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The big difference being that when attending McDonalds you know exactly what you are going to get and are in decent surroundings. At speedway meetings that cannot always be guaranteed week after week

You should rename yourself 'Thrush' as just like that, you're an annoying little git that just won't go away!

But apart from that... spot on

For the wooden spoon yeah

The issue is that hardly any families go, so "special" targeted offers are needed.. The 'die hard' middle aged (and older), people will still attend as they have shown week in week out.. And never mind double amounts needed, to make it pay, you can have a million times no families attending, and you still have nothing... As for 16 to 18 year olds? Let them in too for nothing... These people dont attend, so expecting them to go somewhere and stand with your dad and grandad is pretty much a non starter for the vast majority of them.. Teenagers hunt in packs with mates so let as many in as want to come.. You are not losing a penny by having them there, and it might make the crowd seem bigger so give some atmosphere.. And you will sell some burgers.. And might, just might, get a few to take up following the sport later and pay to get in..

Perhaps 'cynical' average manipulation to keep Douglas at reserve for the play offs would have been enough to negate the Dad's Army strength at reserve?

You're not old enough to know anything about the 70's, if you are then your posts are even more pathetic as they read (and are often spelt) like they're written by a child. I have plenty of minerals Thrushrat, my version is just forum friendly

Yes i thought it was Alan Sage.

Must admit that there is a lot of things out there that kids would rather be doing and it costing the parents the same as a night at the speedway. There is no obvious way to get more people through the gates unfortunately, else it would have been thought of by now.

Kids with their own social circles tend to be in the 10-11-12-teenage age groups. Speedway promotions targeting kids tend to go for the toddler to primary school age group. I can remember going on my own and meeting my group of mates, as a 12yo, paying kids admission. Sadly, that's the age group no longer targeted by speedway promotions. That needs to change IMHO.

A family ticket should be £20 to £25 tops, 2 adults and as many kids free as you want to bring... If nothing else, the promoters that own their own track will make on the coffee, burgers and maybe even a bit of memorabilia... These people are not there now so absolutely nothing to lose... And you dont need "repeat purchases"... Just keep targeting families to turn up and if some become regulars then great, but if lots just go once instead of being sat at home, you have still increased your revenue.. The beauty of those with young kids especially is that their social circle is invariably those within the same situation, so word of mouth can also be a great 'marketing technique'... Huge businesses like McDonalds build their massively profitable kids party numbers by parents endorsing them to others.. Amazing too, how many kids who attend these parties, then become regular customers as they get older.. Who would have thought it worked like that..?

Danny and Steve now confirmed.

One year I went they were called the 'SEKUD'... Well. '09 SEKUD' to be precise... At least that was how the signs that the cheerleaders held up read when the centre green presenter had asked them to show us on the back straight what they were holding up to the main stand on the home straight.... Top notch presentation.... And has it got much better?

Talk about a round of the Ivan mauger farewell in Bremen brought back memories of the old place. Not that i ever went there. But a nice stadium in a big city with some top meetings held there. The Bremen Golden Key was i think their annual top event, and Mauger won it a few times i seem t recall. Anyway, someone has posted a nice history on Wiki The Hansastadion (also spelled Hansa-Stadion) was a motorsport racetrack in the northwest German city of Bremen. It had a sand track, was mainly used for the speedway and, with seating for up to 15,000, was one of the largest sports facilities in Bremen. A total of 70 racing days were held here between September 1953 and May 1988. The Hansastadion was located in the Bremen district of Kattenturm, which is part of the Obervieland district and, above all, the southern district. It was between the street Arsterdamm - a large northwest-southeast tangent of the district - in the southwest and the Mühlendamm in the northeast, opposite the confluence of the street Im Arster Felde in the Arsterdamm. The Mühlendamm was expanded to the western section of the Arsten motorway feeder in the mid-1970s. Speedway races were held in Bremen immediately after the end of the Second World War. For example, in front of several thousand spectators, they drove on a dirt track near the Zum Kuhhirten restaurant on Stadtwerder. A grass track race in the Vahr district remained unsuccessful. In May 1952 the Motorsport Club (MSC) Hansa was entered in the association register as a local club of the ADAC. It emerged from the Bremen motorcycle club and initially had just under 40 members. The club initially carried out its races mainly at the Zum Kuhhirten, but soon there was a desire for its own racetrack. The 28,000 square meter area of the former Potthast brickworks at Arsterdamm 70 was leased and the residents there signed that they agreed to the construction of a sports and racing track. The construction work - financed without any state or municipal subsidies - began in December 1952, but was interrupted soon afterwards due to the winter frost. The association members filled the disused loam and clay pit on the property with rubble, debris from the New Town and soil. A construction company gave them a bulldozer free of charge to level the site. A layer of red debris was then layed At the time of opening, the Hansastadion had the largest and most modern sand racing track for motorbikes in northern Germany. The track was 398 meters long, ten meters on the straights and 15 meters wide in the bends, making it the only North German sand track to meet international regulations at the time of opening. In the interior of the stadium there was at times a football pitch for VfB Komet Bremen. Any further considerations to open the track for the training of racing cyclists, however, were rejected. The first race in the new Hansastadion was held on September 20, 1953 and, with 8,000 spectators, it already attracted significantly more audiences than had been expected. In the following 36 years there was lively racing and the dirt track in Kattenturm developed into one of the most famous speedway tracks in Europe. There were up to four meetings per year, on each of which several races were held. The main prize was always the "Golden Bremen Key". From 1974 there were also runs for the various world championships in the Hansastadion. The most important events of this kind were: May 1, 1974: Qualifying round of the continental championship of the individual World Championship June 29, 1975: Continental semi-finals of the Team World Cup May 1, 1977: Quarter-finals of the continental round of the individual World Championship July 13, 1980: Continental team World Cup final June 5, 1983: Semi-finals of the Pairs World Cup May 1, 1985: Quarter-finals of the continental round of the individual World Championship In peak times, more than 10,000 spectators attended the races - in some cases they even came from abroad, for example from the Netherlands or Denmark. From 1973 onwards, MSC Hansa and VfB Komet Bremen took part in the then new Speedway Bundesliga. A comprehensive renovation of the stadium took place in the spring of 1978. Not only were modern track fences installed, but the capacity of the stands was also increased to 14,000 or 15,000 spectators by backfilling the ramparts. The racetrack itself was renewed by a British specialist company. 1500 tons of dump and 300 tons of fine slag were used; a very hard, almost dust-free coating was created. After the reopening, the "Master of Speedway" competition took place for the first time on May 1st of the same year, and from then on the world elite of sport regularly competed in Bremen. For example, Zoltán Adorján, Kenny Carter, Peter Collins, Sam Ermolenko, Erik Gundersen, Michael Andrew Lee, Ivan Mauger, Chris Morton, Hans Nielsen, Ole Olsen, Bobby Schwartz and Dennis Sigalos drove in the Hansastadion The decline of the MSC Hansa - and with it the Hansastadion - began in the early 1980s. Fuel and motorcycle prices rose sharply while audience interest fell. An average of 3,000 to 4,000 visitors per day of the race came to Arsterdamm, which meant that the events were hardly profitable for the club. In the course of the emerging environmental movement, high-emission motorsport was also seen as a contributor to environmental problems. The requirements for carrying out the noisy events were increasingly tightened: In the end, it was only allowed to drive four hours per month - and that only in westerly winds below Beaufort 4. That made regular training impossible. After VfB Komet Bremen had also moved to the Arsten district, MSC Hansa pulled its team from the Bundesliga in the spring of 1983 In addition, after the death of the farmer Wilhelm Bredehöft (1896–1980), who had leased the stadium grounds to the club, there was a dispute about its continued use. The 16-strong community of heirs favored commercial use. After a conversation with Building Senator Bernd Meyer, the heirs agreed in the spring of 1985 to allow the MSC Hansa to continue to use it until December 30, 1986. Their application to rededicate the site from green to commercial space, however, was not approved and the Senator did not want to continue the development plan procedure. At the beginning of December 1986, the club received verbal confirmation that it would also be able to host speedway races in the following two years. In April 1987, the Obervieland Advisory Board, MSC Hansa and the Afghanan-Greyhound Club Nord agreed on temporary use of the stadium by the dog club. He wanted to use the facility twice a week to run the animals and organize a race with up to 300 spectators once a year. However, the plans stalled and in October of the same year the advisory board discussed again whether the stadium could actually be made available for greyhound races. When it finally became clear that the lease would not be extended beyond 1988, the city authorities intervened again The group of heirs offered the property for sale for 2.2 million Deutschmarks - a sum that the association was unable to raise. The economic development agency of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen stood out as an interested party and wanted to open up the area for industrial settlements. Corresponding negotiations began on May 17, 1988. The MSC Hansa then turned to the Senator for Economic Affairs and the Sports Department. Senator for Economic Affairs Uwe Beckmeyer stopped the request of the business development agency and pointed out that one wanted to try first to use the stadium for other sporting activities. At the end of June 1988, the Bremen Equestrian Federation considered using the stadium for tournament purposes, but withdrew when it was realized that it was right in the approach lane of Bremen airport. At the same time, western riders from Bremen-Nord also expressed their interest if a sand area was built in the stadium. From October 1988, the members of the MSC Hansa were banned from entering the stadium.The advisory board and local office of Obervieland emphatically demanded the preservation of the sports facility. Ultimately, however, the property was not bought by the public sector, although the city would have liked to keep the site for sport. As a result, the community of heirs officially offered the property for commercial purposes, because there were no binding provisions of a development plan that would have excluded commercial activity at the time. In the discussion, the settlement of two forwarding companies was planned, which the residents rejected because of the announced size of the companies As a result, the deputation for urban development dealt with the problem and passed a plan drawing up resolution, which called on the city planning office to stipulate bindingly what and in what form may be built on the site of the Hansastadion. It was decided to draw up a development plan that should correspond to the interests of all those involved. This decision had suspensive effect for commercial building applications. At Christmas 1988 it became known that the community of heirs was definitely not extending the lease agreement with the association. This meant the end of the speedway races in the Hansastadion. As part of the considerations for possible re-use options, it was considered, among other things, to host the German junior equestrian championships (jumping, dressage, vaulting, pony riding) in the Hansastadion in August 1989. In the end, however, it did not materialize. On November 30, 1990, the empty, wooden clubhouse at the stadium burned down completely. The cause was determined to be arson by young people. In March 1991, Bremer Gewerbebau GmbH offered the site to commercial users for sale. After the stadium was demolished in the 1990s, the site lay fallow for a long time, apart from the establishment of a furniture store. It was not until 2004 that a Christian free church congregation erected its new church building on a plot of land measuring around 7700 square meters. Finally, in March of the same year, the Obervieland Advisory Board decided to name a short - just over 100 meters long - connecting road in the Am Mohrenshof industrial park - at the location of the former sports facility - as Am Hansastadion https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hansastadion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFIiSPZCqog

Birmingham have u11's free, 12-16 £3 and students with proof 17-22 £5

Following Glasgow, in the 1960's. girls on the centre green with boards T-I-G-E-R-S problem was when they turned to face the back straight and showed S-R-E-G-I-T.

Following the Riss / Grobauer / Castagna non-payment of wages episode, my guess is that the Birmingham name is like mud in Germany.

You can't talk. You can't even spell Worrall correctly.

Overtake of the season? Heat 11 | Poole 'Pirates' vs Redcar 'Bears' | POOLE PIRATES SPEEDWAY 2021 - YouTube

Must say, this thread was a bit of a revelation to me I was going regularly in 85 and travelling the country for the first time without it being on a supporters club bus or my old man ferrying me around. But had totally forgotten about this, among other things i have totally forgotten about

Plus kids are far more lazy these days....they'd rather get behind a games console!

Nice 70's joke there, great banter gullible, not got the minerals to put the real version though.

Oh defending a rule once again that does loads of damage to the sport!

Spooner is at Mildenhall

Great signing, with a big top 2 can afford to fill the bottom end with more 3.00 riders!

Strange one that seeing one has double the others average.

Because the BV rider is injured (it's a dangerous sport and to give fans value for money team strength is all important) and this guy is guesting ..... perfectly understandable! Then the spiel goes speedway is nothing like any other team sport, it's not got the money to have 'reserves' of all qualities akin to football so guest riders for top men is the way it has to be organised otherwise the team with am injured rider would 100% lose, the fans wouldn't turn up for an uncompetitive meeting, it can't survive without fans, the club would shutdown!

Don't remember them in the GP, perhaps King with a wild card at Cardiff

Its up there though. Imagine a newbie attending BV and Woffy scoring a max , then newbie going to Ipswich a week later and asking why Woffy isnt there. “Because he can only be bothered to ride home matches”

I think you will find Mike Broadbanks is still alive! He is 87 years old

Definately Alan Sage wearing the "Olsen" boots!

Yeah I've never liked them, seen many in Glasgow and none were successful. Parker and stancl, Parker and bird, Parker greives and stancl. Problem was the James cockles, Cory Blackman's and Lee Dickens at other end of the team

Bjarne Pedersen was used in heat 15 of the Grand Final at Peterborough for sentiment reasons only , Hans Andersen & Ulrich Ostergaard had one heat 15 outing each whilst at reserve in the league matches i believe , none away as far as i can see as you say Rob Lyon used the reserves away to great effect before ht15 came around

It seems wrong to me that poole have got three genuine number ones while Birmingham desperately need a number one. if they fail to land a suitable rider I can see Birmingham folding and probably never reopening again.

1, Leicester 2, Poole 3, Berwick 4, Redcar 5, Glasgow 6, Edinburgh 7, Oxford 8, Plymouth 9, Scunthorpe 10, Newcastle 11, Birmingham

I bet trackprat and phillipsr are seething

But we already know the rider in question was Mike Bessent.

Isn’t that Alan Sage? There’s a couple of obituaries on the internet for Mike Bessant who died last year.

Got mine exactly the same 2 years ago from the wife and daughters, hopefully you'll be sorted now.

I've heard it's Danny King, Steve Worrall, Richard Lawson, Ben Cook, Zach Cook, Drew Kemp, Nathan Ablitt

Looking for something else, i stumbled across this sad news Looking for a new speedway site At the turn of the year they brought an application into the process, which aims to dissolve the Motodrom that exists there in the middle of the forest. The MC Post Leipzig e. V. at home and has a lease until 2028. The Greens have nothing against the motorsport club and its work.But from their point of view, the motorsport facility has no place in the middle of a sensitive forest. “At Cottaweg there is an urban plot of land that has been leased as a motorsport and speedway area since 1975 to the present day - currently to MC Post Leipzig e. V. The club's grounds are in the middle of the Leipziger forest conservation area and are located at one of the most critical points of the Leipzig forest, on the border between the northern and southern forest, "they explain their request in the application to start talks with the MC Post in 2022 and after to look for new club premises so that the area on Cottaweg can become part of the floodplain development concept “According to the decisions of the INSEK, a strengthening of the green corridor along the Cottaweg is planned by the city administration from 2022 onwards. The MC Post Leipzig e. V. has no development opportunities at this sensitive point as an association, as extensions are not permitted in the landscape protection area under building law. " The work of the MC Post Leipzig e.V. with its approx. 60 members is fully appreciated by the proposal of the Greens. But there are no opportunities to grow on Cottaweg. “However, the infrastructure on the site is badly ailing and can no longer be maintained by the association, let alone extensively renewed. Urgently needed pits area and garage systems can no longer be installed. The further development of the sports offers in the direction of ice speedway and trial, which the association is striving for, is hardly feasible. The necessary fitness training and the compulsory fitness tests have to be completed for a long time in sports halls rented for this purpose, ”is how the application goes into more detail about the club and its problems. “In order to give the association a development perspective on the one hand and to strengthen the floodplain system on the other hand, the city must immediately start working on solutions together with the association. For example, the city of Neubrandenburg has recently embarked on the path of building a new speedway facility. " https://www.l-iz.de/politik/brennpunkt/2021/12/2022-was-kommt-ein-kraeftemessen-um-speedway-anlage-und-schiesskeller-im-auwald-427229

Deffo Mike Bessant, I presume these are the very boots in the 1976 team photo

Try convincing the idots

Not sure the Ipswich track itself is an issue,, the lighting maybe.

Congratulations on cheating to win the 2nd division of something literally 0.0000001% of the population care about. Oh well a couple of years and all you will be able to do is think about the good old days

So there's 2 of the idots, 1 posting and 1 liking

Similar to what I saw at Rzeszow, just too small for the long track bikes that need to stretch their legs.

He was probably drawn to it by the first 3 letters of its spelling!!

We can only hope you read it first.

I've got a BSPA rule book..... but I think it's well beyond repair!