Bruiser McHuge

What's the answer though ? The fixture list is far too disjointed but there's only 8 teams in the Elite.....you can't get a great fixture list out of that many teams , especially when you have so many international events and leagues that you can't clash with....it's not like the old days with more teams and far less international events and other leagues to consider. Teams are too packed with guests but there doesn't seem to be enough riders to go around and you've got teams full of international riders or doubling up riders.....promoters have already said double up riders save money so I can't see that changing next season so it stands to reason that international riders, double up riders plus the the normal injuries mean that teams are reliant on too many guests....I have no problem with a guest for top riders but having 4 or 5 loses any identity a team has......but how does that change ? Also, from experience , once a fan stops attending then it's very difficult to get them back.....I think most fans retain a fondness for following the sport but just not in person......too many tracks have folded and those fans have been lost, plus many have stopped for the reasons in the opening post, plus there are just so many more things on offer these days to stop people attending in person. I really don't know what the answers are though

Averages are a bit of a farce in the Elite League with the extremes of easiness of races these days.....the extremes are much more than in years gone by.....number 1 riders are often averaging hardly more than a second string when in reality they are miles ahead as a rider.....that makes team building quite hard . What happens next season to the fast track riders like Jason Garrity etc.....no way can Garrity and the like spend another year as a fast track reserve so what average would he and others have next season ?......they obviously can't start with their average from this season ...what's the official rule on that ?

I honestly don't think facilities okay a massive role in the attraction of speedway....I don't think people would go to a speedway match in the expectation of 5 star facilities....maybe a bar and a decent burger bar and most people are happy as long as they can see the track well and the entertainment on that track is good..... Cradley was always one of my favourites but the facilities were rubbish really but the crowds were good...visiting fans liked to congregate on the back straight and created a good atmosphere which added to any meeting...an atmosphere is far better than plush facilities...it had good pork sandwiches as well !...and the racing was always good.....all that was far better than having top notch facilities and I don't think times have changed that much.. Maybe people do expect more now, but I really don't think that's the case for the majority ....my issue at Kirky Lane when it opened was that , yes at the time it had terrific facilities, great bars etc but the viewing and atmosphere was poor......most people sat indoors with a nice drink but that created a poor atmosphere outside and when you were outside it was never a great view of the track really...it wasn't surprising a lot of people stopped going. The new Belle Vue stadium doesn't need state of the art facilities ...it needs a good track and it needs good viewing....a grandstand on the home straight that offers a great view under cover will generate a great atmosphere and its that that will keep fans coming back.....nice bars are a bonus after that.....somewhere for an after meeting drink in relative comfort would be nice but the main thing is a good track with good viewing....

I was at Buster Chapman's first match as Kings Lynn promoter in 1993....he rode out onto the track on a speedway bike dressed as Mickey Mouse.....he said people called speedway a Mickey Mouse sport so here's a Mickey Mouse promoter !..... So speedway was Mickey Mouse 22 years ago....at least !

I certainly don't think it's guests that have stopped people attending speedway... I've never had a problem with guests to be fair...I've attended since the 70's and guests were about then and they didn't seem to be a problem when speedway was booming....Larry Ross seemed to guest for Belle Vue every other week before signing for them ! To be honest if a number 1 or a top ranked rider is missing then I'd sooner see a top line guest replace them than a young rider out of his depth...as an entertainment which is better for an attending fan ?....they'd be more entertained by a competitive guest helping keep the meeting close. Where it has changed though is that there are too many guests throughout teams now...I can't remember teams constantly arriving with 4 or 5 guests making up the team.....a top line guest to me is fine, 4 or 5 is taking the Mickey and how can fans relate to that as their team.....that's a bigger problem than in the past when there was less doubling up clashes and much less clashes with international speedway... The problem is there doesn't appear to be enough riders to go about..a lot of good tracks have disappeared , good racing tracks as well, most of those fans then stop attending and you are left with 8 Elite league clubs racing against each other too many times in a completely stop start season fighting against clashes from abroad with riders who quite often seem to put British speedway low down in their priorities....it's no wonder crowds have dropped....if you banned guests and somehow went to this squad system, that could never be afforded by most anyway, then you wouldn't get the crowds flocking back....it goes miles deeper than that.

If you are trying to sell speedway to a non fan then they surely wouldn't have a clue about guests and doubling up riders...why would they ?.....it's only people who actually go that are aware of those issues so they are only an issue once people are actually attracted through the turnstiles in the first place and that seems to be the really hard part. Most people when I mention speedway to, and I go back to the 70's here as well, just say oh it's the first rider out of the start that always wins isn't it ........that sums up most people's initial impression of speedway.

How many bricks were actually sold ?......does anybody know and were they £49 each ? I would have thought anybody buying them would get a certificate at least but maybe the post was a total wind up....who knows ..

I agree with Gemini in that the biggest problem is only having 8 teams rather than the play offs themselves.......to say that Lakeside's season is over because of play offs is ridiculous really....if we didn't have play offs then their season would still be over but so would many others as well.....quite often in the past it was obvious from the first few matches that winning the league was out of the question so basically teams were racing for nothing much earlier than today....at least the play offs give teams not able to come first something to aim for and theoretically should keep the season more alive for a lot of clubs....I think without play offs then the season could well fizzle out like a damp squib seeing there is only 8 clubs and the season is so stop and go without any rhythm to it all . The elite league needs more variety, it needs more than 8 teams, it needs fans to know that such a night is speedway night and get into the habit of going to watch.......if we could get all that then I think the play offs would be a fantastic end to a fantastic season... As it is the season is too stop start...the play offs are often competed for by teams with no reflection of the team that got there due to late signings and injuries and they often staged in poor weather on cold wet nights...hardly the showcase they could be...

I'm sure he'll be asked...after all Chris Morton was a teammate at the time of the accident and he was a legend to fans who were attending at the time.......whether he'll be able to attend is another issue but I'm sure he'll be asked...I'm sure many ex Aces riders will be in attendance...it would be nice to have a parade of ex Aces riders from over the years. We attended every meeting at Hyde Road in 1978 except the one when Wilkie was injured as we were at a wedding that night.....in many ways I'm glad I missed it.

No idea of today's situation really but in the 90's I was told by a rider that it was relatively easy for a rider to make money riding speedway.......that was a rider who maintained his own bikes so didn't have any massive tuning costs and he definitely made more than a good living out of speedway....and to be honest there wasn't that many more meetings in Britain then than today....I really don't think it would be massively different today for a mechanically able rider to be honest.

This is why play offs in speedway don't work anywhere near as well as play offs in any other sport.....other sports have the playoff teams tracking the same team or squad that got them there....speedway has teams in the play offs that are sometimes unrecognisable from the team that got them there, sometimes not their fault due to injuries, but the league comes down to six matches with a completely different team, often full of guests from a knocked out team......i like the idea of play offs and they work in other sports but I'm not sure they work too well in speedway although it does keep the season alive for a lot of teams so in that way they do work.

Karlsson is struggling but they definitely didn't bring in a guy whose ridden in Britain for 4 decades to ride at number 1....that wasn't his job at the start... He did start the season well...is he riding the Gerhard engine in Wolves matches all the time now ?

Belle Vue have been incredibly unlucky with Monday weather lately.....there's hardly been any rain really for ages yet it always seems to be wet on Monday......my youngest lad does cricket training Monday nights and he hardly seems to have played for ages because no matter how warm and sunny it's been it's always wet on Mondays !

I'm sure they are told by Sky bosses to keep building up Ward.....Sky want stars in all the sports they cover and want to build stars that will entice people to watch..they do it in a number of sports . Ward is a box office rider whether people like it or not and its only right he is championed by the Sky team, they are a commercial channel after all.

Whatever people think it's great that a rider as good as Darcy Ward is riding in Britain......for me he is the most watchable rider around and I'm glad he's back regardless of what club he rides for.....and I'm glad he's proved a lot of people wrong that said he wouldn't try against Poole.......he's a world class rider and world class riders try to win every race.

Gundersenusually had one tapes exclusion a meeting in the first season but he got used to it and was just as fast a hater as ever so you would assume top riders like Mauger would easily adapt.......Michael Lee was one of the biggest rollers ever , great rider but an absolute cheat at the starts at time and the old system was ideal for him......he never got used to the new system but didn't really hang around long enough to try really.... I would agree that the tape touching rule was probably the best rule introduced.....the old starts were dramatic and added to the tension but a lot of times were completely unfair....even Peter Collins wasn't averse to the odd roller or two .......it is much fairer now for sure.

I don't think many sporting events do allow dogs do they ?.......I'm a dog owner and a dog lover but I don't think they should be allowed Ito speedway stadiums , and that's to do with the owners rather than the dogs...imagine one getting loose during a race ! There are too many rubbish foreigners over here....of course all foreign riders were all beginners here at some point and some swam and some sunk...the problem seems to be that some are employed that keep on sinking and some are employed when it's obvious they are second rate.....a top rate foreigner is a massive asset , as is a young foreigner whose potential is obvious to all....they are great additions to any league.....but some have been here a while and are no better than a young Brit....what's the point of that ?......promoters seem to think that from the outside it looks more glamorous and attractive to have a foreign name rather that a local lad....it somehow looks more professional or more international......some of the foreigners I've seen lately in the Premier League should never be taking the places of a young Brit...but maybe fans are to blame ?...maybe a lot do want to feel their team is international and a team of Brits is not " sexy" enough.....?

Reading between the lines here I would say that Harris used the GTR engine and then asked for money to continue using it.....I would be extremely surprised if that wasn't the case.....Philip Rising knows that and continues to know that but has tactfully said that IF that wasn't the case then he'll apologise to Harris.. My guess is that no apology will be forthcoming because both sides know the facts here.....maybe an apology for divulging facts on a forum but not an apology regarding the truthfulness of those facts. However, Harris would have been perfectly within his rights to ask for payment anyway , being basically a test rider at top level...and I'm sure that he did.

All a bit of a mountain out of a molehill.....and regarding Chris Harris's statement , well I've known things go on privately in the past and a completely different public statement be made....so I take public statements with the pinch of salt they deserve...from all sides ! I know Philip Rising is very close to Kelvin Tatum so you'd assume they have been chatting about the situation....but regarding Harris , I think he's perfectly within his rights to keep his options open right until the start of a meeting about what bike he rides...that's not really messing anybody about, just deciding what's best for himself on the day.. Also , I know he denied asking for money to ride the engine, and he would deny that after all the fuss......but IF he did , then I can't see a big problem with that.....he's being a showcase for the engine and basically an advert for it to put it in the shop window to lead to future orders and sales.....therefore he's perfectly entitled to ask to be paid for that...I can't see a problem...that's then up to Gerhard to accept or refuse...it's a professional sport after all. I think this probably shouldn't have been played out over the Internet but it's a sign of the times and I would imagine there is truth in both sides comments but you'll never get the FULL story publicly in my opinion

I haven't followed Swindon too much this season but strength wise I can't see that Swindon are actually strengthened that much......Ward replaces a guest who has often performed quite well hasn't he ...Hans Andersen and the like ?......this Krcmar replaced Howarth and I doubt will score as well as Howarth so I'm not sure the combined scores will improve Swindon much, if at all. But......the presence of Ward alone will generate extra interest and extra numbers through the gate so it makes sense business wise although I'm sure he'll have to generate extra fans as I'm sure he's not coming cheap

i don't think Odsal was boring for league matches...certainly in the late 80's and early 90's with Havelock, Thorp, Wilson, Doyle, Hodgson etc it was very entertaining...the crowd generated a good atmosphere from the main stand, certainly better than a lot of tracks, the racing was entertaining and the riders were very sociable after meetings and the fans felt they could relate to those riders and the team had more of a community feel about them.. in my opinion Bradford lost touch with the locals when they went down the route of international stars with no affiliation to the area...Kelvin Tatum, Jimmy Nilsen etc....great riders but expensive and dashing off after each meeting....expenses went up, crowds went down and there was no way that sort of team could be funded on the crowd levels at the end....The Hams were great but i think they misjudged their audience a little bit. as for how British speedway improves itself now...i don't really know.....you could certainly make it cheaper by diluting the product and reducing wages but you definitely wouldnt get top riders here...so its a dilemma as to whether you want British riders to develop to be world stars or whether you want a good grassroots local product but the British riders never ride against the best and we give up on challenging for World Cups etc..... i certainly do feel that the engines of the very few elite riders are now so far ahead of the rest that it has now become more un equal than ever at top level.....the best riders have always had the best bikes and the best tuners but it was always possible to compete with that to a large degree but the top elite now have support and budgets way beyond the reach of the rest and that's a result of the growth of the GP series really

yes...i'm sure he'll get his second title this year and i'm sure he'll finish as the most decorated British rider ever and possibly the most titles ever beating Mauger, Rickardsson etc.......whether that would make him the best rider of all time would still be open to debate ...but it would be a good debate

its a bit early to be calling Tai the best Brit of all time or becoming the best rider of all time.....he's got a long way to go yet.. maybe its a generation thing but to me he'll never be as good as Peter Collins, but i was young when Collins was about and you always look back and think things were better when you were young ! also, i do think its impossible to compare the old world final era to the Grand Prix era...the old riders basically had one meeting to win a world title...no falls, no engine failures, no bad ride.....it was all on the night.....Peter Collins would have walked a Grand Prix in 1977 but was injured days before the final and didnt win.....how many titles would Nielsen at his peak won under a GP system ?....in many ways its easier to win a title now even though the fields are tougher than many old world finals but in many ways its also fairer as the best rider SHOULD win over a series. having said that, there weren't many poor world champions under the old system either

Gustix is a very bitter old man isn't he ......or in plain English...a knob ! Maybe if Woffinden rode in the 30's he might respect him as a rider......he clearly doesn't like "his look" but even a fool will give him credit as a rider

I'm not sure bikes are harder to ride now ..if anything the lay down design is an easier ride which in itself makes it harder to pass an opponent as they are less likely to make a mistake, even more so on the slicker tracks often prepared. Mind you, I'm not sure speedway was always a thrill a minute with passes in every race...when I started going in the 70's all my friends said it was boring as the first out of the gate always won..and that was nearly 40 years ago !.........what it definitely had though was more teams, more tracks, a good variety of track sizes and good crowds that created a buzz and a genuine atmosphere....if you had all that you didn't always need fantastic racing ..it just felt good to be there, especially if the scores were close