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Just to say good luck to all Pooles opponents this year and hope the cheats finish bottom.

You are right, there isn’t a great deal wrong with the action but unfortunately lots of other stuff around it is poor, some out of the sports control but many things completely within. I’m thinking poor stadia and facilities, poor customer service when the weather is bad, poor promotional communication, expensive admission, failure to appeal to a younger audience, bad presentation, poor track prep and meetings dragging on. Obviously not every track or every week but these things occur far too often and people unfortunately vote with their feet.

How - and why - is it worrying? There is nothing written there that we didn't already know. It's been covered to death on the BSF. I don't think the head-in-the-sand attitude comes from the supporters; we all know British speedway is in trouble. The apathy from supporters stems from the fact that realistically, there is bugger all that we supporters can do to stop the rot... Steve

Good article and hard to argue with on so many points. For me perfectly summed up by the following. Corcoran describes the camaraderie in the sport as the glue that holds it together but is damning on the reasons for speedway’s decline. “The bikes’ technology has changed but the presentation has not,” he says. “There has been a distinct lack of innovation and investment and it has been a race to the bottom rather than the top. The sport screams out for a Bernie Ecclestone or Barry Hearn character to grab it and run with it. “There is nobody centrally driving the sport. If you were a potential sponsor from a big brand you wouldn’t have been approached by anybody. Same goes for TV. They have had centrally negotiated TV contracts but they have been pitiful because the guys you are dealing with are, with respect, scrap metal merchants and used-car salesmen.”

Not an inspiring start to the season. Track was as slick as a board, hence 22 processional races. There will need to be a heap more shale put down if the season is to produce any excitement.

Apparently no break, so that's good news

Lesson is don’t pay on appearance ,pay on performance. Imo

Decent solid performance tonight with promising rides from every rider Bomber was a class apart with a couple of sublime passes (even more commendable given the track) Impressed with Jake and Cam generally and Richard finished strongly Danny seemed a little subdued but thats not unexpected David had a tough start but had a encouraging race win Drew didnt look totally comfortable but scored well and great to see him with a Witch on his chest Only slight disappointment was the lack of any victory parade. Quite a number of Witches fans had travelled and deserved some acknowledgement Nice to start with a win and I can see this being a team worth watching Get yourself down to Foxhall good people and give it a look

get the Guardian online - very interesting article about (the decline of) speedway https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/mar/23/who-haul-speedway-out-of-1970s-back-into-affections-uk-viewing-public

hahahaha cheeky lad

I see Peter Collins is 65 today according to BSPA site. What a great shame that there is such a rift between the Collins family and Belle Vue. PC is the most gifted talented rider I have ever seen. Seeing his career is the most joyous part of my 57 seasons of watching Belle Vie

From a neutral (Redcar) supporter, Lewis Kerr looked very good at Ben Barker's testimonial meeting yesterday. Hope he has an injury free season. Certainly deserves one.

In an interview with Chris Morton in this weeks Speedway Star he emphasised that promoters must put the fans first and foremost giving them value for money and to be treated properly .

A decent meeting last night with some good racing on a sometimes tricky track. There was an excellent crowd for a challenge match, so a lot to be pleased with for the Lions management.

Crikey what a complete mess! How people still prefer individual suits with bibs to team suits is beyond me. The fella on the right looks like he’s using a ten year old suit dug out of the lost property bin!

Again Steve, the number of existing fans is still so insignificant compared to what we had years ago, that even if we all went regularly now, it wouldn't make a difference. As far as the distances needed for even a "local" team now, I was really spoiled in having two teams in London, plus. Arena, Crayford, Rye, Milton Keynes, Eastbourne, Reading, Oxford, and Canterbury all very doable. From having at least ten tracks from which to choose, only ONE of those survives now. THAT is what hurts. Steve

Yes thank you very much - he was rather good 2 sublime passes that you really wouldnt have thought possible

Spot on.

Interesting and thought provoking article.

Back in the day at berwick the green light was only their to let the home men go, gifford jones meldrum and the templetons were at the first corner before the comets had set off ! There used to be a clip on youtube from 1975 check it out

I can't remember if it was studs or velcro (although it might have been both!),

Might be a bit of a tight squeeze to get between the bikes nowadays Norman

Do why know what numbers all the riders had? Couldn't be there unfortunately Not even in the same country to be fair!! Think Max Clegg will surprise a lot of people next year

Sadly no other promoter is prepared to break the mould of "it's our game and we run it how we like". Godfrey and Chapman included. Neither are "people people" or show any serious interest in the opinion of fans.

As a fellow "Yorkie" I have to agree.

The public view it as old hat and poor value for money. Can anyone change that perception, i doubt it. When you've got an experienced promoter like Len Silver charging £15 for NL racing, must mean the lunatics have finally taken over the asylum.

Absolutely right "The Dog" going back over the decades, the 2nd Tier has often been won by a tight Team - as Workington proved last year, they had 6 blokes average in a range between around 6 and 7.5 and did brilliantly, they even carried a 1 point reserve for most of the year, and if you go right back look at a side like Long Eaton in the early 80's. I think its clear that Somerset ; Leicester ' Glasgow have the top end strength but have compromised a bit with reserves; as Gary May admits himself, and the others have all got a solid look. If we win more than we lose at home and a few away wins, decent crowds and break even / make a bit, its a step back up to where we want to be and in the mason we trust!

Wonder if we should actually start a 2020 thread for this http://www.scunthorpe-speedway.com/?p=9607 That's what you call forward planning!

Bring back the Mort.

At about £500 a suit that's £3500 at start of season and factor in 2-3 changes in season (injuries and loss of form) it is a lot of money to lay out when you can get a set of race bibs for about £350 quid. I much prefer things as they are at scunny as you can spot the riders easier on track with individual colours. Ipswich have taken it to the next level with team bike covers and it must be very hard to spot who is who for there fans now.

It would have been a bit later than that as the first Northern Launch was 2014. I think it was the 2016 one, but I'm not entirely sure.

Are Scunny the only championship team not to have team kevlars?... The pics I've seen from Sheffield's and Redcars p&p would suggest not..?

As I have said many times, and as was also stated in the article, with what tracks we do have being forced out of the urban areas, people aren't exposed to the sport now. Even if they are, they can't just hop on a bus or train like we did... Steve

That's why i worry for the likes of Eastbourne and Birmingham that have moved up. The fans they need to balance their books don't exist anymore. There is no new blood coming into the sport and there is nothing that can be done to change that.

At the risk of repeating my personal scenario I was a regular at Cowley for over thirty years and the track was within walking distance of my various homes at the time. However since I moved to York (2004) that criteria seriously altered. The reality would now require driving to either Sheffield, Scunthorpe and/or Redcar which would result in having to fork out serious petrol money (plus wear & tear) to attend a meeting that consists of 15 (?) races with admission prices at £15 (?). The sums just don't add up as far as I'm concerned. I've given up talking about speedway to locals as York being a non-speedway town nobody has ever heard of it so even sharing expensives is out of the question. I'm sure that now the depressing regularity of track closures around the country has also influenced whether 'fans' choose to travel distances to follow their once favoured sport?

I would put a cap full in my old Yamaha xs 360 back in 83 n ride around town :-)

Okay, perhaps some of you do have your head in the sand - or at least can't comprehend what I said. Maybe that was a little harsh of me, but... How many actual speedway "supporters" are there left in Britain? I'm not talking about "ex-supporters". I'm not talking about new ones or potential ones? Even if every real, existing supporter in the UK attended live speedway, they alone would not be able to save British speedway. Look at the BSF... I am a real supporter with a life-long love of the sport, but I am one of several on here who physically CAN'T attend. There are a number on here who CAN attend, but WON'T. I am reluctant to include those as real supporters (they support speedway as it was 20 or 30 years ago - not the modern game), but being the nice guy that I am, I will include those as real and existing supporters. How many of those are there? If every one of those clubbed together and bought a minibus (that's how few of them there really are), and went to speedway in the UK at EVERY AVAILABLE OPPORTUNITY, they wouldn't be able to save ONE track, let alone the sport as a whole. Look at the TV viewing figures that were mentioned in the article? If every one of those were a weekly speedway-goer, they couldn't save the sport alone. The sad fact is that there are not enough current speedway supporters in the UK to keep the sport afloat without a major reconstruction, major cash injection, and most importantly, a massive influx of NEW supporters. Which is why I said that "we supporters" can do nothing to stop the rot. And that is the sad reality... Steve

Jenga, would think one of the reasons my self and around another 100 or so comets fans traveled to support Ben was that it was on Saturday afternoon, same goes for other fans who traveled, and could get home at a decent time

Must be the fact Harris on proper Buster money now, good job hes not polish as your mate geoff would be even more unhappy banging his head on the wall

No way will there be 2 meetings in 2 days in Torun- however it is play-off time in Poland so there will be meetings on somewhere.

So Polish rider has a clash of challenges matches and has to be at the one in his own country ie the federation that issues him with his racing licence. Seems pretty straightforward and understandable to me. Not really getting the whinging.

Good idea - You may knock some sense into it

Remember the late Rob Woffenden placing Castrol 'R' in his petrol driven lawn mower so that he could enjoy the whiff when cutting the lawn!

A hell of a good read , alot of remarks about the "smell" which was castrol oil but when was that last used? Remember in the 70s going to derwent park on sat morning picking up cans of "speedwell "cans to put on our push bikes and dream of being lou sansom !

No he won't because he did , not rocket science is it. Anyway haven't saw any users with those names on here, you must be thinking of the Workington forum.

First fixture and first guest that dont help get people along does it !!

I bought a copy of Speedway World at the first meeting I ever went to. Its front page headline was "Brian Crutcher Retires", so I never got to see him ride! I think though there is no doubt he should be in a top 30 British riders of all-time. As you say yourself, Sidney, for a while he was the equal of the likes of Fundin, Briggs and Moore and he was a well-known name in an era when speedway received a bit more publicity in the papers than it does now. On the other hand I saw Ron How many times and thought he was always a bit underrated because he was second to Ronnie Moore but he was an essential part of the all-conquering Wimbledon team of the late 50s and early 60s. He was a world finalist eight times and between 1958 and 1964 averaged over nine points per match every season. Between 1958 and 1965 he was ranked in the Top 20 riders in the world in the Speedway Star ranking lists, generally around mid way. Without listing the other top British riders, I think I would have him in my top 30.

For all its faults and mismanagement, and lets face it they are legion, glad to see logic has at least prevailed in the M+SDL with Reading racing at Swindon, Weymouth at Poole and Exeter at Plymouth. My fragile faith in the speedway gods is at least partly restored.

In certain parts of Norfolk all the answers given would be correct and mean the same person