Pinny

Its being realistic. Every season we have topics on here wondering why crowds are so poor and no newcomers take up following the sport and then you have a grand final on TV and there has been more stoppages than races without incident.

Boughen has been dreadful and looks like a second halfer.

What an awful spectacle so far. It is easy to see why the sport rarely attracts new fans, if this was your first time watching you'd of switched off by now.

In all fairness, heat 1 was a racing incident and heat 3 was 100 percent on Boughen who should of been excluded.

Yeah the Oxford fans certainly want more excitement from Foord. Bet they can't wait for heat 4. Also, Greg Blair is hardly someone to reference is he.

There is a difference between entertaining riders who cross the line sometimes but are in control and riders who are entertaining for all the wrong reasons, mainly being completely out of control.

I was about to say Boughen completely shut off then before the first corner and the replay confirmed it. Cook had nowhere to go. I'd exclude Boughen for that.

That is a shocking decision. Decided to tune in and watch this and its the first time I have seen Foord ride and he is exactly how people have described him - out of control. God knows what the ref was watching then.

Hoping Oxford can do it, be great to see Poole choke it two years in a row.

If your operating rider replacement for a missing heatleader the rest of the team has to step up and when push came to shove both King and Ellis went missing. Ellis was signed on what people described as a bargain average yet according to the BSPA site he put only 0.04 on his average last season (as a second string). Add that to his injury record and its not exactly good is it? the first thing you should look at when building your team is riders who have scope for plenty of improvement and dependable for the season. Which for me would rule Ellis out. But thats just an opinion . Id still take King over Ellis though.

They obviously werent expected to step up and be number ones but to deliver solid heat leader points each meeting and they didnt. Ellis has been around long enough now and should be hitting 7 plus year in year out and he isn't ... facts are he spends way too much time injured which is no use to any side chasing a title .

Don't see the fascination with Ellis. Another who goes missing when needed most. Him and King really needed to step up this year when the top two were injured but didn't. Ellis has been around a while now , has to be well over 10 years and is still not a heatleader and is injury prone. Would get rid.

I still haven't seen any answers to the questions regarding Laguta & Emil being allowed to represent Poland in the SGP series? Both have Polish citizenship. Same as Rune Holta when he switched from Norway to Poland and represented Poland in the world cups and Grand Prix series. What is the difference here?

You'd have to keep Chris Holder, he was their best rider this season. Whether he could score as well riding at number 1 remains to be seen though.

SKY Sports without a doubt. Losing them was a massive loss.

Huckenbeck's inclusion is an absolute farce in all honesty and reminds you of wild card picks of years gone by when Harris or Nicholls regularly got given them due to their nationality. Why not give it to Wolbert if it has to be a German, Huckenbeck had a chance last year and didn't get close to the top 6. If they have to have a German, give it to someone else. Wolbert put in a decent enough showing at the GP challenge!

Very rarely agree with you but bang on regarding Doyle. he is comfortably in the top 5 riders in the world and box office to watch as well. Great rider and a great bloke. jan andersen clearly has an agenda.

Was said Redcar rider an Aussie??

Rune Holta was a Norwegian who ended up getting Polish citizenship and representing Poland in the GPs and world cups, why can't Laguta do the same if he has Polish citizenship or am I missing something ?

They probably owe a load of money out for this season and thats why the begging bowl has came out.

Thanks for that , didn't realise race nights had been agreed for both leagues already next season. Most sensible decision is to shut the doors now then.

I remember when Rickardsson got his 6th, people on here were saying that he would never have won 6 world titles back in the 70's and 80's. And he could of gone on to win more, he was still a top top performer when he decided he had enough and walked away from the sport, same as Schumacher in F1. Zmarzlik could go on to win another 2 or 3 titles easily. It's hard to say whether he would have done in a different era. The fitness and diet levels these days are on another level, same as machinery so who knows how good the old school would of been with the current standards. What is certain though is that in the current generation, Zmarzlik is by far and away the best in the world.

Another thing, from what I have read it seems 2025 will be the final year of speedway at Birmingham regardless of success and crowd levels so what sane person is going to throw their money into that? If your club is getting the begging bowl out, then IMO it's time for the promotion to shut shop.

He was slated by people on here who usually whine at absolutely anything. I thought he was brilliant, and he gave the sport great coverage when working on his other sports like the darts and footy. He was extremely clued up on the sport and knew what he was talking about and his excitement coupled with that made for an excellent commentator. As I stated before, he and Tatum worked great together but Tatum hasn't got it in him to be lead commentator and obviously cannot handle the pressure hence why he makes so many mistakes, mistakes that you wouldn't hear from him before when working alongside Pearson. Looking back, Sky Sports was brilliant for speedway and their coverage of both league racing and GPs was absolutely streets ahead of what we get served up with now. Being in Australia I barely watch anything other than the GPs anymore and that is even when work allows so are usually repeats but I find the overall presentation dull and second rate. Pearson and to a lesser extent Millard could make a dull meeting sound exciting whereas the current crop have the reverse effect and make top meetings seem dull and flat.

I think it should be said that promotions crying to the fanbase about needing more people through the gate doesn't work and if anything has a negative impact. Moving up a tier when already losing money was just ridiculous and was never going to end well. Then fielding a team that wasn't going to compete was another foolish move. Tolley also made himself look daft when stating money wasn't an issue or something along those lines. You can't go crying that your then losing money and need more fans in. I saw it with my own eyes at Newport, the Mallett's had many faults which everyone knows about but they put their money into it and done all they could regarding signing riders. And if they hadn't of been in the press crying about crowds each week then I am sure they would have gained a lot more sympathy and understanding from fans. Winning teams are important, but history shows it has to be done from the off. Losing your first few home fixtures basically writes off the season, especially these days with such small league tables. Newport had crowds of about 300 each week and by the time changes were made to the side (which incidentally made them the best side in the league by some distance) the crowds didn't go up when results changed as the league title was well out the window. We got to the KO cup final and had a crowd of 1000 ish watch us absolutely batter Glasgow (who walked away with the league title that year). This just proves that when a team is winning and has a chance of lifting silverware, fans will come. But back to Birmingham, yes it will be great for British Speedway if they have another go next season but the best thing for them to do would be to drop to the Championship and try and sign a top side. Another season like the one just gone and it will only be the same negative comments or worse. And for God sake sort the management out. Get rid of Ermolenko and get a proper manager in.