mikebv

el weathero weekendo au meteorogico paoulo feesh... eastiebourno... scorchio.... ryehouso... scorchio.... glasgowo.... p1ssingdowno....

correct... add in also the seemingly inevitable 'tactical call offs' which seems to blight the sport too and you very easily find yourself with an issue whereby people simply can no longer be bothered as it simply becomes 'not worth the effort' to attend... it is interesting though how when we come to the season's end, and matches need to be raced to ensure teams qualify for the play offs, matches seem to take place at all costs... late september/early october must be a safer time to ride speedway in the wet I presume?! or maybe it's a different kind of rain that falls!?

and therein lies a major issue for speedway in this country... in the 'good old days' (?) if there was a chance of rain or even if it was raining leading up to the start time you would decide on the likely hood of the meeting taking place and if '50/50' was the call you still attended as you felt that the riders, promoters, refs and managers would do everything they could to put the meetings on and a rain off was something they wanted to avoid at all cost... now if its not at least 90/10 in the favour of the meeting taking place you simply (especially away having been turned over more than once) decide it simply ain't worth attending given the costs including fuel that are involved.. . still, those who run speedway can blame the world cup this year for the inevitable yearly drop in attendances rather than wake up and try fix the fundamental operational issues, which are the true reasons people leave the sport annually.....

the sport must have had what? over 10 million quid from SKY over the past 15 years or so? maybe more? yet not one set of track covers purchased among all of the EL tracks..... a sport so effected by the vagaries of the uk weather hasnt developed a way of getting meetings on when lots of call offs happen even though weather at the scheduled start time is perfect for speedway... once again british speedway reaping its rewards for its forward planning and the foresight of its rulers...... foolishly I paid to get in tonight a kirky lane, the track was wet but I have seen worse.. years ago, chuck some sawdust down, don the boiler suits and lets give it a go was the mantra.. simply now as a fan you look at the forecasts and often say 'sod it' if it is anything remotely like an evening that may have a downpour as basically you fear getting shafted..... and a sport with fans (die hards too) who think like that has real problems...

not in the eyes of a good many of the promoters... speedway is a sport that their aim is to win at, hence the 'tractor man' is almost as important as the riders at some tracks... many fans seem to equate 'entertainment' with passing, however a meeting with no passes whatsoever can be entertaining, especially if the atmosphere being generated by a large crowd adds to the occasion.. as a fan of a good few years I can honestly say, at most tracks, if you get one 'great race' in ten you are very lucky, 90% of races wherever you watch are usually 'from the gate' ... oh for every track to be a hyde rd, scunthorpe or somerset.. sadly though they are not hence we have what we have as a sport ie not special but very similar to all other sports in that the vast majority of events are very mundane and every now and then.we will get a 'cracker'...

Speedway fans do seem to want utopia every time they watch a meeting.. Watch any motor sport at the highest level and 'from the start' is the usual mantra for the winner.. Moto GP, Superbikes and, god forbid, MX and F1, the vast majority of the time sees one man win by a country mile with the rest of the competitors strung out 'miles' behind.. Speedway is often no different but occasionally can deliver breathtaking entertainment,, It just doesn't happen that often... The occasion is the reason for being there when attending a world class motor sport event if the racing is great then it's a bonus..

fair call... teams must know that they are going to win, and by a large margin when they race scunthorpe, therefore its an ideal opportunity to 'blood' some rookies themselves as guests to see if they too can unearth some potential talent out there.. would make a closer more competitive meeting too...

I heard recently that each team now only pay their own riders and not both teams from a meeting, is this correct? if so then this is not a bad idea as a business model to be fair... running the NL meeting as an addition to the main meeting creates a 'value for money' package for the fans who are also, as its a double header, in the stadium longer so bars/catering should also benefit... using a team of 'proper juniors' also can lead to low scores initially which ultimately reduces points money paid out thus providing a cost effective way of hopefully unearthing a few riders for the PL team... if just one british rider comes through then it would have been worth it, yes getting beat each week can knock confidence, however nothing is more important in their development than track time with competition, which scunthorpe seem to be providing plenty of for their riders.. add in a great racetrack and you have a well thought out set up at scunthorpe....

maybe apocryphal as this was told to me by a third party (though he is someone who worked in the pits at BV at the time so I would suggest hopefully true).. one night one of the younger riders in the BV team was having a poor match so therefore sought out the advice of the world's best rider who just happened to be his captain..... he asked Ivan Mauger, 'Ivan, what can I do to go faster'? Ivan replied that maybe the young man should consider cutting off two inches from each side of the handlebars on his bike.. the lad looked a bit perplexed so asked Ivan 'but how will that help me to go faster exactly'?.. 'It won't' replied the great man 'but you'll now be able to fit your bike in the bin!!!'

Agreed, bless him... Terry used to stand in at BV occasionaly and one night he was introducing the riders... He came down the list of riders till he announced 'and at number six Ales Dryml'... However not pronounced as 'Alice' but 'Ales' as in 'the Bitter'!!!!! Brilliant......

One saturday night at bradford, in 1990, the aces were there........ Terry Hardaker was doing the 'honours' on the centre green...... Proudly alongside him stood seven cheerleaders resplendent in their new 1990 uniforms... Each had a square sign which they proudly held above their heads which spelled out 'D U K E S 9 0' to the grandstand, who gave the girls a round of applause...... We on the back straight obviously at that stage didn't have a clue what the signs said until....... Terry then shouted 'that's fantastic girls, now turn round and show the back straight'... This they did in unison and we on the back straight were met with the immortal '0 9 S E K U D' ... And let's be honest, in the 24 years since then, centre green presentation hasn't really got much better than that has it??

remember one evening at kirky lane when cov were the opposition, after a few races cov were getting well beaten so started complaining about how much dirt was on the track.. at one gap between heats Colin Pratt and his whole team came out of the pits and started walking the first two turns kicking into the dirt to ascertain the depth and sporadically pointing to the track and shaking their heads ... moments later John Perrin came out with a bucket of shale, walked between the cov riders and started to spread the shale on the track by hand as if feeding corn to chickens... he then presented the still half full bucket to the cov management and told them they could keep it and take it back with them to brandon so their track could start having shale on it too.... Colin Pratt is said to have replied "I don't tell you how many onions to put on your burgers, so you don't tell me how to prepare a track" !!

best of the night for me (so far!) is Sam's... 'it was only emil pushing watt that made the race easy for davey"... oh and dont forget at the end of every summary when he finally runs out of bollox to talk the "good jarb" sign off...

I hear that... however, you do also wonder how so many foreign riders come over here, make the uk their base, put in several years of graft, (often in the PL) and then eventually become world class.. were they really given loads of support from their uk teams or was it their greater drive, determination and self belief that one day they would succeed that delivered the final result?? I would suggest that an aussie for instance has huge motivation to succeed when he comes over half way round the world to work, (often as a raw teenager) with hardly any 'back up' should things go wrong. This motivation/fear of failure must focus him tremendously .. And I dont see the aussie speedway rulers putting their hands too deep in their pockets to help these aussie 'kids'.. I do get the impression sometimes that to some brits the van with the name on the side, a PL place 'for life' (with a bit of doubling up money here and there), is more important to them than taking the same risky career decisions that their foreign counterparts undertake... Staying in your comfort zone without taking risks, simply means you never progress... Maybe that is also a major factor why we dont produce 'world class riders' on a regular basis?

and therein lies the issue... total lunacy to agree a points limit and then completely ignore its non compliance..... that is why we are where we are today... as said previously, the NL has far too wildly differing agendas to ever make a level playing... therefore with such an obvious imbalance in salaries paid, no-one should be surprised if meetings are not entertaining due to such disparate team strengths..

maybe a maximum pay rate may help to equalize the teams? say something like 10 pound a point...? if everyone had to pay that then surely that would mean riders wouldnt choose to go to the highest payers thus spreading around the talent available and making the racing more competitive..? oh, hang on, just realised, that already exists.... zero sympathy for those teams who pay out far more than the standard rate to attract the best riders out there for each position in the team, then amazingly moan that the meetings are 'one sided'... how in all reality, can they be surprised....? each team has its own business plan in the NL with widely different objectives, finding a 'happy medium' would be I suggest nigh on impossible given the diversity of what success looks like for each team..

Malcolm, I do hope for the sake of speedway in stoke that you can continue and maybe one day go back to the PL... But as a BV fan who used to frequent your stadium regularly, but no longer attends at all, I do have to say that the NL racing was at best 'average' and at worst 'poor'.. To be fair to the riders, I do think the inconsistent track was probably more to blame than their capability... Either way, it wasn't/isn't (in my humble opinion) worth the outlay to attend (plus the considerable fuel cost).... As I say, hope it all works out but those who run Stoke Speedway really need to take a long look in the mirror as if you run a business and it goes wrong, it sadly ain't the punters who no longer give you their patronage who are to blame but 'someone closer to home'... Let's hope Stoke can come back again to its former 'glory'... Used to be a good, value for money night, on a well prepared track five or six years ago....

A good 'diplomatic' answer Philip.... A great speedway meeting... Eurosport must be delighted with their investment for a 'minority sport' on a Saturday night....

Is that a 'one off'?? I read that each location pays BSI an agreed figure and then promotes the event and makes 'what they can' by their capabilities??

How FOOKIN good was that????? What a sport..... One of a very, very few that is actually 'breathtaking' Therefore, how can those who run it.... run it so FOOKIN badly!!!!!

??? Philip, but don't the 'hosting club' have to 'buy' the rights to host the event, hence BSI have a guaranteed income regardless of crowd??

fair comment..... he got a bit of 'barry white' initially but you can see his enthusiasm and passion for the sport,,, and he does it without uncalled for and unrealistic hyperbole... (and SHOUTING)...

Isn't Scotty very, very good as a pundit??? Love listening to his 'experienced' views.... A natural at this lark....

I don't know him mate, haven't ever met him so (like so many on here) cannot formulate a true accurate opinion of him as a 'person'... What I do know is that the lad is 'box office' and whenever he rides at BV the promotion team at BV get my money, (as I usually pick and choose my meetings depending on who the visitors are).... A 'few' more like him and I would bet most 'away' tracks would get at least 300 - 500 more each week....

Darcy Ward!!!!!!!!!!! Magnificent ride lad......... Truly fantastic display of speedway racing from a true natural talent, would willingly pay to watch this kid every week... (ooops, sorry, he rides for Poole and has a 'bit of an attitude' If you believe this website..)... so obviously I must take it all back.... Well done fella...