mikebv

Being top of the table and never winning a meeting... The point gained for being within six, for the away team, was dropped, it was said, due to the home teams fans leaving the stadium feeling less than positive that "one point was dropped".... And home victories are, as we know, the main objective to keep a crowd level... Now they can leave feeling that they have lost, after they didn't!!! Typical UK Speedway though... Let's contrive something... Something that didn't need actually fixing too... Maybe spending more time in delivering a fit for purpose operating model, and a joined up, collective, national wide, and innovative, marketing plan would be more beneficial to UK Speedway?

Each match has two points riding on it... Apart from a superheat match... Where there is three... And is it four points available if the 2nd leg ends in a draw as well as the first leg?. ie A superheat for the draw on the night, and a super heat for the aggregate... I have no idea, and cannot be arsed checking, but that would mean two matches scoring seven points, and not five...

Fever pitch excitement......... Sports editor's in the written, audio, and visual media are holding back their headlines and thumbnails until then.... "Who will Ben Cook guest for?" are the words on everyone's lips... (The Aces)....

Does anyone know if the top team picks who they want to race against in this seasons play offs? Anyone?

Getting out of the gate first and staying there around the first two turns was always the priority... With the acceleration the modern day engines bring, the width of the bends at many tracks, the tyres used, and the slick tracks, it is now even more required... An example was Anders Rowe on Monday, he rode the inside to keep Kurtz behind and Holder, who was quicker than Kurtz, couldn't get passed as all followed the one inside line that was available... Get out in front, make yourself as wide as possible entering the turns (at most tracks), and follow (again at most tracks), the one line to use and talent differential can be hugely negated...

Football isn't viable in the vast majority of places, given most clubs are in debt and use expected future money and sponsorship to cover as much of their losses as is possible... Speedway is no different but just on a much smaller scale with umbrella businesses, benafactors and sponsorship covering the shortfall in income v expenditure... It is though, I agree, a lot of work to give a few hundred people something to do every fortnight or so... And how another team will get enough riders to fill it and be competitive will be a challenge given the level of rider used nowadays to fill the ones we have... One thing to consider maybe is if the crowd levels are expected to be so low, then why not just stay at the Abbey? That stadium will more than accommodate such numbers... Maybe ask those looking to move Swindon out of the town that question?

I predicted 8 points for the bottom four at Sheffield but over estimated their capabilty level on a track that you needed to ride out wide in the dirt to have any chance.. Ipswich is much less intimidating and daunting, so will go again with eight points from them.. Cook 4, Blodorn 3, Zischke/Mulford 1 between them...(whoever gets third in heat two).. The usual thirty from the top three off 15 rides, so 52 - 38...

He's never been the best tactically.........

Blodorn, like so many similar riders, has reached his level... He will develop into a regular second string/No6, alternating as the averages change, moving from track to track like so many do in those positions...

If you go with a big top two/three then the weakness will always be lower down... Even more so if you don't use UK riders, so as to use the average reduction advantage to be gained.... Another year in the play offs is an OK season, and will generate a decent crowd for the semi... Personally I would have brought Palovarra in at six when averages allowed and just used guests to cover him on Thursday's away... Zishcke could have done with a year away from the top league but will have a decent average for next season...

Hope Brady calls "Paper".....

52-38... The Aces top three scoring around 30 off 15 rides... Plenty of very fast riding up near the safety fence with riders following around ten yards behind the one in front of them...

Fans complain when riders seem to choose to give meetings a miss over here, however.. Promoters,actually plan meetings in knowing that sometimes exactly the same riders will be elsewhere on that night... The message they give therefore, is that it is obviously acceptable to UK Speedway for you to miss meetings and your presence isn't fundamentally important... Which also then, obviously gives the events themselves the same lack of fundamental importance in the opinions of so many... You cannot blame riders for deciding to stay aligned to their biggest paymaster when the UK version of the sport is ran the way it is...

No surprise when Ipswich's team is made up of so many throttle jockeys...

The Polish Doctors are magnificent..... Every time they magically cure their riders to be able to ride... Our Doctors obviously need to learn a thing or two....

But he completed his rides after the crash... Dribble, Dribble, Blurrrr, Blurrrr, Dribble, Dribble... Can someone wipe my chin please..

Perfect scenario for a waterlogged track... Do it before they throw the sawdust on.... It would pack 'em in... See.... No idea is a bad idea is it? Any more? We could get these out there before the AGM....

Now we need riders blindfolded with hessian sacks on their heads, with buxom milk maids in pigtail wigs, stood on each corner shouting "Left! Left! Left!" when they ride past.. Could really catch on this.... And, more importantly... Add some much needed credibility to the operating model!!!....

You could carry buckets of coloured water on their handlebars and whoever finishes with the most water in their buckets wins the extra point... Imagine the excitement and atmosphere created as Stuart Hall (hang on, no, not him, someone else)! is whipping up the crowd as the lads empty their buckets into a plastic tube thing....

Have two bonus points for an aggregate win (treat it as winning one 30 heat meeting) and have one point each for a drawn aggregate score.... Or put a dart board on the centre green and play nearest the bull...

Would put a big cat amongst the pigeons if true!!! And annoy the PZM no end...!!.. They were plenty annoyed Dudek didn't get a season Wild Card.... The lineal World Champ would have a point to prove and if he rode I would suggest advantage Kurtz... Would add to the meeting 100℅....

Six points more money paying for 16 heats and not 15....

Always seems to deliver great racing.... The secret is? .. Build your track around an American Football pitch like Wroclaw and the NSS did...

I think he is a raffle winner.....

I was thinking Haaland for Hojlund....