nobrakeshere1

Take no notice, most of us who have ever ridden a speedway bike have tried too hard and fell off, only way to find how far you can push your limits! Hoping your leg heals quickly.

Wrist injury for Josh. Agree that it was a good meeting to watch with some close racing throughout.

Have to agree gate 4 was hopeless. I'm a major critic of the track and hardly ever bother going, but i did go last night and the first part of the meeting was totally dire, however it did get better and I counted 6 races with passing after bends 1 and 2, which seems about the right number looking at speedway updates. Not great racing but I've certainly seen worse. I'm not sure what length the track is now (after aletrations) but the straights still look a bit long, Colin Merideth told me 280m is the max he would fit in the space - advice not taken at the time of course.

Spot on. After Leicester closed I went to Long Eaton, lower league - but if anything the racing was better. My recent preference has been watching my friends ride MDL or amateur meetings but may try BP on a more regular basis now it's not a Sat night.

This thread amazes me, There should never be any question about the need for a deal with BT. Speedway is in desperate need of a wider audience, advertising if you like, TV gives that to both the sport and riders. Very few products become popular without exposure to the public, corn flakes, cars, airlines etc etc all are all advertised on TV - getting the product known is vital. Granted the actual product has to be half decent but that's another topic! Getting a minority sport onto TV is not easy, you can spend many hours trying to find a suitable production company (not easy) who will then get slots on Sky or whatever, but it costs money and is certainly not viable on a weekly basis. Never tried to get a live event out there but I imagine that would be extra difficult. IMO opinion if BT are going to do the job for free then speedway in it's current state should bite their hands off. I've seen the cycle speedway from Australia, it's fine but I suspect the only people who will watch periscope are those who have an interest in the first place,

First time I've been for two years (other than practice days) and I didn't think it was so bad, I've certainly seen far worse racing wise although the team were just abysmal. The track shape does look better now and when shale is available again from Breedon I feel that racing will improve.

I can't see David paying the fine. Assuming I'm right, would any prospective new promotion be happy to pay the fine in order to operate what must be a loss making enterprise? Maybe not, flagrag is spot on there. I felt that the future wasn't looking too rosy before this, the SCB ruling certainly does nothing to make the prospects look any brighter..

Having been to the tapes myself hundreds of times i can honestly say that the slightest movement will set you off, first time I think Cook saw the magnet and off he went, perfect start, second time he jumped. Seen far worse where the ref lets it go. Imagine the scenes if that had been Mike Lee excluded..................

Contract crushing if it's the company I know of. Heard that DH is currently down under, checking out future signings maybe? Best of luck to the Lions for 2016 and lets hope the track alterations produce the goods. Nice to see our old mascot Luke Whitehead getting some good points in the Scunthorpe winter series.

Ashley Birks has been mentioned as guest for Auty

Best meeting I've seen at BP, even got a few passes and several tight races. Maybe this is the level of racing the track is best suited to.

I think that any "non mainstream" sport that gets air time from Sky that actually involves them paying for the privelage or even doing it for nothing is getting a better deal than most. My own experience is that they are quite willing to broadcast if you employ a production company to do all the work for them. The cost of this recording and associated editing varies vastly, But I would suggest that flagrag has his costs about right for a live broadcast.

Had a similar problem at Blackbird Road, around 1980 (yes I'm that old) only half the track was of any use, go over the camber and a drift to the fence was a certainty. Previously we had a great track, rubbish results though! I complained about it at the time but it made no difference, so I went to Long Eaton. i cannot believe that it's meant to slow you down, in my experience more banking keeps you away from the fence and more dirt slows you down, adverse camber sends you ouit to the fence. So I guess you do slow down eventually, but not in a nice way.

DH is known for digging his heels in, can be a good trait in certain circumstances of course, remains to be seen if this is one of those instances. Hazzman - Linda Jones resigned before the season got under way.

Let's be clear, it's up to Dave what he does with the track. Equally it's up to those who pay to watch speedway to decide if it's value for money. Originally I was one of a group of four people going along every Saturday. Now it's just me and I go along less and less. I have taken several people along to watch and no one has ever gone back. Some of course will go along no matter what, but to maintain numbers the sport has to appeal to those who want a little more for their money. So in answer to your question, no I would not prefer it if there was no speedway in the city. But I wouldn't want the rugby, football, or anything else to close either. My point is that we must appeal to a wider audience than the die hard fan or support will dwindle to just a few hundred. As good as the stadium is, and full credit to DH and everyone else for that, on track entertainment is sadly lacking.

Not quite walked away but no longer a regular, by that I mean I go along less and less and I will probably only watch 3 or 4 meetings this year. The reason is simple - there are more interesting ways to spend my hard earned cash than watching gating practice, I don't feel that a visit to BP offers value for money. I have no axe to grind with anyone, but a businesss that fails to take heed of it's customers needs will find hard times are looming. Unless "real" changes are made to the track I would guess that support will at best stagnate and at worst reduce to a level that's uneconomic. I hope I'm wrong and honestly wish the Lions and the promotion every success.

I don't think the track changes are anywhere near what most were expecting or anywhere near what is required to make a substantial improvement. What we have certainly doesn't match the description of what I was led to believe was planned. DH is without a doubt a person that can get things done, his mind set is to be totally committed to his cause and won't let anything stand in his way and sometimes you need that. however it can also cause problems. The track, in my opinion, has not been changed as much as it should because DH will not admit his mistake. Something isn't working quite right. We lost a vital back room member before the season got under way and my guess is that others may find it a difficult place to work, well volunteer, to be more accurate. DH is not easy sometimes. But he is the man in charge and to be quite honest i cannot for the life of me understand why anyone would want to buy the promoting rights off him, although apparently there have been offers. Even at a well supported track like Leicester making money must be almost impossible, the figures just don't seem to stack up.

Quite right. It's a practice/training session and insured as such - it's certainly not racing, The cost of repairing a damaged air fence is way more than you could imagine, it's not just an Elastoplast job, My guess is that it's use for such sessions would make the cost to riders way over the £40 mark,

Gemini - nice friendly lady with nice friendly dogs, leave her alone! On a brighter note the Lion cubs are a positive move, it brings back good memories. I happened to be talking to Kevin Smith recently who was telling me that one of his first competetive rides was at Blackbird Rd against the cubs and our top man Chris Sully and I remember quite a few other well known riders who raced at this level on their way through the ranks.

Quite right Nightshift, it should have been done before, no doubt about that. But before the 2013 season starts the track will be changed, the entry to the bends will be wider but the overall length will not alter a great deal. We should all remember that a problem with any forum is that some people know what's going on beacuse they hear it first hand and others just try and guess, I'm not guessing. And the training days have been great, some of the youngsters looking very quick. I'm even tempted to get my old leathers out......maybe not, may get shown up by a thirteen year old!

Track - going over old ground here, Would have been nice earlier but now it's being done, there is no use constantly moaning. EL - let's get real here, don't you think the promotion have done their homework? Do you know the promotion well enough to assume that they have no idea what they are doing? Well I do and have done for a very long time. Here is a fact - if David and Alan think that EL is the way to go then you can guarantee that it's been researched properly. Do you honestly think that a business would look to go in a direction that will guarantee a loss? I run a business. if you stand still you go backwards. EL is an attempt to move forward, best of luck i say.

At the rates Sheffield were paying I'm not surprised he left!!! The annoying thing is that he could have been at Leicester in 2011, Ash asked me about the possibility but our management didn't proceed - I'm sure they regret that now!!!

I'll post on here when I know details, there should be highlights of 6 matches, around 20 mins per programme. It's going out to 32 different countries the producers tell me.

Sept 2nd at Leicester, Elite League v Wednesfield - Sky TV filming the action, 14.00 start

Mick Skinner, Mark Whitehead, Ben Holloway and Andre Cross all racing at Beaumont Park on Saturday - cycle speedway riders are taking over the place!