crescent girl

Prices are regular Berwick costs: £15, £11 & all kids free.

Valid points. Contact addresses are in programme - tell the promotion!

Well, the semi-final is at Perry Barr and the Final is at Berwick. Get over it. If these venues and dates don't suit everyone, then that's unfortunate but hardly unexpected. Last year, the Final was at Poole, which was hardly an easy trip for speedway supporters in Glasgow or Edinburgh. Fair enough to move meetings around, surely?

U-21 Final last year (at Poole) was £15 for adults, and kids up to sixteen were variously charged £4 or £7. Semi-finals last year were £10 across the board. Berwick are maintaining their "Kids Go Free" policy, which is a fair gesture.

I was shown the Facebook banner this morning, advertising next four matches -- which include U-21 Final -- as £15, £11 and "Kids Go Free".

Bandits' website informs us the snowed-off TTT match against Newcastle will now be raced on Saturday, April 21st.

Full credit to the club's reputation as 'safe hands' for a big event.

That's confirmed, Stewart in for Middlo on Monday night. Do we sniff a Gordon Pairman influence?

Glasgow have listed Bomber at No 5 and captain on Saturday.

That's correct. First meeting of 2017 under the new promotion, but celebrating the previous fifty seasons. On March 18th, won by Claus Vissing. The Newcastle match was the following week, March 25th.

It was the opening meeting of 2016 (against Redcar) that was saved -- absolutely -- by covers, but left vehicles stranded in car-park. The same match had been rained off the week before about 6.15 without turnstiles being opened, and people might have been stranded that night as well. The really big operation was after the first FIM meeting in 2012, when at least twenty vehicles were bogged down, perhaps because it was a huge crowd and people unfamiliar with the car-park had ventured into parts they shouldn't oughter have!

An uncharacteristically uncharitable post, Steve. In all probability the covers WOULD have worked tonight, if there is no more precipitation. But car-park is sodden and the tractors would still have been pulling cars out the mud at midnight. The temperature this evening won't get above 2C and there can be no pleasure in standing or sitting in that, with every possibility of snow or sleet coming in, and a bitter nor'easterly wind whipping around. We all want to have speedway on, but the actual track isn't the only concern for a promotion to bear in mind. And as has been said, if you put covers down nine times and save eight of the meetings at around £2K a time - you're doing it right!

Lawson as rode (sic) for Glasgow as well....................? How did he get on?

Absolutely spot on! We have a bright new promotion with bright new ideas. It would be great if everyone could get behind them as they take the Bandits forward into a 51st season......

Yes, but don't the leagues try to balance the MC? Neil's the big-league reserve, George for the good guys.

He was, but if no longer a promoter will automatically stand down. George English of Newcastle is the reserve who will presumably be called up.

Leave me out of it!

Obviously. It is a new inside line, so a new record.

This rule does actually disadvantage very short riders. Lasse Bjerre is one, plus MPT, Rohan Tungate. These guys simply don't have long enough legs to dig up, or pack down dirt without dismounting!

Paulco is correct in saying novelty value helped, but Berwick had Sky there four times in the last four years of their contract (before BT came in) and there was a bumper attendance every time. It didn't drop off. But the Bandits promotion did issue special posters (in addition to their regular poster campaigns) and laid on face-painting, etc. When did one of the Elite League clubs make any kind of effort for a televised meeting? And they were the ones, not the PL clubs, getting their pockets lined with Sky money!

But don't farmers specialise in ploughed fields?

Other than Berwick, I presume you mean?

Website or Facebook?

Not a chance of qualifiers ever coming back, the cost factor kills the concept stone dead.

Absolutely correct. Media coverage is impossible for a Saturday night practice. Back in the day when Bandits were at Berrington (and could run bikes any day, any time) the P&P sessions were on a weekday morning preceding the opening night, with two TV channels and a dozen journalists in attendance. The coverage from the joint (weekday morning) P&P sessions at Brough Park in recent seasons bears this out. They even had Per Jonsson up for local TV on a Tuesday morning as the newly-crowned world champion to advertise an end-of-season individual meeting.