mikebv

Seem to be lots of postponed matches in the Polish leagues this year so far... (Nothing to do with no/reduced crowds and the hope that full crowds can enter later in the season I am sure).. In the SS, Oliver Berntzon mentions that this 'slow start' to the season means he has a good many meetings condensed into a relatively short period of time, meaning he is having to stay in Poland to ensure he will be available for them all.. He also said that they were racing three meetings in five days in the coming weeks to catch up... I think the BSPL might need to keep Monday's Eurosport fixture the only meeting to be ran that day if the same thing will apply to the rest of the riders...

All the major supermarkets stock it so maybe worth request to stock it (if it doesn't), if you use any of the 'big four'... The SS is on sale at my local Tesco by 8am every Thursday every week, no problem...

Maybe it won't be only the fans wearing masks..

I believe the company is called "Pie-ky and Chips".....

Have they finished putting that roof on yet?

RIP Jon Cook.. Condolences, and best wishes to all his family and friends..

Mickey Mouse events? A few seasons ago the Premier League Play Off Final (the flagship event of the whole UK Speedway season) was set to have two riders guesting who were actually going to 'swap' teams after the first leg... Meaning each would ride for BOTH teams... Whatever the IOW do in the coming season I would suggest that they would be very hard pushed to be more 'Mickey Mouse' than that. .. In fact, I would think even Disney would struggle to be so... Best of luck to the IOW this season...

Pretty much the Speedway business model up until around five years or so ago when I suppose it eventually dawned that it doesn't work.. For far too long it was "we have lost 'x' amount of fans due to the last inflation busting increase so increase admission by another inflation busting 'y' amount"... Whilst all the time not spotting that the annual reduction in fans was destroying the atmosphere, whilst at the same time the inflation busting price hikes were peeing off their most ardent loyalist fans,... A 'lose/lose'.....

I would think that given the plans the IOW have for the season they will need maybe a pool of 35 or so riders to allow their team and the visiting teams to remain 'fresh', and not have the same lads riding each time... And around 15 or so of these lads will be around NL heat leader level if their points limit is used... These 15 lads alone could easily be filling 30 spaces in the 2nd and 3rd tiers, so 'if' (and for me it is unlikely, but as you allude to, "you never know with the BSPL"), any bans are threatened, they could easily stand together and say "we are doing it", and they would have to be given permission I would suggest given their huge collective impact to the two leagues mentioned.. Getting competitive teams out every meeting during the pandemic will be enough of a challenge to the three leagues I would imagine, so any ban threat (particularly to the level of rider that is so fundamental to two leagues), would hardly be made coming from any position of strength.. Hopefully the IOW can just get on with the task of providing 'Shale Sport' entertainment, in their customary pro active style, without any nonsense getting in the way...

And should the BSPL ever actually ban any riders for riding at the IOW, then who would ride for the teams in their leagues? Most riders seem to have two teams as it is, so banning any of them would create some big holes to be filled.. And as the IOW seem to be trying to run their 'Speedw', (er I mean 'Shale Sport" Meetings) at a level more akin to the 'old' NL strength it will therefore include a number of 'decent level riders', which would mean a fair few NDL heat leaders and Championship Reserves would need finding to replace them from a pool of lesser talent.. To be honest. I can't really see the BSPL being too bothered what happens on the island, (hope so anyway), and if they are, they really need to focus on the much more important matters.. Such as promoting their sport aggressively as we leave the various lockdown rules behind..

I believe the breakaway league was having to be called "The Kicking An Air Filled Spherical Object Around A Desgnated Marked Out Field European Super League"...

Best of both worlds.. TV crowds are always down (ex play offs), so even a limited capacity shouldn't impact those who attend regardless of TV coverage too much, meaning most of them can still attend I would think.. And the rest can watch on TV..

1500 to 1800? Really? Wow.. That's a crowd level plenty in the Premiership would love each week.. Shows what running on your "best night" can do if those numbers are correct..

London pubs will soon be needing barmen again... Pints dont serve themselves...

Very sad news... My lad rode with Ben, Derek's grandson, for a few years for Stockport.. RIP Derek....

Best of luck in all your endeavours this season Barry. I am sure a good many on here appreciate your updates and honesty, not to mention the way you and the team down there actually go about promoting your sport and business.. Many could do a lot worse than learning from what you all do down there..

Just wait till they talk about every team in the ESL being allowed to borrow players from other teams to cover any injuries or prior appointments..

Scott, Rory and Bomber are going to be very busy boys...

No one tell Gary Neville about this for gods sake....

Could he ride for both?

At full it's only around 4500 isnt it? At 50% that would be 2250.. You would be looking at circa eighty quid a ticket I would think for BSI to make anything like the money they would want to make out of it... And plenty more if you have to pay BSI a fee to run it instead of them. Even if they could add a couple of thousand to the allowed crowd level, there is surely no chance of this happening...

Speedway's answer to Football's "Carlos Kickaball"... "He's comes from a country that's really good at Football/Speedway (delete as applicable), so let's sign him"... Watching lots of Speedway on YouTube it is incredible how many riders appear for so many different teams down the years (not guesting either, actually contracted for that year).. The same "journeymen" foreign riders going on the club "merry go round" hitting five to six point averages year in year out, never improving by much, never decreasing in standard by much.. Almost as if they realised hitting a certain average would get likely get them a place the following year, whilst hitting a higher average would possibly leave them out in the cold...

A mistake repeated time and time and time again over the past 20 to 30 years or so.. Simply Rinse and Repeat when the journeymen you spend lots of money on, and change fixture lists for, (which impacts your customers), dont come up to scratch... "Lets bring Anders Karlsson in and if that doesnt work we can bring Karl Andersson in instead".. And all to try and win competitions that even Mickey Mouse wouldn't admit to being in charge of.. A very strange way to run things..

For me. 100%... The sport is down to its very hardest of hard core support so is pretty much bomb proof from any more "walking away".. Therefore, keeping the same numbers (or even a 'natural' reduction in punters), but removing thousands from their costs, has to be a good thing for the future of the sport... "Never waste a good crisis" is a term often quoted in business.. Speedway should take note......

Or maybe it has THJ? A bit of short term pain for long term gain? Flying in and out hundreds of journeymen foreign riders over the years and planning fixtures around these riders agendas, regardless of whether a good night to run or not, whilst at the same time reducing the places available to UK riders could now be a thing of the past... Those who run the sport have steadfastly avoided "the bleedin' obvious" so maybe the pandemic has forced their hand and it will be for the best in the long run?