surely not.

This does ask the obvious question. Why bother with a young Danish rider whose club rides on a Wednesday causing a direct clash with our home meetings? There’s no doubt he is a talent and a top rider in the future, but if he can’t ride in the U.K. on Wednesdays during the Danish season, he’s going to be of little use to our club.

Last of the Colts matches on Friday. It is great watching the young riders develop along with entertaining racing throughout the season. The Mcgurks Have come on well in this shortened season.

Absolutely nothing wrong with the track Brummies had gated. Nielsen tried to go around Grobauer going into bend four, lap one, but clipped his back wheel with both rocketing into the fence. Purely a racing accident.

I will say this once, twice & even more times from about 3 or 4 years ago that we have to make up our own model for team racing. 6 man teams Minimise double up/ down to 2 or 3 riders per team No guests from other teams Riders not chosen/declared in a team go into pool to be chosen as & when a team is short. Averages & RS(now) status used with riders only allowed to guest help out a team maximum 3 or 4 times.

It annoys me greatly that Poland get so many GPs (even before Covid) and we get 1. They would easily sell out a Manchester GP in either May/Sep while still getting good numbers for Cardiff in July.

Not sure who you think will want to move ‘ up ‘ when the likes of Poole only just came ‘ down ‘. Those clubs currently in the championship are there because that’s where they want to be, they won’t move ‘ up ‘ and won’t want a much weakend product although getting rid of the likes of Nicholls, Harris, Andersen , Masters, Morris, etc is a must and will save the clubs a lot on wages.

Same circumstance with the same rider but a different outcome and the only reason being he was an Ace back then. https://speedwaygp.com/news/article/6177/cook-forced-out-of-cup

No need to tell porkys to the paying public

They know that they want Richard Lawson in the team

Yes you can Diamond

It's a chicken and egg situation though, if we had more riders we wouldn't need riders to double up but we need more fans/money in the sport to encourage guys to come into the sport (or come from abroad) to race for the clubs ....

Buster would love to have him !!

And me. Like at Scunny, Redcar & Leicester (& others I've forgotten) before, shows if one never gives up it can be done....

A couple of things ,sad that Grant and Tattum are giving there promoters licence in .But why do fans blame Rob Godfrey instantly yes he promotes at Scunthorpe but surely the number of people paying through the turnstiles is the main problem here , also I don’t think Rob Grant had done his homework on Newcastle as he inherited a lot of debt from previous owners etc.Dave Tattum has promoted elsewhere and knows speedway inside out so why between them did they put such an unattractive side which was well below the points limit is beyond me . Newcastle is a town and club steeped in Speedway tradition from when the great Ivan Mauger rode for the and the Owen brothers . So to me the problem is the Diamonds only form of income was through the gate and sponsors as they didn’t own the stadium and payed a rental to the owners and could not gain any other income unlike other clubs who get bar takings and food outlets etc , This is directly the problem that modern day speedway faces ,as well I for certain Dont know what riders earn per point so have Newcastle payed riders over the odds to these riders with points money and expenses?. One last point in there first season running a junior side was a massive mistake and won’t have brought no income in what so ever . Let’s hope someone comes in and saves the Diamonds

Judging by most of the comments on here, you could have fooled me... Loads of 'em, apparently - mostly from the BSF... British speedway fans clearly prefer standing on mud and broken concrete, covered by corrugated iron and a tarpaulin...

I'd second that Redcar is a great racetrack, well worth a visit