waytogo28

Always works a treat!

I think that this will likely be the case. If the rumours of the New, new league structure of 12 teams in the top level Scooby Doo Doo league are correct for 2018 I can't see this working out either. Only if they dispense with the half a dozen overpaid GP level riders would it have half a chance. Even then another renamed "super league" will do nothing to attract new fans in itself.

You can't make customers spend their money on Tesco ready made meals if they prefer to buy or grow the ingredients to cook their own. Speedway clubs need to sell what the supporters want to buy.

Can't believe it's off already!

Not a chance! The only people who are inconvenienced are the fans and we know for sure that they don't matter very much to the BSPA. And now we get the "please get behind us, in our relegation fight" plea from Buster. One big league in 2018 will anyway make relegation / promotion pointless. Fingers crossed.

What a pity I was intending to go on Thursday, as it's the last meeting of the season at the AFA ( Is it now ?) but a double header even against different teams is not my cup of tea. Runs on too late for me.

HAWK 127 wrote " I really hope that someone somewhere can get through to the chumps at the BSPA and perhaps it might take a petition from supporters and then they might think a bit more about one of the streams of income which they gladly take every meeting without a second thought when it comes to entertainment or value for money they give back in return." ​There is no doubt that almost every fan who still loves speedway ( even those who are more and more disillusioned like myself ) agree with this and hope that it can achieved but history tells us differently It also tells us that it is a wealthy man's vanity project in some cases, who keep some clubs alive but the sport cannot continue long, depending only on the largesse of half a dozen people. The Rye House three home meetings in a week says a lot about speedway insanity! I know that that new promotion is eager to get in the play offs but the fixture compiler must be an AI robot ( or would that do a better job?)

It is not so much part time riders that are required for this to work but for riders who accept that they are paid less for riding. As ever there is no transparency in speedway so we don't know what an average deal looks like But from what I have been told riders are overpaid now in terms of guarantees / vans / local sponsors ( bungs ) etc and should be paid on a results basis only. If that turns our to mean the loss of many that don't want to ride for the £s on offer, then that would be as valid a reason for the demise of the sport as the huge decrease in supporters looks like being. Either way the sport cannot go on as it is - or so we are led to believe?

"Another double header"? - I genuinely believe that it will not be because they have listened to the fans. They never have, they never do and only when there are no fans left to listen to will they be mightily surprised by the silence. It is this BSPA trait over the last 20 years or so that has led to the state in which speedway finds itself now. Much more likely!

What interests fans most of all is close, exciting racing with at least the possibility of passing ( especially if the rider being chased makes a forced error ) but with current engines on tracks as mostly prepared now in the UK, 75% of "races" are processions ( and boring ). It just has just about pushed me into not watching after more than 60 years of being an avid fan. And it is not because of poor health ( in my case ). It's just that 3 out of 4 races have little interest in them regardless of what machine, prepared by which tuner they are riding. The only way to attract a new generation of keen supporters is to make sure that 75% or races are speedway "racing". I am talking about UK league racing here and not the GP or international events when riders do 'got at it" more seriously. Perhaps paid for points only and no match guarantees?

That's where we are now, looking for a more viable, cost effective way to produce as good or better racing - NOT at the very top level of the GP because their motivation is quite different. We must have more entertaining, better quality, close racing in the bread and butter league racing in the UK. Without that the interest of those prepared to pay out for admission to matches will decline further.

IF it was the head of the BSPA's idea ( and pushed through by him - encouraged by the "yes. you are right" acolytes ) then speedway Is doomed for sure. It is clear that that person whose idea it was, did not go to any kind of business school. And is far removed from the feelings of fans on the terraces.

Bjerre "junior" listened very carefully to riders who know the NSS track well ( inc. his brother ) and watched on DVD how the track rides. Any intelligent rider would have done the same and taken suitable equipment with them.

All has been made clear regarding the Down The Pan mess that speedway is in - Neil M, Peter Oakes, Buster Chapman and all other BSPA members are on the same medication that creates a totally dysfunctional brain. I could not believe the space wasted in the SS on this obviously ridiculous non story. Had it stopped at the Utter Baloney point it would have been funny. Unless of course Franchetti is the new UK wonder sponsor the sport needs and his family will make all the effective decisions in 2018. With so many spare billions he really could be the saviour the sport seeks ( see it's catching now! ) Investigative journalism - the SS would not know what that was if it was handed to them on a plate ( as in the BV 2016 shocker ).

If this can be substantiated ( that Batchelor did threaten the medical team ) he should be brought back before the SCB and banned for whatever is an appropriate time. Possibly for life because if the SCB don't clamp down on things like that there is no point in having any structure within the sport. However did the referee instruct the medical team to issue a certificate of some kind?

It's getting better and better, funnier and funnier ( as well as more and more a pitiful look at those who "run' the sport and the ideas they don't have or fail to think through )

Glasgow are only just viable at the moment with current crowd levels and with the overall lack of interest in speedway from the general public nationwide, I do not believe they would automatically get a regular crowd boost even if they do go up. They do have great owners with deep pockets but also good business sense and would be unlikely too throw too much cash away, if they see it's a lost cause. There is so little real difference between the two top leagues that there is no true "star" pull left.

If Buster doesn't bring in someone competent ( who is not a "yes" man / woman ) KLS will be unlikely to get through another season with Buster solely at the helm Too many very poor business decisions have been made this year to " just put them behind us". I do believe that the very existence of speedway racing at Saddlebow road is at stake if things continue to be run in the same way. Of course even the days of someone else automatically taking over to turn things around have long gone. The sport itself does need a truly radical restructuring and not merely more tinkering.

Has the much trumpeted GTR engine project been quietly packed away now that their Pin Up rider has switched back to something else? It does not seem to have caught on with more average riders even though it may well be cheaper to run. Did it cost a lot of BSPA dosh or was that all just "spin"?

Especially NOT when the Chair of the BSPA so openly and fully embraces and endorses all forms of social media. I do not believe that MPT told the club at 7 pm that he was riding in another country. If this was so, he needs helping with his effective communication.

Wow! If there is such a rule it helps us to understand why the sport is going down the pan.

I am hoping that it is One Big League ( with North / South divided if deemed necessary ) and with Championship level teams or even with a CL/ NL UK setup, where there will be more variety and more regular race nights. And of course no doubling up hassles. There are enough riders if we take other than those higher averaged ( GP / Poland Extaliga / Swedish Elite etc ) as they may be banned anyway from riding in the UK by Polish rules. And THAT stubbornness will be his downfall as a speedway promoter as more and more fans will walk away from KLS ( and the sport in general if he remains leading the BSPA ). You only have to look at how he came across on TV on Monday at Swindon. If others see the BSPA top man in the same way, I shudder at their likely reaction.

Here, Here! 100%.

I agree with that IF all of the newest BSPA rules / ideas for promoting the sport came solely from Buster? IF there was a general consensus in support of "the way forward" under Buster ,then the blame cannot be fully laid at his door for the apparently further decline in attendances and interest from the public. If it was a collective agreement then they are very short on ideas on how to halt that decline.

No. 2 Is how I see it too. It is unworkable and can we be assured that ALL promoters accepted this idea?