RobMcCaffery

Agreed, post deleted.

Treat it as a test/practice session that the public are allowed to attend. After the failure of the product launch a 'soft' launch now makes plenty of sense. The essential thing is that the track opens and goes on to be a huge asset to speedway. Surely that's what we all want? Surely?

If it is within the rules that Poole can sign Pedersen and have four heat-leaders when many struggling to find one or two then there's something wrong with those rules. Not jealousy - I haven't had an EL team to support since the demise of Hackney and later Cradley at that level - just despair at how the EL is self-destructing.

According to the schedules I have the coverage is at 7.30-8.30 am and 1-2 pm on the Wednesday. That's all. The following Wednesday it's at 10.45-11.45 am. Pitiful - just seeing out the contract like Channel 4 did with SGP highlights years back, showing them in the middle of the night.

As I said pawel. I gave details for those who might light to watch before they arrive on You Tube. Patrick Dudek's not happy with having to race in the sleet - confirming they were forced to race at Zielona Gora. One key point made was that a short delay to allow the heavy showers to pass would have seen them racing in sunshine instead. http://sportowefakty.wp.pl/zuzel/596805/patryk-dudek-byla-presja-zeby-jechac-nie-patrzymy-na-zdrowie-zawodnikow

Now we have the reliable telewizjada link it's possibly worth mentioning that if you miss the Sunday Ekstraliga meetings that they are repeated during the week following on NSport+. The First Division match on TVP is also repeated late on Sunday nights on TVP Sport. There is a TV guide available here: http://www.teleman.pl/ For example the Zielona Gora meeting is on at 10.25 BST on Monday and the Grudziadz meeting at 2 pm. Just scroll down to the sports section, look for Zuzel and remember the timings are an hour ahead of us. Of course there's also the the You Tube links that R&R kindly finds for us.

The central rules about discipline, bikes, tracks and racing conduct I would suspect are common across the sport internationally otherwise FIM meetings would be chaotic! It's when you turn to rules regarding the various leagues in terms of team composition and meeting formats that the major differences come in. There is no real need for a league match in Poland to run to the same formula as here or that teams be constructed in the same way. In just the UK alone our three main leagues run to two different race formulae and the third tier does not have Tactical Rides. These are due to the individual needs of those leagues. Differences in race formats and team composition rules are really not at the core of the sport's problems.

A magnificent finish to a great match. After the fun at Falubaz that was a great pair of matches - more than compensate for Lodz! Great to see the underdogs doing so well today. Great to see three meetings despite the efforts of the sleet and snow in the Green Mountains.

Sadly the off-track power game is more important to too many.

A race there to remind you that for all the frustrations over stupid rules and rule-makers, the ruinous sporting politics and the unpleasant attitudes of so many elsewhere on this forum, speedway is still a wonderful sport - the trick is to just enjoy the racing!

I'm not generally a fan of the way Sky do things, too much posturing, rather stiff and formal so the relaxed style of NSport appeals, even if I can't understand the actual words. You can tell a fair amount from body language though. It's clearly on a higher budget and money does talk in that business. I do think that Sky have scaled-back on their coverage, reflecting a lowering of commitment. The innovation's gone. I really like the style of CMore's coverage in Sweden though - what appears to be an intelligent conversation, interrupted by racing. I do prefer the conversational approach rather than Sky's hard sell where everything is fascinating, exciting and wonderful. I just wish I knew what was being said then I could confirm my suspicions. You only have to look at Sportowe Fakty's website though to see how much more is invested in media coverage over there. ----- On a different note, what a ride from Gollob to win heat 11!

A lot of people have said that over the years.

Laguta's certainly been reading the Nicki Pedersen passing manual.

Great effort by Rybnik but the heat leaders faded at the crucial time. They certainly aren't in the Ekstraliga to make up the numbers. Not my favourite Polish club, for some odd reason

It does show what conditions riders will still ride in - if they're (£) motivated ($) enough

With the Mickey Mouse logos they look like refugees from the little-known 'Playboy Disney' channel. I only watch it for the political interviews...

I just kept wondering if any other Coventry fans were watching Jamrog there. 12 well-taken points in the company of Hans Andersen, Robert Miskowiak and Linus Sundstrom. Perhaps he's not quite as useless as we were told last year ;-)

In the early days at at Rye House we used to get reports of missing away riders having turned up at Rye in Sussex instead. Mind you, not many outside the London area knew where the hell our old track at Rayleigh was.

In an attempt to get this discussion back from a pointless discussion about the obvious evils of tobacco-based products, one other minor point regarding sponsorship 'back in the day' was that there was supposed to be a block back then on sponsorship of speedway and other motor sports by producers of alcohol products. This was rather dented by Sheffield, despite this, getting backing from the local branch of Bass Charrington, Stones to sponsor them. I always struggled to understand how an off-road bike sport being sponsored by a brewery would encourage drink-driving. Going right back to the start of this discussion we had blue chip sponsors because we had the crowds and media profile that a professional sponsorship agent like Michael Addison could sell to his portfolio of blue-chip clients. Sadly we don't have the crowds, media profile or a professional like Michael involved now. I'll leave others to waste time discussing the merits of the sponsors that we did attract. I'm sure the sport wouldn't mind their money now though...

We used tom have that problem at Rye House back in the 80s & 90s. The track is right by a river and the water table was very high so many postponements were caused by water rising from below rather than falling from the sky. The public rarely saw the torrents of water being pumped off the place before the gates opened. Ironically it now has a reputation for being too dry. I hope they can sort the problem out.

The difference in case 1 is that professionals are in charge of the finance acts ;-) Re 2 - I was hoping to make the point that the clauses and counter-clauses in the rule book verge on the absurd.

The essential point is that it wasn't just speedway that took sponsorship from tobacco producers. They were different times. Skoal Bandits were a particularly nasty product, as were all tobacco products and their involvement with our sport was brief. You can attack speedway for many follies but to use Skoal Bandits and such sensationalist language is below the belt and only wrecks your argument which clearly is based on spite and the need for petty point-scoring, not a desire to develop discussion. You cannot single out speedway for taking tobacco sponsorship. Anyway, this discussion was intended to be about the sport's inability to attract and keep major sponsors not you showing how unpleasant you are. A cheap shot HA - I would expect far better from you. Next month I will face the annual task of consoling my wife on the anniversary of her mother's death from an agonising cancer. I would NEVER use that curse for cheap digs.

Someone who reckoned they had superb FTR riders and would benefit from it. Now let me guess.....

It's all become so twisted. Someone comes up with a rule that will benefit themselves. Then someone else gets it amended. Then someone gets a new rule to plug the loophole. Another promoter then realises he's been caught oput and gets the correction amended. You then end up with a tangled, compromised mess with conflicting rules, all based on short-term needs, often dressed-up as 'vision'. I used to be an avid reader of the rulebook but when you look at the team-building regulations, with averages adjusted here, converted from other averages, a few percent deducted here and there in months with a Saturday in them. It just gets ridiculous. Speedway is a simple sport made complex by people trying to shaft their rivals. Sometimes you feel the promoter power game is more important than staging matches.

Value for money. Good racing, home win and a professional show.