iris123

Surely it is just a matter of money? If someone has enough money to buy Rooney and another 30 or so players from clubs and then buy or build a stadium he can get them to play matches and call it what he wants?Same as if someone wanted to set up another cricket competition or darts competition.As long as you employ the players.Speedway teams don't.But if say a speedway club wanted to run a benefit football match for a rider would they really have to get FA authority?Even if they played the game in a proper stadium?The thing with speedway is it seems to be held together not by rule of law,but the fact that everyone plays the game.If of course someone came along and decided not to play ball they shouldn't expect an easy ride,but is there at the end of the day anything to stop pirate tracks and or a pirate competition being set up?Like Deano,i don't quite see the speedway set up being exactly the same as football

There is a report in the German media of this and of foreign riders having their licences suspended so they can't ride and also of the promoter having collapsed and is in hospital from the pressure of it all.Apparently he has been criticised by the previous promoter and at least one ex rider

It is hardly "nit-picking" if you have quoted someone when he was talking about the SCB and then answered about the BSPA ???? If you bother to quote someone,surely you should know what he is talking about as you have edited it down.No wonder the thread turns into a shambles if you don't even know what someone is talking about And typical,instead of holding your hand up and appologising or saying "i read it wrong" you go off on one criticising others!!!!

Laughing in the face of corrupt local politicians and Chechen rebels,Togliatti + the FIM will today and tomorrow be hosting two GP rounds of the world Ice Speedway Championship.How they do it can be seen live Stream Live

Er....have we jumped to the wrong conclusion here or not read properly?The way i read it Roger Jacobs was at this point specifically talking about the SCB, not the BSPA..And looking at the SCB website encouragement is exactly the word used.So why we get onto the BSPA i don't know.Or are we saying the BSPA and the SCB are one and the same?Looking at the members list of the SCB i don't think Jim McMillan for instance is a promoter As it specifically mentions that one of their powers is to conclude agreements with the BSPA i would imagine they are not the same

http://www.speedweek.de/art_32833.html

Got to love this.Now we have Chechen terrorists being a threat to a GP!I went to plenty of speedway meetings in London including a world final at Wembley during the height of the Irish troubles.There might be hurdles to get over,but i think it is slightly ott to introduce Chechen terrorists to the list of problems facing BSI As it is Togliatti just this wednesday held an international Ice Speedway meeting with a brand new Lada as the main prize with riders from Germany,Austria,Finland and Sweden.No trouble from terrorists

Sidney,the thread is about a week in speedway or are you thinking of the "3 day week"?

"One camera and a bloke in a booth" I think he is thinking of Europorn rather than Eurosport

Think there are a few in West Ham.

Jens Budden?Isn't he a german sidecar rider or something,just turned to then sport?Is "Saksa" germany?What is he doing in the Finnish qualis

That is true.But wasn't a fair bit of that hype scaremongering from British promoters?.I seem to remember a PL promoter using the Russian league as an excuse as to why he couldn't sign any decent east European(i think) riders as they were all riding in Russia.Absolute nonsense as the amount of riders riding there was quite small.But there was still and still is to an extent very good money to be earnt there.The big individual meeting in Togliatti is one i think Nicki didn't want to miss.The vastness of the country makes it very hard for league to really take off.That doesn't mean that certain tracks like Togliatti aren't attractive to BSI

That is of course true up to a point.That point being you can only host a certain amount of GPs per season.If one or wto of the mooted venues come up with the readies something has to give.I imagine Italy would be high on the list to go But this does point to the GPs being relatively healthy if there is a list of venues wanting to host a GP longer than the calendar can fit into a season

Viewing figures?Are you talking overall or just in the UK?As for attendances.Isn't that partly due to dropping/losing a few well supported venues and adding less well supported ones for the time being?Temporary really.If Vojens manages to gain support from the local council and come back then you automatically get an attendance boost again.Like i say if Russia came in then that stadium would be full as well and dropping Italy would give the average attendance another boost.That is one big question mark on the GP series.Why have an Italian GP?I honestly don't know the anwer to that one

Could it be that anyone(Sky or a.n.other)is willing to go into the season to try and negotiate a rock bottom deal?I mean missing the NZ GP isn't such a big thing for viewing/advertising figures because of the time it is on.They could always show a highlights programme at a later date.But it will make BSI/IMG sweat a bit Some could be jumping to conclusions that it won't be shown somewhere and i still don't think it will have a devastating effect on the GPs.As long as the other tv deals are in place there isn't too much damage done.Of course as someone else pointed out much more critical would be if speedway in Poland implodes.But we do have promised moves to Finland,the US and possibly Russia.Finland and Russia could be important markets for Monster.Saw some winter sport from Russia recently being sponsored by i guess their own brand of energy drink.There are so many now!!!!And they have a fantastic stadium,lots of fans and money to throw around.Saw a report a few days ago about the winter Olympic facilities being built there. There have been for years a small group predicting the downfall of the GPs and it hasn't happned.Only as recently as a year or two ago some here were saying how stale they were.Now we have a great bunch of youngsters coming through.Like the know has stated maybe some of the presentation needs tuning up,but if they get through the semis and final a bit quicker that would help.I honestly still feel the GPs are moving forward rather than standing still.Slowly,but surely

Seems like a small over-reaction.How many riders have british sponsors?I would guess riders like Emil,Gollob and Nicki etc don't have any or many british sponsors,so their markets are fine with coverage in Sweden,Denmark and Poland,plus the European Eurosport coverage.I guess of the riders only Woffinden,Holder and Ward have mainly British sponsors and then Holder and ward might have big polish sponsors(not sure),so won't be affected all that much. It is a blow,but not a fatal one i think.Maybe Phil Rising will tell us or maybe he will put a positive spin on this?lol

Moorwinkelsdamm would be the likely choice i guess.They used to host "Dutch" meetings a few years ago from memory

Guess the news that this year the Euro Championships will be bigger and better hasn't reached germany as they have nominated Tobi Busch,Christian Hefenbrock and Matze Schultz,whereas the best riders have again been nominated for the GP qualis http://www.motorsport-aktuell.com/motorrad/speedway-dmsb-nominiert-fahrer-fuer-speedwaypraedikate-6555533.html

Yes,it's a good job you want to protect the riders as i am sure they are all clueless and will sign up to anything.....And of course if it does fail before it has got off the ground just what is it to you or any fan?You haven't as of yet set off for one of the meetings i hope or bought a UK speedway series jacket and beanie.....Why not just wait and see how this pans out?Hope they manage to sign up a bunch of decent riders and hope this provides the basis for a better future:if it fails it fails.But at this stage to start worrying about possible negatives seems a bit strange

Think for a period i could go to Reading on monday,tuesday i think was Crayford,wednesday White City,Thursday my local team Wimbledon,Hackney friday,saturday was possible but i had difficulty getting to Canterbury so only done that a couple of times,then sunday it was either Rye House or Eastbourne.All relatively local to south London,but i seem to remember having trouble with trains back from Canterbury

Let's hope all those people who bought a brick to build a new stadium see their investement.Matt Ford has already lost a lot of money last season

Results from Flims Eisspeedway Flims: Schweizer Meisterschaft 1. Philip Weiss, 8 Qualipunkte 2. Ronny Häring, 10 3. Thomas Cavigelli, 7 4. Markus Birn, 7 5. Simon Gartmann, 6 6. Dirk Fricke, 5 7. Rene Dünki, 4 8. Martin Glarner, 4 Alpenarena Cup 1. Rustam Akumbaev (RUS), 15 Qualipunkte 2. Simon Reitsma (NL), 14 3. Artjom Akulov (RUS), 13 4. Josef Kreuzberger (A), 12 5. Häring, 10 6. Weiss, 8 7. Cavigelli, 7 8. Gerrit Schukken (NL), 7 9. Birn, 7 10. Gartmann, 6 11. Fricke, 5 12. Tom Rathgeb (A), 5 13. Dünki, 4 14. Glarner, 15. Jens Budden (D), 2 16. Robert Irving (GB), 1 17. Florian Niedermeier (D), 0 Golden Spike result.Meeting abandoned after heat 12 because of poor ice 1. Martin Posch 2. Markus Jell 3. Chris Kirchner

Seems reigning Champ Ales Dryml is having trouble with the FIM and date clashes.He is of course first reserve for the speedway GPs,qualified for the longtrack GPs and also qualified to take part in the European Championship.As he says it only takes one injury and he is in the GPs,which take precedence over other competitions,he also has a good chance of doing well in the Longtrack which is second in preference on the FIM list,but the new European Championship will be much better financially rewarded than the Longtrack.He pointed out to the FIM before the fixtures were announced that date clashes could prove a problem,but seems his worries have been ignored and at the moment continue to go unanswered http://www.speedweek.ch/art_32158.html

Like Rusky,i thought the stream was superb.The rider pics on the graphics looked a bit amateur,cut out with no background and what happened to the Bauer photo?And as ever the problem of the same riders not looking into the camera,whether photo or video grrrrrr.Can't really complain with the result.Best team won,even if it would have been nice to have an Austrian win.Seemed to me that mistakes made the final placings rather than racing.Bauer mucked up one turn and i wonder if Klabo is top fit.He did miss a meeting a couple of weeks back with illness.He didn't seem himself.Was good to see some of the best heats from day 1.Thought Aakko was unlucky against Poland.He had that race in the bag imo until Strugala fell and in the re-run Knapp took his chance.Dissapointed in Pletschacher who normally is quick out of the gate,but Bauer didn't have much back up,same with Aakko(pity Järf wasn't there)and Knapp.Will Finland make way for the Netherlands next year? What was the problem with the track.Not very good a Belgian/Dutch,but it seemed the commentator was talking about mayybe a 1 or 2 hour delay or even postponing the meeting until today?The riders seemed to have a track walk and obviously found the track ok.But did drag things out a bit,especially for the fans out in the cold.Did seem to be lots of track prep breaks or was that just my impression?