mikebv

I do agree 100%, but.... Promotion and Relegation will be a pipe dream unfortunately due to so few riders willing to ride over here, and the many second tier crowds not bringing in the income to pay riders to ride exclusively for them, meaning DU'ing will remain forever... For me, some major prize for winning the top league is the thing that would generate interest... Sadly, pretty much since the Sky money disappeared, and a nationally recognised company, (Skybet), sponsored the league, winning any of the leagues has had little rewards... The last decade, in particular, unfortunately has rendered any league largely irrelevant given the lack of publicity, the crowd numbers reducing, and the farcical operating model which is now set in stone as fundamentally the only way they can keep running their tracks... The inescapable feeling is that the tracks are now just open so riders can earn a living, and promoters can rub shoulders with them, enjoying their hobby... Nothing more, nothing less..

Up to THIRD in the league!!!!!!!!!! It looks like them or Ipswich for the last play off place!!!

Awwwww Bless.....

Crowd looked a bit sparse... Or, were they mainly on the back straight?

If you want world class No1's to be signed then you can't use second strings or reserves to replace them.. And Guests just make the meeting contrived nonsense... A fit for purpose RR system would ensure teams win or lose as that team.. Not some random select, with the odd ringer brought in.. No one would think Sheffield were manipulating a situation where one of the best riders in the world was replaced by Chris Holder and Pickering, should the manager so wish, with all riders having seven rides max..

RR for a No1 should mean that (should the manager so wish), the other two HL's take his rides.. Not second strings or reserves,, (unless the manager wants to).. As all other teams were riding no guests of the required level were available, which would usually have been the first call for Sheffield, and all other teams... Jeopardy in sport is fundamentally what it needs to be successful and Sheffields team tonight brought that jeopardy, however, one way to cut guests, by a significant amount, would be to have a fit for purpose RR facility..

Not really... Hate the game, not the player. One of those "bomb proof" doubling up Heat Leaders who can just coast through a season in the UK... Edit: And are allowed to do exactly the same thing every single year, as they cannot get replaced due to hardly any better riders wanting to ride over here...

Incoming!!!!....

Outstanding night from Klindt... (Again).. Couldn't replace him...

Northampton a 5-1 away from a one point victory... I wonder.....

Done... Best of luck to everyone involved. .

So an improvement then?...

The Throttle Jockeys of Ipswich and Leicester cannot handle it....

We'll do what we want!... We'll do what we waaaaaaaant!... We're doubling up heat leaders... We'll do what we want!!!....

UK Speedway....

Seven day ban for the member of staff?..

The riders of a certain level can do what they want, given there are so few of them... They hold down two positions and often are HL's in both leagues.. Meaning they are pretty much "bomb proof".. Those who say we cannot have "one big league" due to the disparate standards between the riders that would need to be used, need to imagine what the next five years or so are going to bring when all the "vastly experienced" DU's have retired... Many teams will be using current NDL lads to DU , and these lads even in five or so years, will still be well off the standard of today's HL DU's..

Didn't want to get his bike dirty...

Didn't want to get his bike dirty...

"Have you got a charger for a Samsung?. My battery has gone and my ticket is in it.."..

Any day now..... That "Wow" announcement that Rob Godfrey mentioned will be made public... Probably waiting for Wimbledon, the World Cup, and the Tour De France to finish so it doesn't impact the amount of publicity it will attract...

There does always seem to be dozens of "lurkers" daily... Ironically, and suitably, a good many of them are "Guests"...

And the nonsense of the pre season will not have helped.. I truly have never seen any business or entity commit so much Harikiri on itself as Speedway in the UK has done, particularly over the past 20 years as the digital age has boomed.. Year after year they have made poor decisions which have just compounded the poor decisions from the previous years... Normally a business would fix its issues, even more so when they are so glaring and obvious, and their customers either tell them publicly, or tell them by no longer attending, but still closely following the sport.. I truly would love to know what the promoters vision for the sport is, and where they aspire to take it... As all it currently looks like is this... "Make it to the end of this season, do exactly the same thing next, then rinse and repeat ad infinitum"...

Riders receive six month bans starting in October and ending in March... But only if the season starts in April... Independent Leadership anyone?...

I considered going to that meeting and went online around 6pm and the grandstand had sold around 500 out of the circa 1800... The back straight with around 400.. Pay at the gate would have added a few more I am sure.. Streaming must have some impact but it does bring revenue... Such low crowds must be a worry though...