Stoke Potter

So why did Woffinden chase Laguta down for the win when he should've tried to team ride Lambert through from last place? Were they not aware of the rules for the final? Did Rosco not make this abundantly clear to them? I'm sure the Speedway Star will have the answers in the next issue...

Quite obviously, there was one fastest bike and they all had a go on it! Nothing at all to do with the track being THE best in the country!

If modern day bikes truly are faster then why aren't track records broken these days? On average they must be slower over the 4 laps, maybe because they are harder to control??

If more tracks in this country could serve up racing like the Tungate and Musielak heat then the sport would be in a far better state. That was class.

I didn't go to Stoke last year mainly because of the consistently poor track preparation I'd seen from (at least) the previous 2 seasons. I've been to both meetings this season and the track does actually seem better! They've obviously made an effort to improve the watering as the massive clouds of dust are not present and as far as I can tell it doesn't seem as rough. That said, you still get way too many riders falling. I think this must be something to do with the shape or comparative narrowness of the bends. In that sense it is not a 3rd division track as young riders learning their trade do seem to struggle to get around it, if they go wide they tend to slide off straight away. Problems with the electrics yet again are inexcusable. Fix it once and for all.

But massively more embarrassing for yourself, questioning the financial judgement of THE best British promoter of the modern era! You couldn't make it up. Again. Hilarious. Again!

Like most of the rest of your post, this is completely untrue - I have never said, or even implied, this. This is a multi-faceted argument, which is, I suspect, one of the reasons while you seem unable to "get it". For the purposes of the discussion let's just accept for the moment your point that the racing, or lack of, is not the reason for the decline in crowds to it's present (all-time?) low. Please tell us what the reason(s) for the persistent decline in crowds is, and secondly how you would correct that decline and get crowds back up to a sustainable level.

As usual you draw the completely wrong conclusion! Actually I can see how bad it is and want it to be much better. Why would I want it to be crap? If it's so good why are crowds so low? The first step to solving a problem is recognising you have one in the first place...

Conclusion: It's (almost) always been crap therefore we don't need to improve it at all. You couldn't make it up....................................................................

No, it is not. The Workington promotion have effectively done some market research and proven that point. The answer to the question "What can you do?" is: Improve the racing. They need to draw the correct conclusions from the market research.

I would be particularly interested in reading your ideas on how that it is done? Specifically, how can the racing be improved to the maximum extent?

An honest appraisal. Perhaps you should tell Starman, Orlov and Brum as they don't seem to believe it. ;-)

There is no comparison between Swindon and Belle Vue! Whenever I have seen Swindon, in person or on TV, it has been a 1 line wonder. The size is fine, the shape and likely the banking, material, etc, etc. are where the problems are.

Of course you're all wrong saying BV is pretty much ideal and that those are the sort of tracks that should be aspired to. Tsunami, RMC, et al. will be along shortly to tell you so.

Anybody criticising the new Belle Vue is suffering from one of two things; jealousy or stupidity. It is the best in this country by a mile, and we should create more tracks along similar lines.

Interesting article about the track work here: http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/sport/16053122.Track_expert_Taylor_goes_to_work_on_Pirates_circuit/ If the work carried out is prone to frost damage why has it been carried out at the coldest time of year? Anybody know how wide Poole is on the bends? Anyhow, Matt Ford is to be applauded for investing in the track, his most important "asset", other promotions should take note.

Have a moan at them, they did the same with me, rang them up and had a moan and it's now back down to where it was before. My internet isn't erratic but it's way slower than it should be. My experience is that Virgin are better/cheaper than Sky. I've never had BT as my supplier so can't compare to them.

Yes I agree.

They've kept more meetings alive by doing that but it doesn't improve the racing.

If there is plenty of passing and "proper" racing then it's less likely the home side will win by a cricket score. What too many folk are in denial about is that the core product is, all too often, completely boring. That's the fundamental thing that needs to be fixed.

You do realise you're not allowed to hold opinions such as this; those who must be obeyed are in denial.

I think we're actually agreeing - if the core product is decent then you don't need the sideshows. The problem is the core product - the actual racing - is rarely good enough. The first problem to solve is make the racing more entertaining more of the time.

For the most part it isn't, essentially that's the point. That's why "Marketing" initiatives such as the one carried out by Mr Pairman, and countless other before him, don't work.

I have been to around 15-20 tracks. Up until last year's poor surface for at least 2 meetings, I would have rated Poole as a second favourite. Also Loomer Rd in the 80's, under the late John Dews, was a very good circuit. Sadly it is far from that now. The changes to Leicester last season have improved it considerably and I would now regard it as the best track in the Midlands, although it could still be improved further. I think you'll find it was the nice, polite, Mr Tsunami that brought it back up again rather than me.

Actually it's size, shape, width, banking, material and preparation. No 1000m would not be better, optimum would be 320-360ish in my view. This has been done to death on previous threads and few people can see the bigger (no pun intended) picture.