mikebv

Indeed... Those five years flew by didn't they? Edit: In the last 20 years or so we have had circa a century worth of five year plans...

Circa 2/3rd tickets in the Grandstand sold... Behind the tapes the ones mainly left... Would imagine a "full house" would be a distinct possibility. . Have all the Sheffield fans attending booked their Uber? As it's the final they might need a seven seater...

With riders like Ulrich you always do have a feeling that this might be the first of at least a couple of retirements.... He certainly has seen the inside of too many hospitals, but he also certainly entertained the fans far more than most with his all action riding style, and never give up attitude... Hope he finds whatever he does in retirement fulfilling and he enjoys it....

Bradford was for me, similar to Coventry... Two tracks with a shape that should have lent itself to great racing, but, for some reason, you often came away from both extremely underwhelmed... Yet, on the odd occasion, you got to see some cracking racing at both... Just, not enough times...

I think "Wilky" might be the one with the tractor driver . If it isn't, it definitely could have happened somewhere..... My first hero as a 3 year old kid... My 2nd a couple of years later, (and still the best exponent of racing a bike from the back, and therefore most exciting rider that I have ever watched).... PC... And lucky enough to get to watch him for over a decade every week at one of the greatest tracks that ever existed.. Would love to see a PC in his pomp today around the NSS... Book will be ordered... Edit: As a side note. There are plenty of reasons as to why crowds dropped off hugely from the mid 80's, however PC becoming "just ok" and therefore not blitzing the rest of the world regularly on TV during the summer on WOS, in a style that was truly "box office" was, for me, a large contributory factor... He was truly a "household name" in the mid 70's to early 80's... You could watch him just after 3pm on a Saturday afternoon and then watch him in the flesh just a few hours later.. Sadly, as "gate and go" took over on slicker tracks, so did lots of the excitement... As I say.. Box Office..

2022?

As we always say... The rose tinted specs were coloured in by the atmosphere of being in big partisan crowds, which meant the racing often became "great" when you won.. The reality was something very different on many occasions.. A shame those who run the sport havent got the capability required to deliver big partisan crowds today.... As the racing deserves more watching...

I can see the Aces getting at least 40 at Sheffield... The top three getting 28-30 from their 14 rides... Wright, Brennan, Etheridge and Blodorn will then need to get 10 to 12 from their 16 races.. Blodorn at Owlerton will be better than he would be at Wolves I would say, and could be a good card to play..

To be fair, the racing at places like the NSS, Peterboro', and at World Class level, is as least as good, and probably better, than what I used to watch in the 70's 80's and 90's.. Zmarzlik, Bewley, Laguta, Woffinden, Lambert, Janowski, Sayfutdinov, Lindgren, Doyle, Madsen, et al, all serve up some spectacular stuff which is more than on par with what I used to watch even in the halcyon days of the sport... The current machinery works fine if the track design matches in...

No Mr Happy being interviewed?

Certainly more tracks of a similar shape and size.. I presume Becker gets his average at home.. Said he was on a 7+ at the start.. Getting more impressed with Connor Mountain every time I see him ride..

Let's hope the two best teams in the league by a fair distance serve up a couple of cracking meetings..

He meant Sam Worrall...

Embarrassing for Wolves... At least Ipswich gave it a go on Monday... Might as well not have ridden if this is the best they can do...

Do the play offs count towards riders averages..?

The air fence needs fixing.... When is the final?

Usual UK Speedway starts.. All firing off in different directions...

To be fair in the early to mid 90's both tracks served up some cracking racing.. With Aces v Wolves matches often amongst the highlights of the season at both tracks.. Then the bikes developed but the tracks didnt...

You can still do that at Wolverhampton... Although "fun" isnt necessarily a word I would use..

In the 1950's. On deeper tracks with hugely different machinery characteristics... When all the top riders in the world rode over here so you could benchmark yourself against them.. You could argue up to the early 00's it was worth prioritising over here given the worlds best still were in attendance in decent numbers.. Chalk and Cheese from today though....

Easy... The tens of thousands of lapsed fans who will come flocking back to attend every week... All of them very happy to pay 25 quid a pop... Come on. Keep up at the back... Wonder if it is another five year plan.?

You either use averages or you dont.. As soon as you bring subjectivity into it (which by definition is prejudicial), then you might as well scrap the system.. Personally I think it is a ludicrous way to equalise team strengths as every season their is a huge disparity between the top and bottom and it restricts improvement to teams.. Not to mention the many, many variables that make up a riders average, meaning it isnt a true reflection on their capability v their peers.. However.. If you want to use this system then you have to accept there will be a great many question marks about it which will unearth some strange results...

I know I am getting on a bit, and years flash by now, but the five years of the RS system seem to have gone even quicker...

Of Sheffield could be Champions when they race Ipswich.. Both matches will be important as it will give riders a chance to earn more money and also, for some, a chance to reduce their average for next season.. Now the averages this month are calculated over only the last 10 matches a "poor night" can be very impactful to it, (1/10th impact rather than 1/20th) and therefore very beneficial to them when negotiating a team place next year... And as for explaining it to any newbies, I wouldn't expect too many of them on a cold dark night at the end of October will be in attendance.. To he honest, given the fact the League is already won, I wouldn't expect too many regulars either will be exactly "chomping at the bit" either to get there...

The DU's will still need plenty of rides so more than likely...