THE DEAN MACHINE

is it off tonight? .i just read on twitter from someone at the stadium saying its off but cant find nothing official

sadly it seems to be the norm these days

because unfortunatly the few in the "havent got a bloody clue" call the shots

on the subject number of injuries .im not sure if there is more or not .the number of absent riders is up but most are through a crazy ruled sport not injuries and a lot of injuries happen abroad and then the rider misses a british match so we think another injury to the list but thats really because riders ride almost everday all over europe and years ago they only rode a couple of days a week. but on average a rider will get 1 injury per year

this problem has been around since the invention of air fences (remember luke priest at stoke) .the problem is more whats behind the air fence. if chris holders acident happend at wolves even with the air fence lifting the fence behind is mesh with no posts held by wires. the air fence has been an excuse for promotors to install concrete barriers for stock cars and i said this for a few years its a disaster waiting to happen. air/foam fences give 100% protection 95% of the time and when 4% happens and the air fence isnt effective the barrier behind should be . the other 1% is the accident that happens where no amount of safety measures would of made a difference because motorbike are dangerous by their very nature

long strokes?

i dont think its the speed of the bikes cause speeds are not really faster than 20 years ago but what is different is the speed of the back wheel . a modern speedway bike is pretty much at the top of its revs all the time and when the bike hits a rut or bump and takes off there is not enough room to get the revs down and control the bike. it covers the width of the track in about a second

sorry miss understood the last bit .i thought you meant people were taken for a ride by riders about silencers. yes some riders have taken some for a ride . mine wasnt a payment or anthing like that . it was a con

the old silencers got very warm but they didnt get so hot they they turn the thing brown/blue the old silencer was half the heat of the new one and that is fact . who exactly has been taken for a ride by the riders . my points are from 1st hand experience as a rider and a mechanic . so lets hear your ideas to save money then? cause it seems mine are crap

and they allow silencers that make the bike more eratic to handle(read kelvin tatum piece in the star) and when the rider falls they get burnt by the thing . yea thats great foresight

wheel spoiler safety thats fine but why didnt the FIM introduce it till now. -one rule for onefuel. not why it was introduced but why was it ?£9- someone was having a cut .the noise silencers make is no different to a non speedway person than the old silencers. i hear the reason the uni at bham had an issue with the noise was an alternative motive . they wanted the land that the track is on. speedway is full of great fabulous people and that includes the bspa and promotors but there is also some rouges who are doing the sport no favours at all and they have a big say. i and others got took for money by one person who was a top figure in speedway and despite this i wouldnt be suprised if they were let back to run the sport

whenever a rule is introduced regarding the bikes it should be put before a panal of riders .and costs to all parties are fully explained and how it will make the sport better then if it seen as a good idea it gets past .

why did the british speedway make it mandatory to use wheel spoilers but the FIM didnt.? the diference between the price of a mitas tyre and a british league mitas tyre is about £25 .allowing for transport £5 per tyre and £5 to suplier where does the £15 per tyre go (they are the same tyre) .remember when british speedway introduced the yellow fuel and it went up to £9 a gallon yet you could still get fuel for £2.50 a gallon but they wouldnt let you use it. british speedway is like politics. you can call me cynical if you like but it stinks

and make the fans wear a black and white wooly bobble hat as they pass through the turnstiles and call it the black n white double price tatical scheme but you can only do it when you have had 10 pints and are drunk enough to think its a good idea. it has the bspa written all over it. lol

its a shame that wolves didnt use any of their own riders as this would of been more credible but any meeting where the spoons are beat by a wolves team is worth watching

and about 10% of the crowd of those events wont pay a penny . if you work for the right people you can go to these events for free but someone has got to pay for these freebies and thats the likes of me and you

although there are some variants in the way they are paid(some full time ,some paid per match) the wage bill for mechanics in the elite league is around £19000 a week and a lot are paid by the club. can speedway afford that? i know mechanics deserve that money they work damm hard, i know cause i currently one but the fact is speedway cant afford it

lol .i wouldnt go that far

yes those 5 are right but as an example of where it is the guest situation is swindon have to go to coventry this week with one swindon rider and 5guests and RR , what swindon fan is going to pay to watch that and for that matter what coventry fan would want to watch that and that is totaly the guest problem not the 5 you state above

squad system of some description to completely replace the guest , yes there are issues with a squad system but nothing can be as bad as guests

speedway needs to get the feel good factor back , the feeling it had way back when ,it needs people talking about it ,it needs the teraces full but your not going to get that by charging £16+ to watch a league meeting .if you listen to terry russell all is well and you can charge that and people will pay but in the real world where you and i live its just too expensive but also it needs a damm good shake up from the top to the bottom because its bordering on taking the p**s at the moment ,i love world speedway but british speedway is suffering and its time to change .when a rider gets his british licence he has to tick a box to say that if called he will ride in the british final etc , there should be another box saying apart from world championship events they have to put british speedway first and not miss a match for another country ,if they dont tick the box they dont ride here simple , it may sound harsh but without the paying public there is no speedway and it the paying public which really matter and they are being short changed,they are the be all and end all .over the years the scb/bspa/fim have introduced some stupid expensive ideas which have done nothing for the sport but have cost riders more money .ie enviro mats £50 per bike ,stupid idea ,speedway bikes drop very little oil anyway and if they did where the hell does oil come from anyway ? and we dont want to drop a bit of oil where the day before a stock car has dropped the contents of it sump , dirt deflectors £200 per bike ,still the biggest rip off in speedway ever , do nothing to stop flying shale ( phillip rising can suck up to his buddy barry all he likes but they dont work and given the choice they would be gone forever ), silencers £200 per bike ,a joke + a heat shield £80 to stop riders getting burnt by the previous mistake , you couldnt make it up could you , just a couple of needless things and ive saved a rider over £500 per bike , , licences over £70 for a british licence (where does the money go )? on top of £30 for an ACU one ,im sure they dont need to be that expensive ,all these things should be disscussed every year in meetings between riders and bspa to find ways forward without putting up expenses all the time , some of the mechanics are on really good money ,they do work hard but they are being paid what speedway cant afford to pay , vans ,living expenses, maybe its time to end the proffessional rider ,there are a couple in the national league for god sake , there are savings to be made on all sides ,its going to be bloody painfull in the short term but surely worth it in the long term ,surely it would be easier to attract new fans to a cheaper simpler sport that a expensive badly run one and thats where we are today . and then you get nights like somerset tonight just to drive the points home

i agree, it is out of control ,fans cant associate with their team because they dont know who is going to be riding the next match. injuries cant be helped but other reasons for riders missing is not acceptable to british fans .

the stoke promotor dave tattum?

riders deserve every penny they can get ,i know i was one but i also know that the money just isnt there in the sport and something has got to give but nobody is trying to do anything about it. a couple of years ago 1 rider practically bankrupted the premier league club he rode for and he was only a reserve for them .it wasnt the points money he was on although he was on a good deal for the premier league it was the extras he was getting paid. ie flights ,mechanic ,etc. i dont blame the rider or the club but these things need to be addressed ,its just getting worse and untill ways are found to get the crowds back watching british speedway they have got to stop. but where are the meetings between the bspa and the riders to find a way forward?.. i wont hold my breath

and that is exactly the mindset that currently runs speedway .it has to change