old bob at herne bay

Once again Speedway degenerates into a farce. " riders , both with non life threatening injuries, surely could be taken to hospital in an ambulance ( Poole Hospital is not a million miles from the stadium? - and the paramedice remains at the stadium to allow racing to continue. Oh no - complete chaos ensues - no one knows what is going on and speedway airs its appalling record of delayed meetings to a live TV audience Delays delays delays - the sport is no longer entertaining.

The "business end" of the season degenerating into pure farce. Two teams both operating the "rider Replacement" , (and Leaside's Zach W presumably still doubtful? ) Ulrich O still not fully fit , and Peterboro using a gust for Scotty Nicholls. Both sides heading into a "less than ideal"** double header racing the same side twice with 6 riders on parade. Seems almost acceptable that same side double headers take place. From the fans entertainment viewpoint a 7pm start is a poor decision - given Leaside's proven inability to run a meeting in under 2 hours - will be at least an 11pm finish after the delays with R/R and the selfish track curator who indulges in obsessive tractor grading. I thought my enthusiasm to watch the Hammers would be rekindled by the p. offs, just to make the trip to see a meeting at Hoddesdon - once again I am left disillusioned. ** quote from our illustrious promoter Jon Cook.

Don’t suppose either Lakeside or Peterborough are in a hurry to run the 2nd leg KO cup - let Mr Godfrey wait until December until he knows Scunthorpe’s opposition in the KO Cup ?

Seems all the top championship teams have now got riders injured - wiht Craig Cook injured last night in the SGP. All I hope is that Scunthorpe win nothing at all after all the fixture manipulation by their "promoter". Tippex him out of the Management Committee ... briliant idea. Along with the rest of the "management" committee. They need to be a bunch of independents without a vested interst in their own little business.

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