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If you could get down to Plymouth Shovlar you could dry the track with all the hot air you spout.

The kids summer holidays should almost be a festival of speedway, as many meetings should be crammed in as possible. As others have said having outstanding fixtures in the middle of September in a six team league is unforgivable. I don't know who but somebody needs to grab British speedway by the scruff of the neck and run it properly, it's a shambles.

Track covers are fine beforehand for keeping the track dry. But tend to hinder Racing if left on once the meeting starts.

Not being able to squeeze in 10 home league fixtures in the best part of six months is truly shocking although it is not that surprising given the way Speedway is run these days!

What was the point of the track covers.If you are going purely on weather forecasts.

Judging by the announcement placed on the Tigers' website today, it would appear the home PL fixture with Ipswich will take place AFTER the play-offs. The announcement seems to suggest that Sheffield can still finish top of the Premiership table ahead of the play-offs if they win both of their remaining meetings at Owlerton against King’s Lynn and Belle Vue this Thursday and next. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but six points from those two matches will give us 43 points, matching the 43 that Ipswich already have in the bank. In other words, the outstanding (as yet uncontested) home match with Ippo would effectively be the decider, but it can't happen until AFTER the play-offs! In those circumstances, how will they decide which teams will race against each other in the semi-finals with finishing positions undecided? If I was confused before, my mind is now completely frazzled. Whatever else happens, I'm still betting the Tigers v Ipswich match will be quietly forgotten (or decided BEFORE the play-offs by the toss of a coin), once again short-changing the Sheffield paying customers. After all, when the play-offs have taken place and the league champions have lifted the trophy, what's the point of a further league match that can't have any impact on the result? Considering all the Thursday nights throughout the summer when there's been no action at Owlerton, this position takes some believing. You can't make this stuff up.

In Plymouth now and the rain is definitely making the ground wet,didn't know you could get dry rain. Steven Christopher Shovlar it's pays to be nice sometimes amazing what you can find out about people on the Internet

In 2018 when the comets won the treble, mid season attendances fell to around 500 well below break even level as the cup finals got near attendances get better near to break even levels, then at the very end of season had crowds of around 1500 to see the trophies lifted, but could/should have been more, forced to run late October often with only a few days notice so very little promotion get done, we all know what happened then the comets closed. Fast forward to 2022 matched getting postponed right left and centre KO cup still to run many matches, can see it being a dash to complete the season now autumn is well on its way, speedway will never learn and get most of the matches completed by the end of September

At the time, it was just the National League, in effect a Third Division. The racing was just as good as the higher leagues; indeed the Eastbourne/Birmingham playoff final were some of the best speedway matches I have seen. However, the BSPL in their (?)wisdom have destroyed the (invaluable) MDL/SDL and downgraded the NL to the NDL.

I suppose Plymouth and Poole could decide the old fashioned way , shovlar could do the tossing …. If he is allowed into the stadiums

Plymouth win by 16pts then.

If it goes past the deadline it will revert to the overall score of when the 2 teams met in the league fixture , same as the individual meetings

Cut off isn't the problem, it's the weeks on end with no speedway tht should be filled with a fixture

Clearly never been too Brighton then?

The powers that be will sight many reasons why they could not run ten home meetings in six months but will miss the obvious one, utter incompetence by each and every track to work collectively to make it happen. It is a further endorsement that can added to another thread headed British speedway is a joke . When you take into account how it’s affairs are managed and the lack of respect each and every track has for its punters it is a miracle anyone bothers to turn out in September and October after all the fine weather had this year in the U.K. It is a mystery and the only way those in charge will learn is if the punters vote with their feet but that will not happen because for some reason many think they owe the club some debt of loyalty but I doubt each and every team owner thinks that way. So it is a Christmas festival to resolve the who will be champions. The weather should be fine, ask the club promoters, they are good at using a crystal ball.

So you want another few hundred people to fork out to go somewhere when there is not a cat in hells chance of the meeting taking place, in the remote possibility that it could that it may be dangerous for riders, be a terrible spectacle for supporters and be a financial disaster for the Club as everyone living within 30 miles would not bother going as they would have been watching rain fall for hours.

He can't get in to Cornwall on the A38 - His head won't fit in the Tunnel!

Thing is, a meeting should not be called off until it is guaranteed to be off. There might be a risk of rain later today, but it might miss. Too often meetings have been called off early only for the rain to miss/fail to materialise, leaving a dry evening. Plymouth are not even attempting to give it a try.

If they haven’t got track staff to sort out a wet track (with overnight covers down) they need to take a close look at themselves in the mirror. Swedish clubs can fix wet tracks in an hour. Natural drying during the day should do it. They could pop around the local farm and buy some hay to burn.

Steve it's so unlike you to be slagging off another team

Very sad, but could see it coming as I said before , unfortunately until the BSPL get their heads out of the sand won't be the last to go, or find a relaunch too expensive and unsustainable.

The play off semi will be 2500+ If the Witches make the final you will see 4000+ What is needed of course is to find the trick to turn a good proportion of these extras into regulars.....

Having spoken on the subject to some of the members of the Save Coventry Stadium group, I can appreciate that they are fully on top of things so I think it best not to complicate things for them by e-mailing individual councillors. The group have done a great job so far, and will continue to do so, so the campaign is by no means over just yet.

With the cut-off date having been set as the conclusion of fixtures on Thursday September 22 and the meeting with Ipswich next Monday having been cancelled, I'm guessing that the match with Ipswich won't now take place at all. The ridiculous prospect of having to organise a last-minute 'double header' (or determine final league positions on the toss of a coin!) just adds further hilarity to the laughing stock that is premiership speedway. Between April and September there have been 26 Thursdays and 26 Mondays, yet the league management and Owlerton hierarchy have conspired to make a cock-up of fitting in ten home league matches. Considering the vast length of week-after-week inactivity that have dogged us throughout the summer, it is yet another shameful spectacle that we should encounter such a backlog of fixtures at this late stage. But the season's not over yet.... as well as the Ipswich fixture, we have home matches with Kings Lynn and Belle Vue also to fit in, and just nine days to do it! What's the weather forecast for this Autumn period?

They say that every year.

I know i`m still recovering

Yeah agree, there never seems an urgency yet every1 nos the bad weather is sharp arriving

Did it never rain at Lakeside? Plymouth just been unlucky with torrential rain around match days. It's happened to all Clubs at some point. One time not long ago it only ever seemed to rain in Brum on a Wednesday.

I have a regular long walk at Ringstead and Purbeck coast and last week as I walked through the almost deserted nudist beach, an old man stood up naked, then made “helicopters” in my direction. Perhaps I will post the exact spot so Trackrat can check it out. Might be his thing as he seems to like make strippers.

Arghh now he’s trying it on with me.

Anybody know any good cleaners? Asking for a friend.

The stadium is in use for cars/stocks. They want speedway at the stadium but only champ, not NDL or Elite as we can't use the stadium Mondays and Thursdays, so its not that and will remain private out of respect to them..

But why? Not sure I would want to know what goes on in everyone's private life on here. It is just a forum! You two only 'researched' cos you don't like what he was saying.

Make sure you clean the rain off your Car when you get back.

Won’t be long before people are buying a new house on Dugard Drive or a bungalow in Norris Road

Steve what are you saying. Has Exmouth got an umbrella above it? Just arrived in Plymouth. It has been rainy all the way from Sherborne and hammering down on A38. Easing off slightly in Plymouth but still raining. Track will be absolutely drenched. j

This is not as daft as it sounds. To give the Premier League a shot in the arm and keep Discovery/Eurosport happy why don't the powers that be enforce a top league with teams of city status only. Belle Vue (Mcr), Glasgow, Edinburgh (if running), Oxford, Plymouth, Leicester, Wolverhampton, Sheffield and Birmingham. A league of city heavyweights and all has a nice ring to it! The remaining teams from the Championship could form a league with the stand alone sides from the lower division. All rather tongue in cheek I know but the Premiership League (our top league after all) does need a massive shake up and city teams may resonate more with the press/sponsors etc.

With the unfortunate postponement of tonight's play off meeting, Gladiators TV will be showing the previous Championship encounter at the Coliseum between the Gladiators vs Pirates from earlier in the season. The stream starts at 7pm on YouTube via the link below and is free to watch with the live Chat Room open for comments for those logged into their Google Accounts during the stream. Enjoy!!!

Glad you pointed that out, don't think he's ever mentioned it lol

Hopefully Pirates will smash Plymouth tomorrow making next weeks meeting a formality. Will save many of us the bother in travelling down.

No one and I mean no one can complain about what Plymouth have done covers on the track the track in perfect condition before they went down obviously they will have to be lifted at some point this afternoon but the promotion have tried there damn hardest to get this on.

Totally agree -and in the driest summer in years as well - the worrying bit as we are now in autumn and it seems to rain almost every day the weather is definitely going to play a big part .

Realistically the only option for the club to run next season would be asking the owners of Armadale to allow us to run there for 2023 imo. Alex, John and Gordon will explore absolutely every possibility to get the Monarchs to the tapes next season. If anyone can find a solution, it’s our promotion.

Makes for an interesting 2nd leg, ZG to squeak it.

Tomlinson must has known about the Taylor Wimpey deal about the new Houses .its amazing he forgot tell any of us. These houses are going to built and the Stadium not going to be that's becoming quite clear . Tomlinson promise has just been one big lie .. the bloke is a scumbag and should quit over this . Sold every Robins fan down the river .

Why do you just not accept other peoples views,it is a forum.You don’t have to get Personal.

Mr Gillias will have to declare an interest and withdraw. He won't have any choice but to do that, but he can be useful in making his views known to his colleagues. At the Perry Barr planning application, we initially obtained a three year temporary planning consent and before we applied for full planning we invited the members of the planning committee to come and watch a meeting. Only one of them accepted the invitation. She came, and she loved it, but the downside was that she then had to ask the chairman whether or not she needed to withdraw from the planning meeting. She was asked why she had accepted the invite to watch the speedway and replied that she wanted to see what it was all about before she made a decision. She was then asked whether or not she had given any indication of which way she intended to vote. She replied that no, she hadn't but that she had "jumped up and down all evening because it was so exciting." She was then told that she must withdraw but before she left the chamber she called out in a loud voice: "It was wonderful, wonderful." " I loved every moment of it." It was a very powerful influence on the other members of the committee, and was I grateful to her for this.

Great shame to think Swindon wont be back. Absolutely bonkers to think Swindon, Newport, Reading, Exeter, Somerset and Trelawny all gone. Used to love my visits to Swindon, from giving them a pasting in 1999 twice in the league and cup , watching Glenn Cunningham get 5-1d twice in 13 and 15 by Wato and Smarty and having a tantrum, to the 2000/2001 days when the Robins spanked us, to the year we won with Ashley Jones in the side at number 3... great days. Always a great atmosphere on the home straight. Will always remember Phil Morris wiping out Fryer and Fryer getting up and headbutting him . Moggo guesting for Newport and getting an 18 pointer beating Fryer 3 times. Bjarne Pedersen and Fryer having a 4 lap superb side by side race.

Speedway Star used to publish figures many years ago now...not sure why it was dropped although being of cynical mind I'm sure the promoters at the time had something to do with it for whatever reason!!

Hilariously awkward video on the SGP instagram of Greg Hancock awarding Dan his ‘overtake of the day’ award from Cardiff… “but I didn’t pass anyone” says Dan