Noelinho

It's Ben Basso.

Hey, he got 1+1 at Armdale. He scored 0 at Berwick! And those were his only away rides, apart from maybe the Grand Final at Poole, and I don't have a programme for that fixture. But at home, he scored 49 + 13 in 6 meetings.

I'd take back any of Rasser, Nowak and Vissing, probably in that order. Less keen on Sam Jensen, but I've no idea what he's done this year.

Agreed on Connor. Great lad, good to watch at Ashfield, but he would do better learning another track. I actually wonder if he'd be a good replacement for Drew Kemp at Poole. Lower average but would surely grow and a much better mental attitude - I've never heard him complain about anything.

I'd love to see how Santa Claus does when he's not trying to artificially lower his average.

Perfectly achievable. Start the season at the beginning of April. Gives you 22 weeks until beginning of September. Key is getting the fixtures centrally managed. Might require occasional flexibility on days, but some clubs manage this already.

Stick. He’ll have a year on all the other two pointers.

One thing they do still need to try to improve next season is the sound in the pits. Sometimes the pit mics aren’t great. That should be fixable. But there’s also all the background noise, which is harder to fix, but is always more noticeable on BSN than on Eurosport. A lot easier to solve somewhere like Glasgow, where they set up at the bottom of the hill by the pit gate, but that would be one thing to look at improving.

And they mentioned the iOS app! I guess that was just for me… worked great, I am happy to report. Made it so much easier.

Well done Poole. Ben Cook particularly good. Given the issues with the playoffs this season, why don’t we make next season just a two legged final? Glasgow host Poole at Ashfield, sneaking a right home winning, then go to Poole and get smashed. It’ll save a lot of time , money and arguments, and based on the last few years, it’s the most likely scenario

8:45

They’ve found a trophy!

With all these endless, tedious debates, you’d think it actually matters and the winners get a prize.

Fantastic news. Hopefully with this agreed, they can work again on a proper home. Is there any remote chance of buying the current site? Plenty of space around the track to make it a bit wider and generally better for racing, if only the place was their’s.

It does. You should mention the app more - I had no idea it existed!

Since a BSN person has entered the thread, I’d like to add one feature request: the ability to send to Chromecast from Apple devices. It’s fiddly to do it from my Android phone, and if I could do it from my iPad instead, it would be much nicer. Other than that, it’s been really good, after the issues at the start of the season were sorted.

Winning trophies is nice, but prioritising winning entertainment at home needs to be the priority. That’s what gets people to part with their cash.

Good to see a couple of others wanting Marcin Nowak back. He was told when we had him for a few weeks end of last season. We want entertainment and he certainly gave it. His English wasn’t great but he just seemed like a great guy to have around. No idea what he’s done this season, but if we had a full season of what he gave us a glimpse of, he’d be a very popular rider.

Yes, and I didn’t bother to go myself! For a few reasons, not all speedway related. Have to hold my rain off ticket for next season now.

I’m glad we’ve finally got some clarity. I’m disappointed, but I understand. Is it the real reason? I don’t know. But honestly, for all the noise, the fact is this: clubs should not be left to decide fixtures. I can’t think of any other professional sport where that happens. This is the root of a lot of issues. Fixtures need to be centrally managed, so clubs have regular fixtures and we avoid some of these bun fights. It would remove one of the regular frustrations people have, which is I think at least part of the issue we’ve had with this competition.

Free tickets were around in 2018, and *maybe* 2019, but not since then. The point wasn’t to make the crowd look bigger, it was to entice people in, in the hope they’d pay to come back. Glasgow we’re not break even pre-COVID. The Facennas openly said they were making six figure losses. They were prepared to take some losses as they see it as giving to the community to some extent, but ultimately they are businessmen and they want the club’s finances to be sustainable in the medium term. I would guess they are still absorbing substantial losses. In terms of crowd, I think the figures people are quoting are inflated in line with energy prices. The stand might be able to fit 400 people, but I have never counted 400 people at a Tigers match. The shed may fit 150 people, but I’ve never counted 150 people there. My best estimates from counting at the last match I was at are around 150 in the stand, 150 under the stand and in the shed, and maybe 150 on the back straight. An extra 300 adults through the doors per match would make about £75k extra ticket office revenue over a 14 match home season, so it’s a big gap.

Vissing was great at #3 in 2019. I'd happily take him back too. He can moan all he likes in the pits... I don't stand there!

He started the season well, had quite a dip that wasn't helped by some really bad luck with bikes and a few visits to the polyfoam (and the crashes didn't help the equipment woes), that weren't his fault, but he came back strong in the British final. He's better than his average still, for me. Probably not a ten pointer, but good value as long as he's in the right frame of mind, which is the risk. I'd choose Basso over Craig if I had to take one, because he's just too exciting, but I'd happily have both back. He's a bit of a moaner but I wouldn't mistake that for lack of desire - more frustration, for me. He always looks more relaxed talking to people after matches. I think he just wants to be left to produce his best on track without any distractions, and I can understand that.

The Monarchs noted this in their website post previewing the fixture first thing on Saturday. They didn’t say why, but they did make it clear he wasn’t going to be racing.

Some clubs get exposure, but only because it comes from boneheads mouthing off, which is often worse than not saying much at all! Len Silver always did a good job when he re-started Rye House in the late 90s. Different times though.