25yearfan

Nice sentiment, but all being well Newport won't be defunct for very long. A speedway only stadium with no restrictions in an area that would support a well run set up in large numbers - there must be a few people looking into it! Maybe a piece on the Newport speedway, Tim Stone years 1997-2008 would be appropriate.

Ipswich speedway legend Tony 'Shrimp' Davey had a good 10 year career but lost a finger in a 1972 good friday crash against Hackney when they had to cut his hand out of the sprocket with bolt croppers. Shrimp also broke his thigh at Leicester in 79 I think when his footrest got caught in the wire mesh fence stopping the bike and throwing him up in the air and down the track. He packed up pro speedway in 1980 after another crash. I feel without these bad smashes Shrimp could of got much further!

What happened to the Felton training track? It seemed to be a hive of activity in the 1980's and provided a great training facility for many riders. Shame its not running nowadays!

Get in touch with the promotors father and son duo Nigel and Gordon Meakins. I believe the track is still in place though but without the fence and spectator facilities and has been used for plough pulling events which has rendered it unusable for speedway. Carmarthen ran for 3 seasons 2002-04 in the CL but never got crowds of a decent level despite the considerable efforts of the promotion so pulled out and the owners of the showground wouldn't let anyone else extend the lease to keep speedway at the venue. I believe the promotion are still to this day paying of their debts

I'd like to see speedway return to the Milton Keynes area cause I think the area could sustain a CL track. A Milton keynes speedway set up would have no links whatsoever with the old Wimbledon speedway set up so comparing speedway to the hideous demise of Wimbledon FC is not relevent! I'd also like to see speedway return to Plough Lane cause I'll feel the stadium could sustain PL racing at the very least and stage some high profile meetings! Although something successfull is being built up at MK Dons I'll never accept it cause it was franchise football, the rape of a famous old club, although the demise of Wimbledon FC started when they moved from Plough Lane to Selhurst Park. Its been proven that the old Plough Lane site could of been turned into an all seater stadium holding the best part of 20,000 more than enough for the club. If Mr W**kelman would of formed an MK football team starting in the lower non league pyramid, cutting loose any old ties with the old Wimbledon FC like the Dons nickname then I'd accept them! The real Wimbledon team is AFC Wimbledon who do have a very feasible future!

Kevin was a quality rider who had the ability to of gone higher than what he did but like he says he seemed to lose momentum after leaving Ipswich for near rivals King's Lyunn in 1983! Great article in backtrack, just a shame they omitted his 1986 year at Boston. This year he was meant to gone back to Mildenhall his first club but disagreements over the financial elements of the deal led to him being loaned out to Boston. His move to Boston came late casue he was included in all of Mildenhalls pre season photos! Mildenhall didn't open in the league until 1975 but did ride in training school challenges against the like of Iwade before then. I believe Kevin was involved in these meetings!

To be fair to speedguy I don't think he was trying to defend the GRA. He was only stating fact, the GRA do only have speedway at two of their stadiums now and must of 'lost interest' at Wimbledon and Oxford cause otherwise we'd still be seeing them two famous old teams in the British League! Yes it was unexcuseable of the GRA to just wipe out 2 clubs with such a rich history and the potential to this day to reopen and become stable clubs thus making the GRA money!!

Very interesting article with lots of correct views on speedway from someone without a lengthy history of involvement in the sport but all these views were what we already knew to be fair and its unlikely this sort of finance would ever be chucked at speedway as the chance of getting a return back on your investment is unlikely! Afterall Posselwhite (or however you spelled his surname) tryed to be innovative and chuck lots of money at Reading during his short spell in charge at Reading but ended up broke and nearly saw the clubs demise! Lots of things sound good in theory but until they are actually tryed we don't know for sure what is the best way forward or not.

Speedway was staged in P N G in the early 70's at the capital Port Moresby I believe and one of the top riders was a P N G native!

I'm convinced Billy Bales retired in 1967 but I maybe wrong! The period from 1964 to when Norwich closed up until when Ipswich reopened in 1969 was when I didn't see too much speedway as I have in other eras although I did go to King's Lynn probably 30 - 40 times in between! Another long career I can think of - Rob Hollingworth - 1972 - 1986, 1999-2007, though like some of the other ones I thought of a few of them years wern't in league racing, things like 2nd halfs and amatuer racing!

Billy Bales retired at the end of 1967 not 1969 as my fellow ex Norwich Stars fans Star Ghost suggests! Though hes right in saying that Billy begun his career at Great Yarmouth in the late 1940's, so he enjoyed a long career! Geof Pymar first rode at Norwich in about 1930 and I believe rode his last season at Middlesbrough or Bradford in about 1962 though I'm sure Star ghost will correct me! Les Collins first rode league speedway for Crewe in 1975 and was still going in 2003 with Glasgow! Neil Collins first rode in about 77/78 and finshed in 2006 with newport. Ivan Mauger first rode speedway in 1955 in New Zealand and finished riding competitively in 1986! Olle Nygren also rode for many years from possibly the late 40's till the mid 70's. If you don't count league careers and just total years spent racing then some riders have had massively long careers. For instance I remember seeing Chris Louis/gary Havelock/Mark loram riding on junior grasstracks in the late 70's/early 80's and others like Phil Morris, Scott Nicholls and Leigh Lanham riding in the mid 80's!

That is quite obvious - many of the spectators who followed Southampton speedway up until the early 60's closure wouldn't now be with us just like many who I stood with at the Firs, (Norwich speedway) but that doesn't mean that a new, young generation of fans couldn't be found. I bet theres quite a lot of old Southampton Saints fans still about anyway! Southamptons a big place so the population is there to draw a crowd from. How many people from Southampton go to Poole speedway or IOW speedway the nearest tracks to the city? - Probably not many, but if speedway returned to Southampton I bet many persons from the area would be enticed to go. Southampton remains in my opinion like Norwich, Bristol, Halifax, Exeter, Cornwall, Wimbledon, Cradley, Leicester and no doubt others a totally untapped potential hotbed of speedway. If only the local Council could see this! Good luck with the reunion!

Southampton would be a great place to reopen speedway as I'm sure it would be well supported!

Hope it comes off but like everything else in speedway I'll believe it when I see it! Good luck!

Ellesmere Port stadium still stands to this day. Tony Mole was twice turned down in 2001 when trying for planning permission there despite strong local support, which was evident at the very well attended public meetings they had. The reasons given for turning the application down were parking issues and the dreaded noise aspect though speedway had been staged there up until the end of 1985 from 1972 when the bikes were much more noisier. I'm sure that CL or even lower budget PL racing could work at Ellesmere Port.

Graham Clifton is Luke Cliftons uncle so I'm led to believe!

Agree totally! Regionalisation goes on now anyway as it is - Look at all the northern tracks that make up a big chunk of the PL. They stay there cause they know they'll get local away fans coming to meetings which wouldn't happen if they went in to the EL. I'm sure that with their large support, Workington would of moved up into the EL by now if they were more central.

The CL has offered young/new riders a proper constructive less competitive than the 2nd Division (PL) league to fine tune their talents. The CL has offered capable riders who although aren't good enough for higher leagues but are still capable of producing entertaining speedway an outlet. The CL is much more constructive and provides more opportunities than what the old 2nd half junior/reserve leagues ever managed to be! The CL has offered teams like Boston, Mildenhall, Stoke, Scunthorpe, Rye House, Berwick, St Austell at a new venue who all struggled to afford higher league racing in the past and had closed down an cheaper alternative to allow them to reopen, rejuvenate then eventually make the move back into higher league racing. - I'm local to Mldenhall and believe me without the CL the Fen Tigers would of never come back into speedway and I'd say the same applies at Rye House as well. The CL has also offers opportunities for new teams/old training tracks such as Plymouth (yes I know they had a team up to 1970 but this is a new track and 36 years down the line!) Buxton, Somerset, Iwade (Sittingbourne), the old Linlithgow to try league racing and in the case of Somerset and I suspect soon in the future Plymouth the momentum to try a higher league. The Premier league in particular has the CL to thank for its strength of numbers. Without the CL this year Oxford speedway would now be defunct instead of the situation now when the CL has given them a fighting chance of building itself up again. The same scanario applied in 1996 at Arena Essex cause when the previous 1995 top flight promotion uped and left to supposedly pastures greener at Hackney. The stadium owners at Arena kept speedway alive there by running CL when otherwise speedway would of probably closed. Yes I'd agree that an element of the CL namely the utterly ridiculous grading system is shambolic but the concept of the CL is brilliant in that it has done so much for the sport in terms of teams, tracks and riders. The CL should be preserved at all costs! Again I've seen more posters put in their prefered league set ups for next with Exeter, Buxton and Sittingbourne in a reorganised PL. Exeter aren't running next year while Sittingbourne and Buxton have small budgets at CL level so wouldn't contemplate a higher league set up. Anyway getting rid of the CL would see the end of the Rye House Raiders and the Boston Barracudas - 2 of the better ran and productive CL outfits.

No way ever should the CL be sacrificed cause the EL is struggling! CL has been one of the best innovations ever in speedway - so it should stay in its present state! Anyway look at the situation realistically - Sittingbourne and Buxton couldn't afford to go into a more expensive league cause they struggle to keep afloat at their present CL level. If they were forced to move inot a higher level then their only alternative would be to cease with League racing. Exeter aren't running next year do to planning difficulties. Theirs no guarantee that Oxford will revert to higher league next year anyway. What should happen - The EL should be joined by 4 PL teams making the numbers up to 14. One home and one away in the league, play offs, kO cup, bring back the internationals, bring two foriegn clubs over to ride challenge matchs at 14 EL tracks at the start of the season to give them another fixture. 6 man teams with 2 of the team British. The PL would lose 4 tracks but hopefully Scunthorpe, Plymouth and Oxford could be persuaded to move up from the CL to increase numbers, with any other new track reopening or moving up from the CL having to go into the PL. In a few years the PL could be bolstered by the return of Cradley, Leicester, Exeter Hull ETc. 3 riders out of every PL team must be British. But please the CL as it is!

If it was done properly, EG the fair distribution of riders then it could work for most teams but; I'm afraid Buxton and Sittingbourne struggle to afford CL so most definately couldn't run at an even higher level. Also finishing the CL would most probably mean the end of one of its stronger better run clubs in Boston who don't have a track of their own and don't get regular good crowds at KL. So looking at these points it is far better to continue with 3 leagues - but trying to make the EL more interesting and viable. With Exeter hopefully returing, Oxford likely to revert to PL, Scunthorpe set to move up with Plymouth thinking about it, as well as strong murmouring from 2 former big league teams who could have new stadiums then their would be scope for 3-4 of the better PL tracks to move up without hurting the PL number wise!

8 team League won't work much better than what we've got now cause its too small, therefore fans would soon get obored of the lack of variety. I agree that guest riders doesn't seem quite right - a bit like a Liverpool player guesting for Manchester United! But in speedway the teams don't operate squad systems, the ampount of speedway riders about is low, riders of the required level are rarely sittign on the sidelines and injuries do occur quite often especially now with riders riding all over Europe in the different Leagues. I'm afraid that guest riders are a necessary evil of our sport. Its would be no good say Coventry replacing an injured heat leader with a local 2nd halfer whos signed on for the Bees just to eradicate guest riders. It would be far better Coventry getting a guest who is of a similar level to their injured heat leader in order to have a competitive meeting. But I do agree that more advertising would help matters no end!

So the Boulevard has been saved, interesting! Always liked Craven park facility wise even though the speedway track was to narrow in my opinion. If HKR rugby team do get a new stadium then Craven Park would be ideal for speedway and greyhounds. I'm sure that the Boulevard would be a complete no goer trying to get planning permision for speedway being right in the middle of housing? Therefore wouldn't it be best for everyone if eventually the Boulevard was sold for housing and then Craven Park is used for speedway with a wider circuit, dogs and possibly other events like an all weather pitch in the middle?

interesting that one of speedway major aspects, the starting tapes was instigated at a track long forgotton in a city that hasn't seen the sport for such a long time. If the stadium owners could be persuaded, Nottingham greyhound stadium would make an ecellent venue for the sport in an area where their is currently no speedway. With the planning application at Long Eaton being turned down, the extremely high cost involved anyhow (£6 million to build a new speedway stadium on the grounds of the old stadium site that was sold for about £900,0000) and with no more applications being put in then the chances of speedway ever being staged again in Long Eaton are extremely slim. I'm sure a lot of the former Long Eaton Invaders fans would support a team in Nottingham, a big city with the potential to attract an even bigger audience. Probably some Long Eaton fans did come from Nottingham. Long Eaton ran as the Nottingham Outlaws in the late 70's and their junior team of the early 90's also went under the Nottingham Outlaws banner. Nottingham Outlaws in the PL running at Nottingham greyhound stadium - could it work?

The main Norwich to London Liverpool street train line runs past the Romford Greyhound stadium and that runs so many trains probably 19 hours a day everyday. The roads beside the stadium would undoubtedly be busy being in an extremely built up area close to London. The new Birmingham track at Perry Bar proves that urban speedway tracks are possible and the noise nuiance is in reality blown out of all proportions. The pits area has been built with materials that baffle the noise and is surrounded by a wooden acoustic barrier. When I went there I couldn't even hear the bikes being warmed up, even standing near the pits gate and my hearing is still very good! The crowd the night I went to Perry Bar must of been the best part of 3000 and the area outside the stadium wasn't affected by the size of the crowd. 2-3 hours once a week of short bursts of noise that is baffled anyway in an extremely busy urban area isn't a noise problem in reality. Therefore I think if the Council and local residents could be made to understand that 25 speedway meetings a year wouldn't be a problem for anyone then I think it would be possible to reintroduce speedway back at Romford at the greyhound track.

Great to see some positive steps being taken with regards to speedway in Leicester, one of the great untapped hotbeds of speedway. But this message should be in thre 'general discussions' rather than 'years gone by' cause the supporters efforts to try and get a track back in Leicester are happening right now and would get more attention in the GD's section!