OveFundinFan

I understand Crucible has a contract for 3 more years…..to mark 50 years at the Crucible….thats amazing. I like watching snooker, but it can’t match the excitement of a speedway meeting, actually ……nothing can.

For those that don’t like the “high prices”. Highest price seat at the Crucible for Snooker World Championship final is £450. How do you like that?

It’s hard at times to get one’s head around the fact prices for almost everything and anything have shot up in the last few years. Last year, on holiday south Shropshire we paid £13 for fish, chips and peas each, and that was takeaway price…..no cafe seats, we found a bench in a park. If “we” want live world class speedway on a British track, and Belle Vue is one of the best race tracks in the world, that most of the riders/mechanics, plus officials etc, are travelling many miles mostly from abroad, then it has to be paid for. The erection of the temporary stand on turn 3-4 will cost more than a few quid as well. You can’t compare prices with a uk premiere championship meeting, it’s in a different class. It is clearly a case of if you don’t want to pay the price then you don’t attend. I was at BV for the 2016 world team meeting at the atmosphere was pretty amazing. This year I am very happy staying at home watching everything that will be televised for the £6.99 Discovery+ are charging per month.

I reckon Saturday night will be FULL. Maybe not the 2 semi finals, but not far off full. Hotel prices are what they are. Any UK city hotel is high and more so when a big event is on, they would be if it was a national dog show. You can't run a big hotel charging £40 per night. Even Travelodge prices go up. Few nights ago I was comparing prices of an hotel. 2021 we stayed 7 nights in Thetford, Norfolk at Premier Inn. Average price for 7 nights was £46 per night, room only. That was mid June, not in school holiday. This year same week asking just over £90 per night. This year we doing 3 nights in a b&b Llandudno at £97 per night. We simply had to cut back. Now we doing 2 half weeks per year instead of 2 full weeks. We got the whole of Cheshire to explore on our doorstep and the Welsh border is just 8 miles away. Lots of beautiful countryside.

Seems they erecting the temporary stands on turns 3 and 4. Like they did in 2016 Doing that must cost more than a few bob. Plus 23 teams of riders, mechanics, all of the officials, heck of a lot of important background staff. Must cost a fortune and a nightmare to sort the logistics. On that basis £191 for a 4 night tournament ticket on the start line seems reasonable, and concessions available.

Nine for me. Not seen Arthur Payne, Dan Forsberg, and though Ian Williams rode for Swindon up to 1963 and I was a regular at BVue with mum and dad for at least 5 years prior to that I just can’t remember seeing him…so not included. I can remember seeing Eric Williams though, who was a few years older than Ian. Strange.

I’m about 6 weeks behind Ray Wilson (33). Yikes! It gets you thinking.

Sorry to hear this news. Not just a very good rider but a brilliant racer.

No, last year was a disaster with the track breaking up. So only main SGP this year.

How big was the crowd? Did it get into the hundreds?

Same story every beginning to a season....arrange to hold speedway in March and be prepared for cancellations galore.....it's inevitable......until global warming alters things for better weather. And many times April is not much better.

Is Sam Hagon any relation to Alf Hagon or his descendants.?? Good to see the young ones shaping so well. Impressed With Cook and the two Connors. Initially looked like Blodorn had took a leap forward. Re Celina, she is having a go at a sport she loves, just like many other youngsters. Nothing wrong with that. How far will she develop……who knows. What I havnt seen in any video clip etc is she mixing it on the first corner (in a tough way). She has got speed and very steady. I give her 10/10 for the courage to have a go.

That obviously implies people living and working in Poland don’t earn a good income yet the commentator said at the beginning of the meeting, as the camera was scanning the back straight stands, some fans had travelled from Poland. So some Polish residents can afford to come to UK for a meeting so a £15 stream must be well affordable.

There was comments on here 4-5 years ago that £10 to watch a speedway stream was too much….. time has moved on and, unfortunately, prices of EVERYTHING have gone up.

Well I paid the £15 to watch it from comfort of my own home and I am happy I did. The meeting was presented well by BV and as expected and the riders rose to the challenge and provided top notch racing. Quality of the stream was very good, the camera angles very adequate, the commentary was ok. Negatives of the meeting in relationship to the streaming was the seemingly lack of knowledge of how great Ove Fundin was and the battles he and Peter Craven had…..but then I am an Ove Fundin fan. My other moan, not the fault of the stream company, BSN, was the length of time grading the track after every four races. Thankfully BSN covered the time with an interview, but there again, if I had been at BV and not streaming then that excessive tractor grading would certainly have been very boring. I wasn’t there….maybe the time spent was necessary. So, I spent £15, I sat in the comfort of my own home, no petrol money spent, no hassle travelling 30 mile each way in rush hour traffic (it was 7 o’clock start), I could easily have spent £8-£10 on a fish and chip supper on the way home, and risked a call off meeting due to weather (but it was BV and the track is more weather friendly because it was built right). £15 well spent in my opinion.

Its been a dry day and sunny, washing out on the line. Sunday was not too bad either, not as good as Monday but not too bad. Personally, knowing its BV track, I think the track will be fine. I wouldnt have the same confidence about other tracks.

So he did, apologies……I just don’t rate him yet…….but he got the points needed - others didn’t.

You could well be right, though I think Fricke was better then some others who are in.

2024 GP line up includes riders included not because they qualified on the track, but chosen for “political” reasons. It’s obvious the powers that be have tried to expand the number of different nationalities, so Kvech is included. Milik is no longer a GP contender but a GP is held in Prague, so stick a Czech in for the whole season. Personally I don’t think he ready yet. Lebedevs is the first rider to represent Latvia for a whole GP season. On “his day” he probably capable of winning a GP, but he has to prove he can cope with 10GPs, it’s a tough ask. It’s difficult job the selectors have, it’s probably true you could take 10 riders out, put a different 10 in and the racing will be just as good. Missing from last year of notable worth is Fricke ( and that was a surprise to me”, Anders Thomson, Janowski (yes he had a bad year but…). Let’s not forget riders have 2 different events that they are able to qualify from….. 4 GP places for the following year, that’s over 25% of the field. Add in the fact BSF members have been shouting for new faces in the GPs for a few seasons now, well this year the selectors have put in new faces…..and immediately BSF member were complaining they were the “wrong” new faces. Who would be a selector if they were not thick skinned to take all the flack.

No reason why pit crew attire should cost a lot. Traditional mechanic attire has always been one piece overalls. It’s not a fashion show. Relatively cheap and practical. Doesn’t matter what colour so long as each pit crew is the same. In hot weather standard men’s under garments would be ok. Sorted.

No, not seen it. Any good? Where is it available?

The most sensible part of this new idea is that it is only for two meetings, then hopefully it will be dropped.

Zmarzlik is a throttle jammer, tends to go where he shouldn’t but gets away with it. But has finesse as well. One day it may all go wrong. I hope I am wrong n that.

That’s good to know. rev your last comment……they all do it, so if you move from Virgin it’s highly likely the “new” supplier will be doing the same. It’s crazy and needs sorting but I won’t hold my breath.

If you don’t mind me asking, what do you get in that package and what do you pay? I have a BT broadband pack (have a landline too) and it costs just over £30per month, 74mbs. 12 months ago I was paying £62pm which included tv and sport that gave me MotoGP. TV pack was rubbish and paying for sport when all I watched was MotoGP (BT had lost the speedway GP contract couple year ago) was way too much monthly, so it went. What I find ridiculous is that you have a 2 year contract that if you want to get out of it BT can charge you the remainder of the contract, yet they can put up the monthly fee every 12 months by a large amount…and it’s all approved. We are in “rip off Britain”.