marko

its basically showmanship, and making it more than just four riders racing around, going back to pits and then rinse and repeat.

He probably had a downside agreement? nothing new in this sport, remember Peter Karlsson got axed by Lakeside for "costing them too much money" despite his form being poor and not scoring much at the time? I am pretty sure if a heat leader racing at the highest level scored 0-R-F-0 they will not be going home with just travelling expenses.

Adam Shields was a rider who almost never waved to the crowd at Lakeside but I think that maybe he was just very introverted and just wanted to ride his bike but didn't want the attention, we had plenty of riders though down the years that made up for that, for example Henning Bager. But in Belle Vue's case it was probably television insisting riders go straight back so they can be interviewed, Again its a live product that is catering for those at home rather than those that actually made the effort to pay to come and watch.

Yes have a good point and it will be interesting to see how many fans attend matches rather than watch it at home, even before the pandemic, televised meetings were always poorly attended, because people don't want to be hanging around for ages with nothing going on, I gave up going on Sky nights because I had already paid for sky so I was saving £20 plus petrol. 90 mins is about right for a 15 heat meeting, once you start going beyond that, natural boredom will start kicking in and people in general do not have threshold for long drawn out events now, whether its sport or a film or whatever unless there is always something keeping you invested and on the edge of your seat.

I either pick up the star from Smiths in Liverpool Street or the main Tesco in Chelmsford, Smiths has been very mixed, some weeks loads of copies, others nothing at all but Tesco always has them without fail. I had subbed to the star for many years, probably over 20 but I do prefer buying it off the shelf.

We have a thread on Eurosport in the Prem section but this question is more about speedway on the World scene but in particular Poland and Sweden which I understand Prem Sports covers. Since I have moved into a rented property I have axed Virgin Media, it was costing my a fortune every month and the cost of the Sports channels really hiked the price up. Decided I can live without SKY Sports and BT Sport, but I am tempted to do an online sub with Prem Sports as they show on the face of it, plenty of speedway and a few other sports I quite like and the cost is not much more than say a Netflix. What is everyone's opinion on this channel? not just its speedway coverage?

Its ok if your sat at home but I recall tv meetings at Lakeside, they dragged because of the advert breaks and very little going on for those who actually paid money to come and watch it live. And then you had those dodgy weather meetings where normally the promoters and the ref would do everything to get the meeting through, TV, they give it the "we want to get the meeting through" but then they cut to commercial breaks and waste time just like always trying to pad it all out, whilst those at the track and even at home are shouting "get on with it"

Hope it works out for Paul, I can still recall him making his debut as a 16 year old for Arena Essex. Shrewd move by Len who may attract some ex Hammers fans to attend?

It wasn't this instance but i recall Andre putting Brent Collyer in the fence and ending his meeting after just one attempted ride. Another rider always loathed at Arena was Sean Wilson, practically ended young Gary Corbett's career. What's the difference between a hard rider and a dirty one? the hard one will close the door, the dirty one will just put you in the fence to make sure.

Please let’s not this descend into political talk, we likely would have been in the same position no matter which party was in power, so it’s not a matter of who is in charge but just s**t happens. Its about how best to rise above it and make the best out of a crap situation.

8 rounds, no matter the scoring system, he deserves to be World Champion

They are not holding back, my heart has been in my mouth several times, more guts in their throttle hand than i have in my whole body.

Race of the entire 2020 season anywhere?

IMO the likes of Max Fricke and Jack Holder should be given wildcard places ahead of riders like Lindback and NKI who have been around for years and are realistically past their best now.

Well done to Max Fricke, always good to see another rider come to the dance

This is much better racing tonight

As I have said before, it’s similar to the league play offs and the majority of fans are in favour of that system even though a team can finish mid table and still be crowned champions. I would prefer 20 straight heats and what you score is just that, but it does lack drama, these gimmicks have been introduced over the years to make it more interesting and make up for the fact that racing at times can be very dull and predictable after the start, so the focus is on manipulating the contest to keep it interesting. In the grand prixs though, most meetings are held on big tracks where speed is king, need more variety, imagine having a GP on a track shaped like Monmore Green, Eastbourne, or Ipswich? Less reliance on pure speed, and more on actual track craft.

Indeed, the track is indicative of the gate exclusion issue

good match race that

I cant get why NKI has never become a more dominant rider at Grand Prix level, he has a ton of skill but must lack bike performance.

But the thing is Daniel your not one of those people, as you say you still watch speedway on TV, doesn't matter if its not the UK, its still speedway.

Find it a bit weird how many people who frequent these forums and post more than average, still claim to no longer have any interest in speedway, why are they here? there must be an element they care about otherwise why waste your precious free time? unless they have an agenda of "i don't have speedway anymore so i hope it dies, so no one has it" I amongst many others became lost to live speedway when they closed Arena Essex down (its not been bulldozed yet, so i still live in hope) and i have not been to a meeting since, but of course i watch on tv, and i still love the sport, its been part of my life for over 30 years since i was 15, its in the blood now, i am not blind to all the problems that exist and want to make us pull our hair out when the promoters make in our own eyes the wrong decisions but i still enjoy the racing for what it is, four riders, four laps, throwing a bike around that is basically a rocket on two wheels and making it look stupidly easy, in short, everything that appealed to me when i first started going, when i didn't know the riders, or the complicated rules or any of the other red tape that surrounds the sport.

I am not sure about the scoring system, but it’s not ruining it for me! and speedway is often run on a gimmick stipulation, league racing has for years now been run using play offs which is a gimmick that can allow a team to come from nowhere to steal the top prize, same now in GP, have an average meeting, scrape into the semi finals, go on to win it and boom 20 points. The difference is though, league play offs are decided effectively over 2 meetings, Grand Prix’s are decided over 8 but often more.

Doyle isn’t exactly an angel himself, if you live by the sword........

So the riders who had already chosen Anlas, what are their options now?