ouch

We didn’t seriously challenge Ipswich. They knocked us out of the cup & play offs and rightly so given the team they had this year, next year will not be as good as they’ll have to de strengthen. Our team this year was basically the same as our title winning team from last season and if it stayed the same for next season, we’d be in the mix again.

Five of those riders in The Aces team are British based, as is Brady.

Five of those riders in The Aces team are British based, as is Brady.

The regular media coverage keeps us in people’s heads week on week. Leaflets, posters and special offers have had an immediate but not long lasting effect. Phillips social media work has worked well in getting families through the door and like people have mentioned on here, I think this is the way to go.

The regular media coverage keeps us in people’s heads week on week. Leaflets, posters and special offers have had an immediate but not long lasting effect. Phillips social media work has worked well in getting families through the door and like people have mentioned on here, I think this is the way to go.

It would be just our luck if the only one over 8 rule came in again. The first time it was implemented was at the end of the 2017 season and after decades we finally had two riders with 8 plus averages and sadly had to let Bjerre go. Many teams had two riders over 8 during those decades but would you believe it as soon as we do a rule comes in to break us up. Dammit. Apart from 2017, Dan & Brady are the only other two to achieve such a feet in all those decades. Fingers crossed a purely random rule doesn’t affect us again.

This is what we’ve done to attract fans to Belle Vue over the last decade or so….. Have an advert on local radio over an extended period of time. Have an advert in local newspapers over an extended period of time. Have an advertising board on some of the busiest roads in Manchester. Have posters in shops and businesses. Had out flyers in local shopping areas. Have a float or attend local fairs and carnivals. Attend local trade shows. Give out free tickets to schools and businesses. Take bikes and merchandise into schools to accompany the talk they deliver on the sport. Be featured on local tv news’s 4 or 5 times between March and October. Have a regular editorial in local papers. Have a 30 minute highlights programme on a local tv satellite station. Form a tie up with local groups and offer free entry and supporters club membership. Attend (and win) local sports team of the year awards. I’ve probably missed a few others.

Current rules 4.50 but with our apparent interest in the lad the rules might be altered for ‘26 and he could be 5 or above. That will depend on our proposed lineup.

Current rules 4.50 but with our apparent interest in the lad the rules might be altered for ‘26 and he could be 5 or above. That will depend on our proposed lineup.

When seven out of this years top ten were taken from novice to star in the British League I find it hard to accept their view.

I get what you’re saying if it’s “off the peg” signings like many teams do but if you sign a couple of 3.00ers, a 4.50, and 7.50 then invest time and money on developing those riders to GP or FIM gold standard then it should be right you can keep them rather than help feather the nest of other clubs that operate outside of our mindset.

If Glasgow & Poole had the support to cover it, they would be in the top league with top riders in their teams. They don’t and they haven’t - it’s not rocket science

In 1983 (chosen at random) we had Cradley visit 3 times and Sheffield hosted Coventry 4 times. Multiple visits have gone on for years and are not the main reason for none attendance imo.

When comparing the two leagues people often stat the repetitive nature of the top league as off putting. Ipswich rode at Belle Vue four times this year but the rest of the league only rode two meetings at the NSS. The only reason Ipswich were there so often was due to cups and play offs. If we are to include all competitions then the championship is equally as repetitive or some would say more so. A quick look at three teams has….. Glasgow v Edinburgh 5 times Poole v Oxford 3 times Redcar v Poole 4 times

The trouble is when you remove the big hitters all the others move up and subsequently start asking for an increase due to riding at number one and this happens throughout the new team. They don’t get Emil money but they get more than they were worth as their value has increased overnight due to supply and demand. IMO it’s not 7 or 8 top stars that are bankrupting speedway (they bring crowds in), it’s the lower order riders asking for big bucks due to trying to emulate the GP lads with increased machinery costs, vans, mechanics and tuners. Pointing the finger at 15% of your product and blaming it is a misreading of the entire league set up and it’s associated costs.

Average wise there’s only Gilkes and Edwards better than Jake for next season I’d stick with Tate on a 3. We need to focus on our dreadful away form as we only won 4. We need to match the top two in the league who were excellent with 5 wins each.

PC, with his check, spark, flame, Aces leathers etc were great in the ‘70’s.

Brady was less than a point better away than Jaimon but that’s more a reflection on Jaimon being one of the better away riders than Brady being particularly poor.

I think The Aces will stick with six of this year’s team that have been the mainstays for many seasons. The vacant spot will depend on the points limit being between Zagar or Cairns. Brady & Dan. No better top two. Jaimon. No better third heat leader, home or away. Norick. No one better at his age or younger. Tate. No better three pointer. Jake. As good as most RS for this coming season, though he’d move to first reserve should the limit be low and gain a 25% reduction with a real average being used rather than the 3 point base rate. Zagar or Cairns. Best number four or a very promising RS.Play offs as usual then hope we have Brady & Dan from 2024 instead of 2025. Be sad if we need to off load more from our conveyor belt of talent but if it keeps or brings teams to our league then I’ll live with it. In an alternate universe we have a top five of Brady, Dan, Max, Jaimon & Tom. Staring average of that team before we worked our magic, around 22 - wow.

Don’t know if I’m easily please but I’m happy with the usual 90mins it takes to run a meeting. Even if it runs over at 120mins its ok with me. The replays and interviews on the big screen plus those over the mike keep my interest between heats, if I’m not chatting with folk that is. Add in the antics of Chase and his interval white line challenge for the kids (big & small) pass the time nicely. Andy sticks to his regular quick track grades with only two of the four “holding things up” as the others are at the interval and before heat 15 when there are breaks anyway. Pre meeting we have Philips manager interviews and post meeting we have the press conference with Hayley & Lee before we can have one to one chats with the riders, all in the lovely surrounds of the Peter Craven suite. Being from an era of three TV channels, a whip & top to play with and chippy tea being a treat, perhaps my entertainment sensibilities are out of step with current trends. I agree about the stats thing and I’ve spoken with people trying to produce an app to draw the kids in using stats but nothing has surfaced yet. Also there should be more for the managers to do and us second guess them as currently the format is far too ridge, for no apparent reason that I can see.

Clubs have their own broadcast quality production crew and this supplemented by BSN would produce more than enough footage for a highlights show. TBH this would be better than a full live show as these generally show it to be boring and devoid of excitement due to the FTG nature of our sport now. Even the worst of tracks get a good race every 30-45 heats and whilst this is used on here to poo poo those complaining about the racing at certain tracks it would work perfectly for a tv show. The problem then is providing a race night experience that matches that presented on the highlights show. When you have clubs like Poole being open about producing a gate’n’go track to negate the excitement usually provided by Christ Harris etc then we will always be in trouble as a sport. Poole are by no means the exception in this, unfortunately.

Well done to Jake on a fine win though I question his participation in an event pitched for U19 when first advertised. Jake isn’t even the youngest Ace being fifth in age order and when you add in our Colts there where others best suited to have a shot at the “prize for winning is a sort of scholarship with Ipswich to give them a hand with advice from riders and mechanics. A one-on-one training session and that sort of thing”. Ipswich though need commending for staging an event like this and I hope it will lead to a junior team in the coming seasons. https://britishspeedway.co.uk/miscellaneous/witches-announce-u19-plan/

I meant family as more of an ethos at our club and not a blood thing, I mean the Krays & the Wests were family but not like the Belle Vue family. Last season Birmingham SACKED Zach Cook. I’m guessing you’re trolling about Tom not being poached so it’s back in your box. I look in every now and again if bored and I have to say you’re all no better than before which is a real shame for this forum. Troll away to your heart content as I’ll not be correcting your nonsense for a good while.

Hoping we can retain the top stars and the fabulous entertainment they bring. Who can topple Sheffield off the top spot they have made their own with three tops in four seasons. Incredible to think the only time they didn’t top the table, they were worthy winners of the play off cup. The battle continues between the tigers and The Aces for team of the decade.

Very on the nose re the witches team building ethic. I particularly like the goodbye to “Mr Ipswich”. Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out! Belle Vue are more a family and that is why most of the team have only ever ridden for Belle Vue with some for many years. Three finals and two wins in five seasons is proof it works for us but I get others attraction to a team basically generated by AI, however disconnected any success feels to fans. The only downside for us is we need to lose riders year on year and haven’t had the luxury to strengthen up as the weaker teams from last season could. It’s a method of distributing the trophies among other teams which is a fine idea but difficult to watch when riders you’ve massively helped along are aiding your downfall. The perennial race to the bottom our sport so admirers. In the UK Dan rides around 50% of his meetings on gate’n’go tracks and the only thing he’d learn elsewhere is how to gate consistently. I’m more than happy with the exciting Dan we have now, a rider that all but two (one of which is another Belle Vue rider) of the riders in the world would want to emulate. To suggest the NSS is holding back a riders development is bizarre, even for BSF given the amount of FIM medals amassed recently.