old bob at herne bay

Thanks. Good to hear they are still alive and racing despite being threatened with loss of track licence.. Sadly not much "track time" for the youngsters in the NL ? One home meeting in 5 weeks.

"Serious question…….. how do you prepare gates so they are equal? It isn’t good the way things go at the moment so something needs to be done. Are equal gates achievable? Is it something that can be done in a short period of time ie on the day of the GP? Or is it a beginning of the season type of thing?" Easy .... you tarmac the starting grid . Brush it clean of shale every race and you have 4 even starting grids. Or you use concrete as was used in the 50's.

Are Kent Speedway still in business? Have they lost their track licence? Last home meeting I have found was on 17th May 3 weeks ago. All gone awfully quiet.

Funny lot the “promoters” in the PL. Seems they only want clubs to join when it suits them…… for as long as I can remember they have been riddled with self interest, and been pretty hostile to newly “promoted” clubs. I remember Wimbledon under the Lanning family wanting to run 1st div. at Plough Lane being refused, Hackney Kestrels moving up:and being shafted with only the late Simon Wigg being allocated to strengthen the team. Oxford being refused a PL place … Nope the PL “promoters” are like a secret society running a closed shop ……. Think it’s time for the PL clubs to eat humble pie and apply to join the Championship in 2024 .

Phew- down in Dorset on holiday and thought about going to speedway for the first time in maybe 4 years. Lucky escape . No doubt some wag will tell me the scoreline didn’t reflect the closeness of the racing .

Wembley Lion, Don't waste your time/bandwidth writing to Jim Lawrence. Have done in the past and not even received an acknowledgement of my email. I think all speedway fans will view the SCB/BSPL decision to suspend/ fine one of its own members with the contempt it deserves. The hogwash spouted about "insurance" seems a thinly veiled excuse to try and prevent more clubs migrating to the NORA speedway organisation. Brings back memories of1964/1965 and the Shawcross Report Key dates are in he attached file. 1965timeline.pdf

Just read this weeks SS . Delete Kent from next years National League. They may become a NORA club alongside IoW . ?? Maybe Mildenhall will join them too ?

Really don't see much future for British Speedway beyond 2 more years tbh. Losing stadia is not going away - and definite lack of interest in defunct tracks on restarting speedway. Looking at the prospects for even next season 2024 Premiership Shot to pieces withe loss of Peterborough and Wolverhampton racing venues. Down to 5 clubs in 2024. Possibly unviable with 5 clubs ?? racing each other 3 times a season home and away will give 12 home meetings. Playoffs between top two ? Difficulty seeing other CL sides moving up withe current entrenchment of double up riders in PL and CL , plus the fixed race nights making Wednesday a non race night in the PL. Championship The availability of their stadia must raise doubts about Birmingham, Edinburgh and even Poole. Poss Workington joining CL in 2024? Down to 8 clubs in 2024 - assuming Poole will line up. National League Mildenhall have annual issues over running as a standalone club. Edinburgh stadium issue. Newcomers Workington have hopes of a Championship slot. in 2024. Rider availability seems to be a growing issue.

Belated birthday greetings Ove ..... you provided me some great entertainment over the years - always a pleasure to see the visits of the Norwich Stars to the London Tracks. You certainly mastered "The Frying Pan" on your first visit ;-)

Looking at he current position of the competing clubs in UK speedway, when do we think the final organised UK speedway meeting will take place ? Will it make it to 2028 the 100th anniversary ? My guess is that we will see the last league meeting in 2026.

Nothing surprises me anymore when I read stories like this about the UK sport. Oh what a shambles it is. Infighting, selfishness, self interest , lack of vision. Memories of the days of the Provincial League in the 1960's when they tried to outlaw riders who rode in the Provincial League. Took a government enquiry to join them all up in one big league and told them to get on with it. Something radical like that is needed now - personally I don't see it happening with the present bunch - people just aren't interested anymore (including me). Still with so few landlords interested nowadays in hosting speedway in their stadiums it wont be long before the whole sorry sport in the UK comes tumbling down.

Mmm IainB you might say it again and again, but the fixed race night deal in the PL was done with a view on the top riders being able to compete in Sweden ( Tuesday ) and Poland (Sunday) and Denmark(Wednesday and of course avoiding Gp practice and the GP ( Friday and Saturday) so pl was given Monday and Thursday - and the CL got the rest - with I agreed double uppers and double downers able to ride in both leagues. Rye went bust having to give up Saturday. Poole ran a mile to the cl to keep Wednesdays and Lakeside disappeared trying to run in the top league with mixed Weds and Fridays to keep Gp sooper star in their side. it failed because Poland limited the number of leagues riders were allowed to compete in !

There is no doubt in my mind that both Arena Essex and Rye House were ruined by forcing them to race on non profitable race nights. Conveniently forgotten that 2 clubs were shafted by the “ fixed race nights” deal that has worked so well preventing riders leaving Uk speedway and missing the Uk meetings ??? This is why Poole changed to the CL - so they could retain Wednesday night racing which works for Poole. If I could criticise Douglas and Cook , it was their insistence on racing in the PL ( or whatever it was called then) that drove them down the dead end of racing on a Friday with a GP sooperstar in their side - who was never able to race every Friday. I remember having to miss many meetings that season as I could not make Wednesday meetings. The beginning of the end for me as a Lakeside supporter. The later spat with Godfrey and the minnows from scum*horpe - well they should have told Godfrey to get a team of 7 and not rely on gusts. Still that was a long time ago….. my interest is now confined to reading the SS and chuckling at the same old same old tripe being rolled out by the Godfrey , Chapman and now Morris brigade and the slow decay of Uk league speedway. Staggering, but not entirely surprised that Lakeside “Stadium” is still there , but it was never the most palatial of stadia, aside from the first bend building, funded if I remember by supporter subscription ?

Its terribly sad at Peterborough. I have been there with closing clubs got the T shirt several times over. I won't bore everyone withe clubs that I have supported and seen close over the years, suffice to say there isnt ONE club in the Greater London area anymore (even inside the M25 ) Back in the day there was one every night. (sunday needed a visit to 3rd division Eastbourne or Rye House training track .) As each one closed I never easily transferred my support to another club, but after a while went along to the nearest one support the away team. Never going to see any investment into Peterborough for what will be their final season. Why would you ? Dont give me the line that the Council HAVE to provide a site for the Panthers.........even if they did who would stump up north of 1/4 million to build a new track and a stadium ???? Dragons Den would all be "OUT"

Who's the promotion team behind this bold venture ? Hard to believe it hs anything to do withe IoW team who are very good at publicising their events on IoW. No sign of any promotional stuff around these parts. Contrast with the Grass track meetings at Swingfield when we have roadside placards springing up everywhere advertising the event. Speedway Star have obviously been gagged (no such thing as a free press) on pain of not admitting their photographers to " BSPA events"

That must have cost Middlo a fair few bob for that last heat 5-1 Good fror business as a fair few poole fans will now travel to Redka to see the 2nd leg.

So few teams and yet so many gusts ....... all a bit of a lottery ......... still next season will be fine as remaining clubs can all race on a Thursday which will be THE protected race night for the premiership 4 (or 5) Racing each other home and away three times each , every club racing fortnightly should be fine.

You really need a full team to have any chance at Wimborne Road. Poole once again have struck lucky and face a weakened side..... Home win tonight and by a decent margin . Redcar will do well to win the second leg by a small margin , especially if Riss is still out.

At £5 per point and 5p per mile travel money not sure many will take the gust booking at number 7.

Sub strength even:-(

Sun strength teams

One meeting where CEO Morris needs to be there and keep an eye on the team line ups both purporting to be “Premiership” yet fielding Simon strength teams. Fines ought to be an option if teams are not made up to near the required points limits , Might incentivise the use of decent gusts.

I will add that one ot the book of dodgy call off excuses. For **** sake how long does it take to fix the pit gate ?? In an agricultural area you would think that there are a few agricultural engineers who could manage to fix a pit gate ???? As for the stock car fence..... don't see why that has anything to do with speedway racing ...... Nah, they didn't fancy it at KL and got in a quick call off.......... and they wonder why the crowds are walking away ........ it's pitiful.

Old Vic must live in *hitehart lane. :-)

Aha a man who knows the Hunters . Really think that call offs earlier than 24hours before tapes up should be stopped. Getting far too convenient now - especially amongst teams with missing riders. "H gould" has the answer one big finale and lets call the rest of the season off.