mikebv

Every race he has taken completely the wrong lines whether in front or behind... That smaller track at Cardiff hopefully will help him get over tonight..

Let's be honest, riding in Britain doesn't prepare you for riding at this level... The true World Class talent that is left riding here can often turn up, ride at 70/80% and still have a good night... Tonight you see the difference in class when that same World Class talent have to stretch themselves to 100% performance.. Our lads need to be opened up to this level of meeting abroad, at this type of track, far more regularly if GB are to compete outside of this country.. Or maybe we can just persuade the FIM to hold a SWC Final at Buxton..😁

At least the lads are gaining experience learning the best lines to take...😁 Best seats in the house to watch the racing too...😁

Cook must think... What the F**k!!!! How slow do GB look though?

I believe a 'bunch of monkeys' have just issued Lewis with a £300 fine for 'deformation of character'...😁😁

For me Rob, the One Sport boycott is another example of 'right intention, but half arsed way of dealing with it', something the BSPA always seem to do... Laudably they wanted to protect domestic meetings yet all they managed to do in reality was block British riders gaining experience against decent opposition... Meetings are still being disrupted at the drop of a hat as foreign riders can still openly miss British Speedway to compete in One Sport meetings... To compound the issue you then get teams allowed a guest rider up to only 4pts making the meeting yet another 'Mickey Mouse' event... If the BSPA were truly serious about standing up to those who impact their business they would ensure riders only got contracts over here if they committed to EVERY match... The riders who are invited to compete in SEC, Beat Pairs etc are invariably good second string/heat leader level over here in the Premiership so will be earning a fair few quid out of British Speedway.. Therefore they should be given the ultimatum before signing a contract. ie earn a sporadic £5k or so a night riding for One Sport or earn over considerably ten times that riding a full season over here... All the boycott in its current form does is short change the fans and deliver yet more meetings with zero credibility, (the very thing the BSPA commendably wanted to avoid)... As for teams dropping down, I can see that as a positive, but only if the reasons for their self demotion are dealt with... Fixing the operating model which led to these clubs needing to drop to the bottom rung of the sport to survive is key I would suggest... Ultimately carrying on doing the 'same old, same old' can surely only result in the National League being the League in this country with most teams over the next few years as more teams see it as salvation for their ills...

Good to see a British Captain with an 'old school' huge winning mentality... Not quite 'win at all costs', which is quite correct given the unforgiving nature of the sport.... But you can clearly see his passion and commitment... Seems to leave his ego at the pit gate too which can never be a bad thing... Shows leadership by deeds not just words.... Has come a long way Cook in a fairly (by Speedway standards) short time. ... Let's hope his rise continues...

Rob, they have been backed into what is in many ways a self inflicted corner... Time maybe to start to come out fighting? Tigers do that I believe?... Team GB showed tonight that there are guys who can compete at the upper echelons.. From such acorns etc...

Agree it's 'tough out there' Rob, however what the BSPA hasn't done is adapt to the changing Speedway world. Instead often bemoaning that they are a victim of it.. And before moaning maybe they should remember Sky have put millions into their collective coffers over the past 15 years or so.... My local football team is Stockport County. They are non league but solvent, attracting around 3,000 fans a match.. My team is Manchester United who play seven miles away from County but in Football terms they are light years away from them.. The same sport but both participants with very different agendas... County not many years ago were in the second tier of English football, nowadays they are in the sixth tier. However instead of trying to compete with the United's of Football they have cut their cloth accordingly. Success for them may be promotion but can also be solvency and maybe even profit... British Speedway simply hasn't faced up to the fact that it is now 'Stockport County' and still tries to compete with the 'Manchester United' of Poland and the 'Liverpool' of Sweden.. It cannot compete with them so shouldn't even waste time, energy and money even trying to... What it should have done is build it's own identity, with clear rules and regulations.. Instead it always tries to do a 'cobbled together halfway house, nearly, but not quite fit for purpose' plan which ultimately does no one any favours... The Speedway world has moved on in the past twenty years. British Speedway simply hasn't moved on with it... Instead it has buried it's head in the sand hoping everything would have turned back to how it used to be by the time they take their head out again.. It can still be a great sport. But loads of radical changes are needed. Many of which are within the gift of the BSPA... If they have the vision and balls to make them...

100%... What didn't get recognised when the Sport was 'successful' was that the main reason down to it's success was it's continued presence on TV. Which was fuelled not by Domestic Team Speedway coverage but the TV performances of individual riders on the World Stage. In that time GB dominated the 'World Cup' and had several riders capable of winning individual World Titles (PC being the icing on the cake for TV audiences)... Cricket and Rugby are both Sports that recognised 'National Success' brought a knock on effect to their domestic league competitions and delivered a clear operational model that focused on this... What Speedway had post 1980 was a zero action plan to maintain the positive position, in fact this country sped up the progress of all it's major Speedway rivals by signing up as many of their riders as they could! Even in the early nineties the Sport at the top level had teams with crowds a 'Third Division' Football team would have thought 'ok'. Nowadays a top league team would kill for that level of support.. Some seem to blame the GP's, Poland and Sweden for the demise of the sport in this country. I would suggest the only reason to blame them is that their professionalism makes this countries operating model look so ridiculously amatuerish.. The GP's in particular delivers outstanding racing and entertainment which domestic speedway should feed off and gain success from. (Just like it did 40 years ago)... There has never been so much 'good' Speedway on TV with which to advertise the Sport, yet where did the 'Sky money' go? I heard from one promoter that basically "it paid for the No1 rider".. If so, WOW, what a short sighted waste of a huge amount of cash being brought into the sport.. It's good to see the work being done around British youth development, (thirty years too late sadly) but nevertheless it has started... Maybe in five years time the blueprint of when the Sport was successful can be repeated...? ie British riders filling most teams, fixture lists delivering regular, credible, same night Speedway each week ran mostly with integrity, and the domestic league's being in charge of their own destiny rather than having to be subservient to others, meekly accepting their position without fight.... Turning British Speedway round is a huge undertaking. So big you do have to wonder if it ever really could be done. Maybe its simply just an inescapable fact that too many glaring short sighted mistakes have been made over the past forty years and it will never be any better than it is today? Be sad to see, but maybe time to just accept it..?

Understand your outlook... Shouldn't be required when following a supposed Professional sport though should it? In fact I would suggest the sport is fortunate you take such a view and make such allowances for it's glaring inadequacies.. Understandably, not too many others do the same looking at the attendances... Think you will find far, far more ex fans have lost that emotional attachment to teams and riders. Hence the terraces reflect their feelings... Teams do not change wholesale yearly you say..? Correct, they change wholesale WEEKLY...

Promoters for me have simply given up as, deep down, they know they don't have the capability to sort out the myriad of inherent self inflicted operating model problems they have brought in to the sport over the years... Incredibly they have used tens of millions of pounds of Sky money to put the sport in the current position it finds itself in today. (In Britain).. Which is in reality, a non stop barrage of Mickey Mouse meetings ran with zero credibility (and often the same level of integrity). With none of these meetings having any place in a supposed National Championship of a Professional Sport.... As a follower of a Team in any Sport it is the emotional attachment that ties you in to 'your team' forever. Meaning even if they are not successful you cannot 'walk away'... In Speedway 'your team' very rarely nowadays is actually on show meaning 'walking away' is really no hardship... If there is no emotional attachment then there is no point attending Team Speedway, and if there is no point attending such an event then ultimately what is the point of wasting time, energy and money actually running it? Too far gone sadly in this country to be turned around and be successful, what we have is truly I believe the best the current rulers of the sport can come up with given the level of finance, capability and desire needed to make the radical changes required...

When you have four riders of commensurate ability on that track you get great racing... When you get four world class riders on that track you get awesome racing.... Plenty of time to build temp stands and market it too..

If it's only half as good as last year it will be worth the admission.. Let's hope it happens..

Agree with most of that however... When I started watching Speedway 2 point men every week raced against 11 point men so the disparate ability level was far wider than it is today.. Put those same riders last night at the NSS and that track would lend itself to much closer racing regardless of age... Same riders, MUCH closer racing.. The different level of ability in races does impact the racing quality no doubt but sub standard tracks like last night just lowers the standard even more...

Unfortunately last night the 'first out wins' mantra was exacerbated by how strung out the racing was... Cook was winning by the length of the straight from the rider bringing up the rear........ Simply due to the terrible track I am sure as most riders were probably more focused on staying on rather than setting up overtaking manoeuvres, but not great as an advert for the Sport... Let's hope for better going forward...

😆😅 Buddum Tish.... I'm here all week...

Leicester got a lot of justified criticism in years gone for their track but Poole's has become very similar over the past few years... By that I mean one line only..... Hit the apex on turn one, drift across to the fence on turn two and then hit the dirt and fly off down the back straight.... Turns three and four ride 3m in from the fence in a radius on the dirt line that forms there every meeting, staying off the 'ice' near the kerb... Why hasnt anything been done as it's been this way now for donkeys....

Great win, well done the Aces.. The track? Wow! How poor has that track become over the past few years? I have to say I never had any doubts about Cook in HT 15. Which for me shows his progress. He truly is moving to that 'next level'.. Even last year I would have had some doubts about him handling a 'big heat 15'. Not anymore though... Let's hope his form continues Saturday as I am sure it will be vital.. Loved also Dan Bewley's elbow on Starke, great to see a young kid not intimidated by a more experienced rider. Big future that lad... Edited: And no guests! "A proper non Mickey Mouse Speedway meeting Nige!"

Great view of the underneath of the main stand roof!!!😂 Has that camera not got a zoom on it? Maybe they could use my phone...😲

Two teams A Cook 8.22 Worrall 6.69 Harris 8.15 Lambert 7.70 Ellis ® 3.70 Total 34.46 Versus B Cook 8.22 Worrall 6.69 Harris 8.15 King or Nicholls 6.16/7.13 Lambert ® 7.70 Total 36.92/37.89 Impossible I know but which team would win the most times out of 10 meetings if they could ride head to head? Especially considering you can bring a reserve in tactically as and when you need to up to five times.. In team B's case, on his home track!! Maybe Rosco could go first with his answer? Would he deliberately choose to go into a Premiership match with a team nearly 3.5 points less than the opponents? 😨

Correct, he's becoming very much an also ran with regards to actually winning the title.... Enough natural talent to pick up enough 'easy' points from favourable gates to stay in the top 8 comfortably, but definitely seems to have lost that fire in his belly to mix it the same as he used to, especially when he doesn't make the start or gets passed.. When behind it seems to now be a first lap attempt to pass which if it doesn't happen he spends the rest of the race riding almost quite ragged trying different abstract lines, rather than the way he used to build momentum by smooth clinical, almost calm, riding to enable a succesful attack later in the race... Never seen him make so basic mistakes like he has this year, eg taking completely wrong lines into bends whilst leading and getting passed, or like last night lifting constantly in the same places to halt his progress losing him points.. Maybe two titles (a magnificent achievement) has made Woffy slighty lose that 'edge' and in Speedway, as everyone knows, that split second decision making is often the only difference between success and failure.. A test of his inner drive I would say the rest of this season. No one on track has more discernible talent than him that's for sure, but just maybe these 'new kids' have more desire to get to that top step he has graced twice already..?

Best year ever for me in terms of racing.... What a Sport when done this well... Must be someone out there who can market it to the masses and make these guys household names.? Love watching Jason Doyle, something 'old school' about him... Loads of skill but a ferocious will to do whats needed to win.... To paraphrase Kelvin "a proper Speedway rider Nige"...

18,996 posts and you say Shaun must have plenty of time on his hands!?... Even a Yank would spot the irony somewhere in that...😁😁

Great post.... Sadly the sport is too far down the line to ever change in this country.... It's now purely in survival mode only.... Literally tens of millions of pounds of Sky money thrown away to deliver what we have today, ie. Mickey Mouse meeting after Mickey Mouse meeting masquerading as a Professional Sporting League.. My 14 year old lads local Football League has more credibility and integrity that any of the British Speedway Leagues, and they don't charge me nearly twenty quid to watch their fixtures....