mikebv

I know Kevin..

I work for a major UK and Global retailer and I do absolutely loads supporting the shops around me as without them the High St suffers and my trade dips.. I am also involved in the local Chamber of Commerce and Trading Associations.. As we will stand or fall together in the Community where my store is.. As an example I have hundreds of car parking spaces that are often empty, therefore the local hairdressers, take away's etc, and even the local Saturday food market inform all their customers that I allow them to use it for up to two hours.. Guess what? Many also then come in to shop with me when they go back to their car.. Very, very basic business acumen.. New promoters dont even get to vote on their own future in Speedway let alone get fully supported by the wider organisation in their infancy.. An utterly ludicrous way of running an ever shrinking enterprise..

The affordable level of the sport in this country is semi pro... Teams in the top league should pay out no more than an average of £100 a point across the team meaning £12k needed per home meeting to pay VAT and riders for one home meeting, and one away at a 90 point average.. Meaning £4.5k a night salary target to be divided up amongst the riders when agreeing individual points money contracts.. £16 admission and one thousand fans gets you £16k, to pay for a 'Championship Plus' level. (Not far from what we have now in the top league).. The second tier should be a "Championship Lite' league were an average £50 a point across the team is paid meaning £6k per home meeting needed to pay for VAT and riders.. £13 admission and 700 fans gets £9100 A £2.25k a night salary target to be divided up amongst the riders when agreeing points money contracts. The third tier shouldn't be much more than expenses paid.. Entry level motorsport is very much "pay to play" for most, with prize money often generated by their entry fees, so there really shouldnt be any more than an average of £20 a point paid out to anyone at that level.. 90 points for both home and away matches at £20 means £2160 to pay riders and VAT. At £10 admission a crowd of 400 would bring in £4k... I dont think the promoters realise just how little those of us who still follow the sport care about who wins their championships give the ridiculous operating model used and how they allow such manipulation, yet they pay out fortunes to try and win them, expecting riders to pay even more ridiculous amounts to get the best kit available.. Kit that also gets used (and subsidised by promoters by the way), to assist their own individual ambitions.. Let riders DU as much as they want to but only pay out a standard amount per team per night.. The bottom line is not many fans care who wins titles, so stop trying to out do each other to win something which is not far from irrelevant, and work together for collective success, which for many could simply be survival... One thing for sure is that closures within any industry can never be seen as a resounding success of its overall operating model and business plan..

Certainly didn't seem to be any social distancing issues... Seemed to be 20m between people, never mind two... As often when the sport is on TV, the empty terracing is a very, very poor advert for it... And with the size of Ipswich's stands, it looks even worse.. On Sunday I saw thousands watching in Wroclaw,, the majority bedecked in club colours, full stands, fans with drums to play along with the fan chants and create atmosphere, and every heat win celebrated like it actually meant something. . Last night you would have had to have the centre green flag marshalls and medical staff joining in just to keep the world's worst Mexican Wave going... I think it was quite telling that we had no close ups of "the crowd" as I don't think the producer could find enough together to actually fill a TV screen..

Can't they just implement the 2 min rule properly like Poland do.. So much peeing about at the gate that you just dont see in Poland.. Its seems to be obligatory to get off your bike and stamp over here..

Great ride from Becker... But poor from the Witches both riding narrow down the home straight...

Go off 15 metres Jake... Then let us see the formation this time... ..

I think you would find that if football ran itself using the UK Speedway operating model it too would be struggling very badly to attract fans.. In fact, a better analogy might be if Poland ran its Speedway the way the UK ran theirs, it would also be on its backside.. It would have.. No tribal following of hundreds of thousands of fans.. No one club riders who are synonymous with certain tracks to help build that fundamentally vital loyal emotional attachment to the club and individual... No major individual and team sponsorship from national companies to fund the paying out of 'Superstar wages' to 'Superstar riders". And. No TV companies having to tender (willingly given the size of prize on offer), for the rights to broadcast a 'ratings winner' into millions of Polish homes every weekend.. "I say Gregorz, old bean, could I borrow Tai on Friday because Bartosz is riding in the GP Challenge Saturday night?".. "Sorry Marek, Tai is already racing for Leszno agsinst you that night because Emil is in the same meeting as Bartosz. I do believe Patryk may be available though if you call FZG".. "Be quick though, I believe Lublin are after him to replace Michelsen on Sunday"... Can't see the Polish fans, sponsors, or TV broadcasters going for that somehow..

Certainly 'everyone being off at weekend' has changed considerably however.. It's telling that other forms of Motorsport all run into, and through the weekends, rather than try and run during the week.. As has been alluded to on this thread "making a day of it" would be the best way Speedway clubs could attract new fans.. Bottom line is Speedway in the UK is just an opportunity for riders to earn money under an ultra tenuous "team" infrastructure, that ultimately delivers "Championships" hardly anyone cares about, achieve very little merit or kudos in winning, and certainly have no major financial reward... If that is your starting point to attract "new fans" and your one saleable item is 15 heats/minutes of Speedway, often ran on days to accommodate your employees wishes, then you are clearly not going to make a success of it..

Magic Majic... Quality playing to the crowd..

You can see it, I can see it... Many hundreds on here can see it... And thousands who used to attend Speedway in the UK can see it.... Therefore I truly do fail to believe that those who run the sport can't see it either.. It's clear that fixed nights are not even fixed to allow "big names" to ride over here and elsewhere, but just simply to allow as many UK based riders as possible to double up so that they can earn as much as is possible, (to pay for massive outlays), season to season.. And spreading out the days they race on also provides a plentiful supply of guest riders who can supplement their earnings by appearing for all and sundry on an adhoc basis.. Let's be honest, no one in their right mind would choose to run the sport the way it's currently ran if they could afford to run it properly would they?... Therefore the current operating model and business plan are simply the only ones we will ever have... Until it's obviously ludicrous flaws eventually kills the sport off completely over here..

Post Covid restrictions, most tracks' crowd averages will be around 1000 to 1500 in the top division and crowds around 700 to 1000 will be around the norm in the second tier... Just like it's been for the past ten to fifteen years or so.. No amount of trying to get more families through the gates through face painting etc will make one jot of difference.. Its all been tried before umpteen times at various tracks and whilst it might attract a few extra, these people by and large don't return, or if they do, they simply replace someone who has 'given up' following the sport in the UK.. BV are a classic example... At the dog bowl they got around 1000 on average in the last few seasons.. At the NSS their first season averaged around 1400, with some meetings getting 1800 on a Friday... Now it's around 1200 to 1300 (pre Covid), with 1600 or so on a 'good night'... Bank Holidays show how many followers the sport has, with the crowds appreciably increasing... The week after on a 'normal' night, the crowds too are back to 'normal'... If Speedway had 'Bank Holiday' crowds week in week out, it wouldn't be in the shape it is... The bottom line is there are literally tens of thousands of people living locally to tracks who either know about the sport, used to attend, or still attend infrequently... They just don't attend often enough due to either the way the sport is ran, the day the sport takes place, or the value for money in attending.... My last meeting was a lunchtime BH Monday match v Poole a few years ago, and even with the early start, the crowd was nudging 3,000 or so.... I hadn't been to a domestic meeting for a good while and decided that as it was Poole and a BH, that I would go... The meeting from what I can remember was 'decent' and I remember walking away thinking "might go again next week".. That evening Max Fricke guested for Poole at (I think) Leicester as they had another meeting that day. Can't remember which rider it was but one got injured that morning at the NSS so Max got asked to ride... I haven't bothered attending UK domestic speedway since given how ridiculous that scenario was, and no amount of 'add ons' will maintain crowd levels unless nonsense like this stops.... But as everyone knows, it never will....

Haven't a fair few tracks had decent crowds this year? Certainly comparable to pre Covid days...? Reading the various threads' comments around crowd size, and watching the UK racing on Eurosport, I would say most tracks are doing 'OK'.... They never got close to capacity anyway so even a 25% max capacity for many would be around a 'usual' crowd.. Wolves, Birmingham and Newcastle seem to be the ones taking a hit it seems, but most appear to be moving along..

Gambled with his gearing there I would think... Knew he had one chance or no chance from gate two.... Fair play to him too....

A once tremendous track... Unfortunately undone by poor preparation over the past few years.. A great shape for the modern bike, meaning horsepower wasn't the major decider as they go sideways a lot of the way... So the riders who could work the track and find grip were always rewarded.. Nowadays gate from the outside and ride the white line and you win..

More like a Gustrow race...

Good ride from Dan... Saw the mid track develop so moved out to block Madsen.. Looks like they have made the inside too grippy with the soaking they gave the track given the hot weather. . Could do with no grading and just let the track develop....

Usually the outside develops and the racing can be very good indeed...

I would have once agreed, however, times have changed, and massively for some.... Those who have much more to earn (and lose) over the following night/weekend in Poland may no longer (quite understandably), "give it their all" when a meeting is comfortably won..... Dan Bewley for example has 'World Stage' aspirations that hopefully get advanced via the SEC this weekend as well as also riding in front of a possible full house at Wroclaw as they try to stay top of the table... For riders like this I am sure that when a meeting is all but over in the UK, then no undue risks will be taken if they don't make the gate.. Either consciously or unconsciously.... And given the rewards on offer in Poland for being a success you can only understand that position, as it's just human nature..

Got to give great respect to Kolodziej... Every race 100%...

Blimey.. Four lads racing around a speedway track for four laps.... And it becomes filled with all sorts of nonsense.. Nonsense that every season results in teams miles apart points wise who supposedly started 'quite even' using the nonsense criteria..

Ain't that always the way? On a 5-1 then their one rider wins the rerun....

Great race from Lambert.... Wonderful to see GB lads not backing off against the best in the world and beating them....

A good start to Torun v Leszno... Three decent races out of three.... Hopefully more to come...

Can't they just take payment over the phone and have a pick up point somewhere outside the stadium for the tickets? Advance booking and no pay at the gate... Ticks both boxes?