Ray Stadia

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!

I had a look at 'Speedway Shambles' and a tweet said 'Remember when the indoor German GP got rained off?'

2 'O's in too......just saying!

Not sure how turning a cap round stops you passing wind?

Rayleigh, Essex! No...got to be the wrong Barry TWK!

Mr late dad had a wall and floor tiling business and one of his guys was Barry Wallace.....can't be the same chap?

I am a bit of a distance from Leicester, but sounds a good value evening! If I was closer, I would definitely go along! Hope it's a good turnout!

I feel sure Gustix will have some info!

I know this is also in the International section, but as it down the list, I wonder if it get's looked at as much as this section. Also, it is not very up to date. Anyway, here is a link to some recent news: www.sport.se.pl/inne-sporty/sporty-motorowe/tomasz-gollob-juz-wroci-do-pracy_990508.html It is in Polish, but can be translated into a fairly good translation. Just cut and paste and stick the above in the Google box.

Please pass on my regards!

So long as it's not 'Bored Track Racing' TWK! I imagine 'Parsloesnearly 1925' might know!......in fact, where has 'Mr P' gone?

On that basis, is there a chance we might see the mighty Dons race there in the future?