mikebv

And if the other way round Nicki would have left his leg out, took the impact, and slid nice and slowly into the fence...😁

There is of course a bit of a flaw in the cunning plan if, as many seem to want, it becomes 'one big league' next year... The League strengths have only become closer because two teams in two divisions share the same bloody riders.. Perfectly equal team strength when it's the same person! He will find it hard to do the same thing in one League though... Half an Half Kevlars maybe for when his current two teams meet each other?...☺

The ultra slick tracks of today mean riders keep the throttle on 'full' for the whole of the race... Which means that when they hit some rare 'deep stuff' (or touch an opponents back wheel and straighten up) it can catapult them into 'orbit'.... Years ago the deeper tracks allowed for more passing through control of the throttle as it wasn't always the rider with the back wheel spinning the fastest that got the drive out of the track required to win.. Riders of today have, in the main, learned their craft on slick tracks hence they know no different which also means anything less than a 'perfect/smooth' track is a major challenge to a lot of them.. You only have to look at the 'blue groove National League' to see the situation of riders not being able to handle grip will continue as simply they are not opened up to these conditions... Hence high impact crashes will continue to increase as today's 'rocket ships' suddenly take off leaving riders with almost zero time to react and evade impact..

The Broadband service on the South Coast has certainly seemed a bit 'iffy' on a few occasions recently... Something to do with the tides maybe? 😉

Amongst all the doom and gloom around the Sport.... Tonight I paid just a tenner for both me and my fourteen year old lad to attend... I witnessed two of the best races at the track all season by two lads riding as if it were a SWC Final... Take a bow Dan Bewley and Danny Ayres... It can still be breathtaking this Sport with the right ingredients...

No.... A brilliant sport, ran awfully....

What's tonight's 'weather warning'? Tsunami coming down The Wash?.!😂😉

Neil Collins, a proper master in the rain.. Never had the machinery to match the top riders but on a wet track where technique, bravery, natural talent and throttle control were the key determinants rather than horsepower he could be fantastic..

So many seem to see Woffinden in a less than favourable light... Therefore letting him run Team GB means if he fails the same people can get on his back even more.... For them, what's not to like? The Sport (in this Country) in its current guise, is going down the toilet after years of inept administration, leadership and vision.... Why not let someone run at least part of it who is big enough to put their money and time where their mouth is..? It's knackered anyway so got to be worth a go... Edit: Read an article recently about Mens Tennis in this country and how several have improved their ranking considerably over the past two or three years. Many within the game don't put it down to anything the authorities have delivered through inept training and development plans but more simply down to them seeing what Andy Murray did at close quarters.. They had a clear role model as to what you needed to do re the dedication to put in the hours to train, the sacrifice needed to become No1 in the World and the single minded determination to succeed at the highest level.... Maybe tapping into Woffindens similar traits wouldn't be a bad idea..

Incredible to think that in this day and age Social Media is an 'after thought' for so many clubs... They cannot even quote cost as an issue as I have employed several 'website builders' in the past three years who worked part time for me whilst gaining their degrees in whatever 'website building' comes under at Uni.. One of them (to help gain his degree) had to do a 'practical' so he set up a website for my lads football team and kept it updated via what I sent him... The 'look and feel' was refreshed several times a week during the 12 months he worked for me... It looked very professional and at virtually zero cost... 'Shares' on Facebook can access literally millions of people or (more relevant maybe), access thousands on your doorstep within your community. . Virtually every community has some 'closed group' with thousands of locals discussing, as they happen, things going on in their area or advertising what is happening soon.. Every Speedway club should join their local Community Facebook Group. Either via the business Facebook page or via someone connected to the clubs own Facebook page. My business joins the local group wherever I move to as it's a fantastic way of getting your name out locally and you also get unsolicited feedback as to how you are doing via this media and can action any issues that ordinarily you may not know about.. I often am able to sponsor local events that I see advertised on my local community Facebook page... I also via the medium, let the local monthly market traders and customers use my sizeable car park as it also brings me business whilst helping local businesses at the same time.. Local charities email me direct for donations which (however small) are greatly received and publicly thanked!! Every food bank I let collect in my store, photos are taken and put out on the local community page. Great publicity for them and even more so for my Company! I currently sit on a +90% rating on the 'mystery shopper' result of my companies performance measures for the question 'does your local store help your community?'... My sales are +6% Like for Like too... Cannot think how....? Maybe related? (Now there's a thought)....😲😉 There is a HUGE opportunity to get your message out locally for virtually 'sod all' costs... All Clubs should try it...

When Poland next year goes to 'Poland plus one', it will effectively remove the GP riders as well as several current heat leaders... What this country will be left with is the top GB riders (ex Woffy and possibly Lambert), and lots of Championship level heat leaders/second strings from various parts of the globe.. These will then be supplemented by National League level riders filling lower second string/reserve places... For me, to survive, British Speedway needs to live it's life in 'splendid isolation' such is its distance from ever being in line to compete with Sweden and Poland. Not having to be beholding to Poland and Sweden when planning fixtures may assist them in doing that and let GB take charge of its own destiny... Maybe cutting it's cloth accordingly with an operating model based on affordability, credibility and integrity may give it a chance to rebuild from the bottom upwards and this time get it right!!..?

One of Busters most laudable pledges when he took over was his mission to improve the integrity within the Sport, so I am sure riders walking out from meetings will be seen by him, quite correctly, as 100% totally unacceptable and there will be some severe disciplinary action taken against those responsible.. Just like there would be when this situation happens in all properly ran Sports... 😨😂

How very dare you... Don't compare Speedway (in this country) with Sunday League parks Football.. My lads U15 league has photo id cards meaning only affiliated registered players can play, no dodgy ringers can represent our teams.... Fixtures are planned well in advance too meaning plenty of notice for parents who take their kids.. A bit radical and extreme I know, but the system seems to work quite well.. 😁

Going to need a much BIGGER carpet too.. No room left under the old one....😂

But think of all the money they are not losing by not running Phil.....!!😆😕

Don't forget it was the 'best team spirit ever' according to several of the set up... Subtle dig at 'absent friends' perhaps...? I was fortunate to witness my football team win a Champions League Final with two of our forwards not talking to each other for the best part of two years... Nobody mentioned the team spirit... Just the winning...

Same sport... Somewhat different level of participant and track layout to race on... Hadn't seen last night's meeting so watched it simultaneously tonight with the Swedish match... Not a poor meeting at Wolves by any stretch but not a patch on the level of riding in Sweden.. But then again, with Hancock, Woffy, Lindback, Emil, NKI, Shamek, and PK and Kim Nilsson at reserve etc etc you would expect good racing....

In the early Nineties both English Cricket and Rugby internationally were struggling which led to apathy for their respective domestic games.. Both Sports then embarked on following the blueprint of what the Aussies had done several years previously when they too had been struggling at International level.... ie They focused their business plan, development plan and resources on getting the National Teams successful with a belief that domestic Cricket and Rugby would benefit on the coat tails of higher media coverage and public interest... Just, in fact,'spookily' like domestic British League Speedway benefitted in the 1970's by the ITV Saturday coverage of 'England' beating everyone both individually and collectively as a Team.... The Sport didn't 'boom' in those years because of what Belle Vue, Cradley, Wimbledon, Coventry etc etc etc did each week... Incredibly those who have run the Sport over here for the best part of 30 years or so have actually 'trained up' other nations riders to hammer us at International level, thus meaning the mainstream media (who love going overboard in reporting National Sporting success) now have zero interest in following it... I remember in 1976 being nine years of age reading the back page of The Daily Mirror with a picture of PC and a full report of him winning the World Title! The board outside the newsagents (that you had in those days with that days headlines) led with this story, something along the lines of 'PC races to Title'..! That meant that their Editorial team felt this headline would sell papers. Imagine that type of coverage now....? Surely there must be some within the BSPA that can see if they had a successful International team allied to five or six riders individually regularly competing for World honours, then the Countries Media would sit up and take notice of it? History says it works.... So give the British lads the chance and support to make it happen...

And even though it will only be a two team league, both teams will still be full of bloody guests!!😀

A nation truly mourns Steve... #prayforPoole #sharingyourpain 😉😲😈😆

I remember dear old Frank Bruno in his pomp... Came through as the next big thing for British Heavyweight Boxing... Got fed carefully picked 'journeymen bums' so he could dispatch them within seconds to build his reputation.... Every fight on BBC generated the required hype and publicity. ., First time he fought anyone with an ounce of ability he got handed his arse... Our lads are in a similar comfort zone over here which they need to find a way of breaking out of.. Beating NL riders in both leagues when they double up is no preperation for International Speedway for Team GB riders. How they get that exposure to racing against the best regularly though is the big question... Especially when, dont forget, this is a Sport ran by people in this Country who replace young British riders in teams because they have upped their average and improved....!!😲

If Cook was Polish after ten years riding he would still be only around 22/23 years of age such is the way their development system works.. He would have gained untold experience riding in front of large expectant, passionate and massively critical crowds.. He would have raced in many meetings with several genuine World Class riders in both his team and the oppositions.. He would have gone to the tapes in EVERY race knowing literally his career was on the line such is the line of talent wanting his spot in the team.... He would have been acutely aware of what winning a 'credible' Championship would mean to his club and it's town/city, and the level of national media coverage that winning the title over there would generate. .. Instead he learned his craft often in front of 'one man and his dog' crowd levels, where the opening of a flask was the only sound generated by the person there. He was able to have many 'bad nights', riding under no pressure, with zero threat to his position in the team, as just being able to ride a bike at his level guaranteed him a team place anywhere in this country.. He rode for teams in towns and cities that people within a two mile radius of the tracks didn't know they even existed... He would every week ride against, and often beat, riders who wouldn't get into a Polish Third division team yet rode in the top division over here... In short his experience and development should actually stand him in no stead to take on the Worlds best as it's a completely different World that the British riders and the Poles grow up in... That he and others do take on the Worlds best with reasonable results, is testament to their own drive and belief rather than the infrastructure around them.....

The young Poles grow up riding against the absolute very best that the rest of the World has to offer every single week. (With the very best that the rest of the World has to offer 100% fully committed due to the need to keep their salary levels)... They also grow up in a League where nothing but being successful maintains your position in your team. Never mind a bad meeting, two bad races can see you out of the team and replaced by an equally hungry and talented replacement... These lads can earn hundreds of thousands of euro at a very young age riding for just one team, not two, three, four, five etc... But with that money comes enormous expectation from tens of thousands of passionate club fans and huge pressure to succeed from their paymasters... Growing up and being exposed to such extremes means they simply have to learn to handle this pressure, or be replaced. This then has the knock on effect that when it comes to racing against the same World Class talent at GP and SWC level they know they have the beating of them... It's no surprise to see Latvia and Russia also do well as these countries riders invariably are 'Poland based', and also develop their riding in the same tracks under the same pressures from their Polish clubs. .. Team GB racing against Poland (in Poland) is akin to the best team in League One of the Football Championship, after spending a season dominating domestically at their level, going directly to the European Champions League Final and taking on Real Madrid in the Bernabeu... Simply those Polish lads are used to competing against the very, very best each week.. Our lads race in the main against a far lower standard and need to be tested far more to bridge the obvious gap... Giving '110%', as our lads no doubt did last night, can only get you so far. If this Country is serious about reaching the top step then there has to be a development plan for the riders driven by the governing body. That is the only way to see them reach the true top level of the Sport. ..

Spot on.... Frustratingly GB had more than their fair share of leads coming out of turn two but constantly left what Kelvin describes as 'racing room'... Many other leaders out of turn two moved over from the apex to put their back wheel into the kick boards halfway to two thirds down the back straight to propel them into turn three. Often meaning those taking the outside run had to switch off or try and dive up the inside to turn three.. I am sure Rosco and the lads will review the video and learn from it...

Fair play to the lads for getting fourth, but you can see the gulf that exists when we leave the comfort zone of GB... The BSPA need to get these lads on the continent, racing far more times than they currently have opportunities to do so... When Sweden regularly got 10000 fans for their two Elite League play offs, it wasn't because Eskiltuna or Vagarna were doing well, it was because Tony Rickardsson had moved the Sport into the mainstream and his success at World level captured the countries imagination and domestically Speedway benefited.. Similar to Denmark. The all conquering Danish Team moved the sport forwards massively in the eyes of the Danish public and domestic Danish Speedway reaped the benefits on the back of it... Cricket and Rugby realised a succesful national team boosts their club competitions massively and set about using central contracts to put the National Teams first.. Not for one minute do I believe Speedway could afford to do anything similar, but it could start to let their best riders race against truly World Class riders more through Teat Matches for instance.... Racing the 'odd heat' against a GP rider over here (who is probably earning his least amount of cash for what he does) with two other 'lower league riders' in the same race who wont be challenging you at the first turn, is hardly the same as five races against 15 World Class riders representing their country with passion and commitment... Our lads needs more exposure against the very top riders to bridge that gap... Do that and maybe a successful 'Team GB' will make the mainstream media sit up and take notice (like it did in the Seventies and early Eighties when we were successful) and the spin off for the domestic leagues will be better support from an interested public?