ouch

We need to emulate the Polish model and reward the league winners with a big pot of cash to make it relevant. Similarly the GP’s must offer a large incentive for winning a round and the overall title given its success and status in the sport. Does anyone know how much more an Extraliga team gets for winning the final and what percentage that win adds to their overall income? Also what are the big bucks for winning a GP (per heat) bearing in mind it could involve 10 heats (3 sprint & 7 heats), compared to the irrelevant amounts on offer for a UK domestic heat?

In 1976 less than half the teams in the league rode on a Saturday (6). 3 rode on a Friday with the other 10 riding mid week. This was at the height of the sports popularity yet most CHOOSE to open mid week. Moving to alternate nights to gain the biggest crowd happens in all industries. Film distributors will not go up against the blockbusters, bands will swerve dates when big hitters are in town and pubs will arrange theme nights on dates to attract the most punters. It’s not a case that Saturday is the holy grail and we need to avoid the negative connotations currently being associated with mid week.

As a doubling up rider competing at all tracks in the UK, how would one league offer him any more variety?

The fact that speedway nowadays is ran by fans (albeit rich ones) shows by way of this forum how and why it is where it is. Imagine these very discussions taking place at the AGM. The main takeaway is, I can’t be bothered building a new track/stadium, spending time & money on a youth policy, improving the racenight experience, nurturing talent to the point they become world beaters, etc, etc, etc. Let’s throw the baby out with the bath water and continue to dumb down and kid the fans that by doing that we will overnight become interested in all the things mentioned that could actually improve the sport.

I’ve no idea if it will be worse as I’ve no idea what it will be. I’m guessing that with the collusion of fans, the product will weaken (considerably in this case) and the price will remain the same. Rinse and repeat as has been the case for decades. Will tracks use the cash from lower wage bills to improve or build stadiums or invest in youth or promote the sport in a more effective way than they currently do? No is the answer if looking at the previous couple of decades (bar a few). The race to the bottom is hotting up and the chequered flag is in sight, all whilst being cheered on from the terraces.

Could one of the boffins tell me what a meeting like Redcar v Belle Vue and Glasgow v Leicester would look like with regards team composition, admission cost and race day?

We also have too much advantage at Kings Lynn, Northampton, Leicester (if our best away rider had stayed fit) & historically Ipswich.

They need to give 10’000 free tickets away within a 30-35 mile radius. With an area like that we’d even get a few thousand from Sheffield.

This is nothing mate, just wait until a week before the play offs.

It was Max not Brady. Easy mistake to make given our play off injury jinx. Brady was injured the year before with Charles being the one to miss out the following year.

You’re getting your Lamberts & Woofindens mixed up there. Robert has never taken the place of a dropped rider in time for the play offs but he has twice replaced a badly injured rider. One of those occurrences though was against the rules.

August might seem early (it can never be to early for me) but to put it another way, Kings Lynn have three home meetings left so is it too early to ask what things will look like for their fourth meeting? I would like things done earlier this year as despite every AGM being “the most important ever”, this one most definitely IS. An uncertain 2027 has a detrimental effect on 2026. The analogy I have there is when the racing and track was rubbish at Kirky Lane I thought of binning off the sport. I spoke to the promoters who stated the circuit would remain much the same as all monies were going towards a new track & stadium. The result was I stuck with them as there was light at the end of the tunnel.

When referencing the GP weekend you have to remember this is a once a year event. If you were to repeat that even just once a month interest would soon drop, even if the admission charge was lowered. Arenacross is the same, put it on every fortnight and it would soon reach speedway’s attendance figures.

When referencing the GP weekend you have to remember this is a once a year event. If you were to repeat that even just once a month interest would soon drop, even if the admission charge was lowered. Arenacross is the same, put it on every fortnight and it would soon reach speedway’s attendance figures.

It’s concerning that we have heard nothing concrete with regards next year’s plans. I was happy to give people time in their new roles, Mark & Rob on the BSPL board with Mark additionally joining Speedway Futures at the end of January and then Richard becoming a promoter six weeks after that. Aside from the terrific work to get Northampton up and running what do we know is actually happening. There has been the usual calls in the press (independent, du’s, top riders, costs etc), that we all know about already but nothing definitive about speedway future. I do get the feeling we are just waiting to have our operating model thrust upon us by Poland if their Poland + 1 LEAGUE is implemented. That will impact many of the issues in brackets above though not the primary independent requirement. With the season all but done and dusted by the end of next month the lack of publicised activity is a worry (again).