topsoil

What makes a "good race"? Is it purely passing? Seen a number of good races over the years where a rider in front hangs on to win, no passing involved, still an exciting race. Never been to Scunthorpe so I can't comment personally, although I do hear good things about it and really hope it stays open for next year and many going forward. On a similar note, also seen a lot of races where the rider in front makes a bad error, resulting in a pass, doesn't necessarily make it a "good race".

Anybody know how far away Claus is from a return?

Either way this is fantastic news for Scottish speedway. Edinburgh, Glasgow and to a certain extent Berwick should all benefit from having local training tracks with which to bring on young local riders. Hopefully one day in the not too distant future all three teams will be filled with local riders.

This thread really does show the mentality we are dealing with

You can come up with as many different variations of leagues, one big league, two leagues, or three, north / south divide or whatever, but it's moving the deckchairs.... Until promoters invest in marketing the product to attract new fans and sponsors, then entertain them enough to keep them then, nothing will change.

My own personal opinion is that speedway could do itself a lot of favours by giving the fans more entertainment. I've been to a number of different sporting events over the summer, away from speedway and the one thing I noticed is that all the events provided some sort of pre-match and interval entertainment. It doesn't need to be expensive, for instance some of the ones I've seen were fans racing in zorba balls, not expensive to hire, fans running about and crashing in bumper balls, same applies, even daft little things like fans quizzes, keeping the public entertained during gaps in proceedings, of which there are plenty in speedway, with track grading etc. The actual sport of speedway, for me, was no less exciting than some of the other sports I've seen this year, but it does let itself down by not keeping fans happy in my opinion. You take any first time fan, I don't think they will be concerned about guests, rider replacement, doubling up or anything like that. To them it will be four riders in a race. Hopefully they see close, fast racing. But they also want their money's worth, to be entertained. Give them plenty to keep them interested, not long gaps between races, watching tractors go round and silence. And give them a packed racecard. Fifteen heats, junior racing, second half racing whatever, they need more for their money.

One thing that struck me from watching the start of the meeting was the very small crowd it attracted. I take it Polish fans are only interested in league meetings?

I prefer my speedway live rather than on the internet, even if the racing in Poland is superior to that in Britain.

I've been to quite a few different sporting events over the summer, away from speedway and the one thing that has struck me is that each of the events offers a level of entertainment away from the actual sport. I've seen rugby league matches, rugby union, football and Twenty20 cricket. For example the rugby league had two fans from the respective teams racing the length of the pitch in zorba balls. Simple, yet it got the crowd involved. Twenty 20 had kids and adults bashing each other in the bumper balls, they were queueing up to take part. During the interval they had quizzes amongst the fans. Rugby union had mini games with kids. What I came away from these events was the thought that the actual sport, speedway, was no less spectacular or interesting than the other sports, but how often have you been to a long drawn out meeting, track grading and intervals and got bored? Secondly advertising the sport. I cant speak for Newcastle, but my team Berwick let themselves down badly in this department and I have no doubt they are not alone. Very little if any work is done in this department. Maybe half a dozen posters in shop windows in the town centre and on Saturdays a small banner is hung up in the town centre. Apart from this you would have no idea speedway is on if it wasn't for the noise of the bikes. The usual excuse given from promotions is the cost involved. But they do not seem to grasp the potential return on investment if the sport is advertised and publicised far better. I've often thought that the money a lot of Elite League clubs waste on mediocre second string and reserves flown in each week could easily have been spent on a marketing campaign or even a sales rep (whatever the proper title would be) selling corporate and general sponsorship. Speedway is very marketable, you have speed, danger, noise, fearless riders, you get right up close to a race at high speed and you have to be impressed. But if you aren't willing to invest, don't expect to receive a return.

The sort of corporate you would sell in Berwick, would be like works outings etc. There aren't too many higher class sponsors in Berwick to target. I would think the facilities at Berwick could cater for this. As for a "big" sponsor, again I would say the likes of Berwick would be looking to target large private businesses in the area. But the way I would get a sponsor on board is to ask what you could do for them in return, I really don't know what different businesses would be looking for. Personally I've never met a speedway rider who has refused an autograph, photo or the like, but if the example you gave is true, then that is shocking. Keeping sponsors happy is important, give them as much exposure as possible. That is something a lot of promoters, riders and the like need to learn. The best example I can give is to take a look at Nicki Pedersen's facebook page. Nearly every day he has photos of himself meeting sponsors and giving them publicity. He acts like a true professional in that regard. Could do worse than follow his lead.

I still think a club could be profitable, but it would need a lot of work. Just my opinion but you would need to spend quite a bit of money, firstly attracting fans back, whatever the best way would be to do that and secondly, keeping the fans there, by looking at different forms of entertainment, pre-meeting and between races. Also, just my opinion, but if you aggressively went after sponsorship, in it's various forms (including corporate) then this would go a long way to funding the costs of the sport. But again, this would need a bit of spending, to go after a full time marketing employee. To just come along and throw money at a club the way things stand would be wasting money. But the more time and effort you invested, the more return you would get.

Speedway, as we know it, is a failing business, hence the number of promotions who are currently struggling. Unfortunately it is reaping what it has sown over years of running the sport into the ground, allowing costs to spiral while continually treating it's customers badly. Like a lot of people have said on here it needs some big changes made, but as long as the BSPA is run by promoters of clubs, where it is basically a case of looking after yourself, then I doubt the sport will ever change.

From what I remember about the e-mail (sorry, it was a while back now) the only place it was possible to interview people was close to the tapes, which was where the interviews were done on Saturday. I can only imagine that some riders would not want to come on to the centre green mid-meeting if they are working on bikes etc. I can remember in the e-mail that he did say that he would love to do more interviews but couldn't (because of the 4g problem). It's a braw licht, moonlicht, nicht, the nicht (only Jock Straps will understand this). As for derogatory remarks, everything he says is tongue in cheek. You get it at most tracks. Peter Waite used to get absolutely slated by the Edinburgh presenter when he was getting interviewed. He had the best possible response, he'd laugh it off.

I will say this for Dick Barrie, he has an absolute wealth of speedway knowledge, but I also like the way Steve went about the interviews on Saturday night. I wish there were more of that sort of thing between races, to keep the crowd involved. I did e-mail the club with this as a suggestion, but was told there was a problem with 4g signals. But Steve did well to interview TJ and the Rye House presenter and during matches I would like to hear the views of riders and managers. I do think Steve was left high and dry at times last week as there were absences of music at times and with Berwick being so dire and a very small and unhappy crowd to work with he had his work cut out. Somehow if you could combine Dick's knowledge with Steve's presenting style you could have a good combination. Perhaps one does the interviews and one the general talking / heat results kind of thing, take the heat off a single presenter?

I've said it before I think the way forward is for supporters clubs to run clubs. Like they do in Sweden and Denmark. They pay subs to become members of the club and have voting rights. Officials are appointed and are held accountable by the members. The club lives within it's means because it cannot spend money it does not have. I also think clubs run by basically volunteers would get more support from local businesses.

I would take National League speedway before none any day of the week. Hopefully any investment into the club will be used wisely. Just for once and this applies to all promotions and not just Berwick, I would like to see promotions aggressively seek sponsorship. If you look on any of the Swedish club websites you will see they receive a lot of backing from local businesses. This could be a far better way of financing clubs going forward. If this needs a paid role in a club or the use of an advertising agency, then so be it. Sometimes you need to speculate to accumulate. And like a few people have said above, I would like to think that the supporters club and promotion can put aside any differences which were created at the start of the season and work together for the good of the club. I would hate to think stubbornness would hinder any survival plans. Excellent points, especially the last sentence.

If it meant survival I would take it. I would rather stay in the Premier League, but National League is better than nothing at all. It has saved the likes of Eastbourne and Birmingham.

Any chance a mention for Darcy Ward tonight?

This is the way clubs are run in Denmark and Sweden and to be honest I wish clubs in Britain were run in the same way. Run as proper "clubs" by fans, each with an appointed role, like chairman, treasurer, secretary, one person oversees meetings and the rest are made up by volunteers. You tend to find a lot more support in the community, especially businesses, behind a bunch of volunteers, trying to do something for the community, than a single entity promoter. Each member gets a vote to decide on the way the club is ran. Go onto any of the websites of the Danish or Swedish clubs and you see how it works.

Damn right I would. Love the sport, like the crack I have with mates on a Saturday night.

A lot of rumours flying around tonight and none of them good. Very difficult to remain positive right now.Time to grow a backbone and weather the storm. But really the promotion needs to take action. There just seems to be an air of acceptance, that doing nothing is an option.

Well that was absolutely dire, not just as a result but as a spectacle as a whole. Berwick were very poor, really small crowd, non-existent racing, no music or anything between the races, nothing to keep the crowd entertained and they wonder why fans are staying away. Once again Berwick's midas touch with guests comes into play, Matej Kus superb if he gates, not interested if he doesn't. Liam Carr paid 9 last week as a guest for Edinburgh, 1 tonight. TJ has a rare off-night, Thornblom scored well, Garcia is a trier but lacks any speed and the Captain was fantastic. Yet again Berwick were outgated in almost every race and with a one line track thanks to the shower at 5 this spelt disaster. But they also threw away points with mistakes on the fourth bend. Taking way the dropped points by Garcia, Thornblom and Liam and you would have had an ill-deserved replay. Berwick are in a lot of trouble right now and being honest there was an air of resignation around the stadium tonight.

If they can make a living from being a full time speedway rider, good luck to them, some have good sponsorship deals. But if speedway is to survive, the vast majority of riders, unless they can somehow secure similar sponsorship, are going to have to go semi-pro or part-time, however you want to term it.

A training track in Scotland would be the best thing to happen to the area. Both Glasgow, Edinburgh and to a certain extent Berwick, who have a good junior set up at the moment, would benefit from this and you cannot underestimate the pulling power of a local hero in a team.

Can't say for definite but I would say crowds well down from those days. If I had to guess I would say on average 400-500 a week. Saturday was probably the biggest crowd of the season, but a large proportion of the crowd were from Edinburgh. That is another factor in the crowds getting smaller, is the number of away fans travelling. Back in 2005 even southern teams would bring a bus load if they were on tour. Very few fans can afford to travel to away meetings now. Costs and no doubt too many rained off meetings have put them off.