25yearfan

Got any news on your site search for a new speedway track for the Bristol Bulldogs? Who was it who was trying to get Bristol back at a nearby racecourse last year? Have you tryed all racecourses, non league soccer grounds, rugby grounds, Cricket arenas and dog tracks in the vicinity? I recall back in 1996 persons were trying to get Bristol speedway up and running at Clevedon Football club. They were to run during the football off season so in order to take up some of the pitch for the track. What happened to this plan cause the apparently the football club were very keen and could this be a possibility (but it was about 20 miles from Bristol so very much the Somerset scanario) or another non league ground could be worth a look? I now its stabbing in the dark but from obscure little ideas empires have been built!

I was told by a guy who used to help Dave Jackson when he was at Mildenhall that he works in an airport somewhere in Aussie.

Yes Siggy as he was nicknamed was a great rider up until his bad injury. Together with John Cook he rejuvenated Ipswich in 1981 after a couple of years when things went a bit stale. I remmember him making a short comeback at the back end of 1985 for Ipswich which I believe was the last time he rode over here. If you look back at race times from Siggys era at Ipswich you'll find that race times back then were very similar to times now! - One of the few tracks where race times haven't changed that much in the last 25 years. In fact in the intervening years after Siggy had left, times at Ipswich got slightly slower! Yes I believe that siggy with Bruce Penhall won the world powerboat championship, a combination of the combined two's racing skills and big money investment I suspect. - I believe Siggy and Penhall were both very wealthy even before coming into speedway. Siggy, Larry Kosta and Preben Eriksen will all now be at least in their mid 40's so its highly unprobable they would consider making a comeback or indeed if they did be good enough for EL racing!

Yes your right the potential for a track in Bristol is huge. Though if it ever does happen then near neighbour Somerset would have to make some adjustments in order to keep going. These would be: As the potential for bigger crowds is greater at Bristol then Somerset would have to drop into the CL if Bristol went EL or PL and act as the Bulldogs nursury team. Somerset would have to change their racenight to a Saturday maybe as Bristols tradiional racenight was on a Friday. Other sports would probably have to be inroduced to Somerset to help finance the changes. British speedway needs more tracks. - I hope to see Birmingham, Cradley, Halifax, Southampton, Long Eaton, Leicester, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Trelawny, many others as well as my old team the Norwich Stars return to speedway racing and all present tracks to keep going. I hope Brisol reopen and Somerset keep going as well for good measure! Good luck!

Good luck with what you are doing whether it is yourself or on behalf of another prospective promotor of the great Bristol Bulldogs? When Bristol does ropen which I'm sure it will do one day, it will be a little goldmine for those promoting! I see on another thread in the general discussions page on speedway -forum on the Eldfield Park/Skegness topic a guy is acting on behalf of a promotor whose looking for sites where he could run PL/CL speedway and where it would be viable. - Bristol more than fits the bill! Bristol needs the bulldogs back in speedway - speedway needs the Bristol Bulldogs!

Yes the stock car track in the Mendips area is exactly the place I'm on about! I know the place is a dump but with some investment then it could be turned into a venue suitable for the return of the Bristol Bulldogs! I'm from Norfolk and I knew ex Bulldogs rider Geoff Pymar who lived at Diss in the south of the County before he passed away about 4-5 years ago at the grand age of 90! His spell at Brisol was when the bulldogs raced at the now sadly departed Knowle stadium. I remember Geoffs racing career mainly during his spell at Norwich in the mid 50's after he left Bristol I believe and his season at Great Yarmouth in 1960 when he was number 1 when he as nearing or might of even been in his 50's!

From what I can gather the council at Bristol remain to this day very anti sports just like the late 70's. But where theres a will theres a way! I know that some places around the Country have areas set aside for sports that are deemed to be nuisance ones which speedway is appaently seen as one. Has Bristol got such an area? Is the old stock car track still in Bristol? Has it ever been sounded out as a possible home for the Bulldogs speedway team? Surely such an exrcise would of great benefit to all parties involved. - If someone could invest in the facilities there then it would crtainly be better than Bristol speedways homes since 1979! Bristol speedway: One day again we hope!

Yes we can! Brisol Bulldogs speedway at Eastville in those 2 amazing sesons in 1977 and 78 is a quite remarkable story! It amazes me that the council shut the speedway down when it was so popular with huge crowds turning out every week even if the track which they shared with the dogs (another amazing story itself) was a bit iffy to say the least! Its a crazy world when you have speedway tracks in certain places that struggle to attract anyhere near viable crowds when you have got somewhere like Bristol without a track! Bristol I feel still remains to this day a huge untapped hotbed of the sport. I'm sure that a new track in Bristol would see bigger crowds than even the suprising success story that Workington was when it reopened in 1999. I heard on here that last year efforts were made to put a track on a nearby racecoure that were turned down. - Surely their must be a site somewhere in the Bristol vicinity. A muli purpose stadium featuring speedway, greyhounds, possibly Bristol Rovers and other events is much needed in the area. Though I do feel any new Bristol track would mean that Somerset Rebels would probably have to drop into the CL in order to keep going. Somerset would therefore make a very good feeder track a new Bristol set up. Lets all hope that one day will be talking about Bristol Bulldogs speedway team in the EL or PL dscussion pages on this forum!

Yes we can! Brisol Bulldogs speedway at Eastville in those 2 amazing sesons in 1977 and 78 is a quite remarkable story! It amazes me that the council shut the speedway down when it was so popular with huge crowds turning out every week even if the track which they shared with the dogs (another amazing story itself) was a bit iffy to say the least! Its a crazy world when you have speedway tracks in certain places that struggle to attract anyhere near viable crowds when you have got somewhere like Bristol without a track! Bristol I feel still remains to this day a huge untapped hotbed of the sport. I'm sure that a new track in Bristol would see bigger crowds than even the suprising success story that Workington was when it reopened in 1999. I heard on here that last year efforts were made to put a track on a nearby racecoure that were turned down. - Surely their must be a site somewhere in the Bristol vicinity. A muli purpose stadium featuring speedway, greyhounds, possibly Bristol Rovers and other events is much needed in the area. Though I do feel any new Bristol track would mean that Somerset Rebels would probably have to drop into the CL in order to keep going. Somerset would therefore make a very good feeder track a new Bristol set up. Lets all hope that one day will be talking about Bristol Bulldogs speedway team in the EL or PL dscussion pages on this forum!

In tonights Swedish GP why did Bjarne Pederson get 1st pick for gate positions when he only came 2nd in his semi final? Surely the 2 semi final winners should get to pick their gate postions before a guy who came 2nd? Speedways a great sport that would be even better if common sense and logical thinking was applied to the rulebook. The above incident together with Elite League riders having 2 totally unnecesary numbers and the meant with good intentions but badly devised Conference League grading system that gives certain riders over inflated averages gives the sport a rather back to front, laughable image! And of course the fact that my home City of Norwich is once again without its own spedway track and team!

Great website, helps to inform people that their is still after 19 years much interest in Birmingham Brummies speedway. Its criminal that a city the size of Brum and with its past history in the sport that speedway isnt staged there at present - but who knows, lets hope that some of the rumours come true? - Will Perry Bar become available one day? Speedway needs Birmimngham Brummies and the likes of Bristol Buldogs, Halifax Dukes, Norwich City Stars, Cradley Heath Heathens, Southampton Saints, Hackney Hawks, Leicester Lions, a Kent higher League team and many more back in the sport!

Its so frustrating having to talk about well supported spedway teams that are now defunct. In an ideal world Bristol, Trelawny, Birmingham, Cradley, Leicester, Norwich and many others would have operating speedway tracks. But just remember, who'd of thought that the likes of Workington, Wimbledon, Newport, Hull, Rye House, Weymouth etc would of returned to the world of speedway racing. While this world is still turning and their is speedway their is always a chance!

Given the fierce rivalry between Coventry and Leicester, I don't think many ex Lions fans go regularly to Brandon. Same also, Birmingham and Cradley fans don't go regularly to Wolves, although quite a few midland based fans used to go infrequently to all the various tracks that existed in this area in the late 70's and early 80's. So I don't think that these tracks reopening would decimate the crowds of Coventry and Wolves, but I know that present day promotors don't think like that. Though I know that people involved at Wolves have been helping those actively seeking a return for Birmingham. For instance Exeter have always attracted quite a few fans from Cornwall. When St Austell/Trelawny ran from 1997 - 2003, far from taking away some of Exeters support the Cornish track attracted new and former spectators back into speedway which benefited Exeter, particularly on the derby days. Someret would probably get interest from former speedway fans whose interest had been aroused by a Bristol Bulldogs revival. Overall though as I've previously stated on this subject I think that Somerset would go the way of Newport in the late 70's after a Bristol revival - Such was the enormous interest in Bristol speedway at Eastville, Newport at Somerton Park stuggled to attract the crowds and closed down. But in this day and age Somerset would have the saftey net of the Conference League to fall back onto. Indeed the Rebels would be an ideal nusery track for a sucessfull higher league Bristol Bulldogs outfit. A fact over the history of speedway in that in the majority of cases when a track closes down a large % of the tracks support stop going to speedway altogether. Most of the other % only go very sparingly to speedway, Cradley fans for instance. In my area East Anglia, ask anyone over the age of 55 and most will tell you of the great nights they had following Norwich Stars speedway team at the old Firs Stadium. I bet 80% if not more of these haven't been to speedway for donkeys years!

Yes Stansolo I'm sure all your points were factors in the failure of the Wheels track to attract the crowds. I've always thought that moving to another part of the city, indeed the blue and white half wheras Perry Bar was in the Aston Villa heartland was a big factor. I know football areas shouldn't come into it but I'm sure that a lot of ex Perry Bar regulars felt the Wheels Brummies were a different creature to the pre 84 Perry Bar Brummies. Thats why I think if the Brummies are to return in the future then Perry Bar dog track would be the most suitable venue. Anyway my old team Norwich Stars never got a 2nd chance like the Brummies did! - We would of loved 2nd Division National League racing in the City in the 70's or 80's! - Nowadays it would be great to see Conference League speedway in Norwich!

I thought it was a 30 mile radius though I'm not sure? Would the Somerset promotion protest about a Bristol revival? Though I think if Bristol speedway was to ever return then Somerset would have to revert back to the less financially demanding Conference League in order to survive as the Bulldogs would take a lot of their support. Somerset would be a good feeder track for any Bristol set up. Same as I think a successful Norwich return would probably lose K lynn, Ipswich and Mildenhall a few supporters, though many new fans from Norwich would be enticed to go to Speedway benefiting the sport overall..

The very fact that Bristol hasn't staged speedway since 1978 is criminal. How can the Council in the late 70's and after justify shutting down the speedway which was hugely supported, so much that it was the best supported track in England? I thought a councils job was to encourage activities that its constituents wanted and supported. Me personally, if I was a councillor then I would do exactly that. For instance golf has never done much for me and probably never will but it is a very popular pastime in this Country and the courses are environment and nature friendly. For these reasons I would want golf courses built in the area I covered. Bristol is a very similar situation to my old team the Norwich Stars. Former popular centres for speedway with very unhelpful local council and nearby tracks (Somerset and King's Lynn) that although are established and do OK will never be proper replacements for the old Stars and Bulldogs teams in the fans eyes. in the future who knows? - We can only hope!

Yes I'm sure Romford greyhound stadiums close location to housing would be detrimwental to any efforts to include speedway but the stadium is also right next to the main Norwich - Liverpool st, London main line which runs god knows how many tims a day! I'm sure Arena Essex wouldn't be happy knowing how speedway promotors think these days but with the huge local population surely both tracks could each pull in over a thousannd a week?

On the subject of Romford Bombers speedway, I believe that crowds were very good at the old Brooklands stadium. I've always wondered what with the overwhelming success of the speedway at Romford for the 3 years in which they ran and the masses of populaton nearby if any attempt has been made to start speedway up at the plush Romford Greyhound stadium. Their is room inside the dog track for a Wolves/Oxford style speedway circuit. Speedway at Romford dog track could be sustainable as nearby London only has Wimbledon, and just out of the city Arena Essex. If it did ever happen crowds would only have to be a third of what they were at Brooklands to be considered viable in todays British spedway scene. It would be great to see the Romford Bombers speedway team return to league racing, promotors check out the dog track at Romford!

Yes Bordesly green or the wheels complex whatever you want to call it ran about 3 chalenge matches, one a match against Oxford with ex brummies Andy Grahame, Neil Evitts and Hans Nielsen amongst others in action. I know they also had a junior challenge match against near neighbours Cradley Heath. The Brummies then had 2 unconvincing National League seasons at the Wheels before the promotion gave up trying to make a success of the underdeveloped venue. Attempts were made to return to the Alexandra stadium, by now the greyhound stadium in 1987 but to no avail. The wheels track then was tarmaced over for stock car racing and the car promotors wouldn't entertain reshaling for a speedway return. Though in the late 90s a planning application was made to build a speedway track elsewhere on the wheels site, but as we know nothing fruitful came of it. The wheels complex is the location for the proposed 60,000 all seater city of Birmingham stadium where the Birminham City football club would play amongst other attractions. When the old Alexandra Stadium held some open meetings in 1960 one of the promotors was a certain Doug Ellis now the infamous dictator sorry chairman of up the road from Perry Bar Prem footy team Aston Villa! Nowadays Perry Bar dog track (original Alewxadra stadium) is a very plush venue. It certainly represents the best potential venue for a Brummies speedway return. As is pointed out in a message on the Brummies website, the GRA (owners of Perry Bar) are currently up for sale. One of the bidders for the GRA is none other than Coventry speedway owner and Birmingham based businessman Mr Sandhu. Now if hes successful in his bid for the GRA would the converted speedway fan Mr Sandhu be interested in resserecting the Brummies speedway team at Perry Bar? - Personally if I was a businessman who had just bought Perry Bar dog track then I would want to fully utilise its earning potential, this would include Birmingham Brummies speedway racing!! We live in hope!

Yes, a multi purpose stadium in Norwich featuring speedway on a Saturday night, greyhounds on two other nights possibly Tuesday and Fridays football/Rugby on the infield and function facilities could be a very good thing for the area. If only someone could convince the council. TREES, I only hear rumours and talk amongst locals and speedway fans, but I do hope one day before my end that I'll witness speedway racing on a track in Norwich! I known that many persons have tried over the years and indeed people are on the case at the present time but until it actually happens don't get your hopes up, but thanks to this forum ideas and interest can be maintained and who knows if someone with the capabilities reads some information on here such as the land at Hevingham and realises that interest is still high then things could happen!

The Hevingham site is about 2-3 miles up the road from the airport which in turn is almoost opposite the housing estate where the famous Firs Stadium home of the equally famous Norwich Stars was situated. A supporters organisation would be a help. If everyones energys and ideas can be centralised then maybe things could be done. I would definately join any supporters organisation.

I hope you are proved wrong Spiegal. I'd have to agree though that after years of rumours and nothing coming to fruition I'll believe any Norwich or Great Yarmouth reopening when I'm actually standing on the terraces watching the completion of heat 15 on opening night! Your right about Cyril Crane. Cyril who was a great promoter for the best part of 20 years upset the apple cart at Norwich council and the BSPA when he ran an unlicensed meeting at Hevingham in early 1976 which was won by a 14 year old Andy Buck as I can recall. A while back one of the Franklin family who runs Yarmouth greyhound Stadium (which is coincidentally currently in the process of replacing the old grandstand with a newer version, not that the old one wasn't plush enough!) posted a message on the internet regarding speedway. He said that they would welcome speedway back to the stadium if a suitable way of laying and taking up a temporary shale track for every speedway meeting on the current concrete stock car circuit could be found. No way are they going to upset the stock car promoters because attendances are very good for the cars, like they could be for speedway racing. On the subject of Hevingham if you care to venture behind the Marsham Arms pub to the land where the 1976 meeting took place on, you will find that the site has not been developed. I'm sure that if any prospective promoter went through the correct channels then this site could still yet make a suitable venue for a Norwich speedway track. It is 5 minutes out of the City on a main road and apart from the pub their is not many houses to close by. I'm like many others in the Norwich area still hoping that one day I'll see speedway return to Norwich and Great Yarmouth would be nice as well! - Stranger things have happened!

From what I've heard, the guys trying to find a site for Norwich are just stabbing in the dark and one of the prospective promotors in particular does not have the necessary funds to run speedway. Yarmouth sounds more promising with current Peterborough promotor Mick Horton applying for planning permission for a track on land at Yarmouth racecourse. - I'm sure Yarmouth if ran from middle of May to start of September the venture would get viable attendances. Must be called the GREAT YARMOUTH BLOATERS!

The theory of a National trophey between all 3 leagues in British speedway sounds good in theory. I remember some great National trophey matches at Norwich in the early 50s when the Stars then did manage to beat somme 1st Division teams as I can just about recall! I also remember Workington knocking out both higher League Kings Lynn and then British League champions Ipswich in 1976 if I'm correct. The biggest problem you would get is that standards differ quite a lot, even between good Premier League guys and Elite League heat leaders let alone Conference League riders. Therefore I feel the only way such a National cup would work is if handicaping was introduced. Elite League riders over 8 handicapped 10 yards on EL riders under 8 and Premier League riders 8 or over. EL riders under 8 and Premier League riders 8 or over handicapped 10 yards on Premier League riders under 8. Premier League riders under 8 handicapped 10 yards on all Conference League riders. This would mean the top EL riders being handicapped 20 yards against lesser Premier riders and 30 yards against Conference League riders! This would ensure close racing and undoubtedly lots of overtaking, though I'm not sure if some of the superstars would relish having to attempt to overtake some Conference League unsteady thottle merchant! Other rules of a National Trophey: (Hopefully someone would come in to sponsor such a competition like the Daily Mail used to in the 50s. Riders only allowed to ride for one team in the competition. (doubling up Riders would have to ride for their lower Division track, this will hopefully encourage riders to make permanant moves up. All teams in random draw (wouldn't it be great to have draws made on Sky during speedway coverage). One legged tie. If the tie is a draw then a replay would take place on away team track. Final on neutral track and some plush non League track would be even better!. (Maybe Cardiff the day after a British GP!) - Such an event could be made very attractive with a special occasion feel to it. All cup matches to take place on the same week with the pick of matches to be televised. Imagine Buxton Versus Poole from Hi Edge on the TV!- With the handicapping the enevitable overtaking would make for great TV! If ties are still level after the replay then sudden death to take place: Top 2 scoring riders (including bonus points and tactical points) from each team to race of against each other. Who gets the heat advantage wins the meeting. If this race is level then the next two highest scoring riders from each team to race each other. If this race is level then: 5th and 6th highest riders from each team to race against each other. If this race is shared: One chosen rider from each team to race of with the winner, winning the tie for their team. I think this format should be used in all League speedway cause after all League speedway is about team racing so run offs should be about team racing rather the current two man runoffs (As can be seen in my new system if after 3 level race offs a two man run off will decide the match anyway). All the above suggestions would make the sport more exciting and give it more credibility with the media, local Councils and al other outsiders.