SteelShoe

It's ridiculous . Hope they consider calls for more meetings from the fans.

Having seen William Cairns a few times at Worky it is undeniable what a talented and confident prospect he is. Having said that I just hope he is well managed and not overly pressurised in his first season or two. He also needs to be lucky on the injury front. I wish him well.

Yeah it really annoys me too. You just get the impression that some of them don't get it or don't care. The age of the multi club rider appears to have fostered a culture of aloofness and less affinity with the fans. I don't think they realise how much fans clock this. Fans pay there wages, they should remember this and acknowledge them at every opportunity that presents itself, it goes a long way and costs nothing.

Very sensible and makes complete sense. Poole are in the fortunate position of being well supported. For other clubs even the Championship is financially challenging. The big challenge for those running and promoting the sport is how to make it more appealing in order to effect an increase in supporter numbers. Riders must also realise they also have an integral part to play in this, for instance way too many just ride back to the pits after winning races.

Hope there wasn't a fire at the GT Tyres Arena. Yeah lithium ion battery fires are incredibly hot and very difficult to extinguish I believe. Personally I have not got much interest in electric cars. Need to get moving on Hydrogen and Biofuels me thinks.

There was a fire involving lithium ion batteries in a commercial premises on Isabella Road which I assume is the recycling business near Workington harbour. Eight appliances involved and a platform ladder.

Wouldn't be surprised. If Dan wants to continue to improve he probably needs to ride somewhere other than Belle Vue

Yeah Bit like what has happened this year really . Really need an initiative to get more youngsters trying Speedway.

I wish them well , there is time to get a team in place 🤞👍

I'm pretty sure it won't happen but I think the time is right to seriously think about It. Polish Speedway is probably the biggest obstacle. It will be interesting to see how Oxford crowds hold up next season and how they have held up since the 2022 season. Could still be in the honeymoon period maybe.

Got to agree, that's why I feel it needs a major revamp. It needs to be better, having the same teams sharing many of the same riders will not cut it indefinitely.

yeah that's why I said I'm sure Oxford would like to run 2 teams 😃. I would love to see Peterborough return, criminal what happened there with no viable alternative offered. I believe the fight goes on though as the planning permission for the houses has been refused. Isn't there some hope for Lakeside also ? . Be great if there was some good news re Swindon and Wolverhampton as well, we live in hope. Haven't totally given up on Mildenhall making a return either.

There is nothing stopping clubs putting on extra meetings, it's making an individual meting so attractive that it is worth visiting. The key to the Peter Craven is it is early season, riders are looking for practice , fans want a speedway fix after the winter and it is a bit different in that it has a 5 rider semi final and 6 rider final. Hugely more difficult getting top riders with busy schedules during the season some may also ask for megabucks. Look how tough it is getting many top riders to participate in the Ben Fund at any other time other than early season and it is for their benefit. Promoters are finding it hard to make league racing pay that is why Speedway needs to re-invent itself to make it more attractive. A lot more meetings could be financial suicide for some clubs but the Championship definitely needs more league meetings than last season. There has to be a happy medium and it is incumbent on all concerned to deliver it while making the sport more attractive. I very much doubt whether any Championship clubs could attract any 4 from Doyle , Emil, Bewley, Fricke,, Holder , Kurtz etc to ride in an individual meeting during the season and what would there demands be ? .

The only point I would make here is the play of finals yet again appeared to be a big success in terms of the number of people who attended. For an early season competition the BSN Final should have been done and dusted way before it was, management need to get to grips with this. Based on this season I personally wouldn't miss it if it didn't run next season and we went right into league meetings. Keep the KO Cup for sure.

Sure Oxford would love to run 2 teams 😃

Better sponsorship is the key and spread the money around.

Totally agree 12 home fixtures is not enough with a capital N. I would rather see the leagues amalgamate forming a 16 team British Speedway League. You could even split it into North and South division of 8 teams each. The teams in each division go 1H\1A (favourable for crowds) then 3 fixtures 1H/1A against teams from the other division . Top 4 from each division go into Play Offs . KO Cup 16 teams randomly drawn. Scrap the BSN Series Number of Meetings League Min 20 Max 26. KO Cup Min 2 Max 8 . Total meetings Min 22 max 34. Play off numbers could be reduced to 2 from each division. It's not going to happen, not even sure it would work as I've just conjured it up but something different would freshen the sport up which is what is needed.

Andersons burgers seemed to held in high regard as well from what I remember.

Can't beat a great pie 👍

Usually there was a catering van, only occasionally was one not available due in part to what other events were on in the locality . Not sure what the view is on in house catering now but I believe Andrew always wanted to bring it in house. This obviously brings it's own challenges, cost v benefit is important and having suitable staff available to man it on a regular basis. Being able to cook is useful as well 😃. I hold the likes of Glasgow and Redcars Filling Station as great examples of what can be achieved. 👌👍

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.