DJWolves

I would love to see Pawlicki back if he was committed to riding in the UK. Don't know what came first, Adams interview in today's Speedway Star, or the talk in on Monday. But in the Star he says they have made efforts to contact Pawlicki and he hasn't bothered to reply. So their presumption is he doesn't want to ride here

One of the decisions taken at the AGM was to make Mondays and Thursdays the race nights for the top division, much to the disappointment of Wednesday night tracks Poole and Kings Lynn. Reading in the Speedway Star today that the top flight in Sweden now has 9 tracks not 8 and there will therefore result in there being 18 rounds of league meetings, up from 14. As a consequence there are not enough Tuesdays in the Swedish season to hold all those meetings so 4 or 5 rounds will be held on Thursdays. The second tier in Sweden already ride Thursdays as well. So any uk team riding on a Thursday, and there could be 4 tracks holding their meetings that night, are going to be missing riders engaged in the Swedish League for a few meetings.

Maybe Rory will double up with Somerset and Ipswich, but lets see

Comments from Peter Adams in this week's Speedway Star seems to confirm that neither Freddie, Tai or Pawlicki will be in the Wolves team next year. So I think my prediction of Masters, Thorsell, Nick Morris, Howarth, Wells, Morris and maybe Kling wont be far off the mark.

If there were plenty of meetings available for riders at one track then doubling up would not be an issue. And in the 60s and 70s when my track at Wolverhampton used to regularly have over 30 home meetings a season then that might have applied. But now I see that CVS is guaranteeing only 15 meetings there next season (if Wolves fail to make the play offs), and that was how many meetings they had last season. The top riders ride for 2, 3 or 4 clubs as season, albeit in different countries. I don't see why we should deprive other riders of the opportunity to increase their income by riding in more than one league in the UK. It needs to be clear what happens when fixtures clash, and it isn't ideal that this leads to more guest riders, but it is necessary economically. In an ideal world we would have one rider one club. But how many riders would be able to make the sport pay with those restrictions, particularly with a 7 team top flight.

It all looks a bit of a non event AGM with the main discussions probably focusing on the composition of the Ltd company being formed to run the sport in the UK. A 42.5 average for the top flight gives a bit of breathing space to develop a team, but if the lower end riders are assessed at at least 3 then that will eat into that flexibility. My main concern is a 7 club top flight which to me just isn't enough. Last season at Monmore Green, as Wolves didn't qualify for the play offs, there were only 15 meetings. When I started attending speedway there were regularly over 30 meetings a season. It could be argued that affordability for supporters is helped by having less meetings, but I always thought that the healthy crowds of the good old days was partly because people knew there would be a meeting on every Monday night and planned their time accordingly. Now there can be meetings three weeks running then nothing for the next three weeks. And people get out of the habit of going. I don't personally have too many concerns about doubling up as long as its clear which club has priority when fixtures clash. The top riders will ride for two or three clubs a season in different countries, why shouldn't lesser riders have the opportunity to increase their income by having more than one track in this country in different leagues. And I don't think promotion and relegation is something that will ever work in speedway. Teams that get relegated would probably go out of business as attendances would suffer from the lower standard. And promoted teams would probably not have the financial clout to develop a competitive team. So in principle although it would be nice to see, I think its an idea that needs to be put to one side.

The figures in speedway are much smaller, but the principles are the same. The downward spiral in quality, and in attendances, is not going to change by further reducing the quality. That just makes things worse. In football, speedway and just about every sport and industry on the planet, you have to invest to progress. Wolves were smashed to pieces and came within minutes of closing completely. They didn't then become a Premier League team overnight by spending millions they didn't have, its been a long, steady and painful ride. But the alternative was to just pack up and go home, which some on here seem to think speedway should do

I also support Wolverhampton Wanderers football club. They were taken over by new owners in the early 80s who saw the club were losing money so reduced costs and bought in lower cost players. Then attendances fell further so they reduced costs further. And they carried on doing the same for the next three years by which time Wolves were in Division 4. Since then the club have had more forward thinking owners who have invested and taken the club forward. Its taken time but the benefits are there for all to see. And the new owners are making far more money than the owners that thought cutting costs was the answer

No question money is a factor as it has been for at least 50 years. And although an independent chair to take the sport forward in the way others have done with darts and snooker would be ideal, the promoters are just not going to give up the control. Just sad that so many short sighted decisions have been taken to look at the sport on a year by year basis, rather than having a serious focus on increasing the income into the sport rather than the continual cutting of costs. The sport has been on a long downward spiral because of that approach and is crying out for a root and branch review and the introduction of a figurehead with some cash to promote the sport and bring in more fans and TV money. The only saving grace is that the sport itself remains a great spectacle.

My understanding is that only 12 promoters turned up so guests were brought in from the Polish League. But most of them were late getting up so were excluded under the 2 minute rule. Rider Replacement was then applied which resulted in Matt Ford getting additional votes A number of promoters were excluded for having a different opinion to Matt Ford

I don't think this Wolves team is bad compared to how the other teams will likely finalise. What is disappointing is that in terms of quality the British top flight just keeps getting weaker every year. Always reminds me of when the Bhatti Brothers were running Wolverhampton Wanderers. The crowds are down so sell some players. So the crowds go down more so sell more players and so the story went on until the club were in Division 4. Since then there has been investment and now Molineux isn't big enough to hold the numbers that will want to watch them in the Premier League. But Speedway is on that downward spiral and the number of GP riders that ride in the UK gets less every year as we have a second rate product compared to Poland and Sweden. I know Wolves and Swindon will say that the rules forced them to release Lindgren and Doyle but given the lack of TV money did those rules just make it easier for them to break the news to fans that they were going to go for a cheaper option. Will we ever reach the point where the sport invests to get back the lost supporters? And instead of bemoaning the loss of TV money shouldn't they instead be asking why no tv company particularly wants to cover this league.

Not the first time I have looked at a Wolves team and thought it doesn't look strong enough. And then looked at how the other teams are coming together and realising that actually we will probably be better than most. Will be pressure on Jacob now to come of age, particularly on away tracks, but also at home where finishing behind the opponents top men is more of a problem when you are number one. But the rest of the top 5 looks pretty solid to me. I was impressed with Heeps last season and was hoping he would be the number 5 based on the options within the available averages. And Nathan was improving well towards the end of last season and him and Morris can be as good as most reserve pairings

No dates yet, draw only made today

Somerset next in the KO Cup, first leg away

All is clearly not well with Freddie who is struggling to win races with all his clubs and it's disappointing when he was in the form of his life just a few weeks ago. Looks like he could do with another break from riding but he won't want to waste the good position he has got into in the GP. Hope the physio work he is doing solves the problem before his personal season and Wolves season is spoiled

This was posted after he beat the Kings Lynn number 1 from the back in heat one yes? Anyone know when is the draw for the semis of the KO Cup?

I have a feeling Wolves will qualify for the semis Good to see Max Clegg get another chance

We do have the highest total, more than 5 points more than the second highest, Poole. No wonder we are top of the league. However Riss will be missed and if he is out until August then he would miss 3 home league matches and 5 away. Potential replacements I guess include Ellis, Clegg, Perks, Starke

Mark Riss has two dislocated fingers and torn ligaments in his hand. Needs a second op on Monday. Will be out for 6 weeks

I was going to post that its been a very grey day but not much rain. But the promised rain has now arrived in buckets

Kings Lynn due at Monmore for a league match on June 26th. Expect that may become the 2nd leg of the KO Cup tie

If the forecast is anywhere near accurate there is no chance of this meeting going ahead. Rain forecast to start at 4am on Monday and continue until midday on Tuesday Having said that I am sure the only reason it will be called off is because Freddie isn't fit

Nothing dodgy about this postponement. Been raining quite heavily since 2 and not forecast to stop until about 11

Rain settled in now and not forecast to stop until late evening Not much chance of this going ahead