MattK

Have they applied for planning permission yet?

16.1 Fixtures shall take priority as follows: FIM Speedway Grand Prix FIM Speedway World Cup FIM SGP Qualifying Meetings FIM Junior Speedway World Championship Meetings British Championships (Senior, Junior) BSPA Shared and Fee Events Elite League Competitions Premier League Competitions National League Competitions Others However, given these are little more than meaningless international friendlies I would have thought the rider wouldn't be selected for the meeting.

Yep, especially with all the rain-offs. £3 seems rather steep for a programme though. Swindon is £2.50 which I think is about the maximum I would be prepared to pay for a league meeting.

Darcy Ward £7.0 Captain Jason Doyle £3.0 Krzysztof Kasprzak £5.0 Craig Cook £2.0 Nicki Pedersen £6.5 Niels Kristian Iversen £5.5

6,000 jobs, at a motor racing circuit. Are these people on crack?

Isn't Howarth likely to be in the same U21 meetings?

I'm not saying I would replace Birks (or Gomolski for that matter) I was just pointing out with the points available our options are limited.

Who would be an "ambitious" replacement then? We only have 3.94 to replace Gomolski or 3.27 to replace Birks - we can't exactly attract world beaters on those averages.

I agree Cockney. It seems strange that clubs don't offer pre-meeting pit access, track walks, rider meet'n'greets and watching a heat from the centre green to their loyal fans - none of which cost the club a penny. The only explanation I can come up with is laziness.

What is your criteria for an idea to be taken seriously? I can't see any reason why the SS cannot put together a credible blue print which at least forms the basis of serious discussion.

Middlo Havvy

I appreciate what you mean Mike, but that article doesn't include anything that isn't posted on here week in, week out. I would like to see the Speedway Star put together a blue print for what they think British speedway, or at least the Elite League should look like. The main difference between SS and us (as in fans on here) is that we can only speculate on costs and income, whereas you'd like to think that SS at least as an idea of ballpark figures.

It's not jsut money, but ability as well. Nicholls, Woffinden and Harris would be head and shoulders above every other rider and it would make the clubs who sided them too strong. It is harsh, but there has to be a cut-off point somewhere.

I agree, but this would require significant investment in promotion and marketing. I don't think the current speedway establishment are capable or willing to do that. The alternative is cutting your cloth accordingly, which I think is the more sustainable option going forwards.

If this is the attitude of the people who play the music, then that's half the problem. Music can and should be used to build up the atmosphere, not just as a filler between heats.

New sponsor perhaps?

for example, my uncle and his wife go to Cardiff, but won't attend another speedway fixture all year. They also go to The Emirates, Twickenham etc. I don't think you'd ever get them to a league meeting on a regular basis. I also agree with what you say about spouses and family. I think a lot of wives will go to Cardiff, but would never go to a local stadium.

I'm sure it was stated somewhere that the majority of people who went were fans of other clubs, rather than new fans attracted by the free offer. I agree. I think the majority are fair-weather sports fans.

In this time of social media, it seems rather pointless blocking access to one site, when another can be up and running in a matter of minutes. Just like the authorities have singularly failed to reduce the popularity of P2P sharing, I can't see how they can possibly keep a lid on streaming sites.

As long as it's in Las Vegas, I don't mind when it is.

I always wonder if speedway would be better marketing itself at over 50s. They typically have more disposable income, more free time and there's no reasn why they wouldn't enjoy motorsports as much as the next person.

I don't think £17 is too much, if the meeting provides value for money. Now, I appreciate "value for money" is subjective and people have their own opinions, but for whatever reason the racing at Swindon this season has been generally quite poor, with most races won form the gate and very strung out. On the other hand, I would have no qualms about paying £17 every week to watch what was served up at Somerset last Tuesday, if the Rebels were my team.

I would say Cook is on par with the likes of King and Kennett in the pecking order, but a long way behind Tai, Harris and Nicholls. The likes Worrall and Auty are an order of magnitude behind Cook, King and Kennett.

But presumably BSI pay the FIM for the rights to promote the world individual championship, so why isn't that money trickling down from the FIM into youth speedway?

I don't understand the logic of dropping junior riders into the world cup to gain "experience". If they want experience there are plenty of foreign leagues they could be riding in every night of the week instead of the relative comfort of the Premier League in Britain. If Cook, Worrall and Auty have ambitions to represent their country and even ride in the GP series, then they should be doing the Polish and Swedish leagues on a regular basis.