On The Skids - Speedway 2019

[Greenlander]

Well that was a very enjoyable meeting. Nothing in it between the three teams, but Eastbourne were the most consistent and deserved to nick it. Individually, Ben Morley who races for the Isle of Wight pretty much showed everyone else how to ride the track. He was unfortunate to get squeezed out in the extra heat and clip the side boards but with all four riders abreast of each other coming out of the second bend something had to give. Pleasingly it meant local hero Henry Atkins got to win the Dash for Cash which rounded off the night perfectly.

[Ray de Galles]

Great news, Greenlander. I saw Morley ride quite a bit for Rue House, Lakeside and Kent and he was always impressive.

Tickets are now on sale for the British Championship, the official government test event, at Ipswich's Foxhall Stadium on Saturday September 26th. They actually went on sale initially yesterday but demand was so high the site crashed and they had to suspend sales for a day.

Just got mine and hope the weather holds for the next few weeks so I can see the little bit of speedway possible this season.

[Ray de Galles]

...and sales for the British Final are suspended again pending likely bad news about pilot events this afternoon!

[Greenlander]

Yeah, tickets were supposed to go on sale at 0900 for our next meeting in a couple of weeks but delayed until further clarification. Pretty much all the feedback (apart from the racing) from last night was how secure everyone felt, social distancing was well maintained and how well organised it all was. It would be a real shame if it was all to be kicked to one side again.

[Greenlander]

Good news, Plymouth can run their next meeting as it is a permissible team sport in front of less than 1000 spectators and they already have all the covid risk assessments in place.

Not sure where the one thousand person limit leaves the British Final.

[Ray de Galles]

Leicester have announced they are hosting a return meeting with Scunthorpe this Sunday so I've got a ticket for my first British Speedway in over a year.

Now cancelled at the local council's insistence, despite local non-league football still going ahead with crowds apparently.

[Ray de Galles]

Good news, Plymouth can run their next meeting as it is a permissible team sport in front of less than 1000 spectators and they already have all the covid risk assessments in place.

Not sure where the one thousand person limit leaves the British Final.

They are running it at 1000 capacity but had sold more than that number of tickets prior to suspending sales the second time. I'm waiting to hear if I got in under the wire, I doubt it with my luck at the moment!

[Ray de Galles]

SEPTEMBER



SAT 17th Eastbourne HG Aerospace Eagles (Gates 4pm First Race 6pm): NDL Challenge

The opponent for this appears to have switched to the Isle of Wight now? I can's see any explanation of why though.

[Greenlander]

The opponent for this appears to have switched to the Isle of Wight now? I can's see any explanation of why though.

I've no idea, but I'll see if I can find out later. Our commercial person is also linked to Eastbourne which is where the original fixture probably came from, but I know our promoter is also very close to the guy that promotes the Island. I wonder if their team will end up being a mash up of the two anyway, though the Eagles are generally the stronger opposition.

In more immediate news, after weeks of glorious sunshine there's rain in the air but we should just about get the racing before the proper stuff is due to come in around 2200. And it's a sell out again which is good news.

[Greenlander]

Oh and we're squeezing in Leicester next week too.

[Ray de Galles]

Yes, saw that. I've got my eye on Oct 17th as the start of a half term trip and seeing my daughter at Exeter, weather and restrictions permitting.

I am presuming the British Final scheduled for this Saturday is off as it was a pilot event and they are paused but nothing announced yet.

[Greenlander]

Well it's certainly the Isle of Wight but not sure why. And it's tapes up at 1800.

It seems that tonights meeting was actually in doubt due to the leaks about spectators at sport but as we're considered grass roots and had covid secure policies in place it was allowed to proceed. The local conservative MP, Gary Streeter, is helping support the continuation of racing for the rest of the season but tickets won't go on sale just yet for our next meeting until it's confirmed.

Oh, and we won 51-39. Plenty of close and entertaining racing with local hero Henry Atkins the stand out scoring a full maximum from his six races.

[Ray de Galles]

Oh and we're squeezing in Leicester next week too.

Now cancelled, due to a lack of clarity about it's legality.

I've had four meetings cancelled on me in a row (the Speedway of Nations fixture at Belle Vue in late October the latest to go, moved to mainland Europe which I presume will mean Poland) so I've had enough and have booked up to go to Toruń for the final two Grand Prix events next weekend.

Woffinden has an outside chance of claiming the title but I just want to see some racing regardless of the outcome.Hopefully Plymouth can still run their October meetings and I can get to one but no sense in relying on it.

[Greenlander]

That's it for speedway in Plymouth for 2020, and reading the statement it makes sense. But it's still such a shame, I love speedway in October when it's cold and dark and the noise and the smell of the bikes seem that much more intense. Bring on 2021, maybe we'll be in the championship too.

https://plymouth-speedway.com/cheque...s-2020-season/

Edit to RdG: Hope you can make it down next year.

[Ray de Galles]

I very much hope to, frustrating that you've lost the rest of your fixtures though. I saw your post right after landing for the Grand Prix and it made me doubly glad I made the effort to go.

I have to say it was bloody fantastic too. I know the SGP format has it's critics (and the new points system which over- rewards Grand Final and Semi-Final winners was a shock) but it does produce the most fantastic and dramatic racing throughout the season.

That hadn't really come across when I've caught it on TV this year (the UK based coverage and commentary team understandably fails to capture the excitement) but in the stadium it was electric, accentuated by the fact that I haven't see a GP live for over two years, having missed Cardiff last season.

Quite a contrast in the feel of the two nights, Friday's penultimate event was the lower capacity (around 50%, I think), socially distanced event I expected, much like the two club meetings I saw in Poland in July. In a really high quality meeting, Max Fricke was a surprise maiden winner, Woffinden made some ground on Zmarzlik (but the gap was only cut from ten to eight points which would be too much to make up on the final event, barring Zmarzlik crashing out of the meeting) and overtook Lindgren to move in to second place in the series overall.

I expected more of the same on the Saturday but the extreme likelihood of a Pole being crowned World Champion (and to first ever Polish double winner, which surprised me) clearly short-circuited all the COVID planning and the place was packed, with far fewer of the 22,000 seats empty and stands on the home stretch and first & fourth bends packed. The Prime Minister was in attendance to bask in reflected glory (and award the trophy, it turned out) and there was far more of a "big event" crowd than the usual speedway meeting, even in Poland. It felt more like a big football tournament final.

The block I was in was far too full but luckily there was almost an entire row free in the one next to it which was right over the start so I dived in there, mask jammed in place throughout and with a metre or two between me and anyone else. Once that got sorted I could relax and enjoy the racing and, while it was unlikely BZ was going to get caught, he didn't have quite a good enough night through the heats for the title to be wrapped up.

It was eventually settled in the first semi-final featuring the top three and all Zmarzlik needed to do was finish in the first or second to clinch the title which he duly did despite missing the start and having to swoop from fourth to second behind Lindgren. The place erupted and his laps of honour, wheelies, donuts and climb in to the stand to hug his parents were accompanied by cacophonous noise.

There was a danger it would all be anti-climactic after that and the second semi-final was certainly eclipsed but there was still the issue of the final and deciding who got the silver medal. Lindgren had been the best rider on the night and only needed to finish third out of four in the grand final to secure second place in the series (in fact, the SGP twitter feed had already awarded him that in a hastily-deleted mistaken tweet). As it was he had engine failure on the line which left Zmarzlik free to secure the GP as well as the World Title and send the whole place apeshit again.

That left Lindgren and Woffinden with a race-off for the silver medal which was an added bonus, especially when Tai held Lindgren off the whole way to steal the silver away but it was a great finish to the night for me as well as him.

As I said on the football matchgoing thread, the two nights are probably going to comfortably be my favourite sporting events of this COVID-affected sporting year. The four meetings I've seen in Poland this year really reminded me of how much it's he spiritual home of the most exciting sport on earth. I'm not going to leave it seven years between visits ever again.

[Ray de Galles]

Just a note to say the last competitive racing of the year is the Speedway of Nations (the old World Cup) from Lublin Poland this weekend. It's on BT Sport 3 from 5:30pm on Friday and Saturday evenings.

GB have been massively weakened by Woffinden withdrawing due to broken bones in his hand from a horrible crash in a play-off fixture with his Polish team Sparta Wroclaw.

Robert Lambert should give it a good go with Dan Bewley in support but Russia and Poland must be considered favourites.

[Paul S]

I thought I would add this from the Sport and coronavirus thread:

The banger racing scene is in tatters but it has resumed behind closed doors with Stansted Raceway staging events. On the down side the pavilion at Arena Essex has been demolished, but the good news is that the owners have been told by Highways England they can't build 2,500 new homes on the site as it will over-load the road junction so they are now at 250. The rumour now is that a speedway track will be retained in some form on the site.

[Muukalainen]

Ray's posts up thread about the Poles set me thinking about the 1973 World Champion, Jerzy Szczakiel. I was just getting into speedway at the time and didn't realise what a rank outsider he was, even among his fellow Poles. He won the two man race off, beating Ivan Mauger, after both men finished their five races on 13 points. It must've been a hell of an evening, estimates of the crowd are 90000 upward, even (im)possibly(?) 130000, seeing one of their own for the first time become world champion. The sad footnote is that he passed away this 1st September just gone, a day short of 47 years since his triumph.

[Greenlander]

Championship speedway for Plymouth this summer.

What kind of team can be put together considering most riders are already committed to the established clubs as they are keeping most of their 2020 riders in place will be intriguing. We'll start to find out on Wednesday.

[Ray de Galles]

Excellent, I've been following the speculation (and mentioned it on the motor sport thread, I think) and saw the confirmation yesterday. Left it to you to post the news.

The league season is due to start early May and I noticed Belle Vue, at least, had released fixtures. I'm hoping that ends up happening and with crowds but I'm yet to be convinced. I suppose one plus point of the aging demographic of speedway supporters is that a lot of them will have been offered vaccines by then!

I plan to start a 2021 thread when we know more how likely it all is, then we can finally lay the 2019 one to rest.

[Greenlander]

I'd like to hope that Mark Phillips and his team are being rewarded for being one of the more dynamic promotions especially as they were one of the very few who were able and committed to putting on meetings last year.

Big worry is we can't get a competitive team as all the decent riders have got places or committing to European leagues and we're dumped back down for Somerset's return in 2022.

[Ray de Galles]

I suspect the SGB would be happy to have as many pro clubs as possible competing in the top two tiers and will put up with an odd number in the Championship to do so.

That's what they'll have when Swindon rejoin the Premiership after this coming season off after all. That's all assuming there aren't any other clubs shutting down, being mothballed or coming back in to competition and no further reorganisation of the leagues.

[Third rate Leszno]

Well, Bjarne Pedersen ought to put a few on the gate (assuming there's anyone allowed in at all), but can he still do it on the shale?

[Ray de Galles]

I spotted that signing, who was Pedersen riding for pre-COVID, I've lost track.

[Greenlander]

I spotted that signing, who was Pedersen riding for pre-COVID, I've lost track.

Peterborough, and previously Leicester.

And now we're told Jason Crump is in our team too. Alright it's a couple of older riders but we've not seen racers of this quality at the Plymouth track ever. This season better happen.