Soul Crew

Ok folks, This place has become very negative the last 12 months, we see a lot of mud slinging (some justified, some not) So lets have off each poster 1 Positve about the sport and 1 Negative, these are obviously in your own opinion, will be interesting to compare the views, if you can also state what league you attend the majority of your meetings in? I will go first Main League : Elite League Positive : Family friendly, safe environment for all ages Negative : Long delays (Not knowing when a meeting is going to finish, leading to late night drive home on Motorway)

Let's just remember that Nigel Pearson is expected, alongside Kelvin to front a live two hour broadcast and be not only the anchorman but also the main commentator, there is approximately 15 to 20 minutes of "actual" racing. I think when all of that is taken into account they actually do an impressive job, I can't think of any other live sports broadcasts where the main commentary team are also the presenters? As for NIgel "biting" to criticism, do you blame him? Some of the stuff/accusations that get thrown at him are ridiculous, and don't forget he is a speedway fan at heart. So cut him some slack hey?

Good idea, but I believe broadband connections not great at most tracks, but Radio WM showed what can be achieved with "cheap" production costs this season.

What a sad individual you are, Anyway ignoring the troll, congratulations to Dudley, living in the area I know how much this means to them, surely they have outgrown the National League now?

Will Hill are currently offering outright price on winner of EL, back Swindon and Brum on basis they will see semi finals off on Monday for guaranteed profit.

Got Hampel at 13/2 before the Semi Finals on Will Hill, whoever prices up hadn't a clue because backing all four riders in final would have guaranteed some kind of profit.

The coverage was so one eyed tonight it was embarrassing, were they scared of getting barred from Wimborne Road in the future? Middlo was allowed to continuously spout his one eyed rubbishe (credit to Peter Adams for talking sense and his response to Charlie before Heat 15 was priceless) The whole sucking up to Darcy Ward was pathetic, yet no one had the balls to ask the 'question' after heat 15, we were continually reminded that Poole were 'understrength' yet no mention of Wolves tracking only three of there own riders (surely that is understrength too) Hopefully Charlie's days are numbered, she is no sports broadcaster and needs an autocue, Sophie Blake showed her at Cardiff what being a professional broadcaster is all about, maybe she should go shadow her.... And then onto the two in commentary, Kelvin is actually very knowledgeable and when allowed to speak or not given stupid leading questions by Pearson he talks some interesting points, I actually think that the fact that Nigel is such a speedway fan it kind of backfires, ie. he sounds like a fan (with all the ooooohhhhs and woahhhhhhhhhhhs) they are the sounds you hear on the terraces, not something you would expect on commentary in my option. But least be grateful the squeaky voice of Orville, whoops I mean Rosco is nowhere near the Elite League coverage. If it stays next year then here is to a big shake up,

Most gutting thing about Tai's injury is that he jumped the start and in 99% of cases the red lights would have come on.... All ifs and buts though, finding Cardiff more and more boring each year, this is the World Championship, I want to see it decided on riding alone and not who avoids the most pot holes. The brushing under the carpet of the track conditions just about sums up speedway right now, nobody is brave enough to speak out and say it like it is while on the gravy train. Congratulations to Emil though, will make a worthy World Champion, such a shame that just as the series was shaping up to be a great battle that Tai picks up an unfortunate injury, hope he makes a return very soon.

Of course, but don't think the current website carries any favours in the short term despite the reasons why, I personally would have just had a holding screen for time being.l Good luck with the venture.

If this wa Dragons Den then I am Out.... Is the website saying that 16-18 year olds can try speedway for free while fans stump up £25 or £100 with nothing in return but a newsletter? The people who created this website didn't start making a Speedway film a few years ago did they?

Not quite, Sky used to dip in and out of the coverage to go back to the studio.

Hope we get World feed the rest ofthe season, thought it worked well with the commentators and then just the one VoiceOver guy duringnthe breaks, much better than Sky choosing what we see....

Seems a bit of a contradiction to me, if the National League is just a training structure then why are folk paying £10 to £12 a time to watch? And you say a speedway rider is a speedway rider regardless of nationality, so what you mean is, the British lads need track time? For me, to be the best you've got to beat the best, its like putting an adult in the 100m against a bunch of five year olds. #ambition

Ok, I appreciate where your coming from but I refer to my original question. We create an artificial "world" where British lads only race British lads, they then go out to the big world and race Australians, Swedes, Danes, Poles and Americans who may already be of a higher standard meaning the artificial "world" has been a waste of time. I think people are getting confused between development and track time, two completely different agendas....

I am neither for or against, but are we saying we are going to create this artificial environment for British riders in case the Foreign riders get too good? Its a bit xenophobic?

Reading all the different debates about how we need to develop British riders one thing always intrigues me and that is how do foreign riders afford to race. You get young lads from the otherside of the world turn up on these shores and carve out a career, how do they survive? Do they come armed with lots of savings or is there something more to it than that? Is it just taken for granted that British lads can stand on there own two feet financially (after all it is there own country), would a promoter sort out lodgings for a British rider to enable him to be close to transport links? Not sure if there is a right or wrong, its the promoters choice, just interested thats all because its something that has happened for years and years.

What happens when these British lads move into the PL/EL and they suddenly start racing riders from around the world? As much as I am all for developing British lads, surely there is only so much wrapping them up in cotton wool you can do?

Because according to this forum its no longer the 1960's/1970's/1980's/1990's* *Delete as applicable

I actually like the parade and love the spectacle at Wolves of all 14 riders out practising, but still feel control of meeting needs tightening by referees, I know certain aspects can't be controlled but as a parent I sometimes find myself looking at my watch, especially during term time, the uncertainty of what time we will be getting home can be a nightmare sometimes.

Are you Jeff Scott?

I can assure you that the beer at the darts is far from cheap and neither are the ticket prices...

I took some newbies to Wolves yesterday, I asked them what they thought of it, the main response I got was "Its a bit expensive for what it is" They are not lost to the sport (yet!) as they are going to give some Dudley Meetings a go as they have found out they are cheaper, they are not bothered about the riders names, they just want to see close racing at an affordable cost, and to be honest I can't argue with that. My Wife also attended last night, she normally attends about five meetings a season with me and our daughter. She offered a different view, she doesn't see the cost (£17) as an issue, she said she enjoys the racing aspect but doesn't enjoy the breaks and waiting around, she has been to GP's and loves the efficiency of how the meetings are run.

Looking around the terraces at Wolves last night and it was alarming as to how old the average speedway fan has become. We live in an age, where social media is massive, successful companies are all over social media, its free and gives you the chance to interact with your customers. Take Kiddicare for example, they opened a new store near me recently, we went in there as we have baby number 2 due soon and i was blown away by there customer service, the staff there know the products inside out, they actively encourage the use of twitter, I sent a tweet saying how impressed I was, I received a tweet back in two minutes saying thank you. Its all about the little things, for instance opposite Kiddicare is Mothercare, Mothercare has been around for years but has failed to move with the times, price match? Not here sorry, at Kiddicare they encourage price matching. I know who will still be on the high street in years to come and it won't be Mothercare at this rate. Do you know of any clubs who use social media in a great way, be interested to hear examples, I find it hard to believe that in 2013 the only real way to get live updates of a Speedway Meeting is through a fan run site, I tip my hat off to all those at Speedway Updates.

I think the Speedway Star needs to ditch the track reviews, and replace it with the best racecards found on the internet reviews. But please make sure its done in alphabetical order....