topsoil

Seems to be some "big announcements" all over the place these days. Joking aside, is there a doubt over the future at Armadale? I am aware that the promotion up there has lost money in previous years. Shows how bad things are, if even the top teams in the league are struggling financially.

You and Armadale are made for each other

It was obvious that Woffinden and Hancock were a lot quicker than the others, but what made it so entertaining was that Woffinden very rarely made the gate. Some of the moves he pulled on the first / second bends and even later were outstanding. The dominant performances here and Gorzow reminded me of Rickardsson in his prime.

Probably a few more you can add to that list. Must be only a handful of clubs who are certain of running next year.

King's Lynn to hold another shared event?

But to fit Darcy Ward in the team, they had to let either Howarth or Zengota go. Tough choice, but how could you turn down the chance to sign Darcy Ward? Could have been heat of the moment stuff after losing the PLRC? He did say 2/3 of his earnings came from the Premier League. Is he going to give that up to take a chance on Poland? The GB fan in me wants to see him show some ambition. But the Berwick fan in me would miss that pantomime villain and the feeling you get when one of the Berwick riders beats him.

I've seen some photos and reports of meetings back then, especially in the London area, with huge crowds. Absolutely amazing. Like I say, fewer distractions back then. Post-war years (I am told) people just wanted to get out and do stuff.

On a 4.45 average Matty Wethers would be a steal for Shielfield, as his performance for Workington a couple of weeks ago showed.

If you only look at record attendances as a benchmark, then you have to consider that most of these were set in the days where standing on terraces was allowed and crowds were crammed in like sardines. Plus you look at any sport or form of entertainment back in the 1950s as you have quoted and crowds would be larger, there was less distractions from TV and son on back then. I was referring to the advent of the playoffs, if you look back to when these were introduced to other sports, it certainly hasn't done them any harm.

Never going to happen as long as it's at the Millenium Stadium, got rugby internationals and other uses for the stadium to fit around. But personally I don't have a problem with it being June / July every year. Most other sports have a set calendar and are happy with it. Formula One for instance, most of the GPs tend to be at the same time each year.

Crowds have dropped because speedway has failed to move with the times and provide entertainment. Football, rugby league, rugby union, all have playoffs in some sort or other, have they suffered a drop in crowds? Speedway crowds have dropped because they are not attracting young fans in any numbers. Too many times we hide behind guests, r/r, double up, playoffs as excuses why speedway has declined.

I used to meet Michal Makovsky in the local gym quite often and when he used to shake my hand I honestly thought he was going to crush it. Many years of hanging onto a speedway bike did wonders for his forearms #popeye He's right in a lot of ways. Berwick does have good stadium facilities, better than a lot of teams in all three divisions. Berwick also has, believe it or not, a decent fan base, who are very loyal. Lets face it, the club hasn't been used to success, so there's no way the fans can be termed glory grabbers who will only follow a winning team. That core just needs to built on a) by increasing the weekly attendance through locals and holidaymakers during the summer. He is also right that the sport in general and not just Berwick needs to look at how it can build itself up again. If you can fill arenas to watch darts then you should be able to work wonders with speedway, noise, power, speed, it has the ingredients, just needs somebody to put it all together.

I like the optimism. Lets hope so.

There was talk a while back on here, about supporters paying a monthly donation. Did anything ever come of that? Does anybody know if the idea was put towards the promotion? An option to consider if no new owners are found surely.

I just want speedway back in 2016, then I'll think about the make up of the team.

Much as though I would love to see the meeting at Berwick because it would give me another week of live speedway after the Under 19 meeting, I really cannot see it. I originally thought it would go to Scunthorpe, because I thought it was Peterborough and Ipswich in the final, along with Newcastle and Edinburgh, but my bad, I didn't realise Somerset are there instead. With that in mind I would think Leicester is the more likely venue.

yip, I know that has been part of speedway for years and yes it does anger a lot of fans. The part of it that really annoyed me was Gary Havelock looking at the cameras and wanting Kildemand thrown out the meeting. I'm all for a rider being fined in a case like that, it was obvious he knew what he was doing. The little I watch of football, my pet hate is when I see players trying to influence referees into sending off an opponent. That's what Havelock reminded me of. My other pet hate about the sport. Especially in the light of injuries in the sport. I suppose it can be an immediate action and I know there is a difference between a spectacular crash and a rider simply sliding off, but I just hate anybody cheering a crash of any kind.

Can't Sheffield do Saturday nights? If not it would be a pity. Been a couple of times for the PLRC and I think it's the ideal venue.

That's okay if you live close, but it means a very late night / early morning for fans travelling any distance. If you want a night meeting better making it a Saturday.

You seem sure of our fate You seem sure of our fate

I've heard a few riders accuse opponents of this lately and I would hate to see this coming into speedway, but one thing I can't understand why you would want to fall off a fast bike, even if it is to get an opponent excluded. It's not like falling on grass.

Thanks for the confirmation.

No, I don't like the fact he is trying to get a rider thrown out of a meeting. Everybody is entitled to an opinion, just don't like that sort of tactic. Anyway, he first said it while looking at the TV monitor in the pits, as soon as he saw there was a camera pointing at him, he did a throat-slitting gesture and said "throw him out the meeting". He then said it to Chris Louis in the interview.

He does a really good job with the mascots at the introductions. You would like to think so. Obviously every decision they make won't be the approval of all the fans, but at least you would like to think that they were having long, hard discussions about how to improve the product.

Doesn't matter when or where he said it, I hate to see it.