Mike.Butler

the 4TT at Eastbourne was actually on Sunday 26th September. ht 17 Mick Pither, Paul Woods, Colin Ackroyd, Ian Fletcher (63.0) ht 18 Mick Pither, Roger Abel, Paul Woods, Ian Fletcher (63.6) ht 19 Peter Collins, Trevor Geer, Paul Gachet, Kai Niemi (61.8) ht 20 Mick Pither, Roger Abel, Paul Woods, Colin Ackroyd (64.4) ht 21 Gordon Kennett, Chris Morton, Richard Greer, Steve Weatherley (61.8)

how much more exciting this promises to be than the same fixture was at perry barr last season.

This season Wolverhampton have run 6 junior heats with up to 8 riders in attendance. I stay and watch (I'd be a hyprocrite if I didn't!). Having just 4 riders continually riding against one another heat after heat isn't great; but when it's 6 or 8 it is of more interest.

the smell the noise the adrenalin a relatively small no. of participants meaning you feel as though you almost know them personally my statistics

roll on the 100th

I couldn't attend over weekend, but reading this thread has whetted my appetite for next year..

heat 8 decision could have gone either way.. Out of the 5 of us neutrals on 1st bend two had it one way, two the other, and I couldn't call it.

Suggest a ref known for 'getting on with it' is appointed for semi's.

Amazingly it could be that the greatest rivalry in British speedway currently is between 2 National League sides....and one of those tracks is likely to stage more meetings than any other in the UK this season! It feels like here in the South East that the El especially is an irrelevance .. ....most meetings.. but not most heats..lol

trend is that the larger the conurbation the less likely it is they have a speedway club!

Unless there are more teams in whatever league Poole run in, I can't see a solution to this..

The other Jack, JPB said on facebook yday that he was booed by Kent fans on monday and doesnt know why, can anyone shed any light? I silently boo him (even at Perry Barr (cos his name is too long to fit in my results database I use). ..

Many thanx for your thoughts all..I think I now feel its 75% Kent 25% Brummies fault we didn't get 15 heats: as opposed to 75/25 the other way as I left the stadium. LEN - GET A MOVE ON - START AT 6.30 PLEASE AND TELL YOUR RIDERS THEY CAN HAVE A LAP OF HONOUR AFTER 10 heats are done in the first hour......... AND - next week give fans a couple of quid off to make up for the missing races over last couple of weeks..I mean to say, 14 mins racing in 2 HOURS!! (pretty pathetic really don't you think!) Maybe we could get some 2nd half racing if there was proper meeting management taking place. *JOKE*

Are refs ever held to account when meetings run slowly? If not why not????

neutral fan in attendance. * Great racing * Great crowd * Referee and home riders know there's a curfew. the crowd could see from heat 10 what was likely to happen..yet we had an inexplicable tractor break , home riders laying flat out on track for ages before leaping to their feet, a referee who showed no urgency early in in the meeting, and totally predictably ran out of time. Extra laps with flag for heat winners hardly helped either.. It's not Birmingham's fault there is a 2 hr curfew but.. * Drury should hang his head in shame - I often go to Perry Barr (how would he feel if most of his crowd left shaking their heads at the way they were robbed of a finale to this meeting) Yet another example of the fans who pay good money getiting short changed. That's another promoter who should be done on a disrepute charge as behaviour not in the interests of the sport. I know I'm wasting my breath (not to mention my money). Once again the paying public were the last thought on any of the above's mind. I sat with Brummies fans and they were disgusted too.

Is there much to do around West Ham's stadium I wonder?....

squads won't increase the regularity of fixtures. The top riders who are signed up will all want to ride in/ miss the same meetings. Perhaps if we ran our season from Jan-April it might work..

Thoroughly enjoyed it. Thought racing was excellent. Atmosphere on a par with Warsaw. What a shame we rarely get much atmosphere at league matches as fewer and fewer of us attend weekly/fortnighty/monthly* delete as applicable for local track..

Just seen this has been moved to the principality stadium for tomorrow night, I thought maybe there would be a 3rd/4th place play-off on Saturday but luckily there doesn't appear to be one this time..

maybe the Russian league teams?

The other sports mentioned have a significant worldwide tv audience. Speedway doesn't. Stand-alone GP riders is pie in the sky. Given a few years I suspect that the Polish league will be unable to offer the kind of money the top boys currently enjoy, and it will be interesting to see how many can survive on GP income alone! I suspect full-time speedway riders may not be around at all in 20 years time.

lee dicken

Mis-match I'm afraid - The Stoke fans present were happy enough but I'm not sure Lee Dicken is the answer to Buxton's team problems. So many 1st bend falls from their lower order, its competitive 2nd strings they need as much as a new no.1

As said earlier in an earlier post I drove up from Sussex having checked match was on before I left. It's bigger than just me though isn't it. It's about trust and the effect that this type of balls-up has on other tracks businesses. That is why I sincerely believe that the sport is better off with tracks closed that don't act in a professional manner at all times. I'm sorry but every one of these negative stories takes us further down the road to oblivion. And whilst I'm at it what the heck is going on at Stoke? How many times have I thought about going there only to see 'match postponed' signs up? The latest being yesterday...Matt calls for continuity of fixtures....some promotions can't even manage the odd meeting once in a while!

the problem with squads is that the rich bags all the best riders...sign them up to stop other clubs using them...ok so they may only be able to put a team out on a particular day under the points limit but the majority of clubs won't be able to compete. Unless you envisage there being some kind of restriction on make up of squads? Seems to me this will benefit Poole more than any other club but they will find they have few other teams to race against! Rider control with set pay scales is the answer. (but I'm not holding my breath)