1 valve

This is obviously a very sad and emotional time for the fans of Coventry and supporters of speedway throughout the UK. However, it is highly unlikely that the BSPA set out to stab anybody associated with the Bees in the back. On the contrary the BSPA extended (soft) deadlines to the promotion to give them a chance to sort out their home fixtures which eventually they did, but as it turned out there was insufficient funding to guarantee a full season of fixtures once it became clear to the promotion that they would not be able to return to Brandon after 8 meetings and run the remainder of the season there. Therefore it made no sense for the promotion to lodge money with the BSPA nor for the BSPA to allow the Bees to start a season they would almost certainly not complete. Please don't take this in any way as thumbs up for the BSPA - just that in this instance they had no choice but to take this decision.

Technical regulations and doubling up are not the reasons behind Coventry's plight. That said I don't disagree that the cost base needs addressing and although rebranding does not address that particular issue it does allow for a fresh start and the points limit and acceptance that for nowUK speedway cannot afford to have many big (expensive) star riders does. This year is the first time for a long time the promoters appear to have grasped the concept that doing the same thing only brings the same results and given those results are not good results (a continually declining sport) something has had to change....2017 rules and rebranding? its a start but not the end of the changes, hopefully not even the end of the beginning and more changes will follow to build on a improving situation. A case of evolution rather than revolution.

It really is truly fantastic that after all these years of most of us knowing that the track can be improved, that at last it is actually going to be improved. Further, the right people are involved and the intention is that this time everything will be addressed wherever possible. Hope the weather stays good!

Is it still the case that the home promotion has to pay the basic points money for both teams and then each team tops up the pay for any premium rates or has it reverted to each team pays only for its own riders? If the former does that mean some visiting riders also had to wait to be paid the basis points money for their meetings at Leicester?

Hope things do work out for the long term future of the Bees although I think the term "refurbished" is aiming high...think it will be more like a "patched up" Brandon the Bees return to.

Nothing muddy at all - just a process taking place. First, somebody required to take over from DH - ASAP maybe for the short or long term. second, Buster steps in and "acquires" the promoting rights and the lease for the stadium. Third, DD appointed lead promoter. Fourth D Bates provides viable business plan to take the Lions forward on a long term basis. TBD will DD still have a role at Leicester and if so in what capacity. fifth - team building can begin. All in all, a great success in working through the process of replacing DH with a positive future for speedway at Leicester - Well done to Buster and all involved.

Not too far fetched and as you say take the emotional side of things out of it, it makes perfect sense. Putting into context the concept of Coventry moving lock stock and barrel to Leicester, it is not as if this is a team of riders who have ridden for Coventry year in year out, it is in fact quite a new team. Yet again this type of scenario does raise more questions, but, it does make sense if (as I am sorry to say) Coventry cannot operate because of the mess at Brandon and frankly is very similar (but not entirely) what happened when Long Eaton moved lock stock and barrel to Leicester in the late 60's That all said, what are the financial reasons?

Aces fixtures announced with home race night being Friday - at least more is known than Leicester & Coventry although they appear to be Saturday & Friday nights but subject to confirmation.

Although it appears the Leicester promoters do not want the Bees in Leicester under such circumstances. Which is dissapointing

You are correct this is a different thread/subject..but the topic itself has already been covered/included in Leicester Lions 2017 anyway.

DH use to use the argument that Saturday night meant more kids and hence more families would attend. Clearly there has always been a divided opinion between us fans on whether or not this is true and to what extent. Looking at other clubs venues I don't see any significant difference in the profile of attendees no matter what the race night. The arguments for and against Saturday nights are well known and both hold water, but looking at the sport overall I am not sure we all agree on what we mean or imagine by the term kids. Kids are by definition those under 16 and although I can imagine some mums Dads would like to bring much younger folk we should consider just how many very young children (say under 10) do come on Saturday who wouldn't come on a midweek night v how many 11 - 16 year olds would also stay away. With speedway being a summer sport sharing light nights and school holidays this must play a part in negating those fears of DH and frankly the truth is whatever race night the Lions do run, then more than likely it will please some and not others. The bigger factor to increasing attendance is not what night but what team and how good the experience is...As the saying goes "build it and they shall come"

Reading the Speedway Star article I see DD has dropped a very strong hint that Lions will race on Saturdays...is that anybody's else understanding?

Well this is far from what we would want to see from the new promoters. This is the sort of behavior we are led to believe would be typical of what was dished out by the outgoing promoter (not saying it was). Cant see any difference here - hope its a one off and these guys DO LEARN from their mistakes.

Not sure if Glyn has jumped ship or has been pushed, if the latter then it is strange that the new promotion do not want to have the benefit of his knowledge and dedication given the results of a job he has excelled at. Guess the new guys have suitable alternatives. Best of luck Glyn and thanks for all of your past efforts.

Flagrag says"the promotion feel that DH should pay towards it as his stadium" rather than pay for all of it, but as DH would receive no extra revenue it is hard to imagine why he should feel inclined to oblige the promoters. If the track failed to conform to a required standard (and unfortunately a track that facilitates passing is not one of them) then that would be a different matter. Maybe the promoters are looking for a gesture of goodwill from DH but considering he did not pay for the changes on bends 3&4 last year when he owned both the track and the promotion (which incidentally the budget was £6K for all four bends so cant see this year it is £15k for two), It is difficult to see him forking out now & frankly why should he? Maybe the way forward is to include an element of payment to DH based on an increase in attendance, so a better raceway would equal better races and possibly a higher attendance at meetings. Having been involved in the hiring of stadiums for events I know the per capita bonus approach works well in the interests of both parties so (if not already included in the lease agreement) this sticking point could be resolved by providing for DH the possibility of seeing a return on his additional investment in contributing to the required track improvements.

Jonathan, Thanks for confirming the dateline of Sams involvement etc. There is somewhere a youtube video of DH introducing Ermolenko to the supporters for the first time which supports your feedback although didn't realise you had been pushed aside once DH had got things sorted, though I did wonder why you had not continued your involvement alongside Ken Naylor and others. so a belated thank you for all that the tremendous work and effort you put contributed in getting the Lions back up and running in Leicester.

If things were signed and sealed then signed and sealed by who? following your logic there was somebody other than DH who arranged everything without any input whatsoever from him. If that was the case then why didn't those people carry on with the project instead of simply letting DH take over? for you to say "Hemsley brought nothing back" is an inaccurate statement. Clearly there were people involved prior to DH but ultimately he was the one who made it happen similarly he played a part in his own downfall.

the bottom line to this debate is that speedway returned to Leicester due to the efforts of many including DH. I am sure there were opportunities for others to arrange funding and provide a viable promotion but for what ever reason they did not materialize and ultimately DH got hold of the reigns. As we now know, over time DH made mistakes which were avoidable (isn't hindsight a wonderful thing) and has paid the price. Now we need to look forward in the hope that others will learn from the mistakes made and along with the sport in general, become better organised, profitable and thus able to go from strength to strength. With thanks to all of those who have gone before whom without, there would be no opportunity to take advantage of I say GOOD LUCK TO ALL CONCERNED - Hope we have a sunny summer!

There have been (many ) times since as a 10 year old and now some 40 years later that I have screamed, shouted & hated what the Bees have dished out to the Lions - on track. I also resented the role no matter how big or how small the CO played in the closure of what was fast approaching a derelict Blackbird Road stadium. I also loved it beyond almost anything else (sporting) when the Lions came out on top (rare) and so when speedway returned to Leicester & when the rivalry returned (albeit so less emotional than way back) the journey from the dark days of no speedway in Leicester was complete. Why do I say all of this? simple. If there is anything which Leicester or anyone can do to avoid another speedway club being lost to the sport, and in the case of Coventry & Leicester saving one of the greatest historical rivalries in speedway then they should do it. After all, Many would rather have 4 chances every year of beating the Bees on track than willingly being part of a one off event of ending Coventry Bees for good....Actually If the bees did have to ride at Leicester, that would be great, I could go along every week and cheer for the opposition just like I used to do at Brandon whilst the Lions were missing for those 20+ years

Its a good question which any fan of speedway, not just Coventry, should be asking. The sport has a long history attached to it and Coventry, love em or "hate" em (only in sporting competitive terms) have been a significant part of it both as a club and as a team with world class riders attached to it. However, what we have to face up to is that today, we have owners and promoters attached to the Coventry club who have considerable personal interests vested in matters associated with the entity which we know as Coventry Bees and like it or not, the outcome of the deliberation between those parties is going to have to be settled first and the current fan base and history of this iconic club is not the priority to those involved. As stated elsewhere, it is a complex matter, and frankly one beyond what we fans will be told about because (as much as it may hurt) these are financial and contractual matters which does not directly concern those who pay to support the Bees & speedway however, we can hope that matters do get resolved allowing the Bees to race in 2017 and that this heralds the beginning of a new exciting chapter for Coventry speedway and slowly but surly the whole sorry mess of the past few years can begin to be consigned to history.

The league may not have too many riders racing in Sweden but most of the number 1's of the teams do so if the Lions did ride on a Tuesday (which they wont) the other promoters would have something to complain about and we fans would miss seeing what is left of the best riders in the league racing at Leicester. Much better for the Lions to go with a race night which can be established as the regular race night and a second night which makes sense too. Monday, Thursday and Friday remain the best three nights to perm any two from. just hope we get to know what night that will be soon and hear news of the riders who will make up the team.

There will be no alterations that effect the perimeter of the stadium for which the lease applies. The land outside of the current speedway stadium is designated for other sporting purposes. So don't expect moving of fences and temporary stands, but do expect changes to bends 1&2 to reduce the length of the straights meaning less entry speed and more room in and out of the turns ...less speed, more room, more lines = more opportunity to pass...if the riders are good enough, if they are not good enough?, well that would explain why they aren't in the lead in the first place

How would you would know that new owners do not have the money required for track alterations?. But to put things into perspective, last year bends 3 & 4 were altered at a cost below £5k (which DH did not fund) so why would it take more to make similar alterations to the first two bends?...it wouldn't. Incidentally Last years alterations were meant to include bends 1&2 which would have been done had it not been for the weather interfering causing delays and leaving insufficient time to complete the job before the start of the season after which alterations are not allowed.

No. The reason why the claim for compensation stands up is that the promoters abandoned the event and offered no alternative date for the meeting to be re-run. In effect they cancelled an event and didn't refund any money for which they had charged customers for. The cause was an unfit track, legally what the riders did was bring this matter to the attention of the officials who agreed that the meeting could no go ahead. Had the official said "the track is fine" and the riders then refused that would have been a different matter as the riders would have broken their contracts...Which they didn't.

You raise some good point but things are not that complicated - if you follow contract law and normal business practice. 1. Does the lease holder play ball with the BPSA. The presumption you are making here is that the lease holder is also the speedway promoter. However, as a lease holder there is no need for him/her to play ball with the BSPA other than to ensure the stadium/track is suitable for speedway should he wish to promote the sport or hire it to a promoter. 2. I am sure if they have problems, then the lease on the land could be cancelled. The only grounds that would give cause for cancelation of the lease by council would be if monies due for the lease were not paid or if the property was being used for activities outside of the specified purpose. standing empty and unused would not constitute suitable cause if the lease was being paid for - Unlike as it appears the NSC in Manchester. It appears some people think that as the leaseholder DH will be out of pocket without speedway he should cut his losses and just walk away. However, the facility has a future value which like it or not DH has created. i.e. there is a stadium which a promoter can run meetings and earn money from. So it would be a fair presumption that DH as the leaseholder is (as is his right) to seek compensation for the use of the stadium for which he is the rightful tenant either by sub letting (if the lease allows) or selling the lease. I do agree that so we fans know for certain we will have speedway at Leicester in 2017 it would be great to see this matter sorted sooner rather than later. However, we also need to recognise that there are business interests being served here and they need to be sorted out to the satisfaction of the vested parties. clearly some serious and detailed negotiation are going on and frankly, we don't need to know the details, just that they have been concluded and that the Lions will roar (Hopefully with more effect on track than in recent times) next season.