keepturningleft

Can only echo what other posters have said - the WC has developed into one of the best things in speedway in recent years with a near perfect formula, the joker being the only negative. The current formula is easy to understand for new or casual fans with the same riders from each country wearing the same helmet colour in every race etc. A pairs competition will be more confusing, but this is speedway, so let's fix the one thing that isn't broken and hasten speedway's decline even quicker. Polish domination wouldn't be as much of any issue if the competition was held every two years as people have suggested. I despair.

One big league has got to be the way. It was the salvation of speedway in 1965, maybe it could be again.

I'm not on about downloading or streaming speedway, only music - along with about 3 trillion other people.

Is there any evidence that riders who would have to pay, attend meetings anyway, such as the 'PC 100'? I have no guilt about downloading some selected music off Youtube and other places 'illegally' and for free because I wouldn't buy that music/album anyway so I am not depriving anyone of any revenue. Similar scenario here, if you see what I mean. If they don't go anyway, no promoter is losing money by their absence.

PC has always come across in interviews as a modest and amiable man. I can barely recognize the PC depicted in some of these posts. It's difficult to comprehend why he would (apparently) become excessively embittered over such an issue. .

If all this is true, then sadly I must revise the sentiments of my original post. Either way, it's a sad story all round. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxQdxKchhFQ Seems quite behind all things Belle Vue here...

There is an in depth feature on this very topic in this month's Backtrack.

The item on PC in this week's Speedway Star is quite literally the most depressing thing I have ever read in the magazine. My god, PC should be treated like royalty at BV as Bobby Charlton is at MU. How can such a negative situation ever have evolved? If PC is reading this, please know that the fans, the ones who should really matter, hold you and others like you in the highest possible esteem and we want to see you at BV. I run a theatre in a further education college. When former staff come back to watch a performance it wouldn't enter anyone's head to charge them to come in. These are people who have made an important contribution to the college - to people's lives - and we value them beyond any monetary value. It really is getting harder and harder to keep liking speedway.

British Speedway is the Theresa May of sport!

Probably the best post ever on this forum!

But why would foreign riders need the experience of small tracks? All tracks in Europe are proper, big wide tracks. There is nothing to be gained unless they are with a UK team.

A wasted 60 mile round trip based on favourable weather predictions on the forum...

Wonder if there will be any ramifications from this incident as it very nearly was disastrous.

Szczakiel won fair and square on the day. No fluke involved so he was a deserving world champion.

There is a feature in the current edition of Classic Speedway about riders from yesteryear and their other jobs.

Croquet.

Despite the all the problems - watching riders power full speed round the boards at Belle Vue...wow! - it's still the 2nd greatest thrill on earth...!

As a occasional buyer of speedway star, I was keen to obtain this weeks copy after reading above comments, but, amazingly, the speedway star is not available at the NSS at Belle Vue...

I am not a regular in the way I used to be, but I had every intention of going to Belle Vue last Monday for the Rye House match. On finding out that Chris Harris - always a favourite of mine - was going to be absent I decided to save my money. How many hits can speedway keep on taking from the dwindling, disgruntled fan base until something is done about the catastrophic doubling up debacle?

The Dean Machine is absolutely correct. Speedway is not a 'motor sport' and most fans couldn't give a monkeys about the mechanical element. Back in the 60's and 70's, most fans were probably aware that there were 2 types of bikes -Jawas and Japs - but that's probably about it. In those days 'tuners didn't exist'. You could listen to a hundred of hours of commentary from Dave Lanning from that period and you will almost certainly hear no reference about the mechanical side of things because Lanning, in common with most of his audience, knew full well that there was no interest in it. Speedway bikes were just speedway bikes and that was it.

Any theories as to why the attendance was so poor?

Incredible final race. In my opinion, (international) speedway is on another level now from the 60's, 70's and 80's. Races such as the ones Bruce Penhall was involved in at the much talked about Wembley Final of '81, are two a penny in this years GP series. Incredible standards of ability, skill and courage on display at (almost) every GP these days.

World Final Wembley 1975 - track not watered properly, so fans decide to do it themselves with a hosepipe, resulting in a swimming pool on turn one which possibly cost Peter Collins the title.

Bit puzzled here because Nat and Scott do confront the issue head on after heat 16 - ok, maybe avoiding being too controversial, but they certainly don't entirely duck the issue. Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Sky invent or at least promote the Joker? If BT are happy to maintain, or have some say in the continuation of this abomination of a rule, then all the presenters are in pretty much in an impossible position. How can they be seen to be criticising policies promoted by the people who employ them? My take on the presenters - Nat is wonderful, a breath of fresh air! Scott is good, articulate, just a tad bland.

Did anyone notice (at Kings Lynn), that the exclusion lights were covered in cobwebs early on but later, suddenly, they weren't!