Ray Stadia

If a block of flats is truly an option, sorry, but can't see that RH taking revenue from flat track, amateur speedway and moto X practice, will stop the owners flogging the site.

I do not know the chap, but I do know this forum excels at character assassination. Character assassination usually comes from people with an alias, whereas Rob has the balls to use his real name. As Rayleigh says, take no notice Rob, by trying to get at you, it is distracting their minds from the crisis in speedway!

I saw the British Grand Prix there, I think 1995. The old Hackney stadium was basically being rebuilt and that was the rub, they ran the GP while it was still under construction. The great banked Hackney track, as was, had been turned into a billiard table and didn't work. Then eventually, without the works on stadium being completed, the owners of the stadium went bust or scarpered! It was all a very messy affair, which could be speedway's catchphrase!

Very sad news. The Dunlops have paid a big price racing on road circuits, but I doubt they would wish it any other way.

I am sure that has happened in speedway, top flight speedway teams selling their licence to a team who want to get into the upper league. Sounds like a franchise system would be just rearranging the deck chairs....again. Speedway needs something very radical. At the end of the day the problem is down to the cost for the promoters.

Surely, the way it is run now, is a franchise?

Of course, they could have left the league, but I would imagine RH didn't realise how destructive a week day race night was going to be. Hindsight is a wonderful gift!

Thank you for the explanation. All very complex and a tangled web. Maybe BMR have a legal case to take against the BSPA? By forcing BMR to operate on a race night which clearly was not producing sufficient fans and if BMR did ask to switch to a weekend race night, but were turned down, doesn't the BSPA share the blame for RH's demise?

I get that Whisperer, which is similar to a director's guarantee, but if the promoter hasn't any money to settle the debts, there is no point pursuing the situation. If this is the case, surely the BSPA, for the sake of a team, fans and the sport as a whole, would allow another promoter to carry on. If that is not possible, it is complete madness!

I get that Steve, but the 'Speedway Family' watched and did nothing to stop the bulldozing of a relatively new speedway stadium, built from the blood, sweat and tears of a true speedway enthusiast. Tim's only failure, was he died!

So, why can football clubs park their debts and rise from the ashes? If the promoting company is a limited company and has no money, the entity (Ltd company) is liquidated and that is that. The only chance debtors will have, is if the director(s) signed directors guarantees against their personal assets.

But speedway had a nice brand new stadium, probably needed more money spent on it, but was 80% there, Newport. things didn't go well, particularly after Tim passed away and has been razed to the ground and is now a lorry park, I understand. Speedway is not joined up. Speedway continues operating on a team/league basis, but speedway as a collective body, is not there, the promoters are only interested in themselves, not the sport as a whole. To some degree, I get that, as they have put the cash into their own club, but the sport needs an independent regulator/moderator/arbiter or whatever you want to call it, to act as a catalyst. I do think the Newport situation was an extreme tragedy.

I don't think the sport would be screwed without tuners, the riders would simply have to learn how to repair and maintain their own engines. 'The Dean Machine' will testify that! As for the stadium owners making money, not sure about that. You would hope the rent they receive from the promoters covers their costs, but a lot of stadium owners would probably love to flog the stadium to a development company for a nice tidy pay off!

Do some promoters ever offer gimmicks to try to introduce new fans, such as: *Bring a friend and the friend can have a first time free entry *Give out badges to kids in the town centre, ideally by a rider with his bike *Free prize draws offering family tickets as prizes *Interval rides on the back of a riders bike, slow of course, but H&S might say no and perhaps no time, due to curfews *Corporate discounts, police, NHS, Local Authority staff etc, get a discount *Do fan clubs still exist? I know they used to

At NL level, 200 might be enough to at least break even?

Sorry, got posted twice...sausage fingers!

Existing fans (shrinking fans) can argue all day long about the rules etc of speedway, but at the end of the day, speedway has to somehow attract and be attractive to a new audience. My next door neighbour doesn't say to me 'I don't go to Ipswich speedway because of speedway's match fixing', he says to me 'I don't go to speedway because it's dead on it's backside and is not advertised around the town'. And probably thinks it is too expensive, for what you get.

There is a grass roots level Steve, Grass Track racing, but that too has seriously declined over the years. When sports of any kind, suddenly become popular again, it is usually due to something changing, fundamentally, which I think is what you are suggesting needs to happen. But you also need serious financial backing for that to happen. You need some kind of entity to pick the sport up by the scruff of it's neck. I have always been surprised that wealthy ex-riders don't get together to do this, unless there aren't any wealthy ex-riders! Innovative thinking happened with the Speedway Grand Prix, innovative thinking and a massive cash injection is needed for league racing in the UK. I agree, rearranging the deck chairs is not going to change the dire situation.

Well, although he may own the whole set-up, if he is not getting enough paying fans to meet his overheads, the business will not make a profit. But then, the BSF has spoken about falling crowd numbers for years. I was surprised when RH decided to go into the top level of speedway and did wonder if it could be sustained, but didn't in my own mind, predict a mid-season pull out. It is a sad state of affairs, especially after the original fight and hard work to get speedway back at RH.

I notice, what is happpening in the world of speedway today, is fans are now desensitised to negative events such as the RH situation. No, they are not the first club to close mid season, but maybe the first top flight club, to my recollection. There doesn't appear to be the same outrage and panic that was felt and expressed in past years, when a crisis occurred. Speedway fans seem to expect the worst and when there is a positive, it's a bonus!

Rye House being in the top flight of speedway was, surely, always an eyebrow raiser. The history of the club has been nursery, originally and league 2, no more. Therefore, the expense of top league speedway for the club needed more bums on seats. I am sure Len wouldn't have dreamt of suggesting RH runs in the top league, but perhaps I am wrong.

Point taken, but as the post above mine points out, Coventry not too far away and Long Eaton not too far away, so perhaps fans from those areas too could help with attendance and interest?

And not far from Milton Keynes!

I don't think there is the usual taxes that apply to petrol TWK. Probably just VAT. I think methanol is wood alcohol, but I wouldn't recommend you start drinking it TWK! Stick to your whisky and soda!

It's always good to get your leg over!