weatherwatcher

The centre green is to small to get a full size football or rugby pitch on there, all you could put there would be a crazy golf course. Why oh why did they make it so small if it had been that little bit say 16 feet or just above wider, then you would have gotten over the problems with the bends being to tight.

I have been giving a lot of thought to what myself and my grandson are going to be doing next season, we have gone to support the Lions from the days when they where in the PL. The last 2 season whist in the EL have been quite terrible to say the least, ok we got to see some of the worlds top riders, but it never quite came up to be worth the extra few pounds to get in, next year it goes up another couple of quid, ansd so far they have only named 4 riders and 2 of those at reserve, the management are again failing to let the Lions fans know if or when or who they are planning on bringing in to make up the rest of the team, I doubt that they will have a team any better than a top PL side. Then you get the PR manager of the BPSA letting the fans know about thier botched up average list, that leave an awful ot to be desired, that if the fans can't work out how they xcame about getting this list together, then they must be total idiots. Not the sort of thing that the BPSA need to have put into print, to help keep the few supporters that are left in this country to bother turning up to pay to watch, what the very least you can call second rate meetings as far as the worlds riders are concerned, compared to the Polish or Swedish clubs. They don't want to pay for them to come over here, because in the long run they are losing money by paying out thier wages. It is the BPSA's fault for that, with a total lack of any adververtizing for a sport that has been slowly dying over here since the 1980's. Next year we have both decided that we are going to give speedway a kick up the bum, we have just had enough, don't like doing it as I go back to the days when Long Eaton where racing and folled them. It was great to see speedway back in Leicester, but as things have developed, it has not even come close to being a good place to watch half decent racing, We are packing our bags and going to Darley Moor to see the Motorbike racing there. You can get in for £10, children under 16 are free and you get over 5 hours racing for that. Same distance from our house around 25 miles, so no loss there, the only loss being that it is 2 more fans that will be lost from off the terraces. The whole sport needs a massive kick up the backside, before, the BPSA manage to close down every club in the country, because they have failed to listen to what the fans have to say, then it will be to late, when they open the gates for a meeting, only to find a stray dog sitting there, because the fans have fanally used thier legs and walked away, from a sport that could again be great again, if only they would listen

Time is fast ticking away and any riders who people have named have now been signed up by other clubs, not really sure what the answer is or who they expect to bring in that will keep the fans happy and make sure that it is not a case when even less and less are coming through the gates. The problem will lie in the hands of DH and other, he will then be moaning about even fewer fans turning up, but who wants to turn out for an EL meeting when the home side is running with a bunch of no hope PL riders. It has been poor to watch at times over the past 2 years, I think the way things are shaping up that next seson seems to be looking far bleaker. If DH wants to run in the EL then he has to dig deep into his pockets and pay to get the riders that the Lions deserves. No use moaning when there are only a hand full of fans on the terraces.

Scraping the barrel is a South Derbyshire term, to say you are doing something as a last resort when there are very few other opions open for you. It was not just at home that Mads failed to bring in the points he was bad away too, If you are happy with him scoring 4 or less a meeting thats OK. He was so bad this year in Sweden that most matches he only came out once or twice that is if he was in the team at all mjost races he came in at the back

Both the Hammers and KL are more than welcome to the 2 riders they have signed, best of luck to them both, I don't see them pulling up any stumps between them.

Oh dear what have you done to deserve Mads. The management must really be scrapping the barrel. He started of really well for the Lions last year, then he just went into his shell, at times he would have been better not riding at all, it was pitiful to watch him race. Good luck I hope he does better than he did for the Lions and what I saw of him in the Swedish league. He was bad. Could not even manage to keep a reserve betrh there.

You are more than welcome to him, he was terrible at the Lions this year.

It would be great to see Simon back at BP again, he rode well for the team that first year in the EL, just hope that the injuries he sustained last year don't hpld him back any, I wonder if we have left any other possible riders out of the teams make up, it may be that DH has been in talks with one of the Russians, not sure if they would come over here, but they would be good for the team, one of them at least is riding well maybe 2. Who knows, it could happen.

The track was origanally laid out by Sam Emerlenko, he went away on holiday only to find out when he got back that DH had pulled up the pegs and laid them out as he wanted the track, more like a cycle speedway than a true speedway track. The straights are to long and the centre green is so narrow that it makes the bends far to tight when the riders enter them, we see far to many accidents on both bends every meeting, could never understand why when it was a blank canvas that the centre green was made so narrow, if it was at a minimun the track with wider, I would want it at least half that much again and the whole track was at least another lane wider, you would probably see the best track in the country, even if the straights are made shorter, you will still have the same problem with the tight bends, that said though if both bends where made wider then it could help to solve a few of the problems. I would say on any given race night there are at least 5 or 6 first/second or 3/4 bend accidents, some of then have been very lucky that they walked away from it un injered. Other than that the stadium is good, would have been better with more space on the start and back straight to give more spectator room, as it is every thing just seems to have been pushed into an area the size of a postage stamp, don't know if this was all the land the council would allow them to use, but there is so much land going to waste that resembles a bomb site and it is far from pleasing the any visitors eye, it could be used for parking to tidy the outside space up, but I think that that is council land and they are a funny bunch to say the least. Such a shame to spoil the chance of BP being one of the best clubs in the country because you have a dream that no one will make you change no matter how many people complain, home and away fans it is always the same. They have added a bit extra banking on the bends that has helped a little bit last year, with the racing improving slightly, but it still has a long way to go, it is a gate and go track with very few passes and nothing to do with team riding, it is just how the track is laid out. Hope that answers your question.

He has to do something and do it very fast, he has only a token hand full or should I say not even a half hanful of riders named for next seasons team, it is quite scary to even say who the other riders will be and will they be up to EL standard, because he they are not, then I am afraid the number of supporters will get less and less, if the team can't compete in the EL With what is now on offer and the money he seems to want to pay them he will be getting a team made up of NL riders because that is all he is willing to pay them. Sorry but it is now time for some very big changes at BP before the sport again dies from Leicester. No if's no buts and it is not a dig at the management, but if it is to much to be aqble to run a teal, in any league and listen to what lots of people have said and are still saying, then it is time to go and let someone else take on that role and get the Lions to be a team that can get to the play off and even maybe win it, but again I think if they do come to be in the EL they will stuck at the bottom of the pile, maybe without even scoring a point next year, it is so sad after all that has been done just to let it slip away into oblivion.

Funny how Rosco couldn't wait to see the back of Jason Doyle, thta is until he rode 2 brilliant seasons for the Lions and an even better performance for his first year in the GP's and now all of a sudden he is back in his team again. Funny old world is speedway.

I said the other week that the way things are going in the EL, I have my doubts to whether or not I turn out to drive the 25 miles to come and see the Lions, from what I can see of things, if they do manage to get a team together to stay in the EL next year, then at the moment it would make the Lions look a laughing stock of the league, having to bring in a glut of PL riders to make up the team, and end up at the bottom of the league without scoring a point. I am already looking at opions to take my grandson to Darley Moor to watch the road racing there same distance away from our house and have the price for twice as many hours racing and at a more sensible start time so we get home well before we do when we come to see the Lions. It will all depend on who they get in the team, that is even if they manage to run in any league this year. DH should hang his head in shame, and give the club away for free to someone who cares about the sport.

The way the promoters who all all on the BPSA just dither about year after year, changing one rule after another only to find they have made a bigger mess of things then when they started. If for once they sat and thought about the sport its self and tried to bring it into the 21st centuary, instead of being left in some long lost time warp and strted to consider the fans. Then I am afraid to say. That they will be seeing fewr and fewer people turn out to see the sport. I for one am having second thoughts about next season.

There is only one way forward for the Lions and them having any chance of speedway continuing at BP and that is for DH to relinquish his hold on the club. Let someone come in who knows the game change the track and the race night, because if he carries on running the show for much longer, speedway in Leicester will have been a very short lived return.

I am sure that what Chris is doing can make these youngsters come on in leaps and bounds. I have watched the Tompson twins over the last 4 years and the way these 2 young lads have come is tremendous. They are always up there in the siverware with healthy competition between the 2 of them. I am sure, with the knownolage that they will get from Chris will be far better that what they get from the trainging they have been getting. Well done Chris, can't wait to see how well the 3 younsters come along when he takes them under his wing.

I am sure that David has already been working hard to find a replacement for Doyle. I think he already realised before he went to Swindon that this year was the last, that he would ride in the Lions coulours. The speach he gave on the night of the last meeting, he in a round about way said that he wouldn't be racing for the Lions next year. I am sure that there are still some big names out there. The only problem that arises is the fact being, can he get anyone who us willing to ride on a Saturday night. It seems that over the years that the local scum, have been targeting the stadium. Can't see why there is not that much that they can get away with is there. It is well time they installed some CTTV cams around the stadium. It is cetain that those that are doing the break ins come from close to the stadium, plus it is so tucked away fom view that it is an easy job for them to get in and try thier best to trash the place. Can't see the local constablary bothering to take a walk around BP evn if they are only a stones throw awy from the place. Just hope that 2016 bring along better things for the Lions.

Big loss to the Lions losing Jason, but it may not be the end of the world. He was never in his 2 years at BP backed up with the rest of the team he was just a lone rider, don't get me wrong I hate to see him go, we all saw a great talent only get better in those 2 seasons. In one way it may be what the management needed to get a half decent team together, instead of just one rider. Lets face it I think they have had enough time and know all along that he would not be coming back next season. So they should have had the irons already in the fire looking for someone to replace him with. If not then it just shows how sloppy the management are.

I like Gav have to pick and chose which meeting I go to, now my Grandson has reached the age og 11 we now have to start to pay for him as well the last meeting we went to at Leicester was the final meeting against Poole. With the cost of addmision a programme a couple of raffle tickets a couple of coffee's each, plus my fuel cost for the 25 miles each way, I have no change out of £60, and to be fair I don't think that this was good value for money. We both love our speedway and have been going to BP since they where in the PL. Next year I am having second thoughts, about how many times we actually go, I have been looking at the cost of going to watch the road racing at Darley Moor, we can get in there for £ 10 the Grandson is free until he is 16, it is only 2 miles further than going to BP plus you get to watch over 5 hours of racing. So we will give it a try and see if he likes it as much as his speedway. May just go to a couple of meeting after following the sport for over 50 years from going to Long Eaton as a young teenager on my pushbike, I am just starting to get a little bit disillusined, with speedway, it has now started to lose some of it glory, the way that the FTr riders have been the ones that have been winning the meetings with double figures in most meetings and some of the riders who may have just as well not bothered turning up, plus all the guest and missing riders, where you had not got a clue who was riding for the team until they named all the changes before the meetings started. Times when there was only a couple of riders who actually rode for the taem the rest either guest or R/R. So we will see how things go, but I don't think that speedway will be seeing very much of my money during the coming season. Shame really, because the way things are going they are managing to ruin on of of our countries great sports. Just hope they manage to keep it going for the next 10 years that is the EL because there will always be speedway at the lower levels.

It is really a sad state of affairs in British speedway when we have to panda to riders because of the GP's Poland and Sweden, I can't ever see the day that British speedway returns as a top flight nation where the riders where worried about having problems riding over here, instead of the other way round, the days that British speedway was the one place that all the top riders headed for is a long lost memory. With the riders now making the European clubs thier priority, because they clubs over there pay them far more than they get over here, I think we would be far better off without them. Let them go and race there, and let British speedway concentrate on getting the British riders to a stage they where at over 10 years or more ago when the Brits could hold thier own against the rest of the world, we are now nothing more than a second rate nation in the speedway world. So let them go and race over there, before long they will all want to come back when as with over here the clubs start to go bust because of all the stupid money they are offering to get the big names over there. We have already seen it happening over there with clubs folding and some of the Polish clubs not paying riders.

The sport in this country does not need the top riders to make things work, they think they are gods and ask for payments above what the clubs can cover from the paying public. There is not enough interest in the country now for people to come and watch the sport. There must be a lot of people that haven't got a clue what the sport is or that they have a club near them, gone are the glory days. What is needed and has been needed for many years now is to advertise the sport and let Joe public know about it. Get the people in then think about what sort of riders you need, I for one would rather see more British lads in the top flight. What they have done again this year by keep them in the reserve berth is a total disgrace. They have now been held back for far to long, it is as if the promoters are saying that they are not good enough to get a full team place, but we will gladly keep you at reserve, because a few of you are the ones that win all the meetings for us, but we won't give you a shot at riding at second string. They have proved thier worth, so now they should be given a better chance.

No it was not a dumb arse comment by me, the time that it takes to find the land and getting the planning permission is probabbly the hardest part. Being that the Bees have been racing speedway in this region for so many years you would think the local council would bend over backwards to help them, but it looks like they are doing thier best to spoil things for them. The management have know for 2 years now that time was running out for them and still they are like a greyhound that the gate won't come open on the trap and are just yapping and stuck at the start. What beats me though is when all the land and planning is sorted why does it take so long to get the places built. Have people not heard of telling the contractors thyat we expect the place to be finished by a certain time or you will lose some of the money we agreed to. But no they let them amble along like a set of children playing about in a sand pir, I for one would make sure that my demands where heard, from the start. Not pussy foot around and let them take what ever time they want to get the place built. But this is the world of speedway we are talking about. If when I put out contracts when in engineering and gave them dates like the ones they seem to give for building a speedway stadium I would have been laughed at and never got some much as one job out of it.

It amazes me that it takes them so long to build a stadium. When you look at any large factory or supermarket, they move in and with 6 to 8 months, they are up and ready for business. It is not that they have an awful lot to do, I would have though the track laying was the biggest part of the opperation, the building and fences etc should be able to be up and ready in 6 to 7 months at the outside. That is unless they are building something along the lines of a Polish stadium, but no doubt this being the UK, we will just have a more modern dog track type stadium. Only a bit newer and cleaner.

Shirl, that is the best idea put forward yet to both race on a Friday. So how many petty small minded people have we actually got at BP I am pretty sure that there where not that many fans who stayed away on the nights the Lions face the Bees at home, same difference.

It is ridiculace that any Lions fans would want to stay away from BP if the Bees came there, what happened over all those long years ago is water under the bridge, it is with great resolve on the part of DH to offer the Bees a life line to keep the club running. It was just the same when they gave Long Eaton the chance to race again, they may never be able to find anywhere in Long Eaton to build a new track but at least they have a place to call home of sorts. I just hope that the same never happens to the Bees that they can soon find the land they need and if the offer of racing at BP is the route they have to take for the time needed to get a new stadium up and running, then it is far better to have them ride at BP than lose the name of the Bees from our sport. So let bygones be bygones, we have lost enough fan base as it is without losing some to old and long past incidents,

It may be a Lions fans dream come true if the Bees did come to track share. I could not see the Bees management wanting to keep the track shape as it is, if they are putting money into using the track, then they will have to twist DH's arms, put him in a straight jacket for a few weeks let him go off on holiday as Sam Emelenko did when the stadium was being built and bring in the JCB'S and change his beloved track once and for all. It is such a shame that the stadium is well attended that we have to moan and groan about the track shape, not just Lions fans but fans from visiting clubs, that it gives no racing, only to be told by DH that it is the best track in the country. Not sure where he stands and looks on a race night, but it is a different place to where I sit.