pandorum

It's time we dumped average based team building and embraced some kind of grading system that favours home grown talent and UK based foreign riders who commit to our leagues. Allow grading to last a set number of years and give teams some stability.

The meetings were entertaining because something was at stake but I have seen a lot better meetings than any of the four on show as I am sure most if not all here have. Decent meetings yes great meetings certainly not. The crowds were nothing special either but compared to the usual crowd speedway nowadays attracts seemed that way. The commentators assertion that the city of Birmingham had turned out in force was pretty laughable. Why Can't All Speedway Be Like This? Because it's a sport and ALL sport has good bad and indifference. Better tracks more balanced teams. The answer is obvious but the wherewithal to provide this is severly lacking. Speedway is a great sport but poorly promoted and lacking in financial support. Until it has a good look at itself in the mirror and sees itself for what it really is then there is little hope that 2014 will bring any great cheer. We need home grown talent but we have no real plan to bring on home grown talent. We waste most of the sports income on flying useless foreigners back and forwards and trying to entice the Greg Hancocks of the sport here when the money would be better spent on tracks, stadium facilities and training schools/leagues. Will 2014 be the start of a new era? Of course it won't. The EL will struggle on desperately trying to justify a league that collapsed years ago and we will see our league once more used as a training ground for the rest and a bolt hole for the likes of Hancock to be used as a fall back when the lucrative leagues dispense with their services. The sport is a shambles but the POs gloss over that and leave the sense that the league system has been some kind of success when it really has not. The PL and EL need to start working together for the good of the sport but are a bunch of petty minded fools who prefer to get one over on their rivals and in reality could not promote thier way out of a paper bag regardless of the 'massive' crowds the POs attract. Develop new structures to bring on new UK based talent, put money into stadia (where possible), produce better racing surfaces and work towards better balanced teams which would be condusive to good racing. Sort of thing people here, who are seen as the enemy by promoters, have been banging on about for years.

You were very insulting to Hougaard racing so what gives you moral high ground? Swindon fighting back but looks like Poole will have too much.

Sam seems to be speaking several languages at once neither of them being English

Exactly. That is the sport of speedway. Good meetings on bad tracks, bad meetings on good tracks. Of course the promoters could do more to improve the racing but with the number of factors that affect it the fault is not always down to the running of the track. EL has provided some great racing over the years as has PL. It needs everybody to work together. More so if SKY have dumped the sport as it's not likely any of these fantasy saviours are going to leap in to fill the breach. Speedway is badly run (if run at all) and has a poor product to offer up to TV. Other sports have recovered and so could speedway. There are lots of good ideas here on this forum. But sadly the powers that be seem to see the fans as the enemy. Until that changes I fear for the sport. Next season will be a pivotal one and the BSPA need to wake up and see that tweaking a few rules to help Poole ( )will not be enough. I said he had a point. That was the bit I thought was bonkers. But the kid is not as demeneted as he sometimes sounds

As TWK said you should take the time to actually read the posts before replying. Got to agree with him there as the PL does reasonably well as a seperate entity and though having it's own problems seems to be run well enough. Of course it could do with more homegrown riders and less imported tripe but it seems to me that the PL is the future of Brit speedway in more ways than the failed EL could ever be. We need to get back to the days when a league meant everybody plays everybody else home and away with weekend speedway (yes I know the PL does weekends) and less reliance on over priced foreign imports and letting go of the idea of having the so called top riders milking our system to support their Polish and GP ambitions. Let the EL idea go and start to rebuild speedway here using home grown talent and foreign riders who commit to our league.

Tai has one advantage. He is not mental Well did not expect that on Nicki's home track. Well done Martin a worthy winner. The SEC has been a success this year and plenty for Eurosport to build on. Enjoyed the 3 rounds I have seen. Sad that injury has spoilt the finale but Martin is champ and nobody can take that away from him as he deserved his victory.

Nasty crash. Hope Hans is OK. As I bet do Swindon.

Still caused him to move over. Bunching! We have all seen it hundreds of time. I want Greg or Martin to end up champion but still think it was harsh on Pedersen. I am old school and don't like refs excluding riders when they can let them stay in the race. I prefer to see riders I don't like get beaten on the track. Just funny that way Karpov has been good which was nice to see

I don't even like Nicki that much so how have I got Pedersen rose-tinted glasses. It just robbed people of a good heat and was hardly anything up to the usual Nicki standard I want Laguta to win.

Cpme on that was harsh Ironic and amusing yes but very harsh. All 4 back would have been the call 99 out of 100 times.

Why has Freddie Lindgren got a point to prove? Nicholls is decent but Day is an idiot.

I doubt Woffy will be best pleased with that imbicile Day or Eurosport. Makes Tai look a right arce after he went to so much trouble to put the record straight.

Another fair point you are on a roll kid Hoping Laguta has a good meeting. Nicki looks favourite and will take some stopping. Hope all riders still standing at the end as this injury lark has spoilt a good season in both SWC/SGP and SEC.

The kid made a fair point. OK he did not make it politely but he doesn't deserve that. He does actually come out with some sensible posts on surprisingly more occasions than most here (including me) would imagine and has shown on more than one occasion that he is not as daft as he sounds. A very fair point Crazy person Also wasted on flying in foreign riders who are not up to scratch and the obvious knock on effects that has on domestic riders wanting more money. It's a vicious cycle.

Ah now we get to the nitty gritty. It seems to me as a neutral in the Swindon/Poole spat that of all the people in the argument you are truly one of the worst. Your arrogance is quite staggering. YOU have done more for British speedway than typical fans. People who support their team through rain and shine through thick and thin. Who travel 1000s of miles following speedway. I been there and done that but of course I never lived in a council house and rose to greatness and never could match someone like YOU if I lived to be 1000. Speedway is dying because it is stuck in a timewarp with a bunch of self centred fools that can't work together for the good of the sport. You will fit right in mate when you start sponsoring the sport again.

Where exactly is it 'well documented'? The Bible perhaps? Which is akin to saying it's well documented that James Bond existed because he appears in a series of books. It actually is not documented at all other than in very loose 'interpretations' from so called religious texts by people who wanted to promote a religion and there is no evidence at all that anyone like the Jesus you relate to existed in the most reliable evidence from the day. That of the Roman Empire. For example there is no record of such an execution nor such a cencus as it was not the practice in Roman censuses to require people to return to their ancestral homes. Which was an essential element of the whole Myth as the Messiah had to be born in Bethlehem to fulfill the so called prophecy the whole thing was based on. People called Jesus existed as it was a common name but the rest But of course why let facts interfere with your religious beliefs So basically 'no it isn't' is my very knowledgable reply to your assertion And yes Torun are a disgrace and should be crucified for that You have one great country over there mate. 21 states and 5686 miles by train tends to give you a pretty good idea of the place. From the top of the Empire State, Arlington Cemetery, Chicago, through the Rockies, Alcatraz, Sunset Strip to The Alamo. One Hell of a journey. Enjoyed it so much I am gonna go to Seattle in May and do another long rail trip along a different route.

Well as long as the VIP food is acceptable all seems well with speedway.

Well Gollob does have the advantage of having actually existed but still disgraceful by Torun. I was too tired to watch it after seeing the 3rd place PO so passed and now seeing this I am glad I was knackered. Torun deserve everything they get for that.

A bit tired but am tuning in. Not a lot happening yet but hopefully it will improve. Tarnow looking the better outfit today but Czesto may well nick it. Not much to race for 3rd place other than bragging rights. Pity Emil is not there as I had Czesto down for the title

Enjoyed the meeting as well as someone who is suffering from the after effects of heat stroke and jet lag can. Tai showed acres of courage in continuing. The crash was his fault and out of character after he had said he was not going to take any daft chances. He was a lucky lad. Sadly Tomas was not so fortunate and we may have seen the last of a legend in speedway. Hope not and the guy recovers completely. But that is speedway and if it was true about Mrs Pedersen and her tweet she must not watch Nicki much. I was watching in Polish so don't know what he was whining about after he got excluded for demolishing the tapes Some good racing neverthless and NKI a worthy victor. But it was all about young Woffinden. A brave speedway rider just like his dad. Those that say he has been lucky must have an odd idea of what luck is. The kid has been riding in pain since after Cardiff and now has to overcome the pain barrier in 2 weeks to seal the deal. Of course he is not the first and won't be the last to go for glory with a broken something or other. But credit where it's due this kid has earned his right to be there in 2 weeks with a chance of being World Champion. Forget about Chris, or Darcy, or Emil this lad has gone about his business like a real world championship contender and deserves all he gets come the end of the Torun meet. I have supported Emil for years now and was hoping he would do it this year. I said Wuffy did not deserve a place as no Brit was good enough. Boy was I wrong there. If he makes it then it will be a great English sporting acheivement. Will it receive any recognition? Probably not. But those of us that know who he is should surely acknowledge it. Even those of us that didn't think he should be there. Well done last night kid and best of luck in 2 weeks time. I will be rooting for you.

I would like to see the return of the grreen helmet as I think that is the reason the crowds have dropped these last few years. And yes you may indeed detect sarcasm. It's just when I see rule change in speedway by public vote I fall over laughing.

I would like to see the return of the green helmet

You seem to have set an impossibly high standard for 'meaning' in speedway. The vast majority of speedway in the UK does not mean much by your criteria and even the POs only involves winning a very poor league made up of guests and riders from lower leagues. Riders in both EL and PL racing are mainly riding for the money or like Greg Hancock only here because they lost a spot in a more lucrative league. What does winning the EL or PL bring a team that winning a Euro championship doesn't? A league with a handful of teams in it who don't even race each other the same amount full of riders who don't even consider the leagues as important as the more lucrative European leagues. Atmosphere that is virtually non existent in front of a sparse crowd in a dilapidated stadium hardly is anything to get excited about but sometimes people find it can be very exciting. Does winning a mickey mouse league like the EL mean more/less to a rider than winning the Euro championship? Does an individual meeting in Scunthorpe have more meaning than a SGP or Euro meeting? Probably to the winner at that particular night. Define 'Meaning' because it will mean different things to different people. Speedway has 'meaning' to a very tiny part of the populations where it exists. But to me it carries more meaning than some world cup football tourney played by millionaires. I could not tell you who won the last football world cup and care not one jot who wins the next one when ever it is. EL racing on TV is mostly incredibly boring and mostly meaningless but it's live speedway and worth watching because it might end up not so boring. I don't actually know where these fantastic speedway meetings people here seem to wish for occur as I have never seen a meeting in 40 years where this happens and all the meetings I saw had racing that varies from 'out of the top drawer' to a lot less than mediocre. Considering it's in the comfort of your own home and not on a wet cold windy evening somewhere it's always worth watching just in case, as in both Euro meets, there is a good race or two.

Did not realise it was the final today. It's 4 pm UK time here. 8 am LA time but off to Venice so can't watch it. I been in so many places this last week it's been hard to keep track of the day never mind the time. But have 5 days here so can relax a bit. I may get to see the replay. Holsted look favourites to me as Jensen and Hougaard are flying and Klindt is a handy rider in Denmark and of course they have the Nudger so should win comfortably. NKI seems short of support. Have fun guys and may the best team win.