Ben91

Only if they never intend to use a guest or doubling up rider again themselves.

While I hope Kings Lynn remain open the attitude of use it or lose it has to be eradicated from Speedway. In any other walk of life it would be seen as emotional blackmail. If you have a business you have to work to ensure customers return, not threaten them with closure if they don’t buy your product.

The possibility of being tested should be enough to discourage athletes from taking drugs (performance enhancing or otherwise) or drinking. The point of testing isn’t to catch as many people as possible. It is to keep the sport clean and deter competitors from cheating, which in turn can put other competitors in danger and hurt the reputation of the sport.

Astounds me that some people will try to justify someone not taking a drugs/alcohol test or thinking that testing isn’t necessary. Not only does it protect the integrity of the sport it also protects the competitors. Not taking a test should carry the same penalty as a positive test, if not a more severe one.

King scored to his average from his programmed rides. To criticise him last night is very odd. If Doyle and Riss had done the same then Ipswich would have won the meeting. Chris Louis has been around long enough to realise Emil should have replaced Riss in heat 14 surely. Can only think it was a decision made to put Emil in gate 4.

I’d say there’s still a novelty factor at Oxford. Time will tell on that one but hopefully they continue to thrive. Glasgow seem to be doing a great job, I’d be interested to know whether they turn a profit or not however.

Without being privy to the facts, it appears Laguta was signed under circumstances that aren’t the case at Kings Lynn anymore. I’d be annoyed in his position. While as fans it can be frustrating if riders appear to be “dialling it in” we also have to remember they are people too.

I think the best way to see the superheat is that it’s just an extension of the meeting. So it wasn’t a draw, Wolves won. Not a great rule in my opinion but a rule nonetheless so one we have to play by.

Races like that remind me of why I love Speedway. It’s been an awfully long time since I’ve been to Glasgow. Looks like a fantastic track these days.

Naming the promoter is not Morris’ news to break. Knowing there is someone in place is. He’s been transparent about that clearly.

I think the redeeming factor is always the bikes on the track. The essence never truly changes. I’d struggle to think of anything aside from air fences becoming mandatory that has been a change for the better here otherwise sadly. Perhaps I’m jaded but it makes me sad to see what the sport has become.

I almost edited the post to take that out!

If you’re a youngster starting out in the sport you should be trying to grab every opportunity going in the name of succeeding not turning your nose up at an opportunity because you might only get three rides. The sport is starting to revolve around the riders. It should be the other way round.

One thing I’ve noticed since I stuck my head back in here recently is that in the main it’s similar names with the same points they had years ago, harking back to the 80s and before. Not criticism, observation. Things often look better in hindsight but the good old days haven’t become the 2000s or 2010s. That says a lot about the state of the sport then, and how it is now. Why aren’t people harking back to the glory days of the Premier League reserves being given grades instead of averages for one season, what about the momentous decision to throw third tier riders into the top division as “fast track” reserves? Or when the Elite and Premier Leagues were rebranded the Premiership and Championship? In reality things are even worse now. The sport is dying out with its fans. The slide needed arresting two decades ago, it’s even more imperative now. But while self interest rules the day it’s a case of squeezing every last penny out of an old nag before taking it to the glue factory.

Should be a two year ban. No excuses.

Which just shows good business sense. Losing money so they moved to a division they could sustain. Most other clubs would (arguably did) just carry on throwing money into the pit.

Why, oh why do people involved with the sport say things like this. As a prospective customer it is such a turn off.

The sport is too far gone now. Undoubtedly there will be lip service changes made in the winter that benefit the higher percentage of clubs that vote for them. We need to rip it up and start again. Alarm bells should have started ringing when the biggest, best run club in the sport (Poole) dropped a division because they couldn’t sustain top tier Speedway. Speedway is cocaine. Addictive, but by the time it reaches the end user it’s been cut with so much rubbish by the dealer that it barely resembles the pure product. Only a few gullible fools can’t see that and carry on with it to get their hit.

You started it. And my dad’s bigger than your dad. Merry Christmas!

What I said wasn’t the exact plan at all. I hope you get a dictionary for Christmas. Look up “exact” and “thriving” when you do.

This highlights every potential solution having an equally valid roadblock. Perhaps this is where regionalisation needs to be considered. It’s a shame and an idea I have long been against but perhaps the way forward is one league split into north and south conferences as is the way in the major US sports. Each has a league winner, then there are also play-offs to crown an overall champion at the end of the season. With more local(ish) meetings riders would have to take less time off of work to race. Particularly handy for tracks that race midweek.

That doesn’t mean the sport is in a good position. There is a difference between trying to make ends meet and thriving.

It isn’t an assumption I’m afraid. There are people saying exactly that or words to a similar effect, on this forum, on a daily basis. The changes made every year are little more than lip service. They are made in the interests of what benefits the majority of teams, that is how they are voted into being. I take no pride in saying what I see. I’m also not someone who looks back saying it was so much better. I became a fan of the sport as a child about 17 years ago and it was in a state of decline then. I’m 29 now and I’m lost to the sport at a domestic level as a regular paying customer. Without wanting to offend older generations, people in my age group and younger should be the type of people Speedway want to have eyes on their product. It really isn’t. Speedway used to thrive in lots of places. Within Britain there is no one place where the sport is thriving. It may be doing better in some places than others but people are not clamouring for Speedway anywhere here. When was the last time a domestic level meeting here sold out? It isn’t my job to fix Speedway. But a start would be clubs allowing a single body to govern them. We know this will not happen though. Being able to point out blatantly obvious flaws and being able to solve them are different things. If you saw a sinking cruise liner you’d probably be able to tell me the problem is that it had a hole in it. But you wouldn’t be able to go and fix it.

You say this as if most of our top tier riders are regulars in the top league in Poland where their imposed restriction is in place. They’re not. Certainly not at Championship level. Brexit has been coming for four years. Plans could have been made. As for European riders coming in the goalposts will now just be similar to those in place for riders outside of the EU previously. We have always had very little trouble with Australians coming in. The above issues have an impact but they are not the reason British Speedway is in terminal decline. They’re just convenient excuses to shift the blame from where it actually should lie and some people actually lap it up and believe it.

There are people who think there is nothing wrong with the way Speedway is run in this country. Unfortunately there are too many excuses and too many sloping shoulders. Why is British speedway in the doldrums? ”Poland.” No. ”Brexit.” No. ”Covid.” No. It’s time people took responsibility rather than looking for something else to blame because they can’t keep their own house in order. The sport won’t be around much longer otherwise. It’ll be one man and his dog at the carcass of the National Speedway stadium still expecting to see Jason Doyle and Nicki Pedersen turn up.