brianbuck

Speedway has reached the stage where is wouldn't be possible to ditch every sub-standard foreign rider in one fell swoop.To do this would only create a vacuum which at present couldn't be filled and have the inevitable result of teams of very lopsided strengths - but we could say "no more from now on" - and stick rigidly to it. We could revert to the old system whereby EVERY foreign rider was automatically given an eight or nine point average and kept it. That way promoters would soon latch on to the fact that bringing over unknown foreigners who might or might not eventually make the grade, would be an expensively pointless exercise.

There isn't a shortage of riders like some people seem to think. These nonsensical "double-up" rules have created an artificial shortage and there has been absolutely no benefit accrued from these rules. All they have done is deprived 20-plus riders of a place in Elite League teams, at least as many again of Premier League places and forced just as many either into an unwanted retirement or to keep riding in the National League when they have been ready to move up. One-man-one-team is the rule in other sports so why should speedway be any different? We need to get some sanity back into this sport if we are to find a platform for it to begin to expand again, and allowing riders to ride for two and three different teams certainly doesn't do anything for its image.

Stock Cars have been tried at Monmore in the past and have not been very successful. The track is really too small and not wide enough to cope with the cars and Ladbrokes must surely be aware of the mess and damage which would occur to what is a very neat and tidy stadium and centre green. Stock Cars ruined the potential of Bordesley Green, and although some tracks such as Coventry seem able to live alongside them, they don't generally mix well with speedway and in any case are best on tarmac surfaces which don't cut up and need little or no maintenance. I certainly hope that Ladbrokes don't get carried away by pound signs and bring them into Monmore. That would be a disaster. Fortunately, the planning consent at Birmingham specifically excludes any other motor sport apart from speedway and even though I realise that these conditions can be overturned, I doubt very much that the City Council would be agreeable to changing this one unless speedway did finish at Perry Barr, which is a consolation.

Whilst I wish the Heathens every success in their efforts to keep their club afloat, there are serious restrictions on the use of Perry Barr for speedway which would make a full time track share (as opposed to the staging of a few Cradley meetings like they did in the first season of the "new" Heathens era) very difficult. Planning conditions allow speedway on one evening per week (either Wednesday or Thursday) or in certain circumstances either a Monday or a Tuesday conditional on there being no meeting on the Wednesday or Thursday of the same week, plus Good Friday (when a local bye law does not allow on-course betting so the stadium cannot stage a dog meeting) and the four Bank Holiday Sundays (again when there is no other meeting in the same week.) The City Council have varied the Sunday condition to allow a rained-off Bank Holiday Sunday meeting to be re-staged on a non-Bank Holiday Sunday, subject to a maximum of five Sunday meetings. All meetings are limited to a maximum of 21 races so double-headers are not possible. The short term answer for Cradley I think, is to try and utilise the Monday nights when Wolverhampton have no meeting, and the Wednesday nights when Birmingham don't. Overall, there may be sufficient free dates to accomodate Cradley's fixtures but of course, allowance has to be made at both venues for rain-off's. This would probably force Cradley to stay in the National League which they have now outgrown, but hopefully this would only be a temporary arrangement and something more permanent could be worked out for the future. Good luck Heathens - you do not deserve this kick in the teeth.

I don't think it would be particularly expensive to buy four of these mats,and I think they would probably last for at least a season before they needed replacing. Those stored at the site I refer to have been used for several years and there is virtually no wear on any of them. The only maintenance they require is the occasional blast with a hosepipe to clear the mud that sticks in the ribbing.

This problem will never be solved unless someone somewhere can come up with some kind of starting area "mat" which can be safely laid on top of the shale along the full length and depth of what used to be known as the starting grid. This needs to be of a material which is heavy enough not to move under the pressure of a sudden rear wheel surge, won't be a serious hazard if a rider falls on it, and will afford a consistent level of grip to the riders rear wheels. This would rule out anything made of concrete or metal. I have a static caravan at a site in mid-Wales and the site owner uses some lengths of a very heavy toughened rubber material to cover any trenches he has to dig for maintenance work. These are about 8/10 feet in length and about 4 feet wide and have deep ribbing over their full lengths, and I feel that they could be just the job for use in the way I have described. They are heavy enough not to move and although anyone falling onto one during a race would find it pretty painful, I don't think it would hurt them any more than falling on the shale would. I have mentioned all this to the site owner and he would be quite willing to bring four of them to one of the Midland tracks for them to be tested. All he asks in return is free admission on the night for himself and his family. Alan Phillips was interested in trying them out after one of the Birmingham meetings before the track closed, but although I have written to two of the other Midland tracks and sent them a photo of these mats, there has been no response some presumably they are not interested.

I wouldn't quarrel with the decision to abandon last night's meeting when they did. The conditions had become impossible after the rain started and were clearly going to get even worse. Understandably, Coventry would have been desperate to get the meeting on and the track would have been prepared in a way that it could cope with the expected heavy rain. I thought by by the time of the abandonment, Coventry had realised that the match was slipping away from them and my opinion for what it is worth, is that Poole would have extended their lead, perhaps substantially, had the three "lost" races been staged, so I do think that the call off decision rather favoured the Bees. Mr Havelock has little option now but to try and present an optimistic view of Coventry going to Poole and pulling back the deficit, and I imagine that most will share my opinion that Poole have one hand very firmly on the Trophy now.

I've added my signature to this petition and wish Coventry supporters every success in your fight to save Brandon. I urge speedway fans everywhere to fully support this initiative - what is happening at Brandon can happen anywhere - YOUR track could be next.

I hope this group will get the full support of all speedway enthusiasts. Brandon is an institution in speedway and needs all our efforts to keep it up and running. If we can't shame the owners into scrapping these plans then we need to convince Coventry/Rugby Council to insist that an alternative venue be up and running before Brandon is handed over to the property vultures.

Personally, I think the Star is still good value and look forward to receiving it every week. Obviously there are not the resourses available to engage ulta professional journalists so the magazine has to rely on receiving information from scribes based near to their local tracks and these aren't always 100% impartial, but generally speaking, the content is quite fairly balanced. The Star can't be expected to be like a daily newspaper, not caring about who it upsets or offends as it will have a certain amount of reliance on the goodwill of the promoters whose businesses it could affect, but overall, I think some of the criticism on this thread has been unfair and unwarranted.

Bordesley Green had plenty of critics but even so,could still have become successful there in time had it not been for a number of factors not really connected with speedway that dragged it down. The venue was in the wrong part of the City and very difficult to get to especially for supporters without their own transport, and the site was in the very early days of its construction and looked just like what it used to be - the corporation tip! These days, there is a new entrance in Bordesley Green Road only yards from Adderley Park Railway Station and with a cluster of buses passing right by it. (I remember a group of Berwick supporters coming there one night and missing 40 minutes of the racing because they could hear the crowd and the bikes and could even hear the starting gate going up, but couldn't find the entrance!) The biggest and most insurmountable problem was the stock cars which used the track every day and wrecked it. Today, the track is tarmaced so isn't suitable for speedway, but the rest of the site has been extensively landscaped and looks much more presentable. Bordesley Green is still a very run down district where it doesn't feel safe to be wandering around alone late at night, but the place did have potential and with the right kind of management (which it didn't have in the early days) it still could have.

There was another match between these two teams at Bordesley Green in 1984. As I recall, Birmingham won 40-38 with Hans Nielsen winning the last heat to complete a 15 point maximum.

In hindsight, Birmingham should have selected a stronger team. Several of the tail enders were a bit out of their depth on a track made difficult by heavy rain from the night before and earlier in the day. Adam Roynon didn't look comfortable apart from in the one race he won, and Ben Wilson who with his experience should have been more than a match for the better Cradley riders, looked slow and didn't have much go in him. Still, no complaints the better team won and won well, and it was great to see all the yellow and red in the crowd and to have a team to follow even if it was an unfamiliar one and only for the night. Well done Heathens - let's race you in real competition next season eh?

Cradley have slaughtered all comers this season especially on their own track where their average score must have been 60 plus, so with the supreme confidence that their riders all have when riding at Monmore, it will be extremely difficult to beat them, but this is a match where the result isn't especially important - it's an opportunity for both sets of supporters to show clearly what they want for next season - and that's Premier League membership for both clubs! There's been some very heavy rain locally that this has probably put a question mark over whether the match will go on, but the weather looks brighter early afternoon, so fingers crossed for a dry night, and great get together of two sets of very loyal fans, and a truly great night of racing. What more could anyone want?

Nothing definite can be announced just yet. Tony Mole is by nature, a very cautious man so unsurprisingly, he is not going to say that the new venture is up and running until it IS upand running. A great deal of background work has been done to date and I remain very hopeful of a successful conclusion in due course.

I can confirm that the central part of the grandstand is a listed building. The stand has been extended twice since the stadium was recovered from the derelict state it was left in by the original owners Birchfield Harriers, and on both occasions this had to be by building the extensions around the original structure. If you walk round to the rear of the stand, the listed part can easily be made out. It is in the very centre of the structure and the leaping deer emblem of Birchfield Harriers and their motto "fleet and free" is clearly visible. I have known Tony Mole for well over 25 years and know that he prefers to keep his cards very close to his chest until such time as his plans are signed and sealed, but the fact that the meeting he has called for this coming Wednesday is taking place at the stadium is an indication that he has made progress since the GRA have been refusing access to anyone connected with the speedway since the previous promotion went under.

One of the best things to come out of this sorry business has been the genuine concerns and good wishes we have received from the supporters of other clubs which believe me, is very much appreciated and will not be forgotten.

I would support the return of this format or one like it that gives teams three pairings and only one reserve, and I would also restrict the number of rides that the reserve take to no more than four (the same number as the top 6). The current system of allowing one rider to take 7 rides in a 15 heat match is a nonsense and allows one rider to have an often unfair impact on the outcome of meetings. I would also scrap the nominated riders heat which encourages clubs to put together top-heavy teams and effectively gives such team a "free" 5-1. An essential requirement in speedway is to have teams that are equally balanced so that meetings are competitive. The loopholes in the points system are too often exploited and prevent this from being reality so I believe that an alternative grading system should be implemented. The principle of the points limit is good, but in practice, it has been shown to be flawed.

Like most supporters, I'm really sorry to see Eastbourne in this not unfamiliar situation,but I just don't see the suggested 8 home match season being workable. I know this might suit the so-called International stars, but it would financially cripple the lesser riders,and in my opinion, there is already too much pandering to the top riders, most of whom I suspect would expect to be paid the same for taking part in 7 meetings as they would for a full season. Such a scheme would be just an excuse for picking and choosing the meetings they ride in, and would serve only as an encouragement to other riders to try and get away with doing the same. Perhaps Eastbourne could consider running in the National League in which there are fewer teams and in which the week-end programme is far less disrupted by what goes on in the continent. Many of their supporters would see this as a retrograde step and attendances would inevitably fall, but with the reduced costs and by continuing the development of new riders for which the club has for long been famous, the management would be able to work gradually for a return to a higher division in the fullness of time? Come what may though, it would be sad to see Eastbourne founder and I wish the club and their fans, well for the future.

Following closely on from the good news about Belle Vue, this is a welcome filip indeed, and although there is clearly still much work to be done, we can be very hopeful now of a successful conclusion to what has been a shabby affair. Like the previous poster, I have absolute faith in Tony Mole's expertise and judgement and cannot than him enough for ll he has done for both Birmingham and other speedway clubs in which he has been involved over the years. Unfortunately, I'm one of those supporters who doesn't have a pot of gold to invest but if there are other ways I can be useful, I'll be only too glad to do so. Oh how good it will be to have our beloved Brummies back!

The best starting method can be seen at Cycle Speedway meetings where the races are started not by the referee but by a starter who has to be positioned in a place where he cannot see the riders and the riders cannot see him. The referee puts the riders under starters orders (the equivilant of switching on the green light in motor speedway) and the starter has to release the tapes within 2 to 5 seconds, varying the time for each race. The riders are given a minute to get to the start line and have to have their front wheels positioned on a line drawn across the back of the starting grid and are excluded with no reserve replacement if they don't. This allows the referee to concentrate exclusively on watching for movement at the start and whilst I would be the first to agree that cycle speedway has very many problems with its rules, bad starting isn't one of them. Personally,I'm pretty well convinced that on the many occasions that a rider jumps the start and there are howls from supporters and television commentators) that he "anticipated" the start and should be allowed to get away with it, it is nothing of the kind. I think referees often release the tapes when they see a rider begin to move, with every intention of putting on the red lights so that they don't have the hassle of the tapes being broken and of having to exclude an offender. Bad starting is a curse on speedway, and needs to be urgently eliminated.

Not an exclusion but bizzarre all the same. This happened at Cradley Heath in the very early 1960's when after an especially ragged start had resulted in all four riders demolishing the tapes. There was then a lengthy delay with no music being played before at length the announcer told the bemused crowd: "There will be no exclusion because the referee wasn't watching at the time the tapes were broken.!!!"

I see that the hardy annual of a "squad" system has had another airing in this week's Speedway Star. I would personally be strongly opposed to such a system on the grounds that it would almost certainly be abused and exploited by those clubs in a position to do this, and because I don't see why British Speedway has to keep pandering to part-time foreign riders at the expense of those who are willing to fulfill all of their commitments. A possible alternative would be to establish a "squad" of the riders who are prepared to ride in occasional British fixtures and allow clubs to call on them in the event of an injury to one of their top two riders. I'd emphasise that this should be a replacement pool for injured riders ONLY - not for those who prefer to ride in Continental meetings or are too tired or too ill to leave their own countries! At least this system would be using the part-timers for British clubs' convenience rather that these riders using us for their convenience.

The planning report looks to be very comprehensive and covers just about every objective so I don't see any reason to suppose that the application will not be approved. Actually, the report is quite similar to that produced by Birmingham's planning officer in 2005 although that for Birmingham was more negative and it was clear that the planning officer himself was not supportive of it, and on this and subsequent occasions when it was revised and resubmitted, he always recommended refusal. I notice though, in Belle Vue's case, there is no recommendation which I personally would take to indicate that it is expected to be approved. The number of objectors seems to be very small (although there were only a small number in Birmingham's case too - 17 including the University across the road). In Birmingham's case too, this was an application to stage speedway at a venue where there had been no racing for 24 years, so it seems to indicate that the people living locally to the current Belle Vue stadium are not unhappy about racing continuing at the new site. As far as the five objectors are concerned, my advice to Belle Vue supporters is to resist the temptation to try to ridicule their objections and concentrate on on trying to build some bridges even though these people are unlikely to change their views. Belle Vue supporters have waited a very long time for this, and I send my very best wishes for a successful outcome.

Really good news this - I hope it comes to fruition.