Well, it seems that every year a rider brakes cover and tells
anyone that will listen what is wrong with Speedway and British
Speedway in particular. Usually they have different
things to say and Scott Nicholls recently aired views in the
Speedway star continue that difference.
And we as fans have all voiced different reasons and moans and
groans over the years and on this very show.
We're not immune to this trend and we've also come up with
different ideas of varying rubbishness.
However, we have all been in agreement over one major point,
something that needs to be done. I think I'll read Scott Nichols
words that we all, apart from the promoters, it was seen we've
all agreed upon. This is what Scott said.
I think the sport is mismanaged. If we had fresh people running
the sport independently, not invested in a club, then do what
is best for the sport, only in Speedway.
Good evening gentlemen, welcome to the Speedway Tavern.
We have as normal Webby over there.
Thank you for calling me. Thank you for what was there
totally be normal. I had my fingers crossed and
over here we have Matt. Good evening.
So before we actually make any start, we should say get well
soon to Dan Bueller. And to Tywin back in the wars
again, Certainly for Dan Bueller to massive blow, isn't he?
Because he started the season so well and really to all intensive
purposes there. I know it was early days but
looked like a likely contend to to challenge but a.
Small. Championship, so it's a massive
blow for for him, massive blow for Bellevue as well, so.
A massive blow for the GP as well because I thought the GP
was a bit flat the weekend. I think as Pro Grand Prix go, it
was one of the better ones. That's not necessarily saying a
lot, but yeah. So.
Yeah, but I just, I just, it just maybe maybe because I
wanted to see Danbury. We just felt a little bit flat
to me. But you know, I hope that is a
sport. And did you see Ty Woffendon's?
I have seen it, yes. Yes, it was a heavy fall, wasn't
it? Really nice.
Really, really everyone. And again, just beginning, just
really wonder again, has he really made has he done the
right thing coming back? Because you know, we've really
he's got really left to prove as he's won three World
Championships. He's not not been a world
championship contender for nearly ten years now.
Yeah, just I guess if it's. The only one that can answer
that. Yeah.
I just wonder if it's another, maybe another little warning
sometimes if you've heard riders who've said this before and
they've said that they've they've had warnings that maybe
it's time to sort of get back on the stay on the other side of
the fence and and leave the race into the to the next generation.
So. But at the end of the day, only
he can answer that. I guess at the end of the day he
doesn't want to. Yep.
No and I only. Which is to his credit, in
fairness, but. Yeah, yeah.
So just going going back then to what I, I was talking about at
the beginning and we will have a chat about the GP and also
Northampton winning their first match, which was great to see,
even though I it meant I didn't get a point in the prediction
league for that particular match.
I don't think many people, No, I don't.
Think many people did for that one so.
I think this gentleman here did, didn't they?
Yes, he would have been the only one who was faithful to
Northampton and they they weren't, of course.
Yeah. Yeah, I'm that.
I'm that happy, I believe, yeah. I mean, I think Scott has hit it
on the head there, but he's not the only one that we've, we've
all said this time and time. More, more people in the sport
now are starting to be a bit more forthright in saying I
think, I think we've known for a for a long time that Speedway is
in that position where it needs to.
It's always going to be handicapped by this feeling of
it's done for the benefits of the promoters and they don't
want to go. Quite rightly, they want to put
their clubs first, but it sort of doesn't really.
There's always going to be that little bit of conflict of
interest, isn't? There I need somebody that's.
Perception, of course. I think that's the word we've
often used on this show, so. Perception is everything in most
sports. I think the sport does need, for
want of a better word, a sugar daddy, somebody that's prepared
to take the risk and put the money in.
Yeah, you've got to find one. That's the problem.
That's always the problem and, and my worst, difficult really
to find somebody when the sport is run, run as badly as it is
and just getting smaller and smaller and smaller.
It's just not a lot of incentive for somebody to come in and
until it's small enough, well. It's.
Interesting, of course, that Scott Nichols has gone back to
Ipswich and the new Ipswich from Ocean pretty much said this,
didn't they, that the sport's not run properly so.
They've been quite quiet recently.
They have been quiet, but I think they I just feel that
there's going to be a bit of a collision between them and the
BSPL at some point. That coupled with Ben Barker's,
shall we call it a crusade that is getting a lot of traction and
a lot of riders agreeing with him.
Yeah, and we still don't seem to be getting anywhere.
With it so well then nobody's answering the questions.
No, it perfectly reasonable and straightforward question.
It doesn't. You do have the feeling that
it's sort of if we just ignore it, it'll go away.
It ain't going to go away. Well, it is going away as a
sport. It's going away.
So maybe they're going to get their wish.
I don't know. We've got a few still pretty
busy. Yeah, we'll, we'll a couple of
weeks. Yeah.
OK. So let's have a look.
Lots of evenings from Phil and Nick of Kenilworth, Simon
Culbert, Few injuries. Bewley, Waffinder.
Not good for Great Britain. That.
Well, come on to that later. That is really is not good news
for us even Pete evening Jeff Craig's me evening or first show
this season for me miss it live is usually at football training
season finished so should be able to tune in more.
Nice to have you back Craig Fred Graham Good evening gents agree
with Scott Nichols words as fans have been wanting this for over
30 years. It's.
It's obvious, isn't it? Staring you in the first isn't.
It on what's also is obvious, if you keep doing the same thing
and expecting to get the same result, that's the that's
madness. Thank you Confucius.
By the way, Woffenden has already commented he wants to
return. Yes, he has.
Yeah, he has, yeah. Yeah, Mrs. Brown knows it's not
Christmas for a few months, doesn't he?
I don't know. I'm.
Presuming that means the talking about my my.
Perfect. Yeah.
Yeah, Perfectly. Yes.
That thing that's growing on the bottom of your face.
OK. Craig Smear has asked.
Is this the time for Ty to call it a day?
You don't seem to bounce as much as you get older.
He certainly had his fair share of injuries.
Surprised he came back after the coma.
There's nothing to prove to anybody.
If he's if he's doing it for the love of the sport, that's
superb. But his body is surely telling
him. Time to hang up the Kevlars.
I think it must be a difficult thing to turn away from.
The I mean, to be fair to Toy, he's got a lot of other business
interests as well now, hasn't he?
So, so but you know, he obviously feels that he's still
got, you know, something to offer the sport in a in a riding
capacity. I think I think it was the right
decision in the end, not for him to take the round price a lot.
Obviously we was as we know he was offered it.
I think it would have been bad for him.
I don't think it would have reflected well on him because I
just don't think he would have been competitive enough.
It was too big and ask I think to not not before the injury,
but even before the injury, the he hadn't ridden, he hadn't
ridden for at least 12 months in at that level.
So to have that long a period out and then suddenly go back in
and be learning and put the gates against the likes of
Martin Smiles like expecting to compete was always going to be a
big ask. He's won three World
Championships at the end of the day.
So he's, you know, people, whether people like him or not.
And he's always been a Marmite character.
He is the most successful British rider of all time.
You can't argue with that. Absolutely not so.
Craig Craig's make carries on. Is it the right choice for him?
His body is battered again. He's the only one that can make
that decision. I imagine his family have words
with him. Yeah.
I mean, I just wish the guy nothing but the best and make
the right decision for himself. Dave Twine left at the tapes.
Whoops. Evening from Rich.
Fred Graham agreeing with Phil Taylor, Rider of the week for
me. Ryan Ingram.
I must have missed that. Oh yeah, I did.
Even though he banged in a big score against Glasgow on Friday.
Yeah, I'm actually going to go for Liam Madison.
Just abide the by Jeff Daniels, Rod Godfrey said at the start of
this season. Watch this space.
Big developments are coming this season.
Well, we're still waiting. Yeah, we've, we've, the
providers have said this before, haven't they?
There's, you know, something really big can happen and it
turns out it's nothing. The reason the usually the
reason they say that is because they haven't got something big
to happen that I just think they might have and then it all
fizzles out is. During the time when they're
trying to sell something to another.
The cynical side of it, so surely not.
Just just go back to the sugar daddy, you think?
Is are you offering is. There is there a fan?
I'm not sure if there is one in law that.
Would that would fit that bill a fan with?
I don't know. Incredibly.
Pots of money that they could. I can think of 1X Formula One
driver Mark Webber. He might have enough cash
flowing around whether he wants to use.
Easy. Easy, though, for you to sit
there and tell what, of course Mark Webber had to spend his
money, isn't it? And he's.
A big fan. He's a big match for Jason
Crump, isn't he Sir, the Aussie riders.
He's he used always used to make his way to the British, the
Speedway G. Always turned up for the World
Cup as well, didn't you? King's Lynn So.
But I can't. Yeah.
I mean, I don't know. Is the answer, is the only one
that kind of springs to mind. I've no idea how much it's
worth. It's probably quite a.
Lot. Well, we had last remember last
year we had a But Harry Redknapp suddenly appeared in a blaze of
glory and he suddenly seems to have gone.
He's gone. Very well.
Talking of which talking of which, I watched the GP with
interest and unless I missed it, I never saw a certain face.
Phil Morris. Phil Morris.
He's gone very quiet, isn't even in, even in the Grand Prix as
you say, but I mean he's not even listening on the BSPL
website, even though I think Patriarchs did did an article in
the Speedway Star a few weeks ago insisting that he's still
very much involved and he's he's gone, seems to have gone to
ground, doesn't he? So.
You know what? Maybe he's not well, I don't
know, but I certainly hope that's not true.
But yeah, he he is conspicuate. I was I was looking at and
thinking and particularly he's normally hanging around in the
pits when they do the the choosing of the helmet colours.
He wasn't there when? He's not when he's not flooding
the track of goals. Sorry.
Sorry, Phil. So are you OK mate?
Jeffrey has put as much input this season as Harry.
Ridden. Yeah, Godfrey, Yeah, yeah, Craig
Smead. Do Mayfield offer the option as
an independent body? I know they're doing the GPS
promotion, but are they looking to take over British Speedway?
Independent Manly again, probably not much change in
having conflict of interest as they're promoting Ipswich
currently. I think they've made it pretty
clear that they want things to change in British Speedway.
Don't. They, I mean, if they took out
the whole of the Speedway over, then they wouldn't, then they
wouldn't just be promoting Ipswich Speedway, they'd be
promoting British Speedway and that's what it needs, yeah.
But really I think you'd in a position where you'd buy all the
clubs and then employ somebody to run each each one so and then
invest in each one. So I suppose that's how they
would probably want. To franchise it.
Yeah, well, we don't, we don't don't really like the these big
American words like franchise. But I think that's the way
sports going though, isn't it? So.
Here's the thing. I was thinking about this in in
the car on the way over. I should have been paying
attention, shouldn't I? Really?
But. I'm glad you're watching the
road. It it's, you know, if that
happened, if that happened, somebody came in, they would
probably make changes that people didn't like, probably
make changes that I don't like, you know, because they will do
the way that they see and feel it's going to work.
And you can't sort of argue that if they're putting the money in.
And I just thought to myself, OK, if I didn't like it, So
what? Would I like it for Speedway not
to exist? Because that's where it's going?
We had Phil Lanning on the show a couple of years ago and he
said something very similar, didn't he, about when Barry
Hearn took over darts. So this is what we want to do.
If you don't like it, tough, but when it's successful, you're
going to make a lot of money. It's going to look fantastic.
You know, I don't think any, I don't think any promotion.
Interesting if for somebody to take over Speedway who's
probably who probably doesn't know the rules but wants to
start like, you know, from the bottom up, which.
Well, the rule book, we've said, how many times have we said it
should be ripped up and start and started again because it's
just too complicated. I've got the rule book down
here. Actually, it's too every SO.
Oh, that suitcase there, the one with lots of brown paper bags in
the. Ethiopia.
Inception. It's the one.
It's the one that says you can't
do this. But in some situations you can
do this, but in this situation you can't do it.
Unless you can, yes. If you're crossing your fingers,
yeah. Yeah, I was perception.
That's that's the thing we were talking about.
Chris Butler says maybe he's going to announce Harry Rad Pack
Red nap again. Maybe.
I can't even say it, so let's hope not.
Graham Weaver, you mentioned that Craig Heathens are looking
for land. We have a backup.
Plus, the landowner is also interested.
Yes, there was a post that was on put on Facebook by the group
yesterday on I think, I think their their problem at the
moment is that the council on supporting it.
So. So which is going to?
Which council? Which council is is this?
It's. The Wye Forest Council, so it's
a council, it's a council obviously that there's never
ever been Speedway in the borough.
So I suppose that's going to be a big handicap.
So it's, it's still possible, but it's going to cost a lot
more money to do it if they're not going to get support off for
the the council. I'm not going to go into details
about where where the site is. I've heard a couple of things,
but. OK, so I'm this is your mate
Brian. Yeah, and I'm probably going to
going to disagree with a little something on this.
Speedway has become too expensive for the promoters, too
expensive for the riders and too expensive for the fans.
So until this fact sinks in, the sport can never make the fresh
start that urgently needs to make.
I'm not entirely in agreement that it's become too expensive
for the fans when you compare it to go into the cinema, when you
compare it to go to a football match.
Perhaps first two do 2, maybe, I don't know any lower than that.
Divisions, when you compare it to I'm going to see Brian Cox
later on this year, not the actor.
And that's cost a pretty penny, I have to tell you.
Look, you can't you go and see a concert, you're talking, you
know, 34500 pounds, OK, It's only a one off.
But if you're a music supporter as I am, you don't go, you don't
want to just go to one concert in the year.
It's a yeah, it's a lot of money.
So I think in comparison. I was saying embarrassing.
It's it's not, you know, overly expensive.
I think it's, I think it's, I think the, the big reason for
the expenses, I think that some promoters pay riders really more
than they can afford because they want their, the best
riders, because they, they feel that getting, getting, you know,
supporters want strong teams. I think people now in this era
don't really have the spare cash available to just go and watch
teams that lose every single week.
I think supporters want competitive teams to think that
there's and to and to believe that the the the team and this
and this doesn't happen in Speedway only very not very many
clubs, Ipswich perhaps being and Bellevue perhaps being the
exceptions that the building towards something.
OK, we're not going to win it this year, but we've got this
nucleus set of riders and we're going to be all on those and
they'll be better next year and, and, and all of all of that sort
of thing and. Then they change the points
limit and you can't do it. And they change the points limit
and, and, or they do like what Birmingham did year after year
after year. What cycling and, and off we go.
Yeah, but. Fairness to Birmingham, most of
the riders they didn't want back the following season anyway, so
but. But I think that was, that was,
I think that was force economy. I said, I've said over the last
three seasons that every single rider that we have had, maybe
there's one I can think of. Yeah, every single rider but one
that we have had would be would have been a successful rider in
another team that was just out of position.
So you build on those riders. It's like, you know, Tom Brennan
was out of position because he was riding at #1 he's a de facto
#1 now. And, you know, see if yeah.
It's an interesting listening looking at what Craig Smith said
because Northampton have have been very, very encouraging with
the courage by the size of their crowd so far, I mean we.
No real Speedway heritage. Yeah.
And the fact that we've been, it's saying that there was
little being done to priority in the area, but there clearly has
been. And obviously that's that's on
my list of, of tracks to do during the course of this year.
Hopefully at some point I'll be able to get down there.
Yeah, yeah. But it looks like, you know,
some, some good crowds for them. And obviously they've now had
their first win, which is, which is huge for them as well.
So. Again, again, that's pretty a
lesson team that's not doing too bad this year.
No, that's right, Sir. If the product is promoted and
sponsorship is on board then people will come.
Northampton owners have said the exact same thing.
They promote so well and get getting great crowds.
There are new clubs so hard to judge, but if they can sustain
this interest it shows If promoters promote correctly, the
fans will come. Well, I was at Plymouth a couple
of weeks ago and they, Plymouth have been getting great crowds.
I think their first meeting of the season, they got 1400, which
is a terrific crowd for Speedway.
And I mean, I was at the Scum board meeting and the crowd
there must have been at least 1000 there.
So they're getting, they're getting, they're getting the
people in and they are, they're doing a lot, as I said last
week, they're doing a lot on social media as well.
And that's that's where speed is needs to be better on using
social media because it's such a powerful tool, though, rather
than just seeing it as an enemy, use it as a friend and you can
get yeah. They need to get everybody on
board with that, fans, promoters, riders, all going in
the same direction with it. As you say, it's a powerful tool
and they also, I think need to sort of promote the difference
between teams, you know. So yeah, we don't like this
team. I I remember the famous
Eastbourne, Birmingham avid, you know the one.
I'm going. I'm going to talk about Arthur
Browning. 74 Was that the 70? Four, yeah, they put an adverse,
I think it was in the Speedway style and a few others which
that they said we this is who's that?
It's Arthur Browning and it was a rider on a spit and Browning
on the the spit. Yeah.
And so it's basically saying this is what we're going to do
to you. It didn't work.
But but you know that those the crowds that were there for those
Eastbourne matches because we don't like each other.
Yeah. And even if it's not true, you
should sort of promote it. Yeah.
I was, I mean, I was, I was at Bethany of Sheffield yesterday.
And that's historically he's a, he's a, he's a, there's a lot of
needle, obviously War of the Roses and there was a great
atmosphere to be fair. I mean there Bellevue, I think I
would say Bellevue and Sheffield in particular got two of the
most vocal sets of supporters. I mean, we were not too far from
the, the famous Sheffield Bent to Balmy Army.
I know. I mean, obviously you've heard
them Birmingham with all the chanting and things like that.
And there was a lot of chanting forwards and chanting backwards
between the two sets of fans. They made for a great
atmosphere, to be fair. Obviously.
We'll I'll talk about that mate. And sure, because obviously it'd
be good to look at that. I've got a copy of the programme
as well so we can have a look at that.
We'll we'll tear that apart. So yeah, I think it all comes
down to having one person in control.
Yeah. And maybe it'll happen when
there's two or three clubs because, you know, we sort of
laugh, but it's coming that. It is getting close to that now,
isn't it? We just need more.
We need more teams. We'll.
Get to the two or three clubs and people go.
I think we have to do something. Yeah, By that time somebody will
just come in and say, well, I'm not interested in you.
I'm going to start my own Speedway league.
Which might, yeah, is what might.
Have been a good thing. Plymouth's media team have got
it right. They promote it on social media.
They've got BBC Spotlight News doing reports on the meeting.
Yeah, and as I said last week, they've got this film coming out
later in the year. It's going to be on Netflix as
well, which is going to be huge for speed.
And as I said last week, that's great.
That's great for Plymouth. Actually doesn't necessarily
help the sport as a whole. It's great for Plymouth.
Why isn't there a ABSPL version of that?
Why aren't they doing something like that?
Well, they promoted. I'm kind of stuck.
Glasgow did one a couple of years ago.
Didn't they? Yeah.
What's your answer because? You have to think net Netflix, I
mean, Netflix is, is a worldwide thing streamed, you know, it's
one of those. Yeah, when that comes out, we'll
have to, I think we'll have to watch that and review it, won't
we? So.
We need, we need some American, some famous American actors to
come over and buy up Speedway in the same way as was it Wrexham.
Yeah, yeah, Birmingham. Yeah, that would be good.
OK, everybody stopped emailing your favourite rich actor.
Yeah, there. Must be There must be something.
Johnny Depp, That's all I want. I've got Tom Hanks's emailed.
I'm sorry, really. No, I haven't really.
Got me there. OK, so we'll go over the pick
the nuts and bolts out of the Prague GP.
OK, yeah, so great win for Leon, Leon Madison.
Yeah, after a really, really, you know, dismal night really in
Lancet couple of weeks ago. Performed well all the way
through the mating and obviously managed to get the to get the
win which is pushed him. I think he's pushed him up to
4th in in the standings at the moment there.
So head of Brady Kurtz, obviously he Brady Kurtz didn't
have such a great time in in Lancet as well, but second for
him and both smiles like third again, so smiles.
It was 2 third places. Hasn't looked convincing in
either of the two Grand Prix really.
But after two rounds, he's still leading the championship will be
by points over his fellow Pole Casper Varina.
So. Who started off abysmally and
got better as he went. On he he doesn't, he's fearless,
isn't he? He gets, he gets out of shape a
little bit. I'll just, you know, I think and
he's quite, he can be quite ruthless as well.
I'm just wondering whether there's going to be a point
where he's going to turn into the, the Nicky Peterson of the
modern era. So.
He's got to win one first to do. That he's won one, isn't he?
So he's got to win a championship.
Championship, Yeah, yeah, because I think, I don't think
Nicky really became that until because you've always become the
man to beef. And that starts new.
Yeah, but I I think the Grand Prix misses Nicky Pederson, to
be honest. It misses.
It misses somebody who's the Phantom 1 villain movie
everybody just loves to hate. You know, it's I think I think
the Grand Prix is a poorer place without him.
I think there's probably a lot of the rides who will probably
disagree with me on that one, but.
I can think of one American. Yeah, it's interesting.
Did you see the Polish, the Czech president as well?
He was there in in in shorts and AT shirt, obviously taking
photographs as well. So which was?
Quite interesting. I don't think we'll be seeing
Keir Starmer taking photographs of Bellevue in a couple of weeks
time. I doubt, yeah.
But don't, don't turn this political, Sir.
Let's not do that. What's the Andy Burnham there?
Maybe, but. Robert Lambert.
Now to talk about him in the absence of Danbury.
Average, I thought. I think that's a good word.
Not his best. Yeah, he's.
It's the problem. With he kept finding himself
riding the wrong bit of track, I thought, and getting swallowed
up. Yeah, finishing 11th, only 6
points, just missed out on the last chance qualifiers when his
last race, but just a little bit too little too late really.
I actually thought this in terms of Prague meetings, it was one
of the better ones. Prague's obviously attract that
a lot of people have never really warmed to.
It's not. It did look very dry though.
It looked very didn't, it didn't look as dry as and obviously
it's been really hot weather. I mean, I was so, I mean, I was
in Bellevue yesterday and they did a really good job of keeping
the, the dust down with regular water breaks.
But yeah, but Michael Epson Jensen as well.
And obviously he, he rode pretty well.
He's had a decent start to the season.
Brady Kurtz didn't didn't have a bad show.
Yeah, Brady Kurtz had a couple of disappointing rides.
I had a last and a third, but two Heat wins.
He had that one heat win took off him when his bike packed up
as well. So I think that was a big for
him. Basically, yeah.
But no, it's traffic at the moment.
Let's just have a look at the standings then.
So Carter smiles like 32. Casper Virina, 31, Brady Kurtz,
26, Leon Madison, 21, Jack Holder, 21, Robert Lambert, 20,
Jason Doyle, 19, Dan Bewley, 18, Don Dick and Berry, 17 and
Michael Ipson. Jensen Ronnie got the top 10 on
16 points so. In the in terms of being in
contention at the moment, it's all the way down to well, just
about Dan Bewley because obviously Dan Bewley is not in
contention there. So possibly an exciting.
Yeah. And of course we've got the
double headed coming up at Bellevue.
So that's a big opportunity for someone to get 48 hours worth of
getting a bucket load of points. Big opportunity for Brady Kurtz.
Yeah, I mean, obviously he did. He rode well there last year.
He didn't pick up. Obviously Dan Buley won.
It was interesting because Dan Buley won the Friday meeting and
then I don't know whether he would maybe ever celebrate it.
But he was nowhere on the second day, was he?
So, you know, it was that would have been really disappointing
for him. But I mean, probably Kurt is
going to have home if. He hadn't had such a bad second
meeting he would have been in. Closer at the end, yeah.
I mean, Kurt obviously will want to do well.
He's home track. He's going to have a huge amount
of followers there because there's going to be a lot of
Bellevue fans going and he's writing and he's, you know, he's
he's still despite a slow start, he's indecent Nick as well.
So yeah. Absolutely.
Yeah. As always, we we appear to have
a dog in the house. Yeah, I just noticed that sort
of staring up at me. Darren Reynolds says hi chaps.
We did it with darts, the Yanks did it with wrestling.
It is not that hard. If a travelling funfair comes to
town, you know about it. Speedway does need financial
help and change its attitude. It needs a person in charge or a
company in charge. Yep.
That's right. Craig Smith says worn out, looks
like an accident waiting to happen.
He's too erratic on the bike but at the same time exciting to
watch as a fan. His aggressive style of riding
is brilliant. He's one of those rides.
I think you, you struggle to take your rides off him when
he's out on the track because you don't know what he's going
to do. And that's, that's what you want
to say from a, from a rider. He's doesn't take any prisoners.
Now, I bet everybody's got one of these in their locker.
A rider that never was a big number one was never going to
be. But my God, it was an exciting
ride in there for me as a Birmingham fan.
It was Jeanette, good runner and more popular rider in
Birmingham. And fans love that, that that
never say that side diet attitude.
And I wouldn't mind betting. I wouldn't mind betting that
everybody's got one in their locker.
I'm going to ask you now, have you got one in your locker?
I would say scorer, Adam Scornick, very, very stylish
rider, capable of beating anybody on his day.
Wasn't really what you would call a rider that used to get
out of out of control a bit too much, to be fair, was quite a
smooth rider in fairness. But yeah, I would say scorer.
Now we, we didn't, we didn't make this happen.
We was just about or I was just about to start a conversation
off about the situation. Still going with the riders
insurance, I'm not entirely sure where we stand with that, but
somebody's just popped up on the shout box that could actually
answer that question for for us. Hello, Ben Barker, it's just
popped up there. Ben, if you'd like to come on
the show, just give us a yes and Reb will send you a link and
you'll be out. Yeah, we've got, we've got new
ways of doing it, folks. So if you'd like, Yeah, just
like to bring us up to date. Rich Thomas has just said you
might hear the crowd thinking about Storm or like to do with
the Doors. No, I don't know.
I have heard that. I have heard that Dave Twine
said. I liked Loose Hanson, Simon
Corbett, Simon Cross for me at Cradley.
So yeah, I think everybody's got one of those.
Absolutely. In the locker, yeah.
I'm going to wait and see if Ben gets back to us on that if.
You want to come on, Ben, or anybody who wants to come on.
Oh, that was a yes. So Ben, if you you're on the
shout box, if you just click on the link if it's.
Clickable, but if you copy and paste it into a browser.
OK, copy and paste it into your browser.
You can join us via that link. I presume you'll need will you
need a camera on his on his phone?
Yeah, on on his phone, on his phone.
Or you can do it on your phone. You can do.
It on a he's not usually shy Ben so.
No, no, another one of those riders, incidentally, that we
was talking about another genetic quadron as Simon Croft.
Loved loved the Birmingham wasn't there years he was there
so absolutely. While we're waiting for that to
hopefully happen, go back to the JP for for a second.
Jason Doyle. Yeah, he's had a steady, steady
start, isn't he? He's currently 7th in the
championship on 19 points. Doesn't, I don't, I don't think.
I mean, I mean, I was looking at this, it's nine years since
Jason Doyle won his championship.
He doesn't. That seems to have gone up from
absolutely nowhere, doesn't it really?
But I think he's going to be in there, you know, studying it
better, though. I think probably he's chances of
winning the big one and again have probably gone now.
But then again, we all said that about Greg Hancock didn't but.
Yeah. OK.
So we should obviously also have a little mention now about the
Dan Buehler situation. Vista V yes, I use Vista V the
World Cup. That's shows, you know, we're
we're talking about we got a chance of winning it and we had
you can't you know, I think that those riders on their day
couldn't beat anybody. I.
Think so? Can you hear us, Ben?
Yes, we got. Yeah, I can hear you.
Hello Ben, how are you doing mate?
Hi guys. Yeah, hi.
So straight to the point, we was going to have a little chat
about what's going on with the riders insurance and and what's
actually the latest in that at the moment.
Oh, some good news, which is very good news.
We are all now insured again the which is great.
It's not quite how it was, but you know, we, we're happy, we're
a lot happier than we were. And riders that have been
injured since are currently getting supported.
Well, that's. The most important thing isn't.
It big, big applause there hang. On I'll try to find.
It's not. That 10 this show is this is
this show is just brilliant. Oh, there we go of my life.
I mean, it's been interesting that I've been going through the
Speedway Star and watching your emails and so on through through
the last few weeks and quite a lot of riders have come out in
support of what he was trying to achieve.
I'm just wondering whether there's any chance on the back
of this of the the old Speedway Riders Association becoming
available again? It's been spoke about by a few
of the senior riders. What you've got to remember is I
work full time now and it's also a big commitment to do something
like that. But you know, I've been out
today in this heat. I've worked 11-12 hours today
and I just don't have time. You know, as much as I would
like to be part of it, and I would be part of a group of
people possibly that would interest me, it's going to go
mad in a minute when when my kids get home, their dogs are
doing nothing. To me, I've I've had nights.
Here we go. My son has just walked in so
very quick. I want the radio come on TV.
Yeah, come on, on. Come.
On this is my son, he's just been to the beach with.
His. Nan yeah, no, it's been, it's
been hard work. But like I say, the Riders
Association is something we want to do, but how far it is in the
future, I'm not sure. But have the riders sort of been
talking about that as a something that might be
worthwhile looking at? Yeah, definitely.
I mean, at the end of the day, I bet I'm a firm believer in it's
the riders sport as much as it is the fans and as much as it's
the promoters. Of course.
Yeah, absolutely. So like, I'm a firm believer in,
you know, we should have a part on the, you know, in these AGM
meetings where it's just the chairman and things like that.
Well, and the SCB meetings, I'm a firm believer in there should
be a rider there as well. They, they, they can, you know,
the sport doesn't happen without us guys.
Same thing doesn't happen without the fan and same as it
doesn't happen without the promoters.
But the riders are always the ones just kind of there's the
rules. You got to deal with it.
Yeah, yeah. And also if you was in on those
meetings and rules were suggested, you as a would be
able to, from a rider's point of view, be able to say, well,
that's not going to work because totally agree.
So yeah, I think they're having the same discussion in Formula
One at the moment. Strange.
Yeah, it needs, it needs to be, it needs to be an open shop for
me, doesn't it Ben? Yeah, I think you need to have
so like the the, you know, I feel there should be an
interested party, if that makes sense, from everyone that should
be on that top table, not, not only in the room.
Because I don't understand how only promoters can make these
decisions. You know, I'm, I'm, I'm, it's
just my opinion. This is, you know, I'm not going
to, you know, I'm just saying I feel a rider should have some
sort of input. It might be a positive input.
Absolutely. You know, well, I'm not looking
to put a negative. I'm, I'm saying guys that this
is what I feel could happen and we give them prudent.
I I, yeah, I I can't. Absolutely.
Disagree with any any of what what you're saying.
So changing, changing the subject a little bit.
I think you're enjoying life as a Speedo rider apart from that
situation at the moment. How's it going from a personal
point of view? Yeah.
We're just, you know what, I'm actually enjoying my racing.
That's all I'm doing, enjoying my racing.
You know, I work full time and my racing is, is not so much a
hobby, but it's, it's not my sole income anymore.
So I just go off and enjoy my racing.
When I have a meeting, I mean, I've got a month off, just
under, just under 4 weeks off, one day short of four weeks.
I mean, you can't. You can't do Speedway as a sole
job when I've not had a meeting for four weeks.
No, Absolutely. Absolutely.
Not. You know, I mean, I don't
understand, you know, we are, I feel we're a perfect opportunity
to go to 1 League this year and it will give clubs, fans,
supporters, riders, promoters, everybody can, you know, racing
every week. Yeah.
But as I say things, things going well down there at
Plymouth on the Ben, I mean, I was down there a couple of
weeks, weeks ago and you're getting some pretty good crowds
as well and there's a lot. Of very good crowds at Plymouth.
We're getting pretty good crowds, but also there's a great
buzz around the place. Yeah, I know that.
Well, I could say that from when I was there.
So it was really, really, really, really encouraging what
they're. Doing They're working really
hard down there. Social media teams are doing
great. And I mean, no, this is not a
dig at Speedway in any way. You go to Speedway tracks and
look at the average age of the of the support.
The average age is 55, maybe more.
You go to Plymouth, the average age is 35.
Absolutely. That's your bands that are going
to keep this going. Absolutely.
And and it's it's quite frustrating, isn't it?
I mean, the the one thing that we've we've been going on about
on this show a lot is, is perception and and about being
open and honest on the same sort of problems that you had with
the BSPLI guess with with just getting answers about the the
whole situation with the, the insurance.
We feel that. There's fans that we're always
asking questions and never getting answers or never getting
straight answers or sometimes just not an answer at all.
Oh, well, I know how that feels. But that's actually the way, you
know, I don't think anything I say now is going to change that
fact, you know, You know, I struggled to get answers, but
you know, if I've got answers, then maybe I wouldn't go on
social media. But then then I needed answers
and I still didn't get them. So.
But that's just the way it is. At the end of the day, it is
what it is. The BSPA have done, you know,
done good and they've got us an insurance back in place that
that we're kind of happy with and it's kind of filled a gap
that we were missing. Yeah, OK.
Well, I mean, that's really, really good news, mate.
Thank you so much, Ben, for coming on the show.
And always welcome, by the way. No.
Worries if you ever, if you ever want me to pop on about anything
else, but you know, just give me a shout.
But by the way, by the way. Bartle smiles.
It is going to be world championing again.
OK, we'll write. We'll write that down and we'll
come back to you if you're wrong.
No he won't. He he will win anyway.
Guys love you. Jump on.
Just people, just before you go big, can you just just tell
people how easy it was to get on?
Just for it was really easy. I was like, how do I do it?
And then I just took a few clicks.
We're on. So no, it's good.
OK, fantastic. Thanks.
Cheers. How do I leave though?
How do I leave? We we don't, we don't let you
leave. That's the.
I'll I'll get you off. Right.
Thank you. Cheers guys.
Thanks, Ben. Thank you.
That's fantastic. The technology works.
Yeah, we've proved it works now. So he's been dying to try that
for weeks, isn't? He anyone of you, anyone of you
want to come on, you can just click on that.
And yeah, we all views are welcome, as we say in our sung,
James Dixon says Big up. Ben Barker.
OK. Someone just made a valid point
there. Chris Lewis, of course, is an
extra order and he was on the management committee, wasn't he?
So obviously he's not now because he's not.
And it's interesting, he's not even doing the commentary for
TNT. Oh, is he?
So he looks like he's took, he's completely taking himself away
from the sport. So which is, which is sad
really, because, you know, I had a lot of respect for for Chris
Lewis, so. But I think once you cross that
Rubicon from ex manager to management, your priorities
necessarily change And you're the, the, the view that you're
looking from is a different viewpoint from, say, who a rider
would. And you, you know, nobody's
perfect. And you might think this is a
good idea, we'll do this. And a rider might go, yeah, but
have you considered this? And so there should always be, I
think, I think Ben's right. They should always have a
representative from from the riders, but I think the Riders
of their own have been their own worst enemy because they used to
had a perfectly reasonable association and they just let it
through. Apathy from what what I can
gather, because they just didn't want to spend at that time I
guess. And it is a big commitment, but
it is for your future as well. So maybe I need to I'll.
Read this out on GET. Together.
Go on then. I'm so glad you called it out,
Ben. How can they water down
insurance and Speedway riders especially we've had when we've
had riders turning their backs on the sport.
Surely you'll need the riders on side.
Watering down their insurance cover is like an open invitation
for riders to walk away. Baffling.
I think it's even worse than that though, isn't it?
It's they didn't really tell the riders.
No they didn't. It was just done well.
Hopefully they won't notice. And.
Unfortunately, somebody did so. Yeah, because they needed it
because they was injured. So that that's and it's the fact
that they don't tell you. And they do this about a lot of
things. We, you know, we've been asking
for a couple of weeks now. Where's Phil Morris?
OK, if he's no longer in that role, then they should surely
say something. But they won't and they don't
Mike. So I'll get Phil Taylor from the
Bar Bandits. He's very knowledgeable and
photogenic. I don't know whether I want
somebody better looking than me. My And although I do understand
that's 99.9% of the planet. Well, I know Phil anyway, so I'm
sure if I'm sure, if you want to go on Phil, please, please put
your name down. I have just noticed the time,
gentlemen. Yes, I've just noticed the time
as well so. So we need to get on with that
with the prediction league. I should finish my sentences as
I am on radio after all. Yeah, okie dokie.
So I'll go over to this one and we'll put it in Studio mode.
Oh dear. The the the inevitable slide has
begun. I'm pretty much yeah.
Crap. OK, moving on.
You're the only one that got the Northampton resort right there I
believe. That's right, right.
So there's not too many fixtures to be fair.
So we will quickly rattle about rattle do this because I do want
to go through more visit to Bellevue yesterday as well.
So the first one is tomorrow night in the Championship, Paul
against Glasgow. Is it me?
Yes, OK, Paul versus Glasgow. Oh, so Paul by 10 points for me.
I've gone the same pool by 10. I'll go pool by 6.
OK, you haven't put yours on yet, by the way, so I'll.
Yeah, OK right. So the next one, also in the
Championship, Oxford against Edinburgh.
Oxford. Edinburgh isn't.
That's up to you. Oxford by 14.
Oxford by 12. Yeah, 12 as well.
OK in the Premiership to on Thursday it's Ipswich against
Northampton. OK, that's up to you.
Yeah, I'm. Not going to go, I'll go Ipswich
by 12. OK.
Yeah, Ipswich by 16. I've got Ipswich by 16 as well.
OK OK. Leicester against Sheffield is
the next one that. Could be tasty.
Yep, that's up to me again isn't it?
Leicester by 6. I've gone Leicester by 6 as
well. You.
You were. I'm going to double that next
Leicester by 12. He's.
Going to double that and say Sheffield by 12.
OK, next one on Friday night is Red Car against Scunthorpe but
in the championship. That's up to you.
Red car by 10. Red car by 6.
Strangely I'm going to go red car by 6 as well.
I'm I'm agreeing with one person at least.
I'm going to double all 1/2. Yeah, OK.
BSN semifinal, first league, also on Friday.
That's Edinburgh against Poole. And that's up to you.
Chris Paul by 12, Edinburgh by 6.
Paul by 8. Interesting.
OK in the championship on Saturday, Workington against
Scunthorpe. That's up for me.
Workington versus Scunthorpe. I'll say Workington by 8.
I've gone Workington by 10. Workington by 12.
OK And finally in the Premiership on Monday, Kings
Lynn against Leicester. Kings Lynn versus Leicester,
that's up to you. Leicester by 6.
Leicester by 12. Draw.
There we go. OK.
Yeah. That's it.
Fantastic. As then the slide continues, I
think so. OK, talk.
You've been been to the National Stadium and so Bellevue versus
Sheffield. My first question is, was it an
interesting match? It was, it was an interesting
meeting because it was, you know, I mean obviously Bellevue
without Danbury, without Peter Kilderman and without Nori
Bluddon, who was riding in the qualifying round for the world
championship. So three riders down South on
Piper, it looked, you know, a real opportunity for Sheffield.
And after the first four races that looked that looked like it
was going to be the case. Sheffield happened up a six
point lead, but Bellevue very quickly got back into the
mating. And it was, it was class really
up until the last couple of races when Bellevue suddenly
banged IN25 ones in heats 13 and 14.
And and really that sort of took the sting out of the towel of
the mating. And then Bellevue ended up
running up, running out fairly comfortable winners, in
fairness. Yeah, but no, it's, I mean, they
did, as I said earlier, they did one thing they did do very well
was getting Keep IT5181314814, which took the score.
Bellevue sort of gradually pulled away from from that point
on. Yeah, as I say, they did very
well to keep the dust down because, of course, it was a
very, very hot day. Fortunately, obviously, I was on
the back straight, which is quite well shaded from the sun.
So it was nice and cool in there.
A very good crowd. So obviously we everyone knows
there's a, there's always a bit of niggle between Bellevue and
Sheffield where they've been the obviously Lancashire and
Yorkshire. But yeah, probably wasn't the
best meeting I've seen in terms of racing wise at Bellevue.
I've seen seen better meetings than that.
But definitely, definitely well worth the trip.
Yeah, OK. From a point of view of sort of
entertainment, the way the the meeting flowed, yeah.
How how would you give them? Give me a one and a marks out of
10. I would say 7 because I I felt
at times the meeting dragged a little bit.
OK, it was, it was nearly two hours long.
I mean I always think, I always think an ideal speed, length of
a speed of meeting is 90 minutes.
Obviously if Frank Everton was refereeing it probably finished
in about 20 minutes quickly. He got through meetings, but I
mean they obviously they were having a lot of water breaks.
I was going to say, was that, was that right?
Keeping the water down, obviously we've got, they've got
Bellevue TV now, so they stream all their matches and there was
a big screen on, on the first bend.
So you can see, you can see the stream, you can see the
interviews, you can see replays as well of, of any controversial
which is which is, which is very good.
Again, the meetings presented well.
I've got the, I've got the, the Bellevue programme in front of
me, £3.50, but definitely well worth the read.
There's a lot in there. Bellevue for me always do a
very, very good programme. There's always a a lot in there,
very colourful. The question I would ask you is
as a, as a supporting, as a as a visiting fan, I beg.
The one thing I've always noticed when I've gone to Hawaii
tracks is when I brought programmes just very little for
the they, they, they mentioned the team.
There's 2 pages for Sheffield in this in this one.
But is it stuff that's that that Sheffield fans would already
know? It's probably, it's probably
furious Bellevue, it's it's probably more aimed at the home
fans and and newbies. To be fair, there's not really
anything in there. There's no interviews from
people at people at Sheffield I. Always think that that I should
do that. If they want this Indian fans to
buy the programmes then they should give them something to to
read, shouldn't they? Yeah, but I think Sheffield will
be. I think Sheffield will be
disappointed. Chris Holder was exceptionally,
he was for me, he was the best rider of you, picked up 16
points. He was a bit like the old Chris
Holder at times. But Josh Pickering, he was their
next high scorer. He scored nine and then after
that much of A muchness really. Jack Holder was very poor,
looked under Powers, dare I say. I thought he looked a little bit
disinterested, to be honest. He wasn't really.
Didn't really get the impression he was.
I mean, he first, first hate really.
Kyle Thompson, who was guesting for Norwick Dorf of Bellevue.
He got out and his row ride a really good line with him and
him and Brady Kurtz were pretty much neck and neck for three
laps for the for the whole race. And then on the last, on the
last lap, Kurtz made a mistake and holder who was no, it was
quite some way the back managed to get through and get the 3rd
place. And I thought at that point
Anders Row was going to be on for a good amazing Rd really
well, but he only scored a point after that.
I think Sheffield just carried carried a little bit too many
riders. Obviously they they recovered
well to comfortably be Bellevue and Allerton in the evening, but
I think they'll be a little bit disappointed.
I think they'll probably look at that as a bit of a missed
opportunity Sheffield. Because of the ride, isn't it?
Yeah. Who?
Who was the that replaced with?
The Saint, I presume? Carl Thompson was guesting for
Nori Bledorne. It was going to be Carl Howard
guesting for guesting for Kilderman, but obviously he
pulled out in the morning due to personal reason.
Obviously we wish him well. So Justin Sedgman came in and he
picked up 4, and German Lindsey called me and German Lindsey.
Now spell your tracking side out, doesn't he?
He rode very well, to be fair. And he's riding his, I mean,
he's riding really well this year anyway.
Yeah, so I mean, Joe Etheridge was was obviously riding for the
Sheffield reserve. He he won the first team, didn't
do anything after that. So yeah, just, I think just a
few too many people being carried by the Sheffield team
last night, but yeah, it was worth going.
But they ended up getting the they.
Got the balance point. They got a pretty pump thumping
wind in there against them at at Arlington.
But yeah, yeah, definitely worth a visit.
As I say programme, I think about what I was said before, I
think the Bellevue programme is always good value.
I think we didn't really touch on the the Plymouth programme.
That's probably the one thing that disappointed me.
I didn't think the programme was great there.
I thought it was just a little bit, I mean, you find a lot of
problems now, they seem to be predominantly full of adverts,
don't they? I mean, I know they've got to do
that to try and because that's where they get the money from.
But yeah, I was a little bit disappointed by the the Bellevue
programme, but but by the Plymouth programme.
So that's something that maybe they could work on in the
future. But Bellevue programme
excellent. Phil Tilis went to Glasgow
versus Plymouth a couple of weeks ago and they do a good
programme. So this is the sort of thing
that should you wish to Phil, you can click on our link at the
beginning of the show next week and come on and tell us about.
Yeah, you've got some more meetings than me, than me and
him do Phil at the moment. So.
Absolutely. So yeah, we'd love to know your,
your views, just fans views, particularly if it's a team that
you don't support of how you think.
Yeah, you'll be able to do if we're going to Buxton because I
think you believe you've got Buxton as aligned to go to Latin
season. I have.
I'm definitely going to go to Buxton.
I'm also going to try and get down to Northampton as well
because you've got to haven't. Yeah, Yeah.
I believe the next meeting at the moment that I'm looking to
be going to is Workington. That's in a month's time.
So that'll be a first ever visit there for me.
And obviously we've heard big good things about the workings
and tracks, so really looking forward to that one.
Dave Twine says Atheridge took a rider out in heat 2 and the
referee let him in the rerun. Why have you got any?
Yeah, I, I thought that. I thought there was another one
as well in In Heat 12. I thought, I mean, he got
excluded for taking out. I think it was Sedgman, but I
thought Sedgman went down on his own, to be honest.
I mean, we saw the replay a couple of times.
It's one of those decisions. He could have gone either way,
but I I thought he was a a little bit, you know, I think it
was the right decision to exclude.
Did you? At the time I thought he was the
right decision to exclude him. When I looked back on the
replays, did have maybe a second thought.
I'd like to have a look at it again to be fair, if I could get
a chance. But yeah, as I say, we had the
Sheffield Bar me Army. They were making their feelings
though with a couple of the exclusions with some of the
things that they were chanting, particularly towards Mr Lemon,
but we won't get there. So they.
Were I presume they were questioning his parentage and
things like that? Ilk it was mainly boring boring
lemon was the was the main thing they were seeing in.
Pete Clarke says it's so hot at Buxton on Sunday, a sentence
I've never heard said before. So hot at Buxton on Sunday that
it melted my suntan. We've already.
Started to get the right place. I don't believe Pete uses suntan
lotion, by the way. I think he'd need the whole
bottle anyway. Sorry Pete.
Wow, that's the that's our time has gone.
He's just disappeared. Thank you so much for your
participation. We will see you next week and
good luck to you and your Speedway team.
Try. And stay cool everyone.
Yes, see you guys. Good night.
Bye. I'm cool.
Speedway Town. Welcome to the.
Speedway Town. Enjoy your stay.
Welcome to the Speedway Town.