25yearfan

I believe Ipswich Witches legends John 'Tiger' Louis and Tony 'Shrimp' Davey jointly hold the never to be beaten track record at the old well supported Brooklands stadium in Romford. Romford Greyhound stadium - Would make a great venue for speedway.

25yearfan is just my username it doesn't actually reflect the entire time I've been watching speedway which is much longer! From my experiences of stock cars/bangers I've always enjoyed it more on shale cause the cars broadslide unlike on tarmac where some races can be like watching a motorway! I suppose tarmac is easier to maintain, more weather proof and doesn't spray dirt into engines and chasis'. Whatever the reason spedeworth stock cars, the stock car promotion that run at Great Yarmouth stadium don't like shale and are unlikely to change that stance. They are too successfull at Caister Road to want to leave or for the stadium owners the Franklin family to evict them. I'm sure if Great Yarmouth stadium track would of remained shale then speedway would of been tryed again at some point after 1961.

Unlike what an earlier poster says Great Yarmotuh stadium has more chance of reopening than West Ham and New Cross cause unlike these 2 defunct London teams the stadium still remains and will probably do for many years yet looking at the recent redevelopments! Skegness failed because the owner was highly uncooperative. The owner wouldn't let the promotion use the water supply which meant that track preperation was made very difficult. Crowds were poor but I think would of been good during the holiday season. The speedway promotion had to break into the stadium to retrieve their equipment after closing for the final time in 1998! The appearance of ex Great Yarmouth rider Billy Bales at the grand opening of the new stand at Caister Road shows the affinity the owners the Franklin family still have with speedway. The Franklins have ran the stadium since day one and I know for a fact they aren't against speedway returning to the stadium. What actually stops spedway coming back is the fact the spedeworth stock cars don't like shale tracks so wouldn't share their circuit with speedway. The stock cars is immensely popular at Great Yarmouth stadium which means they have priority and spedeworth stock cars wouldn't want to leave a profitable venue. Laying a temporary track down and lifting for every stock car meeting wouldn't be viable. If the dog track was squeezed right up to the perimeter wall and made narrower, the stock cars moved up and also made narrower then maybe a very small and permanent tight speedway track could be laid inside. The cost of doing this would be excessive probably a 6 figure sum. This is the plan that a prospective consortium has had in mind recently but couldn't raise the sufficient finance to do it. Looking at Great Yarmouth Bloaters 3 spells in speedway from the late 40's to the early 60's its obvious that the sport struggled to be viable. I remember crowds out of the holiday period were poor but during the holiday spell particularly the 6 week school holiday period the crowds were very good. Very similar to how existing 'seaside' PL venue I.O.W operate today and they are a co-operative with the fans basically paying to keep them afloat as well as paying to watch the racing. Given the chequered history of speedway at the Caister Road stadium and the local economy being largely based around the summer holidays period I think Great Yarmouth would be ideal for a shortened season which means that Conference League speedway would be the only viable option. Now it would take a brave, very wealthy soul to invest £100,000+ to introduce Conference League speedway to Great Yarmouth stadium, a venue which hasn't staged speedway since a loss making non league season in 1961 and with a chequered speedway history which is why speedway ended there in 61. I'd say looking at all the facts it is higly unlikely that speedway will return to Great Yarmouth but not impossible by any means. Look at the new tracks emerging in the last 10 years. The majority of them were previously seen as 'no hopers' to ever see speedway again. So it can and does happen!

I'm sure that a few fans who have spectated at Wolves and Coventry will revert to following the newly reopened Birmingham Brummies at Perry Bar. But overall the benefits to British speedway of having a formnr giant in Birmingham back far outweighs Coventry and Wolves having to attract a few new fans to replace those who've gone to Birmingham. Anyway when a track close most of the support goes with it, only a few go to other tracks to watch. My old team Norwich is a prime example of this! Newport and Tim Stone have to consider whats best for the club, maybe Tim stepping aside to let someone else try and pick it up and apply better PR is needed. If this was done then Newport would stand a really good chance of not being effected to severely by a Bristol revival.

British speedway needs many more tracks in traditionally popular centres like Bristol as well as ensuring existing tracks keep going such as Newport. During the Britol Bulldogs (yes Reading are not the Bulldogs in speedway as far as I'm concerned!) short spell back in speedway in 1977/1978 Newport shut in 77 cause Bristol has taken all their support after the 76 Wasps BL team wa transfered to Bristol while Newport dropped into the National League. The BSPA would be extremely shortsighted to block a Bristol revival. Newport when it reopened in 1997 enjoyed good crowds for a few seasons but recent years have seen crowds drop alarmingly. While I respect Tim Stone for reopening Newport and keeping it going his poor PR skills are a big reason why the fans have stayed away in recent years. I feel that maybe a new fresh go ahead promotion would improve things. If Bristol reopened in the near future it wouldn't be like the late 70's cause its unlikely that Bristol would take Newports team. Bascically speedway needs a reborn Bristol speedway team and Newport to keep going. If both tracks were ran in the correct manner then both tracks could be sustainable while running in the same era.

Both Wales and Scotland could do with 1 stand alone Conference League track to assist with the development of youngsters. Swansea would stand a much better chance than what Carmathen did in trying to support a CL outfit. Likewise I'd of thought a team in Motherwell would be better suited to getting crowds than what a team in a field outside a provincial town (Linlithgow) did. But both Scotland and Wales have had the before mentioned stand alone CL teams in the past with Carmathen Dragons in Wales and Linlithgow lightning, then Ashfield Lightning Giants and most recently the Armadale Devils. While great breeding grounds for up and coming riders financially none of them have been viable with poor crowds at them all which is why none of them are still in operation. Not just Scotland and Wales but areas all over Great Britain would benefit from having CL teams in order to help British riders to 'climb up the ladder'. But the harsh reality is that most CL tracks don't make money in fact are costly exercises which is why their aren't more teams in the CL. Anyway the 3 existing clubs in Scotland and Wales find it hard to attract viable crowds as it is. Though I'd of thought that Cardiff could support some sort of League speedway. Aberdeen certainly has the population to support a speedway track but its Northenly location (isn't it about 150-200 miles north of Glasgow I think?) means that it would be highly unpractical in a British League. Imagine Plymouth V's Aberdeen! I'd like to see more teams in the British speedway League as we certainly need more teams but we have to look at how difficult and costly it is to open new tracks. Look at Birmingham for instance. They last rode in the old National League 20 years ago and have only just come back for next season and they are potentially one of the best supported tracks in the Country. Likewise before the 2006 season speedway racing hadn't been seen in the big city of Plymouth for 36 years. My team Norwich haven't had their own track since 1964 and we were one of the biggest clubs in the Country! I think you'll find that Tim Stone could indeed stop a track from opening that was 30 miles or less from his Newport track. King's Lynn stopped nearby Swaffham from opening a track up 4 years ago. If an existing promotor has no problem with a nearby track reopening then their is no problem. This is what has happened with Birmingham as Wolves and Coventry have not objected.

Colin Hill the long serving Exeter promotor who sadly passed away 2 years ago ran Milton Keynes in 1992. He had to shut cause MK cause the money he was losing their was also putting a severe strain on Exeter speedway. Indeed Tony Olson Exeters NO1 had to be released cause Exeter coudn't afford to keep him after MK speedway drained the promotions finances. Yes the SCB in the end suspended operations but the biggest drawback about Milton Keynes speedway was the poor crowds. If the crowds are good then other problems that can occur when running a speedway track can normally be sorted out. Lets hope that one day the Milton Keynes Knights will be seen in British speedway again at a new track of their own. Interestingly the orgaanisation planning to build a new dog track in Milton Keynes the BSI are the same lot who own Swindon stadium that have been forced to include speedway in their rebuilding plans for the Abbey stadium in Swindon.

I now realise that I got George Newton mixed up with Joe Abbot a guy who rode for many years and way into his 40's when he was killed on track at Bradfords Odsal circuit.

I always thought that George Newton was killed in a track crash in the early 1950's when he was way into his 40's.

Yes the vandalism helped to undermine all confidence in the future of racing at Eldfield Park. But the main factor in the 1992 closure was the poor crowds when trying to compete in what had then become a very expensive Division 2. To be fair Milton Keynes alwaya struggled for a decent hardcore of support even in the early days at the Groveway. They done well to go for as long as they did in reality. Shame they couldn't of hung on for another couple of years cause in 1994 the 3rd Division was formed now known as the Conference League. Milton Keynes speedway at Eldfield Park would of been ideal at this level Thats why I think if Milton Keynes ever stages speedway racing again then the Conference League would be the only league it could viably do it. The other track who closed in 1992 - Mildenhall only reopened cause of the CL. The Fen Tigers have struggled badly for crowds this year in the PL and will in my opinion have to drop down in order to keep going in speedway long term.

As I've mentioned on other threads on this forum - Are the former promotors of Wimbledon speedway really that serious about opening a speedway track up at Central Park Sittingbourne? And trying to recreate the Wimbledon Dons theme at Sittingbourne wouldn't work cause it isn't Wimbledon, it would alienate the locals and it didn't work when tryed in 1991 at Eastbourne. Yes Wimbledon first shut in 1991. - BUT they did reopen in 2002 in the CL at Plough Lane and after the problems of the first year were overcome the operation was a successfull one at the level Wimbledon speedway competed at. - Its total rubbish to suggest that this 4 season spell of CL racing at Plough Lane in your opinion didn't (as good as) happen or wasn't a proper speedway set up! Milton Keynes could sustain a CL speedway team. A greyhound track cannot stage greyhounds 7 days a week. The Council have already suggested they wouldn't be against speedway taking place at a new Greyhound stadium. If this new Greyhound stadium facility does become reality then possibly speedway racing would stand a chance of reopening there.

No chance of speedway taking place at the new MK Dons (Franchise FC) stadium. The proposed new greyhound stadium would be the ideal place to reopen Milton Keynes Knights speedway team. The CL would be the best league to do it in because when they operated before it couldn't really afford Division 2 (PL) level speedway. Wishful thinking on my part what with my love of speedway and absolute hatred and total disagreement about how MK Dons came into existence. - Hopefully the MK Dons wil continue their slide down the football pyrimid and into eventual extinction. Then their will be a vacant state of the art 21,000 seater stadium in the middle of England that could host speedway amongst other events!

I thought Norwich did ride a match or two at neutral Ipswich in the first season after Foxhall stadium was built. But then again it was a long time ago and my memories not that good! When Ipswich first opened in 51 I believe, the majority of the team was made up of Norwich juniors. I believe the Norwich management played a big part in the development and very early years of Ipswich speedway. While it may not of been official, Ipswich was in effect a nursery outfit to Norwich due to these factors and racing in a lower league than the Stars.

The Rye House 'home' leg of the 1992 Division 2 Ko cup final against Peterborough was staged at Arena Essex cause it couldn't be fitted in at Hoddesdon. In 1999 when Rye Houuse reopened they ran most of their 'home' meetings at Mildenhall and one at Eastbourne and King's Lynn. I remember a 2001 Mildenhall V's Boston CL meeting being staged at Rye House right late in the season cause Mildenhall wasn't thought to of been a viable proporsition on any day other than a weekend. Wembley often used other venues during thei time in League racing caue of the tight schedule the gret stadium had. They used Wimbledon alot in 1948 when Wembley staged the Olympics. I remember in 1951-52 the great Norwich Stars raced one or two 'home' matches at the new Ipswich circuit which was then a 'nursery' track to Norwich. Their has been more 'neutral' matches in the past I'm sure but my memories not that good! Its normally happened late in October when teams have been fully stretched to complete their fixtures in time.

Emmo races in banger events under the trackstar banner. Kevin Teager has done some racing at Ipswich and some other spedeworth tracks. My knowledge of stock cars/hot rods though I've been quite a few times is limited cxaue I'm not a fan of the sport. I can never work out why in East Anglia stock cars is hugely popular cause I don't think its a patch on speedway. Maybe the fact that its easier to get into and local drivers are in the majority are probable reasons.

Yes remember both of them riding. Seem to remember that Thompson had some potential but then just disapeared of the scene like so many do. Other ex East Anglian speedway riders now doing some racing in stock cars are Kevin Teager and Emmerson Fairweather.

Had a look on the Ellesmere Port speedway website last night after reading your mssage. Its very basic and they haven't update it for a while but its good to see it around! They state they are ongoing in a search/effort to reopen speedway in the area. How genuine they are regarding this I don't know but its helkp to know their interest of some level to do this. Theirs an E mail address on the site as well to contact them. Yes its a massive shame Ellesmere Port aren't running when the old home for speedway Thornton Road still remains and is underused. The reasons the Council turned down Tony Moles application in 2001 was cause of parking issues for big crowds and the usual noise issus! - While I think EP speedway could of attracted viable crowds in modern times of 500-1000, these levels wouldn't of been near levels that watched at Thornton Rd in the 1970's, so in fact the claims were a complete cop out. Locals were all in favour as the popular public meetings at the time suggested. While the stadium is still there and no plans to demolish are known then in the future it could be worth another try if the Council could be persuaded?

I don't know the address for the Ellemere Port speedway website but i can tell you how to get to it! I rather stumbled across it one day while on the Cradleyspeedway.co.uk website when looking through the 'links' section. Just go to the Cradley speedway website, go into links. There you will find Ellesmere Port speedway which if you click onto will take you onto their website! Seems crazy that when the stadium is still there, the atitude of some probably misinformed Councillors has prevented the Gunners returning to speedway! But stranger things happen, so who knows in the future?

Great club that enjoyed a good spell in the sport from 1972-1982, then the last season in 1985. I feel the Council were very short sighted in turning down Tony Moles 2001 application to reopen Ellesmere Port at their old Thornton Road home. With Mr Mole at the helm I feel the Gunners could of held their own at PL level and been viable. With the Stadium still being in place, the possibility of speedway returning remains. Has their been any changes at Council level since 2001? What sort of interest is their in speedway in the area? An Ellesmere Port speedway website has recently been created so their is some interest in it and they have stated they are looking into whether speedway could run in the area again! It would great to see Ellesmere Port Gunners speedway team back in the Leagues. Good luck!

Ditto! I have long thought that Brafield stock car stadium would make a good venue for a CL team. It would already have permission for motorsports and isn't near houses so the old noise thing shouldn't crop up. It is within easy reach of most parts not being far from the M1 in the centre of the Country near Northampton. Tony Mole investigated the situation at Brafield a while back. I think a Northampton 'Brafield Badgers' speedway team running at Brafield stadium could work in the CL. It would act as a nursery track to Midland/East Anglian tracks.

Yes the company proposing to build a new greyhound stadium in Milton Keynes and their is no mention of speedway. But the Council have already stated they wouldn't be against a speedway track being built inside the dog track if there is anyone out there prepared to do it and of course if the stadium owners could be persuaded. - Afterall can't run greyhounds 7 days a week and the extra income from one nights speedway would help improve the viability of the stadium.

Agree totally Deano! Birmingham is big enough to have a Brummies team at Perry Bar (if the dreaded P/P can be overcome) in the senior leagues and another one in the CL elsewhere in the city. While it was still standing Norton Canes dog track was often looked at as late on as the mid 90's where it was considered a good potential venue for CL. Hall Green staged speedway up until the late 30's when local residents complaining about the noise helped to shut it down. This very plush greyhound stadium could be made into a very good speedway stadium but the harsh reality is that if the nimbys helped to shut it down in 1938 in times of much more tolerance towards our sport then the chances of speedway racing at Hall Green now are remote to say the least! I've always thought Hall Green would be a more than acceptable venue for Cradley to move to cause its not to far from Dudley and far enough away from Perry Bar to not effect the Brummies if they come back. - As I remember the vast majoriy of Brummie fans came from the Perry Bar/Great Bar/ Aston areas of Brum. One of the reasons I think that the 'wheels' project failed being in another part of the city. Only chance of Hall Green staging speedway is if some method of noise reduction, such as acoustic covers, new silencers etc came in that helped speedway to gain P/P at stadiums where noise would of been deemed unacceptble. Finding a universal method of noise reduction at speedway tracks that was proven to work, greatly reducing noise leaving stadiums, that was statisically proven to work is neccessary if British speedway is to keep a lot of present tracks and get new venues. - Look at the problem encountered by Tony Moles recent attempts to relaunch the Brummies at Perry Bar.

Yes Iam very well aware of the fact that reopening or opening new tracks is a very difficult process indeed. I was just going through the areas where IF(and it is indeed a very big IF!) a new track could be found a location then I think the areas would have the possibility to do well. Good luck ROG with you and your associates attempts to get Hull back on track. A well run Hull outfit could do well but don't give up to soon cause it may take time for things to materialise. - Could the Boulevard be a possibility? Yes I know their is a 30 mile agreement in place that can effect new tracks. But I think in high population areas this policy is rather irrelevent. Particularly in the case of Birmingham where it would be under 30 miles from both Wolves and Coventry but if things were worked out properly the Brummies return wouldn't effect either. I feel this could be the case as well with Cardiff and Newport if done right. In fact I'd say that like a Birmingham reopening a Cardiff revival would create tremendous rivalry between them and Newport as well as doing much to give speedway more exposure and therefore more fans in the area. In the case of the attempts to establish speedway at Swaffham raceway about 3-4 years ago King's Lynn were right to protest about Swaffham. Swaffham raceways about 14 miles from King's Lynn in an area of sparse population who in the majority wouldn't be as wealthy as those in other areas. The plan was to call Swaffham, Norwich but I don't think enough fans from Norwich would of went to Swaffham regularly enough so the crowds wouldn't of been good enough. To the ex Sunderland fan - I only mentioned areas that I feel could sustain a top 2 League speedway team. I think their is many other areas that sustain CL speedway if done right. These would be: Great Yarmouth, Romford, Brighton, Matchams Park, Yeovil, in or around London area, another South West team, Portsmouth, Long Eaton or Nottingham, Birmingham area, Bradford or Halifax, Cumbria area, Crewe, one or two Scottish teams and last but not least Sunderland! I think the now very plush Boldon Stadium in Sunderland former home of the Stars speedway team there could sustain Conference League racing but is to near to Newcastle and Redcar to attract top 2 Division crowds. When all 3 teams last ran together (for Redcar count Middlesbrough, same thing as far as I'm concerned!) in 1964 Sunderland Saints as they were then known shut mid season. When Sunderland had their last period in speedway 1971-74, Newcastle were dormant. Ironically Newcastle had shut in 1970 then reopened in 1975. - Really don't think it was that ironic that Newcastle and Sunderland closed and reopened without ever running at the same time during this period! I do know that the owners of Sunderland, Boldon stadium would be willing to accomodate a speedway return but would want an excessive rent from it. Also the Newcastle promotion are known to be totally against attempts to reopen Sunderland cause they are worried about the effects on their attendances. But how many of the Brough Park regulars come from Sunderland? - Not many I'd suggest and CL speedway at Sunderland would act as a nursery track to Newcastle and Redcar (maybe more profitable than running the Cleveland Bays out of Redcar?). As Newcastles brief period of running a reserve team in the CL ended cause it was to costly I don't see the Diamonds managements problem. Reopening Sunderland has been looked into on more than one occasion in recent years and I think it could do well. The Sunderland reunions have been very popular even though speedway hasn't been staged there for nearly 32 years!

More teams and tracks are essential for speedway to keep going and improve. Those who say "The present days tracks are struggling to attract crowds without extra teams opening up." - When a track closes the large majority of that tracks support stop going to speedway altogether. I've seen it with my old team the Norwich Stars. So those who think that the possible reopening of Birmingham next year would have a detrimental effect on Coventry and Wolves crowds, I don't think that would be the case. Thats csuse Perry Bar would attract mainly old Brummies fans and new fans from the Birmingham area. For instance Plymouth have said they don't get that many fans from Exeter even though the Falcons are dormant this year (hopefully this year only!). Those who say that the riders aren't about - Riders come out of the woodwork and in the CL there are many frozen out riders. What would happen is that if extra teams came into the EL then the next league down the PL would become watered down slightly in terms of rider strength. The same would hapen if more PL teams were in operation, then the CL would get slightly watered down. I can think of quite a few big population areas that could accomodate top 2 League speedway that currently don't. 2 in London - Wimbledon Dons and one in North London - Hackney or Walthamstow Hawks. Southampton Saints One in Kent - Crusaders Hull Vikings Bristol Bulldogs One in Cornwall though not a big population area always got good crowds. Gulls. Cardiff Dragons Birmingham Brummies (keep fingers crossed for next year!) Cradley Heathens Nottingham/Long Eaton Outlaws or Invaders Leicester Lions Norwich Stars (I just about live in hope!) Bradford/Halifax/Leeds Dukes or Northern or Tykes. Ellesmere Port/Liverpool Gunners or Chads Exeter Falcons (hopefully next year!) Nothing better than seeing new and/or old tracks coming back into the sport!

I thought it was the Council who didn't want it citing parking problems and the noise issues rather than complaints from residents. In fact the public meetings held at the time by Tony Mole were very well attended. Yes I know that Ellesmere Port didn't get huge crowds but looking at how successfull the (at the time seemingly never to return) Workington set up has been since Mr Mole reopened beck in 1999 one wonders if he could of made a good 'fist' of things down Ellesmere Port as well? An Ellesmere Port speedway website has been created in recent months. I believe those involved are trying to gauge the level of interest in speedway in the area and to see if theres anywhere locally that could stage speedway. I think Thornton Road could still be ideal for speedway .