Wee Eck

Who is higher in the Polish league averages, Bewley or Lambert?

On the basis of who attracts the better crowds, I think Poole win that hands down. TBH, I find the speed at the NSS exhilarating, the racing less so. Last Monday’s meeting was a good case in point, in my view.

I think the track at Poole has been awesome for years. Just look at the old stuff and you’ll realise that no one had a smooth track and yet nowadays everyone wants something like a supermarket car park. You have to ride hard and fast to score well at Poole. You only have to ride fast at the NSS. I know which one I prefer

Now there you go again, making assumptions and being rude to anyone who dares question your intimate knowledge. For the record, knowing what Duns consists of, a small oval with no services, facilities or air fence, I’m astonished at the figure of £70,000. I thought it would be far less. If that’s “all” you get for £70k, in my view, you’ve no chance, starting from scratch, of getting a full sized and fully licensed professional circuit for £150,000. It is also my opinion that what is needed at Newcastle is a local promotion, made up of people who know something about how to run a speedway business, who can work to bring back a quality team to the current venue. The 2021 Diamonds were built down to a price and the supporters knew that from the start.

Honestly or otherwise My “site experience” is irrelevant. I was telling you what Redcar cost, which, despite your assertion, did not include a permanent stand. My figures are based on actual rather than theoretical and are more than borne out if your estimate of the cost of getting the 126 metre training track at Duns, which seems to lack any services, is correct.

There was no permanent stand at Redcar when it opened. The only solid construction was the pits area. Everything else was portakabins and a temporary stand. Although you might get away, temporarily, with a generator if you couldn’t afford to lay on a mains cable (though goodness knows how much that would cost to run, especially if you needed floodlights) any new track these days would need to have either water in and waste out or expensive portaloos. Although well intentioned - and, of course, now irrelevant - the thought that you could get anything set up for £150,000 seems unlikely. Anyone know how much the Duns training track cost to set up? That would be your base price before allowing for everything extra required for a professional track

The cost of getting Redcar speedway from a brownfield site to being open for racing in 2006 (in a very basic stadium) was in excess of £250,000 which equates to nearly £400,000 now. On that basis, when you add in the cost of an air fence, if the existing one can’t be used (and something that wasn’t required in 2006) you are looking at £425,000 for a basic set up. The other end is a purpose built stadium like Belle Vue. It cost in excess of £9m. I’m really not sure what you’d get for £150,000, but I doubt it would be anything like the proposed Newcastle set up

Tbh, I don’t see that as tongue in cheek, more an accurate description of what has happened. I will neither defend nor condemn the previous owners as I have no knowledge of what went on. I have read the allegations but am not aware that these have gone further than that. I know that HMRC have lodged a claim with the liquidators for a sum in excess of £158,000 from the previous company but, as this company is heading for voluntary rather than compulsory liquidation, that suggest that, one way or another, that claim will be or has been settled. As far as I am aware, no criminal proceedings have been started, something that you’d expect if there had been deliberate malfeasance. So, to me, the above comments ring true - a promotion that didn’t know what it was buying and got rid of all of the people that could have guided them, and instead used people lacking the necessary skills. When it was suggested that Neil Machin would be involved, that seemed a positive move but that quickly disappeared. Dave Tattum is certainly experienced but not recently at Championship level. Indeed, he had to drop down to the Development League from the then Premier league because he couldn’t make the PL pay. The final “nail” is knowing of people willing to help share the financial burden of 2021, who wanted to see survival this year with a push forward with a more competitive team in 2022 whose offers of assistance were turned down. Hopefully, there’s enough of them around that’ll take the club off the current promotion’s hands, and keep the Diamonds alive.

It was agreed to do away with that at the 2017 or 2018 AGM. It never really counted for anything anyway.

Well there you go…..as it seems to be allowed, who have Glasgow gone for? Laguta, Zmarzlik, or, with the connection to Hancock, maybe Janowski? Or is it just Dudek after all?

I would think that the owners are more than happy with the ROI. Owning Glasgow Speedway has given them even more ways to market and promote their main businesses. Have a look at their holding company’s accounts and you’ll see how well they’ve done

Is there not a minimum of 8 or 9 for Premiership so CL would be that times whatever is this year’s multiple? But anyway, was there not a rule that GP riders couldn’t ride in the lower league, although Workington got a dispensation for Stonehewer.

I suspect the 10 teams below Poole in the league “honestly think” he’s doing a great job running his team.

Charlie Dugard closed Eastbourne down in the mid 1960s so any anniversary is only related to when the sport started, rather than continuous operation. The 90th milestone will be reached, even if there is no racing. More than ten years ago, the late Bob Dugard said the Eagles were losing £50,000 a year and things have got worse since then. The Eagles worked as an NDL team so should have stayed in that league. Who knows why they went to the Championship but if they needed 1000 a meeting to break even, bearing in mind there are some teams in that league that don’t tempt the occasional supporter out for the night, then they were doomed from the start, regardless of covid restrictions. It’s really sad to see a club close but hopefully a new management with a realistic business plan can come in next year.

My understanding is that, under BSPL rules, directors, owners and promoters are treated the same.

Gosh! Genius! I bet no one thought of that one…..

What is the fixation, or maybe bitterness, with Glasgow? If reducing wages at Eastbourne is a possibility, then does that not suggest that the club were paying too much to begin with?

In an interview last year or the year before, he said he rode hard and it was up to the referee to decide if he’d ridden too hard. Now a referee has made that decision, he complains. IMO Fast Freddie is more and more Dirty Freddie. Maybe he reckons he needs to be more like Nicki Pedersen if he’s ever to be World Champion?

I thought Mondays and Thursdays were protected days for the top league so they would get priority if some upstart Championships decided to jump on one of their days?

My recollection was that the Golden tyre worked well for Greg when the silencers changed to the ones that Eddie Kennett was caught doctoring, but when the rules changed again, basically back to the original silencer, after some poor early season results, Greg bought himself out of the contract. That was some time ago now

It seems that 15 of the 16 riders at last night’s Wroclaw GP were using Anlas Tyres. It seems they are consistently providing more grip though I don’t know if the longevity issue has been resolved.

Match off

Figures are available from Companies’ House website. The following are approximate losses made in the 2019 season: Leicester £30k Poole £16k Berwick £9k Belle Vue £84k Edinburgh £18k Redcar £35k Scunthorpe £3k Swindon £78k and the only profit I could find: Wolverhampton £7,000

Not that I can remember but I might be mistaken. And, if I did, then I was wrong. I’ve taken an interest in Joe and Dan since I first saw them ride 125s or maybe 150s at Northside four or five years ago, maybe even longer, and have always been impressed by the Thompson family set up. Their dad has put many hours and many pounds into supporting them, and they all deserve to succeed. As far as Leicester is concerned, I stand by my views on financial profligacy. But they are only my views, nothing more.

The signing of Hans shows ambition and a complete disregard for Leicester’s finances. It’s no secret that they’ve struggled to pay riders on time in the past and there’s nothing in the way things are this year to suggest that will change. I know the press release says the owners will bail them out but what an example to set by the vice chairman? He supports, from his own pocket, a move that basically hands the title to his team and bankrupts them at the same time. The other clubs can write off 2021 but they’ll have the visit of Anderson to boost crowd numbers and, although they can expect to lose at hone, at least they’ll have decent crowds and lower wage bills. Meanwhile, Leicester will run up 60+ borefests which will see their crowds drop. Great business move, Mr Bates.