marko

To be fair you look at most venues and they are stuck in the 80s complete with music from that era apart from list of songs that every track plays prior to the start, prior to heat 15, after a 5-1 and some individual rider victory songs, it’s like the BSPA handout out a list some 15 plus years ago and said you can only use these so every track plays the same stuff. Pretty much every club plays Republica before the meetings starts and Europe prior to heat 15, no one wants to stand out and be different it’s all the same old same old.

To be fair you look at most venues and they are stuck in the 80s complete with music from that era apart from list of songs that every track plays prior to the start, prior to heat 15, after a 5-1 and some individual rider victory songs, it’s like the BSPA handout out a list some 15 plus years ago and said you can only use these so every track plays the same stuff. Pretty much every club plays Republica before the meetings starts and Europe prior to heat 15, no one wants to stand out and be different it’s all the same old same old.

Agree to a point but if a highlights package only produces a false picture of what attending a meeting is like your setting yourself up to fail because as soon as these people visit most tracks they will see a much different picture and won’t be back.

Shambles and not the first time at this track, easy to blame stock cars but Lynn has both, Coventry had both, others tracks have had elements of both where even with a tarmac track the cars still end up rutting up the speedway track. And let’s not forget it’s not stock cars sharing with speedway, it’s speedway sharing with stock cars, I turned in BSN close to half seven, was going to to give it a couple of races because at least with bomber involved you will have at least one rider who will prove whether the track has anything to it but all I saw was them blading off a ton of dirt leaving a shiny surface, no way were they ever going to race on that.

Slick does not mean it has to be bone dry, Arena Essex was always slick, sometimes one of the slickest tracks around but you seldom saw dust billowing up all over the place. that's not to say it never happened on a Good Friday afternoon though. Rye House always raced Sunday afternoons, I cant recall coming away from there covered in dust many times if ever. People want to enjoy their evening and hopefully see their team win, no one seriously wants to get covered in or get all that muck in their lungs and those on the outside are not going to go to speedway if the narrative is they are going to get covered in dust. And although this is a Poole thread its not just them, Oxford is probably far and away the worst, a few other tracks are up there too, and there is only three of four tracks where i would be confident you will 1. not see any dust and 2. likely to have an entertaining meeting. Which is why after this season i will be giving up BSN because they can only show whats in front of them, and all too often its rubbish.

Will Northampton be back? Nothing but problems with the track and as I write this their home meeting with the Stars is currently delayed because of an issue even though juniors were racing on it only hours before.

I think people are getting confused about the nexus of the issue, it’s not about tracks being slick, it’s not about tracks having home advantage, it’s about the practice of clubs allowing the track to be a dust bowl which does not do anyone less the sport any favours.

The Eastbourne riders had it dialled in, I remember that, especially on that first and second bend so most of the passing was done by the home riders, if you could ride Eastbourne you could ride anywhere, very technical track indeed, even back in the day it tended to be slick because you often had to back the bike in, but there was grip too, they had riders like Andrew Silver and Adam Shields, neither were riders who would stick it on the kerb.

Slick tracks and grippy tracks are part and parcel for the sport, BUT dust should never be accepted, maybe when its a day meeting and the temp is high 20's early 30's fair enough, but not evening meetings in September. All this dust people are breathing in, I bet that will do wonders for your health in years to come. This is not a post aimed at stopping Poole winning at home, or any track having a home advantage but there is no excuse, no excuse whatsoever why a track cant be prepared so that you do not have to wash your car and have a shower after a night out. The amount of proper tracks that have plenty of dirt are far and few between, we might as well race on tarmac because then you can have it dry as ducks back and there will not be any dust. People go on about it be great if speedway was on ITV, no it would not, it would kill the sports reputation once and for all. Peter Oakes said this about dust in a recent interview on 360 speedway, and here is a man that has forgotten more about speedway than most will ever know.

Whether its 40-38 or more in my case 49-47, a close meeting does add something extra but it can stressful too, and going home after a defeat always was a bit of downer because every season my hope was that little Arena Essex would at least win their home meetings because I knew success on the road would be rare. Take out the aggregate bonus point though and that changes the dynamic completely, scrapping a home win means a lot more, and remember when they were giving extra points for winning at home by more than six? I recall the late Jon Cook saying that often made narrow home wins feels like you lost.

Need to start boycotting BSN who give money to tracks like this, I am not giving money to clubs who constantly take the mic anymore, I am done, I would sooner buy a few streams from Belle Vue and watch that even though it would be a lot less value for money. It the only way, hit clubs in the pocket, the BSPA wont do anything neither will Phil Morris it seems.

Heat 1 and already dry and slick, not going to bother wasting my time watching another load of rubbish, there is football on ITV this evening.

I prefer Greg Blair than the patronising Lee Kilby or Ian Brennan

No but that's why I added the "it doesn't help part" BSN can only show what is put in front of them, but the fact they have on occasions been critical of fans moaning about the dust and saying that racing is normally "good here" they are talking to seasoned fans, we were not born yesterday, they need to start asking tougher questions to promoters instead of pandering to them like they are inside the bubble, or maybe that's the problem?

I gave it a go again but its been crap this season, too many tracks where the racing is non existent, too many tracks where they cant even get the basics right like keeping the dust down and it does not help when you have a certain presenters making excuses for the promoters and claiming that the racing has been great when clearly it has been far from it, and not too mention the farce of guests etc. Next season I will stick with watching the Polish Leagues and the Grand Prix.