Cardiff 2017

[Starman2006]

 

The whole event seemed flat from the beginning , no pre race entertainment as per previous years ..

 

..

 

Just a note that the grid girls stayed in our hotel and despite their obvious good looks , were arrogant and ignorant especially how they obviously feel they are some sort of royalty and treat others accordingly ...

Not all what its cracked up to be is it..

According to your 'Steward Source.' Between reading your obvious disdain for the event & looking at the crowd I'll decline to believe you

You cannot get a fair reflection from a TV mate.

[bruno]

Went for the first time in about 5 years and thougherly enjoyed it and thought the racing wasn't bad. Took the wife for her 2nd ever meeting and she's no speedway fan but said she wants to go again next year. Because I booked late and stayed over it was an expensive day with tickets hotel meal and a few beers plus the petrol reckon I must have spent knocking on £350 or there abouts.not cheap but then again what is these days. Got tickets in the bottom section because of the wife's fear of heights!! Felt a bit claustrophobic under the 2nd tier but decent view. I wouldn't go back to going year after year but might give next year another visit or maybe tempt her with a Polish gp

[Craftman]

According to your 'Steward Source.' Between reading your obvious disdain for the event & looking at the crowd I'll decline to believe you

Been the last 8 at Cardiff , always loved it , but as most can see a trend of attendances dropping , it's telling us something ..

 

Distain for 8 years , yes bloody obviously hate it , but still I go !!!!!

 

As for the steward , I tend to believe them more than people's estimations , given some have attended the event since its inception ...

[OveFundinFan]

Tickets CAN be expensive as they are for world class events but £60 for 2 adults is imo fantastic value

re polish fans yes there noisy yes they wave flags yes they get hammered but amen to all that

really wanted woofie to win but for me he just seems slightly off, child on the way new home etc other far more important things on his mind

Far too soon to right him off & whatever you think of Tai he is by far the most charismatic & media savvy rider today imo

 

Really! May agree with you if he was news in most national papers, facial photo shots included. And never seen him on the likes of Question of Sport, or any other entertainment program where sport celebrities appear.

British speedway is lacking someone that is charismatic and media savvy, someone somewhere must be ........ needs to be found and promoted for the benefit of British speedway.

Lets face it.... even the tough sports like rugby, kick boxing etc are lacking far behind tai in terms of visible tattoos. They, and other sports, are the sports that get a lot of sponsorship and funding..... not speedway.

[Starman2006]

Went for the first time in about 5 years and thougherly enjoyed it and thought the racing wasn't bad. Took the wife for her 2nd ever meeting and she's no speedway fan but said she wants to go again next year. Because I booked late and stayed over it was an expensive day with tickets hotel meal and a few beers plus the petrol reckon I must have spent knocking on £350 or there abouts.not cheap but then again what is these days. Got tickets in the bottom section because of the wife's fear of heights!! Felt a bit claustrophobic under the 2nd tier but decent view. I wouldn't go back to going year after year but might give next year another visit or maybe tempt her with a Polish gp

Go to Torun mate you'l love that..

[RPNY]

Not all what its cracked up to be is it..

You cannot get a fair reflection from a TV mate.

maybe but plenty of people went who I've spoken to that loved it & said it was a good crowd. I also think seeing multiple panoramic views I can see it was a decent enough crowd

[OveFundinFan]

Went for the first time in about 5 years and thougherly enjoyed it and thought the racing wasn't bad. Took the wife for her 2nd ever meeting and she's no speedway fan but said she wants to go again next year. Because I booked late and stayed over it was an expensive day with tickets hotel meal and a few beers plus the petrol reckon I must have spent knocking on £350 or there abouts.not cheap but then again what is these days. Got tickets in the bottom section because of the wife's fear of heights!! Felt a bit claustrophobic under the 2nd tier but decent view. I wouldn't go back to going year after year but might give next year another visit or maybe tempt her with a Polish gp

 

If you go next year, and accepting the cost for one day/night is £350, then

1) book earlier and you can choose maybe cheaper hotel/b&b

2) stay a second night, hotel prices fall on the Sunday night a lot, so you get more for your money.

[SCB]

Previous years have been 35-45k depending on your source. I thought this year was quite full compared to other years so would put it slightly in the higher end. So I'd guess 42k

 

A half empty 72k stadium is still 36k and I think it was over half.

 

I know some people moan about Cardiff but for me it's brilliant. I love it, I've loved them all. It's just magic to turn up at a speedway meeting with 40000 others, see a reasonable meeting that is guaranteed to be on (we'll gloss over it bearly being off about 4 years ago).

 

I just couldn't imagine not going. It's brilliant. It has its faults, it has things that can be improved but the argueembt that it's too expensive baffles me. I've never paid more than £30 for a ticket and for me, that's great value for money. I've paid that for almost every event I've attended in the stadium - the exception being a very early football game that they FAW heavily subsidised.

 

As for cost, what do people want? Move it to London but I work in London 1 week a month and I pay £150-190 a night for hotels, so is it really expensive paying £100 in Cardiff? Bear in mind if you move it to London then you're also not getting a £3 pint but you're paying £5 and every meal is 20-30% more expensive too.

 

Maybe I'm a little biased as I don't have to pay for a hotel for Cardiff (just £80 with of taxis over two days) but I don't get this, "expensive" thing at all.

 

If you want cheap drive down on the day, pay £25 for a ticket, enjoy the speedway and drive home. It's cost you about £8 more than standing in a gloried field in grass banking at 80% of UK stadia. And how often when you go to an way meeting anywhere do you stay over?

 

32 year old Shawn wakes up on GP day and gets as excited as 10 year old Shawn did xmas day. It's bloody brilliant.

Edited July 23, 2017 by SCB

[Poshbird]

Enjoyed Cardiff last night but agree the atmosphere isn't what it was in previous years.

Acoustics in stadium were awful, could barely hear lap times etc & none of Greg Hancock's interview was audible.

[RPNY]

nailed it SCB

[New Science]

 

'The Dude' is catching on..I'm always reminded of Harry Enfield and 'The Scousers' Dey Du(dek) Dough Don't Dey Dough!

A good job Deputy dog didn't turn up

Howdy doo do Dudek

Disgusting behaviour. Why can't they just sit quietly in their folding camping chairs, and enjoy a nice cup of tea and a cucumber sandwich stored in thier tupperware boxes that they keep in their Adidas bags, like us civilised British fans eh?

The problem you have is that some Polish fans think iis ok to behave at Cardiff like they would behave at a league meeting at home in Poland. Drunkenness , spilling beer ,standing for the duration, large flags, constant air horns and flares if only they could get them in. Been to Warsaw GP a few times and that behaviour is not the norm or tolerated , although in League speedway in Poland it is . I,m not a fuddy duddy but would not appreciate buying a fifty quid ticket at Cardiff to find the guy in front of me is going to stand for 3 hours. We had a group of Poles infront of us about 5 years ago, they lasted 20 minutes before being dragged out by the stewards.

Edited July 23, 2017 by New Science

[Gresham78]

Lots of interesting comments and observations on this thread.

Overall I enjoyed yesterday.

The pre-meeting entertainment seemed a bit lacking compared with other years and maybe this was the cause of a slightly flatter feel in build up compared to the past.

 

Thought the first 3 heats were pretty ordinary but then it really picked up and there were some really fine races especially those involving Kildemand Sayfutdinov and Zagar.

 

What was good was that you couldn't pick a winner; Zmarzlik looked to be the fastest on the night but finished off the podium and it was great to see the much unfancied Zagar in the mix.

 

Thought Tai started well but compared to previous years seem to lack an edge. I suspect this may have something to do with his PJR tuned engines; all the Monster Energy team seemed to have struggled on them this year and interestingly Hancock is now using somebody else.

 

Poor old Cookie is lost at this level, he just hasn't got it. As others have said he needs to be regularly mixing it with the other top riders in Poland and Sweden and to be honest at nearly 31 which Polish or Swedish team is going to pick him over an up and coming younger rider? Personally I think he's gone as far as he'll go and Worrall and Lambert stand more of a chance of making it to the next level imo.

 

I really hope that Doyle is crowned World Champion this year. He is so focused and refuses to let anything stand in his way. After his first two races he looked out of it but not for the first time this year he dusted himself down and by force of will got himself into the final. I believe he's made it to every final so far this year which means his performing at a consistent high level, surely the hall mark of a champion?

 

One final point I'd agree with the figure of about 32,000 for the attendance, it did seem a bit down on other years. I wouldn't put it down to the price of admission though; £25 to see the world's best riders performing in a fine venue is excellent value for money in my opinion.

 

Oh, I almost forgot - come back Niki Pedersen you were missed!

[AFCB Wildcat]

Disgusting behaviour. Why can't they just sit quietly in their folding camping chairs, and enjoy a nice cup of tea and a cucumber sandwich stored in thier tupperware boxes that they keep in their Adidas bags, like us civilised British fans eh?

I don't think many people object to anyone having a few drinks, being noisy or waving a few flags but it's not nice having your night trashed by people who can't respect those around them.

Bombers epic victory in 2007 was ruined for me as it was before my children had grown up and we had the misfortune to be surrounded by Poles with nowhere to move.

The ones in front just stood up all the time so the kids couldn't see at all while the ones behind just spilt beer all over us and draped a large Polish flag over our faces during the races.

Stewards didn't want to know and when I asked them to stop I was threatened with violence and told they would be waiting for me outside after the event and it was not over so I have sympathy with anyone else who has experienced this and wonder if the people that trivialise their complaints as whinging about a bit of flag waving would like their families subjected to this?

Since then I pay a lot more for my tickets to sit in a block that I know will be half empty so I can move away from such situations if necessary.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not having a go at Polish fans in general. All the ones around us this year were great and without them the atmosphere would not be half a good but there are a minority of idiots who I hope the people who say others are complaining about a bit of flag waving are never subjected too!

Edited July 23, 2017 by AFCB Wildcat

[NickRushbrook]

Having the Polish fans there is good for the atmosphere and adds to the event.

There is an obnoxious, hooligan type element though that needs to be clamped down on.

 

That attitude doesn't mix well with British speedway at all and they should be respectful of that.

[TheReturn]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not having a go at Polish fans in general. All the ones around us this year were great and without them the atmosphere would not be half a good but there are a minority of idiots who I hope the people who say others are complaining about a bit of flag waving are never subjected too!

It may be a minority, but everybody should take responsibility, including the majority of the thorough well behaved fans to deal with their countrymen if they can by having a word or report disrespectful behaviour to stewards.

[Grachan]

People keep saying about it not being too expensive at 25 quid. No. It isn't. That's what I paid and those areas are pretty full.

 

A lot of the tickets are over 25 quid and those areas are a lot less full, and my comment on price was based on that rather than the 25 quid tickets.

[TheReturn]

People keep saying about it not being too expensive at 25 quid. No. It isn't. That's what I paid and those areas are pretty full.

 

A lot of the tickets are over 25 quid and those areas are a lot less full, and my comment on price was based on that rather than the 25 quid tickets.

People moan about anything. £25 for a SGP is amazing value. Hardly any football matches in the Premier League or Championship comes so cheap. These days you seem to pay bloody £25 in booking fees if you order gig tickets too.

[Grachan]

People moan about anything. £25 for a SGP is amazing value. Hardly any football matches in the Premier League or Championship comes so cheap. These days you seem to pay bloody £25 in booking fees if you order gig tickets too.

I just said 25 quid is not too expensive so why quote me and say what you said?

 

Everyone is going on about 25 quid tickets, but it is the more expensive ones that don't seem to sell so well.

[uk_martin]

Prices? It cost £25 for a ticket yesterday. £25 for a speedway GP, £25 for an event in one of the best stadiums in Europe. How much do you think they should charge?

Speedway is a £10 sport according to the British Scrooge Forum. Haven't you been reading?

[Jacques]

Previous years have been 35-45k depending on your source. I thought this year was quite full compared to other years so would put it slightly in the higher end. So I'd guess 42k

 

A half empty 72k stadium is still 36k and I think it was over half.

 

I know some people moan about Cardiff but for me it's brilliant. I love it, I've loved them all. It's just magic to turn up at a speedway meeting with 40000 others, see a reasonable meeting that is guaranteed to be on (we'll gloss over it bearly being off about 4 years ago).

 

I just couldn't imagine not going. It's brilliant. It has its faults, it has things that can be improved but the argueembt that it's too expensive baffles me. I've never paid more than £30 for a ticket and for me, that's great value for money. I've paid that for almost every event I've attended in the stadium - the exception being a very early football game that they FAW heavily subsidised.

 

As for cost, what do people want? Move it to London but I work in London 1 week a month and I pay £150-190 a night for hotels, so is it really expensive paying £100 in Cardiff? Bear in mind if you move it to London then you're also not getting a £3 pint but you're paying £5 and every meal is 20-30% more expensive too.

 

Maybe I'm a little biased as I don't have to pay for a hotel for Cardiff (just £80 with of taxis over two days) but I don't get this, "expensive" thing at all.

 

If you want cheap drive down on the day, pay £25 for a ticket, enjoy the speedway and drive home. It's cost you about £8 more than standing in a gloried field in grass banking at 80% of UK stadia. And how often when you go to an way meeting anywhere do you stay over?

 

32 year old Shawn wakes up on GP day and gets as excited as 10 year old Shawn did xmas day. It's bloody brilliant.

 

All that and the rest of the weekend too, which is just brilliant, next year will be our 14th year. We go for the weekend spend it with our friends, who these days, we don't get to see too often, if only once a year at the big Cardiff meet up. I couldn't imagine not going either and how people can moan at the price of a ticket cheapest £25 say it's not what it's cracked up to be.....We paid more than that and it's and we still consider it brilliant value for money!

 

Well, it is Starman and it's not Poole.

 

 

 

The only downside is that it's exhausting we need a holiday now and I went back to bed when we got home

 

Not so exhausting that we're not planning on doing Prague next year too.......

Edited July 23, 2017 by Jacques