Vince

OK ljh I will try to put my point of view to some of your comments. Firstly the rider who apparently can't handle rutted tracks without resorting to foul tactics. The fact that I can't immediately know who you are talking about indicates that you have seen something to give you this view that isn't necesarily viewed in the same way by others. I have seen so many riders in trouble on bad tracks in the GP the last couple of years that I have lost count. Undoubtedly some of them can handle ruts better than others just as some can handle slick tracks better. All of them handle either better than the majority of riders and are only seen as struggling when viewed against the worlds best. Without a doubt there should be a few deep and grippy tracks in the series and there should never be some of the tracks that we do see. A variety of circuits is desirable but although the worst tracks may provide uncertain results I would rather be entertained by the skill of the worlds best riders than a lottery produced by track conditions. Slick tracks: my guess is that on the 'proper' outdoor tracks this is done so as to try and avoid rain off's rather than a great Danish conspiracy. A slick track may well be able to run in poor weather conditions that would cancel a deep one. Some of the temporary tracks though are just a disgrace imo, they desperately need to get some advice from outside the sport on how to put a temporary surface in. From what I have been told they also need to get their hands in their wallets for the track at Cardiff, as the sports showpiece that track especially should be great but is far from it. Maybe a lesser 'star' entertainer would finance a better track which would be a great swap as far as I am concerned. As for Wembley on World final night one old time rider who competed there in either the late fifties or early sixties told me it was awful for the final at least once when he was there. I can see that the battle for the championship is over but for me personally the GP's are still exciting as people battle for their overall position and for the top few to see if they are improving as the build for next year. Even then we have had several important meetings with the Championship at stake rather than just one. I am also uncomfortable with the GP series being run as a seperate entity to the rest of the sport and feel strongly that the revenue could be used to help future competitors worldwide. As for the wild card entries I can understand your point but personally I think it makes sense to be able to include a rider who had mechanical problems in the qualifying rounds or if injuries kept him out of the top 8 the previous year. Though it might be more often used to ensure riders of certain country's get a place, while possibly not strictly ethical, does make financial sense I would imagine. To me while the GP's are far from perfect they are a little closer than the one off finals. I also thoroughly enjoy watching almost all of them, the exception being when a track is so bad that the worlds best riders are made to look like CL reserves.

I think a lot of us have been around the sport so long that in truth we don't really know what would get new people 'through the door'. Therefore I think you are in a better position to comment than we are. I think some of your ideas have been tried by individual clubs but not properly by the sport as a whole. I know some clubs have had riders go into schools and give away tickets. Personally I am not sure a safety seminar and Speedway sit too well together! Like the 'hold em' ideas. 4 riders 4 laps shouldn't be as complicated as it has got. Personally I would not be interested in a mascot but there might be many like yourself who would enjoy it so worth a go (the one at Reading seems popular). Perhaps local bands or even an inexpensive light show to go with the music being played could be effective between races. I would very much like to see a roadshow with bikes, music and Speedway videos turn up at shopping centres and other highly visible areas throughout the UK. It wouldn't be that expensive in the scheme of things but could reach many thousands of potential fans. I would also like to see a large scoreboard at every track as I think it is crazy that a newcomer could lose track in his program and not know how the meeting is going.

I have seen both systems at work first hand and would take the GP's as the best way of finding the best rider in the world every time. In theory there may have been a chance for every rider to win the World Championship under the old system but as already pointed out you didn't necesarily have the worlds best 16 riders competing then any more than you do now. There was also a chance that one breakdown or bad refereeing decision could ensure that there was no hope at all of winning the title. At least now these things should tend to even out over the course of the series. The qualification system is there to get riders through to the GP's and I can't think of any rider who is likely to be in contention for the title who isn't involved. Many of the tracks are poor now and that is the worst thing about the GP's in my opinion. However anybody who thinks all the tracks for one-off finals were good is wearing rose tinted glasses (more like welding goggles really). Even the hallowed Wembley finals, terrific atmosphere and all, didn't have the best racing track by far. I went to two Wembley finals and thoroughly enjoyed them but they were far from the best Speedway meetings I have been to with regard to the racing. Unfortunately bad ref's, poor tracks, super quick engines and so on have always been a feature of the World Championship. As for a rider with good machinery and little skill winning the World Championship GP series that is utter nonsense they don't even get to compete at that level without a huge amount of skill.

Unfortunately the Dragons have had to cancel their meeting due to be at Plymouth on September 6th. Next meeting is at Sittingbourne on September 14th. Can all riders please get their entries in by this weekend by contacting Julie on 01633 858899 or 07920002785.

Dragons have added three more meetings to their list. They are: Plymouth - Saturday 6th September 1pm Sittingbourne - Sunday 14th September 12 noon Sittingbourne - Sunday 16th November 12 noon

I would agree with almost everything in that post. The exception being the tactical rule which I detest in any form. I would be quite happy to let the meeting run exactly as the program with the exception of injuries. Take all strategy except rider positions within the team away from the sport and let the winning and losing happen on the track and I would be happy. I would also like to see the introduction of a short pre meeting practice session to take away some of the home track advantage and possibly the losing team to get the choice of gate positions to try and keep meetings alive. Agree 100% about the tracks, I still hope that Promotions will be convinced to prepare fair racing strips but I think it is going to take 2 or 3 years without the bonus point to happen (if ever). As for the BSPA, as Halifaxtiger says it is made up largely of succesful businessmen while the majority of this forum (including myself) isn't. Let's face it anybody who is as succesful as them has the opportunity to join them and show them how it should be done.

Didn't Hancock also hint at something similar? I would bet that there is a deal of unrest among the riders given the state of two recent GP tracks. I think perhaps a few of you should try falling off a Speedway bike before suggesting that riders do it on purpose as often as some would have you believe. I can't say it never happens but at least in the incident with Leigh Adams last night I can't see how Nicki P could have stayed on his bike - all 4 back would have been fair. I would also doubt that any rider would have been keen to go down deliberately even once on a track where a rut could have turned it into a highside or a broken leg very easily.

I am not suggesting that the tracks could be laid in the same way as Supercross but that the track builders have 30+ years of experimenting with laying a variety of surfaces (they use whatever soil is available locally) onto a bare surface. They also have areas that rut up and areas such as sweeping corners, faces of jumps and straights where it shouldn't - and the bikes are far harder on a track than Speedway is. To my way of thinking it would be well worth seeking their opinion along with anybody else who has relevent experience. Clearly the guys who are experienced on full time tracks cannot do the job on temporary tracks so something has to change. In fact I would put money on Ian Barclay being able to do a far better job of a track than anything that has been seen at Cardiff so far. He does have experience of Speedway tracks but he also spent years running a plant hire company so has huge experience of a wide variety of surfaces. As things can hardly get worse they have to look at new people and new ideas. I can see that bad tracks give unpredictable results which can make for entertaining meetings but I believe that a good, grippy, surface that the GP guys are capable of riding would give the same excitement with the worlds best riders racing rather than surviving.

I understand what you are saying and there will always be bad tracks at times but this isn't just the odd one. Last night was just the latest in a long line of temporary tracks that have very rarely been even acceptable imo. It really can't be that hard but obviously they need to have another look at how it's laid from the ground up. Maybe get somebody in from the Supercross track building company to bring a fresh eye to the way it is done. Possibly shale isn't the best material for a track when it hasn't time to bed in and an alternative needs to be found but certainly something could be done to improve things. I think the sport needs the temp tracks in the GP's to allow the use of the big stadiums but some serious time needs to go into making the tracks right.

I always thought that if a race was stopped after the first corner that somebody had to be excluded as the cause of the stoppage. I can think of many incidents where a rider has been unfairly excluded in a 'racing incident' because somebody had to go.

Don't know how many Speedway bikes you have ridden but in at least one of those incidents it would have been impossible for him to stay on in my opinion, I don't think too many would be willing to take a chance on falling deliberately with all those ruts waiting to hurt you either. All 4 back both times would have been my decision and the ref is the worst ever without a doubt.

The track was terrible, surely they should have learned how to keep a temporary track together for twenty races by now. That one didn't last the first four before rutting up and was the worst I have seen at Cardiff. It might make for a more entertaining meeting, especially for first time spectators but these are the worlds best riders being made to look like novices by the track. The likes of Hancock and Crump might well have dealt with the conditions but their comments afterwards clearly showed that they were seriously unhappy with that track. Just very lucky that there were no serious injuries, this is the sports showpiece and should be far better. The ref was even worse than the track, a complete joke. He has even knocked Ms Vardy from the top of my list of worst referee's, suspect Leigh Adams won't be sending him a Christmas card either. Don't see why Nicki is blamed for the ref's stupidity, no rider leaps back up after a first corner incident as they are expecting an all four back if it is stopped. He just happened to be the benefactor of a completely useless official, it's not his fault. Surely they will not allow him to take charge of two more GP's this year. Good to hear the Sky commentators actually saying how bad he was rather than sitting on the fence as well. The racing ended up not being too bad, mainly as a result of the bad track and mistakes though rather than the quality of rider which is not as it should be imo. Good to see the British lads back in the mix at least.

He didn't need to as he already knew how close he was and could only be inside and drifting out. I really rate Gollob as a rider but I thought it was way over the top even for a GP where they are all pretty aggressive

In my opinion turning left on the straight is one of the worst things a rider can do. He went acros gate 3 that lap and never did again for the rest of the night so I think that he knew full well what he was doing although I don't suppose for one minute he expected the outcome to be so bad. I couldn't believe he wasn't excluded as Steele is usually a very good ref, guess he saw it differently but it sends a dangerous message to all the young riders watching.

Don't listen to Shazzy Chris, it's all down to you mate not that fat old boy you let tag along

Due to the circumstances at Newport Speedway the Dragons meeting for Bank Holiday Monday 5th of May has had to be cancelled. Members will be updated with further information as soon as it becomes available.

Just thought it worth saying that on Monday at Reading I saw young Chris ride for the first time since the Weymouth round of the U15's last year. I couldn't believe the improvement he has shown, especially when he is apparently not riding very often at all. He looked like he actually wants to be out there and going as fast as he can for four laps and he was smooth and in control the whole time as well. Well done Chris I was pretty impressed.

Can confirm the following for the Dragons with more to be added: Bank Holiday Monday May 26th at Newport Bank Holiday Monday August 25th at Newport Sunday September 21st at Newport. Thanks for taking the calender over, it must be very useful to the riders - I only wish somebody had thought of it a few years back :-)

Have to say that Sam was very lucky with the timing when he started Speedway. Firstly he first rode in September so then had a few months of regular training schools to go to (although it still meant driving a lot of miles). Then in 2004 there were enough riders about to give a good quality, year long U15 Championship that helped all the lads no end. However I should point out that we had to push pretty hard to get him into the Championship as he had done no competitive racing for anybody to know who he was. I accepted all along that it was up to us to chase for rides though as clearly it isn't going to be the other way round when they are new to the sport. Also he was 15 in the April and so able to go into the CL, which was a fair bit easier than it is now. Yet again we looked about at the different teams and which one would be most likely to give him a decent go. We then went and asked the Promoter for a place for Sam. It seems that so many people sit back waiting for the Speedway authorities or teams to contact them. The fact is that breaking into Speedway is difficult, invariably the costs and time needed for travelling make life hard and in my experience it gets harder as they go up the leagues. You will always need to chase after rides (or at least if or until you are in demand by teams). Second halfs are a pain with cancellations and one quick ride, they pretty much always have been. Personally and with the benefit of hindsight if I had a kid of 13 or under wanting to ride Speedway I would take him Grass Tracking instead. I would keep doing that until the winter when he was 14 when a cheap bike and Speedway training schools were a bit more available. Of course if money is no problem they can do both all along. I would also do everything I could to get some interaction between every Grass track club and the closest Speedway club. If the BSPA could use Grass Track as a breeding ground for the future perhaps they could be convinced to help the clubs with meetings, training etc. This in turn would hopefully see an increase in entries at Grass Tracks and an increase of riders progressing to Speedway. It's not a short term answer but at least it could be something practical to work towards. As for why the kids aren't coming through, the alternatives are so much easier. I can buy a MX bike for a similar amount to a decent Speedway bike. Then without ever travelling for more than an hour I can practice or race every weekend and some weekdays. I can get several hours of on-bike time for about £20 and ride if and when i want to. Or I could buy a Trials bike, practice all day for nothing and spend £100 a year on maintenance. Really it is more amazing that anybody commits to Speedway

Surely there are nowhere near enough riders to make splitting them into four groups possible. There aren't even enough for two sensible sized groups this year it would seem.

I don't think it is quite as simple as some of you seem to believe. For sure Motocross tracks are run in a farmers field but they are temporary so don't need planning permission if the site is only used a few times a year. I don't know what the current rate is but about 5 years ago it was around £500 for the day. As soon as you bring shale in you will need to get planning permission - you can expect that to take over a year and cost a few quid as well. Then in order to comply with the insurance conditions you will need a safety fence that complies with the regulations - another fair chunk of cash. Don't forget you will then need first aid cover at every training day and there will be lots more conditions laid down by the insurers. Insurance can be a major issue with new ventures expected to lay out the full years premium in advance. Motocross practice tracks find it worthwhile doing all this because a decent track will get 50 people on a bad day and maybe 300 on a good one. I know of a Speedway training day recently that had less than a half dozen riders and 50 would be a fantastic day. I think the only practical way would be to try and get one track each in North, South, East and West if possible that has suitable planning permission in place and find a way to finance a practice track within each place that could be open two or three days a week. Failing that another option might be to push Grasstrack as training for Speedway as you could then run the temporary tracks in farmers fields with a lot less outlay. You would still be looking at several thousands of pounds investment though.

I have ridden a 500 many times - none of them fast - and even a 250 Grass bike on the Speedway. In my opinion an excess of power is very rarely a problem, in fact it generally makes the bikes safer as when they are spinning too much they stay away from the fence. Again it is only my opinion but things start to go wrong with 500's when dad starts trying to get the bike to drive harder than junior can cope with. Already we are seeing very inexperienced riders with the new style back ends and the wheel shunted right forwards, then the timing is knocked back and low tyre pressures used. Additionally they may well be using an engine set up for a professional rider on slick tracks and you have the perfect recipe for a rider picking up and heading toward the fence at every small mistake. Possibly the 250's will give them a head start when it comes to using professional type set ups but I think they may well be a problem on bigger tracks for the same reason a 'soft' 500 can be. Personally I am glad that Sam was able to start on a 500 that was always left set up long and sharp (and still is in the main) so that he has to use throttle control to find drive. When he gets into trouble there is a good chance that a big handful of throttle will get him off the lowside.

Trouble is that if there isn't a CL match the Mavericks riders usually want a ride and by the time they have had a go all the track staff and first aid are ready to go home.

Ah but it's not so easy to find a proper bike these days, seems like every one you look at the engine is hanging out the front!

You need to talk to Peter Oakes. If you phone the SCB I am sure they will sort you out with contact details.