barrybishop

This is one of the things we are most proud of on the IOW and it also adds to our evening’s entertainment because MFS students and Mini Warriors are all part of the show. Every week from 6.15 - 6.45 we have around 12 mascots on track on Revvis, Piwi's, 160cc and 500cc machines - we have noticed that people are now attending the stadium earlier to watch the mascots - at 6.45 when they have finished we bring them on to the centre green to receive their applause - this is part of being a speedway rider... it gives them (and us) great pride to hear people clapping and cheering for the mascots - we also interview them to start to teach them public speaking... one of my favourites for this is Chad Wirtzfeld who would not look at anyone let alone speak as freely as he does now on the microphone. At every opportunity we include piwi races in our main events - obviously non-league or cup meetings. This has proved hugely popular with the fans and students and again it teaches them from an early age what it is like to win but more importantly how to improve, how to react if your bike stops, how to interact with the crowd, what to do when another child asks for your autograph... the pride of wearing a MFS race jacket. As it stands as a direct result of the school, My First Skid, we have a stream of new riders all wanting to be speedway riders. So much so that we decided to enter a Wizards squad in to the SDL league with an ethos of no matter what, we only use our squad and riders in that squad must be My First Skid students. It has shown remarkable results in my view - Morgan Williams, Ben Ilsley, James Luckman, Steph Whitlock, are now totally different riders from just 6 months ago and indeed in my view exceeded our expectation. Of course, we now want them to continue on their path and become Warriors making way for other students coming through the school who want to be Wizards. I believe next year we will have a very healthy supply of second halves with 3 new 15-year olds joining our Wizard squad who will want to push for a team spot. Let me tell you, this is so rewarding - we are now seeing result from 2 years and if it continues as it has then there is just so much potential. Our school takes everyone, and we operate in a fun, safe, educational environment, that has rules and seems to work. It constantly sells out - on Oct 11th we have 22 children and 22 adults booked in, some living the dream, others wanting to make the dream begin and others really wanting to make it. Their ages are 4 - 78 and they come from across the country. I have no idea why they choose us, but I am so proud they do. I am more proud they keep coming back. Finally, I have learnt so much from the school too - our school basically pays for itself and a set of team tyres for the Warriors per event. No one is paid, no one expects it. I have learnt that kids and adults love our sport, our kids want to be speedway riders and we make them all feel like they can make it to be world champion… why? because they could. I also know that people have brought their children just to ride a motorcycle not knowing what speedway is... it’s true...but they are all converted when they come to our fun filled nights where their kids are part of the show. They love it.... we all do. It is brilliant. Enough of my ramblings.. It’s true to say that we love our school, we love the reaction of the kids and adults when they achieve, we love that our methods do work and riders are progressing, we love the teamwork and sense of pride that we instil in our students, and if you ever want to try look up My First Skid on Facebook or twitter. Come live the dream. See you trackside.......

That will be great and I look forward to it. However, I am always happy to get amoungst it anywhere, so if you are at a meeting when I am there... always say hi all the best Barry

when you do come and grab me....always in yellow and blue and we can have a chat on the centre green All the best

Hi, Either ferry is OK... but I would suggest Portsmouth in my view. One reason for this is the majority of fans, riders, and promoters take the 2300 back over which is a opportunity to chat about the night and speedway in general. If you are by train and the last one is 9.30 this maybe a challenge for you. When you would like to travel let me know and I can put on to our FB page as we have some who come over from the area by car and there may be a space. Many thanks and thank you for the nice feedback about the DVD footage. In my view Andy Hague and Speedwayportal really are doing a super job in this field. Barry

Hey.... we offer a 20% discount via our website so depending on how in advance you know you are travelling the cost fluctuates. Early is obviously better but wrtie to me speedwayontheisland@yahoo.co.uk and I can point you in the right direction. All the best Barry

that's an interesting comment, that our track is still viewed as "pants and needs improvement" out there. I can hand on heart say that I (we) would like a perfect track (even though our riders currently complain because its now really smooth). We have used the motorway plane, that we found in undergrowth, had serviced and is now fully operational, on several occassions this year and the track is now really quite smooth. We made further improvement to the banking to bends 1 and 2 over the year. You may of course be refering to the terrible shale that we put down at the start of the season which we had to take off and we are now using a better quality shale. I guess you can also judge the improvement by the average times this year which have been reduced by over a second and the racing quoted as some of the best ever at the Stadium. We of course continue to put our heart, soul and all that we are into making the Warriors the best night out in speedway and continue track improvement (such as replacing the whole back straight fending last off season) will continue to take place this off season. Hope to see you at the track sometime in 2019 and if you let me know who you are, I will gladly do a track walk with you, show you the improvements we have made, our vision for tomorrow and welcome any thoughts you may have. All the best Barry

Sorry I thought I had responded to this question. Our planning is for Tues, Wed or Thursday only. Wednesday is used by the football team so regardless of league the only days we can currently run on is a Tuesday or Thursday. All the best

I cannot believe the delay was indeed almost an hour because the time flew by for me... I loved giving the speedway bike lesson with John Carpenter, we had masses of team photos to give out, autographs, selfies... and not forgetting the kids race. Loved it... only sorry it took poor Alex Spooners crash to be given this length of time in which to actually show people around a speedway bike, how they work, can be adjusted and so on.... but watch this space... I think we can do more... and better

No one demographic age group will transform speedway in my opinion but of course we must try to be attractive to all. I have been watching things on the island and I have posted this before about what is happening here. We are getting lots of groups of families and couples who make "new" friends at speedway. Now when I was a child I had my friends at school, sea cadets, local to home and speedway and every group of friends was different - had my friends at speedway dropped off, I probably, would have left too. In fact I did leave for a while as a child with the sea cadets until speedway changed it race night again and I was straight back. My point is attracting news fans, rekindling the love of former fans has to be gelled by something and that something in my view is the club, the community (in whatever form) and friendships - that strengthens the fan base, encourages away travel and social activity which in turn brings in new fans, new sponsors, new momentum.... sounds easy I guess, but we all know it is not and on the Island we started from scratch and slowly, slowly we are now seeing momentum in every part of the club.

Thats a tough question because it is something we would only do if it was sustainable and there was a real hunger for it. But regardless of league we could only ride on the Tuesday or a Thursday under the current planning and other tenant restrictions we currently have. Certainly food for thought for the future though

It's very interesting for me to read lots of these post about the "the decline of speedway" and to be honest I learn from them - so thank you. Martin and I are quite an open book where our speedway is concerned and I have to say that whether you agree with me or not, speedway on the Isle of Wight is in anything but decline, its thriving. Our crowds, while yes relatively small, are 6 - 8 fold the last promotions when it ran, and our meeting on meeting, like for like up with the exception of a couple of meetings when we had to run on a Tuesday increasing. Our crowd integration is increasing, our profile growing (the fact we are even discussed on here says something about that), Sponsorship continues to grow - but as any club we always welcome more, we do lots of shows and the feedback is tremendous, we monitor feedback from the fans all the time and we are proud to share it. Why talk down something which is clearly working. The demographic of our fan base has totally changed in the 3 years we have been at the helm.. we have more families at the stadium now, we have lots of youngsters and our senior fans love it. They know that speedway is changing, and it has to become a show and every promoter should continually try to improve their show week on week. We have an SDL team and the majority of fans stay to watch both meetings when we cannot integrate them into the main event. Our speedway school consistently sells out and we need to do more of them both on the mainland and on the Island. Would we like another 1000 on the gate, you bet... but how do I make them come to our stadium to watch speedway or for more sponsors to get involved?? It's by positive word of mouth, by positive reflection of the events we put on, its by staging weekly speedway without fail, it's by providing fan interaction, a clean stadium, value, being welcomed, being seen, promoting, self belief, trust in your product, thinking outside the box, looking to tomorrow not just today, allowing people to be part of it... but most of all it's by providing a fun packed family night out that people are proud and pleased to invite their friends to as opposed to feel odd because they watch a sport called speedway which no one knows of. The choice of speedway's future isn't only down to promoters, the BSPA, the SCB or ACU... it's down to us all, and while I welcome lively debate and feedback is always welcome we must look at the bigger picture of "passive aggression" - it's a phrase I came across in my working life where the strength of talking something down or negatively destroying something good becomes to strong to change - so it never changes. Speedway is very close to this now. All I can honestly tell you is that we are so proud of what we deliver, we are not afraid to hear something which is not how it should be, we are mindful of the spiralling costs which comes from many different angles, we are mindful of our investment of money, time, our families, but most of all, we absolutely love our show, we believe totally in our product, our team, our approach, we want to develop riders but also have to put on a professional show. It is the only way clubs like us can attract sponsors, fans, tourists, riders and for our families to allow us to continue what we do. 3 referees this year have grabbed me after to say “that’s the best speedway meeting I have been to all year…..” in my view not because the racing is any different of course because of the energy of the night, the feel good factor, the positivity, the well….its a bloody great show, that’s why. I will apologise in advance for the typo's and spelling errors, if you come to the Island do come and say hello to me, I am always in yellow and blue. Finally, your club needs positive and constructive feedback…..saying its crap or not like it used to be – may get it off your chest but will not help deliver change or progress in my view. Keep it wound on and see you trackside and if you want to try speedway book in with My First Skid.

Hi, Sorry I didnt respond soon... had a weekend off of speedway and just went to Peterborough twice and had dinner with Ged on the Saturday - much to my Lisa's pleasure Please do introduce yourself to me on Thursday - and do try and arrive early.... we have the pits open from 5.45, mascots on the track from 6.15.... with it being Cobra's meeting there will be I am sure lots of surprises too. I am always in Yellow and Blue... so say hi. All the best Barry

Hi all, our greatest challenge is our location sadly, and we too understand what its like to travel as we do it week in week out, throw in to the mix speedway schools, shows, and my normal job things are pretty stressful and time is always tight. Now, I am the first to admit we have not performed on the track... few of you will know what it is like in the build up to a meeting do the best you can for your club, fans, sponsors and rider and then get totally hammered.... it sucks, it hurts, it make me personally want to drive for miles and miles.... but then we get emails thanking us for a great night out, how much the kids love coming to the island, how much the first "education destination" group loved their visit and then there is our school.... all of which helps.... we dont have a magic wand, we are not millionaires prepared to bankroll the club - it must pay for itself. We cannot offer points money I hear of, engines, frame kits, - all of our riders tyres come from sponsorship (mainly My First Skid) as does the fuel. Going back to the point.... the island isnt an attactive trip every week.... once or twice a season I imagine its great and riders love it, but weekly its not so easy. The riders who come here must be prepared to go that extra little bit and in return they have 20 plus meetings at home. In all honesty I am not sure what the answer is, I hope our form returns (although we know we struggle as reserve and I have some, I think, interesting ideas for this for the next AGM) and our riders start to do justice for all the effort that everyone, including themselves, put in to the club. Many thanks Barry

I can assure you, I monitor all our crowd levels, and compared with theprevious 2 seasons, like on like for this time of the year, they are up

by the way... thanks for the travelling fans from Coventry, it was great to see you all.

I am doing a training school for My First Skid at Leicester on the 19th but I may have to travel away on business on the Sunday...hopefully not

Hi Everyone Thanks for all the very interesting views on this thread. As you know we are in a unique place which pretty much prevents us from being an attractive offer to the next 15 year old starlet unless we can find them ourselves. This is indeed one of the primary reasons for developing My First Skid, entering the Wizards into the SDL because we know we have to find our own and even when we do, we equally know we have to fend off the other clubs. However, we almost managed to get a starlet this year, even had a place for him at the local school that sponsors the club... but brighter lights pulled him away. But we do now have some prospects coming through, at all ages so now the work begins to develop them. Our other weakness is loyalty to or riders... we know that....... but its because Martin and I have a vision of speedway and we have really tried to stick to that. Jamie was probably the hardest (and possibly the best) decision we made. Jamie is family to us, but this year we had too many tough meetings perhaps too quickly and something had to change and Jamie was the person. But of course Jamie stays with the club, he will Captain the Wizards, be our number 8 and we want him back in the team - he is good enough once we iron out his one or two weaknesses we have discussed with him. He is working on them, with our support and this is why the decision was right. I am as disappointed with the results as the next person.... it hurts me, well it hurts us all. Few of you will really know what goes on in the build up to a speedway meeting, the preparation, the marketing, the track work, purchasing, printing, administration, coordination and so on.... it's no small task in fact its an enormous task and then when your side comes and you feel that hey...something isnt right, I cannot see the effort from them that I have given myself... why not...and then we lose.... it is a pain that rips everything out of you. We should have beaten both Plymouth and Eastbourne, but we didn't. The middle order have to step up and start delivering for us to achieve our goals and believe me we are never complacent, we perhaps care too much for our riders, but we never want to lose. All I want is a club that breaks even, provides great family fun, top racing and Martin, our staff and I are treated with respect for our efforts to make our club and both teams the best they can be. Right.... I am off to work out how we are going to stuff Coventry Always look forward and not back. See you trackside.

Success for me is a sustainable business where we participate to the best of our ability with three objectives - to win, to be solvent (and therefore continue) and most importantly entertain. Success is when people shake my hand and thank me for a great night, win, lose or draw... success is watching our kids from the school progress, success is building a team of volunteers with a common objective, success is knowing that I could not do another thing to make it better... (when I say I, I mean Martin and I). What success isnt is going bankrupt to win, buying victory, or not entertaining, in my view.

Email me speedwayontheisland@yahoo.co.uk - will be easier for me to put you in touch. Welcome to the club

Warriors Aim To Make It An Opening Double After last week’s action packed win over the Belle Vue Colts, Warrior fans will be hoping for more of the same as the home side take on Plymouth Devils at The Andrew Younie Smallbrook Stadium this Thursday evening. A superb all-round team effort from both riders and their pit crews was the ideal way to get the new speedway campaign up and running so now it is time for the Warriors to launch their assault on the National Trophy against a Devils side that features former Island skipper James Cockle following his move west. Wise-cracking Cockle will undoubtedly be out to rack up a big score against his former employers and will rely on strong support from big hitting Adam Roynon and rapidly improving teenager Henry Atkins. Whilst Cockle could turn out to be a thorn in the home team’s side, the Warriors will be making plans of their own to deal with the Devonians who won all three visits to the Island last season. Both sides have made personnel changes over the winter months and on paper look evenly matched so the chances of a close encounter of the speedway kind should make for another gripping night of fun and track excitement. Co-promoter Barry Bishop (pictured), proud as a peacock after the Belle Vue win, said, “Last week’s fantastic family meeting had everything, passion, great action, lots of fun and a brilliant win over last season’s league champions. If this week’s meeting is half as entertaining our fans will once again leave very satisfied. Be sure, we want a win to set us off on the best possible start in the National Trophy. I cannot wait”. The riders on duty are expected to be: Warriors (from): Scott Campos, Ben Hopwood, Ben Morley, Adam Portwood, Jamie Sealey, Danno Verge and Chris Widman. Devils (from): Bradley Andrews, Richard Andrews, Henry Atkins, James Cockle, Macauley Leek, Adam Roynon and Ryan Terry-Daley. Speedway supporters around the world will have been saddened at the weekend to hear of the death of Ivan Mauger, a six time world champion in the 60’s and 70’s, at the age of 78. Immediately before Thursday’s meeting, there will be a short tribute to one of the very greatest speedway riders of all time. As usual, the turnstiles will open at 5.30 p.m. and the pits will be open for viewing from 5.45 p.m. to 6.15 p.m. The Warrior mascots will then take to the track for some demonstration laps followed by the grand parade of riders at 6.45 p.m. with tapes up on the first race at 7.00 p.m. sharp. The ever-popular kid’s on-track cycle/running race will also feature during the speedway interval.

If you can get to Portsmouth on the scooter or by public transport then our paramedic said he will bring you there and back on the ferry

I am also interested to know - what is cost prohibitive and if we can help in some way to get you to the stadium. I think our paramedic or one of our team for example,may travel from your area. All the best

Hi, I read you comments with interest as I do with as much as I can on here to gather feedback or to look at how we can improve our night of family fun. However, one sentence in your post set my alarm bell ringing.... "come October the fans feel that they have had their monies worth." Now, from my point of view not one fans has ever said to me "Barry, change the team line up - we have to win" or "Barry, I dont feel like I am entertained..." in fact, reality was quite the opposite. Fans we saying to me (because I do try and say goodbye and hello to as many as I can) thanks for another great night of racing we will win next week or "loved the racing, we were unlucky tonight"..... you see winning is great, but its not everything. Feeling entertained vice disappointed because your team lost are too different things... I was gutted (and always will be) everytime our team loses because I want to win... but more important to me is that everyone has a great time, are entertained, feel valued, love the Warrior Way, know that Martin and I along with all our volunteers do the very best for our club. So, I dont agree that come October fans will feel any more value for their ££ as they did last season. We put on a great family show from start to finish and this is the future of speedway. I hope that comes across how I meant it to be and if anyone doesnt feel they have value, write to me speedwayontheisland@yahoo.co.uk and tell me why.

Hi, Can you please tell me what award I have just won?? It's news to me Many thanks, Barry

Thanks for the nice words, we try to always look at the positives of the sport, our club and put our best foot forward so to speak. We also value the effort everyone makes to come to speedway or be part of it... we know what it is like to travel because we do it every week too. However, we really do love the action in the National League and to be now able to tie up the shool with entry in to the Southern Development League we really can say the we have a develop step for anyone who wants to be a speedway rider. Your question was could we come up a league.... this is of course something we would consider but it isn't really on the radar for now. For now, we have to grow the club, ensure its longterm existance by breaking even (at the very least) every year. If you ask me where I want the club to be, then I hope my response is the same as any promoters...we want a viable club that provides great entertainment and a fun filled family night out. If that is in the NL or another one, the objective has to be the same. I also truly believe we can be the Manchester United of speedway.... if that makes sense.. to have an internationally marketed clubs with followers everywhere... thats the target. All the best Barry