Polish Speedway on TV

[RobMcCaffery]

1 minute ago, racers and royals said:

Thanks- it seems Premier are not exactly being helpful in steering their subscribers towards the coverage tomorrow. I am assuming it`s just the normal Premier showing- however they are it appears starting coverage 5 mins before normal( Adverts will be on in Poland !!) 

I'd be very surprised if it differs from the standard Premier/Freesports coverage, just with a different logo in the top right of the screen.

With Eurosport only having two channels I suspect we'll be seeing a lot of 'overflow' on the likes of Quest when the speedway conflicts with the major events that Eurosport are acquiring rights to, notably the Olympics. At least with Sky and BT there were plenty of sports channels for us to fit into, even though we still ended up on the dreaded red button at times. 

[tyretrax]

Don't know about the riders but the start marshall in last nights meeting was getting on  my wick, dancing back and forward to get the riders up to the tapes.

Edited July 4, 2020 by tyretrax

[racers and royals]

5 minutes ago, tyretrax said:

Don't know about the riders but the start marshall in last nights meeting was getting on  my wick, dancing back and forward to get the riders up to the tapes.

And do you know why ?? was that the 1st Polish league match you have seen ??

[geoff100]

Gardening and the start marshalls can add up to a minute to a race of 60 odd seconds and they wonder why fans get fed up !

[racers and royals]

10 minutes ago, geoff100 said:

Gardening and the start marshalls can add up to a minute to a race of 60 odd seconds and they wonder why fans get fed up !

Fans in Poland don`t though because they know there are very few race starts called back as the riders know they cannot mess about !!!!

[tyretrax]

9 hours ago, racers and royals said:

And do you know why ?? was that the 1st Polish league match you have seen ??

No and not the first speedway meeting I've seen either, so what's your point?

Edited July 4, 2020 by tyretrax

[racers and royals]

8 hours ago, tyretrax said:

No and not the first speedway meeting I've seen either, so what's your point?

The point is that is the norm for Polish speedway starts and it works. The start marshall and the referee are connected by headsets and in Poland every rider must have his front wheel right up to the tape and every rider( especially gate 4) must be lined up straight. So the start marshall was doing his job- the ref was doing his job and it works because in Poland there are very few races stopped for  unsatisfactory starts.

[False dawn]

2 hours ago, racers and royals said:

The point is that is the norm for Polish speedway starts and it works. The start marshall and the referee are connected by headsets and in Poland every rider must have his front wheel right up to the tape and every rider( especially gate 4) must be lined up straight. So the start marshall was doing his job- the ref was doing his job and it works because in Poland there are very few races stopped for  unsatisfactory starts.

This, of course, reopens the whole starting procedure debate. I'm sure I'm not the only one to have recently watched some quite old matches. Seeing riders charging the tapes, rolling back and forth, lead to some awful starts, uneven and even unfair.
The overall rules governing starts in Poland and Britain are the same. But it is quite clear watching Polish meetings that the rules are more stingently applied in Poland. And guess what? Riders sit still, in a straight line and starts are rarely unsatisfactory. It's only human nature. Riders will muck about and push the envelope if there is a chance of getting away with it. Reduce that chance and you seeing better behaviour at the tapes. Not perfect, but better.
The increase in power given to the starting marshall is also to be applauded. How many times have you watched meetings over here where the starting marshall might as well not be there? The riders ignore him where they can. Give him some real teeth, as they appear to have in Poland, and all of sudden the riders do as they are told. (the exception is when riders are called to the tapes - even in Poland, they come forwaard when they are good and ready).
And even the flying starts seem to be reduced. Again not eliminated but reduced. Could it be that riders are conscious that they can be given a warning even after the race have an effect?

I know the "Free for all" side of this argument won't agree, but I think we can learn from watching the experience in Poland.

[RobMcCaffery]

1 hour ago, False dawn said:

This, of course, reopens the whole starting procedure debate. I'm sure I'm not the only one to have recently watched some quite old matches. Seeing riders charging the tapes, rolling back and forth, lead to some awful starts, uneven and even unfair.
The overall rules governing starts in Poland and Britain are the same. But it is quite clear watching Polish meetings that the rules are more stingently applied in Poland. And guess what? Riders sit still, in a straight line and starts are rarely unsatisfactory. It's only human nature. Riders will muck about and push the envelope if there is a chance of getting away with it. Reduce that chance and you seeing better behaviour at the tapes. Not perfect, but better.
The increase in power given to the starting marshall is also to be applauded. How many times have you watched meetings over here where the starting marshall might as well not be there? The riders ignore him where they can. Give him some real teeth, as they appear to have in Poland, and all of sudden the riders do as they are told. (the exception is when riders are called to the tapes - even in Poland, they come forwaard when they are good and ready).
And even the flying starts seem to be reduced. Again not eliminated but reduced. Could it be that riders are conscious that they can be given a warning even after the race have an effect?

I know the "Free for all" side of this argument won't agree, but I think we can learn from watching the experience in Poland.

Yes, we've fallen into an appalling gap between two extremes, that of a free for all and near-total discipline. I've watched over a hundred old meetings during lockdown and the free for all days resulted in far fewer delays than now. 

Yes you had to wait a few seconds while riders rolled into the tapes and rolled back. Even half a dozen such incidents would take at most 20-30 seconds until a clear start resulted. Take today. One less than perfect start and it's all back to the pits for a five to ten minute delay. 

The Polish answer IS the way and the cost of setting up any technology required will pay itself back in preventing the reaction "Not AGAIN, to hell with all this, what's on TV". ;-)

 

 

[geoff100]

Would love to see riders banned from stopping by the pits just straight back to the tapes

[ray c]

6 hours ago, geoff100 said:

Would love to see riders banned from stopping by the pits just straight back to the tapes

Banned or just excluded from that race ?

[Fromafar]

6 hours ago, geoff100 said:

Would love to see riders banned from stopping by the pits just straight back to the tapes

There are very few re -runs in Poland, and all riders have 2 min to be ready to race When they  come out of pits so it’s up to them what they do.Starting system is 1st class IMO.

[geoff100]

43 minutes ago, ray c said:

Banned or just excluded from that race ?

If all 4 back straight back to the tapes

[IainB]

It doesn't matter what rules you put in place if you don't enforce them. Personally I would like to see a line across the track 1m to 2m from the tapes where riders can't enter until under starters orders, green light, approach the tapes.... GO!

[OveFundinFan]

The two Polish league matches shown Sunday evening on Box Nation absolutely board me. The racing wasn’t all that brilliant, but the interlude between each race was terrible. Ok, they show a re-run of the best parts of race just finished, then they showed rerun of the race before that, and the race before that, then start all over again. And the music that accompanied these reruns, terrible. 
Grump over!

[Bagpuss]

Easy to remedy, watch it delayed and whizz through the bits between races. I’ve watched speedway  that way for years. 

[ray c]

never really watched polish speedway till this year dont know what all the fuss is about to be honest quite boring at times .

[geoff100]

Watched 3 meetings over the weekend tracks same shape and size and gate 1 had a bike length start, still would love to go to a meeting to sample the atmosphere when this is back to normal .

[RobMcCaffery]

3 hours ago, OveFundinFan said:

The two Polish league matches shown Sunday evening on Box Nation absolutely board me. The racing wasn’t all that brilliant, but the interlude between each race was terrible. Ok, they show a re-run of the best parts of race just finished, then they showed rerun of the race before that, and the race before that, then start all over again. And the music that accompanied these reruns, terrible. 
Grump over!

It's because the main broadcast to Poland carries studio discussion, rider interviews and longer ad breaks to fill the grading gaps after heats 4, 7 and 10. For the non-Polish viewers they simply supply pictures of the racing so far with a musical background. Bear in mind we aren't the intended viewers. Selling the coverage to us and other countries is just a minor bonus to Polish TV. As Bagpuss says, watch a recording and fast-forward. The gaps will always be there. 

[Fromafar]

4 hours ago, OveFundinFan said:

The two Polish league matches shown Sunday evening on Box Nation absolutely board me. The racing wasn’t all that brilliant, but the interlude between each race was terrible. Ok, they show a re-run of the best parts of race just finished, then they showed rerun of the race before that, and the race before that, then start all over again. And the music that accompanied these reruns, terrible. 
Grump over!

Of course everything in UK is run with military precision.

What do you do  normally do when the tractor racing is on in UK.