marko

Nah trust me Hammers have given up, they have shut the gates, the planned Arena vs Kent meeting dissapeared off the radar (season ticket holders mugged) and other groups who had a date or two to hire the track told to go elsewhere which is strange because you would have thought sub letting the track would be worth money? Or is it a case of taking your ball and going home because you did not make the play offs?

The play off can be exciting, the semi finals though often tend to be over after the first leg. However it is penny wise and pound foolish to have a competition that is good at the end but renders the hundred plus meetings before it next to meaningless, crowds don't bother with those in the main and surely not amount of money can make up for that shortfall over those 5/6 months

Lakeside will not trouble you as they have already thrown in the towel hence why once they knew the writing was on the wall they dropped Karlsson and Bech like a bad habit in order to bring in cheaper options.

The play offs maybe the rules but that does not make it right, the league has been a farce all season and having these play offs will neither add to it or make what's gone before suddenly all ok

yes Kingbee the trouble was there was only one or two promotions involved and that was not enough to break down the walls or go it alone, a similar thing happened in the sixty's which has been well documented, could the same thing happen now? i very much doubt it but how long does one put up with the current situation? I hear people say that poor speedway is better than nothing at all but i just cannot understand that logic.

From what I have seen of Lewis around Poole that track would suit him a treat, don't get me wrong Arena can be a good little race track but most of the time it does not really suit a rider like Lewis who needs just a tad more grip than most riders are comfortable with on those tight bends. Regardless of your opinion though it is good that the post match debate is centred around the racing which was fast and sometimes more than a little furious rather than guest riders or rain. Ok maybe a little controversy with the referee calls but in an fortunate it almost added to the drama. That match wont be forgotten in a hurry. Ps nice to see Davey leave his alto ego at home tonight, that was absolute classic Davey Watt in action, the sort that would be a good guest for the Pirates in future weeks

Correct me if i am wrong but was the lapping actually the celebration lap? if so that would not count. I honestly thought though Peter was going to walk off the track and gift Hammers a 5-0, by all means call me biased but i think Hammers were unlucky not to win that given the outcome of the initial running of heat 15 and Newman being able to take three of Comptons rides. That said even two league points would not have been enough.

Now confirmed that this is being shown on Bet365

The fans are not being put through the pain though, everyone has the right to say, no i don't think this is likely to equate to good value for money and entertainment, i will give it a miss.

I am sure a decent crowd will be there in as much as this is the final home meeting but frankly after Monday's farce and no apology what so ever in the aftermath of those events i would not blame people for voting with their feet and staying away. Would anyone revisit the same restaurant and order the same meal just five days after receiving terrible service? Also this is the only Elite League match on the day so it is likely to be screened on Bet365 so its not like anyone will miss anything unless you have a sadistic love of driving on the M25 edited for terrible grammar

It has to be said Poole are looking somewhat vulnerable right now missing Ward and Pawlicki, Wolves have nothing but pride to race for but look up for this.

I don't care which clubs were involved, it should not make any difference, i think we need to get away from this "because its Poole" mentality, its not about them, its about our sport being run in such a manner that the paying public no matter who they support are cheated! When the rain came it was clear the track was in a bad way, a decision at this point was needed to be taken and the question was a simple one! can the track be made race worthy? if yes then how long would it take to make it that way and if not then the meeting is abandoned. Note the wording Race Worthy, i do not simply mean you can ride on it, anyone with a bit experience on a motorbike can ride a speedway bike but racing a speedway bike is a different kettle of fish. Fans pay to see riders race! not just ride around!

Never mind Foreverblue you will have the chance to prevent the same mistake again this Friday, hopefully others will take advantage of that option too. As the saying goes "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me"

Not sure how long you have been following the sport Norman but tracks have always been and probably always will be shall we say "extremely economical" with the truth when it comes to the weather on race days, most of the time they will not admit to any rain unless its actually been rained off, this goes back to even before the internet was invented in the days where the only source of info was via a telephone and more often than not a land line rather than a mobile phone. Best way is to see what others are saying, keep an eye on the radar if you have access to one via the many apps, and a make judgement call based on that.

How radical do you want? How about individual fan groups buying out current promotions or boycotting until such time as they are forced sell off their lot cheap. CIC or community investment companies is something which is growing all the time including in sport, but it would be no good to just come in with one or two clubs because they would get shouted down by the old guard, remember the stories of ex promoter John Berry trying to get into the inner circle of speedway only to be met with brick walls and more than a bit of "who do you think you are" that still exists today. Speedway can only be returned to what the fans want by the fans themselves, the bspa have shown themselves to be incompetent, they are stuck in the dark ages and honestly believe that only they and they alone can know what is best, does not matter how high your IQ is, does not matter how much money you have, if your not in that inner circle or related to someone who is then your not coming in and if they do happen let you in you have to sit at the back keep quiet! Regardless of how many tracks would end up becoming full CIC run clubs or part CIC run clubs with a current promoter holding a majority share (because there are still a small few honest good promoters out there, but they can only do so much because of the John Berry effect, Stuart Douglas at Lakeside i firmly believe to be a guy who came into the sport with his heart in the right place and wanted to make change for the better but then along came Mr Cook with a pair of special bspa old guard handcuffs) Speedway needs new people with fresh ideas and the scope to be able to make them become a reality and above all else the sport needs a completely neutral independent body that can oversee it and manage it.

Oh make no mistake about it, Poole are just one club, there are eight or sometimes nine others in the EL, they could work against them if they wanted but they are all in it for themselves at the end of the day. They all say at the end of the year they don't like the tactical ride yet it always gets voted back in, all clubs tend to take what loyal fans they have for granted and they tend to keep them in the dark, lie, cheat and steal. They all come from the same old school of speedway promoting, they are all as bad as each other!

The few that turned up tonight have been well and truly shafted, i hope they and others will take that on board and stay away on Friday as a protest. Watch it on bet365 instead!

Its another part of speedway open to manipulation and it simply must stop. You run 15 heats or the the event has to be re staged no exceptions. I still cant understand the decision to call it off, 20 past nine there was loads of time left to do additional ground works run the last few heats in better safer conditions and still be done by half ten, its never worried the promotion before when its an 8pm start. As for Davey Watt, we all know he is nothing more than little girl, who throws his toys out as soon as he don't get his way.

Why not just stop the racing, grade the track with more sawdust for half hour then finish off, there is no rush to finish by a certain time, screw the TV timings, run it off air if needed. Like said before, there is no curfew at this track, i have been there after 10pm watching the end part of meetings, many a time down the years.

Keep working on the track then, there is no curfew at Arena Essex, none at all, i have seen meetings go on to half 10 or even close to 11pm

Davey Watt will love this! Love it!

Stop saying your going to get on with it, actually do it for once!

More genuine passes so far than you would see in a whole meeting at Leicester

omg the place is all but empty, i was ambitious with my prediction of 500 but you cant blame them.

Oh for goodness sake! i thought they said the weather was going to die out but it looks like some heavy rain is brewing up, it will hit within the next hour