old bob at herne bay

Poole's on a plate tonight , with Workington turning up with 3 gusts. Must be a 20 point plus victory. Poole on the other hand unaffected with Hagon out, can be another rabbit to score 1 or 2 points. UNLESS the track is wet (forecast showers Poole Dorset 80% at 1800 and 60% at 1900 on Met office website ) We all know Poole riders dont like it wet.

everyone gets so excited about the P. offs . This year we have a semi final with a gale of gusts AND Reidar Replacement. Must be some kind of record ? Is there a case "for commercial reasons" to allow a free choice of gusts in the P. offs.

Boy I can remember that as though it were yesterday. Must be a record - 21 point max on debut.

With "The Undertaker" in control every site will have houses on it. We need somewhere to rehouse the illegal immigrants on our beaches down here in Kent.

Is Poole's 2024 season over ? Looking at the thread seems everyone is talking about the team for 2025. Fixture list just gives Poole vs TBC as the next meeting, so are they having trouble finding an opposing team to visit the Wimborne Road ?

Like him or loathe him P Morris has an untenable job. Bottom line has been and always will be, there aren’t enough bums on seats at speedway meetings in the UK. Not helped by loss of venues resulting in a distorted spread of tracks throughout the UK, and the ageing profile of the supporter base. Uk speedway is now entirely dependent on TV money, whether through Eurosport or BSN. They call the shots. Cricket reinvented itself through the one day game. Purists hate it , but it brought in much needed revenue and saved cricket in England and Wales. They now have a problem of too much cricket, and players saying they are overworked. Oh, if only speedway was in that position. Speedway however hasn’t changed, save for the ever growing SGP series of individual events at all age group levels. This seems to “capture the imagination “ of the masses, and captures the ambitions of riders who place this ahead of team speedway in their priorities. There needs to be a seismic change to UK speedway to survive. IOW and Kent have experimented with novel events to proved a full afternoons entertainment to attract a newer crowd to their tracks, unhindered by the shackles of BSPL and SCB bureaucracy and red tape. The BSPL run clubs have distanced themselves from these tracks , foolishly IMO, as there surely must be a change in direction if Uk league speedway is to attract a new audience.

Surprised if there are that many attending trackside. Doubt that many show a profit with the declining interest in the sport. With great swathes of the country disenfranchised by lack of a track, it’s now down to two handfuls of tracks in provincial towns ( a few in cities) . With the same old same old race format, no new innovative ideas ( save for a countdown clock ) and little to attract a younger audience the organised league sport in the UK is in slow but steady decline. Clinging onto TV coverage and funding …Eurosport call the shots , P Morris has little choice but to keep them happy for the money that keeps UK speedway afloat.

Any suggestions of who you would hav e chosen Third Man ??? (Assume money is no constraint to make it a little easier for you 🙂

OMG ……”we've had more riders injured than you “ . Oh no you haven’t …oh yes we have. what’s this ….pantomime season?

Surely Ipswich could justifiably claim postponement of tonight’s meeting , being unable to raise a competitive team? Seem to recall Uncle Buster being allowed to do so for KL on more than one occasion ( including the infamous damaged pit gate scandal) Mr P Morris surely has the power to intervene for commercial reasons and in the interests of the sport. You still have the feeling that it depends who you are in this sport as to how you are treated.

can Ippo take this meeting with 5 gusts ? IS there a limit to how many gusts you can use ? Can the TM ride ?

Speedway out of the top drawer. Smashing meeting, although Leicester will be worried about momentarily losing momentum going into the business end of the season ….

Like the revival of Swindon speedway and many other defunct tracks , it was just a lod of guff

tbh like others on here, even though I have retired from watching speedway after 60+ years, the sport still entertains me .... every season is a comedy , building slowly from the early meetings with 7 riders in a team, then seeing R/R and gusts come into play, then add in riders"withholding their services" or injured only for UK meetings. Rising to a crescendo at the "business end" of the season with a sudden bums rush to complete fixtures by the "cut off" date, then extensions to the "cut off date". Gusts have turned into gales of Gusts sometimes Chris Harris riding in every match. for every team challenging for the P.Offs. This happens every season. However this season is like no other. We have the added excitement of the use of Speedway's equivalent of AI , also known as Phil Morris, who as a successful TV game show player has artificially guessed results of all fixtures for the P. offs. Stunning. With so many gusts in use it matters not a jot who wins the p.offs, but its jolly good fun coming on this forum and seeing the same old same old every season, and he promises of better next season (albeit with fewer tracks operating ) What a wonderful sport 🙂 🙂

Sadly Ippo are stuffed this season after losing the PL no.1 rider, and then the PL no.2 rider . Roo being injured just put the icing on the cake. They haven’t won a meeting since - home or away. Sheffo have been able to easily cover for the inconsistent Woofy, who retains a falsely high average. Leicester have had the luck this season coming into the p.offs with no injuries and must be favourites for the p.offs… always assuming it doesn’t rain in Leicester and they have to ride at KL 😂

600 programmes …is that all they get nowadays at a PL match.? Whilst not everyone buys a programme, amazed that they have a viable business with the pay rates of modern day riders.

Cannot believe the cruel luck suffered by Ipswich, that has ruined their season sadly the new rules brought in to stop clubs GP sooperstars being signed just for the P.offs are going to ensure Ipswich will not be able to sign Rob Lambert

Wasn’t including them in the top teams…. Was referring to Ipswich ( pre injuries the pl champions and P off favourites) and Sheffield .

Sadly looking at the injury list of the top clubs, Leicester must be favourites for the P. Offs. Lucky Leicester… must be their horseshoe emblem bringing in the luck. Always assuming that Leicester can run their meetings as their track is known for flooding in the wet months of the P.offs

Think they are probably between a rock and a hard place for availability with the Cardiff stadium. Lets face it there arent any purpose built speedway stadia left in the UK capable of holding 50,000 people. Just wonder nowadays what the makeup of the crowd at Cardiff ? I guess there aren't more than what 5,000 diehard UK speedway supporters left .... the majority I guess are from Poland? So it makes little sense staging it in the remote far west of the UK ... remote from any international airports. Complete lack of any speedway in London and the South East so any location is going to be a long way from the near continent by road. The track at Manchester is OK , but very limited spectator capacity, although it is blessed with an international airport, but still hundreds of miles from a road route from mainland Europe. Wherever it is held in the UK you will be faced with ripoff prices from hoteliers.

Mr J Holder is the new " Mr N Pedersen", except that Mr J Holder hasn't the skill of Mr N Pedersen to win a Championship Mr J Holder is just plain reckless.

Great to see 2 English lads on the top 2 steps of the podium of the circus. Not seen since the days of Mike Lee and DJ in 1980 ! PC and Simmo did it in 1976. Will England ever achieve a 1-2-3 as they did in 1949 with TomTom Jack Parker and Louis Lawson ??

Poole riders certainly prefer a dry slick surface rather than damp tracks after rain. Maybe explains their poor performances last year at the "business end" of the season in p.Offs and the KOCUP final. Maybe OK if we have a dry October ?

Does anyone keep a record of guest rider bookings and their CMA when gusting? Clearly Bomber must lead the way with Scotty Nicholls not far behind ? These two veteran riders must clock up more meetings than those who ride in overseas leagues ?

OMG .... nasty looking one.... Owlerton is so narrow on the bends. Hope Emil isnt seriously injured. Now we have the debate would that have been so serious if they had the old style wire mesh fence that collected the riders rather than bounce them back onto the track ??