GWC

Can’t deny the loss of star names (through retirement and injury) has contributed to the decline in attendances and those coming through are not in the same class, but so has the quality of racing and the stadiums the sport is held in. If we had 10 Belle Vues it would be a different story!

The sun went down (quite literally) last night the atmosphere changes and you don’t get to see the delapadated stadia that has run its course. Track lights produce so much more to the racing but look dangerous in today’s world. Air fences have made viewing impossible in some areas so we now need raised viewing around the stadia. If Swindon do return then it will be remarkable in today’s land development world as those houses look too close even if they do move the stadium a bit to the left (or right) which ever way you look at it.

A big league of 18 could become unworkable once injuries kick in but the sport needs to combine the PL and CL somehow. A larger PL of 14 might be better and then the NL would become a stronger league as well and get more recognition. Unfortunately clubs like BV colts Buxton and Cradley would drop out.

When you are having a poor season you shut early!

But that is a world away from 2018 when you have riders in the NL with equipment that isn’t out of place in the PL! Went to Kent onMonday and paid £16 including programme likewise at Eastbourne. Its way over priced for a low standard of speedway I’m afraid.

If the amount of doubling up continues and fixed nights then it’s another cop out!

It needs radical change and not tinkering that has gone on for too many years. I’m all for the changes suggested!

I think it will depend on how many clubs want to be in a combined league and at what level. Already the Plymouth promoter has said there’s a rumour that the NL points limit is to be reduced considerably, forcing riders out or the club move up a league. Its also interesting to read his comments about signing on fees that are causing clubs difficulty financially. Add in loan fees and you have a perfect storm.

What is the Championship level? It doesn’t exist without riders from the premier and visa versa so a revolutionary change is needed. It will then be interesting to see what clubs can afford a ‘top’ rider if the leagues are merged.

Economically without big TV money and good sponsorship a current Premier team can’t afford the riders you still want. Its a matter of survival for a lot of clubs and putting money in riders pockets who don’t perform to their given status has been just one of the problems. Wholesale doubling up has to be rained in,partly for the sports integrity and to get away from ‘rent a rider’. The Championship can’t continue as it is so a bigger league at the top level is necessary but will have to be weaker.

Indeed and his comment in the SS article this week does somehow sums the guy up. ‘I used to go to meetings knowing we would win, now I don’t ‘ ....wonderful!

I thought the Eden project was built on old China clay pits.

Sorry but the current product has to change. I was at Lakeside last night watching Craig Cook thrash others (apart from Lawson). Keep a top league by all means but allowing top riders into both leagues is wrong. The sport has in the past only profited rider wise by keeping a production line of new riders and this has been stifled in previous years. Time to change before it’s too late and if that means weakening the product then so be it.

There is too much unrealistic expectation of the sport. We have tried to compete with Poland and Sweden with an ‘Elite’ league that profited the riders but was too expensive to maintain. League structures have changed to reflect the diminishing rider quality and base. Sweden is in poor health rider wise and Denmark get by with 5 man teams. Speedway is what it is and without team racing it’s gone, at least from the UK so go back to basics and start again.

Farcical double header after 6 weeks with no meeting. Looking forward to the report on racing following the Dugard’s message that the track will be very grippy to give us home advantage. I hope the riders see it that way and there are no injuries!

Two teams sharing can work for continuity of racing but unlikely in the same league.

Who are the money men in UK speedway? Teams who have get by attendances backed by modest sponsorship seem to be the case now. And the ‘try it for a season’ will probably wipe out any teams financially.

Sweden isn’t in a good place as most teams lose money and their rider base is reducing dramatically, much worse than the UK. It needs Poland to realise they are killing the sport for their own benefit. The GP’s are a great advert for the sport but create so many problems for domestic speedway in the UK.

‘Elite’ will need to attract at least one rider per team from the GP’s to justify its existence. The rider shareing really has to be rained in and by creating a larger league will force this albeit a weaker league. But it needs to be done at some stage in order to give inexperienced riders a chance and consequently increase the rider base.

And your solution is to have exactly what? Reorganisation of league racing is now paramount to the survival of speedway in the UK as we know it. Rent a rider has gone on too long supporters no longer identify with the team that changes riders at a whim and in the hope of achieving an impossible play off place. You may well have a league of ‘super strength teams’ but you will probably be in a league of your own! As a Rye House fan I’ve seen the nonsense that goes on at the top level of the sport in this country and to be honest I’m rather now enjoying Kent and Eastbourne even though it contains ‘wobblers’ but it does seem to have a lot of honest young men who are trying to make it in the sport.

If a team does race next year then a name etc will surely depend on which promotion is running it. Perhaps Cook and Scott can join forces - especially with Cooks experience and that gives Stuart Douglas a way out. There would then be a new club formed ...... The Rye Park Racers !

I don’t see many sports other than football attracting sponsors in Poland. In the UK it’s a bit different!

Apparently when Rayleigh moved to Rye House back in 1974, Len Silver wanted to rename the club ‘Herts County’

As someone alluded to it can be advantageous to have a sensation in reserve longer to benefit points scoring. That really only makes a big difference when the team is already quite strong. When he goes into the team someone just as strong comes down. However with so many riders now at a level of similar ability it is giving some teams too much advantage. So yes it is time to change the reserve riders back to their original reason for existing - breaking tapes or injury.

Historically speedway teams were 3 heat leaders 2 second strings and 2 reserves. Building teams within the constraints of averages has seen riders put out of work and dodgy foreign imports (not so many now). Particularly in the Championship we see teams with 1 to 7 where their averages are a couple of points different so reserve strength is formidable. It seems that’s the way the league is going, partly due to the average calculation and riders levelling off in their development. Ultimately that will be damaging to riders wanting to come up from the NL. This season I can only think of Tom Bacon who is making it ok in the CL. If promoters don’t think about the future then it will be sorted for them by a lack of riders, you could say it’s been like this for too many years hence the problems we have now with rider availability.