25yearfan

Essex Showground just outside Chelmsford? Romford Greyhound stadium? A stadium not far from Southend would surely be viable? I'm sure while Rye House remains as it is physically then League speedway of some sort will return at some point. Saturday nights were popular just a couple of years ago.

Thanks for the Wikipedia information. It looks like it would have been possible to have accommodated speedway after the 2nd World War as is proved by the car racing!

I wonder why speedway never returned to Stamford Bridge in the immediate years after the war, given how popular the sport was then, the track still existed and the midget car meetings were well attended?

25 meetings a season, one day a week at the most, at Perry Bar in which 30 minutes of motorbike noise is spread over 2 hours and the pits area is adequately situated and acoustic barriered of so that no noise is heard from it doesn't constitute a noise problem! A designated park for wheeled/noisy motorsports uhmmm! - Birmingham have been there before in the 1980's when speedway struggled through 2 full League seasons and a handful of open meetings in 1984 at Bordesley Green! Birmingham Brummies speedway is in its spiritual home and best place - Perry Bar Greyhound stadium!

Yes a horrible moment which in reality Dugard should have been heavily reprimanded for but he done it in a way that makes the incident look like it could have been accidental! Like you say that ruthless determination from Dugard that no doubt helped him go as far as he did! Haven't a link but try typing Eastbourne v Arena Essex 1995.

Theirs an infamous incident involving Robert Ledwith and Martin Dugard from Eastbourne in about 1995 on Youtube. Ledwith riding as a reserve for Arena Essex inflicted a shock defeat on Arlington expert Martin Dugard who then would of had one of the highest averages in the top flight. In true Dugard family bad losing fashion, Dugard took offence to this shock defeat by a reserve on his home patch where he was nigh on unbeatable by not shutting off after the chequered flag and taking Ledwith clean through the fence which as one can imagine caused quite a commotion. This shows how much ability Ledwith had. I'm sure some posters on here would have been present that evening and will be able to elaborate more!

A 15/16 year old rider who is quick enough, and ready for the commitment of League racing will almost certainly get a team place in the NL. Putting a wobbler not yet ready for NL racing is counterproductive to everyone including the rider. Anyway if a promotor has the choice of either an inexperienced 15/16 year old or a 30+ year old journeyman whos been around for a while who are at the same level, then the youngster will get the team place cause he/she will be seen as having more potential to improve. As a Mildenhall speedway regular, I can categorically state that Jon Armstrong has provided some top notch racing at West Row in recent seasons and is renowned for his great experience and mentoring of young riders! As for Robert Ledwith, he was a tenacious, talented rider in the early 90's in the top 2 Divisions who probably didn't achieve as much as what his ability suggested he would. If hes just half as good as what he was back then, he will serve a useful purpose in next years NL!

A very weak 2nd Division team but built within a budget understandably. The move up was needed to create more interest cause a club like Birmingham should have higher aspirations than the NL. The trouble is that losing to many home meetings will see crowds plummet. Really hope things work out for Birmingham in 2019 but it looks likely team changes will be needed mid season?

Ipswich speedways greatest rider and one of Englands finest, John Louis was born in 1941 and had his first rides on a speedway bike at Foxhall in mid 1969, so he was just 28 I believe! I'm all for bringing on young riders, that has to be a main aspect of the National League but I disagree with putting a rider in the team just cause hes young. Also if riders like Jon Armstrong, Robert Ledwith are still quick enough then their experience can be invaluable to young riders!

Quite agree Dean, but on the other hand I've always taken the stance that if a track attracts a paying crowd then its only fair that the riders get a share of the gate receipts cause they are the reason why fans are paying to watch!

Fair enough!

Sceptical of this move to take Ipswich up, although I probably think in the right conditions the Witches natural place is in the top flight! Looks like Buster bought Peterborough and Ipswich in order to keep the top flight going. I can only see a conflict of interests cause Buster doesn't like Ipswich so he won't want to see Ipswich outdoing his beloved Stars. This will surely hinder Louis's team building efforts. Say for instance Louis somehow managed to convince one of the top GP riders to join would Buster want to finance it when it would be costly and might propel the Witches above the Stars. Also if the Witches start of poorly, and Louis has to make changes and manages to convince one of the Worlds top riders to join mid season to help a late push for the play offs, will Buster again sanction such a move which could force King's Lynn out of the play off picture? With both teams now likely set to share the same racenight, will Buster worry that some fans may chose to go to Ipswich instead, if the Witches were doing better with a more exciting team? All I'm hoping for is that Ipswich are competitive and that admission prices aren't pushed up to much!

A previous poster said that Smith had been released by Belle Vue before he had signed for Redcar!

Here by lies the problem! With the costs involved in buying equipment, maintaining them, fuel, tyres, buying transport, maintaining it and petrol and diesel costs, a rider getting 250 pounds for a NL meeting without sponsorship wouldn't see much profit! The NL undoubtedly saved Birmingham, Eastbourne, Coventry and Cradley from closure/disappearing completely after losing their tracks, but the adverse effect was that these former higher League powerhouses have pushed up the rates in the NL which has in the last 2 seasons seen King's Lynn Young Stars and now Buxton withdraw because of it! The modern era 3rd tier has always been a fine balancing act between clubs there for development and those who need to attract a viable crowd to survive, just in recent years this act has gone up some notches. Hopefully with Birmingham and Eastbourne now in a League more natural to their size and history the NL can become more balanced. If Cradley ever get a new track (fingers crossed!) and the Kent management realise that to grow the club and prevent going stale they will have to move up at some point then the NL might be even more balanced?

Fair play to the Masons in taking the gamble of taking the Birmingham Brummies up in to the 2nd tier. Though I suspect had they of stayed in the NL things would of gotten very stale and that would of ultimately been costly. Therefore moving up despite the extra costs was the best route to take cause as long as they get through this difficult 1st season unscathed with bigger crowds then hopefully they can continue to grow. Danyon Hume is fast but hasn't yet proved he can ride at the speeds required in the 2nd tier consistently enough without over riding, crashing and getting injured. I can understand the Brummies being reluctant to take another chance on him, but I'd love him to establish himself in the top 2 Leagues. Castagna seems to get a lot of chances cause of who his father is and is likely cheap but apparently has improved since his abortive spells at Sheffield and Ipswich. The new Scandinavian is a gamble but a cheap one. Osterrgaard has been a top 2nd tier rider but is he on the wane? Morris should do a steady middle order job.

Going to quite a lot of Mildenhall and Ipswich meetings in 2018, I can confirm that Danny Ayres was certainly one of the bright spots and in my opinion would of done a job for the Witches at the bottom end. Dannys only been riding League 4-5 seasons, is a top heatleader at NL level and has aspirations to go higher, which I think he still can so I don't class him as a journeyman. On the other hand Danny Halsey who was a good servant to Mildenhall has been about for 15 years in the 3rd tier is now a journeyman cause he will probably never go any higher. That said hes still a decent enough rider and experienced enough to be of good use to young riders in the League. I'm pretty certain that if you had a Mildenhall team with mainly junior league standard riders, you lose a big % of the crowd which would seriously threaten the tracks existence.

Shame that Jack Smith a rider who still looks like he has untapped potential has been discarded because of the points limit being reduced only to be replaced by Danny Phillips who looks like he probably won't go any further.

First of all, very sad to see the epitomy of NL racing Buxton pull out. Understand the reasons, but sad that more couldn't have been done to keep the Hitmen in League racing from the BSPA cause afterall the place has much more scope for practice opportunities than most other tracks in the Country. I hope the lack of League racing there doesn't have a negative effect on its practice activities? As for lowering the points limit, its not natural for a League reducing in numbers to have a lower points limit. Indeed a smaller League should have a higher points to account for the riders left on the shelf by the reduction of teams. While one of the National Leagues main objectives is as a development League, you still need a certain standard to make it viable for teams to attract a paying crowd in. Yes there are journeymen, but these riders can help young riders and like I was touching on above, a team full of wobblers won't attract a crowd. The junior Leagues below the National League serve the purpose of "blooding" novice riders of whom the better ones will progress higher. Without the 3rd tier Birmingham, Eastbourne, Mildenhall, Stoke, Cradley and others in the past would of closed, and others wouldn't of contemplated opening up. So this aspect of an affordable League for tracks to come down to in hard times/new tracks to start up in shouldn't be overlooked.

I'm more concerned with Peterborough getting viable crowds on a Monday or a Thursday night. Something which has been an issue in the past.

Exactly what I've been saying in the last few weeks! While not the reason for every club, a lot of the problem is the cut of dates to finish your clubs League fixtures. This is cause many clubs including my local track Ipswich, hold back on staging to many meetings before the 6 week School summer holidays because this period is the time when they attract their biggest crowds, so not staging a home meeting during one of these 6 weeks is not a good financial move. This means that the cut of dates which are normally a week or two after the summer holidays makes things tight and you then get the financial suicide situation of clubs staging more than one home meeting in a week which many fans struggle with in terms of money and/or other commitments! Another reason is the riders unwillingness to ride on a surface that isn't 100%, the Craig Cook led, riders refusal to ride in the Ipswich V Glasgow fixture in August being a prime example. Chris Louis was right in saying that in his day that meeting would of taken place!

Simmo rode speedway from 1963-87 then in 89 and 93. He won the World pairs, was it 3 times in a row? World team cup winner multiple times and came 2nd in the individual World Championships. He was also a team manager, track curator, promotor, quality grasstrack rider, done other motorcycle racing disciplines and had very interesting/insightful opinions on the sport! His longevity, at his best, World class ability combined with his interesting character in my opinion makes him a legend!

Great entertainer and servant to speedway for a lot of years! Surely deserves a 25 year farewell meeting!

Two things that spring to mind when thinking of Simmo is, wonderfully talented rider, dodgy wideboy character!

Scotty Nicholls started junior grasstrack in the mid 80's and was riding after the meeting at Ipswich around 87/88! Jon Armstrong would of probably started around the same time I reckon! Paul Hurry the same again!

One of the greatest riders I've ever seen in my lengthy speedway watching time! Although he obviously done very well in speedway if Ronnie Moore would of had Ivan Maugers dedication and professionalism he'd of eclipsed Maugers achievements!