mikebv

A dominant team doesn't mean a "poor season"... In fact, in most sports, it means a team that when they visit you want to take them down.. And are something to aspire to, and not just match, but move ahead of... The main issue is that for at least a decade, and probably more, as the top league dwindled, and teams even chose to drop out of it to ride in tier two, winning it has little prestige... Six teams? Seven teams? Who cares when usually one, and sometimes two, are completely out of their depth... This years title, last years title, and several going back to Covid and beyond, have very little value or kudos the way they are won, and the minimal reward they generate...

After years of ever growing brand damaging Guestfests where these very same top riders missed more and more UK meetings to further their own individual ambitions as the GP series grew... And promoters arranged meetings regardless, knowing some of their best drawcards would be missing.. But still charged the same..

Not at all... I remember it was said that 2027 was going to be sorted by July 2026... I, for one, believe them..

And the majority, who run the sport like a hobby, aren't interested in developing the sport beyond their own needs...

Good to see that, as promised, this close season isn't going to be like the past others....

So many of the issues faced goes back to the lack of any real prestige, publicity and financial reward for winning any of the domestic titles.. If that could somehow be fixed then everything else just falls into place... You could have a "decent prize", and a trophy, (like Rugby League does for example), for topping the table and then a separate "main prize" for winning the play offs.. Meaning each meeting has something riding on it .. Unfortunately, there appears almost to be not enough relevance to the sport in the UK, other than providing riders with a decent six month income and promoters with an expensive hobby they can indulge in... Play Off final crowds show there is a more than decent following still for Speedway, they just need to find a way to get, at least, a few hundred of those who attend the play offs only to attend, even only occasionally, during the rest of the season.. Can they do it?...

A team that regularly delivered the best crowds wherever they visited.. A perfect example of "UK Speedway Vision"...

For once, after all these years, maybe just make the team average match the team that finishes top of the table, pre play offs.. No dumbing down, let the team at the top keep the same riders if they want, and let the rest have room to improve... It is just another daft self inflicted "Speedway Anomaly" that means a team that is successful, who have built an affinity with fans, then gets broken up... Kids in particular love having heroes so if you want them to get engaged (which means an adult paying to get in), then stop peeing about with teams having to lose often one of their best, therefore most popular, riders.. Create an aspirational level to attain by having to "beat the best" the following season... I remember 93 when the Aces won the league and the following season they were nowhere near the same team given the changes.. In every sport the best should be the benchmark for others to try and better, but not by weakening the best..

Max Fricke helping prevent his own team from qualifying was a close second .. Joking apart, if you had laid out several hundred quid to watch your team this season, and your best rider helped another team to prevent you from attending the play offs, but then rode in them himself, picking up a fair few grand in the process, you would be a little bit peed off to say the least wouldn't you?.. The sheer concept of it is simply laugh out loud ludicrous isn't it?.. Yet promoters seem to shrug their shoulders and mumble something about "necessary evil"... They must be crackers... At least there isn't any relegation, as Nicolai would have won the league and got relegated at the same time..

Me and my lad met up last night with eight others who also had only attended the PCMT and the GP's . All had the very same reasons for our non attendance... In no specific order .. We mentioned the lack of atmosphere at the run of the mill meetings due to the half full stadium... The lack of any threat to the Aces qualifying which renders the qualifiers easy to miss . Monday nights not great for many to attend... So few teams means zero variety... Jason Doyle riding for Sheffield to help them qualify and Max Fricke sabotaging Kings Lynn's chances by riding in the qualifiers for Sheffield were also mentioned, as was the glaring fact that Nicolai Klindt has zero connection to BV, as one said to me, "try and sell that to a major TV company"... (Well done Nicolai by the way, you Aces Legend!!😁).. What was interesting as two of us discussed the UK Speedway issues four people, two couples, stood behind us said they had been listening and said they thought the same!!! They too were at their first meeting of the season.. You would think some surveys would be carried out via club Facebook pages wouldn't you to get some feedback as to the main reasons why, and why not, close followers of the sport attend, or don't, as the case may be ... It was clear well over a thousand others were not regulars looking at the crowd size, with Sheffield having hardly anyone, (as is usual), there.. As for the night itself, all agreed the presentation was hugely better than we have previously seen, (is that a one off or is that the usual?), the PA system worked well where we were, the food and drink areas were quick and efficient, plenty of toilet facilities and the presentation kept momentum going in between races... It certainly looked like a lot of planning had gone into the night to ensure a good impression for those who were non regulars, hopefully it can pay off early next season.. For a Friday I thought there would have been more kids watching, so maybe a "family area" would help? Ensuring they all can watch together? One "pen" would do it. Maybe at a Special Offer rate for the Adult, (kids are free on the South Side) with someone doing giveaways, face painting etc. . In short, if they could deliver nights like this as "the norm" then UK Speedway would be wondering why they "only get 3,000", rather than it being a "bumper crowd" nowadays... Well done to the Aces, the engine room, once again, delivered, and Luke Killeen certainly showed some real potential to go forward in his career... Let's hope that far too long overdue reset is delivered this winter... The product can attract decent crowds, the infrastructure around it, not so...

How many titles is that for Jason Doyle in the UK?.. Can't be too many riders that have more I would think.. A proper, 100% team man wherever he rides and whoever he rides for...

The Aces will need a No3 next year....

Nicolai Klindt... #aceslegend...

Leon Flint, such a very capable rider, yet is so poor, so many times at the highest level.. Definitely a very decent rider in there so I presume it must be a confidence thing...?

An extra £30k, and maybe more with sponsorship from their clubs sponsors, for a tier two No 1 and 5.…..?? Can tier one teams afford that?..

Take a bow Luke Killeen... (So far)... Great to see a young lad riding like this when the pressure is on...

A perfect opportunity now the majority of the better level of riders will do Poland and Sweden and one other.. 14 matches as a minimum in Denmark v 20 and possibly doubling down over here..? Wednesday would be ideal..

Like the intro!!! Like being at a boxing match... Good to see a bit of tension building...

A Rinse and Repeat of the last decade and more... Hence the inevitable inevitable lack of direction for growth... If my hobby ain't broken, why fix it?..

A grippy track could give the Tigers an early opportunity to put a bit of pressure on.. Even Kurtz off gate four on a track that provides one fast inside line early in the meeting, can run a last when he has a GP rider off gate three who rides him wide on the first two bends.. A 1-5 in heat one, if the opponents have the best gates, isn't unknown at the NSS.. Hopefully it isn't a walkover and interest is maintained to much later in the meeting..

Akin to entering the Tallest Dwarf Competition....

For me, the actual credibility of what's on offer will always be the key issue that holds the sport back.. Jason Doyle and Max Fricke both played major roles in Sheffield qualifying, for Max, to the detriment of his own team who finished fifth, and if Sheffield win on aggregate tonight, then Jason will have assisted them to do so... You simply cannot take that seriously and invest yourself emotionally into it, therefore the play off qualifiers can be very much "take it or leave it" with a clear high number choosing to "leave it".. However, it can still be a very good night out, watching the racing when surrounded by a decent amount of people, hence the play off final in particular brings out those, like me, who don't have enough interest to attend throughout the season due to low crowd numbers, and the inevitable lack of atmosphere brought by them, and the lack of any feeling of real importance to a run of the mill meeting... As I say, if fhe promoters sorted the clear and obvious barriers to attending, then there wouldn't be such disproportionate crowds from qualifiers to finals...

He must be a citeh fan as well....

But it isn't a statement of fact. And that is the issue .. No "factual" evidence has been seen or published, therefore the SCB shouldn't have come out saying that the rules were breached as, clearly so far, there is zero evidence to prove that "fact"... The ref made his decision based on the (inconclusive) evidence that showed that Cook "could" have ridden the white line and not crossed it.. Using the evidence available to him, he made the only decision he could, and should have... The SCB statement is, apart from how poorly written it is, quite baffling, and subjective, so not factual, and leaves both Pooles' victory, and the ref hanging out to dry somewhat...

Last year at Ipswich it was a perfect storm, with the result from the away leg, and they not winning the title for decades.. If they had got hammered in the first leg then the crowd would have been nowhere near the same I would suggest, and they certainly haven't got anywhere near that figure this season off the back of their title win.. And Tai was a three time World Champion and is the only British rider to do it, hence many were there to pay their respects to someone who has delivered something unique in GB Speedway... For UK Speedway 3,000 is a very decent crowd and possibly double what a run of the mill domestic meeting would have... All of the above shows though, that there is still a very healthy amount of followers of the sport in the UK, they just need some engagement to watch the qualifiers throughout the season, as well as the play off finals... Over to the UK Promoters to sort out the reasons why they don't...