Hawk127

More interest in repeats of Neighbours as opposed to a league meeting from the upper echelons of the speedway in the UK and to put it on an entertainment channel where on fools believe in the outcome of a competition with so many flaws is tantamount to deception. Those who take part believe that they are doing the punter a favour yet ask the terrace personnel and they may say otherwise. The feel good factor does not cross the broader spectrum of entertainment and each promoter or owner fails to understand this and the chances of reaching the appeal of the likes of WWE are a pipe dream with the current custodians running the sport into the ground. It is never going to happen. At best it is a ‘has been’ sport and no one seemingly wants to know how to get it up the chain of notable events. You can but despair.

Unfortunately those that run the sport and the club owners have no respect for the punters and call off matches to suit each one’s financial agenda and the availability of riders who may or may not want to ride on a particular evening because it interferes with one’s personal life. In years gone by with regular weekly meetings it would take a monsoon to call off a meeting yet today if a cat pissed on one corner of a track it would be abandoned. Speedway is not a credible sport in the UK and those in charge wonder why the numbers through the turnstiles are falling. Each one of you ask yourself this, would waste your hard earned money (does not apply to the gifted tax payer money to migrants or asylum scroungers and the hard done by illegal visitors to this country ) on the probability that a meeting may be on. When you have a number of factors that weight heavily against the chances of it going ahead, why would any one waste time effort annd hard earned money to venture out to any track that simply could not care less about the punters. On many occasions I have driven up the A12 in rain at around 18.30 to Ipswich and phoned through and on some occasions the meeting has been on and others because of the down pour it was called off and that was justified Today no one gives a fig and that is because the sport in the U K is no longer a serious contender for spectators and those in charge have brought this on themselves. Top league racing in the UK is a joke. One piece of advice to those in charge, take a look at Poland and work out where you U K promoters got it wrong

Back in the day riders turned up with bikes strapped to the boot of the car and poor Terry Stone regularly turned up at Rayleigh with dirty bikes seemingly having some sentimental value for the dirt of Bradford, Canterbury, Eastbourne etc. Eventually he took on board the point and eventually turned out for each meeting with spotless bikes, you could eat your dinner off the mudguards. Those were the days because as you said they rode in addition to the main job and it could earn them good additional money. For anyone old enough, after a meeting at Rayleigh the riders all met up at the Blinking Owl Cafe on the A127 and many a supporter joined them. It was a better time for the image of the sport and while the racing may not be as fast and furious as today, it was competitive and young riders were given chances that only today’s youngsters can dream about. Some made it others battled through but you got to see an aspiring young newcomer take on a heat leader and my abiding memory is Rayleigh versus Boston and Ivan Miller a grass track rider beating Arthur Price a heat leader for Boston. Compared to today’s homogenised offering the sport in those days offered opportunity and a chance for success on a level playing field with bikes that were basically the same and anyone old enough will remember riders winning a race on the ‘track spare’. It just would not happen today and more is the pity.

That meeting was out of the top draw and what an away win with Lebedev entertaining as usual. Great afternoon and early evening racing. Thanks to those providing the links.

That meeting was out of the top draw and what an away win with Lebedev entertaining as usual. Great afternoon and early evening racing. Thanks to those providing the links.

Yep so far off the scale but we do have some good riders who in the rights hands will make it. The problems are that we have no one with the real experience to coach them. They need discipline, training and hard graft but no one is setting down the minimum standards to achieve success and you have a few riders whose egos do match the skills and have not done the ground work to see them become competitive. Flashy vans and expensive kit does not make a decent rider.

Yes they certainly have some racers who have the desire to succeed but the rest are really so far behind it is painful to watch. Thankfully we can watch meetings from Poland and see those European riders who want go the extra mile. GB speedway is the dinosaur of European racing. Get rid of those in charge and start thinking outside the box but it won’t happen because to most in charge it is a hobby not a business or a competitive sport it simply satisfies the egos of the club owners.

Yes they certainly have some racers who have the desire to succeed but the rest are really so far behind it is painful to watch. Thankfully we can watch meetings from Poland and see those European riders who want go the extra mile. GB speedway is the dinosaur of European racing. Get rid of those in charge and start thinking outside the box but it won’t happen because to most in charge it is a hobby not a business or a competitive sport it simply satisfies the egos of the club owners.

The GB side really need to have some serious training installed into them and some competitive racing attitude rather than being also rans. The Polish riders seemingly are chasing every point, are disciplined and have a commitment which simply does not exist within the GB camp. Just watch Polish speedway at every level and the commitment at every level chasing points and the appetite to succeed versus the let’s turn up and ride attitude that is predominate in the UK. Time not only for an independent body to run UK speedway but time for someone to get a grip on the entire structure and introduce changes at multiple levels so that the next generation of riders can shine.

Vatcher has and always will be a waste of space. Sour faced representative of Arena Essex he has simply enhanced his reputation as a pip squeak who should step aside as he adds nothing to the sport at any level. Compare him to promoters of years gone by and his contributions are like pissing in the wind.

Yep it is painful but at least they get to practice on a foreign track. Blame the UK domestic race scene for the lack of skill sets. Those in charge hardly encourage the next generation of riders, those who watch the sport rarely stick around and do nothing to encourage riders honing their skills and overall this must have an impact on the youngsters who clearly do have the skills but the system deprives them of track time and proper compete racing. The days of encouraging riders with meaningful second half meets and guaranteed rides have long gone because those who run clubs are looking through the wrong end of a telescope. Think about it.

GB really are not at the right level, Dan Thompson is clearly not 100%, Leon Flint seems competitive but we will just have to see how things pan out. It is a shame that the crowd is so poor. Why can this sort of meeting not be held in the UK. I am sure the influx of foreign riders would generate more interest than is seemingly the case in for example, this venue.

That was one great meeting and oh to have that sort of entertainment in the UK on a Friday night. Hackney fulfilled that role. Zmarzlik excelled as did most of the Lublin team. Cannot knock the racing, the crowd enthusiasm or the filming and I really do not understand why the graphics in the UK filmed racing falls so short of the Polish stream where you have the richness of colour and detail.

Don’t think they would get that. We can but hope.

That is probably why riders should be drawn at the start of each week to ride for whatever team that has matches that week. No longer any reason to consider any rider belongs to a particular team. They are all self employed journeymen and the authorities should stop pretending that it is a true team sport. No it is not the same as it use to be and it is a league with an overall squad system in place. They wonder why you cannot sell it to TV, but it needs wholesale change. This anniversary at Ipswich is a milestone but will not generate the same level of interest it would have done ten or more years back with local people in charge and custodians of a truly local team. The local team support with local people you can relate to has long gone. Good luck to the witches for tomorrow night and those providing the second half racing but sadly it is not the same Ipswich it once was.