uk_martin

Don't they realise that with the age demographic of the average speedway fan up and down the country, the the added tension and suspense could lead to a widespread epidemic of hypertension, cardiac arrests or other internal seizures ?

Maybe the answer is to have a video game? BSPA18 perhaps? The speedway version of FIFA18? Certainly No-one who plays FIFA18 is unaware of football.

Time will tell. Of course fans applaud free admission. What fan wouldn't? Free stuff! Can't beat it. Be interesting to see the demographics of the increased numbers at BV. If there's been a 30% increase in attendance, then that, from my memory of the place, should mean an increase of about 300-500. So, were there really 300-500 extra teenagers on the terraces there? Was anyone doing the "proper business" thing of monitoring their customer base in order to better understand it? And of course, what will happen when the kid getting a freebie crosses over to the age when he/she has to dip into his/her pocket and actually pay for admission...how many of them carry on attending when they have to contribute to paying the bills of the business? As I said, time will tell. Belle Vue can (afford?) to do things their way according to their circumstances. Birmingham's circumstances are different, so the TwoMasons will do things their way, as they best see fit.

And the very next post to yours says that Belle Vue made a loss last year, so letting everyone in for free doesn't work either, does it?

Exactly how many 17yo's go to watch the speedway with 2 adults? Most 17yo's want to be with other people their own age, not with mummy and daddy. That's a concept that speedway and most of the older generation speedway fans can't quite grasp.

How much do the Belle Vue promotion have to pay to rent the stadium?

The TwoMasons are the promoters Lawrence Rogers is the Team Manager Lee Kilby is the Commercial Manager

What's the matter? Is he holed up in "The Jungle" in Calais, or something? I thought that the the NL was supposed to be about British riders, not foreigners. Are Birmingham now going down the rule bending route that Poole & co get accused of? For Christs sake, it's going to be a 3 point average, 7th best rider in a 3rd division team in a 2nd rate league in the speedway's equivalent of the Third World. I wish they'd just cut through the crap and get on with it.

Why? What's the point of dragging on the announcement of the 7th rider any more? Cut out the messing and the guessing. It's only a #7 FFS, it's not like everyone's holding their breath for a new world beating superstar #1 to be announced. Let's just have the announcement and let's get on with it.

So who is on the SCB committee? When I enquired I was told it was basically a mix of mainly speedway promoters and a few referees thrown in for good measure. So if the speedway promoters are there, and speedway promoters are in the BSPA, barring a minority influence of the referees, what's the big difference? AND if there is a big difference, and the promoters aren't involved in the SCB, then isn't this the answer to so many people's dreams of an "Independent Body" to run the sport?

Poland won the SWC with what could have been an Under 23 team last year. Apart from the "Poland Legacy" team. (KK, PP1, Kołodziej, Hampel etc) you have that SWC winning generation of Bartosz, Dudek, PP2, PP3, and Magic who could form the backbone of a dominant team for many years to come. Behind them you have the likes of Szymon Woźniak and PP4, not to mention the 4 musketeers mentioned in the original post. Bright days ahead for Poland on the international front, and plenty enough riders there who can mount a serious challenge for world championship honours. But as history shows, it only takes one "freak" rider from an unexpected country, indeed the only rider from a country of the required quality (e.g. Tai, Hancock etc) and the whole equation is altered. Indeed Poland with Jerzy Szczakiel did exactly that when British and New Zealand riders were back then, just as dominant as Polish riders are today.

So a committee of basically made up of the same people, took off one hat and put another hat on, then, whilst wearing their second hat, they altered the decision that they made whilst wearing their original hat, thereby passing it back to themselves, for when they are wearing their original hat again, to deal with. And people wonder what the hell is going on...???

LOL The thread's been dead for a week...someone has to prove that there's still life in the CIty.

The blue touchpaper has been lit. Let's see how long before those who prefer "jumpers for goal posts" speedway pipe up about the announcement that the Brummies will be riding in team race suits this year?

At one end of the scale people complain about doubling up, and at the other end of the scale other people are complaining about Edward Kennett and Scott Nicholls being prevented from doubling (down). What a farce.

Yeah, too bad that there are no flights to (Hamburg) Lubeck any more. Options basically are to fly to Berlin and hire a car at German prices, or to fly to Szczecin and hire a car at Polish prices and approach from the other direction. Either way, it's about a 2 hour drive, but very nice when you get there. Will be in Teterow (& Gustrow) for the Pfingstpokal :-)

Ukraine? Andrei Karpov +1 ?

Bradley Wilson-Dean + 1 for New Zealand...oh wait a minute, he rode NL so he must be British...but anyway, hasn't the home of Barry Briggs and Ivan Mauger got 2 riders who they can send?

Didn't he do something similar at the Brummies P&P day last year, effectively ending his season before it even started? He was never able to catch up for lost time after he came back from injury, and was never the best of alternatives at the #7 slot for the Brummies. Unless he's been pulling up trees in off-season training, It'll be a long hard grind for him in 2018.

Pretty sure that whoever is hosting would be straight through to the finals anyway. I doubt that there would have been any objections to a British pair in the final had it been staged at Belle Vue. In any case, be glad that there's only one Polish pair lol. To me this sounds like a way of keeping interest in some kind of team tournament alive, knowing that the Poles as a 4-some are now head and shoulders above anyone else's 4-man teams, and that there was the possibility of a dynasty growing that would sap the interest from other countries. With a pairs tournament, the likes of GB featuring Tai + 1, USA with Hancock + 1, Russia with Emil + 1, Australia with Doyle + 1 and other countries with one top flight rider (e.g. Vaculik, Zagar etc) plus one other, could be much more in the mix. OK, Poland are in the final, but I wouldn't take a Polish win for granted like I would if this was the old SWC. AND as a bonus to anyone thinking of going, the day after the final, it's Stal Gorzow v Falubaz Zielona Gora...so you can make one heck of a trip out of this.

There's a Grass Track rider and behind the scenes guy, Adrian Guest who could be signed up. Having "A.Guest" at #7 has been par for the course over the past few seasons, so why not?

I guess that by that definition speedway is alive and well in places like Exeter, Long Eaton and Cradley, on the basis that there are lower league teams of riders taking to the track touting their names.

I'll accept Prague. Are Berlin still going? The website suggests that there's nothing going on. If you insist on Cardiff, then why not Warsaw? I can't accept Edinburgh though. Lakeside is closer to London than Armadale is to Edinburgh. Heck Wolverhampton's track is closer to Birmingham than Armadale is to Edinburgh. No, nein, and thrice, niet!

In name only. Their track at Armadale is 23 miles out of town. And if I went to Cardiff tomorrow, I wouldn't be able to find a speedway track there.

But no team. In fact a one weekend a year track in a "country" with no team.