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Finally made it last night - very impressed with the set up there - the track was bladed etc after heat 2 and then after that produced some really good racing. Its a shame its a 2 hr drive for me as I would be tempted to go more regularly but its a great set up and sat in the grandstand on a warm sunny evening watching a 45-45 draw with quite a lot of overtaking I was very happy!

Up until a few years ago I never missed a meeting home or away,, now I hardly ever go,, once this year so far. I'm sure I will be the same next year. Same old teams every few weeks, racing more or less non existent, no real characters you look forward to seeing, presentation still the same as 50 years ago, just bored of it now. 25 quid to stand around getting bored doesn't do it for me

Following the Bates announcement on Monday, it's clear that the Premiership can't continue to exist in its current form in 2027. In the past 18 months we've lost Oxford and Birmingham and it seems certain that Sheffield won't be back for another year. Decades of the sport's mismanagement has finally come to a head. Bending over backwards to comply with an agenda dictated by Poland has had its day. British speedway needs to set its own agenda and not kowtow to foreign stipulations. If it means saying a permanent goodbye to riders preferring to seek their fortunes elsewhere, so be it. For survival we need a single nationwide league of 12/14 teams of riders committed 100% to British racing between March and October. A 24/26 match league programme plus a further 8/10 matches in a split north-south KO cup competition will guarantee teams a weekly match programme (just as it used to be!) The loss of a few "fancy-Dan" racers to Poland will mean much more money available to the rest who wish to compete in the UK, and a sensible rider payment policy will provide ample earnings potential for riders over a guaranteed 36-match season. It now really is a battle for survival of the sport; was it Einstein who said that to go on doing the same things expecting different results is the definition of madness?

Its hard to knock him really. Shows hes a grafter. Plastering alone is a physically demanding job and riding in two leagues plus abroad , hes making a very decent living for himself.

Yes back up running. Unfortunaley had to go back to backup from several days ago.

First time for me, too. Very impressed with the set-up -- well-marshalled parking, friendly staff, good infrastructure with food/drink/merchandise etc all readily availableand an interesting programme. Problems with the new material on track led to a loooong delay, but communication with the crowd was good and the racing afterwards was excellent. Interesting to see a lot of fans, both adults and children, in Foxes shirts. Encouraging to see this response as the club tries to build its own fan base and not rely on Coventry and Peterborough supporters getting their fix, welcome as they no doubt are. The blue/orange/white colours are striking and the fox logo is a very clever design, immediately attractive to children but with plenty of character and detail to swing adults too. Full marks on that one. If I have a mild criticism it is that the stadium comes over as a tad functional at the moment. Even the odd tub of flowers would help there. But overall a really good and very welcome addition to the sport. Special kudos to the very young and very diligent litter pickers in action on bends one and two, they were great!

2026 as been a hard watch and that started from november 25, a winter of discontent not knowing what structure will be, lost lots of fans before a wheel was even turned, and they not done anything to entice them back. i remember dicko saying they will be sorting 2027 out very early during the seasoon, well we are nearer the end of the season and nothing about 27 as been mentioned, set out a plan that fans believe in and you might just entice these people back, fans are out there, thats the frustrating thing. before they start trying to bring new fans in they need to bring back the fans that have walked away, start of by securing a TV deal, thats a masisve loss of money for the clubs, plus people easily forget the sport is still going when all the domestic league racing is behind a paywall that only existing fans know about. no one knows the figures of BSN or the clubs private streams but they are deffo having an impact on attendances, yes clubs are still getting money with them watching at home but they lose out on parking money, food and drink and merchandise sales, so they must be taking a massive financial kick in the bollocks with it. scrap streaming need a new vision, Rob Godfrey has to stand down, which i think will be this year, if they can, while hes not everybodys cup of team, and tbh, i see him as a guy that will leave the sport and never be seen again, but try tempt Tai to run the sport in uk, hes got no ties with any club, and we know his marketing value is very good. leads me perfectly to marketing, or lack of it, constantly asking fans to spread the word about speedway, i think most fans do that anyway but your job as a promotor is to promote, and it seems no one does, Plymouth are doing a fanstastic job of it. that old saying, speculate to accumulate, advertising is not cheap but if it gets you an extra 100 people through the door at £25 thats £2,500 extra every week, add on top of that drinks and other sales. Ask Mark Phillips what hes doing and plymouth and follow his ideas, he seems to be upping his crowd. dont do one league, every sport needs a top league to sell, put the points limit up and go back to the old style , 45 point limit for 7 riders, scrap the RS and put it in the champ. prepare your tracks better and you will see an influx of riders return, riders want to race uk but they dont trust track prep when you speak to them or hear what they have to say on various podcasts. season tickets should be discounted like ipswich have done. sell the season ticket valued at £20 per match, and give them the option to pay monthly, starting from november, atmosphere is missing totally, each track have a certain area in the stadium where fans can congregate and make some noise, start meetings on time, and make sure they last no more than 90 minutes (crashes dependent) regular fixtures, far to many teams going 4-5 weeks without a home match, should be 2 weeks at most re-brand the play offs, i like the Denmark way of doing it, whoever finishes top of regular season ride the final at there track in a 4TT, or make it top team straight to the final and 2nd and 3rd team if a play off tie for the final we all want weekend racing, but we just cant do that unfortunately, the top league need to ride all matches on Mondays, this is uk race night, there will be no clashes with any team in europe and gives clubs' full availability to all riders fort every match, dont scrap the guests but limit the amount of times you can use a guest,

I think you're right. Speedway has bred a generation of riders who want to have their cake and eat it: they want to earn their bread and butter in the UK leagues and chase the Polish Zloty to put the jam on top. This forces the British promoters to dance to the Polish tune when trying to plan the home fixture list. This can't go on. We've blamed the promoters for years for the mess we're in, but nobody points the finger at the greedy riders whose jet-setting international ambitions leave the promoters tearing their hair out week after week to put on a do-able programme of racing. If British speedway is to survive, 2027 has to be the year when we revert to a single nationwide league (see my previous posting) and riders are forced to decide: either sign a contract to race exclusively for one of the 15 teams in a revived British speedway league, or clear off and ply their trade elsewhere. I reckon the promise of 36+ guaranteed matches per season without the need for expensive international travel - albeit in a slightly less competitive league - will be more than attractive to the vast majority of riders. For the rest we're probably better off without them. And for those people who always argue that there aren't sufficient riders around to run a 15-team league without doubling up, it may come as a surprise to learn that the list of registered riders on the BSL website runs to 249 names. It's time for speedway to bite the bullet or face the inevitable.

This is such an uplifting forum. When I’m feeling a bit down I love coming on here to read everyone’s cheery positive thoughts on the ol Speedway 😁

I'll still attend, probably until the bitter end, but I'll no longer be attending matches where a rider has decided that he'd rather be elsewhere. Dan Thompson did that when Lions visited Sheffield earlier in the year and I made my protest then by not attending. Injuries are part and parcel of the sport, but riders not showing for their clubs due to riding or being sat in the pits elsewhere is the final straw for me. The reasons why attendances are down are numerous and have all been discussed ad infinitum across this forum, so I'm not going to rehash them

Didn’t even know there was another forum, with this one being down for the last 3/4 days I wondered if like British Speedway its days were numbered. Despite a very small minority who try to spoil it for everyone else, this platform is very important and it would be a big loss if there wasn’t something like this for fans to have a debate of exchange views on.

It simply doesn't matter what they come up with if hardly anyone from the 80 million people in the UK know that you exist... What does a Premiership team cost? £350k a year maybe??. Shave off £50k and pay someone that money to work full time to run your marketing and commercial operations, plus running the "fan experience" on the night itself... With their remit to bring in a tangible extra £100k a season in sponsorship, and attendance increases... Give them full remit to do "whatever they need to", to get, at least, 2500 in the stadium... Free tickets, reduced tickets, database collation, even direct cold call marketing, their role will be to get the team noticed and get "new" money into the club... The more who attend, the better the atmosphere as we know, currently any "newbie" attending would have been in louder, more atmospheric libraries.. You can pay out six figures for a top two world class riders who, due to their small public profiles, will bring in hardly anyone extra to watch, or pay someone a decent figure, (with performance bonus), to get them noticed , and then bring people in to watch them.... I visited a pub on Monday to meet up with an old workmate, a pub I had never used before... I signed up to use their WIFI... Within 24 hours I had a 15% off voucher emailed to me for this Sunday in their restaurant, and thanking me for my custom... The circa 3000 or so who still follow most Premiership teams, should all be known to "someone" at the club,(via the clubs database), and that "someone" then keeps constantly communicating and doing anything, and everything, they can to encourage repeat visits... 500 empty seats just get colour faded in the sunshine... 500 full ones, even at a tenner each, will bring in £50k over a season, and create far more of an "event feel" and atmosphere, plus increase bar, food and merchandise takings... UK Speedway brings in big money in relation to its size, and pays out even more!! It needs to redistribute the money going out to people who could help bring more people in.. And currently, that isn't the riders..

Doesn't make you any less of an idiot.

👋 Surely the likes of Dan Thompson can't make a living from watching Speedway sat in the pits in Poland? And he needs to remember that when signing his contracts.

Needs to be moderated properly to stop the same few people having multi aliases and posting up garbage on nearly every thread, gets a bit boring after a while😬

I agree about the new forum, looked horrible and didn't like the way the pages were presented so am glad this site is back up and running.

Well have to say last night he rode more like the Batch I remember - quick away from the gate and mixing it very well - scored 11 too! Great meeting

I've given up, posted not long ago about how I haven't attended any meetings this year. Shame and sad. Reason one is money, I'm saving and losing speedway hasn't bothered me too much in the slightest, I only miss the chit chat. Speedway is now expensive to attend. Reason two is the lack of importance, Its sad that I don't care if my team wins the cup this year. I honestly couldn't give a monkeys about it. I could probably put another dozen reasons why I've given up but all of it has been mentioned previously. Until they implement real change I'm not going back. What does the change look like? I'm not sure but I want them to TRY something new at least. Its still the same boring usual suspects in the play offs with the same teams on crap tracks followed by tractor racing. God I could rant on but you don't need to read it. Oh and for those supporters still claiming the premiership is necessary, just look at your attendances, how many clubs are closing or losing money and if the sport is better off with it. I personally have completely given up with it. The premiership DOESNT WORK.

I personally don't think that any rider who is going to be absent for a certain percentage of meetings in a season should be permitted to ride in a league whoever they are. Injury can't be helped but one of the things which gets up people's noses more than anything IMO is facilities for riders who are raving elsewhere and not for the team they signed for.

Easy home win

The kicker on here is if I had gone on about free tickets that have been and are given out or discounted offers, all of which haven’t worked in the long term, someone would have replied with, “why don’t you try leaflets”? Maybe we should let everyone in for nowt like Lakeside did as that ended well. With regards the emails to the fan base, they have gone out to drum up business for Sunday as they often do and around 100 posts a month go on facebook and are duplicated on other platforms. My opinion is that most people think speedway as a regular biweekly event is a no go but a bank holiday speed fest is fine. Mondays meeting was boring and the dust wasn’t great so any newbies there would be unlikely to return. This happens occasionally and if you’re not hooked then it’s easy to give up as most people now enjoy staying in. It’s comfortable, the food & booze is cheap and the travel time to bed is hard to beat. If we could have plugged ourselves into social media or 100’s of TV channels in the 70’s & 80’s then we would have done so with the only pull being a special one off event coming to town every now an then.

You'll go where I tell us to go, sorry we

I'm going to Leicester though... how can we be at 2 different places at once?

Yep he is the blue print for any UK rider that realises they won't reach the gp aside from needing to work on his presentation skills when turning up for a meeting he has played the game like a finely tuned fiddle in both leagues in the UK.

Doesn't Lawson work as a plasterer as well? If so good on him for earning a living away from the sport. At least he isn't one of these teenager prima donnas who get everything top of the range and turn up and span yet do sod all on track.

They will certainly have plenty of meetings left to do that... Good planning on their part... If you want a run of fixtures close together, it is best to do it as the season ends, as the fan attendance momentum you build then lasts into the play offs... Ending your racing around the end of July/early August, even if you qualify for the play offs, will lose momentum with the fans... "See you in a month for the play offs" isn't a marketing person's dream..

This will change

I expect the forum yo stay as it is with some changes to moderation.

Technical errors happen and people just need to have some patience while things are being fixed.

When was the last downtime before this time and how many times the past year?

Technical errors happens on most websites/forums like this. Doesn't mean it will be taken down.

And keep them to a minimum. R/R has to be compulsory apart from for your number 1 or a reserve, but replace reserves with unattached Champ riders. And on the Championship don't allow riders like McDairmid to sign in the first place if they are never going to be here.

My record this year: Klint testimonial- racing curtailed Lynn home meeting - off because it might rain. Young Stars off - air fence did a runner Lynn v Northampton-dreadful in terms of racing Y Stars - off. Track staff ill. My patience has been sorely tried. 8 hrs round trip but I stay in hotel and hope for seeing two meetings in 3 days. I have scrubbed Young Stars from now on. Been had twice - there won’t be a third time. As to next year, there needs to be big changes for me to spend the money I have this year for little return.

Yep and you reap what you sow. Don’t start bemoaning that punters have walked when you failed to listen to feedback. All on here and probably some lapsed supporters would not want the sport to disappear altogether but those in charge are testing the loyalty and patience of supporters across the spectrum. They do not appeal to the younger generation and are ostracising the hard core fan base who have been so loyal over the years by failing to be proactive to arrest the situation and put the sport on a firmer footing. None so blind as those who do not want to see sums up the BSPL and club owners/promoters who believe everything in the garden is rosey. Dream on the bunch of custodians who supposedly have the best interest of sport at heart, they don’t and they are failing every supporter and worse still every aspiring rider who wants to succeed but is not given the breaks they need or deserve.

...More depressing than a Smiths album cover!

Don't be so mean Iain Kind Reageds Iain

Because it's 2026 and not 1986

Where do live mate?.. I'll be around about seven tomorrow...

That's a good quality reserve.

Until speedway has a credible product it will be difficult to get the tv coverage it needs. You won’t attract a decent sponsor until the tv deal is in place. we need two equal sized leagues with promotion and relegation so all meetings are relevant. Champions of the league decided by who tops the league and play offs for promotion and relegation. for this to truly work it must be run by a independent board with financial backing for the teams getting promoted to not only survive but to actually compete with the others

Crowds will probably return for the pay offs (the effort matches)... and who can blame them? Where's the jeopardy in the rest of the league meetings when the top 4 in a league of 6 qualify🤷‍♂️ It's truly laughable! Although, perversely, the injury to Jack Holder has probably made Sheffield's season a bit more interesting with King's Lynn on their heels for the final pay off slot.

Does this mean you'll be leaving the forum? 🤞😉

Kennett guesting for Poole at Scunthorpe, at reserve

then in 2027 we can hope everyone limps through to 2028 and repeat

He is a true old National Leaguer in many ways - combined both and probably did / does pretty well out of it. Means he has an income out of season too.

He is actually, possibly, the perfect kind of rider the UK version of the sport needs.... A part time Speedway rider.. Six months work riding Speedway, 12 months doing some other job...

Doesn't Lawson work as a plasterer as well? If so good on him for earning a living away from the sport. At least he isn't one of these teenager prima donnas who get everything top of the range and turn up and span yet do sod all on track.

Wow!! Marketing....????? Who knew?????