iris123

The sport is in trouble if you haven’t noticed!!It is difficult to get tracks to host meetings,that is why we are told the SWC which many thought was the best competition in speedway has been dropped.We have had the same tracks hosting competitions over and over and over again,until one drops out because it makes nothing out of them and a search for the next mug starts....

I remember at one quality meeting at Holsted,one rider turned up with the wrong dirt deflector and asked me if I could help and I got on to the track announcer(danish webmaster on here),who asked one of the local riders(might have been Rasmus Jensen)who had to drive home and came back with the required equipment.But it does seem our riders are sometimes not properly prepared and need someone with them,like the Danes often had/have

Said a couple of seasons ago that Lasse Fredricksen from Norway looks a good prospect.He has had a fairly decent weekend with 15 points but losing out on the semi final at Gustrow then this performance in Slangerup

I think the success of the 70’s and 80’s was more down to having two leagues where the likes of Peter Collins,Michael Lee and later Gary Havelock,Martin Dugard etc all started in the lower league.It brought us no end of talent,before foreign riders started taking places away.Local riders are very important in bonding people.

Auto correction on your phone playing up again?

Think the start is now 18:30 and fans only need to pay if they want to.So all quick to Slangerup

Track looks under water in places

Plus I always thought if a team needed a last minute replacement ,those riders in Sweden were often willing to make a small detour to Denmark.It works and I can't see them willing t give up those nights

Doubt they will move nights.Anyway,Sweden on Tuesday and then Denmark on Wednesday obviously cuts down on travel.......

I think we see it with our own eyes at the track on tv and in crowd photos.It is also very noticeable to those on here who go or watch speedway on tv from other countries,that the crowd is younger in Poland or Denmark or at GP’s Even football had a conference this year to discuss the problem of attracting youngsters,who were deemed to be interested in new ‘sports’ like these computer game events that are selling out stadiums

Just to add to my earlier post,it was in the paper today that Hamburg(thought it might be,as I mentioned)will not allow 750 fans to renew their season tickets as they didn’t in the clubs opinion,use them often enough.It seems they have over 2000 people on the waiting list

Another wet Autumn day saw 15,000 turn up to see Ginger Lees try and take revenge on Sprouts Elder and yet again he gained the lead in the first heat.But yet again by the 2nd lap Elder passed Lees and never looked back,winning on a wet track by quite a length.As the meeting progressed the rain got heavier though.In the 2nd heat Elder was way out in front when he fell and left Lees to take the heat and level the match.Lees time of 93.7 compared to Elders time in the first heat of 78.8 shows the difference!!The tie break turned out t be a bit of a farce as both riders bikes played up and the crowd ended up laughing as Elder poodled over the line to take the win!! The 3 lap race for the new Douglas bike was also badly affected by the rain as 4 of the 8 riders failed to complete their race!!Fritz Niss won and almost 3.5 seconds behind him came Graf Strachwitz over the line to take 2nd.Hans Krons and Otto Heinrichs were the other 2 finishers.Heck,Kellner,Stölting and Wunder dropped out. The international final fell victim to the weather as during the break the meeting was called off!!!The qualifying heats were run and Sprouts Elder again had problems with his bike and failed to make it to the chequered flag,leaving the Walter's Ryle and Hull to take 1st and 2nd.In the other heat Ginger Lees beat Niels Sorensen,but that was that.And that was the last the Hamburg fans saw of Sprouts Elder until the next season The next meeting featured another new idea of having 5 match races to qualify for an A and B final.The winners in one and the other for the losers. Heinrichs had a tough battle but just scraped through ahead of Stewie St.George,Walter Ryle also just managed t beat Fritz Niss,Walter Hull beat Wunder,Stölting beat Kay Andersen and in a big surprise Franz Heck beat Niels Sorensen,who went on to win the B final.In the final for the winners the crowd saw the first dead heat at Lokstedt!!!Otto Heinrichs and Franz Heck going over the line shoulder to shoulder.Herbert Drews won the two handicap finals of the night

Does seem madness,knowing the clash that someone then goes out and builds a team with a majority of Danes!!!!

You could say,speedway isn’t all bad,but the things that are,are pretty bad.Whereas although football has its problems,a lot of which lie with FIFA and are out of our control,speedway would love to be in that situation. Does it help in anyway to look and say oh it ain’t so bad look at the problems other sports face?Would it help fans of a football club that went to the wall to say,lots of speedway clubs have been down that road? Football had big problems in the past and has improved and moved others the times,something speedway has failed to do

Good news.Only heard good things about the people running it.Just hope it wasn't mickthemuppet,who told you about the crowd figures!!!

Not only that,but at a lot of the big clubs there are waiting lists taking years sometimes to get a season ticket.I know a pal of mine from London got a Celtic season ticket in the knowledge he would only use it a few times a season.But it was his best chance and he could leave it with friends in Scotland who could use it when he didn't.At one club,and it might be Hamburg,can't remember,they have come out and said that if season tickets aren't used regularly they will become void,so that the next person in the long waiting list can get a chance to have one.Clubs in the situation can and probably will take the 'p',but demand is there .....the same with shirts,changing them regularly,but if people didn't buy them in large enough qualtities then the price would drop........

As ever,the person doing the petty point scoring is you !!! You have your usual attempt at putting someone down,then go on to agree with the point that football in your words is 'a sport apart'.What you should have said was it was foolish to use football as an example,as I was pointing out.But thanks for backing up my point

And I suppose you will now tell me that record revenues are also false??? Hamburg weren't successful in the Bundesliga.They got relegated,but still 2,000 turned up for training last week So ok,you have convinced me that football is on the way to being as poor as speedway

Would it be worth pointing out that the average attendance in the PL rose from 35,821 last season to 38,275 this season?No,probably not.Leyton Orient nearly went to the wall,so it is almost as bad as speedway innit

The second of October wasn't a great day for most of the population of Hamburg.Typical rainy Autumn weather affected the track,but still around 40,000(estimates from different sources range from 30,000-45,000) made their way to Lokstedt to see the worlds best Dirt Track rider,Sprouts Elder take on some of the local favourites.Elder had apparently been suspended by the ACU for failing to fulfil bookings!!!!Reading elsewhere,Elder could at the time command around 100 pounds per meeting and on a Bank Holiday could manage 3 in a day!!!It seems to cover the cost,admission prices were specially raised.Obviously the price hike didn't deter the fans,but it did cause some discussion later in the season when Elder had gone,but the prices stayed the same and not lowered to the previous level....... Luckily the weather did clear up and though a bit later than scheduled the meeting could start.Elder had been out on track having a few practice laps and checking out his Harley,that was loaned from Hamburg rider Max Plambeck.The opener was a match race against returning hero,Ginger Lees.The first heat and Lees was out in front and Elder was struggling to get his bike going and Ginger was lengthening his lead over the first lap.Then the track caught him out and he almost fell,went a couple of feet onto the grass and Elder came past and went on to win.The next heat Ginger did what he often did to opponents and let Elder ride the bend wide and cut inside to take the lead.Again he was in front for the first lap,but then Elder was showing amazing skill to cope with a heavy track and through the meeting gave the impression he was almost playing with his opponents,and won the match 2-0!!! He also won his next two heats fairly easily as Lees wasn't in this 'English'-Danish competition,beating Walter Hull and Niels Sorensen among others. In the race for the Golden Helmet,Franz Heck was surprisingly knocked out in the quali heat,so the final ended up as a hard fought battle between Niss and Wunder which Johannes won to take 2nd place in the points table.Stölting was 3rd and Strachwitz also managed a point,so the table now stood:Niss 36,Wunder 27,Heinrichs 26,Heck 20,Plambeck,Stölting + Strachwitz 10 The international final had 3 quali heats,one for 'english' riders,one for Danish and one for German.Elder again came up against Lees and Walter Hull and again beat them.In the final Lees gave Elder a tough race,buzzing away at his back wheel,but couldn't find a way past and slowly but surely Elder stretched his lead and finished comfortably in front.Lees was a good distance ahead of the following Danes,Walter Ryle and Niels Sorensen and at the back were the two German qualifiers,Niss and Wunder What makes me go more towards a higher attendance figure than 30,000 was what happened after the meeting.The track at the time was only served by one bus route and a tram route and although there were extra services for big meetings,after this meeting when the crowd filed out at around 23:00 it was reported that bad temper,small scuffles etc occured as the crowd couldn't get away from the area very easliy .As nothing of this sort had happened before I think the crowd must have been in the 35-40,000 range What could be better than a rematch?It was announced that Elder would be appearing at the next meeting on the friday

Did enjoy the short version,but can understand people who don't like the sport because it is all sorted by the end of the 1st lap,which happened often even here.Mostly mistakes and losing control was the reason for a pass.Sadly it looks like Cook is out of his depth and won't get in where it hurts,which is needed at this level.One of the problems with Iversen and it was ironic that although Iversen looked fatsre than Cook,each time he had a chance to pass,he backed off.....Good win for Tai as he rode a brilliant final to lose control and still take the lead and win.Doyle going to suffer psychological problems this year?

We probably won’t be the only ones.By any means necessary as Malcom X said

Jason Crump and his take on the new Turkish tyres for the GP season http://www.speedweek.com/speedwaygp/news/126428/Jason-Crump-Weic39f-nicht-wie-FIM-das-entscheidet.html

Just take care nobody is filming you!!!

Wednesday and the race for the Golden Helmet was watched by another healthy crowd of 20,000!!!The top 4 riders were clearly a bit ahead of the rest,it was more a question of which one would win this week.Johannes Wunder was trying out a new cornering technique and had some success.He won his quali as did Heck,but Johannes had his hands full keeping Niss behind him in the final and couldn't trouble Franz Heck on his way to the 5 points.Otto Heinrichs finished 4th,so.....Niss 33,Heinrichs 26,Wunder 22,Heck 20,Plambeck 10,Strachwitz 9,Stölting 8,was how it now looked A minor sensation happened in the B class for german riders,as after a number of meetings where he so often fell off,Bill Kellner finally won a final!!!A taste of things to come........In the A class for foreign riders a newcomer from England made a sensational start.Clem Beckett won his heat in great style earning loud applause from the crowd.Unfortuntaely for him and the fans,he was carrying an injury that made it difficult for him to compete further.Ned Kelly won a hard fought heat just finishing ahead of Thorkild Claussen Johannes Wunders new technique did bring him the win in the main handicap final ahead of the Dane Rasmussen and Herbert Drews This time the Friday meeting with its new event could go ahead and seemed to have done what was hoped and attracted a record crowd(for a Friday)with around 18,000 turning up to see the race for the new Douglas bike.The meeting started with a match race challenge between Ned Kelly and Thorkild Claussen ,the first heat of which was described as the best so far this season.Both very evenly matched racing hard against each other.Claussen won 2-0,the second heat far easier than the first.Stewie St.George won the final for foreign riders ahead of English riders Arnold Moore and Jack Wood.And for the second meeting in a row,Bill Kellner won the B class final.He showed his improvement by also qualifying along with Herbert Drews for the handicap final,but it was the Berliner Heck who beat Claussen to the chequered flag followed by Drews and kellner In the big final Johannes Wunder kept up his good form,taking revenge on Fritz Niss,who beat him in the quali.Wunder was ut in front from the start and no matter what Niss tried he couldn't get to him.Arnold Stölting was third ahead of Otto Heinrichs The sunday meeting featured a match race challenge between Franz Heck and Arnold Moore Watched by 10,000+ the Berliner won the first heat in a great time,just outside the national record with 76.2.The second was far closer with Moore leading all the way in a tough race until Heck made a pass on the last bend to take the match 2-0 just 0.1 second ahead of Moore!! Kellner couldn't manage 3 on the trot in the B class as ever improving Herbert Drews beat him into 2nd place.Wunder again managed a good win in the handicap final,although he had a bit of luck that Walter Hulls bike played up whilst leading and Heck also had bike trouble,so onl Arnold Moore could give Johannes a scare in finishing second. A couple of days later it was announced that for the next meeting the best dirt track rider in the world was coming to Hamburg.Sprouts Elder!!!Not only that,but track favourite Ginger Lees was making his return from Denmark, having re-taken the track record in Copenhagen.Joining him would be another favourite in Niels Sorensen!!!!