Leaderboard

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.

Just looking at Isle of Wight Masters Championship. www.dirthub.co.uk/island-masters-shale-track-championship-schedule-entry-list/ You have to applaud the promoters for taking on meetings of this format. There's no reason why stadium racing of this type can't be run with both speedway and grasstrack bikes dependent on the size and condition of the track. I think individuals on this forum are too quick to dismiss this type of event ultimately who cares at least it gives UK riders an opportunity to race instead of applauding Wolverhampton with their plethora of imports.

Thank you John for this answer... When I think of building a stadium (even a basic one like Redcar or Scunthorpe) I think of it as a VERY expensive investment, maybe not multi million, but close to if not above a million is what I would have expected for something like that... 150k don't seem like a lot tbh to start a bog standard stadium... And as you say, it would be fun to watch its development over the decades as Rob (or whoever) invested more and more each winter... Unfortunately, that looks like it ain't happening Also to answer another question, I have never been to Berrington Lough, maybe before my time? I am only 21 years old haha THJ, what options do you think Newcastle speedway has? Will Rob stay? Or has he completely made his mind up now... What about a fan run club?? How much money would need to be generated for that to happen... One thing I've noticed, is that at a lot of other tracks, EVERYTHING seems to be sponsored, they announce the sponsors for each and every race, give a description of what the sponsor does etc, every airfence panel is filled with sponsors... But at Newcastle, they just seem to get a little logo on the back page, could we do more for sponsors to maybe encourage them to sponsor us a bit more? Or maybe ever get new sponsors in...? I'm sure Rob, even if he ain't the owner would like a 'Grant's Butchers Heat 6' or something along those lines in 2022...

The Poole Echo not biased at all then

So what's it to be folks? Dusty... no Watered well in advance.....its to wet !! Somewhere in between, the sweet spot, hard to find. It's hard trying to please all of the people all of the time.

They were working on a couple of spongy patches on entries to bends. The hole took everyone by surprise.

These changes favour Belle Vue I think Potentially makes them stronger. We need all our boys on form tonight or it could be an away win

Thank you so much W9, fantastic info. Not sure if I'll have a beer or not yet but this gives me the option. Your help is much appreciated, see you at the start line.

its the plasebo effect ! its all in the head . i think i will buy another reliant robin . i have a feeling the next one will go round corners better than the last 2 or 3 i have bought . get back to basics and move on . who pays for all these three wheelers (engines ) ? i think it could well be the fans and while the riders get all they want from promoters , they dont give a monkeys chuff what the end product of the sport is as long as they are all right jack .. the riders are killing the sport with demands .. the end of season AGM will be a proper comedy of errors and where most of clubs will bail out of speedway . RIP British speedway ..

My first year (1972) Swindon had a great dual figure head in Briggs & Ashby but had a very long tail...an opportunity lost perhaps?

Nobody seems to know the real circumstances on here and a 'family issue' can also be pretty stressful, affecting you mentally. The BSPL seem to be consistent with all previous decisions referred to on here because they say you cannot return within seven days unless cleared by them, which he seems to have been?

Sad to say I left with very much the same feeling of inevitability about the sport and Brummie specific. I think Peter and David are just trying to limp to the end of the season and to get out as financially sound as they can. A pretty reliable source has told me that Laurence is working on something for next year with some speedway people who will come in and whilst that's encouraging and positive its only going to be a winter of uncertainty if true. The issues with the track remain and the new manager of the Stadium seems hell bent on making life as tough as possible. If rumours of a watered down 2nd tier are correct I'm not sure how many will see it as attractive enough to watch, especially in 2022 when we'll be surrounded (literally) with a major Global Event just up the road and all of the security and access issues that will cause. Can only enjoy the final few weeks whilst we can.

Birmingham New street "Grand Central" to Perry Barr "One stop" taking the No51 Bus https://www.rome2rio.com/map/Birmingham-New-Street-Station/Perry-Barr not sure if the Buses around there do a £3 daysaver ticket, allow plenty of time coming from the city.

Please do not feed the troll.