poppetman

Handicap racing will never work for the simple reason that the top riders don't want to risk injury by having to pass lower grade riders and won't accept it. Same reason Briggs,Fundin etc weren't having it over fifty years ago. It's an end of season gimmick that seems to go down well in Wolverhampton much like the Ipswich sixteen lapper.

What Chris Harris earns is his business and nobody else's.

Fact is Blair had the bottle to become a professional speedway rider and now has the bottle to appear on national television with the parents he let down so badly and show willing to make amends.This is the first step on the road to recovery and I for one wish him all the best.

OK then--how about Rye House Rockets.

Move into Hoddesdon,drop the K and swap the A and E around and there you have it-Leaside Hammers. It's your only hope.

Yes he didn't dilly dalle on the (speed)way.

Rod Stewart.(True) Quote from his autobiography: 'Mary and Peggy, my sisters, would take me to watch speedway at Harringay, which was hugely popular then'.

Here's the Gordon Kennett clip: https://www.britishpathe.com/video/speedway-white-city/query/speedway

Leaside Hammers.

Never understood why anyone would hit the M25 on a Friday evening to go to one of the most depressing areas of the country to watch racing you need binoculars to see!

The best option for a British fan these days is to watch Polish/Swedish league on Freesports.

Reading between the lines I think BMR,regardless of the state of their finances, have looked at their involvement in speedway and decided **** this for a game of soldiers. Steve Jensen,who I must say has come in for some undeserved stick on this forum, expressed his disappointment at the decision to have fixed race nights (which was going to attract the big names back remember)? and then enforce a points limit to prevent self same big names from returning. The Rye House website is still advertising flat track meetings into September and BMR still have their investment (I presume) in the bike dealership so I think, IMHO motor sports will continue at Rye House but not speedway. I'd love to be proved wrong.

Van Stratten and Ford got the race nights they wanted so that's all that matters.

A change of name from 'speedway' wouldn't do any harm. The majority of people who even understand the word put it in a similar category to cock fighting. This, by the way, is utter tosh: "Numbers drawn out of a hat for who rides what bike before the start of a race with team selections made after practice." Riders give up the ghost half the time when they're on a bike that suits them!

This from our esteemed team manager on the BSPA website: “You know, it’s still relatively early in the season; it’s not a case of alarm bells. We’ve got to look at a couple of things, but that will come in time.” Strange that.I heard alarm bells around March this year.Talk about fiddling while Rome burns!

One big league with four man team plus reserve and run on the same lines as the old 4TT qualifiers?

He brings experience and inside knowledge particularly regarding the media. A quick look at your list of interests tells us what you bring.

The main mistake they made was expecting speedway riders to talk about anything other than the track or their bikes.

http://www.ryehouserockets.co/team18

Change of team manager would be a good start. One of the basic requirements of a T/M is knowing when to put in a tac.sub. What's John Sampford up to these days?

Good idea to hold it on the South Coast. Nice central location. Belle Vue would have been so inconvenient to get to for most.

There still seems to be a few promotions,and Rye is one of them,that haven't cottoned on to the fact that you win the league by signing riders who are likely to increase their average. That's why Edinburgh have had such success over the last fifteen years.

"Sadly "Make it a date, Sunday at 4.30" wouldn't have quite sounded right at Rye House". Come and get dirty,Sunday at 4.30!

Whatever night a team runs the main thing is to stick to it so people get in the habit. We all like routine, and would prefer to think Mon.Wed. or whatever night is speedway night and barring injury we are going to see the same team every week. Good fish and chips is the only other requirement in my book. Some form of inter race entertainment wouldn't go amiss either even if it's just a guy perhaps dressed as a rocket.He could have a rocket bike and cycle round the MX track.Might make the kids want to come back and even become long term fans.They may get in for free but their accompanying parents don't.

I think you're all overlooking the fact that Clegg's dad once fitted a kitchen for Erik Gundersen and his great aunt has got Jack Parker's autograph thus giving him a two point average.