mikebv

Some balls that from Pawlicki.. Nicki didn't leave him too much 'racing room' as Kelvin would say.. I do love Sunday afternoons watching Polish Speedway... And Friday evenings.. And Saturdays!..

Kubera and Smektala at reserve!! With talent like that you will need to get that team on an incredibly 'off night' to beat them...

Very difficult logistically though for so many 'shared' riders to be in two different places at the same time.

The Aces 'in house' coverage is very good and at something like a fiver a pop, maybe 5000 or so around the country would pay to watch it 'live'? If so that would be £25k which would cover costs quite easily I would think, and make some good money for the company filming it and the club themselves.. I wouldn't imagine something like this would have too much impact to the actual attendance either, as the Sport is pretty much down to 'die hards' anyway, and they will always attend... A positive would be that most times now when a meeting is possibly going to be called off due to poor weather, or even more often, the teams listed are nothing more than some contrived 'selects', even some of the most committed fans will give them a swerve and the clubs then receive absolutely no revenue from these people when meetings go ahead on these type of nights.. Streaming live from the venue would at least provide some money from those who will still be open to getting their 'speedway fix' but just not prepared to justify paying out circa £20 on that particular evening for it.. And another positive would be the actual 'advert' of what's on offer may then get some of the less regulars to attend in person more often..? Or, heaven forbid, attract some new fans altogether... It would also then be a simple process to make the high quality HD coverage freely available to the local BBC and ITV TV companies to potentially show the following evening on their local news bulletins.. Gaining more awareness of the team, and sport in the locale.. I presume that the current broadcast rights would need to be changed though to do this..?

Maybe their is a long term plan and its to increase its social media profile to a high enough number to possibly then start to stream matches to an army of 'armchair followers'... 50,000 'followers' might be enough to get 10% or so watching on a PPV stream on any given night... The nights they often run on are simply not 'customer friendly' for something that is seen as 'entertainment' and 'family focused' (and they must know this as its so obvious), therefore there has to be another reason surely why they keep running such a poor non customer focused fixture list.. Could it be with a view to future growth being delivered from TV subscriptions? Or.... Maybe I am giving them too much credit, and they haven't got any plan at all... And simply the fixture list is put together at the behest of the riders to suit their earning potential and individual aspirations, and no thoughts are put forward at all at any stage of the planning as to whether the fans can turn up or not....

That was at 2:59pm on Friday the 24th of May.. At 3.00pm on Friday the 24th of May, the rule may have changed...

When supply exceeds demand businesses can be very particular and keen on the price they pay to deliver the biggest margin they can.. Speedway has a better plan and actually as part of their operating model creates a system where demand far exceeds supply, meaning the 'suppliers' hold all the cards and can charge top dollar for their services and can even actually dictate when they will provide their services.. Not enough riders? Then have less riders per team... Or have less teams.. Carrying on as they are surely isn't an option..?

Take some of the dirt off it... Ironic when so many tracks are so slick, Buster seems to make all his very grippy.. Tracks prepared like Ippo on Monday invariably end up with a 'fast race around the boards procession' with all riders keeping, in the main, equal distance from each other, (presume to give themselves time to avoid the guy in front should he have problems riding though the 'deep stuff')... Deep dirt to ride in, but too deep to race in... The NSS, widely considered to be a great race track runs much better 'slicker than deep', and to be honest when you watch old footage of Hyde Rd the inside third of the track was 'slick' with the outside two thirds covered in 'just enough' dirt, not lots of it.. The shape of the bends lends so much to the racing, and as has been said the "fly down the straight/lock up almost to a standstill/fire off down the next straight/lock up almost to a standstill/rinse and repeat", type track simply isn't conducive to deliver great Speedway.. Even more so when 'deep', as riders will always be cautious as to how their bikes will react when it hits the deep stuff on a tight bend... And if they are thinking about that, they cannot be thinking about racing as well.. And who can blame them?

Remember seeing an interview Q and A with one GP rider around 2011/12 saying he got "ten times in Poland" what he earned over here... He then said he got £1500 a night on average over here... I know since then that riders salaries in Poland have been reduced somewhat (as many didn't actually get what was on the table in the first place), however still a huge difference in salaries between GB and Poland so you can understand a different approach, (if there actually is one).. Maybe not using riders who ride in Poland and Sweden is the answer to improve the closeness of the racing? Give 'lesser riders' better incentive related salary packages using the money they currently pay to riders who travel around Europe.. As long as they are available 100% of the time when the club dictates they need to be...

You're not supposed to.... Nobody is.... That's the whole point of them....

Challenge matches will have the same costs (or maybe less dependent whether rider costs are lower due to it being a non NL league match).. Because, instead of paying out for two matches from that one match's income, like they would in the league, the promotion will pay out for the two team's points money.. In every match the home team promoter needs to take enough to cover two meetings worth of points money.. That nights costs and the away legs costs...

Promoters are right....

Racing in Poland is different as well... I can only think it's down to the old 'risk v reward' equation... Would you take the same risk to earn £100 more that you would take to earn £1000 more? Also, much less chance of losing your job in Britain, (and even if you do you will invariably have another one within hours), than in Poland, which would also strongly focus the mind I would think..

Spot on... The margins for big % success are so huge given the poor levels of attendance at most tracks, that just a small increase every week will generate significantly more money.. I suggested something similar to a Promoter several years ago... Get 100 regulars together (who are interested in helping) and give them 10 tickets to bring 10 friends/colleagues. That alone would swell the crowd by 1000 if all turn up so would have made the sport look popular in itself.. Then over the next few weeks do discounted tickets gradually moving up to full price in the fifth meeting for the newbie, ie 75% discount, 50% discount, 25% discount then full price.. Hopefully by then, after five meetings, the newbie would start to follow the team and sport... He was worried about the fans using tickets as freebies for friends and family but I told him there are far more than 100 fans who would be happy to pay full price themselves and see their team prosper and use the tickets with integrity.. He said the tickets would cost the club 8 grand (£8 a ticket at the time) so he wasnt sure of its viability.. The reality of course was the only cost was for 1000 tickets being printed and that would have cost him about £30 back then, with the chances of any regulars getting a freebie being minimal, and even if they did it would have meant hardly any 'real' loss, given it would have been such a very low number... The mindset of a promoter...

Emil obviously thought before the race, "I am sure there's a bit of grip up near the fence I reckon I could use"... I was watching it downstairs and my 16 year old lad was watching it in his room... As it ended he flew down the stairs and screamed "Dad! Did you f*****g see that!?".. Amazing what instantaneous reaction this sport can still bring isn't it? A reaction so very few others can match.. NB (I blame the parents for their kids poor language obviously)

Promoters know best...

Promoters know best.... I would suspect anyone with a faint knowledge of the sport flicking channels will not be in any way shape or form thinking "I must go and watch Speedway".. Two hours of prime time advertising completely unused and wasted.. On nights like this you would think promotions would work together as a collective and subsidise the whole of the meetings costs as 'The BSPA' and advertise every meeting around the country taking place this week during the two hours of the broadcast.. Let everyone in for free and give the impression the sport is booming, and hope that by informing those around the country watching that there is a meeting close to them in the next six days, they might attend.. You could even do interviews with the relevant promoters where they could advertise their own meeting and maybe do some special offers live on TV.. But as I say.. Promoters know best..

When your punters lose trust in you it is a very slippery slope... Speaks volumes about the sport that we seem as fans to be able to foresee such occurrences and amazingly these predictions come true.. Must be lots of 'Mystics' on here... In truth, a sad state of affairs that so many fans who love the sport end up being so cynical about it.. And then time and time again get their cynicism completely 100% justified..

I am learning quite a bit of Polish this year through Google translate..... Initially when I first started watching it I thought WADA might be interested in doing more tests the amount of times a 'droogie' was mentioned... Woffy still not gating well tonight, just a bit easier to pass some of the opposition than it is in a GP.. Good to watch him come from the back so easily though... Cracking racing again today.. Got to love Polish Speedway haven't you..?... Edit.. And the interviews are great! NKI.... Hope the Polish bloke translated his English word for word!!!

A very good night's Speedway... Woffy got his crap meeting out of the way early, better to do it now than later.. Madsen did what he has done for the past few years in Poland, ie proved himself truly world class.. Doyle showed exactly what true warriors these lads are.. And Lambert and Smektala showed that they are truly emerging talent at world level.. There's not going to be a stand out rider I would suggest this year, with everyone capable of beating each other at any given moment so this could be the closest and best season ever.. What a magnificent sport this definitely is when done 'properly'... Should be a great season of GP racing..

He's won more World Championships than every Polish rider ever combined.. .. Woffy 3 Poland 2..

Woffy, shades of previous 'falllow' years.. Wrong place, wrong time, not committing to one line to build momentum but switching all over the place scrubbing speed off.. Best get the crap one out of the way early.

Freddie... Must have got a bit of grip... With simply no room to lock up and avoid Antonio..

Unless of course they've also signed him so when he isn't there they can pick and choose from virtually the whole of the league who to guest for them.... Anyhow, any news from the site how the 'leccy' is? i would imagine they have been working 24/7 to fix it..

Looks like British Speedway do have some very clear, sensible rules around starting a race.. However, like so many of their clear, sensible rules, they do seem to be paid little more than lip service at times.. it does appear that the same riders seem to know that over here there is a greater tolerance towards their bending of the rules, even though the rules look more stringent! Anyhow. Keep up the efforts W9 Lion, you never know, one day it might all come together and each heat will become one seamless transition from one to the next, as seems to happen in Poland..