The Dog

The reason will be for one of 2 things. 1. They don't want people to realise how poorly speedway is supported nowadays. 2. They don't want people to work out the real income and outgoings of running a speedway club. Hence the reason nobody ever knows what riders earn etc. If everything was more transparent then you could pinpoint how to make speedway viable instead of mullering through year after year. That way we might be able to go forward...

The Brummies could sign the top 3 in the world but it's not going to make any difference to the average Joe in the street. There needs to be a monstrous change in how speedway is put out into the public eye to make it sustainable otherwise deep pockets and passion just aren't going to be enough. And this goes to every club, not just Birmingham.

Don’t give them ideas....

Cheers Rob

I've heard that Kings Lynn is being looked at for hosting the restaging of the British Final. Anybody else heard the same or know why it would be moved from BV?

This sounds like their admitting that theirs an issue with the Peterborough track without actually saying it... Or saying that there's a problem with the tyres without actually saying it...

Probably tapped into the local terraced houses knowing the Scousers...

Of all the tyre manufacturers in the world, only speedway could find one that doesn't last the 60 seconds needed....

2 minutes from the track and we had reasonably heavy rain around 7ish til11am and then steady light rain since

If I took drugs I'd have a job even finding my bike let alone riding it.... !

Seems odd that they manage to get a real household name and worldwide sporting legend like Ronnie O'Sullivan along but not announce him or use him as a promotional tool until 2 days before the event...

If they wanted to hold it in the Midlands, why not at the Ricoh Arena, more sand than grass so your halfway there with the surface...

Can't help but think that if they told you what was going on months in advance regarding other events, celebraties attending etc, that fans could be attracted long ago rather than 4 days before the event and nobody really knows anything. But then again, it wouldn't be speedway would it...

Lol

I think the bronzed, bikini-clad beauties over sweaty kevlar clad hairy men give you your answer my friend...!!!

I thought they'd already said it would be in the Championship. A lot will have been learnt by the new promotion and I think they will be better prepared next season in regards to riders and sponsorship. Whether that will be enough to keep them alive, who knows, but credit for putting the effort and the cash in to keep them going.

Anybody seen the advert for Cardiff featuring snooker legend Ronnie O'Sullivan? Is he a guest of honour or a massive speedway fan?

Whether it's the correct or logical decision it' was dragged out far to long with people stood in the rain and makes the sport look utterly ridiculous

In all fairness, you can't blame Poole for wanting to cash in on the tourists and who's only concern is to see some entertainment which they have done. The casual visitor/tourist/fan probably doesn't care less if they see guests or not as long as they see 4 riders come to the tapes. For the avid speedway fan, the guest system is a pain and will always be ridiculed but is a necessary evil. Maybe the only way speedway can survive now is to just have a good entertaining meeting and not get to anal about who belongs to who, a bit like what the IOW do

You can't help riders getting injured in a sport like this tho and there's not enough riders sitting on the sidelines waiting for the phone to ring...

Was the crowd encouraging enough for the promotion to return next season do we think?

Why wouldn't it bode well? Seems like a common sense thing to do to me...

Didn't we used to have this idea years ago and it seemed to be working quite well so it got scrapped

Think you'll find nearly all league fixtures finish around the same time (apart from play offs) indeed Leicester last championship meeting is the 24th of July with their last Summer Trophy on the 6th of August. Unless you want to watch the National League which you have absolutely no interest in Mr B.....

It's hard not to agree with a lot of this tbh, but the biggest problem speedway has is that its a very niche and minority sport nowadays. All the PR in the world isn't going to pack stadiums out anymore, everyone knows this and this is why promoters won't throw money at it, it's a pointless exercise. The other sports you mentioned are known by nearly every person alive and that's where you get huge demand and interest. Although streaming is a modern concept for speedway, I can't see how it will attract any new people. All it will do is keep regular fans at home where they haven't got the hassle of traffic, parking, delays, rider absence at the last minute or a rain off at 7.28pm. A Barry Hearn type would fail to find anything to turn the sport around because there are so many pitfalls they wouldn't know where to start. It's probably best being an amateur sport with clubs being able to survive on the few hundred paying customers that are left and the riders doing it as a hobby with enough to cover expenses.