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For me the core product is very good, it is just the nonsense rules that prevent the actual leagues from ever being taken seriously... How the hell can anyone take seriously Peterborough's Bomber helping Ipswich to beat Belle Vue in the Semi, and then helping Sheffield beat Ipswich in the Final? You simply cannot market that.... Less riders per team would mean more riders to replace injured ones, so guests could be eradicated if the will was there .. A fit for purpose RR facility would also mean no need for guests... Development should be the 2nd Divs priority not Div 1, and clear demarcation within the leagues should always exist so the top league can be marketed as "Elite"... Every sport needs a "flagship" league that sells the sport with the other leagues feeding off it.. National generic marketing has to be the biggest opportunity. Huge amounts are spent on riders, very few of which bring a big crowd in, yet very, very little is spent on marketeers who may be able to put some bums on seats... Being able to take league racing seriously first though is needed before any money is spent hiring any marketing companies...

He's expensive, but he's really reliable, has immense experience and can help the rest of the team and provide a composed figure in the pits - which we need. I think his off-bike value is gold for the rest of the team.

Our problem with Marcin was that his Polish team rode on Saturdays and practice was Fridays, which he missed due to riding at Glasgow and was fined by his Polish club for missing practice. Marcin was hugely popular at Glasgow and was improving week on week, especially when you think that his first meeting at Berwick he struggled to get round and scored zero, his last meeting he scored a faultless maximum. His Polish club at that time were doing well and had reached the playoffs, and as he was captain of the team they recalled him and we were left a bit in the lurch, fortunately it worked out well with signing Tarasenko, would never have happened if Marcin had stayed.

Technically doesn't have to happen again, Scunny would settle for 44 points lol!

Out on the very same limb as they were in 1970 to 1981 and 1999 to 2018......during both of those periods I recall very much of seeing a great many away followers at Derwent Park....then enjoying a pint with many post meeting. Workington is not on Mars ok.???

This year, second string, yes. At 38 points, Connor might be a heat leader, but at the least, a strong second string. We've all got to adjust our expectations of who fits where. Half the heat leaders might be unemployed next year, and will come back in 2025 to replace the 2024 heat leaders, whose averages will increase so much they become unemployable.

Just been announced that Workington are moving up to the championship.

Who paid for air fences when they were introduced? The club will have to foot the cost. In any other sport it would be seen as an investment to mitigate future financial losses. Unfortunately the people in speedway cannot see beyond next week. How about Premiership clubs spending some money on covers instead of paying money they can barely afford to so called GP level big hitters who show next to no commitment to British Speedway. Nah, of course not.

It's October, why is anyone surprised at this scenario? Just maybe, if nobody turned up because they don't want to risk wasting time and money, you might get a season that ends at the end of August or mid September when you have half a chance of seeing riders race on a half decent track and without being sat at home, race rusty, for the last few weeks before going into a 'final'. It's not rocket science.

I have nothing against NDL racing and have, in the past, frequently championed the third tier. As a regular at places like Isle of Wight, Mildenhall, Belle Vue and Scunthorpe over the years, I have seen - and often greatly appreciated - the NDL. The new Workington track is superb and a great credit to Andrew Bain and Steve Lawson. The NDLRC should be the showpiece event of the year with all the league's top riders taking part. By my calculation, there are just 4 of the top 16 that should be there, and Belle Vue and Oxford are sending riders who aren't even in the teams top 5. That's not good enough.

Come on young man even you know in your position he only says to the dwindling masses what others have decided. Even if he disagrees he has to go with the majority

Simmo summed him up in his book...DJ would cut corners to save money and it proved costly more than once.

Poole have a good record at restructuring teams when necessary. I suspect that whatever the points limit they will prove more astute than their rivals at putting together a septet under the new points limit whatever it is.

It was two seasons, 1997 and 1998.

Both 4.00 in prem so I'm working off current conversion rate being 6.00

Or Chris Holder on his 7.16 Premiership average (using the Taresenko rule….If it’s ok for one team it’s ok for all teams!!!).

Poole out on a limb for the Comets and other northern and Scottish teams as well but the comets supporters will be down to see you UTC

yeah big simon will come show you pirates how its done

Naa I usually gather what the meeting was like coming on this forum haha

We should be ok. Both Cooks are in low averages. Lawson keeps his low by working on it. Rowe just over 5. Bring in Cerniak and Dominic Kubera on 5 point averages and we will be fine.

I'm sure Poole will be the happier of the two teams, but this is far from over, given Scunthorpe drew at Poole in the play-offs.

I'd suggest that not riding Monmore every week will do him the world of good too.

lucky super si hit the air fence!

Great win for Conor , 2 big titles for him

But he was 5 times world long track champion, that may have been the problem. Not all could do both speedway and long track at the very top level. Seems like Simon Wigg was one of them. Get hold of his book if you can, a very good read.

So, in that case, if the riders can't be bothered, why should the fans? Got to feel sorry for Workington promotion. It's probably costing them money to host the event and the field doesn't really have a Riders Championship feel to it, so fans might choose to stay away. On top of that, there is a big announcement after the meeting and IF it is that they are moving up to Championship level, they appear to have little choice as, if it is to be believed, there will be no NDL next season. Just hope they aren't being asked to move up too quickly as it could all end in tears, but I really hope not.

I really don't know about the drainage but I do know that drying conditions in October ain't what they are earlier in the year with hours of daylight and the strength of the sun etc. There was a lot of rain in Friday and if that's stuck in the shale without those summertime drying conditions it's always going to take longer to dry out

Clubs pay for them - nowhere near the expense of an air fence, which became mandatory At the track Don't need to be fixed to the air fence, weigh them down with used tyres Costs likely to be recouped by not postponing a single meeting

I think Danyon Hume fits better average-wise, especially as I don't see us running a 2 or 3-pointer at reserve. I think Ace and Lee both come back.

Apparently so.

100%, however what we have is pretty much all there will be.. Some tracks are "playthings" of the promoters who choose to spend big amounts on it.. This means that winning or losing doesnt make much difference to them as they will keep subsidising their "hobby".. Some tracks are the actual business of the promoter so they need to make money.. Meaning getting a "winning team" is paramount regardless of what entertainment value is on offer, or what integrity impacting rules some may need to try and circumnavigate to get that winning team.. The bottom line issue is very much a chicken and egg situation in that the sport needs big outside money to come into it, either via league or club sponsorship, or via a bigger TV deal... However, given the often "Mickey Mouse" way the sport is ran, you haven't a hope in hell of any major nationally well known businesses wanting to tie their brand to it... Hence, those well meaning, but ultimately bereft of the required skill set, "amateurs" will continue to try and run a professional sport... Doing "their best" i am sure, but with the inevitable outcome...

And remember how after last year Leicester assured us they had sorted out their drainage problems. Do you think that might have been wishful thinking?

They are making an announcement today apparently, after the NLRC.

Surely Phil Morris has only been appointed as 'Chief Executive of Premiership Speedway' rather than the whole sport.?! His main aims, certainly initially, were to improve the presentation (promotion?) by all Premiership clubs for Eurosport/Discovery TV. I'm sure there is a Monty Python quote somewhere - "he's not the Messiah.....................?" (I forget the rest!)

Tai definitely added to the crowds at Sheffield when he came back

Agreed, but the problems with British Speedway (and many other sports) are wide ranging and fairly complex and the time for radical change has sadly long gone. The opportunities missed due to poor management and navel gazing can not be changed with a silver bullet. I have little confidence that Phil Morris has the acumen or authority to make a significant difference. Back woodsman Godfrey clearly wants to bring down the sport down to his clubs level as frankly he hasn’t the capability or vision to raise the sports profile. Where do we go from here? Well we are past the point of no return and short of a miracle and an investment of many many millions of pounds I fear British speedway will continue to slowly spiral into oblivion.

That’s just the norm these days in all Championship Individual Events.Riders doas they please.

In the GP era, I would say Ryan Sullivan, Mikael Max/Karlsson, Andreas Jonsson might all reflect they could have done better. All were capable. In the 1980s, Dennis Sigalos was at least on a par with Nielsen and Gundersen before a career-ending injury. I'd also pick out Lance King as another who could have done better. Great first season in UK in 82, World Finalist in 83, one ride from the title in 84 and third place, he looked destined to be a major force for years. But I think the averages did for him, when Cradley had to pick between him and Gundersen and his career just seemed to lose momentum after that. I think if he would have had that settled base at Cradley like Penhall before him and Gundersen, Hamill and Hancock, then he would have done a lot better than he ultimately did. At a lower level, I think Mark Courtney had all the ability, but not the application. As for Dave Jessup, I agree with Simmo on the engine failures, it was too frequent on big occasions to be down to pure bad luck (78 WF, 81 WFx2, 82 WF, 81 WTC, 83 WTC). And if he HAD won his first ride in 78, would he have held it together for the rest of the meeting? I don't know...when he did win his crucial first ride in 1980 against Lee, he dropped points thereafter.

I think he would hsve done. Scored a max in the world pairs final as well iiirc, and was favourite for the final. Drew two heats in gate 3 which scored only around 19pts all night...always needed a little luck to be world champ, and he never had it.

He won the British Semi Final at Sheffield, the British Final, the Commonwealth Final and came 6th in the Intercontinental Final.

If the 1980 World Championship had been run on GP lines he may well have been champion rather than Michael Lee? DJ dominated the qualifying rounds if I recall?

A lot of fuss over Thompson & Ablitt riding at Scunthorpe but I don't understand why that means there are nine changes

You say squandering - I say utilising With your thinking you don't have the top riders which means you don't have the TV and sponsor money That evens out but then you have the 200 less fans which means the clubs are 200 lots of admission money worse off All is well though as we get to see Simon Lambert instead of Emil Sayfutdinov........ (Apologies to Simon - just the first name that came to mind )

The "honour" of being it's last winner?

2 hours round trip in the car and eighteen quid to watch . . . . . . . a parade. Ridiculous. The sport sure knows how to shoot itself in the foot. Several Peterborough fans there tonight, testing the water it would seem, I’ll bet they weren’t impressed.

The reality is that there is no clear direction, hence teams can pick and choose what level to race in, as and when it suits them.. Those in the top flight deserve the TV money as they are the ones that get covered.. Unfortunately, more teams in the top league would dilute that money, therefore it isn't viable for many teams to even consider it.. What we have is hanging on by a thread if you use the last ten years worth of track closures and defections as a barometer of the next decade to come... Maybe now Phil Morris has a full season (and pre season), he can make a fundamental difference.. Without a clear generic growth plan for the sport as a whole though, it will not work.. Sheffield and Glasgow won their respective leagues but it has hardly raised a ripple of publicity nationally... But, next year, if nothing changes, every track will no doubt, once again, try and ensure they can manipulate success by using some ill conceived, ambiguously written regulation that let's them have some success.. Whilst, all the while, diluting any kudos in winning, and preventing wider mainstream coverage, by their very insular focused actions.. UK Speedway sadly thinks small time, insular, and short term, and that isn't ever going to grow it organically, generically and nationally... Putting an extra 200 on one tracks gate due to their "success" really isn't progress.. Putting 200 on every track, however small that still may be, is... And may start some momentum for further growth..

I think I'm correct in that Dean Barker was once Charlotte's partner?

Getting proof of attendance at any speedway meeting is like counting hens teeth You'd have the same issue trying to prove my claim isnt true They aren't the saviours although they would have more chance of being so if it weren't for to the woeful way the sport is administrated As for them draining the money I don't agree. That largely comes from TV and individual sponsors who in general wouldn't put that money in for a run of the mill alternative

Just to Thank BSN for coverage this season, really well done, brilliant quality pictures and a nice relaxing way it’s is presented.Outstanding value for money. WELL DONE GUYS.

I genuinely hope not.