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Exactly. Would anyone give morons like Godfrey and Chapman a couple of million quid?

Silver played his part by selling to a bloke who had no idea about the sport and had no attachment to the sport or club. A decision which has ultimately seen the demise of the club. Warren Scott had no real interest and then left the running of the club to Steve Jenson who again had no idea about the sport and came across as completely out of his depth. Had all the personality of a wet lettuce and employed people like Peter Schroeck who was out of his depth. Also seems he overpaid with wages to Harris, Nicholls, KK etc causing issues in the second season in the top flight. The whole situation is an absolute disgrace and sums up the sport and the prats running it. A track with unlimited restrictions, history in the sport and a profitable business for nearly 20 years. Then half a season of financial issues (due to being forced to run on a weekday by the BSPA) and the track is lost and ripped out within a couple of years. Chapman and Godfrey were an abomination in charge of the sport and played a huge part in the demise as well. Two more incompetent fools would be hard to find. Bringing fixed race nights nearly ruined many clubs and cost Rye. Rye has never been a midweek club and it was never going to work. After very good crowds in 2017(racing on Fridays/Saturdays) and only just missing out on the playoffs, you can't blame BMR for giving it ago in the top league again but the rule bought in killed the club. For the BSPA to then just chuck the club out midseason and wash their hands of the club was a disgrace. I wouldn't have thought Silver very rarely ever lost money at Rye and Jenson confirmed the finances were in good shape after the first season in the top flight. Three months of problems and the decisions of the BSPA meant the bulldozers have moved in eventually. With idiots like Godfrey still in charge of the sport, there is no hope. This is the bloke who stopped clubs running on their usual nights in case he needed guests for his club... How did the bloke in there now, Ricky Musk get hold of the venue off BMR? Why were the BSPA not in touch with BMR as soon as they knew they had problems and taking on the stadium or getting another promoter in there? They sat on their backsides and let someone like Keven Jolly try and get a deal to race at a venue where speedway was the number one priority at the venue for many years The situation at Rye should make every fan who has an interest in the sport very, very angry. A club with a long history and who had very healthy crowds in 2017 are now lost forever. A sad indictment on the sport.

Got to be the funniest thing said on this forum for a long time ..

You mean sports that will be able to pay the loan back

I’m afraid this is a clear indication, as if it was needed, as to how far speedway has plummeted over the past few years that the government considered it’s not worth saving with tax payers money. Don’t blame the government, blame the people like Chapman and Godfrey who have run the sport into the ground and squandered and wasted all the ‘rainy day’ money that was there to help in bad times..!

Anyone else getting loads of adverts on the forum now?

The package provides compensation for the sports covered /operating from December to March 2021.

I believe there is another 'pot of money that Speedway can, (with other similar ranked sports) apply for, and that one Minister was overheard today saying that he did admire that "Young Tie Woffingham chappie", so all isnt lost.. I also have heard that some of the best Parliamentary Lobbyists are on the case pushing Speedways cause, and indeed have already got the sport up to the third highest ranking on the new list.. Just behind Kabbadi and Ten Pin Bowling...

Along with ex Ref Will Hunter in starting Felton up. Sad to see the bad news of his death. When Paul Fry broke his leg at Berwick he was transferred to Wansbeck Hospital. I used to go up every day, taking him some food , trunks, socks. etc and just keeping him company. I was joined by Ken, who I knew, and together we arranged transport for him to be taken home. He always had a word with me about my junior activities at Newcastle, and gave me a lot of encouragement in my early days. RIP Ken

Yeah he was at felton...

Joe actually runs Daresbury Boarding Kennels and looks after my dogs when I am away. I was at his place a couple of week ago and he was telling me that he had attended Alan Wilkinson's funeral and there weren't many there. Joe is a top guy.

Yes mine two days late so far.

According to today's Daily Telegraph Rob Godfrey stated that he has had clarification from the DCMS that he will need to apply for some loan from an extra pot that is available and he is very disappointed that speedway wasn't in the original blueprint. It is all rather confusing when statements are made that the current loans are to compensate for reduced spectator income lost in the coming months only hence cricket is not mentioned. Is tennis a major spectator attended course in the winter and how did greyhound racing qualify?

Interesting article on the British Speedway website today about Erik Riss wanting to stay at Kings Lynn for next year. They are quoted as saying he isn’t effected by the new restrictions limiting starts in other country as he doesn’t compete in the Polish league - although he’s signed for German side Wittstock who actually compete on the Polish 2nd Division! Somebody should probably let Buster know....

Rugby League and Rugby Union are "summer" sports... As is Lawn Tennis.. They all got funding.... I also presume most of the indoors sports also carry on during the summer and not exclusively get played in winter? And horse racing is all year round... I would think it's more down to Speedways almost zero profile that has seen them "overlooked" (maybe not intentionally),and/or could be down to much better, organised lobbying getting carried out by other sports, to ensure they remained in the forefront of the Government thoughts..?

OFFICE has been inundated with calls from subscribers not getting their copy ... yet again, apologies, but nothing we can do other than froth at the mouth

Yes, it is hard to find the content I want to read some of the time there are so many adverts. Note to advertisers - I don't need to be told which of the young ladies, wearing very little, are 'hot'. I learnt how to do that for myself over 50 years ago and have not forgotten in old age.

I am, like many I'm sure, very disappointed by this news. Elllis not only made history last year, but made a lot of fans by his never give up attitude. From a short conversation I had with him, he also struck me as a decent bloke. I am a little dismayed by Stewart Dickson saying he is unhappy about comments made by Ellis (?). I really hope that Ellis might return to the sport in the future and my sincere desire is that no bridges have been burnt with Leicester.

Its a Winter bail-out fund covering November 2020 to March 2021. Speedway like Cricket doesn't run in the Winter!!

ditto

Perhaps British speedway should tell the govt it has links to the Tory party, has discovered a vaccine for this virus, found a shedfull of PPE (tear-offs), or a ferry company with no actual boats. Cut and paste terms and conditions from a takeaway website. They'll hand over cash like there's no tomorrow. No questions asked, nudge, nudge... wink, wink.

The money being provided to sporting organisations is as a loan to cover some loss of earnings for sports (for now) operating between Dec 2020 & March of next year. Consequently there is no point in a speedway club applying for a loan to cover a period when no significant income would be expected from live meetings. Cricket would be another example of a sport that does not meet the criteria.

Yes. The basketball season in uk has just started.

Biggest mistake at Leicester (apart from the rubbish track) was the orientation of the track, with the sun setting on the third bend (it should set behind the main grandstand)

I liked the old Perry Barr (now One Stop Shopping) because you could walk past Pits on way to Home Straight and watch all the bikes warm up. Like many Tracks the current PB is hidden but more down to lay out of a Dog Track and lack of access to large part of the venue. Most places you either can't see or can see from a distance. I don't think or can't remember anywhere better than Brandon, where provided you could arrive early enough you could get a great high vantage point and look down in to the Pits area. I used to like Halifax too, where you could see in and watch. Of the other tracks visited in last few years, Mildenhall, Eastbourne, Berwick are ones you can look in to if you stand adjacent and see what's happening during Racing and a few Tracks allow you in to view if you are there early enough. No excuse really for the purpose built more recent tracks like Belle Vue, Leicester and Somerset for hiding Pits largely away from fans.

Think the pits in the London Lions (Hackney) stadium were re-located early 1996 so spectators could see into them better. As a track anorak I could literally fill the entire forum and likely cause it to crash due to insufficent bandthwidth / data allowance - but won't as I don't have the time. (you'll all thank me not to, really). Nutshell: I've always favoured 'non-round' shaped circuits as if the track surface is 100% perfect 'all' a rider needs to do on such a track is get onto the racing line, open the throttle wide and keep it nailed and 'sit in his armchair, eating his sandwiches and reading his Financial Times (!) for an easy win', to paraphrase Martin Brundle & Peter Collins. As often happens in Champ Car / Indy Car and Nascar races. But recent the most GPs and the excellent 2020 Belle Vue meetings have made me change my mind somewhat on track shape designs. More than a bit. Stadium-wise: one wouldn't go far wrong at all copying the NSS at Belle Vue. A few things to bare in mind, should one be in the fortunate position to be able to build a dedicated speedway stadium from scratch (we can all dream) are: re-create the seat height and angle of the 'home straight stand' at Hull's Craven Park. To show I'm not (much) biased, the seat height angle from the main stand at Braford's Odsal would also suffice, anyone who visted either venue will know exactly what I'm talking about; brilliant views of the entire track. But before the digging starts, hold a wetted finger in the air to check wind direction, anyone who visted Craven Park will know exactly what I'm talking about; it was cold....

Adam Roynon it is then.

I'd settle for any type of stadium anywhere lol.

You could have fooled me ...

This is not meant to be Anti Speedway, but it bemuses me that some seem to think the Government has unlimited amounts of money available to bale out everything and everybody.

I must say that my interest in Speedway has been maintained by the presence of Speedway Star during the pandemic. Without the weekly mag. there would have no UK speedway news at all unless you count social media as a news source. Well done to BelleVue with the streaming of meetings, this must be the way forward to get to people who do not have a team near them, that applies to me and I live in London. I am going to buy a year’s subs when next due, the Star must continue. Thanks to all the boys and girls at The Star.

So sad to see the pictures of rye house track being ripped up, loved racing there, was always well prepared, another one gone

I agree with the comment made by Topaz325. I started watching Speedway at the Shay, Halifax in 1966 so "older" articles on riders such as Eric Boocock, Ray Wilson and Jim Airey have some relevance to me. However, when I read any articles pre-dating the early 60's I tend to switch off. Having said all that the Star is a fantastic read and I really look forward to getting it each week. I love the Backtrack articles which have more of a depth to them and maybe something could be done on the same lines for more recent riders.

In my opinion Artem>Grisha Magic>Michelsen Woffy>Hampel Chugunov=Kubera (Kubera away from Leszno home track and winning team mentality levels them out imo) Bewley=Buzz (If Bewley invests in the equipment, quite clearly has potential as shown in play offs, Buzz was awful last season) Liszka<Lampart Curzytek<Cierniak Overall Wroclaw>Lublin, although I like Lublins reserve pairing and u24, Buzz lets that team down a lot imo

Yeah I was reading that I didn't realize he had a bit of an association with Rybnik through junior ranks, yeah can definitely see him being loaned to a lower division side it didn't seem to do Anders Rowe any harm he got better as the season progressed so hopefully same can happen to Leon, along with Tom Brennan, Jack Thomas recently signed to Poland too I think it's great Poland is the place to be and will improve riders no end best of luck to all of them.

Not posted on Speedway-forum for a few years (apart from a couple in the last half hour re British Final 2020.) but saw the subject about Michael Lee and 40 years on for him being world champion in 1980. Holy Moly I happened to be at the meeting in Ullevi, Sweden on that FRIDAY night. Me and my Coventry teenage mates had booked a Tee-Mill tours trip ( a coach journey from Birmingham And back) essentially to watch our Ole Olsen bring another world championship - alas we also SAW Ole fail to make the world finals - albeit was just a reserve - in his demise at the inter-continental final at White City. en-route to the final we had heard that Finn Thomsen (Wolverhampton) had crashed in practice, broken a leg, and Ole was in. Total bullsh**. So our support had to be moved elsewhere and the next best was to watch Michael win the evening. I so remember walking out of the stadium towards the ‘town’ and hearing Lee-o, Lee-o, Lee-o being sung by the Other English contingent. A spectacular evening with thousands in attendance - beaten I must add to the 2 finals I attended at Wembley By Olsen and Penhall (the Penhall win not the best for a Coventry supporter !) This era was fantastic for a fan of the sport, so many GREATS with many being English - Kenny Carter, Peter Collins, Malcolm Simmons, Dave Jessup, John Louis, of course Michael Lee, Sorry to bore the living daylights out of your all with my memories, but tonight I have enjoyed reliving the good times, this rather than enduring the grief we all encountering with the never ending COVID episode. Stay strong all and stay safe.

It really is interesting reading differing opinions and the conclusions each have, some more obvious then others.. Following Lee from the beginning, it was amazing to see him develop from an utter novice into the world class performer he was. those first years were unbelievable, each week beating established stars and breaking new ground.. The effect of his inclusion at saddlebow road was said to add at least 1000 on the gate each meeting... He must have been a promoters dream when considering the amount of appearances he was able to fix into a heavy schedule. Winning the world title 1980 should have been the start of a new chapter, where he would go from strength to strength. But unfortunately it wasn't the way it turned out. We must remember this was also the time when the presence of his dad, Andy stood down from being ever present thus allowing Michael to be his own man and do as he thought best.... Thinking as World Champion he would be earning big bucks, he became disillusioned with the sport when he was force to ride in nothing meetings in this country when he could have been earning lucrative contracts abroad had he been able to do so. He became unhappy with the way the sport was run especially when he was being expected to ride for little earnings... It was during this unhappy time he mixed with the wrong sort that did him no favours at all. As a fan and a friend , I could see the effect this was having on his behaviour . His mentality may have changed but fortunately his riding was usually unaffected... The issues that been stated about Ipswich and the Poole meeting were laughable, if they weren't sad. They were both bourn out of personable grievances from a certain referee that got out of hand. It was a situation Mike was always going to lose. Sadly it was the fans who lost out the most... I feel very privilege to have witnessed those amazing early years . It was such a pity there faded away so quickly....

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

I think it’s more the case that eleven sports which aren’t football are to receive handouts and if speedway isn’t part of that then it would be interesting to know why not.