topsoil

Could cycle speedway be the grass roots for youngsters to get involved? And do you think Barry Hearn (or anybody similar) would touch speedway with a bargepole considering some of the stadiums teams currently race in? And what about track facilities? You think he would put up with meeting being highly promoted then rained off because of a lack of covering of the tracks? The sport needs to sort out a hell of a lot before any top flight promoter would be attracted to it.

Or how about a transfer window where teams can strengthen up to a team average equal to that of the league leaders? At the moment teams can only go up to 45 or whatever the limit is, so if a team at the top is riding to an average of 50 or 55, a team at the bottom still cannot in theory match them.

Like you say it is encouraging. I would imagine they will get a lot of knock backs, it's just the nature of the business, not everybody will see the advantage of advertising, but full marks to the club for being pro-active and seeking sponsorship and advertising. Hopefully it will bring benefits.

This is an area which could be very lucrative to the club, bringing in a lot of revenue. Couldn't help but notice the number of times last year the "box" was empty. Hopefully the club will make a big effort in this regard this year and certainly offering the different levels of hospitality is a good start. I've been there a few times and it's a good night out, especially going on to the centre green, seeing and hearing the action much closer than usual.

I like what the club has done lately on social media, the quizzes on the newsletters, asking for fans input on race jackets, asking for fans memories of the riders who were recently inducted to the club hall of fame, basically interacting a lot more with the fans, especially in the off season, to keep interest alive. Just expand this a little more as the season approaches, then go into overdrive when the season starts. Keep the club in the public eye the whole time, raise the profile of the club, all positive.

If a young rider wants to make a career and living out of it, all the more power to him, but it can't be from wages alone. I would think it would have to go down the line of personal sponsorship. In that regard I am very impressed by the way Nicki Pedersen has created a professional careers for himself and the way he actively goes out to seek sponsorship and the way he looks after theses sponsors. If they reach a "certain standard" and are lured away by the attraction of high wages then good for them, it happens all the time in other sports. The secret is to have enough of a conveyor belt to replace these riders who move on. That is where the sport needs to concentrate a lot of effort into, continually producing young riders

Time for British clubs to start looking after themselves, by developing far more British riders, local to each track. This wont be an overnight success, but in the long term will pay a lot of dividends. Then Sweden and Poland can ride on whatever nights they want and the Elite and Premier Leagues will not be affected. Speedway as a sport needs to get to the position where a rider can only ride for one club. If that means they go semi-professional, then so be it. The sport can't support full time professional riders as it is.

This is why I like what the Glasgow promotion, they seem to understand that by embracing modern technology they can use it to promote the club and sport effectively. They are willing to try new stuff and seem to be way ahead of a lot of other promotions in this regard.

Remember the days when John Perrin wanted to ban TV cameras from Belle Vue? Several promoters wanted to ban "live speedway updates". Speedway promoters, I get the impression, are frightened of technology, when it could be used massively to promote the sport. You only need to follow professional teams from other sports on social media, especially American franchises, to see how they keep fans and media up to date with any news. And as for the argument that TV or streaming or the equivalent could affect attendances a) I've never understood the mentality of people, who have the chance to see live events, would rather watch it through a small screen and if the atmosphere and entertainment was better at speedway meetings, fans would come no matter what the alternatives were, because they would want to be part of the experience.

Good idea and if promoted and priced correctly, this could be a big money spinner. Like nearly everybody else I'm against Peterborough being seeded straight to the final, I'm no Edinburgh fan either, but I can see the merit, when there are 13 teams, to having the holders seeded through. But there could be a different number of teams in the league each year, so it might not always work to send the holders through. I would also like to see the qualifiers return, but is there much point when there are only 13 teams in the league? Unless you are only going to do without the semi finals on "finals day". It was great to have the qualifiers back in the day when there was 16+ teams in the league. Hope this works out and the weather behaves itself. It has the potential to provide another great weekend of speedway for fans, a bit like the Cardiff weekend on a smaller scale.

I've said it before on other links but I don't think it would cost too much to keep fans entertained between heats. Here's some examples I have seen done at other sporting events:- fan quizzes, interviews with riders / managers on the infield, interviews with fans, fans running in zorba balls, kids running races (Glasgow do this successfully), junior tag rugby (a speedway equivalent could be cycling round a track once), live music (any up and coming local bands willing to pay for free publicity?). Interact with fans, have family days where riders mix with fans, have photos taken, speak face to face with fans, have autographs, give kids a ride on the bike (is this allowed in the era of health and safety?). And each club employ somebody who can promote the club to death. Each week should be a big build up to the meeting, getting more and more attention in local and social media as the week goes on. The more the public is aware of a club, the more chance is they are going to come along.

Enjoyed the article in Speedway Star this week about the 1981 K O Cup run. I can remember being at the first leg of the final at Brough Park. The bit that I can really remember was sitting in the grandstand and there being a landline just in front of us and Edinburgh fans queueing up to use the landline to phone their mates with the score. Compare this to today and live match updates, twitter and facebook pages. The bit that really made me laugh was Mike Caroline revealing he was hit by a can of beer thrown from the crowd in the second leg. Can remember Berwick having a decent record at Powderhall, winning a few times. Polar opposite to their record at Armadale! It said in the article that planning permission for a new proposed track close to Shielfield was turned down. Can anybody remember where the proposed track was supposed to be?

What is left of the track / stadium? I know about the fire, obviously, but has anything been built on the ground or is it just left empty?

Peter Waite would still have the bowser going round :-)

I would really like to see every Elite and Premier League team to have some sort of junior team, so that second half racing follows every meeting. It would be a long term project if you like, to bring more riders into the sport. Look at the riders who came through the SJL in the 70s to go on and ride for National League teams. Some sort of National League team in the Borders / Central Scotland area would be a natural stepping stone between the junior leagues and the Premier League and again would be a great boost for the sport in this area.

I can only speak for the club which I follow Berwick, they allow under 16s in for free and they get a lot of youngsters going. Two young boys live next door to me and they ride their pushbikes around doing speedway commentary. It needs more that like to secure the future for the sport. They (and especially Dick Barrie the presenter) do a great job with them as mascorts and get them totally involved. Also agree with the music, we have a running joke amongst the group I stand with how old the music is. Just please give us some upbeat music. Any era will do. I like the idea of the mini track which youngsters can ride around on the pushbikes while it is not being used. Like you say they can ride around pretending to be the riders. And could this be the cheapest way of introducing potential future riders to the sport?

Some very good points on here regarding cost cutting and paying riders. Here's a few of my thoughts:- Firstly, riders need to realise that there are very few places in the sport for full-time professionals, perhaps only at the GP level. There simply isn't the money in the sport. If that means cutting back on equipment then so be it. In an ideal world a pay structure could be brought in, whereby all clubs pay heat leaders a certain amount, seconds string likewise and reserves the same. But this is never going to happen as long as the sport is not policed. The Conference League was supposed to have a fixed pay structure but that was abused left, right and centre. The sport in general needs to look at reducing costs. I don't know the answer because I am simply not mechanically minded. Anything that reduces the costs of buying and maintaining machinery needs to be looked into. The sport needs to have a prolonged promotion to attract new fans. I hope other teams look at the example Glasgow were setting last season, as they seem to be doing a lot of good work and attracting a lot of attention to themselves. This will not happen overnight. A lot of clubs do good promotional work, then give up when they don't get overnight results. There will need to be a lot of hard work done over a long period of time.

Any Glasgow or Edinburgh fans out there that can tell us of any developments with the training track that Glasgow were looking to build if they got the land next to Ashfield or the one that former Edinburgh director Brian Gray was looking to build? Both projects would be brilliant for bringing on young Scottish riders, something that both clubs could benefit from.

Cheers. I did read in the Speedway Star there had been some sort of a fallout, but that was as far as it went. The piece also said he had tried to sign for a number of clubs, he mentioned Newcastle specifically, but none had wanted to sign him. Bet they are regretting that now. I can remember thinking at the time that it was strange that Workington were letting him go, him being a local lad and an obvious talent.

I was judging it on the silverware they've won with him at the helm. Workington must regret letting him go. What were the circumstances? Obviously a fallout somewhere along the line?

Best signing: Tai at Rye House, Craig Cook at Edinburgh?

Berwick were originally not allowed to sign Michal Makovsky back in 2000 as he was a GP rider (wildcard only).

I've seen Carl Stonehewer almost unconscious drunk at the foot of the stairs of the nightclub in my home town. Before the advent of social media this made you a 'character'. Now it would be all over forums and the like, he would get slaughtered. We, as fans, want to have our cake and eat it.

how about Maciej Janowski EL Craig Cook PL Bradley Wilson Dean NL Zack Wajtknecht NL Niels Kristian Iversen EL Adam Ellis NL Jason Doyle EL special mention to Simon Stead who I think would have had a great season

How many times do you see this today as well, when riders are not fit enough to ride in league racing but are okay to compete in the GP? It's a part of the sport which I don't like, but Britain has fallen down the pecking order so much for these "top" riders.