Hawk127

Perhaps they should create track time by using some of the blank Thursdays marked as Reserved. How about an East of England Championship with riders invited from Kings Lynn, Peterborough, Rye House, Mildenhall, Ipswich and Lakeside. Hold several rounds and a grand final in September. Just a thought but the season as it stands could be over very early for Ipswich if they don’t start winning league and cup matches which does not look likely based on the performances to date. Let’s hope they turn things around soon.

Is it lack of track time for the witches. Can they make it in the league. I suspect the jury is out on both but with a short programme of home matches and not just for Ipswich this is a make or break season for clubs with little oppprtunity to catch up or turn the season around. You really cannot see the current team succeeding away from home. I really hope I am wrong. Well done Lakeside but for all the hullabaloo Ipswich are no where near odds on to make the play offs. I hope they make it and while it is early doors one cannot get overly optimistic. Where has it all gone wrong for speedway and Ipswich.

I might be mistaken but I thought Nico had ridden in France so should not be race rusty but perhaps a little unsure about the track changes. It would be great to see them get a good result but I cannot help thinking that a lack of track time as a team is going to hamper progress and with so few fixtures it must be difficult for them get some momentum. Fingers crossed that they can overcome the obstacles that this seasons set up presents. Maybe time for one league and back to regular weekly meetings. Maybe start in Mid to late April rather than March and run through to September with October exclusive for play offs whatever the status at the end of September. Teams that have not completed fixtures is just tough. Thems should be the rules. Let’s hope for a good win on Saturday and no injuries.

I guess many Ipswich fans feel the same. Thursday and no speedway. It is the same next week with a blank Thursday albeit they do have a meeting on the Saturday. Looking at fixture lists from years gone by and barring poor weather you may have seen four/five fixtures by now. A shame that it has gone down hill and I suspect that many supporters will find alternative things to do plus you now have live speedway on Sunday on Freesport and with many meetings on You Tube, it will be easy to get out of the habit of going to a local track and instead stick to the comfort of home. I am not saying this is right but with the cost of travel, possibly food and a drink, a few pounds for a programme etc fans are far more selective when it comes to the spend. I think the current policy will not work out as the powers that be expect and some tracks may not survive. Those who rent the stadiums to the clubs cannot be happy unless the clubs are paying the same rent but for fewer race nights in which case the numbers through the gate need to go up. I know the weather has not helped but if things have got so financially precarious that it is better to call off a meeting when there is a slim chance of poor weather in two or three days time then things really are in a bad state. Not sure where those in charge are taking the sport but you cannot help thinking that they may have got it slightly wrong. Time will tell.

What a comeback. Freddie really is flying

Barbara Horley the ref?

Should the rider in Red have been excluded?

Wouldn’t be good to see crowds like this in British speedway. I know the commentary is not as you might be used to but I suspect he is working off a feed and perhaps on Polish t v they have commentary in between races. I just think that is great that you have live Speedway from Poland and on a Sunday afternoon when the weather is miserable. It will get better as the season goes on I am sure.

Agree given the opposition. In the return fixture tomorrow it might be a different result. I would bet on a white wash tonight and a defeat tomorrow particularly as Ipswich have Scott guesting for Rory who is on international duty on the Isle of Wight.

Good report on Anglia news this evening on KL and mentioned the other fixtures this weekend but did show Ipswich at 1.15. I suspect that is an error but just in case, has the time of the meeting been changed?

It is to be expected given the time of year but the way the sport is at present this will only fuel all sorts of conspiracy theories. With the speedway of nations (or World Cup as it used to be called) being a block on most fixtures, why not hold it the same week and possibly a pre-cursor to the Belle Vue meeting which may attract even more spectators and fill the coffers of the Ben Fund a bit better than a March meeting on a Sunday evening when the travelling supporters will think twice about attending. Make it a Saturday or early Sunday afternoon then you will more than likely get a better turn out. The down side is the supporters don’t count so is it any wonder these type of individual meetings do not get the support they deserve.

In the case of the U.K., why not go to the small claims court and possibly apply for a winding up order against the company that owes the money. I would suspect that the contracts are not ‘employment’ contracts but more akin to a service contract. One future option might be for the rider to ask for a bank guarantee from the club for an amount equal to the maximum potential earnings from two meetings. The guarantee remains in force for the season. If they don’t get paid they make a simple claim. This would go some way to ensuring clubs which are afterall a business, are properly funded and have sufficient cash to meet the debts as and when due. If they cannot comply with the debt service they may be trading insolvently and the Directors are then liable.

Some great pictures and the Saturday night under flood lights is brilliant. Looked like good crowds on both days. Thank you for sharing these. Unfortunately I was unable to make it to Berlin on this occasion and really missed the action. For those who have never been it is worth giving it a go and if you can get to one on the European meetings you will not be disappointed. I would also like to thank Conkers and Iris for always providing updates, reports photo and video etc. and other valuable information, it is greatly appreciated and the best reporting you can get.

I have some old programmes from Rayleigh, Crayford and Rye House covering home and away matches which includes 1969 through to 1974 plus other memorabilia such as ‘Stop Press’ in 1972 as well as Ipswich progs 1995 to 2008 and Arena Essex and a few Mildenhall progs plus books from the 80’s and GP prog for 2007. Also press cuttings from Rayleigh 1970 to 1973 and an old programme board etc. Any idea who may be interested in this collection.

Maybe this could serve as a wake up call. Simplify what seems to be a overly complicated product. Basic rules. After all you have four riders in a race, four laps fixed helmet colours, simple points system. Add no gardening at the tapes, restarts, straight back to tapes, no mechanics on tracks, tactical substitute as and when, thirteen heats and riders contracted for the season only. No assets and no loan fees. One possible change, grade riders. That is it. Any issue over which riders are in what league is scrapped. North and South leagues only with the second tier being the NL. What more do you need.? One down side though. Thirty odd club owners who cannot agree what day of the week it is let alone deliver a simple product that they have managed to take to a level of complication that baffles rocket scientists and professors. That is why it is such disarray.

The lack of good close competitive racing is partly to blame for even those regulars no longer going as often as they used to let alone newbies. This is could be partly down to the bikes being far too powerful for the tracks but the lack of skilful riders who often seem to be hanging on for dear life is a contributory factor. The art of team riding is virtually dead. Get back to basics and make the sport entertaining rather than processional to the point where you might just well be at a drag race meet rather than a team match. As has been said if the product is good enough then price is not an issue but given that most supporters seem to want no more than a league meeting is it any wonder the racing is what it is with infrequent fixtures, lack of talent coming through and what is perceived as poor value for money with no more than circa fifteen minutes of racing over two hours. In this fast paced instant action society and the lack of patience amongst many, something needs to be done to make it a slicker presentation with more races and perhaps different types of racing alongside the league match. Have a contest for the fastest lap or two laps and allow betting. Each team can nominate four riders if it is two laps then one rider goes first and pulls off the track and the opposing rider comes on immediately to do their two laps. This could be after every three races and the four fastest compete in a grand final after heat fifteen of the league match. Just an idea but someone somewhere needs to think outside the box. At the moment presentation is as dull as dish water. Television does help in some ways but live meetings are not the answer. If you sit at home for two hours to watch a live meeting on TV, why on earth would you want to travel to the track. Put more racing into those two hours and people may think it is worth while but not as it stands with delayed starts, gardening, etc. Which makes it boring and an unnecessary waste of time.

At Rayleigh Peter Moore, what a wily old character who could really gate and was the only rider I can recall with slightly raised left hand side of the handle bars. The other was Bob Young. Another cracking rider who in style rode a bit like Batchelor does now. Those were the days.

I do not understand why Scott is excluded as in theory he did double up albeit as guest for Sheffield and Ipswich. It might be down to the exact definition of double up. Is it permanent signing for a club for a full season or riding in both leagues possibly as a floater. Who knows the mysterious ways in which the rules are made and then interpreted. No wonder most supporters think the powers that Be have lost the plot. Bit like the number of meetings this season. Less means more. I doubt it. Simply putting ‘reserve dates’ in the list of meetings is a joke. Take a look at the number in the Ipswich schedule.

I think the days of regular weekly speedway throughout the season are long gone. Many of the current crop of followers are for league racing only and anything else no longer hits the mark unless it is a GP. Sad really that this is what is on offer now but thankful that I watched the sport for many years when you looked forward to the weekly fix. It was the thrill of racing be it league, knock out cup 4TT or individual meetings. It was the riders and the machines you followed not just the team racing. Too late to change now and less may not mean more in terms of supporters coming through the gate but time will tell. Also not sure how less can be good for those riders trying to make a living from riding unless they are lucky enough to double up or down. It may be similar to last years fixture list in terms of frequency of meetings but it cannot be good to have one home meeting every three weeks. If the stadium is available then could they not have put out an NL team. The other point is that with fewer meetings do the stadium landlords earn less or have they put the rent up. If it carries on with fewer and fewer meetings how long before landlords say it is not worth it any longer as they may make more from banger and stock car racing. So many issues both at national and possibly local level it begs the question, do the custodians really know where they are taking the sport.

It nearly did for Mildenhall and if you look at how close the houses are getting to Foxhall and it would/will only be a matter of time before someone moves in and whinges. It only takes one if the story about Romford was correct.

Whatever the pension payout, many may have contributed to the fund during the working life so will have saved and made financial sacrifices. However in real terms most blacks policies or annuities now offer poor returns compared to a few years back. A £50k pot/fund would get you roughly £2k per annum pension at 65 on a Joint basis. Some will have contributed to the pot possibly through salary sacrifice. This excludes any state pension. Add to the fact that interest rates have been held low meaning that anyone with savings relying on income through interest has lost out in recent years. On the flip side those lucky enough to have mortgages that they can ill afford in normal circumstances have been protected with lending rates that are simply farcical. To harp on about how the younger generation are hard done by everyone needs to consider how long it takes to build up a pot to carry you through retirement. The state cannot support the sick, those who need care etc. Assets are be sold by the elderly simply to pay for care despit3 th3 fact that over the years they have paid NI. To suggest that the pensioners are so well off is written by those you have no idea of the reality and is sensational clap trap. The younger generation need to get their priorities right and start looking thirty or forty years ahead and not the short termism that is so evident in their attitude while whinging that everyone older is better off. Most elderly have worked hard for what they have and those graduates are just starting off on that journey, so they need to plan and stop complaing. No one owes them a living or a right to an inflated standard that so many aspire.

I totally agree. Is it not time that the sport in this country looked after its own. It is becoming slightly frustrating that the up and coming riders who really deserve the backing are cast aside and the British promoters are falling over themselves to bring in overseas riders who cannot generally hold down a team place in their own back yard. People might winge about the old foggies who harp on about the 70’s and 80’s but back then the decent promoters took pride in home grown talent and we did see some real British characters. No point in naming them because most will know who they were. Sad that today few have the courage to take on riders and build for the future. That is one of the reasons why support is dwindling. Promoters think on. You have lost the plot and are signing the death warrant of this once great sport.

Thanks, much appreciated.

Does anyone have a link where I can find all the dates/times of the league meetings in Sweden or do I need to go to each team web site?

If you have BT sport, you can get the app and watch it on catch up or I believe if you open up the menu it comes under the heading of Action Women where you will find this Clare Balding series