Ray Stadia

But alcohol is not illegal Steve. I totally agree, drugs are wrong, but the guy goes out the night before a meeting and drinks legal alcohol, which unless I am wrong, you may have done too, as a rider. I rode Grass Track and I drank alcohol the night before a Sunday meeting.

You mean Michael Lee style Steve? That is bad, I have to say. But being an ex rider Steve, what do you make of this alcohol thing?

We have already been told that if tested, there is virtually a zero tolerance to any alcohol in the blood stream! So yes, there would have been a trace mid-day. Doesn't mean he would have been a danger, doesn't mean he wouldn't have won the meeting. It is the typical British attitude, build someone up and take great delight in seeing them tumble. I hope you are enjoying your cocoa Oldace, in your fluffy slippers!

He is only 22! I still remember what I was like at 22 and if I had been a speedway rider at 22, I am pretty sure I wouldn't have been in bed the night before a meeting, in a different country, tucked up in bed with cocoa!

Trouble is, many of us have had a 'skin full' and driven the following day. How do we know whether we would have failed a breath test? In my opinion, at worst, he would have had a bad meeting and not been a danger to other riders. I wonder what would have happened if the Moran brothers had been tested just before a meeting? Also, I heard stories about a rider, no names, falling out of the van when the passenger door was opened and was due to ride! He was under the influence. No one was hurt and I believe he had a reasonable meeting! Times have changed I understand, but he is a young man and deserves a bit of slack, in my opinion.

I think Orion is not adding enough water!

The danger with it being a rich man's hobby and a man expecting to lose money, is he can wake up one morning and think 'why am I doing this, the fans are on my back and I am losing a shed load', then he 'takes his ball away'. For some, I would imagine, the costs can be absorbed as a trading loss with another of their enterprises, but personally, I believe all promoters, should and deserve, at the very least, break even. With the expectation that you start the season expecting to make a loss, sounds unhealthy to me, for all concerned.

It is sad! Very sorry to hear the news. South African I believe?

There is a thread just started in the Elite League section, mentioning how poor the Elite League is this year and suggesting speedway should be run by ex riders rather than 'money men'. But surely, no promoter of any league, especially these days, expects to make a profit! But I can understand them expecting to at least break even, which is not unreasonable. I think speedway needs to lay it's cards on the table, for all remaining tracks and look at all the real costs and see where changes need to be made for the good of everybody. Surely a sensible business plan for all can be achieved. Perhaps speedway promoters need to work as a co-operative?

Not sure Cradley is a big city? And we did have Birmingham!

The opportunity to bring back hanging?

The good news, is the longer it takes to build, the closer I become to being eligible to cheap or free travel and concessionary entrance fee! Every cloud........!

Still looking forward to buying you a beer on that first night (or second night) TWK!

Best wishes Ricky. Very well done!

It could be bought with an overage. This would mean Mr Sandhu could have a share of the profit, if the stadium is later sold and housing development is granted.

In my experience, many non Asians like speedway and I have yet to meet an Asian who likes speedway. But, I am happy to be persuaded otherwise and will adjust accordingly.

I know TWK, that is the problem. And to be fair we have seen so called 'speedway friendly' business people sell speedway down the river, e.g. John Davis, Weymouth and the Pugh family, Cradley Heath. And, allegedly, the Ochiltrees, at Leicester. I have to say, when Mr Sandhu took over at Coventry I was a bit concerned, as and not wishing to sound racist, speedway and motorsport, is not a usual Asian persons interest.

Business is business, I agree Gustix, but if you are a businessman taking on an existing leisure facility, part and parcel of your moral obligation, in my opinion, is to take into consideration that there may be a large number of people who enjoy the facility and indeed it is part of their life. Therefore, I believe, if you are a businessman taking on something, such as, an existing stadium, you should morally not even consider selling and making a profit, until you have secured the continuation of the facility at another venue. Otherwise, all you have done, is con the loyal supporters, made peoples lives unhappy and at best, only provided a stay of execution.

Very sad. RIP

With respect, I think the problem with Mildenhall is being missed. I don't believe (for one minute), the problem is speedway. It is the stock cars/bangers. Speedway is wrapped up on the last heat and no more noise. Apparently, evening meetings were running at the track for bangers and they create a huge mess and the track was being prepared for speedway into the early hours, so we are told. Is that reasonable, even for the most tolerant neighbour?

I haven't read Phil Collins article, but reducing costs, all round, has to be the way forward to try and get speedway growing again. Perhaps a way to introduce the new engines, would be to insist that existing engines are restricted to a certain power output. In other words, reduced to a similar output to the new engines.

I think a lot of Coventry fans have taken Mr Sandhu at his word and think 'all will be ok in 3 years time'. If Mr Sandhu had simply said, he had sold the stadium and that was that, there may be more response and action. Fools gold maybe!

I think it is possible, due to common sense. For example, if you live next door to a noisy engineering company, but they were there before your house was built and ordinarily they started work at 8.30 and finished at 5.00 pm. However, due to new orders, they were now starting at 7.00 am and finishing at 8.00 pm. The engineering company has moved the goal posts, therefore, you should have the right to be able to complain about the change in situation, if it affects your life, in my opinion. Probably. I think a USAF base would be considered more important to national security, than a motor sport stadium.

Reading the above and it is woolly, but I do wonder whether the stock car operators, pushed the envelope and operated outside their planning permission.

Poor Matchless, or Associated Motorcycles! At least they had a go! It would have been the back end of their life, so they would have, probably, converted a heavy single cylinder 500 cc road engine, which would have likely been more 'clumsy' than a J.A.P. By then, it was too late really for a British motorcycle manufacturer to launch a serious speedway engine. Until we had the mighty Weslake, but they were racing engine specialists.