Wee Eck

Who would you say are the “Far too many people involved in speedway” who are “only in it to rip off the public”! This is the once a year Grand Prix that is staged in Britain. None of those involved in promoting the event have any tie in to British league speedway, nor, since the demise of BSI, a tie in to any other event. Unless you are referring to the FIM who are certainly not in it to rip off the public. I get it that you don’t believe you got value for money but let’s face it, Cardiff has never been a bargain so “value for money” is never going to happen. The track was awful this year (and has been on very many occasions) , no one is denying that, but then so have plenty other tracks over the years (including Prague, Teterow and Vojens this year) but it’s not an event I attend for the racing - it’s the atmosphere that makes it and, even without Dan’s win, it had all the usual ingredients. Dan’s win made it a special night

Interesting press release - says Dan will be defending his British GP title then which rather suggests his place is guaranteed for 2023

For me, Cardiff is probably more about the social occasion than the racing - which is seldom great but has seen some great individual races or meeting results. I go there knowing I will meet up with people, arranged and otherwise as people circulate round the town centre before and after, and the meeting is guaranteed to be on. The atmosphere is also like no other speedway event in UK. The hotel prices are extortionate but so are Manchester’s if there is a big event on. The NSS is undoubtedly a better track - in truth probably every track in the UK is better - but there is not the infrastructure let alone the space to support a 10,000 plus speedway event.

I think the result answers your question. The doubters were proved right. in other news, congratulations to Redcar’s Archie Freeman on his paid max. First ever in the NDL?

Is there any better walk on music?

I think you’re just making yourself look silly now. It didn’t happen, and GB got silver. Would they have done better if they could have got someone else in quickly (who might not even have had a ride)? Who knows. Not me and not you. The decision was taken not to bring in a replacement (no doubt with difficulty and at uncertain cost) and the decision proved right. Do you really believe that GB would have won gold if any of the under 21s had been in the pits? Because I don’t.

He was there, of course. But I doubt he’d fit into Tai’s race suit!

I stand by what I said - you’re comments were after the event hypothetical. Tai was not withdrawn until yesterday when it was clear his injuries were too severe for him to ride. There was perhaps a two hour window between the decision being made and the mid-day sign on at the track. Who would you suggest GB could get to Vojens in that time? The only possibilities were Brennan, Flint and Kemp but all had already left Denmark, as had all their kit. Tai’s injury was unfortunate but GB made the best of a bad job. Few had us as potential medal winners, even with Tai but we ended up second. There should be pride in the success and appreciation of the turnaround in fortune for GB since Vicky Blackwell and Rob Painter took over the management of the team. British speedway at international level is exceeding expectations, considering how poorly the domestic sport is run. Could have, should have, might have beens have no relevance. All that matters is what happened and where that will take us. IMO!

What questions would you ask? Tai was only ruled out after a trip to hospital in the morning. Where would you propose finding a rider able to get to Vojens with his kit and his pit crew at such short notice? The under 21 riders all went home yesterday morning with two of them racing in England last night. Management did the best they could do with what they had and no amount of hypothetical questioning will change. There wasn’t a big crash to rule out an Aussie and a Brit and there’s nothing to say that, if that had happened, the one remaining Aussie would have won. Australia got better as the night went on and were deserved winners. The Brits overcame the loss of Tai to take silver. That’s what happened. Anything else has to be pointless mithering. Who gave the Brits, even with Tai, a shout over Poland or Denmark?

I’ve not read through all the thread so maybe missed it, but why is no one slagging off Mark Lemon for not using Jason Doyle, in the same way that some tore into Neil Vatcher for not using Flint last night? The under 21s did a great job and chose not to change the pairings, same as Australia did tonight.

I assume you’re on the wind up? The Poles are head and shoulders ahead of every other nation. Czechia included a rider who’d scored 15 for his country in the full version of the SON semi last night so (a) could mix it with the big boys and (b) had very recent experience riding the track. GB came next ahead of some major speedway countries, Sweden, Australia, Denmark and Latvia. It’s not many years since the position would be “and the plucky Brits bring up the year”. And for those that think Flint should have had a ride, think on this - the management decisions brought GB bronze which was probably the best possible out-turn. Would we have done better if Leon had had a ride? Meanwhile, the Aussies decision to go straight to Europe, bypassing UK isn’t really working out, is it? Rew and Bowes were so out of their depth. Battling hard, perhaps, but lacking basic skills. Come to Britain boys and learn how to ride a bike on all sorts of different tracks before trying to make a living on the fast ovals in Poland. Final point for now - is it correct that the team coming last gets replaced next year? That would be a big blow for Sweden

I agree that it’s far better run in Poland but think every other European nation plus Australia, New Zealand and the USA are struggling just as much, or more than UK

I know - nowhere. There is nothing planned for 2022. Something might happen in 2023 but the multi million dollar losses of New Zealand and Melbourne are making it difficult to find a venue. For Discovery to hold an event in Australia, they’d have to agree to pay a venue - the complete opposite of how they do business. But, if they chose to do that, then they’d have plenty of takers, happy to put on a financially risk free event

Maybe it’s all a smokescreen and Vojens was always the preferred option of DMU? As they’ve got a GP there already, they were unlikely to get the SON at the same venue unless something went wrong. Or maybe they heard Arnie’s Army were headed to Esbjerg and felt the need to defend themselves? Don’t I just love a conspiracy?!

Arnio dropped and replaced by James Wright

On the basis of the press release and “in the know” Blobby’s comments, the process has been in train for some months now. Edinburgh have always been skilled with PR hence the recent “we’re out of Armadale and looking for a new home” press release of a week or so ago. There’s much more impact going from “we’re all doomed” to “we’re all saved” than just an announcement of a change in venue. But, will their prodigal son return to the blue and gold as a final swan song? Or maybe he’ll move from his current track to one nearer his home?

You had said the turbo twins were paid well from tv money in the early days of Sky. I was merely pointing out that neither were riding then (nor were Magic or Hancock) as Sky started broadcasting about 10 years before. By the time they came along, the share per Elite club wouldn’t have covered the cost of one of them let alone both.

The turbo twins weren’t racing in the early days of Sky tv. They only started riding together in 2010

So, what is the solution? Promoters get the blame, and some of them are certainly part of the problem, but none of them has been able to find a solution to reinvigorating the sport. Everyone knows that the Polish business model of town/city and even national subsidies will never happen here, so what’s to be done? Elsewhere, others have commented on the shocking crowd levels at Danish and Swedish meetings, so it’s a problem that goes beyond UK. UK promoters are an easy and constant target on here, but even the professional ones like Glasgow, Redcar, Poole and Wolves are struggling to make a decent return for their efforts.

It worked for me at www.britishspeedway.co.uk

The rule book is on line and I can’t see anything on hair. As I said, I’m sure the rule was dropped some time ago. Similarly, there can’t be any restrictions elsewhere in Europe as Antonio Lindback has had long hair for years.

There is no such rule - it was dropped a few years ago

The push for speedway at Odsal was coming from the stock car promoter, Steve Rees, who was actively looking for someone to take it on. But Steve has now sold up to Yorstox. They also run stock cars at Sheffield so maybe they’d look at speedway at Odsal? I know a few had a look last year, including as a possible GP venue, but no one took it up probably due to the high cost of reshaping the track so it was suitable for speedway.

Was the last big deal not when Oxford, Belle Vue and a third track I can’t remember (Wimbledon?) were bought from the GRA by a Guy Hands company with the sole intention of closing them down and selling the land for development. A bit like Sandhu at Coventry. If it was Wimbledon, then it has been redeveloped and Belle Vue is well on the way to being a housing estate. The only one that escaped the permanent closure of greyhound racing was Oxford

But there’s not been greyhound racing at Armadale since 2016. There are only two greyhound tracks left in Scotland - Shawfield and a “flapper” track in Fife