Halifaxtiger

It probably is about that, yes. The closest tracks to me are Belle Vue, Sheffield & Buxton but I count Redcar & Scunthorpe as local too. Stoke would be but I also don't go there. Belle Vue is about 40 minutes away, Sheffield 50 minutes, Buxton & Scunthorpe 75 minutes and Redcar 90 minutes. Coventry 'reluctantly'. Love it Mine loathes speedway......but it doesn't stop her coming if I go away on tour.

There were more than that at Eastbourne - I estimated about 500. That's pretty good for NL speedway, especially given the fact that it was indeed very cold and its not in the holiday season. Dead right, Gem. If they aren't going and have no intention of doing so why are they part of this forum ? I really don't think you can decide that gates are falling based upon attendances during March and April. As some have pointed out, its been bloody freezing and there is always a heightened threat of bad weather. I think its better if someone who goes to a track every week comments here, for the simple reason that they will be able to give a more accurate view than someone like myself who only goes occasionally but.......... Of all the matches I have been to, only Coventry (NL), Scunthorpe & Isle of Wight seemed noticeably poor. That's especially disappointing for the latter two, as Scunny's reputation for racing is well known and Isle of Wight have tried so hard to pull in punters. Lakeside was very good, and Buxton's possibly the biggest I have ever seen there. Of the others, there seemed to be little difference from previous seasons.

I thought your estimate was a bit high

Spot on - and yes they were.

Not according to his posts on the Mildenhall Facebook page.

If its not about money, what is it that motivates a rider to compete in a league that is, by everyone's opinion, way below his ability ? Track time ? Against the likes of Sam Bebee, Jack Thomas and Tyler Govier ? You must be having a laugh. If we talking Lionel Messi, this is somewhere near him signing for Preston North End. Doubt very much if he would do that because I suspect he wants to play at the highest level possible. If they paid him double his present contract he might, though. According to James Easter, Ellis has been offered contracts by 3 PL clubs and refused them all. What is more likely to help him 'aspire to something', riding against the above or competing with Lambert, Stead and King ? As I said, its his choice and, frankly, I don't have a problem with him riding in the NL. If he does want to get on, though, I simply don't understand why he is doing so. To be fair, it doesn't although let me assure you he wasn't that far ahead yesterday - especially when Danny Halsey beat him. I think the attraction is whether someone will beat him which, as was shown yesterday, can happen. Will he definitely beat your heat leader trio ? I am not so sure that he will.

Because it will benefit his career far more than riding in the NL. He'll learn nothing there. Still, its his choice.

Its not a question of money, but of motivation. I have no problem with Ellis riding in the NL, but I have to ask why a rider of his ability would choose to ride in a league that is clearly far below his standard (I doubt very much that he will learn a lot turning out for Eastbourne) when my understanding is that he has turned down a PL place. I can find one reason : what he can earn.

I don't agree. The National League might be for development but its also a business. That means the product has to attract paying customers and they simply won't come to something that is little more than a training session. In addition, we all know only too well what happens to the attendances of teams that regularly lose at home - with the resultant risk to their existence. That means you have to have riders above the development stage, although I could make fair argument that of those riding last night only Knight, Halsey and Armstrong would fall into that category and the benefit of having one experienced rider around the youngsters is an obvious one. Eastbourne lost their number 1 rider, and they can't replace him with a 3.00 junior. You might question Ellis' motives for riding in a league where he will be almost unbeatable (although I think he has a lot of motives, all with the queens head on) but it seems to me that he is happy, Eastbourne are happy, he is a developing rider who is eligible for the NL and the league has a star who might just pull in a few extra fans wherever he goes. I don't have an issue with that. Back to the meeting. Closer than I thought on a track that was slippery to start with but settled down. Big congratulations to Sam Bebee on winning his first NL ride

I'm probably not the one to judge, but I disagree. If the racing is good enough and you avoid the usual annoyances (unnecessary delays, crap presentation etc.) that is an evenings entertainment.

On a final note regarding the Kent meeting, I complained on the IOW facebook page about the dust (while saying also that it was a cracking meeting) and have had a first class response from the promotion. That's something that doesn't always happen - it has been aggression and abuse before - so all credit to them. I am sure that I am not alone in wishing the Warriors promotion success, because I think they have made a big effort here. Shanes certainly has a stunning style, there's no doubt of that. His astonishing performance at Buxton last season - I have never seen anyone ride Hi Edge like he did - was one of the most impressive I saw in 2015.

Pity. After my last two visits to Lakeside I was looking forward to this. Totally understandable, forecast is crap.

Get the moans out of the way : the dust was ridiculous and it was clear that that the track was dry an hour before the start. Second, leave the presentation to Mr Williams. This was an entertaining meeting despite the score with some cracking racing - largely, it must be said, from Kent who attacked a track that lent itself to passing. Bowen was imperious, Shanes brilliant and Ayres almost unbeatable. The warriors had no one to match them, although Saul and Baseby tried hard. Impressed with Dugard and Thomas.

He's a Lakeside supporter. Having been to two of their matches this season, I can see why he might disagree about the sport being boring. The match against Poole was just brilliant and the King's Lynn one was pretty good, too.

No he won't but he won't put people off going either. An annoying, self important presenter (and they are out there) might just be the straw that breaks the camels back. I agree, too. Brilliant as a one off but I wouldn't want it every week. Best meeting I went to last season and would have been so without the track sit in and the fisticuffs in and out of the pits.

As someone who watches a lot of speedway I don't think what you are saying is totally unreasonable (I turned off the Leicester-Swindon meeting)and some of your comments illustrate why it is difficult to get anyone new interested. Take them along to what turns out to be a poor meeting and they won't come back. But truth is speedway now is no different from what it is has always been and those who say the racing was better 30 years ago are talking nonsense. It wasn't. Quite simply even at the best of meetings its likely that a number of races will be won from the gate, that's how it always has been and almost certainly always will be. There's no getting away from that. When its good, speedway is very, very good. Chances are, though, that the meeting you attend won't be. At a rough guess, about 1 in 5 of the matches I saw last season were good or very good. 3 in 5 were OK, and 1 in 5 was crap. Last weekend was a classic example : Lakeside was fantastic, Rye House OK and Mildenhall poor. I'd maintain its about the quality of racing surfaces - after all, that's what allows riders to entertain us - and I just don't believe that every effort is put into ensuring that they are as good as possible. Reasons of economy, rider demands, incompetent track curators and other factors mean that the fan is short changed too often.

I don't think that's true - its no different than it always has been. Rain offs are annoying - going to Redcar last night was actually infuriating - but aside from spending a shed load of cash that the sport doesn't have on track covers - which are useless if its raining at race time - its something we have to put up with. My advice is check and check again weather reports and don't rely on the Met Office. They're rubbish.

I suspect there were a few like me who watched the first hour or so thought it was rubbish and switched off. There's always a chance that racing will improve but it tends to be a slim one, especially with a track with a reputation like Leicester. I also suspect that the poor crowd was less about the possibility of a boring meeting - after all, they have attended such meetings at Leicester for years - and more about the home team getting humped in their last two matches. On your last point, I quite agree. The one that I find attracts criticism based upon massively outdated evidence is Lakeside. My experience has been that it is one of the best racing circuits in the country, an experience that has been done no harm at all by two visits this season.

Not your fault at all, your posts were spot on and much appreciated. The late call off is definitely. According to the reports on here it hadn't rained all day, it hadn't rained an hour before the start, wasn't raining at start time and wasn't forecast to rain later. Calling it off that late when there must have been at least a major doubt about the track being ready several hours before hand simply isn't on and the reference to Belle Vue is not inappropriate. After all, they let everyone travel to the meeting when they knew that the track might not be ready. It cost me (and many others) a few quid in petrol money but the big losers will be Redcar Speedway. They will suffer a major financial loss calling it off that late and many of us will think twice about travelling in future.

I did. Bloody typical of my predictions To be fair, I did think that Poole would be riding and not Klindt. To me, that makes a huge difference.

Thanks, much appreciated. In my experience (and I have been told so many times) STMP is a much, much better race track if it rains the day before a meeting.

That's the nub of the matter. The team simply isn't strong enough and that means home fans will desert the place in droves. EWR will always pull people in because of the quality of the racing but they will never be enough to replace the lost home supporters. Yes, I'd say so. There certainly aren't notably less. Being NL champions and possessing probably the best team in the division helps. In my experience, that's the exception at Scunny, not the norm. I certainly can't say the same about other tracks.

Reading the paper this morning, jobs at Scunthorpe Steel Works are almost certainly safe as that site has been purchased. Without being sarcastic or cynical, I doubt the attendances will increase next time despite that assurance.

I think the fact that Scunthorpe drew their opening home match, lost the next one and then weakened their line up might have something to do with it. Sadly, all speedway fans aren't happy with top quality racing (because EWR is the best in the country) and want a winning team.

I certainly appreciate your view here because the rule breaking (never mind bending) and the petty jealousies, spite and corruption at the heart of the sport (perceived or not) annoy me intensely. The thing is though is the last thing I was thinking about when I was watching a fired up Lewis Bridger roaring around Lakeside on Friday was what fiddle Matt Ford might be up to now or how shamefully fans are treated on occasion. Truth is, I was marvelling at the skill, daring and talent of that young man and just how exciting the racing was. That overcomes, every single time, the 'crap' (a most appropriate word) that goes on behind the scenes. My old mate Tsunami told me something many years ago that I have repeated countless times because its the most profound and relevant statement I have ever heard about speedway, and its as accurate today as its ever been: 'Speedway is about 4 blokes on bikes without brakes. Anything else is more or less fluff'.