topsoil

The fact is that Britain especially and the sport in general is not producing enough riders. Probably because the costs are so off-putting for youngsters trying to get involved. Also looks like the doubling up rule is coming back to bite clubs. Think about it, a rider gets injured, it affects more than one club, plus any countries abroad the rider may be contracted to. On a separate note, I was told some stories over the weekend, by one of the promotion, regarding the riders they have approached as replacements for the injured riders. Some of the demands being made are frightening. Some riders realise clubs are desperate and start quoting silly money. Really had my eyes opened.

Not looking forward to this result tonight, but I'm hoping that TJ can repeat his performance of last year in the cup and continue his recent good form, Richard Hall, being an ex-Tiger, still remembers the fastest way round, no doubt the captain will give his all as usual, hopefully the Fish will turn in a good performance and you never know. Plus Liam is going back to the scene of his bad injury last year. Hope he gets over any lingering nerves and does himself proud. First away meeting for Cody so not expecting much from him.

Perhaps given the situation with Ricky Ashworth, Berwick fans appreciate the cause more than most, I know I do. Something Berwick as a club can be rightly proud of, is the amount raised every year and long may it continue.

Speedway on TV is never as good as live and that is especially true at Shielfield. You stand on the apex of the first and second bend, where I watched heat 15 from last night and see four riders all attacking the first bend, or stand against the barriers at the exit of the second bend, and the riders go wide out of the corner and you can see the whites of their eyes, or stand on the banking at the entrance to the third bend and you see the speed that they carry attacking the third / fourth bend banking, then you start to appreciate what the Berwick track has, and that is raw speed. You don't get that through the TV screen. Even better, if you ever get the chance, watch it from the centre green. Up close, the speed, noise and the commitment of the riders will impress you. Again, you get nothing like that from TV. Shielfield will never produce a hell of a lot of passing, the shape of the track dictates that, especially now the bikes are getting faster. Nothing the club can do about that, the football club are the landlords. What it does produce, as I've said is raw speed and fast racing. This wasn't a party political broadcast on behalf of the club, just my opinion.

Must be something about the place when they keep coming back. I'm not complaining, there is a buzz about the town when Sky come. So why they never visit Armadale or such like? Must be a reason.

Best draw a line under this one I reckon. But to be honest this result has been coming. Depending on a guest and r/r every week is asking a lot. The damage was done in the first 5 heats, Garcia EF heat 1, Edberg EF heat 2 after leading, Fisher EF heat 3, Doolan through the tapes heat 4, TJ making his only bad start of the night on the T/R in heat 5. Lesson in gating for Berwick tonight. TJ after heat 5 was excellent, Doolan to be fair gave everything, can't ask for more than that, big differences tonight were the guests at number 1 and the reserves, Hall's worst meeting for Berwick since his comeback and Edberg looks like a rider whose confidence is shot. I'm not going to criticise him, because he's got bigger balls than me to even get on a bike, but speedway is no sport if you are not fully committed. Maybe he's had one bad injury too many? First time I have seen Robert Lambert in the flesh (apart from Saturday night) and he looks a prospect. Glad he got up from the crash, looked a nasty one. I know a lot on here are going to laugh when I say this but there was actually some good racing here tonight. It always amazes me the comments after Sky meetings on here. Every meeting for the past few weeks has been slated. Reading the comments after these meeting you wonder why anybody watches at all. Sheffield away tomorrow night (oh dear) and then I hope there is a big improvement for Ipswich on Saturday. Tonight was the first of four big meetings in a week. Three more performances like that tonight and things will go south very quickly.

Doesn't have to be specifically either of the promoters, but they will have connections, friends, relatives, even employees, who could do the simple job of handing out flyers for an hour or so. If you want to do something you will find a way. This is a big chance for Berwick to showcase themselves to a wider audience. Getting as big a crowd as possible into the stadium would help that, influencing both prospective fans and sponsors.

Good point made above about Scunthorpe being vital regarding the amateur scene and practice sessions. It is one of the few facilities in the country to offer this. Another reason why it is vital the track is kept open.

Just from being in the town centre at dinner time the past couple of days, I've noticed it's been busy with tourists, now the Scottish school holidays have started. Not a hell of a lot else to do in Berwick on a Wednesday night, could have been an opportunity for somebody from the club to get over to the town centre today and spread the word about the meeting tonight.

Best thing speedway can do is distance itself from the arms race riders are dragged into. Too many NL and PL standard riders see what the GP riders have, with their 'teams' of mechanics and stable of bikes and think they need the same. They spend far too much money tuning bikes to get that last drop of energy out and as a result costs are rocketing. I have to admit I have little or no mechanical knowledge, but there has to be some mileage in looking at engine limiters or the like. If GP riders want to spend a fortune on their bikes for the GPs then let them. But it's up to them to cover their own costs. Hopefully this would go a long way to reducing costs.

As has been pointed out above several times, speedway is a very expensive sport to participate in, it's like twenty or so years ago, when most of the riders were homegrown and had relatively little equipment. Nowadays riders are flying all over Europe and have spare bikes and often full-time mechanics. It's an arms race to keep equipment at the highest standard. There are two options, reduce costs by reducing the standards, going with riders with poorer equipment and less running costs, or continuing with expensive equipment and somehow finding large amounts of sponsorship income to fund it (e.g. Formula One). Both choices have pros and cons. It's up to each individual promotion to decide what is right for them.

They should keep the suits for sky, see what "whooooooaaaaa" Kelvin and Nigel think of them :-)

Are British tracks too narrow to handle any amount of grip? Continental tracks seem to be much wider and riders going in at greater sppeds have further to travel to the fence. Handy when you have a stadium for speedway alone.

Jeez that looks quick. Not really watched much longtrack but it looks flat out.

Hopefully he will be part of the long term future of the club. I know I am going against everything in speedway's nature and looking to the future, but he looks a fine prospect.

Just write off the rest of the season then? And if next season doesn't start off well, will we just write that off as well?

Wasn't many passing moves tonight, Morris on Jorgensen heat 15, Fisher passing Lawson then Lawson re-passing him heat 10, Garcia passing Williamson heat 8, Doolan passing Morris (heat 13 I think but don't quote me). But for once Berwick riders were making the gate. Very pleased with the win, great weather, three points, decent crowd, good travelling support. The big difference was the reserves. Really pleased for Liam Carr, big pay day tonight after his horrible injury last year. Big performances from Doolan, who has been in great form since midway through last season and TJ who has been an inspired signing. Cody Garcia will need time. Hopefully he will be given it. The only disappointment is that he hasn't been out getting extra laps in after the meetings in the last two weeks. An NJL meeting on tonight, but Ryan Fisher still managed time to test an engine.

Nowhere near. This is going to be a very tough meeting tonight, even with depleted reserves for Glasgow. They still have a strong top end, Morris, Lawson, Summers, David Howe decent even though still a bit rusty.

Beautiful day for first day of pre-season training (oh joy) and hopefully it stays this way for tonight, can't beat speedway in the sunshine

Answer is there isn't an answer, not in the short term. Possibly go to six man teams next season to reduce the number of riders needed? Long term solution (speedway doesn't do long term thinking) get more young riders involved (eg NJL) but these boys will take a few years to come through. Until then...?

Jeanzi, one rider who has been talked about in the Speedway Star is Jye Etheridge, who is supposedly coming over to Britain this summer to put himself in the shop window. Have you seen him? what sort of level would you rate him? Any other good riders coming through in Australia, who have hit a rich seam lately?

Very dangerous to bring in a new "asset" who may be untried at this stage of the season and given the current state of the club. Far better to continue with guests, or a proven rider like Seb Alden. The club can't afford to have a "settling in" period for any riders, too many fans would vote with their feet, this could be fatal. I see in the Speedway Star Jake Allen won an individual meeting in Australia last week, beating Mason Campton and Ty Proctor in the final. In an ideal world it would be nice to bring in the likes of Jake Allen, building the asset base for the future, but the club can't afford to take any risks.

In the Speedway Star today that Richie Hawkins has been released by Ipswich. Not suggesting him as a replacement for Ben Barker, but he's an ex-Berwick rider and was impressive when Ipswich were up here in the Cup. A decent rider to have lower down the team?

Thought Seb had retired? Is he still riding? Really good round Shielfield in his day.

Why are the Glasgow reserves missing, is it the World U21s? If that is the case then Alex Edberg should pick up more points this week. The way Palovaara and Berge were going last night at Peterborough I think they would have a massive advantage at reserve if they are here.