mikebv

well done Tai... all british speedway needs to do now is get its crap together, sort the farcical way it runs itself out, and promote this lad like fook..... he has a back story that hollywood wouldnt believe... someone in the bspa ffs must understand this and get a professional marketing company in to put him forwards into the mainstream media.. could just be the saviour of speedway in this country.. no pressure.... well done again lad.. truly a quality rider

I am one (of the many on here) who can hark back to when 'speedway was great'... The reality though is that the speedway wasn't that much better than we have today (if at all).. You only have to look at youtube coverage of the 70/80/90's to see that one or two good races per meeting was about 'the norm' with the first rider round turn two winning the vast majority of races.. What is different today is that you watch the same kind of races in virtually empty stadia, which adversely effects any kind of atmosphere being generated.. In the 'golden years' the noise generated by the sheer crowd size made the most mundane 3-3 seem 'an event' hence the entertainment level appeared higher... I would go as far as to suggest it isn't the standard of racing that's the main reason crowds have decimated, but rather it is the 'mickey mouse' perception in the way the sport is run that has turned far more away, I know many who have simply 'given up' due to this and I myself have done so on more than one occasion!... Why can't all speedway be like this? Without a big crowd to generate an atmosphere, it cannot be. In the 'great meetings' tucked away in our memory banks you can bet the vast majority took place in front of a large vociferous crowd which made the occasion 'special'... Keep charging £20 to get in and buy a prog and speedway will never deliver 'great nights' consistently as simply not enough will turn up to generate that much needed noise and atmosphere... Keep coming up with the 'mickey mouse' ways of running (or should that say ruining?) the sport on top of this, and eventually it will be the crowd changes that get announced each week before the rider changes..!!

why can't all speedway be like this? play offs bring a 'crap or bust' mentality', which I am sure is probably enhanced by a bigger than average financial inducement for the riders... also each team can cherry pick an 'horses for courses' team selection when it comes to double uppers as there is no PL clash, hence the 'worst rider' is more than capable of holding his own.. and finally Esther... the league is nothing more than glorified qualifying rounds where riders know 'there is always the next meeting, (as long as I dont get injured)' which leads to 'minimal risk taking' riding.... put up a big financial inducement on every meeting with 14 riders of pretty similar ability and 'on the edge speedway' would be the norm, a la SGP...

cometh the hour... cometh the man...... not.......

???? what is he supposed to do? say the stadiums are not god awful? that the crowds are plentiful? that the EL is not a shambles?? think plenty would criticise him if he did that!!!

nor camping chairs and tartan blankets.... all very strange.. "it's speedway Jim, but not as we know it",.

I believe a guy called Mateuz Fordzski was interviewed and he was quoted as saying that he didnt want to deliver an 'inferior' product for his fans.......

what we have seen this year is many, many chickens come home to roost.. no olympics, no euros, no world cup, no weather issues, no tsunamis, no ash clouds, etc etc can be blamed.. years and years of ignoring those who voiced their frustrations and simply walked away, and a failure to attract a younger 'clientele' has now rendered the sport 'on its arse'... this year has been bad for various reasons, but apart from the many injuries, most issues were forecast by so many on here... if you do 'reap what you sow' then british speedway has deservedly got its spartan harvest...

to be fair to the beeb... speedway hardly has a media team who keep pummeling them until they give in... with so many sports to cover he who shouts/lobbys loudest often gets heard... yet again it highlights speedway's lack of media savvy..... golden egg Tai if 'used' properly..

a truly great speedway meeting... if only you could box that and make something like it 'the norm', you'd pack the stadiums out over here, how 'strange' that they can present a temp track so good yet many of the established tracks over here deliver nowhere near the same lines for the riders.... best wishes to TG, 'worth the admission alone' is a cliche that truly applies to him on god knows how many occasions... and as for Tai? he showed tonight true grit and bravery, well done and all the best for torun.. IF british speedway had a clue then they would already be getting hold of a professional media company to market this kid, (tats and all), to the 'yoof' of this country... wouldnt it be great to see, come march, a british world champ going to the tapes with true street cred which in turn has attracted scores of the 11 - 20 brigade to the sport... oh well, I can dream, wonder what Roy Cropper is doing early next year... ,

get out the 'cardie' for monday night!!!

problem is of course that many of the EL teams need mr fords riders.... say what you want about undue influence on the league and its outcome etc, but one area ford cannot be criticised is how he puts his hand in his pocket and brings over riders who then go on to heat leader standard and end up getting loaned out... when others are so 'beholding' to you, it does give you a fair old 'lever' when it comes to delicate negotiations about the way the sport will be run....

I think you will be surprised.... I have been down on the south coast this weekend and found a copy of the play off final 'script' lying around... BIG FINALE planned seemingly... Wont spoil it and tell you who wins.

rock, paper, scissors?... best out of three.... no tactical doubles though if behind...

edyoukayshun, edyoukayshun, edyoukayshun....! wunder if dem wer in wiv da 'specials' clas bak in da day... innit,,,,

your point re the missing number one? do what 'phil the ace' suggested, ie give the next two in the team his rides... your point re missing two or three riders ? do what a team has already done this year and dont run the meeting! 'in the interests of speedway' obviously...

Good call.. As it stands now the reason why we have guests for a 'No1' is that it is considered that the team without one is at such a massive disadvantage that the meeting wouldnt be competitive, however the rules of speedway themselves contradict this notion as if the 'No1' gets injured in heat one then only reserves can take his place.... Link your idea with setting a team strength average that doesnt mean the 'No1' is disproportionately over 20% of the teams total, then it would work.. For the bottom end of the team, DU's could be used as now, and running six man teams would mean more 4 - 6 point men would be on the market to replace those calibre of riders (who make up the majority of the teams) when they are injured/missing.. IF there was a will to remove this facility, which does, no matter what anyone says, destroy league speedway's credibility, then it could be done.....

Stand back and await the 'there is no alternative' brigades wrath... Imagine if swindon and poole make the play off final and poole win.. Troy Batchelor gets his losers medal, looks suitably solemn for a moment before joining the back of the poole team to collect a winners one for his 'services' to their successful season and joins in the poole team celebrations.... Be ridiculous wouldnt it? Yet who could disagree that he would deserve a medal as without his contribution they wouldnt have been there? Ah but this is speedway....

Many speedway riders used to have a 'day job' and then 'earned a months money in one night of speedway' as was often quoted by the riders themselves.. IF speedway could go 'back to the future' and get somewhere in between where we were then and where we are now then it would surely move forwards... Cutting costs is without doubt the biggest challenge, reduce those and rider salaries can then also be reduced, with the 'golden ticket' then of being able to lower admission fees which 'should' increase attendances overall... Maybe a 'new level' of speedway could just start that ball rolling?

fantastic bit of coverage there showing the lengths tai and hans went to to get to the meeting, a video diary showing changing airports via bike couriers, getting a bit of shut eye where they could on the flights, tremendous example of what international speedway riders do to earn their crust.... maybe freddie has got one showing his cruise ship to the stadium??

I think many equate 'great speedway' to just 'loads of passing'.. A fair few races last night, whilst not having too many passes, still had the first two close up to each other till the last bend.. Must admit I enjoy watching races where the rider in front has to change his lines from bend to bend, lap on lap, to second guess (and mess up) the attack from the one behind... Plenty of races like that last night...

Fair play... I've said before that the bspa should wake up and see what they have with Tai... Young, talented, articulate, and although sadly tragic, a background family story that makes his success even more astonishing.. In a sport so 'extreme' like speedway, 'kids' should falling over themselves to attend, and Tai with the earrings and 'tats' is someone they can identify with and would be the perfect fit if speedway ever thought of re branding itself from 'the family sport' garbage it sells itself as.. He really would be a marketing man's dream if you wanted someone to be the face of an exciting, vibrant, unique 'brand'.. Will never happen of course, now where's my tip up chair and tartan blanket for my knees..

I think that the way every track needs an air fence next year, or they dont compete, tells you the risk the sport runs through potential legal challenge.. In the case of a life threatening injury at a track with no air fence, the EHO/HSE would I am sure, upon investigation, question why some tracks have them and some dont... Basically it could be seen that having an air fence increases protection of the competitors and the track is doing all it can to minimise the risk, and those without, are not doing all they can given the equipment exists... I am sure there will also be a 'fitting standard' laid down too as part of the due diligence process regarding health and safety which will need to be shown to be followed, and would be surprised if not already in place for the tracks that have them.. A big risk for many clubs in these days of compensation culture If they dont get things right...

yes they do however it should be done by one team scoring more goals than the other... simply saying 'you scored more at their ground' therefore you win is nonsense, especially when sometimes the team that qualifies is the one that gets an extra 30 mins in extra time when playing away in the second leg, meaning one team gets 90 mins 'away' to score a goal and one gets 120.... it would be like, in the event of a tie, adding 5 heats to the second leg of the speedway knockout cup, and then after the 20 heats saying the away team in the second leg scored more away points even though the tie finished equal overall.. imagine if speedway did that the vitriol the bspa would get???...

two teams tie but one wins.... not contrived?