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For all the moans on why crowds have dropped its always been quite clear to me that the main ireason s that the standard of rider has . The most stupid thing I kept hearing on here is that we don't need top riders. What other sport would work like that. If Emil or Nicki are riding at my local track I'm going its as simple as that. .

I know this is the last year at the showground but it really p’d me off last night that it was simple stuff done to a poor standard last night which is detrimental to the fan experience, especially when bringing new people along, thankfully the racing was good. No signs saying use both lanes into the car park resulting in long queues into the car park, same issues getting out after the meeting. no separate queue for season ticket holders. floodlight issues, where these not checked earlier in the day? Same for the track, did nobody look earlier in the day? Couldn’t hear rider interviews because crap music was being played over the top of them. It’s all simple stuff really that I wish they got on top of over the winter but clearly haven’t.

You're assuming Nicki was going to have a bad night because he was behind Riss for 1 bend. It took Emil two laps to get past Jenkins in his first ride and he went on to have a decent night.

Are they blue or purply blue?

Turns out the interval was held after Heat 7 to allow the riders to fit new tyres as they were all shredded by then.

That is an interesting concept. I have done that on two occasions so far to ask why it an online ticket is more expensive on the day....... Never received an answer to either I am resigned to having to get an online ticket each time, understand and support no cash but do not understand why a debit card cannot be used. You can use it at the bars throughout the stadium Still cannot fathom the need to charge £2 more on the day, feels like we should be encouraging people rather than exploiting the people making a last minute decision

Watching Emil Sayfutdinov race last night was something special. Do you think Ipswitch have done a big favour to alot of other clubs to bring in the crowds when he rides away at other tracks this year in the UK ? When Ipswitch are in town its a definite one to watch and hopefully if Nick Pederson is ok that should help bring in a few extra in through the gates around the country. Anyone else ?

The reasons are genuine and have nothing to do with the weather or King’s Lynn, who were always happy for us to come and stream their meeting.

The only thing worrall is late for round showground is the chequered flag

Have a word with yourself mate Emil has done nothing wrong and i for one welcome him back to speedway.

It's a £3 increase if you buy on the day, though.

He rode your place 3 times last season. 3,1,2,0,3 ...9 riding at no6 1,3,3,0,1 ... 8 riding at 2 3,ex,2.2,1 ...8 riding at 3 Give the bloke a chance i say.

Rather than new era it did have more of end of an era feel to it unfortunately. The last opening night at the EoES and that was a very disappointing effort. My mate raised the issues of those bulbs last year and I think that the response was that they wouldn't/couldn't do anything until they had confirmation about a full 2023 season. Well they got that but still 9 of those 24 bulbs are out. That's 37% of the available light not working and does create dark areas, especially bend 2 as you say. Isn't that a H&S issue? How does the ref proceed under those circumstances? Anyone know what the heat 7 interval was about? Communication/information non existent as per usual (unless I missed it due to ineffective PA).

Nicki was complaining before the match started that it was too grippy which is why they changed the white line, their was definitely a rut on the exit of bend two which most of the Panthers team collected at some point during the match, and all of them lost points and ground because of it. The track clearly wasn’t at its best and with the loss of Pedersen and the other woes, Ipswich took advantage, it’s not the end of the world and it’s still early doors, the meeting itself wasn’t too bad all things considered, the crowd was pretty exceptional though with spectators from various clubs and not just Peterborough and Ipswich. No panic just yet.

Personally I get fed up with all this booking online when one wishes to go to an attraction...and on top of that some even expect you to pay a booking fee! Became the norm during the pandemic and now appears to be the way forward. I prefer to look at my options (weather) and don't wish to pre-empt what I wish to do on any given day.

Absolutely. Have only attended 2 domestic meetings since my club closed in 2018. The poor standard and the nonsense of riders riding for 2 teams of basically the same standard have put me off. Ipswich is 70-odd miles from me so will attend a few matches this season just to see Emil. I wouldn't have bothered otherwise. I do worry about British Speedway messing it up as usual though and demonstrating a lack of professionalism like last night at Peterborough with the floodlights and moving the white line. Riders like Emil and Nicki will just bin it off if that happens along with people like me.

Nobody doubts top riders draw crowds. The problem is that the top riders don't want to ride in Britain due to money and logistics. They're happy just to do Poland and the GPs. The only reason Nicki is riding in Britain is to boost his pension fund. Emil is riding in Britain because of his GP ban / being rusty due to the Russian ban. If Emil is invited back into the GPs next year, will he be riding in the Premiership next year? I highly doubt it.

Oh and despite what one or two predicted on here over the winter, I didn’t hear one boo or negative reaction to Sayfutdinov. In fact, the bloke was warmly applauded at the end by the majority or Peterborough supporters who despite being disappointed by defeat, acknowledged class when they saw it which was good to see.

Correct. You could have a darts match between two pub players who were evenly matched and have a good tight contest but only averaging 60-70 and you wouldn’t fill one table at the ally pally. Roll out the Van Gerwen’s and Gerwyn Price’s averaging ton plus and you’re packing the place out. Speedway isn’t as popular as darts though obviously but it’s the same principle albeit on a smaller scale.

I agree. The £2 extra on the day, along with the weather forecast, means I've decided to give it a miss as I don't want to buy a ticket in advance only to have it cancelled. With speedway so weather dependent, it is a shame that they do add another £2 on the day. I'm very much a "make a decision at 6pm" kind of guy, so I would probably go to Oxford a lot more if I could just rock up on the day and wander in. The crowds seem pretty good though so they probably won't miss me.

Ive seen a lot of people saying good racing,,, I thought it was very average at best,,, gates 2 and 4 were clearly way better than 1 and 3. Used to be a fantastic track any time of season,, but I thought was pants tonight,,,, all the racing was done on a 3 metre wide track. Glad my team one,,, but personally I think it was nearly all down to who had what gates

If you didn’t have an interval you wouldn’t get any food and drink vendors at the meeting.

You two are like 5 year olds when you get going Funny though.

The BSN guys come across as an honest bunch to me, can understand the scepticism when it comes to Buster but I'm taking this at face value.

Bummer. I was going to watch that one at home and save myself £65

these are my pictures from P&P https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_womble/albums/72177720307066066

They will probably be swapping reserve position & #2 all season. Last year Blodorn spent all season at reserve, if he can maintain his average while in the main body of the team then he's doing well.

Like others have said the Nicki, Emil boost will only last a year, fans become accustom to the riders and the novelty will wear off. The professionalism of the sport as a whole is what put fans off.

You don't realise what you've got until it's gone. I bet Poland take their team line-up's for granted. Do you remember a few years back when Sky were making a big deal about Darcy Ward (I think)... hard to imagine them making the same fuss about Ben Barker's return from suspension! I for one am very happy to see the return of these "star" riders and think there's a pretty good mix at the moment in the top league as long as clubs haven't over reached themselves financially of course

Something similar happened at Lynn once after a massive pre meeting shower, the track was able to be sorted bar an area on the inside of the first two bends and they moved the white line. It was against Mildenhall so was 2006, '07 or '08 and I remember their correspondent Randall Butt having a whinge about it in the Speedway Star the week after. If it'd s choice between moving the white line or abandoning then it's a simple decision really.

Any points potentially dropped by Nicki's withdrawal were compensated for by the non exclusions of Worrall in 3 and Iversen in 4 - both clearly over the white line

Interesting that it’s almost the exact opposite to Poole where the promotion like cash on the gate. You can buy advance tickets at Poole or pay by card at one entrance. (you couldn’t for years) I believe one of the main issues promotions had is the ageing crowds who were not the sharpest when it came to buying tickets online. But those days have gone and Online ticketing is expected in everything from concerts to any sporting event. Struggling to think where I would pay cash on the gate in any other sport. But I can’t fathom out why Oxford would want to charge an extra £2 for buying an online ticket on the day of the meeting itself. Sure, they want to get money into the coffers as early as possible but £20 is more expensive than every other club and the extra £2 plus program boosts it up to £25. For the gains of getting the money in early, they lose by likely customers balking at the increase.

Iversen did very well to avoid Andersen a couple of times in that heat, Iversen was covering the chasing rider (King? I think) keeping the Witch behind him and the slower Andersen in front of him. Andersen cut across him a couple times.

Agree entirely.

Totally agree with that. Oxford speedway never reply. And its cash only for programme. Hope they get some good crowds this season. They would get a few more if they changed their admission policy.

Obviously the result is disappointing. What I found most disappointing though is that they've had all winter to fix some of the off track issues. There were problems with the lfloodlghts on home straight last season and there are still umpteen bulbs missing from the pilons. It is quite dark in the area Nicki crashed and several riders struggled to miss the soft patch. Also the sound from the tannoy was just awful, it kept breaking up, then ridiculously loud then gave up all together. Along with the delays, it wasn't a good look for opening night in front of a very big crowd.

Any bets on Pedersen not returning to Peterborough for the rest of the season?? I'm pretty sure his Polish club will be having words in his ear after tonight.

We love you Emil we doo....we love you Emil we do....we love you Emil we dooo....ohhh Emil we love you! Don't even support Ipswich. Just love the fact we've got a rider like him back on British shores

King has started this season like he did the season before last when he finished just shy of an 8 point average. If he gets back to that then the spearhead is as potent as they come. Riss and Rew chipping in too and it’ll matter little what the reserves do.

My guess Putin following the meeting on Speedway updates to see how his buddy Emil is doing lol

Sayfutdinov shouldn't even be riding. Ridiculous how Ipswich are happy to support propaganda for Putin.

Shock! Speedway mentioned in the Sunday Telegraph on the 26th complete with picture of the rider . Text stated as follows. ""Nigel Limb, a former Speedway racer who was left 90 per cent blind after a crash, on the track in Scunthorpe, Lincs, testing an electric powered speedway bike he constructed himself over the past year"

To get the speedway GP's you got to have Discovery+ with the sports package. As MD says £6.99 per month auto renewal until you cancel or £60 per year. You get loads of sports including WorldSuperBikes series, cyclo cros, other motor sports, non motor sports ie sking, plus loads of other channels, films etc. Pretty good value for money just for the speedway gp's IMO. Picture quality is good. I mostly use my TV, non smart but I have a ROKU box where I can access Disc+ app, also on my iPad which could be cast to a TV

Just a shame all the suits aren't an exact match......

What changes would you make? We will make top 4, lots of improvement in this team. Bewley Averaged 5.5 across these meetings and he's a 9 point rider, slow start for him nothing more. lidsey will add 2 to his average, I expect Tom and Norrick to Improve also, Mulford it's early days let's see where he is at mid season.

Thoroughly enjoyed that tonight we'll worth the journey. Racing was pretty decent with a couple of crackers. So as usual no gripe about the racing but as usual the running of it. If Phil Morris was there then the main thing is to get meetings started on time, get clocks for the 2 minutes like in Poland to stop the gardening, if riders arnt ready there out. Poor there was a hole on first bend but who knows maybe unavoidable. Not sure if it caused Nicki's crash. If meetings started on time and ran smoothly then no one would mind an interval. Annoying that most things speedway gets wrong could easily be put right

Aussies have always taken well to the EoES.

Laughable? Doyle and Emil had both been beaten by Basso who is a 6 point rookie. Id say its more laughable to suggest Pedersen couldnt of popped out of the gate to beat one or both of those, considering how well hes done in Poland so far this season.

Truly heartbreaking