old bob at herne bay

Who has ever seen a published figure for the "capacity" of any UK speedway stadium ??? (NOT the Rugby Stadium in Wales)

Too many "ifs and buts" . Long way to go to May 17th Just as well Arena Essex isn't still open. Seating capacity of 3 (Ref Timekeeper and Announcer)

Sad news indeed. RIP Varg "Olle" My parents first met Olle at a New Cross supporters club meeting at Fred Mockford's cafe at Eynsford Kent. One of the first Swedish riders to ride in England. A real fiery young Swedish rider. Lived life to the full and up until recently rode a huge touring motorcycle with his former Norwich team mate Ove Fundin all over Europe.

There's one team who have already signed up 7 stars..... whether they are falling, rising, shooting or wandering I'll leave that for others to debate. ;-)

Hostile response there H Gould ......and you can be as hostile as you like to me BUT until the Government allows spectators to attend sports then it WILL not happen. You may well have gone to Plymouth and non league soccer ..... but that was when spectators were allowed (albeit briefly) to attend. You raise supermarkets .... well the ones I have visited are marshalled to regulate numbers - one customer at a time, form an orderly queue to be let in. We agree on one point........that there is no reason once lockdown has been lifted and spectator sports allowed then speedway can start. My opinion is that minor spectator sports such as speedway will not be high on the priority list to be re opened. And yes, I have been vaccinated and will make MY choice when I see the crowd management measures put in place as to whether I want to resume watching speedway.

for any team to be able to line up as expected ...... fans will have to be allowed to enter and leave the track viewing areas in an organised manner - so crowd marshalls will be needed. Limits will have to be put on how many fans can congregate in their favourite areas (e.g. start line , first and second bends ) Tracks with grandstands will have to tape off seating to ensure spacing, tracks with grassy piles of mud will have to be somehow provide spacing between spectators. Access to snack bars will have to be marshalled. One COVID case and the entire sport will be closed down with racing behind closed doors only. Lets see if any spectator sports get the go ahead for fans to attend before May.

I saw the Ivor Brown Ove Fundin incident at Wimbledon. 6 of one half a dozen of the other in my opinion. Brown had a reputation as a "hard rider" in the Provincial League but unfortunately came up against an even harder rider in Fundin. My memory is that Brown on the outside gate tried to move across onto Fundin, expecting Ove to give way .... Ove was never going to shut off ... and hit Ivor hard who was catapulted into the safety fence. Sadly, it effectively ended Ivor's career. Back to the present day .... my vote has to be firmly with Mr N. Pedersen who quite honestly, is lucky to be still riding , given the number of riders he has managed to knock off. Bad tempered , hot headed, lacking judgement or just plain dirty ..... to Mr N. Pedersen its always the other guy's fault. My lasting memory of Mr N. Pedersen is when one evening at Eastbourne he rode into Adam Shields and sent him flying on the the 3rd bend at Arlington. Pedersen just looked on and nonchalantly rode back into the pits adjusting his gloves as though nothing had happened. Only problem ...... Adam Shields was his Eastbourne race partner. I am not/never will be an Eastbourne supporter, but how Mr N Pedersen continued riding for Eastbourne after that dreadful incident amazes me. So many of these dirty riders listed are not "dirty" at all , just bad tempered and usually lacking machine control. e.g. Sean Wilson, Andre Compton.

Guess Poole will be making "an offer he cannot refuse" to Jason Edwards after losing Josh McDonald ?

Swindon Fans might be advised to start a "save our speedway" group now to keep an eye on the planning processes of the local Town council and to se how quickly the "build new speedway track" disappears off the application. Many other groups can ghelp i am sure, Rye House , Oxford , Coventry to name but three. The success rate isn't good I have to say.

Got to admire the BSPA for coming up with yet another version of compelling teams to track a young junior rider.The intent is good....but don’t see any signs the “rising star” system has been thought through. It’s a 5 year system apparently .... how does that work? 2 3 and 4 star grading sounds like a recipe for endless dispute between rival promoters. What happens when your rising star rises to a heat leader does he stay at reserve.. or into the team ...where does he go at the end of the season ? If your rising star sadly fails or is injured ...can he be replaced with another rising star? Think everyone will be pisces’d off halfway through the season when ad hoc rules are invented to manage rising stars who are all over the solar system.

But on the positive side there are new youngsters coming into the sport....... Paul Hurry, Lewis Bridger.

Todd Kurtz

Go to Kent and see Scott Nicholls Paul Hurry and Ben Morley

Fans with long memories will remember the National League of the early 60's. It ran its final year with 7 teams in 1965, racing ina National League and an identical Britannia Shield format, so racing every team home and away twice. In 1966 the National and Provincial Leagues amalgamated and formed the British League. That saved British Speedway. Should have amalgamated the top two leagues years ago......would have been far more resilient to the whims of other speedway federations whims and ambitions. Sadly with our current crop of promoters it was never going to happen. Too many egos out there wanting to race in the "top tier"

The blunt instrument that is called the "points limit" doesn't necessarily reduce costs ..... the lower average riders who " fit the points limit" just ask for more money.

In the Kent Championship side to replace Rob Ledwith ? Not sure I can see a shortage of riders ..... more likely a shortage of teams .... with Swindon and Somerset not running so far in 2021. Still not sure what will beome of the National League in 2021 ??

I am a firm believer in "what goes around comes around. " It is Poland's time to rule the roost in the Speedway World at the moment. Let us hope when the "bubble bursts" , when the Polish supporters find other things to do with their leisure time, and their TV companies find another sport to put on their channels that the GB promoters are just as robust in imposing punitive conditions on the contracts of riders who decide that they suddenly want to return to ride in the UK. As a now independent Sovereign nation we ought to be developing our own riding talent ...... and imposing contract conditions to restrict their ability to suddenly sign up for EU nations and quit the tracks where they learnt how to race. No longer are we saddled with EU employment rules.

Firstly .....Surely the Planning Permission granted for the new development requires a greyhound/speedway stadium to be provided ? Anyone should be able to see a copy of the planning documents. Secondly... I do hope Jason Doyle was given advance warning of the risk of Swindon not racing in 2021, given his much publicised loyalty to remain with Swindon in 2021. If not, hope he was suitably compensated. Sadly another poor advert for resaons to be loyal to British Speedway : - ( Thirdly .... Swindon should have no problems finding Speedway eacing accessories shoudl the y need them in 2022. There must still be a rusting portakabin at Lakeside Speedway containing a set of flags, a start gate and a kit of parts for a safety fence. Rye Hosue may also have a selection of second hand parts.

With all the discussions about Oxford Coventry Rye House.......which still have the remains of stadia in place.. I was looking back and thinking how many defunct tracks have successfully been rescued ? The success rate is pretty low I think I can remember New Cross having a few attempts in the early 1960’s at reopening.... none of which lasted very long .....West Ham restarting in 1964.... and running for another 10 years...... but are there ANY more recent examples of tracks once closed being re opened ?

Question mark remains for me on Holders temperament. Good in a good side when everything is going well.... when the going gets tough, Holder tends to lose the plot. Lambert however seems to be made of sterner stuff.

Having read the Bournemouth Echo online, sadly I have to say this news has a sense of "deja vu" about it. In the case of Lakeside's venue their demise started with the Banger Racing Promotion pulling out. Despite all the promises from the Thurrock planning people about retaining a sports stadium ion thier Local Plan , it all came to nought and the site sold up for more housing. With UK government relaxing planning for the hysteria to build ever more houses I can only see this heading one way .........

The responses to this thread pretty much sum up the state of British Speedway today. We have one poster complaining about the spelling (or grammar) . Some think everything is rosy, others think urgent action needs to be taken. Many clearly just don’t give a tuppenny damn and don’t bother to post. This is replicated amongst our current set of promoters. They promote the sport, and until they cooperate fully, and put their personal ambitions to one side, I cannot see organised league speedway surviving in the UK.

Hackney Hawk, Like you I have endured experiences with rude and arrogant modern day "promoters" that made me wonder why I bother. Nil entertainment.... endless delays.... shabby stadium facilities and never even the decency of a reply to any letter sent. Some 3 seasons ago I gave up attending. My grandfather first watched speedway at Crystal Palace in the the early 1930's ... sadly I have ended the family tradition. Still take the Speedway Star and Classic Speedway magazine ... still watch speedway on TV , but you will never get me to visit another UK speedway track. I have great memories and prefer to keep them as great memories. Sadly from my personal band of speedway "diehard" supporter friends, many of them have passed away, and must be watching their speedway from afar.

With 90% of revenue throught the turnstiles and 80% of the clubs total income spent on riders wages, UK speedway was in a complete financial mess before COVID19. Like so many high street businesses this pandemic has just highlighted the problems. Ian Jordon hit the nail on the head when he said that 30 -40% of his crowd were uncertain that they would turn up this season. Not running league speedway must have been a cut your losses strategy.

Think you meant realistic Mr McCaffery .....let’s not kid ourselves that someone is going to invest money into Brandon Stadium to run speedway at a loss each and every week? Have you read this weeks Speedway Star page 2? Just about puts the tin lid on the Rockets . The new owner doesn’t want his new gym getting “all grimed up” from the bikes.