Pinny

I always found as a kid that the star was a brilliant read due to not having the internet at the time. Every Thursday evening it would be full of news that you didn't know about, used to find out about signings every week in it even for my home team. As soon as we got internet on our computer, the star became a waste of time and money as everything in there was already on the internet. It will have interviews and maybe pictures not seen online but all the main news is already out there by the time its released. I do think the star is a great product though. Well presented, neat and tidy. Well it was the last time I seen one. This forum used to be alight during the winter back in the day. I was just browsing various sub-forums on here then and to see it so quiet is quite sad. The main forum on here now is the General Discussion forum, which I think says it all and even that hasn't had a post for over a day. Very sad to see as even though it has its faults, its been the center of the British Speedway fans community for over 20 years. Hopefully picks up during the season.

Take Gollob out of Poland and he was nowhere near the Elite level IMO. Brilliant to watch on the big, wide fast tracks but rarely had a plan b away from them.

Sad day for Swindon fans. Great venue for speedway and great atmosphere. Last time I went to Swindon was over 20 years ago now, think for Swindon vs Poole in EL season opener after Swindon had been PL for a few years. Remember it was snowing heavily too. Be interesting to see if they re open a new stadium. It must be a huge doubt to say the least.

When are the Birmingham promotion going to come out and confirm MJJ will only be there until Sweden starts?

OK, maybe comparing to Optus and Netflix etc is a bit irrelevant from one side of the fence but from the other , i.e the paying customer, its not. Are many going to fork out 15 quid for a one off meeting watching on a tv/computer? I did purely out of boredom and being able to afford to but plenty would of looked at the pricing and said no chance. I think if the overall presentation was improved then around 10 quid would of been fair enough.

15 quid for a stream is outrageous. At the end of the day, its TV viewing so how does charging that price work out when you can pay half that for something like Netflix which is unlimited, 24/7 viewing? Just to compare, I pay $25 (about 12.50) for unlimited Optus sport in Australia which gives you access to every single Premier League and FA cup match live with official coverage. There is much more on there as well that I don't bother to watch. So 15 pound to watch that last night with its shoddy presentation is barking mad. The commentary team were OK, Staechmann has always been clued up but made many, many mistakes with rider names last night. And as I said, watching Greg Blair as presenter is an absolute joke. They need to get a good presenter on there to replace him sharpish if they are going to be charging those sort of prices. The racing was good though, some great races. Thought Holder looked very good. Lambert and Emil were poor to say the least but would imagine they are testing set ups and that which is why charging the price they did is even more outrageous for an opening meeting.

What an absolute piss take those prices are if they are confirmed. Even half of what has been posted on here is a rip off. There will be nobody there ! Is the BV stadium an upgrade on Cardiff? Absolutely not, doesn't compare. Just because the racing maybe better (not guaranteed, have seen some bang average meetings from BV), you can't be charging those kind of prices. Whoever is responsible for those prices needs to hang their heads in shame. As I stated yesterday on the other BV topic, its the prices that are keeping fans away. 15 quid for a season opening stream last night was a joke. I still bought it as was bored, but many wouldn't be in a position to and certainly won't be able to afford the prices at BV for the GP's. People have been saying it for years and years, speedway for what it is these days is not worth the money you pay. People vote with their wallet and its a fact hence the low crowds. There needs to be a complete restructure with prices. If riders need to take pay cuts, so be it. Most people during their careers will have had to of taken pay cuts and moving to jobs with less wages, I know I have numerous times. Its life. Speedway shoots itself in the foot again.

Have a bit of time off work so bought the stream this morning. Been a good meeting. but they really need to change the presenter. Cringeworthy to listen to. Didn't even know Harris rode the day before at Iversens testimonial. Clueless. the camera work and quality is spot on but they still have a lot of work to do.

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Thats why this sport is knackered. 15 quid to watch a stream. Bonkers.

You really are a knobhead aren't you?

I genuinely thought that he would of been well suited to the new system when it first came in in the mid 00's . From memory, I think he got a runners up medal the year Pedersen won it in 07 or 08. But think Pedersen was streets ahead of the rest that season. As said, just as good as Crump in the leagues for me but when it came to GP's, he wasn't in the Elite class. Had he stuck around longer before retiring (think he was well under 40 when he called it a day) he could well of gone on to do well in the GP's , once Pedersen and Crump weren't dominating. Look at Hancock, OK he won his first title amongst great company but his last 3 titles were won when the likes of Crump and Pedersen were fading and the top end of the series was nowhere near as strong as it once was. Be a toss up between Crump and Adams for best EL rider ever though.

Love Adams, brilliant rider in league speedway. Stylish as they come. However, calls of him being the best rider to not win a world title are a bit off. He really never looked like winning one and was in the GPs for a long time.

Looks perfect for speedway but the place would look empty even with crowds between 1-2000.

Hope Puk has a brilliant day. Well deserved. Wont forget the winter when Tim Stone signed him as third heatleader on a 9.00 average. I remember he had won the Danish u21 final ahead of Bjerre the year before and just had that feeling he would be an instant success at Newport. Must of been one of the only ones as most predicted he would do well to average 5. He went on to average over his 9.00 assessed figure in his only year in the Premier and was superb everywhere he went. I went to many away meetings that season and don't think I seen him have a bad one on tracks he was visiting for the first time. An extremely good guy, always turned out well and gave nothing less than 100 percent. I think injuries knocked him back a bit, he started to make big strides in the GP's and topped the Polish and British averages for a few seasons before going on a run of nasty crashes. Had he avoided them with the form he was in, its not unreasonable to think he would of picked up more GP wins and podiums. His partnership at Newport with Tony Atkin will go down as probably the most popular partnership at Newport after Wato and Smarty. Hope he has a big crowd and good weather.

I was thinking the same thing about this forum being dead lately. The winters used to be just as busy on here as the season itself. I wonder how many people from its original launch (was it 2001/2ish) still read it.

I was thinking the same thing about this forum being dead lately. The winters used to be just as busy on here as the season itself. I wonder how many people from its original launch (was it 2001/2ish) still read it.

So do the "powers that be" at Swindon honestly think the fans are stupid enough to believe the latest nonsense?

Be better if Mads was in. A Lynn favourite and an actual team mate of Puks at Newport and then Lynn and Pboro. Plus hasnt been retired too long has he, be still able to mix it a bit .

The Hancocks were offered a few million for the land were they not? And took it, hence the closure of the speedway. thats what the story was at the time anyway.

The Hancocks were offered a few million for the land were they not? And took it, hence the closure of the speedway. thats what the story was at the time anyway.

Simple answer - because the people who bought the land off the Hancocks didn't want speedway there?

Because in reality its the same as British riders going abroad and in the main struggling. Okay, you have your Bewleys, Lamberts and Woffys who succeed but how many others hold down regular spots in the top leagues over seas? If you watch racing from Swedish and Danish tracks, you will realize they aren't actually that similar to UK tracks. And Polish tracks definitely aren't. It's what makes it even more impressive when you see a foreign rider come to the UK and hit the ground running straight away.

Be good to see PUK in a Newport race jacket again, guess he could be lining up for any of the four sides though.

Mullett had a serious injury I think in 99 when Andre Compton took him out at Reading. He came back from that but was never the same rider. Held the track record at Newport for a while, think he was the top boy in that great Reading side that won the league in 97 (?) with Glenn Cunningham and Lee Richardson also in that side.