mikebv

Good call to be fair... Dan in particular may freeze given all he has done recently is compete (extremely well), in front of two "full houses" in the Polish play offs.. Riding in front of a combined total of fans at the NSS and Peterborough that wouldnt reach anywhere near the amount of just one leg of the final in Poland must be nerve wracking.. As must riding for a title that will hardly raise a paragraph in the local paper of either team rather than make that nights national TV sporting news... Not to mention also the huge financial bonus of winning that I am sure he and his fellow Aces team will be riding for in the UK, which will dwarf the trifling amount that winning the Polish title brought to him... Hope he can manage to keep the incredible pressure under control...

Reading the honest thoughts of the Eastbourne promoter as to why the season went to pot is quite enlightening if nothing else.. The bottom line, and its fundamental issue is.. Running the sport in such a Mickey Mouse haphazard way renders all leagues worthless... Yet... He thought "bumper crowds" could be expected, presumably due to Covid desperation to watch "their team"... He also couldn't understand why crowds didnt follow long drawn out (and higher priced) double headers.. And found it hard to believe that the Speedway GP live on TV (a proper competition), would mean fans stayed in and watched it rather than watch "live" Speedway.. Incredibly out of touch really isnt it to hold such views? Bottom line is that if the leagues had some kudos, and it was a proper 'team sport' and fans felt that emotional tie in, they would be much more inclined to attend... When you follow (like so many thousands do), "the sport" rather than "their team" then you will always have a very sporadic, but high, number of "take it or leave it" visitors... The play offs once again will demonstrate the perfect examples of the "take it or leave it" visitors, as crowds will be "bumper" yet so many will have hardly attended all season.. Maybe the Promoters (who by these kind of articles obviously dont realise the negative impact they have), will wake up one day and at least try and run it properly, and deliver "decent crowds" each week of the season and not just Play offs and Bank Holidays when amazingly they run meetings on days that many want to, (and more importantly) are available, to watch it.. A great many follow the sport closely, with great passion and enthusiasm, but dont follow their local team with anything like that same level of both positive behaviours... And that is a very sad indictment of those who run the sport.. (In the UK)..

I believe she may be singing at the interval as well. And given the expected Aces lead by then... "We dont need another zero" will be your song of choice..

They haven't done any "going back to the drawing board" for the past two decades when they clearly should have done, (several times), so I think everyone will be very surprised indeed if they did it now... A great sport, ran in a very myopic poor way... (In the UK)..

Lets just hope for two good meetings for the cameras and that no guests end up racing, thus making the flagship domestic final of the sport a contrived joke.. If a heat leader is missing from each team then both run RR... From reading the reports it sounded like all the meetings in the semis were a bit short on the level of entertainment we would want, (only personally watched the Wolves leg of their semi so maybe the reports didnt do the others justice)... Regardless, hopefully we can have two great finals, delivered by two "proper" teams...

To be fair the Polish authorities are not that clever... They hold just one meeting a year and this is held a week after the UK promoters AGM.... At their meeting the Poles list all the UK regulations agreed at that UK AGM for the coming season (well agreed for a week or two of the season at least)... The Poles cover each regulation in turn in microscopic detail... Before ensuring they implement absolutely none of the same ones in their regulations....

They should run it with Guests every week.. Bartek and the rest of the lads could earn so much more... Fans, TV companies and Sponsors would still pay in their respective millions...

Initially the UK had Monday and Thursday as their allowed priority nights.. Due to Poland taking Sunday, (and then subsequently Friday), Sweden Tuesday, and Denmark Wednesday as you say... The UK (due to Poole riding on Wednesday), then took Monday, Wednesday and Thursday as their TWO allotted nights... When they seem to have trouble counting such low numbers correctly, it probably explains why the sport is in the position it is over here... And why we cannot calculate an RS riders' average...

No, only teams not in is (or maybe was?), the rule... But It is (UK) Speedway, so you never know... As Dan Bewley rides for Belle Vue and Wroclaw, maybe Woffy, Majic or Artem would be allowed to replace him if he gets injured..?

Glad the Aces have gone with RR... The sport is Mickey Mouse enough as it is without a Semi Final being influenced 'for one night only' by someone from a team that failed to qualify.. You should win or lose as a team... Incredible to believe I know... But bad luck and injuries affect other sports too.... Not just (UK) Speedway...

The Aussies made a lot of their tracks clay surfaces for their saloon and sprint car racing... The solo racing standard deteriorated accordingly...

400 plus miles there and back in October? With only a 50/50 chance of meetings taking place this month I would say if the past couple if weeks are anything to go by.. Going to the SON both days and that is a ten mile round trip. And that gives me doubts...

Too far to go, but would definitely pay for a stream if no TV coverage.. Well done Glasgow... Let's hope for no 'cry offs' and the best half dozen from both nations attend... Could be a cracking night..

December?

Another sad loss... One of those almost unsung riders when compared to the 'superstars' of the 70's and 80's, who always gave 100% and who could beat the best, and often did.. A true crowd pleaser... R.I.P. Big Al...

Matt Ford said in the SS that the TV deal is around 10/11% of the Sky deal hence he decided it wasn't worth Poole being part of it...

If it had been watched by enough people Sky would have kept it going as the advertisers alone would have been happy for them to continue with it... And if tracks had some kind of covers to increase their chances of running, rather than calling off meetings on 'damp but raceable' ' nights, I am sure Sky would have been more inclined to keep the contract open. As it stood, it cost them a lot of money to take all their kit to a track, set up, and have nothing to broadcast.. Bottom line is UK Speedway had 'the cream of the crop' over here and each top league track got over £100k a year for a long, long time, (literally tens of millions was put into the sport), and when the contract ended UK Speedway wasn't any better at all for all that money they had received... And that is simply rank incompetence...

Sky paid millions to the then BSPA for the worlds best riders to all ride over here... That couldn't go wrong either I presume?

"In the interest of Speedway" is a five second plan...

Not the greatest season ever, tracks have been too poorly prepared too often (soaked through), for it to be a classic. Good tracks at that as well.. However, still plenty of top racing which highlights just how great this sport can be when properly presented and structured... Time for a few to drop out permanently now I would hope, Zagar and KK have given excellent value over the years but some younger blood now needs to be introduced.. Hopefully Lambert can get a WC as there are certainly a fair few examples this year where he has shown he is capable, and 10th in the world is a fair achievement... Hopefully the Polish track bias will reduce next year and a few more technical tracks join the circus... Great to see a brand new name to be added to the list of greats who have won the World Title..

Doubt it.... Russia not there.... More is the pity.. Zmarzlik using the "Zmarzlik corridor" again...

Woffy to let Artem get at least a third?

Then they need to cover the line he takes 100 times out of a 100 when he is behind.... Sit back on the mudguard, full throttle, head down arse up, fire!!!

Zmarzlik fires up the inside again... Are the other riders a bit thick....?

At least Fireman Phil has reduced the flooding tonight....