Stoke Potter

It's about looking at the bigger picture, and what's good for the sport. What showcases the sport in it's best light. Which track is better, Plymouth or Belle Vue? Just track not stadium. All those who disagree with what I put above, answer the question, which is better? If you want to save the sport in this country then it needs more tracks like Belle Vue and less that are like Plymouth and countless others I could mention. If Arena Essex (and any club for that matter) come back then they need a copy of Belle Vue, start with the basics, track in a field. Get the track right and build from that. Don't shoe-horn tracks into places where they don't really fit.

Some sense in that, if it's going to work in any season a shorter one will be best.

You're playing one-upmanship over the demise of a long standing Speedway track..? Obviously a true fan of the sport. The answer to the question is when it was around it was better than the Plymouth "training" track, even in the more recent times. And if your memory goes back long enough it was regarded as one of the best in the country. Yes really!

Can't help but think it'll all end in tears unless there is someone with extremely deep pockets behind it. Plymouth making the same mistake as countless speedway promoters before them and throwing money at riders. They should be investing in their most important asset, their track, and start putting a proper sized track in instead of the small training track they've got now.

Forcing him to watch Speedway, is that her idea of torture?!!

You're missing the point. In these politically correct times Greyhound Racing is, rightly or wrongly, seen as barbaric and out of place in the 21st century. Wallow in your own ignorance.

To those claiming it will be fixed by bringing the best riders back, I recall an article in the Speedway Star a few season's back discussing which riders draw the crowds. It was stated that even Tai Woffinden (who may have even been World Champ at the time) would do little to increase numbers and the only rider who made any difference was Nicki Pedersen. In terms of rider quality, I feel these is a cut-off point, you don't need the absolute best in the world but they do have to be quite a high standard to entertain the crowd. NL/Div3 racing does very little for me for example. And to those dissing the idea of the tracks being the problem and stating they are like that by necessity, yes that's exactly the problem, tracks shoe-horned into dog stadia are, for the most part, fundamentally flawed! The tracks are compromised. Solve that problem. Greyhound racing must be one of the few sports with a darker future than Speedway, relying on them for facilities is another, not so minor, flaw in the plan...

The majority of British tracks are either too narrow, too short, have sub optimal bend radius, lack appropriate banking, or suffer from consistently poor surface preparation. Or a combination of some or all of those things. Essentially most of them need to bigger and wider.

I have just watched the IoW meeting mentioned earlier. The analysis is as follows: 15 Heats 7 passes in total 9 heats had 0 passes Riders still spread out by the length of the straight. Conclusion: Changing engines will make zero difference to the racing spectacle. That conclusion is purely based on this 1 meeting so obviously isn't fair and reasonable, also the riders weren't particularly evenly matched. The racing could possibly have been better with a more even line-up. I have been to IoW 4 or 5 times in the past and that was fairly typical of the racing served up there. This is not meant as a criticism of the efforts of the IoW promotion. I, and (surely) every other speedway fan in the world, want this: And nobody try and tell me there's no throttle control or track craft on display here. It's no coincidence it's at Belle Vue!

I don't dismiss at all that something needs to be done with the engines and I'm sure people who have been involved in the past such as yourself could (and should) advise in that regard. From what I gather, one of the features of the modern engines is that they are difficult to optimally setup with little margin of error. What could be done with the current engines to improve that? I don't really see how the UK could go it alone with a particular engine type/config, to me it would marginalise the sport further, i.e. it would be different from European, Australian, etc. Speedway. British Speedway could fix it's tracks and that would actually bring it more in line with Poland for example. I don't see how changing the rules on new tracks has any negative effect on anyone currently in the sport, why wouldn't it be done? To completely "fix" the sport you have to: Sort the tracks, Sort the engines, Have totally evenly matched teams, Have a proper/better incentive/payment scheme for the riders, and bring back weekend racing. None of that is easy and fixing the tracks is actually one of the easier things on the list...

Fair enough, thank you for answering.

Incidentally Barry Bishop appears to have the space to modify his track to be like the NSS but would he do it..?

I agree that tracks aren't the magic key to fix everything but sorting them is one of the biggest single things you can do to save the sport and improve the entertainment. If the NSS had been built 20 years ago I'd wager they would have retained more fans to the present day. And if every track was like the NSS then the image of no racing/passing would not hold water.

Unfortunately, it is people like you two that will see the sport dead. You're both completely missing the point. The NSS is not the best purely because it's bigger, it is about the combination of all the relevant dimensions that produce the best, most entertaining, Speedway spectacle. I don't subscribe to the "throttle control" argument but even if I did it is irrelevant in terms of producing the most entertaining Speedway. i could go on but it is pointless because you're not seeing the wood for the trees and persist in harking back to previous eras with rose tinted glasses.

And they are still inferior to the NSS so therefore could be better. To survive in the 21st century you have to get away from the perception (and actually the reality) that there is very little racing/passing at most tracks and first out of the start wins. For any newly built tracks the rules should be changed so the minimum size is 300m and also changes to minimum widths on straights and bends to that of something approach NSS dimensions, I can't give a dimension for that as I don't know the relevant widths. For existing tracks, efforts should be made to increase dimensions, bend radii, etc. where possible. There are currently too many fundamentally flawed tracks.

The basic product is no good and not attractive to the paying public in sufficient numbers. First thing to be done is fix the tracks, NSS apart.

Progress of sorts, providing it doesn't die the death mid-season. Next thing, they need to change the rules on minimum track sizes/widths for any/all new tracks. No more small, narrow rubbish.

An amazing rider/entertainer. His race last year in the British Final with Chris Harris will live long in my memory. R.I.P. Danny. A hero on a Speedway bike.

If I recall correctly it was at Hull, possibly coming out of the second bend on to the back straight, ran out of space on the outside (Hull was very narrow?) and his arm was very badly smashed. Happy to be corrected, all from what I recall hearing/reading at the time, I didn't actually see it.

Not sure if it got answered but it was Sean Wilson who had Staechmann off and ended his career. Quite surprised to Pickering mentioned as dirty as I didn't pick up on it at the time and he never seemed to be overly forceful to me. He was a 1 line rider though, out at the fence, so probably took a few out there with him. There's world of difference between taking someone to the fence and putting someone through it though. I get the impression that modern era riders think they have a divine right to pass someone and if they get taken to the fence it's dirty riding.

I recall some years ago that it was stated in the Speedway Star that NP was the only rider that would draw in extra fans on the gate, having a much greater effect than Woffinden who, it was said, would make little difference. Well done Sheffield!

if they really are opening it up to a wider audience then somebody had better start improving the tracks, and fast! Come and watch this boring, processional racing on tracks that are badly shaped, too narrow and poorly prepared. Let's hope the money is properly invested this time - in making genuinely decent speedway tracks up and down the country.

If they sort out more banking I suspect it will make it a very good track, even when conditions have to be slicker like tonight.

Looks like they've made a fairly decent job of the new track. Not much of a wide line, is that normal or because it was slicker then usual? Possibly better with more banking??

You can do better than that surely..? Come on, formulate an argument and prove to me I'm wrong......................................................................................