mikebv

And should have been done years ago, when the GP's and Poland took over.

Which is exactly what a sport with non league football crowd lnumbers warrants.. And I don't mean the Conference but lower non league... My lad plays North West Counties and can play on front of crowds from 500 to 1500... Sweden may get "enough" and do have a decent league sponsor... And. Denmark have made a full on attempt this season to grow Danish Speedway, and it will be interesting to see what league the Polish riders choose to race in next year as their "other league", Sweden or Denmark... Should the Poles decide that this is the way the sport is allowed to go...

I thought it was a tad optimistic given how much fundamentally is needed to unpick... And. If Poland decrees one extra league only to race in... Which I can see their rationale given how many riders they lose riding elsewhere... Then next season will see some huge drop in levels..

In the 70's the sport piggy backed off the England team doing well on World of Sport, at a time when the football and cricket teams were crap.. A good news story... The domestic sport has always been a bit "Mickey Mouse" however the money was good due to attendance numbers... In a recent Speedway Star it covered Kenny Carter winning the 1979 British Junior Championship and for that, he got £2000. (Over £13k today).. So individual meetings carried some big prizes eg the Grand Prix at White City was £5k and the Internationale at Wimbledon a Jawa bike... In 1978, PC, in his book, said when he got banned for a month, for arriving late from Los Angeles and missing a meeting due to a plane cancellation, it cost him over £20k including his Long Track money... What you could get away with in the 70's you cannot get away with now, and the Mickey Mouse circa 200 guests per season, (with just 15 teams in total), is ludicrous, (but condoned by those who attend regularly), and doubling up is now, just like guesting, a necessity. (Only in the UK though)... The promoters of today are, in the main, hobbyists, who are quite happy to lose money that they can afford to lose, hence becoming a bona fide team sport simply isn't going to happen, therefore the sharing riders operating model is all we have.. If Poland ever decided to run with the UK's operating model their sport would go bust overnight... Fans, Sponsors, and TV would simply walk away... As Richard Coleman said in the Speedway Star this week... It has about five years to sort itself out...

A deluge.....😁

The last race, a pretty much run of the mill 5-1, shows the difference between our version of Speedway and theirs . Over here? Virtual silence, apart from some polite applause, in a three quarters empty stadium.. Over there? A five figure crowd celebrate like their team were World Champions.... Any "newbies" over there couldn't help but get engaged...

Great team riding from the Torun lads , A 5-1 to a 3-3 in one bend...😁

Ryanair.....😁

Sadly they do, due to sharing so many HL/SS riders, unlike other leagues.. One rider getting injured on a Monday could miss meetings on Wed, Thu, Fri and Sat... The potential answer is to run five man teams, like Denmark, so riders are available to replace those missing, or a fit for purpose RR system, however, the main reason for running UK Speedway is solely to provide rides for riders to earn money, therefore unlikely to happen..

All fair points, however.... The ultimate issue over the last two decades in particular has been the lack of a joined up development plan for UK riders... That has resulted in almost 200 guests being used per season, restricted race nights so riders can double up, resulting in contrived competitions with little credibility, and with hardly any rewards... To unpick all the self inflicted issues, and gain back all those fans who have left the sport behind is, I would say, sadly beyond achievable now... Even if those running the sport over here had the skill set to do it...

Or last Thursday....

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Brady Kurtz and Poole's track are sh*te... Proclaim that around the town!! Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

70's racing was no better, nor worse than today's, for me.. What made it stand out was the crowd sizes thus, the atmosphere got created that made you return.. BV's Yorkshire rivals would bring a good few coaches with them ran by their supporters clubs, whiich had several thousand members, meaning an "electric atmosphere"... Almost 20 teams in the league meant there actually looked line something worth winning, and the vast majority of riders were yours and no one elses, (apart from young UK lads being allowed to double up for development, rather than due to a lack of riders, or tier two clubs wanting to use tier one riders at a reduced rate).. Teams rode on their best nights for attendances, and the admission costs took up a far lower percentage of your disposable income after your bills are paid, than it does today.. And Guests were the exception, rather than the rule... The Superstars were on TV most Saturdays, and also crossed over into mainstream non sporting programming... The top lads rode massive averages, making them "box office" particularly away from home when you may only got to see them once... Their averages often being down to them picking the best gates, bonus points being included, a "gimme" tac sub ride against the weakest second string and reserve, and less "head to heads" than today against the oppositions top two, and, usually, especially at home, just four rides.... It was though, overall, the size of crowds that brought the atmosphere and made it "an event"... The promoters of today though still have thousands of "lapsed fans" who still closely follow the sport, but see no reason to attend UK League Speedway... A huge opportunity should the promoters ever one day decide to get these thousands of fans re-engaged with their version of the sport...

That's why the sport needs 100" s of young kids in attendance every week.. And not sure that will happen on a Monday night in particular... Young kids bring, in the main, young adults.. Hence, tracks should fight tooth and nail to get young kids into the stadium... Even if all kids for free.... The bigger the crowd, the less inhibited people are, which means more atmosphere created.. Plenty of 60 somethings attend football, (due to the costs the elder age group make up a fair portion of the crowds), however, mine, and their behavior at Old Trafford surrounded by 74,000 is certainly different than at the NSS, where I am surrounded by just a few programme filling people.... Last nights meeting at Lublin was remarkable, however, if only 1200 were there to watch it, with hardly any away fans, it would have been as unremarkable as many UK meetings become with a similar standard of racing...

They arrive Thu/Fri as they know that their eviction summons won't get processed till Monday at the earliest... Tuesday on BH weekends.. My stores had a major problem with them as concrete car parks were perfect for them.. Therefore. My company (through a third party so no trace to us), employed a "security company" to arrive and ensure that the car park remained "safe".. In reality, it was three "big lads" with three big Alsatians that stayed overnight... The dogs stayed outside their transit van,continuously barking which triggered the pikeys (I mean travellers), dogs,and also scared their horses all night, ensuring plenty of noise.. The lads were all body cammed up, looking like Police, and sat up all night playing music... Any verbal altercation was met with "I have to tell you that I am recording this conversation both visually and with sound. For your protection and mine"... They hated those words... I was always in for 7am and would catch up with the security lads for an update and, invariably, they would telll me that "head pikey", I mean traveller, was going to see me later that morning... Around 8am he would come over and agree to clear off if I let them use the toilet and washroom facilities... Which I obviously did... Word soon got round their communities that our company wasnt somewhere to go to, and the problem quickly stopped....

A shame no one broadcasts it over here... The Polish league being shown would certainly help boost interest in the UK version of the sport, who could "piggy back" off it... Admittedly, given the enormous difference in the operating models, and level of riders, the boost may not last too long, but that woukd be down to the UK promoters to resolve, and maximise any potential growth...

Big noisy crowd means great atmosphere, which then makes even the "average races" seem good... And then when you get a "special one" the place goes up!!!. Two decent, well matched teams, a big crowd, including away fans, great atmosphere and decent racing... Surely someone over here could use that template and deliver something a bit nearer to Poland than what we have currently...?

Been great to watch for a fair few years, but didn't always get the focus... You've never won a race until the flag with Woryna behind... For many years he has been one of the few who have given Zmarzlik zero respect when riding against him.. Which amazed me even more that he let himself get dive bombed by Zmarzlik in the GP.. Usually he reads it and goes left down the back straight... Maybe getting a bit soft now he is his team mate...

I remember Kelvin saying something about Holder leaving Lublin, and Vaculik and Zmarzlik being good mates, and that Bartek requested they brought him in.. A strange signing given they gave up Holder..

That's why Poland get so peed off when they get injured elsewhere... A fair call...

A fantastic wage packet for Brady!!!!! Around £40k???

Hansen and Tungate... Brilliant idea to race each other...

Could be a last heat decider given Heat 14 line up...

Gating tart Kurtz....

Good ride from Lidsey, from the back to get second... Three rides and scored two more than last night already... Kowalski seems to only ride one track well... Looks like Wroclaw need 33/34 from Kurtz and Janowski this evening...