waytogo28

I wasn't "judging" Chris I was comparing his performances at the moment to those that he built his reputation on. I pay my entrance fee to see a top professional performance ( in line with what his has previously achieved ) and that gives me or any fan the right to an opinion on what I see week by week or read about in terms of away performance. I also avidly watch all televised meetings and have noticed that he has been performing below par - which he admits to himself. I wasn't posting malevolently. It's just a fan's contribution to this forum.

That sounds like a reasonable guesstimate of average attendance across the three leagues of 700 per match. Of course it is a guesstimate because there are no published figures and even the Chairman of the BSPA questions the value of figures being quoted. At his track there has been a slow downward erosion of the crowd - noticeably so over the last three or four years. Yes, It is still a guess but when you can see several areas of the stadium devoid of people, where once fans were present, then something is missing.

Holder? Is he really doing OK? I really don't think that top riders need to settle in much at a new club. their focus is on the 60 secs. from tapes up and within reason it hardly matters where they do that 60 secs. unless it's at a track they have always failed to master. I think Chris Holder is performing far below what his past performances have contributed to his reputation and racing records. Something is not "right" in his life for him to be so inconsistent and below par almost everywhere he rides in the world. It may be that no-one except him can turn that around, however supportive a team manager. promoter or team mates may be. A sports psychologist may help IF Chris believes in such things. Fingers crossed that he can turn it around and get back to his best.

How many fans are there regularly attending speedway matches ( who pay to get in ) in the UK? Is it more than or less that 50,000 do you think? I don't think it can be over 50,000 across the whole UK.

" 81% attend 10 or more meetings per season confirming that the sport is down to its hard core fans." ​And that was ten years ago! The sport is now skating on the thinnest of thin ice in terms of support and numbers attending matches. All the 'spin' in the world will not change this. "What is also interesting is that the die-hards have a strong support for the sport as such and not necessarily for a particular club." And as the die hards - die off - as they do? With the Sky money dribbled away on star names over 15 years there is nothing left with to rebuild with however eager the current BSPA members may be. There was NO "Big Push" marketing strategy as proposed by the BSPA during the winter. Going down with the Titanic, comes to mind.

Not very convincing from the Stars, considering that Kennet was so poor. Great to see that Chris Harris its till a great speedway racer. Work to do Stars.

Sadly. The current centre green presenter at KL is not even as inventive as that! Aha! people could record loud applause and cheering on their mobile phones and then play it back at the end of good race. At the same time as holding up their phone and waving it above their heads.

And airhorns used in the wrong way do get up other people's noses ( and ears! ) and if used too close to other fans, are downright dangerous. Yes, the centre green presenter at KL does try to rouse a chant but by doing sections of the "crowd" it sounds so feeble. "on the back straight now" ******** Nowt. At least try "lets do a big one altogether now"! Not that I think that will sound very powerful either but.... Give us an S give us a T etc ( only five letters so it might work? It did at the end of the last century)!

And how thankful I was that he was in the distant audio background most of the time. Far too noisy and far too much forced enthusiasm. If Pearson is called Shouty this one must be called Ship's Hooter! And much as I love Woffy the speedway rider I am not sure that the home fans in Sweden wanted a Wofyy, Woffy, Woffy every time he won a heat for the away side. Hmmm. 6/10 for the racing in Sweden and 8/10 for the racing in Poland. 10/10 for the Polish presentation. The attendance there must have been 10,000?

I was not moaning about the makeup of the team. I and others have said the Josh is not up to the task the promotion are asking of him. I wanted to know on Monday what was the makeup of both teams so that I could decide to go or not. e.g. if Harris had not been riding as suggested might be the case I would not have gone. I do not follow football so I can't comment very much on that other than I suspect all Premier League clubs have squads up to the level of adequately replacing an unfit or off form someone i.e. Rooney at Man. Und. Not really the case in speedway.

Be nice if the Stars promotion could understand that fans want to know who is riding and what is the makeup of each team sooner than 24 hours before the event. People can then make up their minds to attend or not. What has happened to the "big marketing push" proposed doing the winter by the BSPA? Nothing has improved in the KL area as far as I can see.

Having just read the preview of the match V Rye House I am surprised that there is no change at No.7

For me I have no doubt that riders ( and promoters ) do manipulate the averages and - "You can't blame the engines then, just the riders skill or not" add to that skill their motivation or that it's not worth a light trying to see if they can get past or not! Only "young guns" truly Go For It ( when they are young and hate being beaten )

If his numbers do fit, I agree with you, Barker would do a better job at KL than Porsing is doing.

All I hope for is that there is plenty of good, entertaining racing with a decent amount of passing. Fingers crossed. A track that all riders can give their best on, please Buster and keep the meeting moving as last time.

I agree completely with what moxey63 said when he wrote " after over 30 years I was disillusioned. It was shifting from a team sport, which I fell for, in to a playground for individual riders" I too am disillusioned except that it is after 60 years in my case. A man and boy job it was. I still love the GPs on TV - and Warsaw gave us terrific racing - and am still roused by a great race on video highlights but am unlikely to attend an in-stadium live match again, because of several issues including the doubling up which has become endemic and unrealistic for team racing. There is no need for so many guest riders ( except perhaps for your No1 when they were injured ).

Jake Knight is not going to "cut the mustard" in the Premiership, that's for sure. And yes he does retire at the drop of a hat - who knows why.

It's very very likely that it was NOT an "out of the box" GTR - even with magical set ups from Freddie's team. Very few people believed that it was? Much more likely it is a "development" model and Freddie is the "test rider". If it's not broadcast loud and clear in the SS report of the Warsaw GP then we can be sure it is a "work in progress" that Freddie rides.

52 - 40 will be a "success" for the Stars .

Polish mechanics? Next they'll be complaining that he speaks Polish and Strine! He must be excellent ( I believe so ) to get so much attention on here - two threads! Woffy , Woofy Woofy! ]

Can someone clear this up - about what the Polish contracts insist on? My impression is that it was reported as Poland AND two other leagues OR is it Poland and ONE other league? I am a big fan of Tai, who is a terrific speedway rider but I am disappointed that he is not riding forTeam GB ( for whatever reason ).

Says it all really, not only about speedway but also about life in Britain today! It certainly says it all about the BSF as there are too many keyboard bullies on here. Are they SO belligerent in the real world I wonder? You are told " your opinion is not worth owt and you are wasting your breath in expressing it" I started posting in the hope of intelligent discussion about speedway matters and while there is a bit of that, the bulk seems to be angry confrontations or in jokes. I get the impression that the BSF is a fading ghost of 30 / 40 / 50 years ago - just as the sport itself is nowadays.

Not so long ago, last season, Greg Hancock was saying that '" it's not all in the set up" and at the time he was doing a Freddie i.e. flying and climbing high in the GP world. He then said that most of it was in the rider;s mind and I bet that is where a lot of on track success lies IF you have very good kit! Certainly confidence, experience and talent allied to self confidence is great part of the make up of a successful rider. Buying a GTR is not going to add to the skills a rider has but it should be much cheaper to run - we are assured.

As GRW123 said " As for the speedway, it will depend which team turns up. If its the team from the first half of the Leicester match then we'll get turned over, whereas if its the second half team we'll win with points to spare." ​The form of the Stars team in the first half of the Leicester match is indicative of a team that might easily be relegated. Not that I beleve that relegation will really happen unless Glasgow, a very ambitious club, wins the Championship. One of Porsing or Huckenbeck must prove to be a consistent third heat leader and Holder's woes need to be truly behind him for the much needed improvement. Oh and of course the reserve change which has to be a given.

Please no, not Adam Roynon, it cannot be true! We don't half pick them ( if we have )! Even worse would be the news that it was a complicated deal bringing in .......