uk_martin

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.

Yes exactly. It's like saying Lakeside or Rye House are "London" teams really, isn't it? In any case, I took a look at their web site before writing that, and it looks as dead as a dodo. http://www.speedwayteam-wolfslake.de/

Now that's something Poland has in common with the rest of the world. Which other country has a capital city with a current speedway track/team in it? Isn't Hammerby, who used to race in or around Stockholm the nearest to an answer to that question, and they've gone to wall now, haven't they?

Where's that "Feeling Meh" emoji when you need it?

I would question that, if your intention is in attracting a new audience that is going to sustain the sport into the future. We live in a society where the majority of kids (cue the "I know someone who knows someone who will "disprove" this theory" posts) simply do NOT want to do what their parents let alone grandparents do, or go where they go. Kids want to be with their peer groups. Proof is in where they go for their nights out. Check out "town" on a Friday night. People in their teens and 20's will be with others of their age group. You won't see kids of that age down the Derby & Joan Club. So why should speedway be any different? If you want to attract the youth of today, then you have to give them something that they want, somewhere with other people of their age where they can go, have a laugh, have a drink, and all being well, "pull". You won't get that by promising a "Little House On The Prairie" type environment.

Was it? I'm on Twitter and Facebook, and I didn't see anything about it, and I follow the SGB Twitter account. I get to see what happens in Glasgow but wasn't aware of what was happening just up the road from me. So what does that say about how effective the publicity machine is working? And If I didn't see it, what chance the news permiating to a potential new audience who hardly know what speedway is let alone knowing to look at the Coventry web site?

Oh well...as well I asked then. Too bad that it's not being broadcast from the rooftops so that those who don't know where to look can hear the good news too. But then that may risk attracting new fans, and you can't do that in the world of speedway can you?

Whose press release? Nothing on the BSPA web site confirming Coventry's acceptance into the league. And at the end of the day, it's their league. http://www.speedwaygb.co/nlnews

Who cares? What is published in advance of the season is chopped and changed around so much that an advance fixture list is only so much wishful thinking anyway. Have a look at the Polish, Swedish and SGP fixtures, plot them on a holiday planner, and where there is a lull in activity over there, there'll be a high probability of some fixtures happening over here.

Cutting a long story short then, the "subject to confirmation" that was referred to at the AGM still hasn't been confirmed. Nor is there any idea of when the confirmation will be forthcoming, nor does anyone have any idea as to what is holding the matter up.

Didn't they drop the price at Belle Vue to £10 about 6-7 years ago? From what I was told, there was a brief surge in attendance but after a month or so, the attendances leveled out at pre price drop levels. All that the Aces got in the end was the same crowd levels for two thirds of the income. Interestingly, when they abandoned the experiment, and returned to the £15 original admission, the old faithful kept on on coming, even at the higher price. Perhaps the next person who wants to tell us about demand and supply economics should look at the concept of "price elasticity of demand" too, and explain that as part of their theory.

The return of Chris Harris would be interesting indeed, and may actually be the only thing that would tempt a Coventry fan over to Leicester. Maybe the BSPA would consider engineering an assessed 6.00 average for Bomber, like they did for Richard Hall...all in the best interests of British Speedway.

Pretty much sums it up. It's how many feel, who have either given up on the sport or who only go because of the company you keep rather than the spectacle you see.

Don't know really. Don't care either but preferably someone with a clean slate, who didn't disappoint me last year

We're all entitled to our opinions but I won't be disappointed if Cupitt isn't signed up again.

Potential? After 2 complete seasons, he has a 4.00 average in the third division of a second rate league structure. So how far do you think he'll go? With his shoddy attitude towards equipment maintenance, and a tenancy to get bored once the novelty value of a new environment has worn off, I doubt that he'll go as far as you think. If he peaks at a 6.00 NL average I think he'll have gone as far as he could. So the question is, how much effort do you put into producing 6.00 NL riders, and at what cost to those with better potential who won't be getting the time or resources as a result? http://www.speedwaygb.co/files/downloads/nl17_issue_33.pdf As for "very young" - he's 19. Bartosz Zmarzlik was winning SGP's at that age. Really, 19 is not "very young" at all these days. Maybe compared to Stoke Potters riders it will be, and maybe many fans have grand kids that age that make them think that they are young at 19, but in a competitive sporting world, it's not. He's 4 years older than Leon Flint, and I wouldn't mind betting that in 4 years time Leon will be in a far more developed stage of his career than Cupitt is or will ever be at.

We will find out at Birmingham this year. They have re-introduced concessionary admission for the over 60's. As this will account for about 90% of the fan base, that will be as near to a universal price cut as you will get...so hold your breaths, and wait and see. If all goes well, there'll be loads more pensioners on the terraces, and the influx in numbers will justify an elevation of the Brummies to the Championship next year...perhaps?

Not an exact comparison and only one ticket for around the year in question, which was an FA Cup Semi Final ticket for Villa Park in 1984, @ £4.00. So as you can see, especially when you look at the cost of football today, the cost of sporting entertainment, isn't bound by the Retail Prices Index. https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/gallery/2015/feb/17/football-ticket-prices-old-ticket-stubs