mikebv

Sam Dingle out of Emmerdale would be perfect synergy......

Didn't Buster get quoted as saying promoters would need to "dig deep" to bring in another club?.. Maybe its a collective effort?

Is Brady Kurtz being held back for Northampton? If they do run they will need some "name" to try and generate some interest... A world No2 may just get that publicity...

No idea, however... I would think it is perfectly fair to charge a hire fee for the track, and facilities, that the riders are using... You take up MX, Autograss, Club Motorsports, and even Grass track and you basically "pay to play".. Speedway shouldn't be any different at entry level.. And, of course, if you are any good, you actually get paid to race, something which many in other motorsports never get to experience...

The future plan certainly wont be any longer to pluck another foreign journeyman to fill spaces that should have been given to UK lads, if Poland has its way... Most riders in Poland will be riding in their own league as their "plus one", so the number available will have dwindled.. Interesting interview with Matt Ford in the Speedway Star re Denmark now paying more than Sweden, presumably to be the number two choice for those Polish contracted lads next year? Those in charge over here have certainly buried their collective heads deep into the big hole they have dug for themselves over the last couple of decades..

100%... For me, it doesn't really matter if its just the top 30 or so NDL lads riding for any team, on any given day... No team kevlars, just team race jackets with numbers 1, 2 and 3, with whoever is available taking one of them... It gives those already of a "decent level of competence" more opportunity to ride... Track days under tutelage of professional riders should be also part of the BSP plans whereby complete novices with "some competence" can develop and improve with an eye on reaching, initially, NDL level... And if the odd Dan Bewley is found then fasttrack them through... The NSS is lying empty for many weekends with no Colts, so a perfect opportunity to have weekly training sessions..

Done....

I suggested on another thread that the old SJL three rider teams could be used... But during the main meeting... After every four heats, two NDL level races.. Track should be therefore slickened off, not too grippy, but not bare like a second half would bring... Tractors then come out and reset the track for the main meeting.. Six heats in total, and four rides per rider, no subs allowed.. I remember the 4 team tournaments running a couple, maybe three?, reserve race(s) during the meeting that didn't count to the result but gave the No 7's in the team track time.. If EVERY meeting did this in BOTH leagues there would be plenty of track time for the developing riders.. No need for contracts as riders could ride for anyone at any meeting subject to their availability, (who just said "just like the top two tiers do"?)... Expenses only, or even "pay to play", but something desperately needs doing to increase the amount of UK riders in teams, and giving developing riders track time, and plenty of it, is the only way to do it... On YT there is coverage of some Youth finals from the last few years, and several riders now breaking through are riding with, a good few of them, from 125 to 500cc "straight legging" into the turns and opening the throttle as they came three quarters the way around the bend, thus making the bike "broadside".. Just a few years later, these same lads now go full throttle into every turn... Which shows. Practice really does, make perfect.... Therefore, the promoters really need to create this practice time...

A fixture list, or two, might help.....😄

Indeed.... You would just inform the club missing out to be on "standby" and put TBA on the weeks they are the fifth team... Of course, running six teams does mean at least two will still need to miss out each week so their riders can guest....

It is noticeable that over the past few years the Speedway Star has become more critical in it's comments on the running of the sport in the UK.. With plenty of giving voice to the fans off the various social media accounts linked to the sport.. I would imagine they had to be more circumspect when their sales came in the main from the tracks... After all. You don't bite the hand that feeds you do you? I presume sales now come more from online, hard copy subscription, and retail outlets, given so few tracks... Nowadays it is a very good read, giving plenty of fans a voice, and not slow at challenging, but constructively, and fairly, (recognising the challenges promotions face), the current malaise that exists... The New Year addition covering every league and every major competition in the world was particularly excellent...

So... A "World Class" season, not racing three times in five rides against World Class riders?

And didn't have to ride in heat one several times a season from gate four!!! A race that can often be an average killer for a number one given the level of the opposition's No1 and both No2's, who gate inside you on a one line fresh track...

And if they cannot double up they may retire... Of course they will.... How did the sport continue for probably 90 years of its 100 without D/Uing being so prevelant, why didn't riders with "only" one team to ride for, retire for the first 90 years of the sport? It is quoted that one "big" league couldn't happen as there simply isn't enough riders, yet, there is also a stated desire to bring back those tracks that have been lost over the past decade, and also to open up new ones... Hello!!! I think I have spotted a flaw in the cunning plan!!!....

Especially if was doing a "jazz hands" wave to the camera...

100%.... But. All glaringly obvious... Yet zero has been done to act upon it... Instead of marketing nationally I remember seeing one club set up a decorator's table with club memorabilia on it, in the foyer of a local supermarket... In the Speedway Star this week there is an excellent article with Mark Lemon who mentions wanting to bring others with "broader skill sets" into the sport.. Let's hope, marketing is one of those skills.. The bottom line is hardly any riders will increase crowds by their appearances, (as has been proved since "The Stars" came back a few years ago), so to keep forking out hundreds of thousands in paying them, instead of redistributing this cash into marketing (which "may" grow the sport), is not a great business plan... You can develop the greatest product ever to have existed in the world, using nothing but the very best ingredients, but you won't make any money if no one has heard of you, or your product ..

It isn't difficult to "talk yourself up" is it.... "Speedway riders in the UK can earn millions each season".. (You don't have to say its as a collective).. "British Speedway is Booming! With hundreds of thousands of fans attending Speedway meetings last year".. (Again, collective numbers).. "Record numbers attend the National Speedway Stadium to see the Worlds Best!" (Collectively over two nights, but it doesn't matter).. "British Speedway amazingly only used 198 Guests in 2025".. (Alright, maybe we'll give that one a miss)..

Even Musk would ban it!!!

But there has though been a huge amount of money spent over the past two decades of decline.. The largest issue has been how it has been spent.. In fact, every season, around a couple of million will be spent on all the riders who, with all due respect, wouldn't be recognised even if they rode their bikes stark naked through their local town centres.. There should have been, and still needs to be, a significant marketing and advertising budget to bring the sport into the vision and awareness of a populace with almost zero knowledge of the sport.. If that means "lesser riders" used to free up this money for a couple or three years, then so be it, as these riders will resonate initially as equally as the "top stars" to anyone that a national strong marketing campaign attracts... With competitive meetings that have relevance and resonance being the objective above who actually is riding in them.. It certainly isn't a lack of money spent that has held the sport back over the past good many years...

The meat raffle a definite plus... As would be a "Snowball".... Just like being "down the Legion" for those in attendance.... A non taking the pee idea could be to win a Season Ticket? The first few meetings you could run a raffle for say a fiver... And then run a chance to win blocks of tickets through the season.. I would suggest you would get several times the actual value of the tickets back, with even those not always attending entering through mates who were... Admittedly, 9 matches wouldn't render a season ticket's value too high, which could be a drawback, so maybe a quid a ticket would be more appropriate..?

As opposed to the Oleebo....?

Spot on... They have basically tied themselves up in knots by using short term fix after short term fix, rather than having any vision, strategy and ambition for the sport.. That lack of an independent, no vested interest, voice clearly being missed... They needed (still need), saving from themselves, as they lurch from sticking plaster to sticking plaster to cover major (self inflicted), wounds.. So many well meaning, passionate about the sport hobbyists, being in charge of, and self policing, a national professional sport, with so many widely different needs and wants from the team owners, can never work successfully... Hence it hasn't, and we are where we are.. Is it too late now? It is if nothing radical changes, and quickly...

What sorcery is this?

Just imagine "the half time band".... It would be somebody like "The Spinners" from the 70's doing their folk tunes.... But not the original members obviously... In keeping with where they are playing, they would have guest replacements for those members unable to be there...

How do a similar sized sport in Sweden do it? A country with a similar lack of young riders from their own country coming through.. Probably worth finding out isn't it I would have thought... Denmark run five rider teams due to also having a lack of Danish riders to fill spots and, five rider teams also keep costs down. They run similar sized crowds to the UK... Something else to explore maybe? Or... Just carry on with the nonsense operating model used over here? "They used guests when Speedway was popular" is something I have read on here as justification for them... A great many things accepted 50 years ago in a non instant 24/7 media world, are no longer accepted today... UK Speedway hasn't even come out of the 20th Century yet....