SteelShoe

Some cracking Speedway in this meeting with Comets playing their full part. 12 down after 7 Comets fought back well in the middle part of the meeting but Scunny came strong in 14 and 15 to bag all the points. Palm Toft with probably his best meeting of the season and reserve Nathan Ablitt with a match winning 9 points seen the Scorps home. Comets reserves had a tough night which was the difference really. The scoreline perhaps flattered the Scorps a little as the racing was generally very competetive. UTC !

Yeah been a difficult year for Vinnie. I expected him kicking on this year but its tough when you get injured and then struggle to score points on your return. Being at No 2 just compounded the dufficulty really.

Well done the Comets and a big thanks to Bomber and the Billericay Blaster. You guys helped bring a bit of cheer in what has been a challenging season to date. What was going on with Vinnie, didn't come out for his last ride ?

did Scunny replace the injured Dan Gilkes with Jacob Hook after the 75% point ?

John Campbell article appears to have a feel of well if we the Championship don't start planning now who will and when. It is obvious Mark Lemon is desperate to retain the Premiership, maybe he has forgotten he rode in the Premier League back in the day. The article talks about 8 Premiership teams but then questions where the other two teams are going to come from as both Poole and Glasgow have stated they will be in the Championship in 2027. Apart from this there has to be doubts about the future of at least Sheffield at Premiership level, they have already sounded warnings of sustainability at current crowd levels.

A statement surely has to come from Andrew not JD . My instincts tell me Andrew has not invested his life savings in producing a mighty fine race track and venue which he continues to develop to run practices and the odd meeting. British Speedway needs to reinvent itself. It appears obvious the fans are getting increasingly bored of the current format so it is incumbent on the promotors to bring forth much needed change. Where are the visionaries ?.

Yes I believe so but are there many that Northside would have a chance of staging ?

Hi King Jamie the answer to your question is I simply dont know. On the face of it was a failing previously and I would hope harsh lessons were learned and proper remedial action and accounting steps were taken to prevent it happening again. Like you state if the same mistakes are repeated then that would indeed be unforgiveable and negligent. There is nothing old fashioned about expecting company officials to carry out their duties on time, nothing less should be expected . Without access to full audited financial accounts it is all just smoke and mirrors and chinese whispers regarding the financial situation of the club. We as supporters take information from our club in good faith without knowing any of the actual detail.

Financially Speedway is about as far away from being transparent as you could get. Speedway clubs running as private limited comapanies are classed as micro entities ie small businesses. The accounts are abbreviated and unaudited as far as I understand it so they tell the lay person virtually nothing. There is no itemised income v expenditure breakdown. The lay person knows nothing and can't find out much about a clubs finances including, how much is raised in sponsorship, gate receipts, parking, programmes, food and drink as income streams or how much expenditure in the form of insurance, rent, rider wages ( rumoured to be too high at Championship level with current crowds ) medical cover costs, tyre costs and anything else I have missed. All in all it is about as transparent as mud. .

Don't know what to say about this. The timing seems strange to say the least and is coming from James Denham who states he is giving up the team manager role next season anyway ?. Will keep my thoughts to myself at this time until the situation becomes clearer.

To be fair most of the riders also ride in the Championship.

Never does that well at Northside if my memory serves me right.

Racing at Northside has been good all season imo. Losing 3 and drawing 1 of our 6 home Championship fixtures has scuppered the league campaign on top of just failing to qualify for next round of KO Cup and BSN. Injuries to Niklas and Vinnie plus the predictable unreliability of Cookie upset the balance of the team and caused issues getting suitable guests. On top of this there has been inconsistency, bad luck and points thrown away. It just hasn't gone how the promotion will have hoped and i'm sure lessons will have been learned. We don't know the financial side, probably only Andrew knows that. The club are generally well supported by local business for which I for one are very grateful because they keep it going. Big wraps have to go to Paul Haughin on the commercial side, he does a superb job !. Andrew runs Flat track Championship rounds and practice days to help with finances which must help to some degree. The club has to keep working on promotion and the match day experience (many comment it still oftens looks like it did in a bygone era) while insisting riders get more interactive with fans after winning races instead of just going back to the pits, thats the least they can do. It can't be all take and no give. The season feels like it has barely started yet in a month it will be over for the Comets in 2026 and that just feels deflating.

Rasmus Pedersen caught my eye .

Now is just the time the promotion should be planning for next season . We will be finished end of August barring rain offs which look unlikely at the moment.