Hawk127

Always hope. Look what Workington have achieved.

It is difficult to pinpoint what is and who are to blame for the decline. Could it be riders earning expectations are too high, promoters who do not promote, a rule book that is overly complicated, the British public who want more, for their buck than fifteen minutes of racing over two plus hours for something like circa £20. Sad to seem the momentum in terms of the demise of the sport and it may not have reached its nadir yet but for it to survive drastic changes are needed to encourage more participants. Standard bikes to start with to reduce costs, a push for lower c c classes and not just the 500 cc guided missile that go around every track, yet are probably unsuitable for most race venues.. Many on here will have great ideas and some credible options and the IOW have made a start but those running the sport who put up the money for each club are not interested and it is akin to the masons in the way it is run. I guess it is a case of watch it now for as long as it lasts and hope that someone somewhere has the vision to reinvent the sport and can create interest from a wider audience. I won’t hold my breath.

I totally agree. Weak tail and far too much reliance on the top end. The compromise has been to spend lavishly on a few and hope that it reaps rewards but in reality you need a cohesive one to seven that all chip in. Hawkins spin will be bull.hit and for Louis it has been the last throw of the dice given the years of lack of success. They need to act now or they will rue the day that they gambled on the current set up. Only a few weeks into the season and across the league it is same old same old despite the inclusion of some European stars. Says it all really that GB speedway is not a major attraction for the top names except that a few see it as easy money and the mugs pay top dollar with the fans left to pick up the bill with no say and the promoters taking the pee from the paying punter.

Also good piece on Anglia News on ITV this evening. Great that some interest is being generated and good luck to the East Anglian teams and hopefully with the names on the team sheets at Ipswich, Peterborough and Kings Lynn this will generate some good local news coverage on both t v and radio and see a few more through the turnstiles.

I believe that p and p and entrance is restricted due to local council regulations and nothing to do with spedeworth. The only time it would affect Spedeworth would be the seven day rule regarding the frequency of meetings at the venue. Happy to be corrected on the foregoing.

With all that he has been through in his personal life, hopefully the role will in a strange way provide some sort of therapy and help him and the rest of the family cope with the loss last year. Cannot be easy but wish him much success in the role and that he can take the sport to another level without undue influence or interference.

Will Tapes Up TV be streaming the Berlin meeting this weekend?

It was probably only made today thanks to the Polish media making it known and no malice was intended in announcing it on the anniversary of the incursion but that said it all started some time before with Crimea. It is a good signing for U.K. speedway but we are an island with an awful lot of small minded individuals who look for a cause to rise up against whatever, irrespective of the facts. Most clubs will see some benefit and hopefully add to punters to the throughput on the gate. Woe betide the authorities if they veto the signing. It will certainly be an interesting season and Chris deserves some support for having the vision to go beyond the run of mill signings and shake up the sport with an out and out rider whose has an appetite to chase the glory. Hopefully speedway U.K. will benefit from this move.

Agree with what you say. What I do not understand is that the majority of teams rent the stadiums from landlords. If the landlord is prepared to also rent the stadium to another party what has it got to do with the BSPL or SCB. Do the authorities currently licence a club to run on a certain track or do they have a say in the agreement between the promoter and the stadium owner as well. Looking at some of the arguments used in the Star why do they not apply in the same way to Flat Track and sidecars who race on these tracks? All very confusing and you have to ask why they just cannot live together and let each get on with entertaining the public.

We were lucky we had a garden called the central reservation albeit the hgv drivers use to rain something on us as they passed by but my parents use to say be thankful that the government were not pissing on us. Not sure I followed the logic but when I got a job I went up market and had a round about which we share with chickens.

The base income from the state pension would be around £800 per month or £9600 per annum if you receive the full benefit. This is less than an employee earning the basic minimum wage if they work forty hours per week. Why is it unfair if the state pension is your only income?Take your local rates of say £175 per month and the current fuel prices of say £300 per month that leaves £325 to live on for four weeks to cover food, house insurance etc. and other day to day expenses and if you rent who knows what that cost would be. Not everyone is in the privileged position of having a private pension and other income on top of the state pension. If you rent your accommodation try covering all your overheads on just the state pension. It is not unfair but it depends on your personal circumstances.

I said it would be good but doubt very much if it would happen nevertheless one can look live in hope but does it really justify being shot down in flames for simply making a comment? The sport needs to cut costs and start encouraging the grass roots and it could well do without some of those who think the sport owes them a living and believe that they deserve a guaranteed income. The grass roots use to come from grass track but the sport has priced so much talent out of competing and the inability of the current crop of riders and the sports governors to think outside the box and see the racing for what it is is the major problem as to why it is on its knees in this country. U K speedway cannot and does not compete with the likes of Poland and frankly it is a shambles as long as people look at reasons why things cannot change such as ‘where are all the extra NDL standard riders coming from’ it will continue to be in a crap state.

Would be good if Ipswich entered a team and then you have some real rivalry/local derbies with Kings Lynn, Mildenhall and Ipswich and if the top league organised themselves better surely Foxhall could host a team in the lower division. We live in hope.

If anyone wants to apportion blame, then those in charge of the sport should held accountable. They failed to build any contingency in so far as you have a plan for league meetings and ultimately the play offs. If the rules were strict enough and no room was given to play off system then this situation would never arise. The BSPL have failed to impose any discipline and too many promoters are willing to play fast and loose to protect their own business model rather than consider what is required for the good of the sport and the professionalism that should be paramount but alas seems totally lacking. Stick to deadlines and the rules are the rules, those who fail to comply suffer, alas no one on the top table has any balls to impose strict regulations and enforce the rules. The weather is not to blame the rules of the game are. Playoffs in September or the team finishes top of the league is crowned champions if all clubs fail to meet the final date. If you cannot complete your meetings tough, you are out.

The thread running earlier this year about British Speedway being a joke seems quite apt. How come one sport can end up with such an incompetent bunch ruling over what use to be an enjoyable past time but has become a farce. Well done all on the top table, you have earned dick heads of the year for what must be the umpteenth time. No wonder Speedway is on it knees.

Are the Witches finally going to claim some silverware?

This not only good news for Edinburgh fans but grate news for speedway. It needs teams like the Monarchs to be part of the U.K. speedway scene. Fingers crossed that the negotiations are concluded satisfactorily and that those who compete against you in 2023 appreciate the fact.

Given that Sheffield have a meeting in November why can’t Mildenhall pick a Saturday or Sunday in early/mid November to run these meetings rather than a off night when few will bother to traipse across country to watch late night speedway? Feel for the riders as well as the supporters who deserve more respect. Says it all about how the sport is run in this country and those in charge who continually stick two fingers up at all and sundry. They will only learn if fans boycott meetings but that will not happen but collectively supporters need to do something to teach these morons a lesson.

Yep to all of that. Sob stories about riders spending a fortune on machinery get real, the sponsors partly fund that and the riders have no chance of making it big time without support from benefactors. Stadia falling by the wayside is inevitable otherwise tell us who was willing to put money Into saving Rye House, Arena Essex, Eastbourne, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Somerset, Swindon, Buxton, Stoke and many more. No one with half a brain would invest in a club or track given the current state of the sport and having a group of managers at the level of BSPL who expect you to invest on their terms and conditions without any say in how you run your business and they appear to have an attitude that says sod you in terms of how much money you piss up the wall buying into a failed business model. The BSPL do not allow open licences so that tracks could survive as was the case years back. You need an independent body to run the sport and if that goes against the grain as far as the current crop of promoters is concerned then it shows what a poor business model they have simply to satisfy the egos while pretending to have the best interest of the sport at heart. The halcyon days have long gone and what you see in this country today is a the sad demise of what was once a reasonably supported spectator sport. Everyone is entitled to an opinion and your optimism is to be admired.

Other than major wholesale changes (which will never happen) the chances of attracting those fans who have drifted away, back to the fold are next to zero. The sports controllers have brought the problems on themselves and the riders look after number one and sometimes dictate whether a meeting will go ahead. The fans are bottom of the pile when it comes to being part of any thought process in terms of it being value for money or providing entertainment so that the punters go away wanting more. Where else would you maintain a scenario of having seven man teams but rarely race with seven, more like six and Mr R/R. They cannot even complete the fixtures. You have several months to fulfil the meetings but yet again here it is October and the options for completing fixtures are getting fewer thanks to the weather or the non availability of stadia and probably the doubling up which meant some meetings could not take place earlier in the season because of rider availability. The current business model does not work and those with disposal income who have been going to meetings for many years have decided it is just not worth it and over the years the promoters have failed to make it an attractive form of entertainment for a younger generation. Get rid of the BSPL and start again on an amateur basis with a five year plan to rebuild the rider base. Some stadia will fall by the wayside but it would happen anyway with the current set up and with very few if any local authorities interested in having a track on their door step the chances of new tracks appearing is fairly low. To sum up, the BSPL would have you believe the sport is in good shape. How many fans believe that one?

Even if the season ran from January to December the way the sport is managed, fixture lists compiled and the book of excuses called rules are used, you would still have clubs who could not complete a fixture list. Time to run one home one away league fixture with play offs in August and fill the rest other forms of meaningless meetings and an individual British championship given that most of the riders are only interested in riding for themselves and would need to ride well to make a living rather than rely on clubs to finance what in effect is the riders business. Failing all that just let the riders and clubs pick and chose the meetings and days they want to race. Forgot they already do this!

Not a bad meeting. Tough final, well done to all who took part. Definitely a tight technical track.

On the night the Aces did what was required. Sheffield played their part and both teams put on a decent show. Time to park what has happened and hope those that are left in the leagues come to the tapes in 2023. Stay safe to all who took to the track for our entertainment.

Did Lemon’s decision regarding r r just cost the Aces some valuable points?

It does not match the adrenaline rush of a Polish final what with the crowd/atmosphere. Still good luck to all riders and hopefully everyone comes through it unscathed.