mikebv

several have come on and said that they are glad that their teams are PL so therefore not effected..... well the top 20 NL riders pretty much make up the double uppers 'pool' in the PL which next year I presume will be 'ring fenced' for the EL should the inevitable fixtures clash?? that would then leave a good few 'all fall downers' for the PL... for me, IF this results in reduced admission and a genuine attempt at 'fast tracking' GB talent (and is administered fairly! ) then it may just work for the benefit of the sport... many have moaned that not enough is done for GB riders, so let's not moan now when at least four riders on view each night will be from these shores... keep them riding against each other and the racing 'entertainment' should be relative even if a few seconds slower...

It has been said many times... Everyone remembers the 'great meetings' they attended in the good old days... The one common denominator was the crowd levels and therefore atmosphere, rather than the racing.... (If the racing was as great as the crowd then that was truly the 'utopia' that this sport uniquely can bring). Sadly those who run the sport now see 'survival' as the mantra to be followed rather than simply agreeing a business model with regulations that reduces costs and would enable all to make money by charging an admission fee that would render 'decent crowds' in these difficult economic times... Without an independent body to ensure this happens, the 'haves' will always try and ride roughshod over the 'have nots' (and I cant blame them to be honest if its within the rules then everything is fair game)... As many have said, speedway's ills in this country are largely self inflicted, the current situation is delivered by years of myopic incompetence.. The saddest thing is that this website (and the readership of the speedway star) must have 1000's of 'soothsayers' as for a good many years these people have predicted the current situation 'ad nauseam' ... Truly embarrassing to be honest that those who run this sport have 'blindly' let this situation happen... Given all the facts and history before us, has anyone really got any faith that they can put together a cogent business plan to move the sport forwards in this country?

have biscuits been officially agreed??

Imagine the Leicester thread if their track had even more corners and 'jumps' for them to moan about???

a bit similar to what happens in cycle speedway this idea, but could work.... when a team goes six behind then they can choose gate positions for as long as they remain six behind... wont cost anymore for the promoters and is somewhat less contrived and mickey mouse than giving a team a 'bonus' of extra points for simply being rank.. and it doesn't massively put the team in front at the disadvantage which 'double points'/'bring in a tac No1' does...

Absolutely... Especially when hardly anyone outside 'the converted' know speedway exists anyhow... My team in manchester has a 45 minute catchment radius of 2.5 MILLION people yet despite 'best intentions' cannot get even just one thousandth of them to attend each week... Those 'gone aways' at least know/remember the sport and lets be honest if most tracks can entice just a meagre 500 of them back they wont be losing money... It has been questioned 'how do you know who have gone?' well you dont, but you do know reading the speedway press and this forum over the past ten years or so WHY they left which means you can slow the hemorrhage down by not making the same mistakes again and fixing what is broken... Also you can start to actually 'know' your current punters who still attend by market research, mobile numbers, email addresses etc so when/if they 'go away' you have at least a chance to entice them back... Every track MUST have 500 punters they can get back thru even the most basic marketing campaign surely? If not god help them...

You only have to see the latest movie about James Hunt to see how 'someone a bit different' can be a beacon for the sport that they do... Was F1 better in those days? Probably as the driver made more of a difference to the success of the car than they do today, however it definitely was more 'on the edge' with the personalities that were around then.... A bit of controversy is never a bad thing and a 'bad boy' image can do wonders if worked to the media well...,

See what speedway is clearly missing is to be ran by Mr Cholmondley-Warner and Grayson.... "I say Grayson, that young Tay chappie certainly looks like a rum 'un and no mistake".. "Yes, Mr Cholmondley-Warner, he will certainly impact the femily velues the sport has held so dear and delivered so much popularity over the pest 20 yars". "Mark my words Grayson, if he continues to appear on the tele-visual box the stadiums may soon be full of tettooed teenagers and even worse, adolescent urchins who may aspire to be him one day" "Perish the thought, Mr Cholmondley-Warner, however, be rest assured that as long as I have anything to do with it, our femily sport with traditional femily velues will ensure such awful frightfulness will never be seen as something the sport should be proud of" "Very good Grayson". "Thankyou Mr Cholmondley-Warner" "Now Grayson. Let us talk about how we ensure the play offs are exciting and the 'right team' wins"

clutching at very big straws maybe but... IF the beeb start to give the sport (via Tai) more of a push, could that be down to them getting more involved in covering the sport knowing sky have bailed? bbc3/4 etc could be ideal for a highlights package of gp or even british speedway..? more likely gp to be fair as its the professional one, however with moto gp now exclusively on bt sport next season maybe speedway can fill the beeb's motorcycle 'hole' so to speak... we may dream...

indeed..... and the many other olympic champions were manna from heaven for our nations broadcaster.....

what it always was... a farce... simply an opportunity for the beeb to self indulgently show the nations licence fee payers that they still cover some sport... if it hasn't been covered by the beeb, you wont win... simples,,,

not just at rye house mate.... these beauties will fly out all round the country... there is an option for 'tassels' on the blankets should they be wanted and I believe that as an added bonus, on the night in question there will be the opportunity to purchase extra strong cotton, which will be demonstrated as ideal for sewing on 'patch badges' to sleeveless denim jackets (or even wulfsport ones)!!!

Tai has done a lot of good work for the sport this morning... Now someone needs to keep him in the media focus thru the winter... Be a shame to lose any awareness momentum he may be bringing... Is he though going back to Oz for the winter?.

came across well.. the interviewer seemed clueless (but then she is about most things having seen her in the north west for a few years).. he showed his 'tats' off which concerned me a bit as people watching may think speedway is a 'bit extreme' and up to date, and he didnt mention that it was simply a 'good old fashioned family sport' which disappointed me as this message has proved so successful over the years!!! all in all, well done Tai.... could speedway now have someone a younger generation can relate to? let's hope so..

.... and even more good news.. not to be outdone by bsi's professional approach, british speedway has had its media group on the case and have got Tai on the QVC channel, three weeks this thursday, on its prestigious 2.46am slot, flogging tartan blankets and matching flasks....

"We're doomed ahh tell thee".... "We're dooooooomed"!!!!

well done Tai... all british speedway needs to do now is get its crap together, sort the farcical way it runs itself out, and promote this lad like fook..... he has a back story that hollywood wouldnt believe... someone in the bspa ffs must understand this and get a professional marketing company in to put him forwards into the mainstream media.. could just be the saviour of speedway in this country.. no pressure.... well done again lad.. truly a quality rider

I am one (of the many on here) who can hark back to when 'speedway was great'... The reality though is that the speedway wasn't that much better than we have today (if at all).. You only have to look at youtube coverage of the 70/80/90's to see that one or two good races per meeting was about 'the norm' with the first rider round turn two winning the vast majority of races.. What is different today is that you watch the same kind of races in virtually empty stadia, which adversely effects any kind of atmosphere being generated.. In the 'golden years' the noise generated by the sheer crowd size made the most mundane 3-3 seem 'an event' hence the entertainment level appeared higher... I would go as far as to suggest it isn't the standard of racing that's the main reason crowds have decimated, but rather it is the 'mickey mouse' perception in the way the sport is run that has turned far more away, I know many who have simply 'given up' due to this and I myself have done so on more than one occasion!... Why can't all speedway be like this? Without a big crowd to generate an atmosphere, it cannot be. In the 'great meetings' tucked away in our memory banks you can bet the vast majority took place in front of a large vociferous crowd which made the occasion 'special'... Keep charging £20 to get in and buy a prog and speedway will never deliver 'great nights' consistently as simply not enough will turn up to generate that much needed noise and atmosphere... Keep coming up with the 'mickey mouse' ways of running (or should that say ruining?) the sport on top of this, and eventually it will be the crowd changes that get announced each week before the rider changes..!!

why can't all speedway be like this? play offs bring a 'crap or bust' mentality', which I am sure is probably enhanced by a bigger than average financial inducement for the riders... also each team can cherry pick an 'horses for courses' team selection when it comes to double uppers as there is no PL clash, hence the 'worst rider' is more than capable of holding his own.. and finally Esther... the league is nothing more than glorified qualifying rounds where riders know 'there is always the next meeting, (as long as I dont get injured)' which leads to 'minimal risk taking' riding.... put up a big financial inducement on every meeting with 14 riders of pretty similar ability and 'on the edge speedway' would be the norm, a la SGP...

???? what is he supposed to do? say the stadiums are not god awful? that the crowds are plentiful? that the EL is not a shambles?? think plenty would criticise him if he did that!!!

nor camping chairs and tartan blankets.... all very strange.. "it's speedway Jim, but not as we know it",.

I believe a guy called Mateuz Fordzski was interviewed and he was quoted as saying that he didnt want to deliver an 'inferior' product for his fans.......

to be fair to the beeb... speedway hardly has a media team who keep pummeling them until they give in... with so many sports to cover he who shouts/lobbys loudest often gets heard... yet again it highlights speedway's lack of media savvy..... golden egg Tai if 'used' properly..

a truly great speedway meeting... if only you could box that and make something like it 'the norm', you'd pack the stadiums out over here, how 'strange' that they can present a temp track so good yet many of the established tracks over here deliver nowhere near the same lines for the riders.... best wishes to TG, 'worth the admission alone' is a cliche that truly applies to him on god knows how many occasions... and as for Tai? he showed tonight true grit and bravery, well done and all the best for torun.. IF british speedway had a clue then they would already be getting hold of a professional media company to market this kid, (tats and all), to the 'yoof' of this country... wouldnt it be great to see, come march, a british world champ going to the tapes with true street cred which in turn has attracted scores of the 11 - 20 brigade to the sport... oh well, I can dream, wonder what Roy Cropper is doing early next year... ,

get out the 'cardie' for monday night!!!