THE DEAN MACHINE

Having read the full deal behind the GTR deal , I am fully behind this deal even if it's what I saying a couple of years ago albeit with a different manufacturer ,they have got the right idea and it's a step in the right direction ,however will it take off ? Firstly I think the cost is too high when performance against the GM isn't gaurenteed and more importantly can buster take on the illumati type mafia that dictates speedway and beat them ?

RIP Bryn ,a true through and through speedway man , had many chats with bryn and he must have announced my name a million times as he seemed to be announcer at every southern track at some time or another , I will always remember walking out for my last meeting at the Isle of Wight before I retired and hearing the very touching introduction he gave me , sleep well my friend

despite not being in direct competition for 20 odd years the rival is still there , the difference between this rivalry and others is we are not seperated by a motorway or a county we live in the same place , we share a track but won't go to each other's meetings , they still call us dog heads and renamed our track monmore wood , we still call them spoons and think they are unwelcome squatters , that rivalry will never die and both supporters crave the day the proper Dudley wolves trophy returns , is rhis neck of the woods nothing else mattered , I agree the younger generation don't understand but they would if Cradley ever got a new track , the Cradley wolves rivalry is deeper than just 2 teams

This is a post from a personal point of view and not really general but , I was born in Wolverhampton and grew up a wolves fan ,speedway was wolves are far I was concerned , I never missed a match and the riders were my hero's , now when I became a rider obviously my perspective changed a little , after I finished riding and became a fan again the sport had changed and doubling up had taken hold and I now find it hard to be a wolves fan as the riders are all over the place riding for their other teams and it doesn't bother me if I miss a match or if wolves lose , this is not because of bikes or racing or price (even thought I think this is a major issue overall) it simply cause the team aspect of the sport has been diluted to the point where it's like a school footy game where one side picks a player then the other picks one , as I said in an earlier post the max clegg situation last year , this is not against max personally but how can I support a rider who also rides for our deadliest rivals , it's bizzare at best yet the modern speedway has made it so ,it goes against the whole point of team sport , it makes me not want to support my team and not bothered about going

these are all valid points except they are not really relevant for speedway because it's not seen as a Motorsport , it is and always will be a team sport on motorbikes , 90% of fans including ex supporters don't care about the bikes , my misses has been a fan of speedway since the 70s and has no interest in bikes what so ever , you go to superbikes or whatever and in the main they are petrolheads , the bike is king , listen to the commentators on superbikes it's all "he is on the new factory Yamaha with the new shocks blah blah bla " it's all about the bikes , speedway is all about the riders

but in the main top flight football is corporate venture driven by the media and there are many ex fans who say the same as speedway fans do , but one big difference is when they play for a club they are the club and they are not swanning off to play for another team a perfect example of this is max clegg , last season he rode for wolves and Cradley , now for any fan of either team , you either ride for Cradley OR wolves not both but the club ethos has been diluted so much this is accepted , well it shouldn't be accepted if you are in a team sport , it's wrong on all levels and makes the sport a joke and then we wonder why nobody follows team speedway in great numbers anymore

What I mean by the social aspect of the sport dissapeared is speedway used the be somewhere you went to socialise with your mates and generally the riders were a big part of that scene but now riders seem to be trying to be this sort of athelete and the bond between the fans and riders has been lost , its hard to put into words but I suppose fans don't feel like riders are everyday blokes anymore ,they can't bond with riders anymore ,sometimes when I see woffinden I feel like he is doing another sport similar to speedway but not the speedway I love , I know this sound wierd and maybe I'm not getting across what I'm trying to say but hopefully someone will get me , maybe I'm just getting old and living in the past and speedway is moving on but from what I can see the new speedway is not flicking the switch like the previous one for many people

IMO the biggest decline was the period when penhall walked away from the speedway followed by the death of carter , it all coincided with the race fixing scandal , but also a couple of years later was when the social aspect of the sport dissapered and we haven't recovered since

Speedway is a head game more than a fitness game , if going down the gym isn't your thing then doing it isn't making you happy , if your not feeling happy in yourself you won't win races , working out works for woffinden and some others but it's not for anybody , I remember the year holder was world champ saying he had never been to gym as it's not his thing , woffinden riding style especially in the gps has become an opitunist racer , he won't mix it on firsts corners anymore ,he always cuts back instead of racing for the dirt , it works for him but doesn't mean to say it works for everyone , but being a single minded person he can't see that

thank you all for the nice words but it's more than just that I think works , I actually did this , I believe Kyle Newman is doing engines in house but at national league level everyone should do it , it's not hard to do and it's not hard to get parts but what is hard is convincing riders to do it , when you meet the young poles pretty much all of them can do engines themselves but brits only about 1in 20 even know how to check tappet gaps , I hope poultec are teaching riders this , a bit of knowledge can be the difference between making a bit of money or losing a fortune at NL level , there are some who will say well why were you not a better rider if it's that easy ? , well that's because after I dropped out of premier league I lost the ambition and just rode for fun and actually made money albeit not a wage but those who know me know me I complimented by.buisness with speedway so what I earned from speedway was a bonus, cut it short I was crap but my bikes weren't. I've sat and had a brew and asked questions with tuners and old school riders and watched and learnt taking it all in until I thought I could have a go myself , there are some tuners who want you to believe that there is rocket science to servicing engines and are truly arrogant about it but most are good chaps , anyway back to the GTR I hope there is potential in this idea and it's the start of the right direction , I have messaged speedway GB as why they chose GTR over jawa for a deal when jawa are half the price and have more capability to produce enough engines and got no reply but let's see how this idea runs

I doubt it cause some would rather buy a flash timing cover than an air filter

no it won't at lower level ,,I've said it many times go buy a knackered engine off eBay for about £100 , buy tools to do job and learn to do it yourself , in 2012 I brought a GM of a rider for £100 , it had seized , put a second hand piston and barrel and new bearings and used it at national league level all year scoring plenty of points on it , I serviced myself 3 times that season with parts costing around £50 each time , at national league level any rider could still do that today and be competitive ,, the amount of money wasted at NL level is staggering , it is not " cool " to listen and learn from people like Cribby or Jem Doncaster or any old school riders but they have the knowledge without the bull , the knowledge and education is there but folk seem to want to spend £1000s and get nowhere cause they have run out of money , every rider should ask themselves who would win a race , you on the best bike money can buy or Greg Hancock on a 20 year old GM ? Until you can say you then your pouring money down the drain, I hate saying this message now cause I'm falling into that old fart category who says "back in my day " but in the last 5 years the only thing that's changed is cost , the engines are the same single cylinder 4 valve beasts they were in the 80s

about £2000-£2500 for a new one but you can get a really good second hand one for around £1000

it's disappointing from the riders loyalty point of view but not surprising

Good to see Adam back , if we can get him to half the rider he was when he got injured in 2014 wolves will have a really good season

that's the whole point of this excersise to eradicate the cancer that is eating away at speedway not to feed it

I think the principle of this is the right idea and good to see the Bspa actually trying something , still think approaching jawa would of been more benificial but let's see how this pans out

it does go on

We have got a future but it won't begin to improve till we address price for fans and our credibility and that starts with doubling up/ down , to anyone outside the speedway fraternity it looks a complete joke in team sport .

is this for everybody who went ? , as I've said before I'm not bothered about getting money back I still had a great time , but if they had to compensate me I drove from England so that would be diesel , ferry , accommodation and tickets , it's a few hundred £s to pay out

lets hope it's a good deal for riders and not a good deal for tuners

for me the BSPA have done the right thing on this one

personally I find this team sharing another nail like doubling up/down , if I were a supporter of either team I wouldn't support this venture ,it just goes against the whole team sport principle and imo while this practice is allowed to go on we are just slipping to a sad end , but as I said its just my opinion and my opinion matters not

when I spoke to Ryan at the last meeting he said he didn't feel he was getting the chances in premier and unless he got a premier place he was quitting , I spoke briefly to him last week about his Berwick team place and he said he wasn't looking to ride NL cause of work commitments

everybody's opinion should be valued , I do try to really get to the bottom of ideas good or bad , I haven't really been critical of buster cause although I don't think he is fully addresssing speedway's issues I wouldn't like to be in his shoes , I've have been to an speedway agm and to get anything changed is like moving a brick wall