waytogo28

MF not really asking £500.000 for the promotional tights is he? Clearly doesn't want to sell up. A fairer price might be something like 5% of that. He must have taken plenty out as his due reward during the 'gold old days' of much bigger crowds.

Thank you, that clears it up perfectly for me.

If we call them A, B and C ( reading from right to left in the Japanese manner ) which of them faded?

When even riders, commentators and a team manager comment on the condition of the track, it is unacceptable. Let's see what the machine booked for Tuesday does to improve the track - along with presumably some new shale. Or is the blue groove going to become a permanent feature?

A home draw is a loss of points.

There is a quick ( but painful ) fix and the key element of it is to introduce standardised non-tunable bikes. This will put racing skills at the forefront of speedway racing once again. The rocketships must be put away in the shed if racing ( not 4 riders riding their bikes in a boring procession ) is going to attract a wider audience.

I did notice that one of the bumps popped up just where KT had been digging!

The meeting was held.

You must have all grasped by now that the tractor racing is, in fact, a kind of meditation for Buster, or therapy to allow him to recover from the stresses of controlling UK speedway - saving it ( some say ) from extinction. All of that comes at a cost and I don't mean of the financial kind. It is a mental battle dealing with all of the suspicious snipings and the only place Buster can refresh himself is behind the tractor wheel, The laps fly by and he is far removed from all of the horridness that speedway encompasses for him. And as we know the opinion of fans is also far from his mind ( in fact when out there "improving " the track those opinions are not in his mind at all ). Someone else said - due to the poor quality of racing ( and the tractor therapy for the boss ) "it’s once in s blue moon at Lynn for me as it just doesn’t feel worth £18. It’s a pity as I hardly missed a meeting for thirty odd years." And since the creation of the track for me I hardly missed a match - it was my beloved " Oh Yes!" place. Last night I preferred to watch the Live TV match ( which was appalling 3/10 ). That match at Poole showed clearly why it better not to show UK league racing on TV as it puts people off from going to see it in the stadium. That's what it does for me, except when it's from the NSS.

I was listening on Radio 7 Live to Pearson and Tatum's commentary and they made it sound really exciting.

That's POWER for you! The iron Man Cometh ( and rusts away slowly taking UK speedway with him.)

For some reason, even the "great" promoters care little for that argument ( even though I believe it is right ). Do they really know something that we don't and prefer to have a few in paying more per person?

Today's the day. Don't forget to check on the real "official" thread.

Move along now quietly Ladies and Gentlemen. There is nothing to see here.

I am beginning to agree especially when each televised match portrays a sport that has a couple of hundred elderly people still following. I was a firm advocate of keeping speedway on TV but the promoters have no idea how to utilise it to best effect. So, yes, perhaps it is time to end it when the current contract runs out. Before taking on this contract they should have jointly agreed to open the doors for £10 and make an effort to fill it up. Are the sponsors over the moon with the coverage they get and so urge Buster et al to continue with it?

Did he spend the PILE he made when crowds were much more substantial? Whatever he did with it, he clearly did not re-invest much of it in Poole Speedway especially the track. "Love the sport" is the cry of all the current promoters - I don't think so! Short termist, grab the cash ( when there is some ) and run. They cannot be losing hand over fist as some claim, no-one would do that for more than a season. You would sell up for 30 bob ( £1.50 for the younger members ) just to get rid of the debt liability. Do you really expect us to believe that they truly feel that the UK sport can be turned around and have few spaces on the terraces. Not going to happen under the "forward thinking - more of the same please" BSPA.

How it is done now is more than acceptable to me ( yes a few imperfections ) but they are close to getting it "right". Buster Chapman is said to be interested but not in the part that was suggested: " not to keep any of the money made". Although if he did that he could buy all of the "top" league UK clubs and switch the riders around as a whim came to him. Very Nero like.

As this is the official pre-meeting discussion thread we should .................

I genuinely and sincerely don't believe that racing is better than ever and I really don't think that I am peering through rose-tinted spectacles. Over the last 20 years the percentage of Gate and Go - tapes to flag processions has risen dramatically. Now averaging 12 from 15 heats - if you are lucky, three decent races with passing or the possibility of doing so. In UK racing. As for Guests being called Stars or whatever, how does that avoid the feeling that Chris Harris ( for example ) pops up Here There and Everywhere while really riding for another supposedly rival team?

They wouldn't do that surely? It's an imaginative nightmare scenario surely? It simply couldn't happen in a well run professional sport, could it?

Mother nature's way to ensure that promoters can put on those attractive doubleheaders V the same opponents crushed up near the end of the season.

Standardised - non tuned machinery will be part of any revival after the Great Extinction - if there are any stadiums left willing to try F2 Racing or whatever it will be. There is certainly no razzamatazz in UK speedway nowadays. Not even enough interest in many places to raise a cheer and hardly a boo to be heard. Few villains and only a few plonkers on track.

Like all "leaders", politicians and dictators Chapman began with all kinds of honeyed ideas for bringing about a UK revival if things were done HIS way. Empty pointless hot air - shouted from the outside while he was a noisy looker-on, not sitting at the top table. The other promoters who had exhausted all their ideas gave him the green light and we have ended up going much, much faster down the slippery slope to non-viability.

Indeed, any two day event or even a 2 or 3 hour event with the name "Speedwinks~ or "Tiddlyway" would incur the wrath of the Top of the Toppermost ( Mssrs Chapman & Godfrey ). Never mind filming it or broadcasting it in any shape or form. I suspect all participating riders would also get banned.

Ah! Innovation - the great missing ingredient essential to the possibility of UK professional speedway avoiding extinction! The un-joined up thinking of the BSPA is eager to stamp out innovative ideas wherever they rear their ugly heads. Luddites they remain.