Leaderboard

I did, it cost me a fortune over 20 years but I didn’t care, I just wanted to race speedway and being in a team was fantastic, I had some really crap deals financially like at Berwick but I didn’t care I loved every minute, to me there are things in life that money can’t buy and winning races for your team is one of them, I came into speedway with nothing, left with even less but those memories are worth a million

My moneys on Womble.

The NSS looked great when it was full for the SWC a few years ago... In fact, stadiums look a hell of a lot better when full.... Speedway's stadiums look much worse given you see how many are in disrepair due simply to the lack of people hiding the issues... Fill them, which delivers a great atmosphere, and the lack of shiny new facilities wouldn't be an issue for a great many..

I think you're wrong pz, once upon a time all but the elite had jobs as well as riding, riding was a paid hobby for most

I see that the FA, EPL and EFL have agreed a points criteria for EU footballers signing for English clubs post 1 January 2021. I'd imagine the BSPA will need to come up with something similar. I guess if you get to set your own criteria you could set the bar fairly low??

Given the confines that were in place , ie space & finance, i think we should be extremely grateful that we have the NSS as it stands. I don't see any other areas of the country where anything any better is proposed currently.

I haven't looked in on here for a while now but I find some of the post on this thread, in particular the last few pages, are nothing more than speculative & presumptuous. I also know for a fact that those post are totally inaccurate to say the least. Obviously Lockdown is affecting some people more than others So let's put a few FACTS on the table............... 1. The 2021 One to Seven is exactly the same as the 2020 One to Seven, so NO CHANGES there. 2. Henry Atkins is a Club asset but has NOT signed for the Rebels 2021 line up (See Number 1 for clarification) 3. Race nights are NOT changing from Wednesday. If you read the previous planning application, which is referenced in this latest one, you'll find that the wording is exactly the same as that one (From Pete Toogood's time as promoter), I'm led to believe that as long as the club doesn't exceed the 30 race day restriction, the wording of the application is not relevant to the actual race night, as the club can use any night as an alternative from Wednesday, subject to the 30 day rule. The Oaktree needs to use Friday nights for functions to offset the economic problems most businesses have suffered this year, so the last thing they would want is to use up a night that put's the hospitality side of the Oaktree business back on an even keel. To finish off, just a personal observation from the last few pages, this is a Somerset thread but it appears to have been transported to Plymouth for some reason, although I shouldn't be surprised with Lewy throwing in his two-penneth worth all over the place .

I Heard- Stock Cars also have crap stadiums. Nothing to be compared with F1

YOU should

I find it hard to disagree with what he says.That’s it in a nutshell IMO.

Plus Foxhall has The Massif to help create the atmosphere

I think a combination of switching to Bradford, and Kenny Carter's death soon after the move, cost Dukes upwards of a thousand supporters.

He has no gear here it is all in Finland .

Sorry. I don't know. It says construction cost, but that is translated https://pl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrum_Sportów_Motorowych_w_Łodzi Isn't 50M ZLOTY about £10m?

Wow factor costs money, Polish speedway has more money to spend on stadia, well done Belle Vue for building a superb stadium with the money they had and still to have pay I believe .

Its a forum so the idea is to discuss and have opinions we will wait and see on the Henry atkins situation and see who's two penneth is correct, you can get back in your box now!

Who, in this country, wouldn't give his right arm to be watching his weekly fix in a NSS type stadium?

I do that in my Tesco. .

yeah, lets build a 10k plus seater stadium for a sport that attracts a couple of 1000 fans on a very good day

Yes When I go to WH Smiths, the football magazines are all right at the front, and if they have a Speedway Star at all, it is tucked away. Is that the cause or the effect of speedways decline I wonder ? You might also ask why when you are 80 years old, you can't run as fast as when you were 20 ? Or why you don't catch as many fish with a rod and line as a trawler does with a large net.....or that piece that Eric Cantona said about seagulls or something

This is pretty much every sport that exists. It's now all about how much money can be made rather than the interests of sport as a whole. Speedway is no longer about rider's just having fun, it's a living, that in itself means searching for the best. Frames, engines, tuners, tyres, etc etc. Speedway is in such a position it can't now turn the clock back & reset. In the UK we're finding it hard enough to find rider availability hence doubling up & guest riders. To go back & start from scratch I can see a single club surviving. With industry as it is up & down the UK there's not really a 'working mans' class as it once was anymore. There is no substantial jobs today that are down & dirty for little money. Predominantly if you have a full time job your comfortably in the 'then' middle class equivalent. Society today quite simply just don't want to spend a night out getting covered in dirt & dust, it's really just as simple as that.

Now is the time for the uk to go it’s own way, take a step back, change the sport, appeal again to its working man’s audience again, stop trying to be something it isn’t, it’s apeal has always been its rawness it’s connection to its fans , change the engines, stop lining the pockets of the tuners, nothing is gained by the pursuit of speed in our sport, there was a quote in the polish section of the SS a couple of weeks ago where a guy said polish speedway has lost its soul and as much as I love polish speedway it’s true it has, the balance has tipped in favour of business, when we finally get through this covid crap, the world will have changed and if people think speedway will just pick up and carry on as normal then they are in for a shock, now is the time to change the sport for the better, I honestly believe poland won’t be far behind us

They did have a blank piece to start but it was still within the confines of what was already in place around it, the track was always going to take precedence and as you know they got that absolutely right. I imagine the rest was down to space available and financial constraints, there is room to upgrade it if ever the need arose but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

The meeting was also heavily advertised in the Daily Mirror the week leading up to the meeting. If you have access to the British Newspaper Archive website they also published some terrific photos after the event showing both singles and sidecar action during the day.

Dont really understand this. As long as licences are used to control or grade riders in/to teams in any league, granting them to foreigners should not be allowed.

Thats one thing that could be done, stop the playing with FMN licenses.

When I read the article I interpreted it as put your own house in order be firm with your national licensed riders and if they don't like it block them from riding elsewhere. in fairness he's bang on with it however the likes of woffinden and Lambert will just revert to foreign licences and race under a different national flag.

I know that I'm being very simplistic with my view but it may present an opportunity for speedway to get back to some sort of basics?

100% unfortunately. Rye House speedway much the same as Coventry speedway and Newport speedway in recent years were facilities that had more scope for practice sessions than most other speedway tracks in the Country. Like has been much said over the years and Peter Oakes said as much in the star the other week, one of British speedways big issues in recent decades has been not owning most of the stadiums speedway takes place in which leaves it at the peril of owners who often grasp the opportunity to have their retirement pot being hansomely supplemented by selling the stadiums. Rye House, Coventry and Newport speedway tracks along with others could of been part of a National training programme along with the likes Scunthorpe, Lydd, Northside and Sittingbourne as well as continuing to host League racing.

This is pointless for fans. A vaccine won't be found until 2024/2025 at the earliest.

Couldn’t really make out what was the point of the article. Seemed to be a lot of whining about what Poland has decided to do, but not actually stating the FIM’s position or what it could do. But may also be the way it was related in the Spar...