SteelShoe

I believe the 'Kids go free for Summer' didn't bring in any more kids even though hundreds of vouchers were given out in schools. It's difficult, the sport in its present form probably requires some form of re-invention. Kids can get bored easy so this has to be taken into consideration as well. Think the club needs a single point of entry through an electronic pay booth along the lines of the one at Redcar. All other possible points of access need to be properly secured because it is relatively easy to gain access at points around the stadium. Much needed toilets with wash basins, a catering facility serving hot food and an improved PA system would all represent great improvements for next season. I felt that the 'Comets lager' initiative has been a success as well as a decent brew. Some fans missed it when it went out of stock at the back end of the season. I would appeal to fans to refrain from bringing in their own alcohol but support Andrew and the club as every little helps. Most stadia do not allow alcoholic drinks to be brought in. Re Start Times : difficult one this . A nice warm weekend afternoon can be attractive, fans can sit and have a drink or ice cream etc. With either a 3pm or 5pm start on a Saturday or Sunday and most visiting fans from the Northern Teams should still get home at a reasonable hour. Personally I have always felt that speedway looks better under floodlights, the light level has to be very good and general stadium lighting would be required which at the moment is probably not financially doable. Having such lighting would however open up the possibility of evening racing.

Sponsorship is hugely important to the viability of the Comets especially considering the Worky Promotion are probably not in a position were they can absorb substantial financial losses over an extended period of time. In our part of the world opportunities for sponsorship from bigger companies are limited I would suggest. I wonder how many of the current Speedway teams showed an operating profit this last season ? my feeling would be not that many. Speedway Clubs need to work together as a unified body to stabilise costs, the sports fan base doesn't support club costs in many cases. Rider demands appear to increase each season without thought for the financial ability of clubs to meet those demands. It's obvious riders will ride for whoever pays the most as today it's a job rather than a hobby. If clubs in each league had an enforceable pound per point maximum figure depending on their status ie heat leader\second string/reserve then this would help promotions wrestle back control. The general opinion seems to be that the usual clubs accused of self interest don't seriously play ball on this. I have no evidence to substantiate this. The crowds dropped to below break even point at the end of the season which was probably due to a whole range of variables many of which have been discussed previously. It is incumbent on any promotion to understand the reasons and try to mitigate against losses going forward. How next season goes financially could well decide the longer term future of the Comets at Championship level. It is incumbent on the people running the sport to seriously look at ways of making the product more marketable and attractive to spectators of all ages rather than just being 15 minutes of race action for the hardcore much of which is FTG depending on who you support. This is nothing new but very little changes. They also need to secure a sponsorship deal that would underpin the sport.

Sam Masters 😉

Do you know that the riders you have classed as being in situ have clubs for next season ?

Supporters Club have posted 'Rider of the Year ' forms for members on the website, this to be announced at the End of Season do on 8th November.

very quiet on here, no rumours 😃

Not enough Championship ready riders in the NDL for a £20/22 sport, barely enough to cover the 2 pointers that may be needed, which is an issue that needs addressing. Think we may see more young Aussie riders signed up in the Championship next season and possibly the odd new European competing in the Polish U24 league. The loss of Pickering and likely loss of Brennan and Cook is a bit of a blow as all are racers, however, 75 % of riders increased their averages last season so is dropping the points limit the best way to go ? not for me personally.

Nothing in the track for Nicholls to use, the heat leaders had to gate and be in front coming out of turn 2 otherwise that was it, proved that was the case in the race Ben Cook was last.

Very much a one line track . Congrats to Poole your name was on it. Top of the league best team all year.

Foord Wow needs to tone it down or injury could finish him , he has been lucky tonight in that regard.

Poole's name is on it

Boughen looks to be having a confidence issue

Howler by Michael Brecon

You gotta fancy Poole to turn this around at home, depends if there name is on it this season.

Reasonable question as its banned in most stadia

Watching on BSN lsst night and spotted a good few people smoking and vaping in the enclosure. Is this allowed at Oxford ?

If the Cheetahs lose by a point or 2 on aggregate everyone will point to that dreadful decision.

Can't believe Killeen isn't in for Boughen in 12

Well we know Rich Lawson already. Zach gotta be a shoe in too. Howarth wouldn't have thought so . Anders Rowe strong possibility with his Polish aspirations. Starke depends how much he is worth to the Pirates, Vinnie a strong possibility. William Cairns ? Personally I think there are better tracks for this young man to hone his skills on. Poole will be after him no doubt and have the financial clout to turn his head.

Worky crowd concerningly did drop away in the 3 end of season meetings against Poole x2 and Plymouth. Reasons probably include missing riders due to injury, substantial first leg defeats against Poole, low attendance of away fans due to distances involved , the BSN effect, big gaps between meetings and fixture clashes at the start of the football season. Even some locals watched the home play off semi final second leg on BSN instead of attending. One wonders what effect screening so many meetings has had on club attendances overall this season. Have other clubs suffered reduced attendances and if so what reasons do fans think are the contributing factors?

Successful 1st season for Antti in the UK, a Premiership winners medal ain't bad. During the regular season he was generally really strong round Northside. if he could reproduce his home form around more of the away tracks next season he would be good value on his average. Very level headed, professional with reliable equipment .

Well done the Pirates , the only question that remains is can the Cheetahs plunder any of the remaining treasure ?

Scunny were reminiscent of the Comets in the 2nd leg of the playoff semi final against the Pirates. We never really got going either but this is what the Poole top 4 have done to teams all season. The Poole reserves didn't do much but it didn't matter because the top 4 were so dominant and very rarely have Lawson, Brennan or the Cook brothers had a bad day at the office this season.

Strange one, Boughen at 1 is a big ask for the young man against the Pirates.

Sam has to show that he wants it bit like Luke Harrison, Vinnie Foord, Sam Hagon, Ben Trigger to name 4. He has had one of the best tracks in British Speedway to race on these last two years and I'll leave it up to you to tell me if you think he has shown any improvement. We all wanted him to do well.