mikebv

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...

Good article in the Speedway Star this week re the challenges that Swedish Speedway are facing... Interesting comments re the way the UK has ran the sport is serving as something for them to ensure they don't do, with the reliance on sharing riders being a key way of working that they want to avoid... Similar issues face the Swedes as the UK, re the ageing fanbase and reliance on volunteering, with a wide level of capability to those who volunteer. The second leg of their final did bring in almost 9,000 so they, as was quoted, are not at UK levels yet, but they do fear that if not grabbed quickly, then a downward spiral could happen..

A no brainer .. If you top the league then choose home for the semi first leg, and away for the final, (if you get there)... If you don't reach the final at least you had a decent semi final crowd.. Losing, or winning, an away leg first, by a large margin, just hits the second leg crowd numbers... Great to see two decent crowds for both the final legs... (Again)... I wonder if the promoters ever wonder why nowhere near the same number of their own followers turn up regularly through the season..

I said the same thing to my lad earlier... With the two victories in the fastest two times of the night!!!

With Sweden and Denmark running two U21's also you would have to think most of these lads (who ride in Poland), will, logistically remain in Scandinavia for their two "other leagues" riding Tuesday and Wednesday crossing the border.. Denmark have even gone to six rider teams to presumably accommodate the two U21's.. Can riders not riding in Poland do three leagues, or is it Poland +2 only?... And is the 2nd tier over here a league on its own so doubling up means two leagues?.. Does anyone know...?

But they do have things in place... It's called the referee with rules for them to follow, and implement... The ref either just didn't see that the rules were broken, or maybe didn't understand the rule given the "on the line/over the line" ambiguity... What bafffles me more is why an appeal got held when, as was said in the statement, the result couldn't be changed anyway... What a complete waste of time if that was the only course of (non) action that could be allowed....

Wasn't there originally an maximum age stipulation for Doubling Up?? Maybe I am wrong, but I seem to remember it was Scott Nicholls who challenged it... It used to be only a max two per team also wasn't it?.. And then, of course, promoters saw the benefits of sharing rider costs, whilst now employing a level of riders previously unaffordable, so the floodgates opened .😁

100%... The "talent pool" is thin enough already, as is shown by the weakest team each season, therefore stretching it to seven teams currently can only dilute it further... And bringing in two compulsory U21's will already do that given the lack of U21 talent who are not riding in Poland and are not Scandinavian.. A six team league this season has one team clearly adrift before a wheel was turned, and a seven team league the year before had two... Wasn't the plan to make the top tier clearly stronger than the second? If so, sticking with six teams would be the more logical way of delivering this.. If Eastbourne do come back, starting on Fridays/Saturdays in the second tier would seem to be the best "first step" to see how that goes..

Maybe with two U21's needed next season, it was a "sweetener"?..😁

Must confess, I am non plussed as to the end game for this rule re UK licenses... Several UK riders down the years have ridden on "foreign licences", Wigg, Cox and Smith being three that come to mind immediately... Lambert is living in Poland, has a Polish wife, and a child on the way, so could tick a few boxes for citizenship, particularly if his child is "Polish". (Torun would be pleased if he was a "home rider" I am sure), so maybe him getting a Polish licence wouldn't be too difficult, (or a German one!).. I am not sure the UK promoters realise that many "top riders" nowadays, don't need to ride several times a week anymore.. If you are getting a £250k signing fee and £2,500 a point, (that and more for the "true elite"), then riding one meeting every weekend in Poland and, (maybe) topping up your income on Tuesday in Sweden, is maybe enough?? Logistically the UK brings its own challenges with equipment needed over here, plus a mechanic, storage, flights etc, so not sure putting barriers up in any way shape or form is a great plan..

Air fences has narrowed it, and a slicker surface means it is easy to ride fast, midtrack, which leaves little room either side for a rider to pass, even if those following have enough speed to get alongside the rider "flying" in front of them.. And as the dirt moves out, the line about 2m from the fence becomes the line to take when in the lead, as Kurtz showed by winning a race by over a straight!! It can become very much, follow the leader, with all using the same outside run...

Away fans there in numbers??? Who would have thought that this would create atmosphere?.... They need to find a way to get a strong away contingent at every meeting... That would naturally raise the events status as "something to win"..

2,500 or so I would guess.... A couple of hundred, (maybe more?) Aces fans boosting the attendance..

Having to log back in seven times was somewhat annoying ..😁 Luckily I only missed two laps of a race (Ht13), and the Aces were on a 5-1 when I logged back in!! The coverage is good though, and I get many more than expected bought the stream, (me being one), so hopefully they will sort out the issue going forward.. The racing, for Sheffield, was ok, it's just a shame the track is so narrow on the bends given the speed they hit them.. It looked like a very decent crowd, which shows, once again, that there is a following for Speedway if the product makes it worth attending... The NSS will have 3,000 plus there on Friday, me and my lad being two of them now, yet at least 1500 of us won't have regularly attended all season.. Make the product credible, give it some jeopardy and consequence, add in a wider variety of teams, and those 1500 or so would attend far more often.. Especially if you open your doors, often, during the warmer, drier, months!!

Hopefully, we get, at least, seven teams with around ten GP riders involved... Tonight showed, unfortunately, the difference between the top level lads, and the young kids who really shouldn't be exposed to to that level, yet... As the crowd tonight showed, there is enough followers of the sport... You just need to make the sport something that people can get engaged enough with for several months..

To be fair, the start of the season said Blodurn, Zischke, and Cook were a huge gamble, according to many.. The engine room has proven to be the big plus..

Luckily, the NSS is going to be filled.. So the usual seven seater taxi won't be missed..

Kurtz and Doyle, a different level.. A shame to be honest as the second leg is probably a shoe in... Great to watch top class riders do what only they can do...

Getting peed off by having to keep logging in.. Is BSN always like this?...

To be fair, they don't bring many to the NSS ever, and don't have too many followers at home.. Utopia is a Sheffield lead by 12 or so, as hopefully, they may bring a few on Friday, which creates a bit of atmosphere...

Wow!! Take a bow Tate.... Amazed he could see anything ..

Team riding with Brady Kurtz...