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Not shooting in the dark. The closure of four teams since last season, with others looking ominously precarious, shines a burning light on the sport's obvious problem: promoters are paying riders more than they can afford.

Enthusiast: Well that's the last time I stop an old man in Penge High Street and ask for information. I think he must have dementia. He doesn't realise that Birmingham Bulls race at Birmingham, Isle of Wight Wizards race on the Isle of Wight, and Plymouth race at Plymouth. I'm glad I didn't ask him about Mason Wear or any of the teams in Football League 1.

Finished ahead of Martin Ashby twice! (Mind you, Martin Ashby had an EF both times - once at Oxford and once at Swindon)

His typical behaviour. He posts something incredibly stupid in an attempt at trolling. Then when the trolling attempt fails massively, he makes up some other nonsense and edits a post pretending he had made a mistake. He usually does it on threads he started, so that once he's made a fool of himself he can delete the thread. But he didn't start this one, so all he can do is pretend his trolling was an error Very sad.

The whole package was about how the Lynn set up has helped him through a bad time...., He also says how they has worked harder on his fitness and the benefit he has gained by the 'great people behind US has been awesome'. In conclusion, it says 'Jorgensen is yet to be named in the 2019 side, but it would be a major surprise if he isn't in their plans'... So it was not fake news, and I trust in future you keep your tainted comments to yourself....

Enthusiast: I wonder if at some point Gustix will say something positive about current British Speedway? Realist: Not a chance.

Negative 'fake news' from Mr Webb then.... At least he is consistent

It's first past the post, not who did the fastest time, although logically in most cases, that is the same person. Otherwise you could have a rider deliberately missing the gate by a few second to give himself a free run around at the back in a faster time than the rider who crosses the line first?

You’re right Mike - and your first paragraph hits the nail on the head - it was aimed at some of the Kings Lynn ‘fans’. The purpose of my proposed bet was to see if any of these people who are adamant that Kings Lynn will collect the wooden spoon (or to be battling with Ipswich to avoid this) would be brave enough to ‘put their money where their mouth is’ and, unsurprisingly in my view, nobody has taken up the opportunity. The bet was simple - Kings Lynn succeed and these people would £50 to the BEN fund - a price worth paying. If they don’t succeed, I would pay £50 to the BEN fund and all these negative people ‘win’ as they could take great pleasure in saying ‘I told you so’ along with Speedway benefitting from the great work the BEN fund do. Ultimately, it was the long winded way to get to the point that, no matter what is offered, you will never please everybody. I said a few months ago, people would moan if we signed Woffinden, Zmarzlik & Dudek, and I stick by that. Drop the negative attitude, get behind the sport and the team, and lets actually look forward to the 2019 season, I for one can’t wait - if the predictions are right for the remaining team spots, it will be a team of triers and a team I think the fans can connect with. Putting my tin hat firmly on now . . .

As ever Halifax makes some very good points One thing comes to mind.Going back to 2004 or 2005,we had fans criticising things going on.They were getting posts on here telling them it was the Promoters who were putting in the money and because of that were above criticism and those criticising should put substantial amounts into the sport and then maybe they would have a different opinion.Even worse,they were told by certain Promoters to bugger off More than a decade later,many fans have done........ You have to engage with fans,no matter how hard it might seem.You have to try and explain your position even if some won' accept the answer.You have to fight like a champion to make your business successful,because all of your competitors,whoever they may be,will take advantage if you don't.Telling fans to p off or ban them from forums isn't the way forward

No point posting here when there’s absolutely nothing to discuss.

Thomas pettersson,kjell gimre,lars Inge hultberg,Erik tilgaard,Einar egedius gotfred andreasen Henryk glucklich,jerzy trzeszkowski

The way you mis-read that original post is almost on Starman levels. Astonishing. I notice you've held your hands up and apologised in similar fashion on many threads recently where your trolling has backfired spectacularly. Perhaps taking a moment or two to think before you post would be some wise advice.

A few more 'legends' Johannes Fransden Thomas Ravn Nano Righetto Finn Jensen (Eastbourne) Christoph Betzl Markku Helminen Frits Koppe Toni Pilotto Jorgen Hultgren Torben Hansen Csaba Hell

With transponders they give the system a ”hit” when they cross the line. So no, it will start timing when you cross the line, not when tapes go up. And yes, it does not matter at all where your ponder is on friday. But as they are supposed to ve used for close finished in the meeting, it matters a great deal.

I don't understand the joke. Why is "Supporter" lying to "Enthusiast" about where teams race? Why is he sending him to Birmingham to watch IOW instead of telling him where the IOW track is?

But surely the Bond (I believe to be 50K - 60K) is to only cover Speedway related debts.

It was three 5 -1's for Oxford at plough lane to win 37 - 41, followed by a last heat 5 - 1 to the Dons at Cowley to win 38 - 40. I was at both meetings, it seems like yesterday!

Incidentally a great turn-out last night for the latest Poole Supporters (R.E.F.) Quiznight. 17 teams taking part but modesty prevents me from naming the winners. During the evening the R.E.F. Committee - ably led by Stan and Val Vatcher - were commended for their fund-raising efforts on behalf of the riders since 2002. It was announced that over £67,000 has been raised and presented to Poole riders during this time. The next R.E.F. night will be a Fans Forum on Weds 20th March involving Matt and the new promoters plus some riders.

In 1975, Swindon announced that they were going to sign Kenneth Selmonsson from the touring side Kaparna. Sadly we missed out on him in the end and went for Jan Andersson instead. So that worked out pretty well!

Don't forget, Ernst Bogh also appeared for Leicester in 1976, along with Grzegorz Szczepanik and the almost-as-ineffective Pepe Teromaa. Again, I think Teromaa could have been okay given more time. Steve

I am probably preaching to the converted but the above-named company has a variety of speedway memorabilia for sale. Log on to their site and type speedway in to the search window.

Yeah, the Tigers have had their share of mediocrity over the years! Iris, you say you don't remember them? You may have blinked; they both had a British career that lasted a whopping two races! Jan Zabik was a little better; he averaged over 4, and managed a maximum. Steve

Maybe you will find out your full team on press day madness.

In todays S/S, It appears TJ has also signed for the club. No doubt we will hear that officially when the promotions think the fans ought to know... It was said it was sorted a long time back.....

Logic would suggest Weymouth race at Poole and Reading at Swindon, but there doesn't seem much logical about the way speedway in this country is run at present. Slightly straying from the original topic but, I was at a track I won't mention last season and a lady using crutches came through the turnstile and then realised she had forgotten to purchase a programme which were also being sold on entry at the turnstile. Believe it or not, she was made to go back outside the stadium and queue again to buy her programme. If the track management recognises itself from this account, shame on you

Spot on Steve...and there's the problem. We have a sport run effectively by two separate factions with very different views as to how the sport is promoted. First thing is to make the sport untied and ditch the us and them situation. Restructure or its finished.

My wish for 2019 is for the racing to be enjoyable for every fan and for the night to be over by 9.30 minimum.No restarts up with the tapes and if the rider guesses right good luck to him keeping the meeting rolling.

I do remember them all and of course Gerd Riss,who really looked like he was going to be s good heat leader at one stage

Sadly my head believes you are spot on but my heart still dreams that Buster might be holding back the best until last ( early March ). Without Iversen the Stars team will not hold it's own and my enthusiasm for the upcoming season will dip further. Even more importantly I dream that the KL track would be much improved and offer up better racing ( but that is another hope from the heart ). And my hope that doubleheaders V the same team will not be seen again at Saddlebow Rd. is quite likely to be dashed ( "in the best interests of the sport" ). Not much to look forward to for me.

It is not a crusade against gustix; it is a crusade against stupidity and self-importance. It is difficult to get over it when he responds to a reaction with even more inanity... As I said, I have had my issues with iris. The thing with gustix is that he complains if others deviate all, but it's okay for him to hijack almost every thread and redirect to what he wants when it is invariably non-speedway related. I get it, I get under your skin. GET OVER IT... Steve

Again, how many times are you going to tell us that you haven't been to speedway since 2005? Your first sentence, however, does not qualify for inclusion on this thread; it references the FUTURE of British speedway - if indeed there is one... Steve

Swindon signed him in 1983 but he had a car accident before joining and never rode. Given his record at Leicester and Hackney, he would have fitted well into our team that season!!

Ricky now on Friday morning

its good to hear you have no use for the subtitles .

Guess they make an exception for your stuff?

Just to be clear, that's minus £580.....

Plenty of Clubs doing great things to attract kids that I saw with my own eyes in NL in 2018 at my Club Birmingham, Isle of Wight, Plymouth; Eastbourne. May be the NL Clubs have to work harder but Brummies have attracted some, I was staggered at what IOW do and its been widely reported, Plymouth have kids running race at Interval and a Mascot going round throwing sweets and when I went to Eastbourne for KOC Final there were about 100 kids being shown round before the meeting given a Tour. If you don't try it won't happen.

Kids are simply not interested in Speedway because they have far more things nowadays to keep them interested and get their 'kicks'.. And, just maybe, what we considered 'exciting and adrenalin fuelled' is to the average teenager (who goes on 'killing sprees' and 'saves the world' from the comfort of their bedrooms every night), not anywhere near as exciting or adrenalin fuelled to them.... What does amaze me is why clubs charge school age teenagers to get in.. They don't go now so it would be zero loss letting them in for nothing, and you would at least (for those who own the food outlets) sell more Coke and Burgers. Teenagers also 'hunt in packs', so getting your teenager to go with you on their own is sometimes akin to removing blood from a stone.. Letting them in for free would mean they and their mates can all attend together to 'hang out', well away from the 'old man'.. Whether any of them transfer to become paying customers further down the line is the big unknown, however one thing is for sure... You will have far more chance of getting them interested later in life if they have sampled the experience several times.. And being 'sheep' the more that attend , the more that will follow.. And if nothing else, it would make the crowds look bigger, which can only reflect the sport positively, and lower the average age of the crowd demographic considerably...

Those riders i named were revered because the simple facts were they were great riders four of them World champions.I don't remember them because they were getting a 15 point max at Exeter on Monday night and then only dropping the odd point here and there giving them inflated averages.Poland of course now is a very high level and yes it is great to see , but going back to Chapman had he took a chance on some sort of big league maybe even regional i believe the product could be good.More fixtures riders of similar ability facing each other hopefully making for closer racing that chance was lost.Was that a last chance scenario missed who knows? as we have it now we have a top league in name only giving us about 15 home meetings a year.

Agreed, it must go to one league and should have done years ago now. The sport bizarrely operates in 2 distinct entities...they even have separate meetings and discusstions at the AGM....and during the season...!!! I appreciate that 10-15 years ago the difference in rider quality between what was Elite (now Premier) League EL and Premier (now Championship) League PL BUT that could/can be balanced out, especially now the quality of riders in both leagues means there is very little difference between the Leagues. Historically the main issue (maybe still is) to forming one league was money. The Premier League clubs business model and pay structure, in the main, actually worked. Elite League business structure and rider pay became far too high and seriously inflated by Sky money which EL didn’t want to share with PL. Why would a PL club making money want to go in to EL and loose money...? Then when the TV money disappeared along with thousands of paying customers....bingo, disaster. It is clear that speedway is in a terminal state and needs to be radically restructured and the ‘product reinvented’ and vigorously promoted...this is the only way to attract more people and bring money into the sport....the $64,000 question is...has the BSPA the vision, courage and ability to do it...sadly history says NO.

It's not the racing.. it's all about perception. Formula One is awful racing.. but look at the popularity and the glamour.

While this thread maybe full of aggression, the forum as a whole is packed with ideas from long standing, thinking and committed fans about how to improve the sport. Some are ridiculous, some are unworkable and some require the injection of unfeasibly huge amounts of cash. Some, however, might just be worth a try. Problem is, with the exception of Barry Bishop, Neil Watson, Jayne Moss & Laurence Rogers not one single promoter or team manager engages with fans on this forum. Indeed, most of them treat it with utter contempt and even loathing. I should point out that Barry attracts 4 likes for every post he makes, a truly remarkable reflection of just how much his contribution is valued. Even if paying customers make constructive comment or suggestion, then, they aren't even read. Its also indicative of just how those who run the sport view the fan who pays every week. The number of accounts of the quite dreadful way paying customers are treated is damning - I know, I have had some of that. I'd say that much of the vilification is deserved. For me, the worst is the cheating, one-upmanship and culture of favours and corruption at the heart of the sport that leaves fans totally disillusioned. Its a bit of a long shot to say that without the decision to prevent Workington riding on Fridays last season the Comets might have survived - a decision motivated by the most appalling self interest - but it certainly didn't do them any favours. I could probably name half a dozen occasions when rulings have been made that were completely contrary to the rules of the sport at the behest of one promoter or another. The BSPA can legitimately blame the weather, landlords, riders, the press and heaven knows who else for the problems that the sport faces. But they can't get away from that one and I don't think the damage it has done can be overestimated.

Spot on.. A shortage of riders? Then create less team places.. It isn't difficult to change supply and demand dynamics.. I would have gone as far as running with five man teams for this year to turn the 'tanker' around, and try and get 12 teams involved.. Home and Away twice (44 matches, 22 at Home).. At a Championship level standard (from last year)) but removing one heat leader and one second string from last seasons teams.. With One reserve, at least, a two point Brit 'junior'.. The rest of the teams could have run at NL level.. Plenty of replacements generated for injuries and loss of form, just like 'proper' sports have. (Without rivals sharing competitors)! £5k Max per team per night salary cap... Maybe no superstars but credibility and affordable?

Agreed, of course the BSPA/Promoters, past and present, are ultimately responsible and to blame for the mess...and are paying a heavy price for their compliancy...BUT I feel your view, albeit technically correct, is rather protecting the guilty. Chairman Chapman and VC Godfrey are culpable as they are the two who should be driving the sport forward...BUT sadly they are driving speedway off a cliff. The BSPA administration of speedway is top down management and Chapman, in particular, is responsible for more than his fair share of catastrophic (engines to name but one) blunders. He is clearly a megalomaniac with the attention span and acumen of a goldfish along with Godfrey, his equally 'not so bright' sidekick. It is a fact that badly managed businesses eventually go bankrupted and the clueless twosome have disastrously presided over the speedways biggest decline for years and that has now seen the sport to be financially unsustainable with Clubs disastrously going bust each year, Clubs consistently loosing 6 figures sums per season, more Clubs (than is made public) are up for sale with zero chance of attracting a buyer...even Poole, arguably the most successful club in recent history, can not find a buyer. Seeing the crumbling state of speedway it is understandable that many promoters want to jump ship...as sadly the time to 'sort this mess out' lifeboat has sailed long-ago.

That is not the point he is making ..Thou racing is good it's not made the crowds come in ...it one of biggest myths about crowds and good racing . People need to feel like the match matters ..the problem is to most that feeling has gone .. Another myth is about racing being better in the old days ..it never was, most of the time is was poor just like today . When you have crowds and big names it always felt like the racing was better but really most the time it was gate and go .

Whilst I'm pleased that development league speedway will continue, Is it not a little unfair to expect lads (and most likely their dads) from the Midlands and the North to travel all the way down to the Isle of White and Plymouth at their own expense? Will their be sufficient sponsorship to cover their costs?

The best racing I've seen on a week-to-week basis is at modern day Scunthorpe, so I understand Rob Godfrey's statement. If I'd have been privileged to watch racing on a weekly basis at Hyde Road in the 70s, maybe I'd disagree. To be honest, I don't think the racing is any better or any worse. The big difference is the atmosphere during meetings - that's not the same. And that's down to crowds being a fraction of what they were.

So good to see Darcy Ward getting wed to the lovely Lizzie on Friday. Congratulations to them both. So many speedway friends in attendance in Oz, including Middlo, the Holders and the Kurtzs, Leigh Adams plus Aussie Team Manager Mark Lemon and many more..

Is it not time to move on from Harris & Nicholls?