Fina

To me two leagues of more even numbers with promotion / relegation would be better. That plus less guests and doubling up of riders I'd start to take it more seriously as a competitive team sport rather than just enjoying the racing as a series of one off matches which is my current mind set with speedway. A shortened season to try to avoid the worst of the weather issues at each end of the season would help - its no fun freezing at the early and late season matches, turns it into an endurance test not an appealing evening out that will attract new fans. More even numbers of teams in each league would also allow for more scope to rearrange any matches that do have to be abandoned. Racing every week across an extended season to accommodate all teams in one league is going to get too expensive for some fans to attend all or even most matches, and although more fixtures allows us to pick and choose which to attend, thats probably not great for the club as they will have low crowd numbers for some matches and make a loss (or more of a loss than usual) on those. One league would sort out the doubling up issue, but as two of the reasons given for that is lack of riders and riders not able to make a living from just one club, would it work in practice? Both problems causing the doubling up would need resolving.

I cant see dropping back to just NDL helping, unless it either gives Kyle more time to focus on Torun and improve his performance there so he gets regular U24 rides. The alternative is will another Championship team offer a place & a change of team mates / home track at championship level give him a boost. As Berwick have signed Stoneman who is with Oxford at NDL I assume nothing to stop Kyle racing for bullets and a different Championship team

I was not watching speedway regularly at that time, but I have chatted to a few people who mentioned this & cant help wondering if getting out gated and having to scrap through from the back is what made the difference, was good for Bewley as it taught him to fight for the wins and not give up. In my opinion being quick off the line and winning from the front a lot is not always the best training for young racers in any form of motorsport.

Probably back to the issue of too big a gap between NDL and CL due to premiership riders doubling up. Seems to me not many of top NDL riders are able to successfully make the step up and then establish themselves in CL. Management likely reluctant to take that chance when they feel they have an alternative choice from elsewhere who they have more confidence in delivering points.

See plenty of comments moaning about lack of rider commitment to teams. If what you suggest is true & the kind of treatment that riders get from clubs couldn't blame any that look after their own interests before club and work the system too.

I don't know enough about Polish speedway to be aware of what percentage of their talented youngsters make it, or if they also have a problem with talented kids seeming to lose their way around the swapping point from junior / U21 to senior level. It wold be interesting to know & I will ask some of my Polish friends what their thoughts are.

Maybe the sport is asking too much from promising young riders too soon and some of them are burning out?

" to move from an amateur sport to a professional sport in Britain" I may be missing something here, but I was under the impression that riders are paid & therefore the Championship and Premiership are professional sports already and run separately from the amateur meetings.

I am surprised that there is not the same rule in speedway as there is for road racing where long hair must be contained within the riders helmet or clothing. I know you have the cut outs that should kill an engine quickly in the case of a crash to me there is still plenty of risk of long hair getting tangled in moving bike parts and causing a really nasty injury.

Now showing R/R Sometimes the updaters simply have not had chance to confirm teams as soon as news come out, its a problem I have if I update weekend meetings that start not long after I get in from work.

Another issue that a few branches of motorsport, not just speedway, is having problems with - availability of volunteers with the right skills and training to get meetings run safely.

1.25 tiers about sums it up. I came back to watching speedway mid way through last season after a few years break, and previous to that only got to watch occasional matches on visits back home as I was based outside of the UK. This is the first time I have really tried to understand the rules and structure of the sport, or assess it from a sponsorship perspective. There are a lot of things that don't really make sense to me and make it a hard sell to anyone who does not have that hook in of remembering really enjoying watching speedway in the past.

Another thing that is hard to sell to a wider fan base, sponsors etc is the lack of any promotion / relegation between championship and premiership. Been asked about that a few times and I cant give a good explanation on why a club seems to be able to choose to stay down a level. If it better for the club to stay in the championship for number of fixtures and income, cant blame them for doing that, but, along with riders doubling up it does make the idea of having two tiers of senior level speedway a bit of a farce

Would have loved to get up to Berwick for that match, but working all weekend.

I am sure that one of the live streams I watched last year, maybe Edinburgh, had a restriction so you had to live a certain distance away to access it. With Redcar, I was not going last year as to get the train after work I miss the first heat, generally would also miss last heat to get back to station for last train home and add on the train ticket, its getting to a silly cost for a meeting. This year some fans who live near me are kindly giving me a lift when ever they go, so I will only get live stream days they are not attending. Its a difficult balance between any new fans clubs will get by streaming v losing those who would otherwise have gone to the track, but get the stream to save money. Also its better to have fans feeling the pinch drop to live stream rather than lose them entirely. Looking at the business side of speedway with some knowledge gained from several years as finance manager at a small horse racing track, anyone trying to make a financial success out of a speedway team has a very tough challenge as, from what I have managed to find out so far, they have very limited additional revenue streams and have to cover more of the costs.

I dont think so, it seems to be a case of looking through this thread or for the individual teams facebook pages to get the results. I will let you know if I find anywhere they are all listed together with the league standings

I agree with your points and would add that when it comes to getting new fans into the sport there is also the challenge of actually getting them off the sofa and out the door to watch anything. The last few years have really established a habit of staying at home and adding that to your other points its an uphill struggle. I have tired to get several friends who are already into watching motorsport on TV to go to their local speedway and its always variations the same answer - CBA going out on an evening any more, rather stop home with a beer and a takeaway and watch what ever is on TV. One lives a mile from a track and wont even go once to see if him and his son would enjoy it.

I was curious as to whether it was a possibility for them to have a temporary home at another track while they try to get sorted out. Not necessarily Workington - anywhere that might have them really - rather than see speedway loose yet another team. From the replies I am picking up that is not something that would happen.

Dont want to think about what could have happened if it went at full speed, on if he had lifted front accelerating hard and it went when wheel came back down

Being missed & rate we are going British speedway really could do with him coming back

BSN seem to think rider replacement for Douglas. Everywhere else I have looked has TBC

Edinburgh 52 - Brummies 36 score from speedway updates

I agree, Only continuing to force myself to watch as I said I would do updates.

Personally I dont think its helpful for women in sport when this happens, we should compete on merit alone when in mixed classed in sports events, but it is the way things are going.

Start delayed until 6:30 UK time