New Science

If they are able to pay BSI the cash Gorzow pay them or more they may have a chance. Slim chance

And not forgetting all the riders are semi professional working 40 hours a week to supplement their hobby but allowed all the time off they need to travel to and from away matches for your team

Reading this forum it seems all fans want is a full team of mainly British / local riders who only ride for their team,don't race abroad or in any F.IM , One Sport event. On the night of their choice with a TV deal in place and all for a tenner.

If planning fixtures was so easy this would have been achieved many years ago. Teams will not run fixtures if they have 3 riders missing to doubling up which is norm if you are a weekend track. If Belle Vue run on a Friday there could be as many as 8 other teams riding in the Championship on the same night, cue a multitude of guests. Come to think of it how often do we have all the teams completing fixtures before the cut off, very rarely

Just for instance Belle Vue's own Dan Bewley. Doubling up, yes if available ,World u21 yes, GP qualifiers yes, European Championship maybe, Polish fixtures, if Rybnik get promoted then any Friday, Saturday , Sunday of their choice. If doubling up goes, ie 1 League are you happy to see the TV deal go ?

Would you be prepared to accept teams filled with guests / Rider Rep due to riders doubling up in 2 leagues /SGP /World u21 /GP qualification/ Polish fixtures / European Championship/ Euro Pairs etc etc to get back to Friday speedway at Belle Vue

From my experience of watching speedway in Poland, its very different from the UK. Speedway in Poland is very tribal, more akin to football in this country. The 2 biggest cities in Poland have very little speedway interest but I have seen a riot at a Leszno/ Zielona Gora fixture about 7 years ago, 2 small towns in Poland. I went to the playoff final at Leszno 3 years ago and counted a fleet of 14 riot vans in attendance, very dissimilar to the family friendly atmosphere you get in the UK. That is not going to change .

You go back much further than me but like you the long love affair with League speedway in Britain is over. Only GP's for me now

Jon Cook is adamant in this weeks Speedway Star that the standard of racing in this country is better than ever !

Surely all these things mentioned must be ratified by the F.I.M. So in reality you have no chance. As long as everything is ok in Poland there will be no change

Unfortunately not

Unfortunately with a PR company you have situations like last Monday. A live TV match on a major broadcaster, 2 evenly matched teams , the most successful team of recent years as the visitors,a modern purpose built track and stadium , beautiful weather and no clashes with the World Cup. And what do we get , 2 hours of dross,a trapping contest with riders strung out like washing after 1 lap with little or no racing. A bore fest, now how could any PR company worth its salt do anything with that ? Unfortunately that's where we are !

The worry for me is I don't need to fill in a speedway survey. I would just write at the top in big letters ,' The racing is not good enough " and I'm not sure how the promoters fix that ?

2010 / 2011 was the beginning of the end of speedway in this country. The F.I.M changes in silencer regulations changed speedway bikes forever in noise and performance and rendered many British tracks unsuitable in shape, size and material to produce good speedway racing. While the throaty raw of a speedway bike was lost, also the smell of Castrol R disappeared and the atmosphere on the terraces was never the same again. The sport in Britain has plummeted rapidly ever since.

Well the bad news is the big star names are not coming back to Britain anytime soon. My point was if the racing is better then ever then where is it ? . Where can we showcase the sport, the last 2 weeks on BT sport we have had meetings from Wolves and Leicester which have been 4 hours of absolute dross. One from a track that is purpose built , one that has been there 90 years. All in the height of summer with great weather. The top league on BT is the showcase of our sport in Britain to the outside world, what must people think if they watched the last 2 weeks ,its not going to attract new fans or get old fans to return. Still in Pearson's world it was 2 great nights of speedway. People need to wake up and smell the coffee, the product is not good enough. In the top division Belle Vue is brilliant, Somerset occasionally , that's about it, all the rest poor. If that is the best the sport can show itself in the last 2 weeks then it is definitely on its way out.

I keep reading from posters on here how racing in Britain is as good as it has ever been. I am struggling to find where this is ? As a sport we need up to 20 venues around the country that can showcase our great sport and make it viable. I watch Premiership speedway and the only tracks I would put in that category are Belle Vue and maybe Somerset, less said about the rest, Leicester tonight being a typical example. In the 2nd tear Scunthorpe yes, Peterborough maybe, maybe people can inform me. National League, think we can discount Stoke. Where are these 20 standout venues that we can Sheppard people into to get them to see great speedway racing and become hooked on our sport in this country and turn around its fortunes

I can't be having this idea that's fans can't identify with their team because they ride for other clubs. Its 2018 riders ride all over Europe for various clubs. Bartosz Zmarzlik is hero worshiped in Gorzow. Do anybody have a problem that he rides for Elit Vetlanda ? No , its just part of modern speedway. The days of top British riders like Michael Lee just riding in Britain for 1 team are gone, we need to get used to it, its not going to change.

Problem is with speedway is there is not much of a product to market

People can call darts what they want, darts has everything speedway doesn't. A good TV deal, sponsors fighting each other to sponsor their events and with it and plenty of punters willing to pay upwards of 30 quid a time to watch it.

But speedways decline is probably one of the most dramatic, probably on a par with greyhound racing . Most other sports are flourishing, Football, cricket, rugby union, league, horse racing, boxing darts and even snooker are on the up

Ok the London Lions who rode at Hackney. The point is still valid, people are misguided if they think there is a huge speedway fan base in London.

Matt can see the writing is on the wall for speedway and wants to sell his business before its worth nothing.In hindsight he should have sold Poole Speedway 5 years ago when things were not so bad.

Didn't Hackney have a purpose built stadium in the 90's. That team went belly up, how many do Lakeside get now on a favoured Friday night ?. This idea that there is a huge market of speedway fans in London is a fallacy

The 1980's may have gone but I feel blessed and thankful I watched my speedway in the 80's 90's and up to 2010. This year after 30 years of going every week I'm done with league speedway in Britain for good. Don't forget to email the BSPA with all your ideas of how to attract todays modern youth so the sport can flourish again to a level it was in the 80's

Not sure why they would want to stage the Extra league riders final at Gdansk when there are much better / centrally located circuits in Poland