old bob at herne bay

Oh .....the p.ship p.offs I can hardly wait. Top 4 clubs out of a league of 7. Maybe a fitting end to “Premiership” speedway in the UK ?

Probably contractually have to stay at Thurrock for te rest of the season, but suspect something along the lines of Lakeside Hammers "temporarily" moving to Hoddesdon next season (2019) whilst Mr Cook and Mr Douglas pursue other locatins for speedway in Essex ???

Walterplinge wrote "Huge problem? With Boxall's average they can practically pick any guest on a horses for courses basis. Though Kent can't be punished for Boxall's criminal activities, they shouldn't profit from them either. Maybe R/R only would be fair. " Let's remember Luke Bowen's injury was the original need for a replacement rider ........ so another replacemnt for Bowen is required

Ove fundin fan, I think we are on the same page.....meetings need to snappier,less delays etc etc .... maybe 3 laps doesn’t help .. but why are we sticking to 15 heats ? Let’s have 18 heats ...... maybe have a separate 3 lap tournament with 2 meetings each of 13 heats in an evening..... lets have KO cup matches with say 16 heats - variety is the spice of life......it’s all so same old same old . You can tarmac the starts and stop gardening at a stroke . Or stick a scaffold pole behind em when they get to the tapes. 1 minute warning will get some urgency into the riders getting to the starts. 2 minutes is TOO LONG for a restart after a tapes infringement. Problem I have with speedway 2018 is as well as the BSPA, most diehard fans appear to have accepted the appalling presentation, the appalling stadia, the appalling delays as “part and parcel” of the sport....... trouble is no new fans are interested.

Ove fundin fan .... 3 lap races 45 seconds of action riders will know the last lap is lap 3 and sort out their passing attempts accordingly. Most modern results are decided after lap one ( well by bend 2 mostly) . Maybe have more heats in a meeting ? Cut out all the time wasting at the start - if they aren’t up to the tapes let the tapes up .....the riders will soon stop their b gardening antics. There has to be MORE entertainment and less prims Donna rider antics. Appoint a Race Director at every meeting ( Phil Morris) who keeps things moving.

None of this tinkering will save UK speedway on its downhill spiral. More fans are needed at the turnstiles. Cricket saved itself by inventing 20 over crash bang wallop “T20 “ . Purists hate it but it gets the punters paying to watch. Maybe Speedway needs a kick up the bum and change the 4lap 15 heat format for every meeting So maybe have 3 lap races ..... no race stoppages - if you fall off get off the track or you will be excluded .... do as you like at the tapes but if you touch em you are excluded. No first bend bunching - if you fall and don’t get off the track or remount you are excluded.2 minute rule shortened to one minute. Fail to make the warning you are excluded no replacements allowed .

Excellent - so just the 3 sides in next years championship.......tell you what go straight through to the p.offs - no need for the early season preamble meetings

yup as well as Redcar for the SGP's and all next years BSPA "shared" events, I can always be sure that Scunthorpe will be racing EVERY Friday next season.

The bottom line for Lakeside will be whether Mr Cook can guarantee completing a full 2019 season at the BSPA promoters conference in November ??

Unless the “exciting plans” from the BSPA include a new vice chairman, I don’t see speedway at Lakeside in 2019 being viable - whatever the outcome of discussions with the owners of the Lakeside sports site. Under the tenure of the 2018 BSPA management committee 2 clubs appear to have been assisted towards closure.

So it’s Saturday night championship racing at Hoddesdon in 2019 for the Rye House Hammers.

Sadly I was at this speedway meeting on Monday.Not one I care to remember ... a real bore. It was very poor value for money - the entertainment was completely ruined by the lack of machine control shown by riders O Keefe , Edwards and Brennan. These young lads need further training before being put on display to the paying public. The time wasting tactics by the Eastbourne rider Powell was disgraceful.The Eastbourne team “manager” should have taken action and spoken to Powell immediately to remind him that he is there to entertain the paying public and not act like a silly schoolboy having a tantrum. If 2 hours isn’t enough time to run 15 heats of one minute duration, it’s not a sport I will pay to watch. Sadly I see the same nonsense of poor presentation at Lakeside.

Interesting reading this thread alleging Workington riders are owed money. If that’s really the case they would have done speedway supporters a favour by with holding their services - allowing the use of guests. As a lakeside fan I can say that aside from Mason Campton and the Captain Ty Procter none of the other Comets showed any enthusiasm to race on Friday. Personally I was very disappointed in the riding of Dan Bewley having heard and seen so much of him this season. The Workington “team manager” made no changes at all throughout the meeting, and coupled with the usual lacklustre presentation by Lakeside made the evening one to forget. It does not surprise me to see attendances are clearly down on what they used to be at Lakeside in 2016. The “ product” to use the modern term is clearly stale.

Having watched DVDs of wold championship speedway from the70's and 80's and watching the starting techniques that existed then - i see nothing wrong wiht allowing the riders to roll creep push the tapes and the ref letting the tapes up when he feels like it . IF the rider breaks the tape you are EXCLUDED (no 15m handicap nonsense) I am absolutely fed up with the riders dictating the rules of the sport to the detriment of the entertainment of the public. Why dont they provide the b****y riders with shovels at the start so they can dig the b***Y track up to their satisfaction ?????? Meetings take TOO long to complete only 15 heats - Gardening and Track Grading are two of the main reasons I rarely go to a speedway meeting nowadays. If they tarmac the start or even better concrete the start areas it would put an end to all this nonsense.

You have forgotten the “new members only” 2.5% discount .

For the best interests of speedway, Ford has been given special dispensation to sign C Holder and Batchelor.

Pick somenone from the crowd ? Take your crash helmets. You canot get less than zero. Once again "premeirship" or "elite" league whatever its called never ceases to amaze.

So Team GB are 4th in the World. Better than Australia. Better than Denmark - both of whom could not manage to qualify for the final. Well done Team GB. As for the strange tattooed lad Mr T. Woffinden I have no problem with his decision not to race for his adopted country - but if he continues to publicly "diss" (I think that's the modern word) the GB team and the GB fans - he should have his GB licence revoked.

This is more about guaranteeing rider availability than cutting costs - would be nice to see regular teams of 7 riders - rather than R/R and Guests. Costs appear to be the same as last year as admission prices remain the same.

What would Tatum''s CMA be in 2017 for the NL . That would be the sort of stunt that might draw some much needed attendees to an NL side at Lakeside ?

Thank you

No Danny or James is a big loss to the crowd pulling power and "traxcitement" as Len used to call it. Don't think I could stomach the new el dropouts from Lakeside beating us at Central Park. Especially as they another of the former Kent Kings in Ben named at number one. Looking like we are going to have a mediocre season in 2017 .. I just don't see who will deliver the backup to Luke?

Is this the site for the Lakeside Hammers? Cannot find them listed in the el listings - seems the Hammers are racing at Hoddesdon this season ?

Surprised we aren't sing R/R again to be honest - its the cheapest option.

As for who was available and prepared to come - only Mr. J Cook knows the answers. He told the fans after heat 4 of the Swindon meeting that he had plans to cover AJ depending on the opposition in the semi finals, and all would be revealed the following Monday. Subsequently, a mystery Polish rider had been spoken to ... but this was shelved because AJ had made a rapid recovery and could well be available for the 2nd leg at Belle Vue. Apparently, if the mystery Polish rider rode in the first leg we would have hd to ride him in the second leg! You couldn't make it up ... but Mr Cook can .. and he has. I meant to type after heat 14 not 4 !