crescent girl

With the Scorpions having clinically despatched Plymouth on Sunday and Bandits losing at home last Saturday, this meeting is offering a new slant to expectations. Scunthorpe have three former Berwick riders in their line-up and one of the league's more-solid reserve pairings to challenge the so-far-successful local teenagers Leon Flint and Kyle Bickley. Team and ticketing announcements to follow.

The Bullets have seven home meetings (two already raced). One was behind closed doors, two are stand-alone NDL matches and four are double-headed.

But refunded by programme purchase!

I don't see an easy way to police 'one match only' options when Covid restrictions demand everyone being pre-ticketed. In the current circumstances, the deal for tonight is the deal, and we have to hope the promotion's hard work in preparing the stadium for limited viewing is rewarded. The situation at the previous double-header at Shielfield (the last publicly-attended meeting!) was quite different, as everyone had paid cash at the turnstiles, and could be refunded if leaving after the first match. On the matter of streaming, I suspect that currently there may not be a facility to offer a stream for meetings which are also being attended by the public. Finally, according to the booking site, grandstand tickets appear to be almost sold out for tonight -- eight out of the ten seated sections are now showing 'no tickets' -- but the standing areas have plenty capacity.

Colts will now have their first match tomorrow at Berwick......

Worth mentioning perhaps, that four central sections (C, D, E & F) of the grandstand are now showing "no tickets left" on the booking site, so if you want a sit-down on Saturday, be soooooooon.......

Speedway Star reports Scott Nicholls will guest for Riss (about equal) but getting Broc Nicol in place of Grobauer is akin to daylight robbery!

Thank you, Kitten. Is he the only Brummie not coming?

Bloody hell, that's good! Every other track is having to jump through huge hoops, just to get a limited number of ticketed spectators in.......?

Bandits' bosses have made known their preference not to get into discussions on social media, but if you enquire about this to club@berwickspeedway.com you should get a quick reply.

Berwick's Bullets go into their third NDL match of the season this Saturday against the Colts -- and spectators will be in attendance! This match forms the second part of a double-header (Birmingham are on first, in a Championship fixture). The meeting begins at 6.30pm sharp, and will be over by 9.30. Tickets for the evening are on sale from https://www.berwickspeedway.com/tickets/ and going well, with sections of the centre stand and areas on the first bend terraces already sold out. Tickets are still available for the remaining seated areas of the stand, and all viewing areas around the terraces from mid-first/second turn to the famous third bend hill. The Bullets are currently top of the NDL standings, and will be expecting a stiff challenge from the interesting Colts' line-up.

Spectators allowed into Shielfield Park at last! Tickets for Saturday's bumper opening night are on sale from https://www.berwickspeedway.com/tickets/ and clearly going well, as it appears three sections of centre stand seating and two standing areas on the first turn are already are sold out per the site map on booking page. Stringent but sensible rules for attendance are clearly laid down, and should in no way deter anyone who wants to book a ticket from doing so. Meeting has Birmingham Brummies in town, and Belle Vue Colts following on in the second (NDL) match. Tapes up for CL match at 6.30pm sharp! It's been a long time coming!

Glass half empty, eh?

Edinburgh are selling a limited number of tickets for this Friday's meeting, but l'd agree that Glasgow might well have to open the season behind closed doors.

Do you see a difference between the mob rule you talk about on Thursday and the loyal gathering of staunch supporters today?

While familiarity breeds contempt, the very novelty of a televised match can work the other way in certain situations. At Berwick, there were four meetings over the final four years of the Sky contract. Each took place on a Tuesday, but were heavily promoted locally as being 'live on TV'. Each Sky meeting attracted much-bigger crowds than the normal Saturday audiences. This despite just about every other attempt over many years to run midweek at Berwick proving financially disastrous.

I would say it is -- much -- easier for a promotion to refund an online payment than rushing about with bags of cash 'on the night' at a rained-off meeting.. All online retailers can make refunds at the click of a mouse these days.

Just a small amount of buffering near the end of the match where l was, but missed nothing important. Agree results, or graphics, would be appreciated by folk not so familiar with the riders. George Rothery and Kieran Douglas the two who exceeded expectation and impressed most, l thought. Useful league point for Berwick.

Working fine now! Roll up, roll up........

£6.99 is a good "early bird" deal for the first official speedway match in the UK for 18 months. Weather forecast for Saturday looks good, the teams are competitive and l would suspect there will be a healthy crop of interested neutrals logging on in addition to fans of both clubs.

With regard to the last remark above, I should clarify that I have no specific knowledge on live streaming of either match. I have been presuming there would be streams, but...................

At last! An official speedway match to preview: Bullets: 1. Leon Flint (captain), 2. Ryan Macdonald, 3. Greg Blair, 4. Ben Rathbone, 5. Kyle Bickley, 6. Kieran Douglas, 7. Mason Watson. Stellar Devils: 1. Nathan Greaves (captain, 2. Sheldon Davies, 3. Tom Woolley, 4. Lewis Millar, 5. Danny Phillips, 6. George Rothery, 7. Gregor Millar. There will be a great many 'maybes' about this, and other early-season NDL matches, but we have to be happy that the season is actually going to be up and running. The teams will clash again in West Lothian on Friday 7th. Both meetings are behind closed doors because of soon-to-be-eased Covid restrictions, but will be live-streamed by the respective clubs.

It is most certainly being streamed, right around the planet. As to a programme, l don't know about that, l'm afraid. Fuller details to follow, you can be sure...

Seven days to go!

Does it matter? The Bullets' 1-7 has been approved, so his (and the other six riders') averages will accumulate to less than the infamous 35 points.