Trees

Lewis Kerr, Lewis Blackbird, Jason Garrity, Kyle Newman, Steve Worrall, Ashley Birks and Kyle Howarth as number 6s in 2015? Their positions protected in that they can't be dropped other than injury but they can move into the top 5 on merit etc, like a traditional reserve? Obviously the meeting format will have to change, sure someone has already suggested something on here? Would be great and show that the plan is working if some of these boys end up the season in the top 5 when they then lose their fast track status. Any that don't stay at 6 again joined by the best number 7s. Always open to abuse of course, I guess if the FTR ends on a real high average and somehow has managed to stay at reserve then they will have to go up into the top 5, decision would have to be made as to the value of that average. We'll see what they decide, idea sounds okay ;-)

Some of us need to just go watch some speedway, four riders racing side by side on 500cc motorbikes with no brakes, 0-60 faster than an F1 car, and forget about the playoffs and double tac rides :-)

Some tracks have enough fans to pay the bills as long as the bills aren't too high I guess? The promoters and riders need to try a little harder to attract more fans and keep them. This is another thing that the promoters should be discussing at their conference, surely putting their collective 'promoters' heads together will come up with some great ideas? Bloody should do!

Do we know where all the rounds are yet?

But the lower order riders must be pleased that the tactical ride exists cos they don't miss out on their races :-) I don't mind it at all personally.

We've just got to hope that they have been reading this forum etc .......

Sort of but I know plenty of armchair fans who will never return to the sport, many too old (waiting to die ;-) - poor old excuse when there are 80 year olds attend!), not interested enough to pay at the turnstiles or just like it from their living room but never consider going.We need to target those who want to get out BUT if we get them there in the first place we need to get them back and that's down to what we give them in the first instance ie excitement, banter, a sense of in-it-together (club) .... in other words a bloody, good night out! Fans should never be taken for granted, they are the life blood! Mr Ford took a few of us fans for granted in one of the abandoned championship semis at Poole last month, there we stood, a handful of us, admission tickets in our hands, watching one of the turnstile women counting out the takings, asking nicely for our money back please because we can't afford to make the 400 mile round trip again. So his co-promoter says, sorry people we can't give your money back as we haven't reconciled the takings!!!! Ha bloody ha ha, what a load of old tosh! If it wasn't for a speedway mate living down there I would never be setting foot in his stadium again!! To make things more annoying I asked him to give me my money back for the registered post and the sae's we had to send him to get our money back but of course nothing!!!

We need all those blinking armchair fans to get out and attend live racing :-)

We all know that if we are going to try to keep teams of equal strength we won't be able to keep teams together, although it should always be possible to keep a few .....

Never been to Sittingbourne so can't comment. Never thought of having a meal whilst watching speedway and never will I very much doubt so that doesn't get a thumbs up from me lol. All I want from stadium is a good track & viewing,really good presentation, clean loos preferably situated in a couple of places around the track, somewhere to easily get a cuppa and a free car park. Erm so no EL track passes, Lynn offers the majority but falls down on presentation ......

The promoters need to concentrate on the state of their tracks, their presentation and who they target (16-30?) for freebies etc imo.

I personally loved it, probably because our two FTR's were local so it was fantastic to be able to support them at our club :-) They also did really well, so it was double whammy for us.Of course I think all clubs needed one really good FTR and a mistake was made not to include those few young guys who were border line because then each team would have had a good number 6.

I think Lynn and Coventry should have their centre greys painted :-)

The BSPA, the management committee I take it? Not learnt from their mistakes then? :-(

The majority of the riders think it's great.

Fair enough Phil, but then again if we have a Friday meeting at Lynn we probably have more fans attend :-D No doubt if we had one off Saturday nights we'd enjoy some great crowds with loads of away fans attending! Shows that it depends what off day u run on :-)

More material means more effort ....... and more grading :-)

What I am saying is that fans can actually get used to a different race night, we had to at Lynn .....

Now read this letter, after receiving my second hand Star off a mate :-) An interesting read from a guy involved on the inside for the first time this year. He should write a list for Buster to take to the Conference and perhaps the Promoters will consider his points, even if they poopoo what he has to say it will stay with them and they may reconsider at the end of the day! Good on ya David!!!!

I should think it's because not much time is put into preparation of the tracks these days and they have hardly any material on them in the first place. I'm pretty sure nobody uses actual shale anymore either. Ask Buster ....

Well we must be a bit different at Lynn cos we changed from Saturdays to Wednesdays and the crowds aren't too bad. Although I dare say they might be better on a Saturday ..... no school for the kids, no work next day for away fans etc

Perhaps if fans were told how important grading is it may help and yeah a good mic man could easily keep the fans entertained!

So you are saying that when we had to give up all our Saturdays things started to go bad, crikey!!!!!! Many riders don't understand fan mentality for sure. Not sure that promoters do either!

I don't mean who owns the clubs etc, I mean more the presentation, the interaction, getting the fans going, the drums, the chants, make it a fun night out regardless. For all this the promoters will have to really put some time and effort in and perhaps look outside the box. We need to get people talking about speedway, about the good night out. The mic men will have to put some thought into what they are saying, understand the fans mentality and the music that is played is vital. The riders will have to connect with the crowd, not just a half arsed wave after a race, they need to think club, think fans, think future of their sport/their jobs. I know we aren't Polish but you only have look at our football crowds to hear how passionate we are about our clubs. Have to try something ............

Yes get onto Ladbrokes people