Jump to content
British Speedway Forum

mikebv

Members
  • Posts

    9,152
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    91

Everything posted by mikebv

  1. And you had an amazing last heat decider at Sheffield with PC, Eric Boocock, Michanek and Tommy Jansson.... Shown later the same evening on ITV.. A race that never gets boring to watch given so much is going on.. A true 'Festival of Speedway" with a big name sponsor and almost blanket TV coverage on one of only three channels you could watch at the time.. A very different world than the one that exists today for Speedway in the UK..
  2. Never been one to take any notice of the usual "could you ride a Speedway bike?" crap that many idiots come out with when their favourite gets criticised, however.. Anyone who throws their leg over a Speedway bike, and races it, definitely can never be regarded as 'gutless'..
  3. Poland could do with attracting more followers of 50+ years of age.. Dont seem to have many.. Missing a trick there...
  4. And I wouldn't be surprised if they keep the "guest' system next year too as it gives sides greater flexibility and puts pressure on riders to perform.. Obvously it's not the same blight on the sport as our guest system is as its really doubling up which will provide a fair few riders with dual income.. Very good dual income..
  5. Janowski another whose career is going backwards.. Smarzlik, as he always seems to do as a season progresses, just gets better and better.. Will be a firm favourite for another World Title I would think..
  6. He used to at least be around second at the first turn, now he is often third or fourth.. That cut back he does in the first two turns has paid many a dividend over the years but you cant keep relying on it working.. Expecting it to work against 3 top lads is a high risk strategy if you want success at a world level..
  7. Woffy's gating has been truly appalling for the past season and a half at least.. Miss gate, then blast around the boards is his regular tactic these days.. Great to watch when it comes off, but against top riders regularly hitting the first turn third or fourth wont deliver much success.. I would suggest he is maybe just still in the Top 10 in the world but not in the very top echelon anymore.. Bikes and talent still good enough, but starting simply miles off..
  8. Maybe the almost "we've got no chance" attitude when teams race Leszno is starting to unravel a bit? If you wrote that septet down on paper not many I would suggest would read it and think "Wow! They must be the best in the world"... They are though, it appears, "a team" which several of those with a higher proportion of "world class riders" dont always appear to be.. The Smektala/Kubera combination at Junior level was always a strong plus for them which no longer exists, so who knows, maybe this year whoever they go head to head against in the play offs will fancy their chances..?
  9. As has been said in other Leszno meetings, as a team they dont have any truly World Class riders other than Emil.. Yet seem to pull out great team performances with different riders on any given night stepping up to the plate when needed. And heavily relying on Kubera.. A few teams going 'head to head' should feel they have a chance against them this year..
  10. That looks like a large 50% of capacity crowd.. Maybe Polish 50%'s dont mean half..?
  11. I think that is the sports dilemma (over here).. The IOW seem to promote EVERY meeting as if it was a one off event, which with some of their fans on holiday it very well could be their only chance to impress them.. And for their regulars 'something different' regularly will keep it fresh.. Team success (as in winning the league) almost appears secondary to the success of providing their customer base a 'great night out' and given the lack of kudos and financial reward for winning any UK competition, I would suggest it's a very good operating model.. UK Team Speedway is basically a busted flush if you measure success by the numbers who attend, with many who have fallen away over the years basically giving up on the concept, hence no longer bother attending.. (But often still remain as very interested followers of the sport in their several thousands).. Therefore it's dilemma is can it run itself successfully as a 'Team Sport' concept (and bring back some of the lapsed thousands), or does it need to do 'something different'? The old adages though of "always doing what you've always done will only deliver what you've always had" and the definition of insanity being "doing the same thing over and over again and each time expecting a different result" is something that those who run the sport should have written large on their meeting room walls..
  12. Agreed, but if a lower grade of rider on offer, and no flight costs, hotel bills, van hire, uk mechanic, etc etc etc, to be factored in by the rider when he is negotiating points money, then maybe the entry price point will drop commensurately?
  13. I actually think that an amalgam of the 2nd and 3rd divisions could be the way forward for the sport.. Whether it will attract many overseas riders I am not sure given the money on offer will need to be relative to the standard of rider.... But, for British Speedway, and the oportunities it would create for British riders, and their development, it might not be a bad thing.. It would also mean a fixture list being driven by customer availability, and run to a timetable when they can get there, and not when riders can get there when it suits their global agenda.. My team get decent crowds for 3rd tier Speedway and if a team made up of 2nd/3rd Div riders was the only team they had to watch, I would suggest crowds would be pretty much on a par that the 'first team' get now.. And much cheaper to run obviously.. UK Speedway is pretty much down to its die hards who go and watch 'any speedway', and hardly any 'crowd puling top names' ride here so there is a minimal amount of fans who only go to the see 'the names'... And when (if) this bloody pandemic ever finishes, every sport should get a 'bounce boost' at the turnstiles when it returns. . So, if there ever was a time to restructure from the bottom up to build a better future then surely it is now?
  14. Really? 2019 Top 2 - Poole 52, Swindon 50. Bottom - 2 KL 31, Peterborough 20 2018 Top 2 - KL 53, Somerset 47. Bottom 2 -Wolves 34, Leicester 23 2017 Top 2 - Swindon 66, Wolves 63 Bottom 2 - KL 29, Leicester 27 2016 Top 2 - BV 64, Poole 59 Bottom 2 - Coventry 33, Leicester 21 2015 Top 2 - Poole 66, Coventry 61 Bottom 2 - Wolves 28, Lakeside 27 And that's with a max of just 8 teams per league in some seasons and seven in others.. And the same huge difference between top and bottom goes back regularly from 2015 ad nauseam.. Before every season when the teams are known, the 'cannon fodder' gets predicted on here, and those predictions are very rarely wrong.. Some balanced league. .
  15. I have been on forums where you cant type Scunthorpe. ..
  16. The block pass appears to be very much 'de rigueur' in Poland. . Maybe 'Hold the Line' should be the song played before the race to remind the riders?
  17. It's the Speedway equivalent of Football's "I'd like to see him do that away at Stoke City on a cold Tuesday night in December"...
  18. Spot on.. A team that has three out of the top seven best riders in the world from last year shouldnt be getting smashed this way.. The system in Poland is fine.. Teams not performing some days is sport...
  19. His 'sudden rise' after so many years of average riding is being mirrored by his 'sudden demise'... Strange, ,
  20. Hopefully the announcer playing 'Jump' before that start was deliberate. ..
  21. Yeeeeeeeeee Haaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. Privacy Policy