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Honestly Its not the begging bowl as that only puts a plaster over a running sore; its crowd numbers that are the issue as who wants to run a business at a loss? (by the way the answer to that question is "no-one")! The only meetings this season that have covered there costs were the first one of the season against Edinburgh and then the Redcar match and the big difference between these two and the other meetings to date are those clubs brought fans to the fixture in numbers to swell the usual crowd, There just isn't enough local interest at the minute for whatever reason and the club need 300 more paying customers to attend to make it viable. 300 doesn't seem a lot but it is the difference between running at a loss and breaking even. Then to be fair to the promotion its not for the want of trying by them to get people to come because they are promoting the B'Jesus out of it... Local TV: Metro Radio; Facebook and Twitter and the markets at Hexham Alnwick and Morpeth and the Quayside Market on Sunday and.... Get this.... they gave out 500 free tickets to folk for the Berwick match and no one; not a single person; nadir; none; took up the offer and that was for free entry FFS!!! What else is it going to take to get people in? a free programme and a pulled pork sandwich? honestly give me a break they are already giving free parking this year... We seen this at Worky with failing crowds and we know what has happened over there and you get people saying "Oh its a pity it folded I miss it" and when you ask if they went or not; the reply is "well no I didn't use to go but I used to follow it in the local paper" Eh!!! "I mean come on!!! What Chance Have They Got". If you want to keep it you need to use it and patronize to place... People on Facebook and Twitter and other such social media platforms can really help the club and it wouldn't be an onerous task as all they need to do is re-tweet and like whatever the club are putting out there and do all the other things that get the club noticed to try and spread the word and encourage people to come... the promotion are doing their very best but its just not happening. One clown on Sunday tackled Rob Grant and said "you are ruining this spot and you should do the right thing and flog it" You have to laugh because who would take something on that doesn't have a fan base anymore and costs them four grand a meeting to run? all the place needs is 650 paying customers and accepted that there are season ticket holders whose tickets are being honoured at the minute at cost to the club; however it would take just 300 more people through the door to put the place back on an even keel. Believe me when I say this Rob Grant is the only saviour of Newcastle Speedway there is no one waiting in the wings waiting to snap it up and what he needs is fans supporting the team; even if they don't like him; if they come and support the team; their home town club; is what is needed: from a place like Newcastle with a catchment of near 300,000 people and God knows how many else in the surrounding Tyne and Wear area he needs roughly 650 paying customers: 650 that's all!! or as many have pointed out it will go... and once its gone as far as Brough Park is concerned that would be that; as the other issue is ARC the stadium owners are only giving out one year leases at a time and who can build a business plan on that? Come on Newcastle Fans never mind giving this promotion some support just get along to Brough and start attending meetings and supporting your team again and lets show this promotion that it is worth their while sticking around and promoting Speedway on Tyneside... I'm sure I am not the only one who does not want this to be the last season we see Speedway in Newcastle ever again... Get Tweeting; Re-Tweeting; Liking and Forwarding on the stuff the club are putting out on Social Media and lets get it to the widest audience possible... You can do you bit by just sitting in your chair and it wont cost you a penny... Regards THJ

It was fantastic, not seen it that packed in a long time. Lee Kilby when interviewed in the break said David and Peter Mason were very happy. Of course it's just one meeting and we need good crowds every meeting. We have Leicester this month and they travel in large numbers normally plus next week it's Edinburgh which should be an attractive fixture. Credit to the club aswell, really promoted it the past 7 days and the fans responded. Plenty of fans care about this club and we don't want to lose it.

The trouble is if 500 tickets were available free and no one turned up, how can we get 300 more through the door if they have to pay? Keep retweeting etc and forwarding Facebook posts and hopefully some will decide to go or return if they have stopped going. Hopefully the next 2 weekends bring in decentish away crowds which will help break even at least. Also anyone having a go at Granty after everything he has done is an idiot!!

If you want to keep team racing then run it properly with credibility and integrity, at the correct level decreed by the clubs' fan base levels, not the level that the ego"s of the promoters want their clubs to race at.... And run it on days when you can get your best crowds in, not when your employees tell you that they are available.. And do this once a fortnight but more if your fan base supports it... And dont charge more than £15 for an adult and definitely not more that £30 for two adults and their kids, but if you do charge more than £30, then dont expect most of these families to pay it more than once per month at best.. And if you cant meet the costs using that max £15 price point (£30 family ticket), then reduce your outgoings accordingly until you can..

It seems that many of the current promoters, with the exception of the Isle of Wight, just want to carry on with the same formula. It would appear they are not interested in getting round a table with marketing people, supporters of the sport, riders etc. There seems to be a 'my way or the highway' attitude. I think change could only happen in one of 2 ways, 1. new tracks open with a new formula and not called speedway, but it is still 4 riders going round a track. So you start, effectively with a brand new sport. 2. assuming the new sport is successful, the existing set-ups 'jump ship' to the new sport. The new sport would have to be amateur, certainly at the beginning and will probably have to be 'a track in a field', as the chances of a new stadium in a town, with that kind of land at a premium and all the other problems associated with the building of an inner or indeed an outer town stadium, won't happen. The biggest thing killing the sport, is the costs. I doubt current riders would accept a pay cut. Stadium owners are not likely to be sympathetic to reductions in rents. For the sport to survive, in my opinion, it has to ditch the 'glitz and glamour' mentality, that every rider is a superstar, needs multiple bikes, a sign written van etc etc, we need to get back to a rider, with a passion for the sport, not a passion for what the rider will earn, but a passion for riding a speedway bike. Those riders are out there, they are competing in grasstrack, paying to enter, driving long distances, all out of their own pockets. What is more, they are 'starved' of enough meetings to attend. They would, I'm sure, love the chance to also ride a speedway type sport, but without all the 'cloak-and-dagger' the riders get with speedway.

Just got home to Sheffield. Really enjoyed it and hope the crowd was enough for the promotion to keep going. Good luck for the rest of the season and beyond.

Leon scores 7pts on his Swedish League debut

Some time ago, I posted this under another topic in this Forum. "I once read in an excellent book (!) called Speedway's Classic Meetings that it has been said that Aub Lawson went to the other two riders (Split Waterman and Freddie Williams) in Biggs's fateful last heat and asked them if Jack had ‘said anything’ to them, i.e. offered a small inducement for them to let him win They replied he had not. The story goes that when Biggs said nothing to them, they decided to ‘fix’ him. Biggs said later when this story began to circulate that he hadn’t ‘said anything’ to them because he was confident he would win – or at the very least get the third place he needed to become World Champion, as one point was all he needed. He had been by far the fastest gater all evening and Lawson and Williams were having poor evenings – Lawson in particular as he was suffering from a hand injury. To him – and probably the whole crowd there that evening – it was unthinkable that he wouldn’t at least get third place. So, even if they did decide to ‘fix’ him, it wasn’t easy to see how they would be able to manage it. The book go on to say, “Nerves seem a much more plausible explanation.” He had a long gap between his fourth and fifth rides and he just sat in the pits getting more and more nervous. The book quotes Ken Taylor, a long time speedway fan who was there that evening, as saying, “It was nerves that beat him.” He said he had seen Biggs in the pits some years previously in the London Riders’ Championship Final when, again, he was in with a chance of winning and his hands were shaking so much, Ken was surprised that Biggs could even hold the bike, let alone race it. It should also be remembered that Biggs came third in the run-off as well – again a race on the previous form of the evening he should have won. But his nerves were shot to pieces by then." I don't know if Aub Lawson gets forgotten. I've never forgotten him. He won the first race I ever saw (beating Split Waterman funnily enough, given the above). There is no doubt he was one of the all-time greats and a must for consideration in the perennial topic, "Greatest Rider Never to Win the World Championship". Between 1955 and 1963 he was one of only three riders to make the podium in the World Championship other than the "Big Five". That was in 1958 and considering that his best days were in the late 1940s and early 1950s, that certainly took some doing!

Honestly You are not wrong and the Redcar meeting was the highest crowd we have had this season and if we got the same numbers in for this double header I think the promotion would be quite pleased... Also what needs to be pointed out is that these meetings are Speedway utopia being 10 quid per meeting at 20 quid for the two... it's many on this forums regular quip that Speedway is only a 10 quid sport... so surely thats another barrier removed by the promotion that would potentially restrict fans from attending... Regards THJ

Anyone playing guess the attendance tonight, add me as a plus one because i can't make it tonight but have brought a ticket online.

King Jamie, good call. I agree about showing respect. I can promise you, at Poole, if Benjamin is introduced as ‘Ben’ it will be because I will have asked him what his preference is. I certainly consider a riders choice as being the most respectful method…That goes for difficult pronunciations too.

lets just say you know nothing

Fantastic night of speedway, bloody brilliant, biggest crowd of the season, loads of youngsters, fans still queing to get in after the start time, pleanty of atmosphere, slickly run meeting, no hanging about, great racing with plenty of passing and a last heat decider, and we won , a great advert for our sport! My whole family and friends loved it we had a great night, thoroughly enjoy it, elated we are, roll on next week, Oh and the ref missed Batchelors flyer from the gate in ht 15. Valatin looking better each week , Riss, poor, threw his dummy in the dust and rode across the center green after finishing last, Shanes great entertainer, Harris on fire, Morris a battler, Paco moved of the white line and had a dirty underpants moment with the back straight fence but recovered. Thomas deserved more for his efforts . my glass is half full

Well this is going well……

I can’t wait to see the comments on this one lewy lol.

Great committment, as ever, from the excellent THJ...but 'Fromafar' has hit the nail on the head this time. The people on this forum are usually genuine speedway fans...and if they have a team, locally, to support they'll do so, certainly in most circumstances. It hurts like hell to lose your team, the Comets were my passion for many years and boy do I miss them. I was interested in THJ's maths re population catchment available. Newcastle being able to contact 300,000 folk......wow that pales into insignificance the 25,000 folk residing in Workington doesn't it? Even nearby jameaters Whitehaven only add 24,000.....small wonder Laura had the inability to persuade a profit making audience to rally round when the rot set in. I'm afraid speedway is losing(lost) it's appeal to 50/50 committed folk....so many riders being team mates, then another night enemies, it's just so farcical. Second now in my view to WWE crap. I do sincerely hope the Diamonds carry on....but when the significant warning signs are sounded it does just remind of the 2018 season and a fond goodbye to the Derwent Park heroes. Sorry geordie guys, good luck.

The IOW seem to be doing OK and in reality have always run during the summer months when they are reasonably confident of getting a good turnout. Speedway has generally become unreliable with say the hint of dampness in the air and a meeting is called off. Few riders are prepared to tackle a track and adapt to the prevailing conditions and the weekly fix is dead and buried. People have found other things to do since the riders and clubs took the punters for granted and treated them with such contempt over the last few years. Sorry to say but most clubs and owners are their own worst enemy and many have lost the plot coming out with the begging bowl when things get tough which shows how unsound their business plans are and the model they use.

EXACTLY what I said on F/B and I got crucified for it .. I said the Redcar fans helped swell the crowd greatly but it was still a poor crowd for a Tyne-Tees derby

To be fair he didn't pay much for the pup however its upkeep is costing him an absolute fortune and if fans who are on the forum are also on Social Media and do their bit it cant do any harm to an already precarious situation. The NDL was a none starter as the Stadium and running costs make it a worse idea than running in the Championship.... The finances for running an NDL team at Newcastle just don't stack up whatsoever unfortunately and it has been considered by more than this promotion and rejected... Rob is between a rock and a hard place and his enthusiasm must be starting to wane by now as there are other issues rumbling away under the surface but he is trying to address the main problem to hand and he is promoting the hell out of the place but it all seems to be to no avail... But I agree with most of what you say and things are not looking good for next season that is for sure... maybe for me ice the franchise for a year and see what the BSPL do and possibly come back in 2023 if its viable... but there needs to be big changes and to be totally honest I think people are running out of ideas.... things should have been done before now especially with regard to Poland and Brexit.... here is a daft idea "What happens if Poland say to all the riders over there we will pay you more and you only race in this league nowhere else" where will that leave the job... Knackered I would say... Regards THJ

The link takes you to DSL only averages. Use drop down 500cc and Div 1 to get D1 Aves. From those it is correct that Basso's DSL average (exc bonus) is higher than Kildemand. He is also above Thomas Jorgensen and Bjarne Pedersen in the DSL. However it is worth noting that the race format does skew averages so that a 6pt average achieved riding at no 1 is worth more than a 6pt average riding at number 5.

Always stayed for the second halves at Brandon…. and the third halves!!!

Being shown live on Slovakian TV - link https://www.rtvs.sk/televizia/program/17780/284870?fbclid=IwAR1GxSR8RpKyfsimdU9BcaHbJVP6H34__2G5pENNzQe6E4kqpF0KF0cME1o

?? Their largest outgoing is employee wages... They are one million percent in charge of that..

I think scrapping the league format would be a big mistake. It allows riders of different abilities to race at the same meeting in a meaningful way. Both myself and my daughters much prefer it. The razzle, dazzle of a Cardiff GP doesn't match a good league meeting in my opinion. Change the league format (regional competitions before a national play off perhaps) by all means but don't drop teams.

A big problem that has been raised before is that Speedway Fans are split distinctly into two groups namely supporters of a given team and only have interest in that and supporters of the sport who have no team allegiance just enjoy the spectacle on show. I for one feel that the league format could be scrapped, needing to generate funds for away meetings off the home gate just isn't working. 600 fans trying to cover stadium rents, 2 lots of travel, 2 lots of points monies etc just isn't working and is leaving a financial hole. Organise your home meetings on the day and time that works best for your fan base and run the meeting formats that suit best. Even if thats 7 vs 7 team meetings the host club can build competitive opposition to help generate a better gate. Should teams then want to get together and run mini leagues amongst themselves should their attendances support it. But the primary role of any promotion should be to promote their own venue, its clear that there has been no sensible collaboration between clubs over the years and thats what has generated the mess so switch it back to looking after number 1. The clubs that look after their fan base best will survive and those who don't will fold but at least it gives all clubs a fighting chance.

Poole's track last week was good... A bit too slick probably but you could tell by the closeness of most of the racing that the riders behind were confident that the rider in front, nor themselves, were going to hit any dodgy part of the circuit, hence were able to concentrate on racing, not just riding to ensure they completed the race.. And there were a few genuine passes made that were down to rider talent and not rider mistakes... On other visits I have made to Poole they have seemed to have MX 'whoops' down the back straight.... Or maybe it was just the tide was in... Edinburgh will do well to get anything from there I would suggest given how strong Poole looked last week..

So you been to poole this season nothing wrong with our track

astonishing isn't it. imagine Coca-Cola sales plummenting and their Marketing Director suggesting they solve the problem with a new advertising campaign. the slogan "Coca-Cola if you stop drinking it we'll stop making it!" Genius. Been happening at Newcastle for decades now. As much as it's a shame speedway just isn't sustainable in Newcastle. Brough Park is an expensive millstone which is too costly to allow the club to operate at a lower level and lower crowds and, lets face it, doesn't produce a great deal of exciting racing in the modern era. Speedway in this country reminds me of loads of those TV shows that viewers lost interest in after season three but are still churned out year after year until inevitably someone realises that nobody is watching anymore. The trouble is that those making the show are having a great time making it. They just never realise that watching it is nowhere near as entertaining as making it. I think it's called lack of self awareness.

I did think of Jack, but it is Aub Lawson. He was born 5 April, 1914, and was 46 years and 5 months when he rode in the 1960 final.

Find it hard to believe that Monarchs Promotion think that Crang is the answer to reserve slot .Luke Ruddick would be the Luke I would have went for if available.

It should be a good meeting tonight, Edinburgh never to be underestimated a home win for me though.Looking through the two sides the reserves could make the difference for Poole , one of them might also might have one of Bickley’s rides ? which could be crucial.Bickley/ Lawson could be important tonight there points along with Hume/ Greaves could decide it.

We have 3 strong heat leaders and Kye has been superb riding tracks for first time. Our other 3 riders are essentially reserves and William’s equipment has been sub standard. For us to get anything tonight we need our heat leaders and Kye firing and one of the other 3 to come to the party.

A know this might not help the cause much, but a think there's still plenty of folk out there, that still think were in lockdown.

Going off at a tangent, in 1958 Barry Briggs won only 5 races in winning the World Championship. He didn't win any in qualifying, being seeded to the final as defending champion, so his sucess was down to preparation and 369.8 seconds racing on the Wembley track.

Track work after heat 4 is common at most tracks

You will have to wait,Dick not taking any chances after having to sneakily remove last weeks information (lets blame COVID)

If I remember correctly they interviewed every promoter. Also I seem to recall a general air of complacency and feeling that the product was fine. Keyboard warriors and their negative views were largely condemned. Whilst there was some acceptance of problems, the general vibe was one where people needed to show more positivity and everything would be fine!

Absolutely. He posts the same line all the time. Clearly doesn’t understand a track can be fixed, bumps and holes can VE taken out to produce a very good race track. Agree with Mikebv that it was slicker last week, the first time this season. But no bumps or holes.

Doubt this guy has been to<Poole. Our track is in excellent condition. Fast, smooth and a racers track. No hiding place for riders who fate then hold everyone up. They get picked off.

Where does one begin? There are so many issues. I think you'd need to look at the running costs of every track, what their fixed and variable costs are, and work out what they can afford with their current revenue levels. You'd then need to work out how to structure the season in terms of fixtures and pay rates that work for (say) 80% of the tracks, but you'd also need to take into account the number of riders available (for the whole season) who'd be willing to ride for those pay rates. You'd also need to work out what stadiums would be prepared to accept and which could continue to run on the expected revenue, and taking all these factors into account, the hard-nosed decision may be that some teams and tracks are simply no longer viable. But I think there's little point continuing with a sport if all it's doing is rationalising ever downwards without looking at how to improve its situation. So in parallel I think a lot of consideration needs to go into how the whole product can be improved whilst losses are reduced or preferably stemmed - at the very least faster-paced meetings with more races held on days convenient for the fans, up-to-date presentation and efforts to attract younger audiences. If something a bit different is needed (e.g. 8-rider races with double points, sidecars, quads, whatever) - whether fully or partially - then so be it, but this needs to be based on some sort of market research rather than because someone just happens to think it's a good idea. I think to ensure costs are controlled in the longer term, you'd also need to have the riders centrally employed by the BSPL with tracks effectively run as franchises and allocated riders on a needs basis. Maybe you also need to consider pooled engines as well - maintained to as common a standard as possible - but allocated in some rotating or random manner to riders. Ultimately though, I think the underlying problem is that speedway has a poor or largely non-existent image, has an ageing social demographic that isn't attractive for sponsors or even media coverage, and is far too expensive for what it offers. All the tinkering in the world with formats and numbers of meetings won't fix this unless these other things can be turned around, which is going to be far from easy because the sport has sunk so low. The reality is that no decent business or marketing person would want to touch speedway with bargepole, far less work for the limited rewards it could offer currently, so it's difficult to see how the sport will dig itself out of the hole, even if the current promoters were willing to provide a spade.

Very true lol, edinburgh didnt lose the meeting Plymouth won it fair and square I didn’t hear one Edinburgh fan moaning about the result who was there they were very complimentary keleher in heat 14 with bowtell was worth the admission fee alone and then he was just as good in heat 15 with bjarnne I can’t thank Poole enough for zane what a class act on track as well as off it .

With such a solid team, there's no reason not to use r/r for Ostergaard!

Seen the sidecars .Can only say boring, boring . boring

I've always found speedway to be good value for money compared to other entertainment like football, bowling, cinema etc. The difference nowadays is that their is just so much more choice to spend your money on. Hefty mobile phone packages, sky tv deals etc seem more important to people than live sport and meeting people in the fresh air.

That's actually a very good shout!. I've recently moved to Elmdon, Solihull and my shortest route is via A45, ring road then up the the A34 from Newtown. That route really is the definition of hell at the minute, as I would be hit with the ridiculous sprint bus works between Heybarnes and Bordesley Circus. Then the traffic from basically Aston Six ways bit of the A34 upto Perry Barr island. Last match I just stayed on M6 to junction 7 and went down A34 and that's what most fans will Probably do and its fine that way. Google Maps was trying to take me off M6 at junction 6, Aston expressway and then Victoria road before joing A34. Thankfully I'm not crazy and I don't love traffic jams enough to go that way

I know. I was been sarcastic because I’ve had enough of his antics

Wroclaw GP Friday July 30th https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3a08IY2Jt4 Wroclaw GP Saturday July 31st https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFGOWBs6suo Bydgoszcz v Krosno Sunday August 1st https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ5hxId6Gac Rybnik v Gdansk Saturday July 31st https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8_F6SRcjpY

In the Czech Republic the Pardubice club has Ales Dryml, Vaclav Milik & Jiri Jirout & their sons Ales jnr & Lukas Dryml, Vaclav Milik jnr & Mario Jirout In Prague Jiri Stancl, Petr Ondrasik, Antonin Svab, & Antonin Kasper with their sons George Stancl, Pavel Ondrasik, Toni Svab & Toni Kasper

Not always. Only until 1960.