teddy2706

I think this comment is unfair, unjustified and simply ignorant.

Last nights track at Coventry looked extremely tricky, very greasy and did indeed contribute to several falls. Darren Hartley did his best to make the track staff get that surface into some semblance of a raceable track, but he could not just get them to grade a track that was soaking wet from the outset, he had to let some dirt get turned first. I am fed up of people sniping at James Sarjeant too, he was involved in an incident at Mildenhall, I was there on that day and the home crowd were entirely to blame. James, who was quite young at that time was intimidated, reacted quite understandable and the crowd invaded the pits! The reason why the crowd were annoyed was nothing whatsoever to do with James, they were cross because Simon Lambert was making a monkey of Mildenhall's riders beating them with ease, then mocked them when they were booing and howling at him, another perfectly understandable reaction from someone who was jeered at for winning! James Sarjeant's riding last night was inspired, his race times were two seconds faster than most and he looked stylish, professional and was running the bike to its limit. I am no fan at all of the gentleman who prepares James' bikes, but man and machine were in perfect harmony last night, so credit to his crew too, it was a fantastic performance. It was a meeting marred by falls and crashes, hurt riders and a very, very bad track, a poor piece of PR for speedway indeed and one that tilted the result against a Kent side who did their level best to do well. It was not a meeting to encourage repeat trade, the person who accompanied me was despondant and upset at the falls and injuries and I doubt they will return.

Simon Neilsen?

Having spent some time at PJR when he was dyno testing an engine for us, it was illuminating, informative and we learned more in an hour than I could ever have thought possible. Peter was complimentary about the engine we had taken (which was one of Eddie Bull's) and complimentary about Eddie Bull too. It wasn't a cheap excercise, but we were able to rectify several issues with the engine simply because of the expertise shared with us. It was undoubtedly money very well spent.

Manchester riders riding for Somerset, East coast riders riding for Workington, the list is endless. Riders travelling costs in todays Britain with fuel at high prices, motorways that don't flow and vehicle expenses added to the ridiculous costs of machinery maintenance ensure that only engine builders and speedway equipment dealers make a good living.

Well done to Arthur Browning, still competing and still competetive!

Can I please stand up and be counted? I hate the idea of regionalisation. I would much prefer to see two leagues with promotion and relegation. Also, the very notion of riders living even remotely close to the club for whom they ride is utterly flawed at present, but some common sense on the part of clubs could alleviate costs by attempting to sign local riders in the future. Reducing costs may too be acheived by some common sense being displayed on the part of whoever decides and compiles the fixture list. Also, in todays multicultural Britain, why does no club run on sunday mornings? Trials, MX, road racing, drag racing, enduro's and clay pigeon shoots have done this for years and any argument concerning church attendances being affected is simply a non-starter. Personally speaking, I would prefer to hear race bikes than pesky lawnmowers and strimmers on any day of the week, sundays included, particularly my own lawn mower.... Feel free to descend upon me like a pack of dogs if I am wrong.

This meeting was utterly ruined for me by poor Tim Webster, who'd had a great winning first heat, breaking his fibula in two places in his second ride. The accident was no-one's fault, but Tim went beneath the safety fence, as I have seen so many riders do, at so many tracks. Surely, it cannot test the ingenuity of the combined speedway industry to somehow prevent riders and bikes sliding beneath the fence and becoming trapped, particularly near a hot exhaust? I am not suggesting that Tim would have been uninjured if he hadn't gone beneath the fence, who can say? What I am saying is that the fence is designed to prevent riders being injured, it cannot do that if the rider goes beneath, through or over it. Although to be truthful, given the amount of used tyres in the speedway sport, how come we cannot manufacture safety fences by using these pestilent and environmentally unsound used covers?

A few weeks ago at Owlerton the crowds were in hysterics over something I didn't immediately understand as I am not local. Apparently a ticket for some Party in the Park at Barnsley was announced as the first prize in the draw. The crowd around me collapsed in mirth, some wag shouting "Ay, Baarnsleys gorra paark!" The second prize appeared to be £250 which really brought the house down with comments about booby prizes. My friend who is from Sheffield had to explain for me. Porky isn't to my taste, but he is miles better than the two monkeys who were car park attendants at Monmore years ago who sent far travelled visiting fans into a corner and then boxed them in with Wolves fans cars. I won't be rude about George, but I would much rather have Derek Turner in the box at Stoke and no centre green announcer at all. Graham is great at Buxton, if the speakers break down, he simply opens the windows and shouts to us all at the top of his voice and his constant losing arguments with Mark Northall the Cradley spy is hilarious. Rob Godfrey is brilliant at the job, partisan, amusing, sarcastic, informative and dry: "Are we havin' 'em on on two minutes or what ref?"

In almost every other form of motorsport apart from drag racing, the race is started when the starter decides, not when the competitors have finished messing around. In all the years I was road racing the starter dropped the flag when he wanted, if you weren't ready, tough luck, even if your hand was in the air he would probably still start the race. All the nonsense with start marshalls pleading with speedway riders to come to the gate and being ignored is simply ridiculous. Have a concrete start grid, get the start marshall off the track entirely, put on a ten second warning light then the green then release the tapes. No gardening, no messing around, no massive grooves in the track, no problem.

It is dangerous for the well being of the club and demoralising for the riders to have so few paying public at Buxton. This club needs more support or I fear it could be lost. That would be a huge tragedy given the amount of top quality riders who have been reared there in the past. Speedway at Buxton is always a spectacle, exciting, different and raw in wonderful surroundings. Deano's airfence meeting shows how many people can find their way there, it would be wonderful to see a crowd that large at every home meeting. It is a shame that almost third of the spectators yesterday were watching for free from the stock car stadium, maybe Jayne could make a few programmes available in the stock cars for folk to buy? Who knows, if they enjoy the bikes (and I know some who do) and become familiar with the riders (by making sure they can hear the trackside and box commentary) some of them may be tempted into the speedway meetings?

It was an interesting and enjoyable meeting, not the one I expected, but nonetheless well worth the money. The fact that Devon rode at all, given the circumstances was astonishing, very well done to the drafted-in riders who made the match possible, thank you. It was nice to see Tyler Govier has grown both in stature and ability since we last saw him at Buxton, Adam Extance has improved in leaps and bounds too. Whilst it was a shame so many riders couldn't be there due to various circumstances, all credit to the Buxton and Devon management teams for putting a good show on.

A great many Stoke Speedway supporters have boycotted Loomer rd. for at least three years. Their self imposed exile appears to have changed nothing whatsoever.

Upon reading the posts so far, have I understood correctly that the complaint came because of noise nuisance at 3a.m. on only one occasion, or was this an often repeated issue? Surely this issue cannot pivot on a single occasion of noise nuisance? How odd that a complaint can be upheld from someone who no longer lives adjacent to the stadium, in a house that burnt down and a stadium moreover that has a Moto X track in its backyard and an airbase in its front yard! Noise nuisance cannot ever be regarded as pollution in my opinion, as the issue disappears immediately the noise ceases with no residual harm (unless the level is so high that hearing damage is the result). Finally, making rash threats on this Forum towards the complainants will only end in tears and possibly criminal proceedings, as someone who was threatened with prosecution by my local Council for "harassing" them on Facebook, I know better than most where such utterings may lead.

As Chris gave us carte blanche to choose, I would like a big track and stadium like Hyde road, but put a little track like Mildenhall or Plymouth in the centre too. Then, depending if you were being visited by Exeter or Plymouth, you could hold the meeting on that track the opposition hated most! Seriously though, I wish I could have a chance to watch at any stadium that has gone forever, Hyde rd, Shay, Crewe. Long Eaton etc, but best and most of all, I wish I could go to Ellesmere Port again, it is so tragic that track is still unused.

As an occasional visitor to Owlerton, it always seemed good that there were quite a few teenagers amongst the crowd, on a visit for the recent Berwick meeting, they seemed to have disappeared. Maybe speedway has lost the teenage girl heart throb image? In the eighties we used to see lots of girls mobbing speedway riders, but infrequently now. Riders need to market speedway as much as promoters, if they have a horde of young ladies pursuing their every move, be sure the stadium will suddenly be full of teenage boys chasing those girls. Assuming they aren't too wrapped up in getting RSI from tapping away at their Xboxes etc.....

Vog is correct, whether it is palatable or not. Some businesses, due to demographics or location (same thing really), leadership, poor product or an apathetic customer base are doomed to fail. I have visited Brummies several times over the last few years, but have never, despite that club's excellent marketing efforts, felt at home, nor really enjoyed the product offering. The fact that Cradley can pack out a stadium down the road for NL, yet Birmingham cannot for EL is a conundrum for better economic minds than mine. But sadly, that is how it is. Other posters have come up with solutions to Brummies ills, some of which demand completely altering the speedway product. These maybe desireable, but are not the answers to Brummies problems today, bums on seats are the only remedy. Compared to Owlerton, a similar stadium situation in a smaller city, Brummies always feels remote, cold, heartless, unwelcoming and lacking in atmosphere. Why is this? It took them months to add a picture of ex. British Champion Andy Grahame to their own picture gallery for goodness sake!

The term Great Britain was used in 1474 to draw up the instrument to marry off Edward IV of England's daughter Cecily to James, the son of James III of Scotland. However other people are right about the British Isles, despite the Irish gentleman spitting his dummy over it, but British Isles is a geographic, not political term. Scotland post independance will still be part of the British Isles, but not necessarily be part of Great Britain, United Kingdom or even British. They may prefer to be regarded as Scottish rather than British, I certainly prefer to be regarded as English not British. It could be argued that the English, Welsh and Northern Irish are entitled to a referendum to determine whether we want to keep Scotland within the United Kingdom or not! Regardless, what I asked was if we could still enjoy having Glasgow and Edinburgh in British speedway, I for one, sincerely hope we do, I like watching their teams and talking to their supporters. However, given the speed of reaction of the BSPA, I doubt they have even considered this issue. Certainly if the Speedway GB site is anything to go by they won't have, the rider index was last updated in 2011 I believe.

Messrs. Worrall (23) Carr (17?) Jacobs(21) Shanes(17) Morley(20) and RTD(20) don't count as young or up and coming then? Older riders like Armo, Tony Atkin and Ben Wilson are a benchmark for younger riders to attempt to beat, they play an important part in National League speedway development in my opinion.

Surely the whole point of an independance vote is for Scotland not to be part of Britain? Certainly they will not be part of the United Kingdom?

It seemed a good meeting to me! Great racing, no serious injuries, team riding at its best, unexpected team winning. What more can you ask for? It was nicely presented, rider interviews a very welcome interlude from a charismatic presenter, good food, good pit viewing, friendly door staff. what's not to like? It did seem to me that the crowd was a little thinner than I expected or hoped for this prestigious meeting, as HT rightly points out, anyone who decries NL racing is missing some wonderful and cheap entertainment. Well done Stoke, well done Buxton and well done Mildenhall promotion. Some riders were unable to attend which was a shame, but even if they had, I cannot believe it would have been better racing. Messrs. Wilson and Armstrong richly deserved to win, please don't detract from their title acheivement by grumbling about this, that or the other.

Perhaps the pertinent issue is this: British Speedway Promoters Association. Surely if Scotland achieves independence they will no longer be British? One can hope that speedway will find its way around this, as far as foreign teams riding in Britain's leagues, I would very much like to watch German, Polish, Danish and Swedish sides racing against home teams.

It is annoying, but any motorcyclist will agree that it is dangerous when you are caught out suddenly with the sun in your eyes. Returning westwards from Scunthorpe or Mildenhall is wearisome even with a tinted visor with the sun in your eyes, car owners simply pull the sun visor down, bike riders cannot. Rider safety must never be compromised, the sport is too dangerous now with bikes rearing unexpectedly, impaired vision cannot be countenanced. I was astonished when I first visited Leicester to discover that no provision had been made for this occurrence. Stoke could have planted trees ten years ago to reduce this occurrence and it is a good environmental practice anyway.

As opposed to Devon and Buxton who have ridden hardly any .

Stock car events let fans wander unimpeded amongst the action generally, but I cannot help feeling it is dangerous and an accident waiting to happen. Stock cars have brakes, speedway bikes do not. I have never witnessed a stock car being driven dangerously, but I have witnessed several speedway riders career into the pits in incandescent rage. Speedway is silly to restrict viewing into the pits from the outside however, it is part and parcel of the spectacle, bikes kicked over, frantic action to meet the two minutes, arguments, dealing with mechanical disasters, it is speedway warts and all and is certainly to be encouraged. I wouldn't enter pits before a meeting, riders need time without distractions to focus, but afterwards can surely harm no-one? Even worse than no pit viewing is the lunatic situation where you can only view one of the teams, whoever thought this up was bonkers. Good tracks to see pit action are Sheffield, Kings Lynn, Buxton, Mildenhall, Plymouth. Stoke isn't wonderful, Leicester is rubbish, Scunthorpe poor, Rye House poor, Wolves poor. Any viewable pit area imprisoning James Sergeant is likely to see explosive action at some time, worth the entry fee in itself!