Canadian Star

Well, well, well, never seen so many experts on here ! Cant speak about the new Leicester, haven't been have friends who have. Most of them like going there, they say there;s a good atmosphere ! As for Buster, what all you budding stadium owners need to understand is that most of the income at Kings Lynn comes from Stock Cars, not speedway. In order to facilitate both sports, Buster laid concrete down around 2005, trying running cars in the winter with a grass centre green, it gets a little 'mucky'. To make money from a stadium, you need to run as many profitable events as possible, throughout the year, the concrete allows this to happen

It still irks me to think about how Bernie Russell hijacked the tv deal and did a Bernie on the rest of the promoters In the good old World of Sport days, the tv money was shared amongst all tracks, and helped to keep some of them in business. Very soon speedway will implode I hope, it will return hopefully with a new and independent governing body, and perhaps a semblance of fairness might break out, we live in hope some of you might say be careful what you wish for, but the end of the day speedway in its current format will not survive, I am grateful to each and every one of the promoters who continue to dip into there own pocket to keep the sport going. Most of those same mugs will come back for more, under the new administration, whenever that happens....and it is going to happen.......sooner or later. In the meantime I have a few "friends" eyes in the sky who lend me some speedway, not a penny to Bernie from me.

Well I don't come on here much these days, cant be bothered with the likes of people like the one in exile Excellent result for Kings Lynn, disappointing for Poole, i'm sure Matt Ford will react to this, As several people have mentioned long way to go yet, but for now looks like our best chance of winning league since 2000. Remember Kings Lynn have never won the English 1st division, its been 50 years in the making, surely no one would begrudge a little success now and then would they ?

No good hoping to get any sense from that tart from the South Coast, the attitudes emanating from down there are exactly what is ruining the sport. I was in favour of keeping the turbo twins intact, simply because they were draw cards in a product very much devoid of any other interesting fayre. The fact remains that there is a need for a degree of equality, within the League and certainly we need the top riders to be here if possible. Once we have decided we either can or cannot afford the best, by that I mean the league or the sport as a whole. Then we must go forward and somehow make speedway attractive again, we need to find a way to make speedway the close racing spectacle it once was, don't ask me how, but that is the basis point to which we must return, or we might as well put the shutters up. As others have said, 15 minutes of racing featuring a smattering of world class riders duelling with Premier League reserves who are about half a lap behind, doesn't seem to be working. We must have equality of some kind. We must have a quality that enough people are prepared to pay to come and see. I agree that in an ideal world, every club would have the riding staff and financial clout that Poole have at there disposal. it would make for an attractive League, and you cant knock them for trying, but it isn't in the best interests of the sport. Sadly the best interests of the sport have been neglected badly both here and throughout Europe since 1978, but for a few brief years in the early 80's the sport has continued its serial decline in this country especially. We now have a new English World Champion, this presents both an opportunity and a risk, lets hope the promoters take advantage of the first option.

The sad reality is I have become so disillusioned with the sport I really come on here anymore. Frankly I don't have any real idea as to how our sport can be saved. All I know is it stills needs a new independent administration, such as should have happened years ago with the late John Berry. The Sky/TV money belongs to the sport not to Bernie Russell, at least it should have done, sadly like Bernie Ecclestone, that money is now so tied up in the hands of one person, it is unlikely ever to return to its rightful owners. The product has become so watered down, it is unsurprisingly no longer able to attract sufficient spectators to make it viable. Speedway is only surviving in two scenarios. 1 where the promoter owns his stadium and retains all income from turnstiles catering parking and merchandise and has other activities to supplement income. Or 2 where the club is owned by a rich benefactor/ wealthy business owner who uses the sport as either a tax loss / or plaything - ie doesn't need to make a profit. Thus very few Promoters are actually in a stand-alone situation, this unrealistic scenario presents itself is manifested at the AGM each year. I love speedway racing and will continue to do so, we have a new English World Champion, lets hope somehow this might help in someway to keeping the sport alive in GB, sadly things don't look very promising

I say bring back Tony Millard remember form is temporary class is permanent ! Not pleased to see so much bickering continuing on here, i know it was probably the worst winter in living memory for speedway, but everyone got to the tapes eventually, even Nicki Pedersens back, all we need now is Crump Gollob and Hancock and we have the best league in the world again. There has to be a few positives somewhere surely ?

Be good if we could identify who those BSPA officials were - very embarrasing and certainly not what the Kings Lynn public are used to - however best not "rock the boat" on what from what i could see was generally a good evenings entertainment. Poole unsurprisingly deserving and worthy winners, Batchelor great rider needs to grow up a bit. All those (jealous) people who knock the Kings Lynn set up could hardly say anything other tham what the riders said, great track, well prepared again, dont know who does the work these days, imagine Buster organises it. Highlight for me, seeing Nikki Pederson at Lynn again, as they said pre-meeting share box-office.

Were there no contingancy plans from the BSPA IN THE EVENT OF INJURIES, i am sure it will still be a decent evenings racing, with several top name Lynn track specialists. Trouble is no one seems to be learning from recent events. Question is why 3 days before first GP and midweek are there no better dates available ?

Rob you and i have often disagreed, but i absolutely agree with your every word on this one Chris Gosling

Apparently yes

There is a sum of money that Sky pay for the rights to screen UK Speedway. In the good old days this TV money used to be shared out at the end of the season amongst all the clubs, including any profits from shared events. Nowadays a company called Gospeed own the media rights for UK Speedway, they collect all the money and hand some of it back to the promoters as they see fit. I could make an educated as to how much that could be, suffice to say that if it was all shared out to the tracks, as in the good old days, perhaps most of them wouldnt be losing money as seems likely

Well some pretty interesting times we live in eh ? Do i have sympathy with BSPA, no not at all, this has been coming for a while. This has been coming ever since the BSPA allowed one of its members to cream off all the money that previously had been shared between all tracks. The cartel (there's a pun in there somewhere)now have a bit of a problem, and they now have to beg there problem child back into the fold. There never has been more revenue in speedway, than now, it simply isnt being distributed on a fair and equitable basis. There was a time when Keith Chapman had to conceed to whatever punishment the BSPA decided to dish out to him. Now the shoe is on the other foot, Keith holds all the cards. I admire Mr Sandhu, he has been very badly treated by the BSPA for a while now, finally he has said enough is enough, good for him. When he owned Hamill and Hancock, he was forced to give them away when he should have been paid for there services. He is a good man, whom the authorities should have welcomed into the fold, instead he has continually been treated with derision, quite wrongly in my opinion. Dont know much about Mr Frost, but my sources tell me he is a decent fellow, he must have very good reasons for taking the stance he is currently taking. What would i like to see happen now ? Obviously seeing Kings Lynn back in the Elite League is an exciting prospect, and only Buster knows what are the right circumstances for this to happen. I have every reason to trust his ability to make the correct decision for the club. Do i personally care what happens to the sport should Kings Lynn refuse to go up, or if the Elite League fails because of the actions of Coventry, Peterborough or any other club ? Not really I hope that the current situation leads to a new administration being set up to properly run speedway in Great Britain. The BSPA as is simply is not working, not for the clubs, the fans , or for the future prospects of having a successful Great Britain Team. Despite the best efforts of many, we are no closer to developing new young riders for the future now than we were twenty years ago. There is lots of evidence oversea's of what is needed to bring on young riders, but we continue to bury our head in the sand. I do not criticise Rob Lyons or any of the previous Team GB managers for the current lack of International success, we simply are not putting enough resources into training and encouraging youngsters into the sport. With the amount of money Sky has paid for the TV rights over the last few years, some money at least should have been put into youth development. Instead we just continue from one crisis to another

Andrew - if you really hate Kings Lynn why do you go at all ?

This whole asset situation needs looking at, any club in any League, if they "discover" or give "opportunities" to a "new" rider deserve to be compensated for there efforts. This 12 match rule appears now to be a situation being exploited by several clubs, its a grey area, that needs a little black and white adding to it.

You can expect to see more big time events at Kings Lynn. Keith Chapman has invested heavily in much improved facilities with a view to staging events such as tonights. Kings Lynn has always been a good race track, much favoured by many top riders for many years, that can only have been enhanced by tonights meeting. Other than its location what doesnt Kings Lynn have going for it ? For confirmation just take a look at the stuff on You Tube from 1980, there was nothing wrong with the racing then, there isnt now.