Spidvej

For sure. I expect Harris will ride next Monday.

Thanks for that. I knew it was a Wolves past team, just surprised that, as it’s now Thursday afternoon, at least the names of most of the past team haven’t been released.

Anyone know the opposition team for the “We’ll meet again trophy” ? Nothing on the Wolves website as yet, Thursday 19th October

Money ? Yes, in that staging clubs have to pay a fee to stage an SGP round, which was €10,000 a few years ago, and maybe more now in 2023. Thsts why some tracks which we as fans would make great SGP hosts do not stage them, they have to pay a staging fee and also be FIM approved.

He has won more titles than just 2017. Not sure what your point is ? Is it “Rosco has still won more titles than Leicester, but hey, let’s try and knock the bloke” Oh well, if clutching at straws makes you feel better, you crack on !

True, but listen to the recent British Speedway Podcast where Robert Lambert himself says he is contracted to Smederna in Sweden for 2024, and although he will speak to the club about his release, at this stage, it’s unlikely he does 3 leagues plus the GP’s. It may have been different if he lived in the UK, but he is based in Poland these days.

Yet Rosco has more titles on his CV than the back catalogue of the all Lions managers put together. Still, when Leicester can “successfully” grasp defeat from the jaws of victory in qualifying for the play offs this season, that’s probably an alien concept to you. I wouldn’t worry about a team manger just yet, with the Bates’ family having put Leicester up for sale, you should be worrying about Leicester coming to the tapes next year. If Leicester come to the tapes next year, then you can worry about a team manager, which probably won’t be Rosco, Rob Lyon or Peter Adams. Any new regime might want to put themselves in charge after buying Leicester speedway. Buy a lottery ticket today, it could be you…

B Be a great start to team building in the championship or one big league, if true…

Hopefully, we can’t afford to lose any more tracks. I imagine Kings Lynn and other tracks may have to bite the bullet and form one big league. The simple need to have teams to race against and provide a degree of variety to the fixture list, will probably dictate this. I can’t see any championship team wanting to move up, it would be financial suicide to do so, unless they are given a massive financial incentive to do so, to keep faith with TV contracts. That being said, and I admit I could very well be wrong about this, I wonder if Birmingham make the jump to the Premiership, hoping to entice a few ‘homeless’ Wolves fans to Perry Bar. This would of course be dependant on Brum being able to race at Perry Bar next year.

Listen to last week’s interview with Robert Lambert on the British Speedway Podcast. He is 1 year into a 2 year contract with Smederna Eskilstuna, and whilst he did say he will speak to the club about ending his contract early, I would expect him to race for Smederna next year. We don’t yet know what is happening in British speedway next year, whether there will be a team at Kings Lynn, or indeed whether a Kings Lynn team will have teams to race again. What tracks are looking likely next year ? Belle Vue, Ipswich and Sheffield What tracks have question marks ? Kings Lynn & Leicester Which tracks are highly unlikely to operate next year ? Peterborough and Wolves That being said, it’s only early September. A lot can happen between now and March 2024.

It’s fine now, certainly at Prague airport. Yes I have seen since massive changes since my first Zlata Prilba in 1997. Pardubice has modernised a fair bit. The guys behind “Honest Guide Prague” did a YouTube video on Pardubice which is worth a watch if you haven’t already seen it.

Very true The local bus company in Pardubice also offer a virtual bus pass - Download an app on Android or iPhone. buy the pass for at least a week, job done (This is of course a little bit more expensive than buying individual tickets, but not by much, and negates the need to buy the little paper tickets in the newsagents at Pardubice train station) (My pass below is currently ‘greyed out’ as it is not currently within its valid date range)

A lot depends on whether tracks want to pay the staging fee to host an SGP, which, a few years ago, was €10,000 per SGP. That may have increased since then. The staging fee to host an SGP is partly why, as yet, we haven’t seen Pardubice host a Czech GP. The club doesn’t want it, due to the staging fee and other costs. Of course, Pardubice isn’t Prague and all it offers, but, depending on the type and speed of train taken, the number of stops on the journey, if you stay in Prague, you can reach Pardubice in 45 mins to 75 minutes. (Of course, there are hotels in Pardubice, but they get booked up very quickly during big events, so much easier to stay in Prague. ) If you haven’t done the Czech Golden Helmet in Pardubice already, I would recommend it. Something different, and not easily accessible / watchable on TV.

The crossover between the fan bases for starters, especially in the Midlands, and places like Swindon, Manchester and Sheffield. Scotland too. People watch speedway in the summer and hockey in the winter. As far I can see, the only similarity between speedway and cricket is that matches can be washed out.

Contracts can be renewed. Rumours of a move to Belle Vue are basically wishful thinking in some quarters.

Really ? Didn’t look like it to me when watching on TV. At least that gives them the opportunity to stage big events like a GP in the future then, if the club decides it wants to.

As Racers and Royals said, far too early to know yet. Wroclaw definitely has the stadium to host an SGP of course. Bydgoszcz would probably need a sizeable amount of money spent on the stadium. They haven’t been an Ekstraliga team for a good few years, and the stadium looks past it’s best, sadly.

Not sure about that, personally. As both a Speedway and Ice Hockey fan, I see more similarities with Ice Hockey than cricket. The thing with speedway fans in this country is that some claim they want the sport to modernise whilst at the same time harking back to the so called glory years when the British League was THE league, with the Swedish and Polish leagues not really being of any consequence. Stating the obvious, and of course I am not the first person to say this, but speedway in this country has to modernise and soon, it’s not so much drinking in the last chance saloon, it’s reached last orders. I read in last weeks Speedway Star that Danny Ford says one big league won’t work. It’s going to have to, otherwise, with the sad demise / potential sad demise of Wolves, Peterborough, Leicester, Birmingham, Edinburgh and even Poole, if the two senior league system is maintained, just who will these teams race against, will it be a schedule of 4 x home and 4 x away matches, which will probably bore fans even more than some are already. Thr race format probably needs looking at. In Poland, heat 1 is 1 & 3 v. 1 & 3. We need to see the top riders here racing each other more often. We all know speedway can be a great product, fantastic entertainment, but currently, it’s like your grandmother’s best China tea set at the back of the dresser, a bit dusty and down at heal, it needs a bit of a wash and polish, to bring back some sparkle and entice fans again. As the saying goes, if you do what you always do, you get what you’ve always got. Its 2023, league speedway in this country must change to entice people, both old and new fans, otherwise in these days of streaming services, gaming, etc. speedway here will be consigned to history within 5 - 10 years. As a long time fan, it saddens me to say this, but things have to change.

Don’t forget Moss Side, which isn’t that far away either. I think with Belle Vue, too many people get caught up in the stadium being named the “National Speedway Stadium”….It’s a stadium, it’s OK, but the location, lack of public transport. etc detract from it for me.

You will be out of luck ! The principality has a roof, the NSS doesn’t, it’s rains a lot in Manchester ! If you consider Cardiff “pants”’ then don’t go, attendance isn’t compulsory you know.