Ray Stadia

Thanks for that. It is always great to watch a class rider ride on their own. Saw a few at Hackney's training sessions back in the 80's, the likes of Bo Petersen, Martin Hagon and others.

Hi CP, is Dragons Practice, practice for older ladies? All the best

Oh ok...actually, it's 'born and bred'...and Hackney has a capital 'H', as it is a name....wouldn't want those yuppies to think you were illiterate!

True! LOL! But there is no doubt that Hackney is in London. Not Hertfordshire or Essex, definitely London. In any case, don't know why they bothered with the 'H' in Hackney, as it's always been known as Ackney.

I sincerely hope your optimism becomes reality. Not sure about East London Speedway as a name though. After all, West Ham Football Club will be using the main stadium and I assume they will still be using the name West Ham. An ideal opportunity for the rebirth of West Ham Speedway.

Like someone said, it is nice for some of the ex Hackney fans to see their team race jackets again, but in reality, what chance is there of a return of Speedway to the Hackney area? Therefore, for defunct teams to be using other existing stadiums, the only real benefit is to keep the name going and to publicise the name, in readiness for a new home, as is the reason behind Cradley Heath. Although they have been searching for a long while now and it's not happening yet, but could do, more chance than Hackney I would say.

Sorry, I had forgotten that we wouldn't be allocated the one off World Final every year, although when it was at Wembley, it was more often. And I can appreciate that the GP series has taken Speedway to some interesting locations around the world and will continue to do so. I am not saying I want Speedway to return to the old format, although there is good and bad with both systems. I think an ideal situation and I have said this before when this topic has cropt up, that both Wembley and Cardiff be available and perhaps alternate each year. That way Cardiff doesn't become stale. And just hope that the years it is at Wembley, it doesn't pee with rain!

From what Mr Rising was saying, the real show piece has gone, now we don't have a one off final. Now it is just 'another GP round', so unless we have a strong GB rider or riders, riding, the big ocassion has been watered down. My understanding during the Wembley days was there was strong international support, due partly I suppose to the one off final, but the international fans would use the weekend to visit London and the various sights. If what I am saying is true, Speedway is definitely missing a trick.

Fair play. Denmark can be wet, so that is a god send. And I suppose Poland can be too. Rather than where the British GP should be held, the biggest priority for Team GB is to have riders competing and coming through the ranks to win the GPs. But that is another story, I know.

Sorry guys, but what is the fixation with 'the roof'. To my knowledge, no other GP has a retractable roof, apart from Cardiff and Cardiff is just one round! I think the roof is almost irrelevant. I think an idea for the GB GP would be to alternate the stadium, otherwise things get stale. Say Cardiff, followed by Wembley, followed by ??? Bradford maybe, Hampden maybe. Surely it would be good to have different venues to keep things interesting.

I have to say, this love affair with the Millenium Stadium is odd, as for many many years, the only place was Wembley. I can only assume that the majority of the pro posters on here are too young to remember the Wembley finals. Sadly, I never did go to Wembley, but I am envious of those that did. Much emphasis is placed on the retractable roof, but isn't that a red herring? How many World Finals were called off in England, due to rain? I can't remember any, maybe there is, but I can not recollect. I have been to Cardiff once, the first one and it was entertaining, but not outstanding. I believe I would have found Wembley outstanding. Rose tinted glasses perhaps. If it were to come back to Wembley, covered roof? no, but I would definitely go and take my chances with the weather.

How about a return to Bradford (Odsal)? After all, it may also 'kickstart' a possible return of Speedway to the area for league racing!

That's what Parsloes indicated. Over to Mr P for further clarification please!

He is probably a man who has respect for people who have 'done it', so maybe, the three lads (Tigers), can 'tame the lion'.

You liked Starsky and Hutch too!....so did I, what a great TV programme. Huggy was a great character.

Billy, where is your sense of humour, just be grateful Mildenhall is running this year. Is it that important who is doing the flipping track? I bet you are a barrel of laughs to stand next to on the terraces.

Joan will be doing the track!

This is good news and a chance for Suffolk to 'home grow' their own talent, once again. With Chris at the helm, perhaps the glory days for both Mildenhall and Ipswich will return. And of course, the other 'heavy weights' behind the venture. Not religious, but Praise the Lord! Some good news at last!

I am sorry for the Mildenhall fans, but it does sound a muddle. I suppose the real fact is, the fan base has reduced over the years and has made it difficult for any Promoter to meet costs, noise problems aside, which may or may not be a red herring. I am not sure whether Mildenhall has ever recovered from the 'Klatt days', to be honest.

Thank you for putting me in the picture. On that basis, why is there a pending court case and is it the pending court case that has stopped the sanctioning of Speedway at West Row? Or is it something else? Is there doubt over the 'soundness' of the prospective Promoter(s)? It is a genuine question, as I am a bit confused, as maybe others are. In addition to Mildenhall being an active Speedway team, in the past, they also offered good training facilities, with regular practice days. What happened to those? And why, at least, can't the track be used for this purpose?

People in general are more likely to be tolerant of noise from the USAF, as their purpose is to protect all of us in times of conflict, such as now, with the stupid involvement in Afghanistan, (another story, I know), but Moto-X, Bangers, Stock Cars and Speedway do not contribute to national security, so will not be given sympathy, by those who don't give a fig about the sports. And their voices will be heard by the local authorities, if the activities of the 3 sports has increased over the last few years and without consideration to the residents. Someone said on here that the grader after Stock Cars was going around the track at 2.00 am in the morning! Is that being considerate to the local community? To me, it sounds like they have driven their own nails into their own coffins. The sad thing is, it doesn't sound as though it's the Speedway that has caused the fury, could be wrong, but sounds like the other 2 activities which are to blame.

But Mr Coventry runs the bangers and stock cars and if all three sports are in the same area, they will all get tarred with the same brush, surely. Locals will say, 'bloody noisy motor sports', especially if they have to endure the 3 diciplines every week in the summer.

Getting back to the problems regarding the stadium. I think the problem for the local residents, is the Moto-X section. Moto-X tends to go on for a long while and they will have a mixture of 2 stroke and 4 stroke machines going round and a lot of them. If anything is going to cheese off local residents, that will. The stadium sounds over used. I can understand the owners want a return on their investment, but a thought for people in the area needs to come into the fray. Sadly, Speedway is the least noise polluter of the 3 users.

What is also a shame, is that Ipswich, over the years, hasn't linked up with Mildenhall to create a 'feeder' for Ipswich. I don't know if it still happened before they closed, but the track used to offer regular training facilities. In fact, the area is a 'hotbed' for motorcycle racing training, as nearby is the excellent Chippenham Moto X training track. I also think, Andy Lee (Michael's Dad), has a training track nearby. It surely does have a future and even with Ipswich joining the PL, could still act as a 'feeder'. After all, due to the strict curfew at Foxhall, there is no training at Foxhall Stadium.