New Science

Opinions are fine but you have to be realistic. What you are championing the removal of ie (tactical substitute / tactical ride ) has been a part and parcel of the sport as quoted since 1955, and I would guess most in the sport believe it to be necessary.There are rules in the sport I don't like but if we all stopped going because we disliked one rule in the speedway rule book then the sport would not be in decline but dead.

If Dave Gordon is the good guy in all this why after 10 years OF hard work did he choose to step down and retire from his position as promoter at Belle Vue,conveniently just 3 days before his license was revoked by the BSPA. Surely if you have no blame to answer you stand up to these other parties who are at blame be that MCC or the BSPA .not fade away into the shadows.,

In your opinion !

Seriously how long have tactical substitutes been around ? For as long as I can remember , at least 30 years plus. Has the sport been a joke for that long ?

Get a room you 2

Write to the F.I.M and tell them

Tell me this is a wind up !

Reading the clerk of the courses report on another topic it seems that he was made aware by the promoters that there was a problem with the track on arrival at 11 am confirmed on a track walk at 1 pm. Nothing to do with temperatures dropping on the night. Lets be straight the people in charge knew there were serious issues with the track long before the gates were opened and for the Speedway Star to relentlessly defend them is shameful

You could say that the only people not in the loop regarding track problems were those that were parting with their cash to watch

The best, most balanced post I have read yet on the state of British speedway

Why is it wrong to aspire to have the best riders possible in the league. People say star riders don't attract bigger crowds. I disagree I remember the time that Emil signed for Coventry. It created a buzz , brought in more fans especially when Coventry rode away.At Wolves there was always a buzz and a bigger crowd when Nicki Pedersen returned. I'm not saying bankrupt clubs but its a fact, fans in any sports turn out to see superstars. I understand now the reasons why every year promoters will want to reduce costs, I can still see the same clubs being in the same situation at the end of next season as I can't see anything getting any better. I think in 5 years we will be left with only 2 divisions. One of current Premier League standard and the rest forming a big amateur National League

Maybe the riders for heat 2 could wait on the infield and when the last rider crosses the line we go with heat 2 as soon as heat 3 riders are on the infield and so on. Realistically we could have a meeting through in 25 minutes or so. If there is fixture backlog,double or even triple headers would not be a problem.

If Gordon and Morton are the good guys here , how come their good friends at the BSPA have revoked their promoting license and their partners at Manchester council have locked them out of their own stadium ?

Makes you wonder how the ECB sell every ticket for every day of an Ashes series in England 9 months in advance at 80 pound a pop when the weather in England in the summer is so bad. Blaming the weather for the decline of speedway in Britain is lame.

Don't forget the 66 thousand tickets sold for the recent world championships. Its probably fair to say that over 250 thousand tickets for PDC darts were sold in this country this year. They could sell more, most venues are sold out and next years World championship is anticipated to be staged at a bigger hall at the current venue.These tickets will cost 25 quid bottom price going up to 60 quid for the finals where as, most on here are calling for speedway to be a 10 pound sport

To be fair anybody could do for speedway what Barry Hearn has done for darts Simply 1: Go to Sky and demand a lucrative long term TV contract. Tell Sky you offer then exclusive access to the worlds best all year round, insuring them a standard of the sport never seen before with guaranteed entertainment , all with the back drop of a sell out attendances with a bouncing atmosphere.Then get other broadcasters interested bidding against Sky for a piece of the pie. 2: Go to sponsors and get them bidding against each other to become event lead sponsors or associate sponsors, allowing them to promote their business to a varied demographic of sell out crowds and utilise numerous add breaks in front of an increasing TV audience. 3: Charge the punters coming to watch 25 quid bottom price rising to in excess of 50 quid for finals night and increase the price periodically.Involve a large travel company to offer corporate hospitality at major events and ticket and hotel packages. And last but not least flood the market with merchandise. Unfortunately from this you can see speedway's shortcomings and why darts and speedway are going in the opposite directions . Not even an entrepreneur like Barry Hearn could fix speedways shortcomings

Don't forget Birmingham council lending Warwickshire cc a sizeable amount money to rebuild half of Edgbaston and being flexible on repayment terms

Good points . I'm amazed people keep dancing around the facts of that night. Yes there was a problem with the track ,caused by the people / contractors that constructed it. But the Belle Vue promoters were aware of this and still opened the gates and carried on regardless.

There is no way a rider should be allowed to sign for 2 teams with the same race night

Nothing worse watching old footage of riders barging into the tapes and rolling back to do it again and again. Much prefer to see riders still at the start before the tapes go up, its also a lot fairer.. As for gardening, as long as its within the 2 minutes and within reason ( no outside implements ) whats the problem ?

Midweek speedway never worked at Coventry Can't see Dave Hemsley splurging more money on track changes when he's no longer the promoter ?

Leicester have had good reserves for last 2 years and finished stone last.

No don't watch my speedway at Sheffield , I watch it at Monmore Green Wolverhampton home of the Elite league winners. 5 years ago I would argue with anyone that I was lucky enough to watch some of the best speedway anywhere to be seen in Britain. Sadly since 2011 this is now not the case and the speedway I watch now varies between average and plain dull, its a crying shame. Not the fault of the promotion or track curator but simply with our track being smaller than most , with throttle control vital, speedway bikes with the new silencers don't suit our track anymore, the difference between pre 2011 and now is stark. Along with this has seen a visible fall in the weekly attendance, although when this was pointed out to CVS at a talk in he disputed it, or in reality just chose to ignore it. There used to be a large group of us who stood together 10 + , this is now down to 3 most weeks with many of those who don't come anymore choosing not to attend because the racing is poor, Add in the morgue like atmosphere at most home matches ( it never used to be like that ) and you have a sport at its lowest ebb yet. The BSPA can re brand it all they want, there will still be rider unavailability , still be numerous guests, rider replacement, depleted line ups etc, but just a further watering down of the product and if they think promotion / relegation is the answer that's a joke its never worked and sides will contrive results to ride where they are comfortable if its needed.

Unfortunately where I watch speedway there has been a deterioration in the quality of racing which has led to a reduction in attendances.

Spot on post !