Hawk127

Whilst many advocate keeping today’s top riders gainfully employed in the UK at a cost that no club can afford without generous sponsorship, that is a questionable position hold in the overall scheme of things. All who dismiss the lesser known riders and those coming through the ranks at NDL level as not being worthy, please explain where tomorrow’s top star riders are going to come from. Doyle, Lambert, Bewley etc. will not go on forever so where are the stars of the future coming from in the UK. The sport in this country does not have the facilities that the likes of Poland have who are able to have a conveyor belt of talent. Something has to give as the sport means diddly squat to all but a few thousand punters, it does not make good live TV and from an investment aspect you have to be a raving lunatic to put money into a business model where the terms of running are dictated by people and factors over which you as the club owner rarely have control. The sport can survive and rebuild itself but it will never attract a mass audience in the UK to warrant big pay days for the top riders in the world so it needs to cut its cloth accordingly and all the banging on about the need to keep the top tier and top riders and TV deals are just topics that can be debated to death but the reality is that outside the loyal followers no one is interested or listening and while many ideas put forward on here have some merit it is it is not going to influence the way the sport is run now or in the future.

Agree and last year they had a flurry of announcements in early November with Tom Brennan being the final one on the 12th November. Not a peep from anyone involved in the top tier. It is not looking good. Perhaps having some Championship clubs announcing signings is a way to divide a conquer the one league idea and a shot across the bow of the Premiership. Who knows but one thing is for sure, those on the top table will let the punters know what is going on when they are good and ready and not before. The war of words between various supporters on here can continue unabated until such time something is revealed. One thing that is certain, whatever the outcome, you will see speedway at Foxhall in 2026. Chris and co would not walk away after all the hard work that has been put into the club and the loyal support from folk across East Anglia. A parting thought, should we read too much into the signings by the Danish sides with the likes of Doyle and Bewley pretty quick off the mark. Could it be a sign of a reduced number of rides in the UK?

Best not tell Starmer about his other job. How come Rachel from accounts has not found out about the gold mine that is known as speedway? Riders doubling up and earning twice as much as they declare, promoters taking cash at the turnstiles, overseas riders popping into the UK for some extra cash without paying tax and meetings taking place under the guise of an amateur sport. Need to get a grip and deal with all the tax avoidance going on. Alas a non dom status is but a pipe dream and then reality hits home. Then you realise the majority of clubs hide the true financial state and without an undisclosed cache of funds the sport would be dead in the water. Is speedway run by the Masons. Why else is it such a cloak and dagger arrangement with a failure to be open. Only joking but why do those in charge hide so much and keep the supporters in the dark

Is that the latest version of the Good the bad and the Ugly starring David Lammy ?

Don’t know but I am sure they have a few old farts running around.

Banger racing?

Far too expensive. They need to start nicking sachets from hotel rooms together with the sugars, tea bags and the occasional hot chocolate for those special and memorable decision days. They could also take the biscuits.😂

Don’t be silly they cannot afford coffee😄

It could if you stop the tail wagging the dog. Riders who want to double up can ride in the UK and elsewhere in Europe. If you had one league of five rider clubs with two home and two away meetings surely that would see riders pay broadly unchanged. That may also ensure that the youngsters come up through the ranks getting second half rides. Where do today’s supporters think riders came from in yesteryears. They came from the second halves, eventually rode at 6 and 7 in the second division, then the main team then progressed to the top division. Without that support at the lowest level, the pipeline of riders dries up and the sport is dead in the water. The talent is out there it just needs nurturing and that includes backing from each and every supporter.

it should revolve around whatever day best suits the club and its customer base. Many on here are advocating that clubs should do this or that for the good of the sport as a whole but in fairness it is not their money being put on the line. I certainly do not agree with many things those in charge do and those who are the custodians of the sport have brought it to where some clubs find themselves now, but until you have an independent body running the sport including central rider contracts and riders payments coming from the governing body (funded by contributions from each club) so as to get rider costs under control and get some stability to that element of the financial side the sport is going to continue to be unmanageable and will eventually price itself out of business. Speedway U K needs to get a grip and reinvent itself and stop staggering from one annual crisis to the next. One final point slightly off the subject but the speedway website still shows TNT as broadcast partners.

I think everyone needs to wait and see what unfolds. Unless you are on the top table it is just here say and talk of the likes of Ipswich being put up for sale is rumour mongering with no real concrete evidence. The only thing that is nailed on is that speedways top tier in the UK is facing a crisis that it has not been seen in many a year. However as a sport it will survive given who is left even without the top tier and just maybe speedway UK needs to reinvent itself and come back with a completely different business model that provides some form of entertainment to a wider audience who are not the fickle diehards like those who currently turn up week in week out for league meetings and want nothing else. How are second strings suppose to make it if they do not get track time because no one on the terraces is interested. To see how far behind the media coverage is in the UK You only have to look at the current news on the Ekstraliga.pl website and the FIM website to get a feel for what is happening in Europe and realise that the sport in this country is so far up its own backside the rest of the world does not exist and it is being left behind. Logistically it must be a nightmare for riders to have equipment in various locations, employ mechanics etc and then ask yourself why would any contemplate the commute to the UK when travel around the rest of Europe is far easier. Speedway in the UK needs to adopt a domestic policy for the local fans and participate at international level at the various competitions on offer and try and attract international meetings with test matches against those competitors willing to travel over here. Stop pretending speedway has something to offer Joe Public, it does not and unless you get back to grass roots and pursue the hard sell involving various disciplines not just 15 heats of borefest and riders dictating when and if they will get out on track, the same old same old does not work. You might just as well have team racing in any other two wheeled sport. Speedway needs to be an event each week, not just a match between fourteen riders.

It’s postponed because of poor weather forecast😄

Unfortunately U K speedway cannot compete with the rest of Europe to attract or retain the top European riders. Brexit has been one issue with others including the movement of machines, parts and riders themselves plus you need bikes and mechanics spread across three or four different countries which is adding to a riders costs pushing up the return the riders need and the demands from clubs to pay and then put yourself in a riders position, do you drive from Poland to Sweden or Denmark or faff about with flights at unsociable hours simply to top up the pension by riding in the U K. and rely on the fickle riders as to whether a meeting will go ahead because of grey clouds and drizzle. Then you have how the sport is portrayed and promoted. Take a look at the Polish Ekstraliga official website which is in English and has so much going on both with news, rider profiles, past year’s events etc and lots of YouTube videos and when you see how they deal with the sport is it any wonder the Poles have stolen a lead on the rest of the world. Whatever supporters crave, speedway in the UK as it stands cannot currently compete with the rest of Europe and just take a look at this forum. All who follow the top league are so insular with what they want and what everyone hopes for 2026 whereas those in the lower leagues are getting on with planning for 2026 with what they have. Poole Glasgow, Scunthorpe etc are just getting on with preparations and then you question why should those teams bail out a failing business model which is the top league in the UK. I doubt many on here have the financial wherewithal to put a team in the frame in the top tier of UK speedway and why should astute businessmen in the lower leagues risk all because five clubs want to chase the impossible. The only shining light is the return of Buxton. If you could get the Isle of Wight back then from small beginnings who knows what will come of it. The reality is that no one on this forum knows what is planned for 2026, whether a new TV deal has been done, what the team points limit will be, whether riders from the lower echelons of the sport will have any progress because they are blocked by the double uppers and the fact that Joe Public and the main stream media neither knows about the sport nor gives a toss. Speedway UK lost its way a good few years back and really needs to take a reality check. 2026 is a big question mark.

Agree. Rye on a Sunday afternoon was a a good place to watch racing and I use to do the music at the track and did the same at Hackney on Friday night. Rayleigh on a Saturday night was always well attended and whilst the racing may not be up to today’s standards it was riders who raced from the heart and soul and you were always entertained and it just seemed to be less of a gap between the heat leaders and the second strings. You also had your characters and Brian Foote for example was was the arch enemy from Romford until he joined Rayleigh. Terry Stone was a real stalwart and Tiger Beech and Trevor Barnwell were great to watch as was Ivan Miller. I look and today’s racers and wonder how many will still be fondly remembered in fifty two years time. Dingle Brown was another character and Geoff Maloney was also up with the likes of Hughie Saunders where incidentally most doubled up with Hackney so doubling up is not new but because Len promoted both it was like lending a member of the family and a good opportunity to watch a riders progression. I am still young enough to remember Johnnie Hoskins at Rayleigh with his Canterbury team and Dave Lanning with Eastbourne. Great days and fond memories. I doubt many of today’s young supporters will have such memories fifty years from now unfortunately. I must stop reminiscing because some on here will come down on a contributor like a ton of bricks because you look back on what it was like back in the day.

Just an observation but my experience of Rye House from the early days of the open licence and the Ace of Hearts to the time that the Rockets moved from Rayleigh to Rye House (and many a rockets fan took the coach from the Weir), RH was a weekend track and Saturday, Sunday and the odd Bank holiday Monday but no way should it ever have been run as a week day track. It a great venture and a shame that it has been lost to the sport.