spanner47

Sitting in hotel room in Rybnik, so far loads of thunder, but only a couple of quick showers. My fourth attempt to do a meeting here, not hopeful.

Not sure how it came across, but I was there and it was average at best. But at least 18 of the 20 riders turned up and the 5-1 in heat 20 to force a run off certainly added to the excitement. Speaking to a local official, looks like 2019 will be the year they apply to join the league. They were hoping for a crowd of 1,000, I counted about 700, so not too bad considering they was something big going on down by the lake. P.S. Just clicked on that link, no sign of Milan Manev, even though he's on that scorecard. Certainly looked like Zarnovica and Pardubice run with three riders, unless I'm losing it.

Very valid point, is it the trackman? the promoter telling him what he thinks he should do? or is it the shale? ( Sheffield have blamed the shale, so I thought id better chuck that in). But I honestly think us fans deserve an explanation for that dross last night. I honestly think CL does care, I can't believe he thinks last night was acceptable. So come on CL, either point the finger at Bob, or gives us a valid excuse for the awful track prep last night.

Not the first time a dry sunny day has meant awful track at night, but it shouldn't happen​. What next? Us sensible people that won't go anywhere near a track if there's a threat of rain, do we now have to avoid going when the sun has shone all day? I won't put up with crap like that for much longer.

Every season we say this when the Diamonds come to Town, and every year we end up looking like idiots, as they always seem to run us close. I suppose I'll have to leave home at 19-10 instead of 19-15 to divert away from the Show traffic.

Apologies if this has been mentioned earlier, but is Bomber going to continue in the World Longtrack as well? That's another 4 Weekends out of the season if he does. I see he finished 2nd last in the first round, so it's obviously not his thing.

Still coughing up at the moment, just can't afford to show it. Hence the Div 1 clubs didn't plead poverty when they​ pulled the plug at the start of the season, and they can still afford to pay Lindgren, Doyle etc for a bit longer. That's also why they agreed to let BT show it for nothing.

Fully agree Cookie, but this is British Speedway, so the minority will always win over the majority. Once the sky deal ends and we lose more riders, a 12 team league would be feasible, but where do Newcastle, Berwick, Redcar etc end up? You know as well as I do, it will never happen.

Certainly not enough rides unless we keep doubling up in place. And which two tracks would be booted out? As we all know, Speedway is all about self preservation in this Country.

Great in theory, but in reality it wouldn't work. Who's going to tell Edinburgh or Somerset they cant ride on a Friday, Edinburgh would never budge!!

One big league? Where are the riders going to come from, I think I'm right in saying that 6 of our 7 riders ride in both leagues. Once the Sky deal ends we'll still have 2 leagues, but they'll just be earning the same money riding in the 1st or 2nd division.

We Witches fans can't be that surprised by this result. We failed to win at Berwick in the cup, only got a point at Peterborough and only just scraped in at Scunthorpe. So far these are easily the worst teams in the League, so we can't expect to get much at a half decent side. Last season +6 was about enough to get into the playoffs in the real table, as we ride every team twice and looking at the other sides, +16 will be a minimum this season, at the moment we're on track for that, but certainly no slip ups at home can be allowed. But on the bright side, even though this side isn't the full Monty, I'd still fancy us over two legs against most sides in the league, we do look very good at home.

Not happy with Premier Sports now. I took up the offer of £1 for two months. I rang them today to see if I could cancel and take the new offer up, but I was told this was only for new customers, so it seems it was £1 badly spent. They offered me a deal of £4-99 a month for 12 months, but as I've got no interest in anything else they show, that would work out at over a tenner a month (for what I want ). At least I can enjoy it until early July.

Over the years​ we've tried to get meetings on when the forecast has been dodgy, but this isn't a dodgy forecast. Don't even bother putting diesel in the tractor, call it off early to save anybody wasting time or money.

Problem is you need two teams to make a meeting, of the meetings I've seen this season only Glasgow have been competitive. Reading the various comments from other meetings around the Country, most fans are watching crap most weeks, Sheffield and Kings Lynn fans being the biggest moaners. But there is more than one line, if you miss the gate you'll get past if you're good enough, and that's the way it should be. At least we've got a promoter that tries to improve things for the paying customer, not many of those about, is there?

Tried to ring them but they don't open until 09-30. So went online and signed up for £1 a Month, but there was no terms and conditions, no mention of length of contract, so I assume I can get it for £1 for 2 Months then just scrub it. But just to cover myself I put it on a card I rarely use, so if there's a problem I'll just cancel the card.

Spot on there. Didn't enjoy it, but you can only beat what's put in front of you. Hopefully predictions that Berwick and Scunny will be the worst two teams to visit this season will be correct, as i don't fancy watching that every week.

I was wondering why the clubs haven't been up in arms about this, riders contracts have been signed, then Sky pull out. But it transpires Sky are still paying for the current deal, but it costs so much to put it on, they're not showing it. Other sports are begging Sky for air time, and it's so much cheaper to show them than a sport like Speedway. Some may find this strange, but Sky have spent so much on Football they need to make drastic savings, and this was one way to do it. Look at the facts, clubs not moaning, BT get it for free, I think what I've heard is correct. How many clubs could afford to lose the Sky money after contracts have been signed?

I'm sure that CL has a list of the riders he wants to fill places 2-5. But no rider will commit until they know for sure they're not needed for a Div1 place, also any decent Div2 rider will wait and make sure Glasgow aren't going to come calling. I'm sure the likes of us and P'boro can compete financially with all but one of the clubs in our league, not having a pop at Glasgow, just stating the obvious. No good us stating we want a rider one day, only to find out he's also wanted by a Thursday club in Div1 the day after. So, like us, CL must play a waiting game. Last season we just had to avoid Coventry's fixtures when we sorted out ours, I can't see CL going for riders who are doubling up for 2 or 3 different clubs.

Also like the look of that lot, but how many of those double up? Maybe there's a way of sorting out a fixture list that doesn't clash, but I can't see it.

With the geography of Div 2, I'd have thought a decent Southern based rider would say "yes p!ease" if Ipswich or Peterborough wanted them. Certainly make life at lot easier for them.

Puddles? When does it ever rain at Foxhall? But agree about the undulations, but that would cost the owner a fortune to resurface, so can't see that happening in my lifetime.

Last season CL did a good job making sure we had Danny for all meetings, dont think he'll be able to do the same next season. Far to many fixtures in Div 1 to avoid clashes, hopefully he'll just make sure he's available for all home meetings and just get the right guest for away meetings when the need arises. For ease of posting shall we just call the divisions 1 and 2? I suppose they aren't dancing in the streets of Hoddesden, WHY?? do they get renamed? Why House sounds ok.

Well done Somerset, worthy champions. No doubt our 2017 thread will be on here soon. No comment from me until after the BSPA AGM, except I'd welcome back Gino.

I'm hoping Connor will be the better option. Confidence is a massif factor for a youngster, and he knows he can get points at Foxhall, so hopefully that'll give him the edge over James.