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Leszno are just too good

What a race! Finally some decent speedway. Only took 2 and half meetings.

I’m actually not kidding. Everything about Rob is on the money. He’s aggressive. He’s quick. He gates. And he rides on the right parts of the track. Outside of these 2 we have an issue on the continent. I am hopeful that if Dan purchases a proper set of balls, we would actually be looking half decent because he is quick enough.

Bewley will be fine. He’s a level down from Robert and Tai. The point he scored yesterday, Craig would never have done that. He’d never have passed anyone once at the back. I was actually pretty positive about his speed yesterday. He just needs to grow a pair of bollox. Rob there with a great example on Vaculik. Moved him over bend 2, Martin not happy but that’s speedway.

Excellent stuff from Robert. Perhaps having an upbringing in foreign climbs is what makes the difference ;-)

Lambert looking good. Him and Tai so far ahead of anything else we have. Bewley and cook are miles away from being able to win races like that on the continent.

I have to say, this is a pretty shocking spectacle and in the uk would be absolutely slandered.

If this break length happened here, all hell would break loose

These pair for Rybnik are dangerous. Way, way out of their depth

Feel sorry for the fella in blue. Should be nowhere near this level yet.

What’s wrong with Batchelor?

Happens in all sports. The bests leagues dictate to get richer. It’s just business. I wouldn’t let that impact your decision making, you’ll miss out on some good speedway.

They run at the weekend because they can. We can’t do that here without impacting rider availability. We are bottom of the professional speedway scene. Either we work with that, or scrape it all back and make the sport here non professional. I can guarantee the last one would see the sport fold here.

Who would govern that type of change? The FIM? If it isn’t happening, then I’d guess someone is stopping it, and it’s probably Poland. They are the big house and what they have is working. They won’t want to mess with that. There would be a huge cost implication and the general balance of how the sport operates would be hurt. Engine tuners, riders, clubs, promoters. They’d all have something to say about it. What you are suggesting is a pretty big reform and stuff like that tends not to happen unless something with lots of power and backing says so.

The backing Poland has is also a huge sway. I was watching a video last week, I think it was the PM or a significant political person who happens to be a huge speedway fan. All the local councils back it, they have great tv and other sponsorships. That they have started racing with empty stadiums tells you everything. If we did that here, it would implode. When you have a set of circumstances like that it’s so easy to build a successful business. Until local councils invest in speedway as a leisure business instead of approving stadium demolitions, then we will never have the chance to replicate what happens over there. And of course they won’t do that if there isn’t demand, and dwindling supporter numbers really does drive that, and that is where promoters can step in and start to change the demographic of supporter. If we had full stadiums, big sponsorship and great tv deals there is no way half of what happens today would be occurring. It happens because next to nobody cares. We haven’t recycled the supporter base and that is ultimately what will kill the sport here. Sometimes sports just fly in certain places. Football in this nation is huge, but conversely has nowhere near the following in Poland. It’s horses for courses and it would seem the UK at the moment doesn’t have a horse.

I doubt it. The rain was very heavy and I think polish tracks are clay based, which would probably retain water a little longer. I may well be wrong.

Answer is in the bikes. They work on dry slick surfaces, and don’t work on hard grippy ones. The track yesterday was rideable 15 years ago. The evolution of the bikes is the bigger issue vs track prep.

There is danger in every step we take, but there are also many things we can do to control that risk and decrease the likelihood of certain things happening. Not sure it’s just a case of ‘dealing with it’. If we had that attitude across many spectrums of life our society would be significantly worse for it. Not just speedway. Safety should be of paramount importance, as much as can possibly be achieved in a sport that is already dangerous. The introduction of safety fences for example was such a positive step forward. I agree the bikes are the issue. I think our arguments were crossed somewhat, my point being that riders are actually more skill full now than we have ever seen, given the cruise missiles they are piloting.

It was greasy on the top but the base was dry. However there was clearly a lot of grip and Shamek was struggling with it. You could see the bike pulling. Fine to go round alone but add another 3 bikes and that wouldn’t have ended well. There were seasoned GP riders there saying exactly that. We seem to be agreeing here Dean. I fully understand the need to recognise safety and what you have said about the current bike being built for speed essentially proves my own point. Whatever the reasons, on a track like that the need to find extra speed becomes a safety issue. It is 80% speed today my argument is that it doesn’t make the rider any less skill full or any less professional. It’s quite the contrary, the bikes are charged missiles and that needs a pretty decent motorcyclist to take care of it. All that is happening are riders adapting to a different set of circumstances. The consequence of speed means some meetings are called off where they wouldn’t have been 15/20 years ago. Its what it is.

I’m not convinced we have really tried it to be honest. Certainly not to the extent that would be required.

It’s funny you should call it that. In my book, it’s called rider safety and is a very important part, wouldn’t you say! The opinion you hold, frankly hold no water in today’s speedway. Today’s rider. Today’s bike. The whole set up. Rain causes a problem and severely impacts the safety of those taking part. They are not prima donnas, they just want just to live until the next day ;-)

It’s weird isn’t it? When the bikes reved less and were lay down, it is presumed that riders had more skill yet in the next breath, the bikes were much easier to ride. The modern rider has this stigma levelled at them by the old generation that today, there is no skill, then in the next breath acknowledge the bikes are volatile and harder to control in difficult situations. Forgive me if I’m wrong, but in my book that is the very definition of a contradiction. Here is how I see it. Today’s rider are BETTER than yesteryear. The bikes today are in fact even harder to manage with more power. As ever, it’s just an old generation with nothing better to do than moan and groan because things are ‘different’ now. And you know, that is exactly the issue with the current speedway fan in this country. Never stop whinging about something, it makes them happy! Polish crowds are better than ever-clearly the current package is working out there. Perhaps it’s time the sport in this country moved away from the current generation of fan and move into a younger, more vibrant market who won’t spend their days playing divide and conquer

To be fair, I do understand the reason for the displeasure. The track looked ok on first viewing but as I looked again you could see it was very, very grippy. Shamek was struggling a little and that was alone. Put 3 more riders in the mix and it becomes dangerous. Correct decision

It’s grippy. Just watched shamek back agiain. On your own it’s rideable just about, in a race it’s dangerous

Track looks ok to be fair