Hackett

My two children are 6 and 9 and they love the sport but then I guess there is a fair part of "peer pressure" from the parents. Currently the cost isn't an issue as at Eastbourne kids go FREE - !!! They enjoy the chance to go into the pits and see the riders and look and sit on the bikes. Cameron Woodward was excellent advertisement for the sport and my daughter would draw him pictures for his pitwall. Hans Andersen was another that was good with photo opportunities with kids in the pits. The IT Eagles riders last year offered photo opportunities all the time. The moment Tai Woffinden took time to have his photo with my children at Arlington they were his fans for life ... Teams need to do more. Attracting new kids has to be all about marketing , visiting schools showing them the bikes , montages of racing, overtakes crashes with music. Better merchandise - track shops are generally an embarrassment. Proper merchandise kids size shirts and not at £45+ or looking like somebody has used a job lot of cheap tshirts or caps. The sport needs to be more pro-active - Get the Elite League or clubs to be allowed to put footage out on You Tube. Each club be pro-active and be allowed to put VT out there - Cleancut , Re-Run GRT Media all film meetings sure they could do some great editing to music and put it out on a clubs official You Tube page. SpeedwayGP, Greg Hancock, Tai Woffinden and SEC do a decent job - British Speedway needs to do the same ... It is not about lining an individual or a couple of peoples pockets it is about pushing the sport forward and promoting ... Kids will follow the races avidly when the bikes are on track or riding to the tapes BUT if the meeting is drawn out they are easily soon bored especially if a meeting takes 2.5hrs plus with limited entertainment in between races. Add on 80 minutes travelling time to and from the stadium it can be a long afternoon or evening.

The riders this year all have a chance of progressing if they can do so the Eagles will once again be competitive and hopefully the play-offs. Not sure how anyone can say this team isn't as strong as Eagles 2015 ... the Eagles that won the Cup treble wasn't the original team. As both David Mason + Danny Warwick were injured pretty early in the season and it was the excellent work Connor Dugard did getting replacements in throughout the season that was the deciding factor . Hopwood was excellent ; as were all the signings giving the team more impetus and strength. It is unlikely anybody could guarantee the progress that BWD, Andrews, Wood and Spiller would make when they were brought into the side. League looks as though it will be ultra competitive which is good news for the National League ....

Speedway Star - 3 spots remain - a new #1 and only one rider from 2015. Can see that being Mark Owen but Eagles and Connor Dugard seem to have the riders in place not announced yet.

BWD was excellent at Arlington last season - refused to give up and will give 100% every meeting. If he arrives with decent sponsorship and kit BWD will do a decent job for the rebels. Would think that he will certainly improve on that average if he gets time to bed into the team.

Agreed in his first heat Sunday he was gone after he gated. Then put in a great chase on BWD then found himself on the outside gate as track slickened off. He has a good style and never gives up. Perhaps a season at Eastbourne with Martin Dugard giving him advice on starting would be an option for 2016 ;-)

Should be a good meeting the Eagles hopes of a win will depend on Hopwood and BDW repeating their domination over the Coventry heatleaders - a tough ask. The fitness of Georgie Wood at reserve will also be important. If the Eagles reserve pairing can match the Storms then the Eagles may find the elusive away win but the 4s' form around Coventry would suggest this is a tough ask. Hopefully return to Sussex with a point minimum.

On Speedwaygb.co it states that Dugard is taking time out of the sport so the Eagles have moved for Cottham. Shame for Kelsey as yes he was prone to the odd fall and struggled away but scored ok at Arlington - but perhaps with r/r for Andrews over next couple of weeks they feel they need guarantees at reserve.

Thought the tractor racing got a tad excessive yesterday BUT to be fair they needed to keep the dust down. As soon as they wet the surface the wind dried it. No more so when Tom Perry tried to go round the outside couldn't see anything , lost it completely and disappeared onto the infield. Decent result for Eagles without being near their best but Brummies so clearly a 3 man team.

It was dusty but it was hot on Sunday in the sun ... if it was dusty Dry House should of done better than they did.

Think it will be a good test for the Eagles .. will need Kelsey Dugard to rack up the points at reserve. PLUS will need Bates to contribute with 7/8 points .. could be a close run thing #weatherpermitting.

Sounded like a decent meeting and IMO these two clubs will be chasing Silverware in the NL. Good to hear that BDW was tearing it up at Perry Barr he looks a decent prospect.

Kings look weak at reserve ... No point making "tyred" excuses the Eagles look far stronger throughout the septet. Morley looks like he will be carrying the Kings for a while.

James Shanes was excellent value. Great riding style and tenacious but needs to learn to gate . Eagles looked strong throughout. Decent performance.

Why run PL - the increase in costs would be significant and the crowds would not significantly increase. Good Fridays crowd was on par if not better than most Elite fixtures at Arlington recently. Was impressed by the Eagles set up both on and off the track.

So pleased there was a huge turnout for the event - I read the article in the speedway star long road ahead. Glad the riders supported it.

Speedway is a minority sport and BBC has no interest in it. Speedway could neither neither rely on the fashionable or politically correct nomination. Would imagine a still of Woffy will feature in a montage and that will be it.

So team limits 38 points if you take 3pt for each reserve. Now a scramble for the best NL riders.

Or most likely a wind up.

In sales ; you need combine looking after your existing clients, as well as targeting new clients. Speedway on the most part has failed to do both. The product is getting worse yet more expensive and people are voting with their feet - hence the declining numbers. Targeting a new audience is mostly forgotten. Speedway cant afford to neglect its current audience - as word of mouth is and always will be its most cost effective sales tool.

With TV dictating sport, it is the modern way in most sports, bar Premier League football. For the tv networks it guarantees an increased interest and audience. The clubs like them because it draws in the crowds in droves. Poole have relatively decent crowds in comparison to most if not all EL teams but I am sure the Play-offs were up in numbers to the usual Wimborne Road attendance.. Its actually good to see a crowd on televised British Speedway. In general the only team that dislikes the play-offs if unsuccessful is the winners of the league (Birmingham Brummies). Although I believe in Rugby League now they award a League Winners Shield/Trophy.

Whether Sky Sports are involved or not some significant changes to the sport need to be made. Will be interesting to see if the Promoters stick there head in the sand again (or pint) come the AGM ...

Worrall has impressed me this season on the couple of occasions that he has been to Arlington. Birks can hold his head up high following his season in the Elite League. There is certainly the talent there , it is just a case of whether they can attract enough finance and sponsors. Remember reading an interview with Lewis Bridger in SS when he was at Coventry and he said when they reached the Grand Final , Kasprzak was offering engines ,equipment etc to a number of the riders and that KKs backing was unbelievable. Sponsorship seems to be a major hurdle. Woffinden has knuckled down with fitness and nutrition and deserves the recognition this year but his kevlars still lack advertisers. He seems very professional with the way he handles his sponsors following his feature in the SS but no doubt could do with more. Whether the Young Brits can get the funding to make the step up to international level , time will tell but certainly Worrall, Ellis, Garrity , Howarth , Birks and the likes can certainly look to a future in the sport.

Last nights meeting was not too bad. I feared the worst after heats 1 and 2 but despite the scoreline a couple of Hammers rode their nuts off trying to get a point. The SEC has been slightly disappointing and the last meeting was average but then again how bad was the Italian SGP dull as dish water. Certainly the best meetings on TV this season were the Premier League meetings at somerset and Scunthorpe even berwick was better than the majority of Elite League race meets.

Kennett will ride in the GP Challenge even if he gets 0,0,0,0,0 .... The FIM have decided that a GB rider will get a wildcard for the GP Challenge at Poole.

Shambolic ... switched it off after 3 heats. Having waited from over an hour from 6pm to 7.20pm because of Polish Eurosport covering a two bob tennis match and then jumping into the speedway at heat 5/6 was a complete shambles. This was only enhanced when they broke for ads only to come back halfway through ht 9 .. From those few heats the meeting didnt look great so I switched off. Generally been fairly impressed with Eurosport coverage but last night was utter gash.