old bob at herne bay

Dwindling number of UK tracks= fewer UK speedway supporters. So many supporters “lost “ by track closures in vast swathes of England. Some retain an interest to follow the sport on social media and TV , but travelling hundreds of miles year after year to shell out hundreds of pounds for tix and hotels to watch riders who mean diddly squat to them ? Not likely. Still if EVERY Belle Vue supporter turned up to support Danny Beaulieu …guess that might be 1000 …

So crowd capacity at Belle Vue raceway is 7000? Surprised it is so many having seen it on the TV

What’s the crowd capacity of the Belle Vue stadium ? 5,000 ?

Manchester Airport much easier from Poland than Cardiff Airport. That’s where most of the fans come from. The few British fans are all Northern/Midlands based so easier travel. Cardiff was an odd choice, no speedway in the country, and very few decent speedway riders , unless you go back to the Williams brothers ! Oh and Phil Morris 🙂 Thought Danny Bewdley came from Cumbrian tbh?

No surprise about Cardiff IMO . Held on a dodgy made up track, in a difficult to reach location. Overpriced admission and outrageous catering charges. Extortionate hotel prices. Good riddance to the “principality” stadium. Even the circus appear to be on its a**e giving 2 rounds to Belle Vue. A track with limited spectator accommodation around the track. Weather permitting should be 2 home rounds for Bewdley to win. £25 a ticket sounds about right, maybe an extra fiver for a stand seat. Merry Christmas

Answering the original question..... Extremely disappointing. No news at all about the reopening of Swindon,Coventry, Wolverhampton, Arena Essex(Lakeside), Rye House. No news on wheher Eastbourne will be allowed to race at Iwade. Pretty much a year of the "status quo" with some statistical attendance gains around the online audiences. I guess in British Speedway terms that is a success rather than another club closing. Maybe that's the way forward, like the dog tracks that just run meetings for the online audiences ? The gimmick of Poole entering the premiership kockup will be a laugh, especially if, with their cherry picked gusts, they make it to the next rounds. Their "select" team will challenge the rule book on "cup tied" riders. The thought of "Poole" riders racing for the opposition in the kockup might lead to a conflict of interests. If Matt has a big enough chequebook he could win the kockup at the first attempt ?

Sounds like a bit of reach “fixing” going on there Steve re Boughen. Does he know Lawson ? wonder if there is any intent from Ford’s to move Pool into the “top tier” to maybe keep their team together. Other than reckless and hagon they surely have a ready built. “top tier” side. ? The main problem as regs stand would seem to be race night . The finances would be interesting. Would they attract any more fans to watch “ top tier” sport? Their riders would need to find new double down clubs to ride for in the CL and would demand higher wages. Admission charges would increase and may affect crowds. personally think Ford’s have more business sense…. So Pool will win the treble next season ….. don’t see much opposition tbh. Merry Christmas everybody.

This from BSN's Preview on their website >>>> "POOLE boss Neil Middleditch believes it’s “dangerous” to take anything for granted ahead of their Cab Direct Championship KO Cup decider. The Pirates lead by a whopping 24 points after their 57-33 win at Oxford in the first leg and it would take something outrageous to stop them completing the clean sweep of trophies at Wimborne Road tonight, live on BSN. It would be the first treble since Workington’s success of 2018 but Middlo refuses to get carried away..." What a silly old S*D you are Mr. Muddledutch !

A gale of gusts for Oxford, must be some sort of record 5 gusts and 2 Oxford riders ? If it were Kings Lynn , think a postponement would be demanded by Buster as unable to field a competitive side. Will they present Pool the KO Cup trophy before the meeting, or at the end in the cold early winter air? Young lad Fooord should be presented with the cup for his outstanding contribution to Pool's victory in both the p.off and kockup finals. ko'd both Oxford reserves , and an tremendous score last week against the 2 gust reserve replacements. Sadly injuries have wrecked the p.off final and kockup entertainment value this season. A fixture for the home fans to savour and guess attendance will be just Pool supporters.

"although, as I’ve said before, hopefully he’s turned a corner now." Lets hope so - speedway is full of corners .

You know when a sport is dying when you can charge what you like to attend and the crowds more or less remain ever dwindling. If they halved the price doubt it would make much difference to attandances. Most of the posters on here for example would pay £50 a ticket to see there league team race. Always 15 heats 4 riders 4 laps per race clutch start in an anticlockwise direction. Tractor racing every 4 heats. oh yawn and so it trundles along until the p.offs when all of a sudden lots of people turn up and get excited. 2 meetings in a season. The "product" is stale, little or no innovation. Individual SGP events charge a fortune but people pay and they attract a huge crowd. ENTERTAINMENT. Even cricket with its T20 games has a family atmosphere with kids getting 4 and 6 cards to wave during the game, and firworks dotted around the grounds gaoing off at regular intervals. Traditionals cringe .... but this has saved cricket from the dustbin.

Oxford Cheetah's season started to go awry with the loss of Jordan Jenkins. They did well to maintain their campaign and qualify for the p.offs, due in part to Boughen's great run of form. Come p.offs and the ko'ing of Killeen by reckless fred , loss of form from Boughen(who I read carrying an injury) and the loss of J Scott - no surprises losing to a strong poolside. The kocup and Nicholls crashes out in his first race. How much luck can one team have? Now the second leg, and I would turn up at pool with a few of the Chargers in the Cheetahs team. Gusts seem to be a waste of space Well done Pool, strongest side in the cl this season, with no injuries to key riders. They can lap up their success this season - makes up for last season's disappointment.

Don't know what other sports you are comparing with professional speedway ....... £25 for 120 minutes of standing around in the cold in a usually decrepit dirty "stadium" , for 15 minutes of actual action interspersed with tractor racing,and interminable delays due to any number of excuses ... I cannot think of another sport that compares. (and don't for Christ's sake say Premiership football) I am an OAP and the ever increasing costs didn't put me off attending (when I did have a local track) but in my last season of attending I didn't have either the patience or stamina to stand around waiting for paint to dry before the next heat, trying to listen to garbled pit interviews to fill in time. Yes, they might as well abandon the OAP discount.... there are ever fewer of us able to attend as the years slowly catch up on us. Squeeze the pips out of us berfore it's too late. Seems "The Undertaker" Sir K Charmer has the same idea.

So Oxford travel to Pool next Wednesday ( weather permitting) with more gusts than their own riders. Congratulations to Pool…..they have defeated an Oxford select four times.

Assume the meeting is going ahead this evening? After a tropical day, 21c ….Tremendous storm here yesterday evening thunder lightning and torrential rain. Team line ups ?