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Isnt he the old drip who does/used to do the announcing at Berwick?

Multi Million Pound investment? Council set up the infrastructure level the land and stick a fence round it... Diamonds lay a track, hire or buy a second hand genny; hire or buy a second hand stand (similar to what the Falcon's started with at Kingston Park) set up a scaffold type stand (aka Redcar) stick an air fence round it build some pits and a changing room (similar to Scunny) and off you go generating funds daily and not just on a Sunday... training sessions to hire out amateur meetings to run... stock cars and a BMX track out back to encourage the kids... outlay for that around 150k... No different to Scunny who have a good set up and Rob Godfrey started off with a basic site and built on it over the years... that site didn't just land overnight with one massive outlay of Dosh its taken time to build.... and that's certainly not the Olympic Stadium is it... but it's fit for purpose and does the job... Regards THJ

Your starting to become a regular Forum Fanny now Dick. Must be an OK site after all.

...and Vaclav Verner won the Yorkshire TV Trophy ahead of Lee and Penhall....and Reg Wilson won the Jubilee Trophy ahead of Mauger and Autrey. Good night's work for those riders, but pretty meaningless in the grand scheme. I don't imagine Mauger and the rest lost too much sleep either. I don't want to come across as knocking Davis. As above, I think he got the maximum from himself. I don't think it as been mentioned...but at one time (and possibly still holds true?) he reached more British Finals than any other rider. Which is testament to his professionalism and longevity. But I don't think its plausible to suggest any World Final was poorer for his absence, that just doesn't paint an accurate picture. He was a good rider for a long time, but that's it. There's a good reasons why through Davis' career he remained a fringe rider for England and guys like Louis, Simmons, PC, Jessup, Lee, Morton, Carter and later on Wigg, Doncaster and Tatum were automatic picks for a few years each.

Ah okay. Whilst Poole had that excellent pass on Jason Doyle in playoff SF vs Somerset which put us through! Will always get a good reception at Poole just for that!

The cost of getting Redcar speedway from a brownfield site to being open for racing in 2006 (in a very basic stadium) was in excess of £250,000 which equates to nearly £400,000 now. On that basis, when you add in the cost of an air fence, if the existing one can’t be used (and something that wasn’t required in 2006) you are looking at £425,000 for a basic set up. The other end is a purpose built stadium like Belle Vue. It cost in excess of £9m. I’m really not sure what you’d get for £150,000, but I doubt it would be anything like the proposed Newcastle set up

Well maybe just Saturday!

Derek Timms once told me about a rider who gave his engine to someone claiming to be a tuner. It was a set up by some of his team mates as he was constantly moaning about his bike. The "tuner" did nothing more than polish the casings, cylinder and barrel so the engine had a mirror finish. The guy fell for it and claimed it was a lot faster than it was before!

The site at Seaton Burn would be ideal for multi use such as speedway stock cars bmx any travelling fairs circuses even possibly music festival noise licence being granted of course, if I'm right it's a brown field site which I think would make gaining said licence easier, somebody like Rob who I beleive runs an events company would certainly get the best out of it, which makes all this even harder to accept, and I'm sure he feels the same, it would be the making of speedway in Newcastle, but at the moment looks like a complete non starter.

Lot of huffing and puffing on behalf of the two main local authourities Newcastle and North Tyneside and the potential of something materialising at a site in Seaton Burn but Im not sure what come of it and it seems to have went cold... plus with all the song and dance that went on about moving from Brough I think the promotion become a little disallusioned IMHO about the idea of investing thousands of pounds in a new site when there was little support for the idea... however if someone does come in it is an option that must be explored further when all ARC will sanction are yearly leases on Brough. How do you build a business plan on that... Regards THJ

Honestly I did and there was no way of telling what was lying in wait for anyone who took it on... It was totally bad luck... because if Rob had of collapsed Newspeed from the off and just ran with the new company from the start he would have been protected from what happened and not lost anything... The books were a shambles and I knew what was going on as I had the same accountant as Newspeed but I thought there could have been possibilities in taking it on however when Rob came in I backed off... And with luck like that I will never win the lottery... Regards THJ

Surely if the hole was CLEARLY visible before the meeting how come neither team spotted it on their track walk prior the start?

Cracking little setup

Every week.

It was more than 1 rider who was not happy with the track. And Birmingham riders too, had the same thinking.

No need to be ageist

I haven’t been on here for a long time but nice to know nothing has changed Ford and Shovlar give their totally unbiased assessment and all Is believed lol

He was just making excuses. The 'extra track work' which was carried out was just a few passes with the usual grader. As for Stef couldn't turn the bike: everyone else could do it. He actually ran into Grobauer trying to overtake.

Cuthbert Dibble and Grub....

Presumably a 7 day suspension for him then?

The title is ours to throw away now.

I went to the Birmingham meeting on Sunday and there were lots of empty seats in the stand. I don't think you need to worry too much about being at the front either because the seats aren't the conventional plastic chairs, they are benches on top of quite steep terracing. We took our 10 year old grandson and there were much smaller children next to us sat at the back and they had a perfect view.

I’m surprised the 4 team events seem to have lost favour back in the day there was always these in the calendar at most tracks. Rayleigh Romford Canterbury and Eastbourne drew big crowds and lots of rivalry - all gone now of course. You get a full meeting of racing matching riders of similar abilities. Might they be used to reduce costs and rider availability becomes even more acute especially at the Premier league level.

Edinburgh has always been well ahead of the game regarding Media and Press coverage on their website and it’s paying off handsomely now.

LOL! James Shanes is a gating tart, that's a good one. Best one I've heard this year!

1980 was a lovely side and if Phil had of started the season we would of pushed hard that year.Steve you can relate to this because Oxford like Swindon had some weak teams over the years then to get the Hans/ era must of been a dream come true.For me the team winning did not matter having a regular feature in the team like Keen, Hitchy was brilliant the fans could relate to continuity having a hero.

easy to explain... Worral - gating tart, Cook - gating tart, Schlein - old gating tart. Here to help.

I think that run off with the great Willy in 1975 said it all Steve he should of been harder Bernie certainly was in 1972.? Ashby rarely gets mentioned but he was a terrific rider to watch every Saturday he had great skill.It saddened me how he was treated by Swindon in 1980 but he had the last laugh by winning the league and bonus with Reading that year.

As Briggo said of Ashby " at one time he was the best rider in world but didn't realise It!".

Don't know about capacity, but 2007/9 Grand Finals v. Cov and Wolves the Shabbey had crowds of over 5000, with hundreds of away fans. The 2012/ 17/19 finals v. Poole, Wolves, Ipswich were not as well attended, probably not much higher than some league matches, it was quoted between 3000-3500 for the three. Around a third of fans lost to the sport. Very few away fans at the last two finals. In ten years hundreds had lost interest with the ever weakening line-ups, and promoters increasing admission prices almost every year to cover falling attendances. The biggest crowd I've seen there in the last ten years was when they charged a fiver admission. I remember a 4's tournament could have been 10 years ago? Swindon, Oxford, Reading, Cradley?, well attended, a few from Oxford and Reading there.

The rest of the UK are thrilled to see you beat tho Shovlar Stefan's injuries aside of course

Just got back to Poole and wondered why I bothered. Awful meeting devoid of any real racing other than Danny King. First of all, and most importantly, get well soon to Stefan who I have heard is suffering from broken ribs, a punctured lung and a broken collarbone. Stefan has been a major player in this Pirates side and will no doubt be sadly missed for the remainder of the season. Get well soon and I for one would like to see him back with us next season. A nasty tumble along with Grobauer into the 4th bend fence. I thought the track was bumpy, wavy someone else called it. Riders were gating, going out wide and that was it. No passing all meeting. Riders who failed to make the gate, forget it. Gate and go. Very, very boring. It didn’t help that our number one was appalling tonight and cost us a win. Already down Ben Basso and before the first lap of heat one Stefan, Rory rode very much within himself. Beaten by Shanes and Morris with ease is not good enough. 5-1’d twice with ease. Looked disinterested. Is he under orders from Peter Adams to ride within himself? After being reduced to a 5 man team and only having one rider out in two heats, it became apparent that tonight wasn’t going to be our night but really we deserved a point, and even that eluded us. No faulting Danny King and Steve Worrall. Cook tried but is not a gater and neither is Danyon, who tried all night but just couldn’t get out of the starts. The Brum riders are dialled in and with track conditions as they were, there was no catching once they gated. The man o the tannoy was shouting how wonderful it was to send Poole home with no points. That may be so but one is in hospital in a poor state. He said that Brum can still make the playoffs. I hope they do do we can pick them. A decent crowd I thought. But no atmosphere to speak of. And other than the result they can’t have gone home thrilled.

I get bored watching live speedway on TV, long breaks for adverts, plus riders taking an age to get settled into their start positions for races! Watching it after means you can fast forward lots of wasted time!

This has been discussed before..... The top riders and tuners who have invested loads don't want standardised engines.

Emil is very experienced and has ridden a multitude of tracks in many countries. He has competed against every rider of note and beaten them all. I reckon he knows what he is talking about.

I just want to say congratulations to Mark and his team at Plymouth in achieving something really quite special this season for speedway in the West Country. Mark has truly worked his socks off, like us he gives literally all that he has in trying to ensure that fans, riders, sponsors and officials have a brilliant night out - he has delivered. He takes pride in his events, pride in his stadium, pride in his "show". People of Plymouth, be proud because you have a good one here and you are now starting to see the acorn Mark planted grow in to an Oak. Businesses are starting hear of the Gladiators, and now have pride in aligning their brand with your club, fans are flocking back, great food, great service, good people. Long may it continue. Congratulations.

Bottom line is Cook withheld his services for whatever reason and clearly Ipswich reported that and rightly got a facility. The upshot of that is Riders are then given generally a 7 day suspension or longer depending on circumstances, as the Ipswich press release says his return is subject to SCB approval. A lot of the problem is clubs don’t properly explain riders absences, Pedersen and Palin are missing for the Panthers, nothings been said explaining why, either by Peterborough Plymouth or Scunthorpe. Its doesn’t help but fuel suspicion and rumour on the internet.

I don't disagree that Championship level speedway wasn't going to be sustainable at Newcastle (for the reasons in my previous post) and the lower costs of a NDL team which would have been at least competitive could have been the way forward. But in 2021 that would have been something like five or six home meetings? Just not viable either. But you're right the only possible future for the Diamonds at Brough would be at a lower level in which all (or the vast majority of) the riders in the league were UK based and not riding overseas at weekends. However, you'd need to have a viable number of teams race against and you can't see the likes of Leicester, Poole and Glasgow (and therefore Edinburgh) wanting to dilute their team strengths.

Phew the Diamonds are saved!!! Unbelievable that the list of previous promotions have never thought of trying to get the cost of renting the stadium down?? I expect Rob Grant will have seen this now and announce the 2022 line up and first meeting date anytime soon. Then he'll be on the phone to Newcastle City Council who haven't got a pot to urinate in, can't afford proper social care, infrastructure maintenance etc etc, for a nice juicy hand out for a sport which attracts minimal visitors to the city and is probably in reality occupying a site which is a prime location for much needed new housing. Of your six facts, three are questions, two of the others are opinion and the other is bleeding obvious. Have a clown emoji Might you consider that young Dandelion was perhaps upset that her favourite team/pastime had just announced it was no longer to exist? So maybe some ill informed comments were made. Or maybe Dandelion is privy to the same information THJ has alluded to or the fact that Rob Grant was told to retain the same company as the previous promotion which was undoubtedly part of the reason he has walked away. Or the fact that despite knowing that there was never going to be enough riders to sustain the 2020 line ups in 2021 the authority decided to allow teams to keep the same line ups despite there being no obligation to do so and knowing that would mean some teams would track under strength teams. I don't blame Rob Godfrey. Yes the structure of the leagues and team building could have been better but speedway at Brough Park is untenable. Brough Park is too expensive for the level of crowds attracted. The track shape is no longer suited to modern bikes and riders. There's little or no opportunity for other income streams (bar takings etc). It's only available on a Sunday and therefore even at Championship level attracting heat leaders is extremely difficult (note who else now runs on a Sunday) even if they could be afforded. There are lots of other ways to spend disposable income in Newcastle and in a football obsessed area in which all the local teams are a shambles the last thing the general public of Tyneside want is to watch another uncompetitive sports team. I think this also answers the valid question as to why Redcar is successful compared to Newcastle. Speedway can still be great but all of the right ingredients need to be there and sadly for Newcastle the cupboard is empty. To his credit Rob Grant knew that the long term future of speedway in Newcastle was outside of the city but where and how much it would take are probably beyond anyones means at this point in time. Especially for a sport that, lets face it, nobody wants on their door step. Even if it could be proved to improve the local economy.

Well done Panthers,,, as an ipswich fan I apologise for it being all too easy

The books were obviously 20% more attractive when first looked at.........

Bournemouth Echo.... But it was quotes from Dan Ford and I assume he got the info off the riders..?

It wasn’t going to be a multi-million pound stadium. Did you ever visit Berrington Lough?

More crap

Belle Vue stronger, we are weaker, not good, we have to depend on Batchelor scoring again

Don't think there's a designated "disabled" car park as there's no need as there is parking very close to turnstiles and as baldy says that's where you can park. If you are coming by car wealdstone as you head to stadium rather than follow road round to right go straight through left hand gap, that's where disabled, staff and riders park.

Georghe moves up and possibly Oscar Holstensson as nr7 or Holstensson as nr 6 and Goerghe as nr 7. Need two swedes.

Riss passed Schlein, it wasn't a typical night, everything seemed subdued after the heat 1 incident.

...not according to Bwitcher! As I pointed out some years ago Martin was riding high in the averages in 1968 and could very well have sneaked a shock World Final win or podium place if his promoter had been more accomodating.

Thanks for the clarification Everyday's a schoolday