25yearfan

Ludicrous, petty, short sighted, almost certainly illegal and most importantly derogatory to the future of the sport in this Country, a sport that is wobbling badly as it is.

When one considers that a certain Rob Godfrey head honcho of the BSPL is part of the Speedway Control Board, EG the SCB, and also holds NORA events at his Scunthorpe track then one can make their own minds up about the farcical nature of this incident! - (I totally respect what Rob Godfrey has done at Scunthorpe opening and maintaining speedway racing in a Town that struggled to run viable speedway in the 70's and 80's but his decisions at SCB and BSPL managerial level are not made with the best interests of speedway at heart) I'm sure if this was taken to a court of law then the Speedway Control Board wouldn't have a leg to stand on if you consider freedom of trade rights. In these days of speedway looking like its long term future in this Country is severely under threat, trying to eliminate an initiative that could lead to more track time for riders and potentially new tracks opening is very counter productive!

If I look like Chris Holder does when I'm 90 I'll be happy!

I'll never be a fan of the teamsuits cause I feel racejackets serve the purpose of the team aspect and it'd be nice to see riders have their own individual racesuits. My only criticism of Ipswichs colours are the fact they should be blue and white which are the traditional Ipswich colours! Yes if every track in the UK was run like Ipswich then the sport over here would be in a better position!

Anderson is more washed up than Iverson, otherwise I quite agree! Despite Peterborough being a poor, stale outfit, it was a decent meeting last night with passing and incident. I wish Doyle and Sayfutinov would miss the gate in every race cause they are pure entertainment when coming from the back!

Whilst I don't have a high opinion of Chris Louis as a person you cannot deny that he runs one of the most professional speedway set ups in Britain.

Both clubs stink of staleness, going through the motions, half hearted lack of interest from the owner and teams of riders most other clubs don't want.

Weymouth and Poole speedways had good times when under his ownership.

Your right, Sir Arthur Elvin (originally from the great City of Norwich!) died in early 1957 while on a cruise at the reasonably young age of 57. He alone for some years had been the main reason League speedway continued at Wembley (speedway was apparently his first sporting love) so his death was soon followed by the Lions team being pulled out of the League by the remaining Wembley Directors. Its reasonable to suggest that had Elvin lived until his 80's then League speedway at Wembley could very well have continued uninterrupted into the 1980's, especially since speedway had a renaissance in the late 60's up until the early 80's and the 1970/71 Wembley Lions two year spell in the British League was a well supported success. - I'm sure also that a follow on from League speedway at Wembley lasting until the 80's would have been major meetings surviving for even longer (into the 1990's?) at the grand stadium when one considers that the last speedway meeting at Wembley, the 1981 World final took place 11 years after the last season of League racing there back in 1971 with quite a few other big speedway meetings taking place between 1972 and 1981. All ifs and buts like everything else in life, its always interesting to wonder how different things could have turned out just by one event not happening as it did!

The FA didn't own Wembley in 1972 when the successful Wembley Lions speedway team were told they couldn't be fitted into the stadiums schedule largely filled by football. The last speedway meeting at Wembley, the 81 World Final had a crowd that wasn't far of a full house and the 84 final was due to be staged there as well. A speedway meeting at Wembley would certainly attract a 40,000+ crowd at least?

I' m sure you could be correct. While I'm a keen environmentalist and totally agree with plans to make human beings more "green" some of the rules trying to achieve this are ridiculous. If the current Peterborough speedway track and stadium was retained and 30 meetings (nowadays this amount of meetings would be extremely unlikely ) and 20 practise sessions were staged a year that would be 50 days out 365 days a year when speedway would take place and then that'd equate to 45 minutes of noise spread out over 2-5 hours. - Hardly constitutes a noise issue! - Anyway the wonderful grass centregreen is very environmentally friendly! - Anyway eventually combustion engines will be a thing of the past and electric bikes will be the norm. The current speedway track and stadium would be brilliant additions to the leisure developments. - Has anyone tried to plant this seed thought in the mind of Councillors, planners and other relevant parties?

Yes I've had that impression with King's Lynn and Peterborough before this season.

Maybe Busters losing interest cause King's Lynn seem very lack lustre as well?

King got double figures so wasn't awful but he tailed of badly in his last 2 rides when his bike didn't seem quick enough. Rew like you say is getting better weekly! Is it any wonder Kasperzaks team mates aren't enamoured with him? Mind you the whole team seemed a bit lack lustre, almost going through the motions.

Peterborough like Busters other team King's Lynn look in poor shape, definitely them two for the bottom 2. On the subject of the pending closure, I was glad Rob Lyon spoke up to mention he was dissapointed about the distinct lack of fight to keep the club going. The Peterborough track and stadium is one of the best around in my opinion and more of a fight should be happening to retain it. I can't see why the track and stadium can't be included in the new leisure pans for the Showground especially since the indoor Arena is remaining and speedway has been a Peterborough and Cambridgeshire institution since 1970. Indeed I was listening to live coverage of Wolves V Panthers on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire tonight!

Yes Mimmos very correct in his assessments on the current state of play at Mildenhall speedway. Nice atmosphere and I get the impression the management are trying to be more professional than they have been in the past which makes the meeting experience better for the fans. The Mildenhall track is only an issue when its grippy and some of the inexperienced riders can't handle it.

Kasperzak was shocking today at Ipswich, shutting of going into the 1st bend and when Rew got near and eventually overtook him shut off and seemed to feign bike troubles. Insult to the paying public, the Stars management and his team mates. With fellow heatleaders Kindt and Palm Toft inconsistent like the rest of the team, Lynn have a battle with Peterborough to avoid the wooden spoon.

Decent meeting today despite King's Lynns underperforming septet with overtaking, incident and a very large crowd! Excluding Howarth in heat 2 when 3 riders went down going into the 1st bend was absolutely shocking, sorry to say it but that Christina Turnbill hasn't got a scooby do! Ipswich are going to take some stopping if Safutinov and Doyle keep up this form. Doyle cruised to a maximum even when he was riding injured after the first heat fall! Thompson is a concern cause he's not competitive even against other reserves and doesn't look like he's getting better. I know hes not popular with most including myself but if Thompson doesn't improve in the next 5-6 meetings then Ipswich lad Drew Kemp would be a better bet. As for King's Lynn, like their sister track Peterborough they seem to have got a team of riders no one else wants. Kasperzaks lack of effort and shutting of going into the 1st bend should be enough to see him given his marching orders. Klindt and Palm Tofts lack of consistency is no good for supposed heatleaders

Surely Wolverhampton Council can make strong representations on this matter?

As long as Peter Collins only scribbles "best wishes", the appalling incident I'm referring to isn't mentioned by no one and anyone who because of his appalling actions doesn't want to go anywhere near the man does exactly that, then everything will be OK.

Unfortunately speedway in 2023 offers little opportunity to practise with so few tracks available for such stuff and theirs much fewer riders about than what their has been in the past. This has resulted in many youngsters being inexperienced when facing track conditions that aren't slick and riders such as Fen Tigers number 7 Richardson being put into this level of racing when they aren't ready! - So yes maybe the track wasn't suitable under these 2023 circumstances, but in my book it was a decent racetrack which capable riders like Bowtell and Complin showed as much! - I think you put todays Mildenhall V Kent line ups in a match on any track that is a bit heavy after a lot of rain then you would have the same scenario of riders crashing and many re runs and hold ups.

Not at all! Todays track was grippy probably cause of all the rain we've had recently and of course many youngsters through inexperience and a lack of riding struggle to get round a grippy track! Bowtell and Complin had no problems which shows that it was more a case of abilities than the track being unrideable. I'm sure that had todays meeting been in the one of the top 2 Leagues then the racing would have decent caused the better standard of rider would of coped better with the track.

100% if a French club could attract enough punters to make it worthwhile? Not that much different to when the IoW used to ride in the British League! I think a team based in Dublin at one of the few dog tracks in the area could also work?

Unlikely they would! Probably the same reason that 90% of speedway promotors (and indeed people buying most football clubs!) do it in the first place! - Enthusiasts who maybe think they can make a go of it, want to see the club survive and maybe some are on an ego trip? If every sporting activity that didn't make a profit or wasn't propped up by Local Authorities or rich benefactors was eliminated then they'd be hardly any sporting activity in this Country and we'd be so much worse of for it! I believe my local football team Norwich City who average 26,000 crowds, provide a lot of employment opportunities and has many worthwhile community initiatives lost £25M last season! - Now Norwich City FC is by far the biggest sporting organisation in Norfolk and I suspect most of East Anglia!

The new shaped track used in the last few years Swindon speedway ran was a decent shape much better suited to good racing than the old bigger track ever did in my opinion. - I presume the shale track still exists at the Stadium cause if it does then it'd be ideal for a restart at the Abbey? Without a doubt the Abbey Stadium remains the best option for speedway to return to the Swindon area and if the planning conditions are followed this will be the case. I hope the MP or Councillor who shares these views carries on the fight cause it will be ethical justice. With the seemingly advent of quiet E speedway bikes in the future any concerns of local residents in the new houses around the stadium will be indeed quite literally silenced! The newly formed Company, partly by members of the last Swindon Robins promotion is I suspect just a lip service campaign that will probably wither away which is what they want. I don't blame the former promotion for wanting out cause I suspect running Swindon speedway cost them a hefty sum but wouldn't it of been better if they'd just come out and just say they don't want to do it anymore and give other potentially interested parties a chance of reopening Swindon speedway at the Abbey!