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YOU'RE BRILLIANT ♥️ | We have just received news from the Ayres family that Danny's bike has been FOUND! And we're even more delighted to report that it has been returned to Jodie and the girls in time for Danny's Day. Thank you so much to everyone who shared their plight, the Speedway Family has truly outdone itself today. You made that bike too hot to handle... YOU'RE ALL AMAZING! #DoItForDanny #WhoDAyresWins

HOW many restaurants, bars, etc are just a few yards from the NSS compared with the Principality. Thousands descend on Cardiff to spend the whole day there. Would not do that around the NSS. You've lost the argument, lay down and have a nice cup of tea.

I doubt there is big demand for speedway anywhere. If there was such big demand at Rye House where were they all on race nights & why did it close?

Dont think Bob is being cynical.. Just being quite realistic based on the clear evidence of past experiences of other clubs within the 'local ish' vicinity.. There has been success stories over the years around the country which should inspire some belief, (Birmingham and the NSS two that spring to mind, as well as of course Kent in the South East), however, the odds are heavily stacked against Speedway clubs coming back from 'the dead' and it would be wrong to ignore that starting point.. Bottom line is the local population around Rye House didnt come out to support the sport in enough numbers, be that because of the quality of the product, the price charged to watch, or the 'opening hours'... Therefore. No point taking personally someone else's opinion of a situation, especially given that (a lot of) previous similar situations shows that their opinion of the likely outcome is probably the way things will unfortunately turn out.. Best of luck to those who will try and fight to save Speedway at Rye House, it will though be a huge fight to overcome, and there's nothing negative about being realistic about that.. Indeed, for some it might prove as an inspirational challenge for them to succeed where many can only see failure... Bottom line is that if enough of the population of Rye House desperately want Speedway it may get saved, if not enough show that they are bothered, it definitely wont.. As I say, best of luck to those willing to fight, but let's be brutally honest, another Speedway track closed for good will hardly send a ripple around the UK sporting world will it?

Bloody hell it's literally you picking the fights here! Old bob and one other person replied from what i can see, and both of those posters aren't even close to Rye so what relevance is that ? You were only giving suggestions at angles for people to lobby anyway, you weren't exactly offering to run a campaign. If several Rye regulars were admitting defeat then i'd say you have a point, but christ almighty, this thread has only been up half a day!

I've been to Cardiff probably 15 times since the first GP there and have never failed to have a brilliant weekend. From Friday night through to Sunday morning, speedway fans take over the city and every time, it's been a cracking atmosphere and a lot of fun in and around the stadium and city centre. It's a hole in my summer this year....as it is for 40,000 others. Racing wise, there have been 3-4 classics, 1-2 shockers, but by and large pretty good stuff. I think to not enjoy the whole weekend, you'd have to make a very determined effort to be miserable.

But far better than anything you'll ever see at Cardiff. Wembley at least never needed to be booby-trapped to manufacture overtaking. I think you'll find the vast majority who go to Cardiff go late on and cant be doing with the whole "day out" myth. And the NSS is hardly out in the sticks. It's a short bus ride or train ride into Manchester - a far better and more vibrant city than Cardiff.

Just heard a rumour on the grapevine is Glasgow have been replaced by Isle of Snow Wight Dwarfs with their 1 to 7 made up of riders called Happy (got a big sponsor ship deal), Sneezy (who has a dust allergy), Dopey (who is addicted to the smell of methanol and Castrol R), Bashful (returns to the pits straight after winning a race), Grumpy (always get last gate choice if nominated for ht15), Doc (got a good supplier of face masks) and Sleepy (who always misses the gate). Well if racing goes ahead it is going to be a bit of a fairy tale.

Please gentlemen stop bickering, this is a very serious time for the team and the sport. I hope people can focus on trying to avert this disaster.

Rob mcdrama queen at it again.

From the Sheffield Web Site SHEFFIELD co-promoter Peter Mole insists plans are going ahead for the reintroduction of speedway at Owlerton in August. But Mole, a West Midlands-based businessman, also says there is a lot of work to do to ensure spectators can safely enjoy the racing once the green light is given by the government. Most club bosses throughout the UK believe social distance measures are possible in their venue and signage has already been put up at Scunthorpe including restricted numbers in the paddock. Mole said: “The stadium are confident it could be made a COVID-19 friendly venue; it’s got so much open space and it would be a case of working out the safely designated standing areas per group of supporters who entered. “The pits aren’t the biggest at Sheffield but we could find a way around that by extending them temporarily like we do on the bigger events and also by restricting the amount of people who can be in there at any one time. “Then there’s other things like one way entrances, exits and walkways and a list of other things we’d need to ensure were in place as well; not necessarily insurmountable but there’s so much which would require a lot of close consideration. “We have a great relationship with our landlords at Owlerton and we will work closely with them to ensure the sport can restart at the appropriate time – but we don’t want to fill fans with over the top enthusiasm because there is work to do.”

I've seen some great racing at Cardiff in a great atmosphere and some awful racing I've seen some awful processional spaced out racing at NSS in cold and some great racing at NSS in the warm People can very easily grow misconceptions and see everything as black and white.

I was thinking about not just wearing it for going to the speedway but if we are required to wear a mask then why not a supporters mask?

Great news!

League speedway is finished at Rye House. Anyone thinking it can be revived by lobbying the owners needs to have their bumps felt. The new leaseholders have no interest in Speedway and are fully aware that the sport is on its knees everywhere in the UK. Any potential promoter would have to come up with a staggering (and I mean Euro millions lottery winning staggering) amount of money to tempt the new owners into giving them a lease and then have another staggering (maybe a rollover Lotto win) amount of money to get the stadium fit for Speedway. Treasure your memories but don't let anyone give you any false hopes that the Rockets can be revived, they can't, they're history.

HAVE you ever been in Cardiff around 9am on SGP day ... it is already packed with fans from all over the country and elsewhere.

Been on the beer again I see.... or something stronger.

Difficult to describe the atmosphere at Wembley for a World |Final . GP's arguably a better system but they can never re produce the Wembley atmosphere.

You are clearly unaware of the disgusting private messages of abuse he sent a good friend of mine. Fortunate he wasn't reported to the police. Wasn't a good man and was very strange.

If a face covering is required, i won't be attending...

With the back strait open at sheffield I think it makes it more doable as we won’t fill the stadium. I think most premier teams stadiums are doable to be fair but not sure about Wolverhampton! Can they use there back strait? Hopefully we can get some racing soon even if it’s only one home one away. Can’t believe how good the weather has been on Thursdays this year but soon as we start we know that’s not going to last !!!

Used to part-time, think he may be fully retired now?

Top flight Speedway at Rye was always going to fail. The Saturday crowds would have tailed off once the novelty wore off, the fixed race nights were the death knell that accelerated things. Could BMR have stepped back to the second tier once fixed race nights were floated? Maybe. Did they know what they were doing? I doubt it. The way they built their teams was testament to what I always saw as their naivety when it came to running a speedway team. It appeared to me they wanted to run at the highest level even though it wasn’t sustainable. Speedway at Rye House was a big part of my life, I would never have met my best friend if it wasn’t for Rye House and I’d be sad if the door to Speedway was shut forever, however it looks increasingly likely. Someone could run the track and make it a sustainable enterprise in the second or third tier I’m sure but it would take deep pockets in the short term to do so and you’d be stupid to walk into speedway these days.

No it was available last season through a link to EMTV.

Early in the 2017 season, top flight racing at Rye just about held its own on saturday nights. Once the midweek fixtures kicked in, the crowds dropped off alarmingly. The fixed race nights of 2018 all but finished the track off. Lakeside did move in to Rye at the end of the season, but it proved to be a disaster for the future of both clubs.

He just loves a whinge . Always has on here. its sad old men like him that give the sport such a bad rep .

Per club website tonight, tomorrow is going to have footage made, to be shown across digital platforms, probably by Wednesday.

I had a look on goggle map and all it did was show me where I could find some safety glasses.

My old dad always say's bullsh-t baffles brains. I guess Rob is the man to lead the campaign then Don't give up on us, baby Lord knows we've come this far Can't we stay the way we are? The angel and the dreamer Who sometimes plays a fool Don't give up on us, I know We can still come through

Someones laughing at my comment... Could it be someone thats ”in the know” but dont even have in his ”possession” a rider that wouldnt eat MY dust at the gates...

Don't over react. You know what it is like here. You've said goodbye often enough. Just get on with doing your bit in private without telling anyone about it. If Rye House is saved, we will know who is responsible. Thanks for your effort in advance

It's fine Bob, we just sit on our hands and forget it. Why bother trying, eh? The story is confirmed as true from a primary source. I will bow to your wishes and the other relentless negative posters on here. It's not worth trying anything is it. Thanks, it's much easier to be a useless cynic.

Stadia UK have no intention, to best of info, of surrendering lease & hope to resume with greyhounds in the autumn but This will be too late for speedway

Four years on people are still fighting to save Coventry. It's 13 years in the case of Oxford. Sadly now it may well be our turn. It'll be very easy to just give up and say it was inevitable. Don''t the Rockets deserve being fought for or do we just subscribe to the depressing (literally) attitude of the BSF that nothing is ever worth trying, nothing will ever work and everything is doomed to fail? I'm not sure if my current health will allow me to go too far but hopefully I can make useful suggestions. There are four bodies that need to be lobbied: 1 - The Musk family that own the karts. The angles should be (a) That the track was in a short-term downward cycle under poor management and can still be worthwhile. (b) There's over 80 years of sporting history here. This isn't some skateboard park or laser arena. (c) The enormous cachment area for speedway, including the whole of London and an excellent rail link giving opportunities to exceed even the pre-BMR gates. 2 - Broxbourne Council - Is there sufficient change of use to require fresh planning permission? 3- Lee Valley Park Authority - These people OWN Rye House. Musk only has a lease. The well-quoted covenant that it must be allowed to stage speedway racing may not be valid, but it must be thought through. The Musks are proposing to offer facilities that exist elsewhere. This the only speedway track for a considerable distance. 4-The press. I'm out of touch with the local media but we must have contacts at the local papers or BBC Three Counties? Of course we could just give up and content ourselves with b"Well I knew it would never come back, aren't I a genius? Do people want the Rockets back? If the news is right they'll need to take a saner attitude. Or maybe we just hope the news is wrong? Maybe? Anyway, it will take better than me to take this up. I wish them well.

Here is a smile for Friday and a true story... (Cough Cough) The world's leading expert on European wasps walks into a record shop. He asks the assistant “Do you have ‘European Vespidae Acoustics Volume 2? I believe it was released this week.” “Certainly,” replies the assistant. “Would you like to listen before you buy it?” "Oh… That would be wonderful," says the expert, and puts on a pair of headphones. He listens for a few moments and says to the assistant, “I'm terribly sorry, but I am the world's leading expert on European wasps and this is not accurate at all. I don't recognise any of those sounds. Are you sure this is the correct recording?” The assistant checks the turntable, and replies that it is indeed European Vespidae Acoustics Volume 2. The assistant apologises and lifts the needle onto the next track. Again the expert listens for a few moments and then says to the assistant, "No, this just can't be right! I've been an expert in this field for 43 years and I still don't recognise any of these sounds." The assistant apologises again and lifts the needle to the next track. The expert throws off the headphones as soon as it starts playing and is fuming with rage. "This is outrageous false advertising"! "I am the world's leading expert on European wasps and no European wasp has ever made a sound like the ones on this record!" The manager of the shop overhears the commotion and walks over. "What seems to be the problem, sir?" "This is an outrage! I am the world's leading expert on European wasps. Nobody knows more about them than I do. There is no way in hell that the sounds on that record were made by European wasps!" The manager glances down and notices the problem instantly. "I'm terribly sorry, sir. It appears we've been playing you the bee side." Boom Boom... Bee Side Ha Ha... get it? Oh never mind have a nice weekend Stay Well and Stay Safe Regards THJ

Yes. True to say that the Olympic Park is on the old Hackney site though. Could be wrong, but hasn't the road itself also been slightly rerouted to add to the confusion of exactly where the speedway stadium was? ps. agree with a lot of the above. Star doing a great job - as ever - in particularly trying times.

definetly not as simple as that skids(ruckeroos point about dogs never returning might well be true)as you know the key to a greyhound tracks profitability is streaming revenues,poole have lost their sunday stream to a northern track which only left two and they have been moved to sister track swindon who already had 3 streams to betting shops daytime mon,wed,andfri so they now have income from 5 streams,problem at poole was that of their two streams the tues eve was only on rptv and what they pay is only just above the break even figure for the meeting,so the only profit for the week would be sat evening but theyre aleady receiving that money via swindon so why take it from swindon back to poole?logical to have all5 streams from one track and mothball the other.Other problems are that quite a few poole trainers have now given up and retired their hounds and the poole trainers that moved to swindon have been told they are not poole trainers anymore but swindon trainers so there might not be enough dogs to reopen poole.Also skids to be profitable on a sat night the restaurant needs to be full (usually was) any sort of social distancing would prevent this ,so no dog racing! I first had dealings with stadia uk 40 yrs ago forget what they called themselves then based at the old eastville stadium before they developed it ,and theyhave always kept all their cards very close to themselves so anything could happen,another rumour last wk was that in a few yrs swindon would close for housing and the whole operation would move to poole so who knows!!! one thing for certain skids poole will not have any dog racing this august,which brings me back to my original point, young ford needs to establish if they will reopen the stadium for a few speedway meetings only ??

I think I met him once on the London tube. At least some guy said he was him, and I wouldn’t have a clue. But not the sort of person someone goes around imitating

Damn...I'd forgotten to update my subscription! Put it right today and looking forward in receiveing back dated editions.

Mine was 51 years ago, and I remember it like yesterday. 51 years before that, and we were still fighting in WWI. That does make make us feel old, eh?

Steve, just want to clarify your last post re the best speedway year (1965 of course). I just want to respectfully note that in 1965 both the Golden Helmet and Silver Sash match races ran in tandem. The Golden Helmet was a best of three races on the holders and challengers home tracks. If after two meetings on this basis there was a tie, a third best of three races at a neutral track occurred. This was a continuation of the Golden Helmet Match Races which were in the old pre-amalgamation National League. The monthly challenger was nominated by the promoters committee ( I think). The competition you refer to which involved the highest opposition rider against the holder -if they met in the same meeting -was the Silver Sash. This was a continuation of the pre-amalgamation Provincial League match race championship. The Golden Helmet was run on a monthly basis so in 1965 there was a Golden Helmet championship in each of the months of May, June, July, August, September, and October. Barry Briggs won every one over 2 legs-the guys he beat over 2 legs -(nobody took him to a third leg decider) were in order; May- Charlie Monk: June -Ken Mckinlay (I saw the second leg of that at Newport on June 11th): July-George Hunter: August- Nigel Boocock:, September- Sverre Harrfeldt: and October- Olle Nygren So Barry kept the Golden helmet over the close season and was the holder when 1966 started. I was interested to see that Charlie Monk was the first nominee for Barry to ride against-this shows the high regard which Charlie was held in-but also maybe because the logical first PL challenger would have been Ivan Mauger who unfortunately had an accident very early in the season and was unavailable As regards the Silver Sash that year-that was competed for far more frequently ( 7 times in May alone) of course depending on the schedule, there were various holders-in order Pete Jarman, Olle Nygren, Jim Lighfoot,, Ken McKinlay, Bob Andrews Eric Boocock, Jimmy Gooch and Colin Pratt-who was the holder at the end of the season. I got to see one of those races. In the Newport v. Wolves fixture on April 19th Pete Jarman was the holder, Jack Biggs was the highest Newport scorer -so the Silver sash match race was Pete v. Jackie- Pete won. Pete Jarman was the first holder in 1965 because the pre season champ was Ivan -who lost to Pete by default because of his injury (see above). The only reason I know all this is because I kept (and still have) The British Speedway Handbook -1966 Edition which covered the 1965 season. Hope this post brings back some memories of other forumlanders who can say about 1965 "I woz there"!!!!!

Just see on twitter that some scumbag has stolen Danny's Ayres bike and equipment