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But when it suits the sport everyone thinks it is okay for riders to be picked over faster ones on the basis of their nationality.

Basically that means it is the same as last year's SEC, where those of use who pay for Eurosport as part of a TV package will not be able to watch unless we pay them twice.

Agreed that Dave Rowe's highlights show was much better. Surely it would have been better to turn tat around more quickly than produce a much poorer edit. I looked it up. The last, and I guess only, dead heat in the BSI era was not actually at a GP but the 2008 World Cup qualifying event. A dead heat was awarded for second place between Chris Harris and Freddie Lingren, so both received 1.5 points. Does not seem to be on YouTube though as Poland were drawn in the other event. Not sure where it was report that they decided not to award dead heats after that, but I definitely remember reading somewhere (or it was mentioned on air) that they would no longer award them in future because they could not be displayed. Though the FIM regulations have never changed. The 2022 Grand Prix regulations still state "Race points scored during the main event (heats 1-20) will be awarded on the following basis… In the case of a dead heat, combined points for the places must be shared equally between the riders concerned." Obviously the graphics have been updated several times since then, so that original reason should no longer apply. But I guess they will now use some American kind of "a tie is like kissing your sister" excuse, and claim people want a winner for every point because we will not accept dead heats. Even Premiership matches now have to go to "over time" with the horrible 4-3-2-0 scoring rather than just accepting a meeting is a draw. So instead we get to see blurry replays which prove nothing then someone magically being award the points.

I am assuming they are also keeping BSIs policy of not allowing dead heats, which does not help. Must be 10–15 years ago since it last happened, but the graphics could not display the half points so BSI decided that a position must be declared for each rider in all future races. Dead heats are still in the FIM regulations though, and would probably have been the fairest result between Bewley and Thomsen.

Thank you. An interesting choice to send out a presenter just for that, rather than use one of those already there or a voiceover as previously. If they are making something separate then it may be interesting to watch.

Hopefully the new era will have seen new people watching, so thank goodness it was not a boring meeting. Lambert seems to have the same problem as last year, though, starting very strong then just fading away as the night goes on. Tatum and Louis were a bit rough last year when they stood in for Nigel, but they just need time together to gel. So I hope they have been given the whole season and are not just a short term fix. Presumably they will also be working on the Premiership meetings, which will help them improve more quickly. I wonder what Dave Rowe was doing for Discovery if not commentating?

History will look kindly on speedway. Though you would have thought it more likely that Russia and Russian clubs being suspended from FIFA and UEFA competition, or from IIHF competitions, or their athletes being suspended by the IOC and World Athletics Council, or the actions of various other sports would have had that affect. How different the world would have been if only Archduke Ferdinand had been a speedway fan (arguably before it had even been invented).

They tried that before when they originally used Jack Burnicle for their SEC/SBP coverage. I do not follow any other motorsports but I gather he respected by Superbike fans On speedway he was an absolute disaster, and did not last long before being replaced by Dave Rowe.

If they are pandering to anyone it is only to the people who own the series. They would likely be breaching the contract with FIM as promoter if they allowed unlicensed riders to take part, risking the whole series being cancelled instead.

It was. And it was the Russian federation that was suspended, which unfortunately means Emil and Artem are no longer licensed to ride. I do not see how Discovery could have tried to go against that.

I got a bit confused when I read it, and do not have Discovery+ to see it for real. But is it not just the same format they introduced before Covid intervened, except not on a Friday night and without letting you practice before approaching the start line? It is a shame the horrible championship points system has been retained. I wish they had gone back to double points in the final, retaining points scores is a much fairer reflection of a rider's performance while ensuring the double points ensures the importance og winning G.P.s when chasing the title.

I got an email from Premier Sports today promoting the return of their coverage, but no offer to entice me to resubscribe. It is the only sport I watched on the channel but full price is a bit too much to justify.

When they did a meeting last season it was very obvious they had timing issues, with Kelvin having to interrupt Louis a few times to do the essentials. But that is learned with experience, and I really liked them together so it would be my preference if they were both interested. It would be nice to see what Dave Goddard would be like with a proper production. I think he has done good job in very difficult circumstances (commentating off-screen, on his own, and a bad sound mix) on Premier Sports. He knows the sport's history too, but would probably not be interested in the the job because of his other motorsport interests. As someone who liked "shouty" Nige and Kelv I always found the Euros more difficult to watch, as that energy does not come across for me with Dave Rowe. Having to watch dodgy Polish streams last year, I did not feel I missed anything extra. But I would think it will be between Kelvin as the main commentator or Rowe. It will probably depend on whether Kelvin is interested, and if Discovery want to let him and Louis learn their timing on air as there is not much time left to practice now.

I think all the different things he has done in speedway show that. But I am sure he deeply loved every sport he worked on. It is shown by how the communities around darts and football in the West Midlands have expressed shock at his loss just as much as we have. And there has equally been many personal tributes from fans and colleagues in those sports about how friendly and supportive he had been with them too. He clearly meant something to a lot of people and has left a hole everywhere he has worked.

I know not everyone liked his shouting, but it was a big part of why I liked him. Speedway races are quick and loud, so it matched the sport and carried that energy across on TV. Watching anyone else commentating felt flat and I missed that atmosphere he created. I am not interested in darts or soccer, but I assume he had a different style with those sports to suit them. And though it did get a little annoying at times, his relationship with Kelvin worked really well too. They had built up a rapport over the years that they were a proper double act that brought the best, and worst, out of each other. He was not the first commentator I heard, nor the only one, but for me, and I expect a lot of people who only got into the sport in the past two decades, he was the voice of speedway. This year and more to come will not be the same. R.I.P. Nigel

That at least is definitive even if only from a customer advisor, so hopefully it is true. Though as Tim G says, with all the various conflicts I would be surprised that Ribeiro quote means every minute of everything being on Eurosport. As long as we get the actual GPs (and SoN) on TV then that will be good enough for me. It would also be nice if they televised the GP Challenge, which was oddly missing from their news story even though it says they will be showing the U16 SGP3 meeting. It always seemed a waste by BSI not to have included it being covered as part of their normal GP contracts.

Hopefully I am being paranoid, but can someone link to where it is actually confirmed that all the GPs will be on Eurosport. They have now posted the public story on their website but it only says that "Discovery announces today that it will bring every race from the FIM Speedway Grand Prix series to viewers streaming via discovery+ in addition to live TV coverage on Eurosport 2." It does not say it will be streaming on Discovery+ "and" on TV on Eurosport 2. That "in addition to" would be correct even if they were only show Cardiff live on TV in addition to the coverage on Discovery+. The way it is written is sloppy at best and disingenuous at worst, but after what happened with the Euros last year I do not trust them not to try to make TV subscribers pay twice. It also says there will be coverage of every SGP2 (aka U21) and SGP3 race on Discovery+ so presumably they will not be on Eurosport?

Lambert kept the pressure on Zmarzlik, forcing him to go out wide giving Janowski nowhere to go.

But that was what I was said?!

I am not a soccer fan, but I believe they do not give the World Cup to the team which scored the most total goals throughout the tournament. And I do not think they add up all the times from the different heats to decide race winners in the Olympics either.

They are probably upset that BT Sports has just ended its final speedway meeting.

Oh, I agree it was a forced error, but you still want to win by racing to the end and not just because the format says you cannot lose.

Almost as good as Hällström Bängs.

Not the way you want to win, but still…

The gate picks are confusing for some because they are using the cardboard helmets from the G.P.s with the wrong numbers on.