uk_martin

Why doesn't the 8 day rule apply to Troy Batchelor?

Perhaps a parallel thread for gossip hearsay and uninformed tongue wagging is needed for posts like the last one? Out of respect for the theme of this thread I'll hold on to my hearsay about a prominent rider and his possible destination next year.

So, find a promping junior, wave a contract under his nose and you never need to worry about getting last pick in the draft again?

...and now that leaves you with two wishes left... If you believe in fairy godmothers then you can believe that they will all come true as well.

With Edward Kennett and Danny King being almost perma-guests during the play-offs will they get winners medals or will one still have Drunkard Ward's name on it instead?

Fingers crossed for something positive but before we all go wild at the prospect let's keep at least one foot on the ground and remember that Tony Mole won't be looking at a long term plan for Birmingham Speedway. He'll be doing what he's always done in the past which is to get something "sellable" onto the market in the hope that someone buys the club off him. After 2 such sales in the past a Groundhog Day alert needs to be sounded. Those whose horizons only reach as far as next March won't care. Those who look long term need to think about who is going to sort out things like improving the fans experience (viewing, sound system etc) and cultivating a younger and broader based fan base...All items which, had they been addressed since 2007 could have prevented 2014's problems.

Don't forget that Lakeside and Poole were guaranteed their own first choices so irrespective of how well qualified Newman was as a FTR, Poole were guaranteed to land his signature despite being champions (and therefore ordinarily only entitled to last pick)

Probably just as old as the vast majority of other British speedway fans lol. As the British speedway empire dwindles so it has less and less resources, so those resources should be spent wisely. We need to find and nurture more Robert Lamberts NOT pour good money after bad financing riders who won't ever make it at "full" EL level let alone the world stage. Compare our junior plight with Poland. Bartosz Zmarzlik one week wins an SGP and then 2-3 weeks later struggles to finish 3rd on the same track in the Polish u21 Championships. Their u21 future is bright whilst British speedway tries turning older riders who still haven't been able to cut the mustard after 6-7 years of trying into a bright future.

So what was the point of fast track reserves? To give the likes of Kerr and Garrity a chance or to give some old timers like Newman and Smart a lifeline? Was there also not an intention to see Team GB benefit from the development of young talent? How will British Speedway benefit from Newman being redefined as young upcoming and a potential Team GB rider? Does anyone actually think that he will represent Team GB at the SWC?

When Poole are crowned EL Champions they can look back at the season and attribute their title to one thing above all else, and that was the successful manipulation of Kyle Newman into one of those Fast Track Reserve slots. How a rider with 5-6 years experience at PL level gets to fill a slot intended for young inexperienced but upcoming NL talent puzzles me as much today as it puzzled me in March.

The point was that when Poole needed a 4 point away win, the speedway establishment went through hell and high water (literally) to ensure that the meeting went ahead and wasn't abandoned until Poole had enough of a lead and that the result would stick. NOW that Poole have been vulnerable with injuries to their riders and would face a second leg at a disadvantage, all the excuses are being trotted out for why the meeting isn't going ahead.

Don't mention Belle Vue in 2013

I've seen them in use in SEC and SGP meetings, with Tai Woffinden and Martin Smolinski being two regular wearers that come to mind...what is it about Germans and GoPro cameras?

Interesting to read about the analysis of Michael Schumacher's skiing injuries now being attributable to the GoPro camera that he had attached to his helmet. Reading between the lines, what this probably means is that the impact, rather than being distributed around the whole of the helmet seems to have been localised at the point of the camera mount, causing more pressure per square inch at that point, and the rest as they say is history. I wonder if the authorities will take any notice of the dangers of these devices when deciding on whether to continue the use of Helmet cams in speedway?

Economists have this concept known as "opportunity cost" - whereby you measure the cost of one commodity in terms of the foregone alternative....so...you could say that admission cost roughly 5 pints of beer, at Polish prices. How would that compare to the cost of admission compared to beer in Great Britain? - It's not that different is it? Also, bear in mind that when there is a local derby, e.g. Stal v Falubaz, ticket prices go up to about 80 Zloties. AND THEY STILL SELL OUT! Think of that for a moment...would the price at Monmore Green triple for the Coventry fixture? What would be the uproar / reaction if it did?

Yep, I think I know the one you mean. That meeting was a disgrace. All it was, was a prevarication on a really hot day in order to sell as many drinks and ice creams as possible. It still stands as the only meeting I've ever walked out of before the last race - in fact I think I walked out at around about Heat 10.

Deserved by the Stal faithful too. Average attendance of 13,190 per meeting deserves its reward.

I know it's fashionable to blame the last promoter, however if you think about it the problem is a lot more deep-seated than that, and it goes back to when the gates re-opened in 2007. The biggest problem has been the "lost generation" of fans, meaning that those fans who came back when speedway re-started were mainly in their 50's-80's. There has never since 2007 been any form of long term strategy for developing a younger fan base. Had there have been then the 12-13-year-olds of 2007 (what there were and who could be "hooked" on to the sport) would be full admission payers today, and the cash shortfall caused by dwindling attendances may have been averted. Sadly, the promoter (Tony Mole) had no incentive to go in for long term strategies, as his own business plan was always to sell the club on, so his investment in the younger fans wouldn't have given him any rewards. It was always going to be "someone else's problem"

A common Google coq-up. It should translate as "Zloties" - which when converted, = £95,000 or so.

Feeling really sorry for any Kings Lynn fan who went to Poole yesterday. Dastardly & Mutley did a fantastic job of putting the meeting on last week despite the rain, so when the track conditions became a bit of a leveler, Poole were all too keen to race. And of course we remember how a year ago at Belle Vue, the rain and positively dangerous conditions didn't get in the way of an engineered 7 point win for the Pirates that scraped them into the play-offs when Sky and the "establishment" wanted them there. But yesterday, it was all too easy for Poole, who were facing the meeting with having to track 5 guests in a much weakened team, just to say, "it's been raining, the meeting's off". What a joke British speedway has become that Poole are allowed to call the tune while the rest of the sport has to dance to it. I gather that Buster Chapman tweeted that he couldn't believe that a club with all the resources to employ the most expensive riders couldn't invest to the right equipment to either prevent track damage or to fix and prepare the track after a bit of rain. How true! The other thing is the irony that the team that fell foul of Belle Vue's "plumbing failure" last year, now has a track unfit for racing through water damage just at a time when they would have faced going into the meeting with a severely weakened team. Funny that, innit?

Mickey Mouse's last hurrah, as Polish "champions" lol. Wonder where this competition will be held next year? Will Stal Gorzow host it, or will it "go abroad"? If Zielona Gora host it then it will really be like an away meeting for Stal Gorzow with the hatred that goes on between those two clubs. Could also make the potential attendance (for the same reason) unviable there next year.

It's Poole innit? The second leg will be abandoned and the result from the first leg only will stand.......possibly.

So by process of elimination, that means that the NL is the place to be! Let's all follow Eastbourne into the NL next year.

Here's food for thought for anyone convinced that the PL is the answer...Peterborough are citing losses of £60,000 in the last year as the reason why Mick Horton (honourable man that he is - ) is pulling out of his arrangement with messrs Frost and Maloney. http://www.speedwaygb.co/news.php?extend.27463.20

Zagar probably expecting to be nursing a hang over tomorrow after Stal Gorzow win the Polish league today ha ha.