old bob at herne bay

:-( No room for speedway on that site again then ...." replaced by other outdoor and indoor sports and recreation facilities of a greater scale." The owners of the site don't have to accommodate speedway just because it used to be there ...... hard to see how a speedway track would fit in with all these new outdoor and indoor sports facilities.

These p off meetings show how modern day speedway has evolved. We have 2 types of rider. The large track gate and go head down bum up throttle jockey , who will show a clean pair of heels to almost anyone on a large pacy track such as Owlerton or NSS . The small track technical rider who can master the art of turning on tight circuits , in both slick and grippy conditions. Their gating can be inconsistent but usually pass the throttle jockeys on their own tracks when mistakes are made. Foxhall, Monmore are examples. As in all sports there are a very small handful of riders who can ride any track well. so we see Ippo narrowly beating the NSS aces .. neither side happy on each others tracks apart from star riders Doyle and sayfootdinov. The same scenario Ippo v Sheffield is in store. my guess Doyle and sayfootdinov will be the difference.

Ah yes Lagoota, the unbeatable rider at Kings Lynn. Frankly please or offend I don’t trust ANY Russian sports men or women given the continuing scandal in athletics.

Allegedly Craig cook is lined up as a guest replacement should Glasgow insist on racing this Saturday

Come on guys …..simple answer Glasgow have to run a business……shall we gamble on being able to run the meeting against a dodgy weather forecast , or cut our losses and tell the russian to not save money on a flight. ? Still think too many “tactical” call offs earlier in the season by all clubs. Propose that HOME teams should have to ride re scheduled meetings with their original programmed 1-7 rather than frivolously call off meetings when they are missing riders. e.g in this case vissing would be ineligible for the re run of this meeting. And a guest MUST ride at 7 .

ONCE AGAIN the end of the season p.offs degenerate into farce. Casual call offs earlier in the summer and a mad rush to complete before the " cut off " Nothing changes.

Congratulations Ipswich. Full marks to Jason Doyle for making the effort to race tonight after the horrific looking accident. He really is a loyal rider to UK speedway .

Sheffield Select side ! 3 gusts ! One of whom was a play off gust for Belle Vue last season ! Suppose there will be another selection of riders racing at Owlerton on Thursday.

Belle Vue will have to use every ounce of their huge home track advantage at the " national speedway stadium" to wrestle this on back on aggregate. Completely under estimated Ippo without Doyle. Complacency crept in. Always an issue with rain in Manchester...... could be a lottery ......

tyretrax - true - maybe you were right - better benefits during the off season.

To avoid conscription into the Russian Army ?

I often wonder what would happen if you had no rules about team building at all , just said each team must have 7 riders. Scrap averages completely for team building, jt retain them for statistical purposes. Some would say that the "rich clubs" would always win. Doesn't that happen now ?

Firstly Poole have already won the 2023 Championship League. Well done Poole. The TV trophy (aka p. offs) are now to be decided. Not a Poole fan and it give me some pleasure to see someone else win the p.offs. Poole chucked it away at Wimborne Road last week, when strangely their home track prep. tactics failed them. Even Richardo Lawson couldn't get out of prepared starts . It's Scunthorpe's to lose - anything can happen is Speedway. I have seen it all believe me.

There was a time when you had to name a number 8 when using R/R. Many instances recently where teams usingR/R have suffered further injuries in a meeting and been forced to track only one rider in a race.

Just heard that the hinges on the Ippo pit gates have been damaged by high winds this evening. Ipswich have been in touch with near neighbours Kings Lynn who apparently have experience with pit gate repairs. First indications are that it will take one week to get someone to look at the job.

If Ippo get in quick they could call off the second leg based on a Met Office forecast of a shower for Thursday.

IMO the Competition referee is culpable for allowing Smarslick to practice in the wrong leathers. ? Given the importance of sponsors , should the competition referee not check all riders machines and clothing for conformance ?

Realistically, are KL going to need a speedway team in 2024? Thought Keith Chapman was retiring ?

So Belle Vue handed a “good fortune” bye into the poff final where Sheffield will once again show who is the better team on aggregate.

This play off lark is enough to p. off the most dedicated of fans. Looking at he results so far you can see the top two teams in the CL not even competing in the p.off final. A completely contrived finish to the season. Still might me the last ever CL p.offs as the CL may no longer exist next season.

In the interests of the sport, Sheffield will surely be allowed to sign /use /loan/borrow whoever they like …….Bartosz Smarslik would be a good crowd puller …. Belle Vue threaded a needle through the rule book last year so there is precedent which counts for a lot English/ Welsh law. If they need any help I am certain Ford and Middleditch will be able to help them. :-0

Sad to read of another incident witha spectator requiring medical attention. This seems to be more common now than ever...... I do hope the person involved is OK.

What had Glasgow to race for?? ... well down on points early on and no chance of even getting a sniff of the aggregate point ..... using a tacsub early would have achieved nothing. Travelling with no number 8 when you are using R/R is always a risk. Shouldn't be allowed as it sells the public short with 3 rider races.

counts for nothing of course .... only the p.off final matters. Even if Poole finish second the only team capable of beating them on aggregate aren't going to pick Poole in the first match of the p. offs.

Have Poole faced any team at full strength at home this season ? Predict a big home win. Are the track staff allowed to grade the track at Poole after Mr Middleditch has spent all day supervising the prepping the starts to suit his riders ?