CountArthur

Also, I would have paid £22 to watch Sayfutdinov ride round on his own. Probably one of the best performances from a visiting rider in my 49 years of watching speedway and the first time he has ever seen the track. Absolute genius.

It wasn't the most exciting of meetings in terms of racing for sure, but it retained some interest in the scoring and seeing if Sheffield could build up a big enough lead for them to hold off the Witches big guns in heats 13 and 15. I don't think Sheffield's track is as suited to modern day speedway as it was in the past, especially at this level with riders being so fast and not making as many errors and 10 of the 15 heats tonight were won by riders who are world class and rarely get passed. Another issue must be the long dry spell which has made track preparation everywhere quite difficult, especially when it's been as hot as it has. The racing has been ok at Owlerton this year. Not brilliant, but entertaining enough. Any sporting occasion can be boring. It's the nature of sport. But it's not quite as boring as some of the f**kwits who seem to make up a large proportion of the posters on this site that can't wait to decry speedway at every opportunity.

Really sorry if this has already been posted elsewhere.

And another one...

I don't think I need to copy and paste any of them, but some of the comments on here are just embarrassing.

They do. I'm not sure how many teams there are but Morizes, Marmande, La Reole and Miramont de Guyenne completed in round three of the French League a couple of weeks ago. I'm not sure what sort of crowds they get but riders like David Bellego, Adam Ellis, Dmitri Berge, Steven Goret, Dan Gilkes, Theo and Ace Pijper and the Tresarrieu brothers took part. There would be a cost of travelling to be considered but the riders are flying all over the place anyway and I'm sure something could be worked out. Just a thought, and as I say, might not be feasible at all.

This might be completely unworkable, but with the number of British tracks on the decline and a number of riders unable to get a team place, could it be feasible for any French sides to join the British League? It already happens in Poland with a German and a Latvian side in their league structure and I went to watch the Sheffield Eagles a couple of weeks ago in a second tier Rugby League match and the opponents were Toulouse. Is this something that British speedway could consider?

That was a treat, thank you. I've never seen any real footage of Sun Street before. Speedway was certainly different then and I don't think it can be compared with modern day speedway. I think we might look back through rose tinted glasses sometimes.

Just a quick question. I'm thinking of travelling down from Sheffield next Thursday and will be making a couple of days of it. I know that Foxhall Heath is a bit out of town but its nearly 40 years since I came down to Ipswich and can't remember much about it. Is there a bus near the stadium that would go back into town after the meeting? Thanks.

It's really interesting to read some of the comments on here, especially looking back over the past few days. I was at Sheffield last Thursday and it was a fairly comfortable win for the Tigers and, yes, Kasprzak looked awful. But it's early season, things are just settling down and riders are getting back to fitness, getting used to new machinery and, in some cases, new tracks. The reaction to his first two meetings was typical of much of the society of today - an over reaction. Reading this forum sometimes is like listening to the stuff football fans come out with when they want a manager sacked after a couple of losses. It's a horrible culture. Riders getting stick for being better at home than away is also becoming more common. I'm not sure how certain riders from the 70s and 80s would have stayed with clubs for as long as they did if internet forums existed back then. I remember one season at Sheffield in the 1970s when the Tigers had a 100% home record but failed to pick up a point away from home. Riders like Craig Pendlebury and Arnie Haley remained popular even though there was a big disparity between their home averages and their away averages because they were loyal servants to the club and put the effort in. Further back, Billy Bales had a great home average but struggled to score a point away from home for a few seasons. I think he would have been hounded out in today's need for instant success. I was really pleased the Stars won last night and really pleased that KK got a maximum. I just hope the fans can show a bit of patience and a bit of tolerance, rather than all this bed wetting nonsense that gets posted in week 1 of the season.

Good luck to the Panthers for the rest of the season. I hope they manage to rebuild the side and feel sorry for the management that the Pedersen situation hasn't worked out for them. I hope the Panthers fans stick with the team and continue to give them your support.

Good meeting in the end after a bit of a processional start, not helped by a shower just before start time. Tigers just about deserved the win and Musielak was man of the match. For the Aces fans who didn't make it - Bewley was far better than his score suggested and there was no way back for him in Heat 1 when he missed the gate. Kurtz was his usual self - several brilliant rides and a couple of duff ones. Wright looked sharp and will have a good season if he stays fit. Very impressed with my first look at Lidsey - tidy rider and pretty quick. Brennan will be fine and Blodorn is going to add another point and a half to his average I reckon. I was also very impressed with Mulford who rode brilliantly in heat 8 and didn't make a mistake in the four laps. Play off certainties for me. See you Monday, weather permitting.

I think it must be a bit localised. I'm at Hunters Bar and we had about 10 minutes of rain, not particularly heavy. It's dry again now. A few scattered showers forecast for this afternoon but the good thing is that the wind is pretty strong and it should move them through quickly. Fingers crossed for tonight.

I can see it, I just don't think that gimmicks is going to rescue it.

I've watched a bit of The Hundred on TV and got the chance to go this afternoon to Headingly. No thanks. Grown men and women in pyjamas having a slogging competition, five balls a set instead of six an over, fireworks going off when someone scores a boundary, some unknown singer on a stage... God help us if that's entertainment. I'm not saying that the sport needs a freshening up and more thought putting into the presentation, track preparation, endless spending by riders to gain a tiny extra amount of speed which is unsuitable for most tracks etc, but some of the comments on here remind me of when the kids were little and it was a party where you had to fill the three minutes between pass the parcel and the magician turning up. For me, speedway is the entertainment that I pay for. In between races I read the programme, chat to my friends who I stand with, watch the activity at the pit gate and I'm happy. I don't need a Take That cover band and mascot racing. I would be even happy chatting to the stranger next to me if he wasn't at home on a keyboard telling everyone that speedway was dying.

I would replace him without a doubt now. I think fourth place is pretty secure and we aren't going to win the play offs either. I'd rather get James Birkinshaw out of the ice cream van behind the home straight and back into the team or, looking at the last programme, Doug Wyer still has his bike. More seriously, I would have anyone as a replacement. James Shanes, Ash Morris, Aaron Summers, Dany Gappmaier, Tero Aarnio - any of those lads would do me fine. Holder wasn't quite his early season self, Ellis missed a couple of gates and Howarth will be frustrated with the last place in heat 14 but can't fault any of them for effort. Pickering, Neilsen and Hume rode their hearts out and were a credit to the club.

Just a few further thoughts on last night and speedway in general. It was my first visit to Perry Barr and it was a bit chaotic outside the stadium with the roadworks and everything, but I parked for free in the shopping centre as kindly recommended earlier in the thread. I had nothing to compare the crowd to as I had not been before but it looked a good turnout and it was a really friendly atmosphere. It was great to see that there were loads of families with kids there and it was a great idea to have the kids on the centre green in the interval taking penalties against the mascot and massive credit to the riders who got involved as well. It was a bit hard to see from where I was, but it may well have been Ashley Morris and James Shanes - brilliant effort, whoever it was. As pleasing was to see the turnout of the older end as well. It must be hard for some people to have the confidence to come out again but it was great to see the older diehard fans there too. I'm not sure what the capacity is at the stadium but to have had many more in there might have felt a bit uncomfortable for the older end. I went to the bar area in the interval and, although some tables were cordoned off, it seemed well populated and I loved the Hall of Fame on the wall at the top of the stairs. I update and contribute to the Speedway Researcher website, so am aware of the famous history of the club, but to see the display brought it home how important clubs like Birmingham and Newcastle are to the sport. It cost me £19.50 for my entrance fee and a programme and for that there was the 15 heat Championship meeting, a six race second half, and some 125 or 250cc races. The meeting was well presented by Ryan Guest and the announcer and the racing was pretty good. Two full strength sides, no guests, some great young British talent on display, and two of the best riders the country has seen in the past 20 years. How anyone can complain that this is not good value is beyond me. The track was a little dusty but with a big black cloud over the stadium for the duration of the meeting which threatened to empty itself on the track at any point, I could see why preparation may have been difficult and watering risky. I think we all know that speedway, like other sports, is struggling but I've been to all five meetings at Sheffield this year plus one each at Leicester, Redcar, Eastbourne and Birmingham and there is life in the sport yet. We have an older demographic and that age group have been through a scary time and, for many, it's a big step to come to a speedway meeting. We do have to attract new fans as well, but without alienating the hardcore with innovations like The Hundred at cricket, which to me is a total abomination. Finally, the demise of speedway is predicted by quite a few people on this site who clearly take an interest because they are on here every day, but seemingly don't go anymore. To those people I say - get down to your local track and support them. Put aside for a while your valid complaints about doubling up, guests etc, and enjoy the racing for what it is because speedway is still a great night out.

Just got home to Sheffield. Really enjoyed it and hope the crowd was enough for the promotion to keep going. Good luck for the rest of the season and beyond.

Brilliant post, thank you. I went out with my family on Sunday night for an Italian. Mid range, nice place, not Michelin starred or anything. I had a starter and a pizza, £19, the same as a ticket to the speedway. No grumbles about the food at all, but I'd rather spend that money on a speedway meeting any day. I know some people might come straight from work, but I've been going to the speedway since 1974 and never buy food or drink from the track. Now that is a waste of money.

It made me smile when I read in the Newcastle press release that speedway is not a charity - after raising over £10,000 of the speedway public's money - after holding the grand total of (correct me if I am wrong) - one meeting.

Is part of the problem that when speedway was booming, running the speedway was the promoter's main business. I don't recall Reg Fearman, Ian Thomas etc having other businesses, although I might be wrong. They were full time speedway promoters and their lives depended on getting people through the gate. At the same time, the vast majority of riders weren't full time. Looking at the Who's Who in Speedway from the mid 1970s, Peter Oakes would put in the riders' occupation in the profile and it was only the top riders who were full time. Now the riders are full time and need paying the money to live on and the promoters have other businesses and perhaps not the time or the incentive to get people in the stadiums. I might be miles out, but it's just a thought.

I hope Newcastle survive but this kind of statement doesn't sit well with me. There was a crowd funding appeal asking for donations before the start of the season and I could see people putting in substantial amounts of money. I think over £10,000 was raised. This was when the promotion had staged one meeting. After a handful of home meetings they are threatening to close down.

It is difficult to see what the answer is and I don't think there is a simple solution to the sport's problems. On a good night, live speedway is as good as any other sport in the world but it shoots itself in the foot far too often. The rules should be simple but they aren't. Guests and doubling up has turned into a monster that only benefits the riders currently racing but constantly squeezes out others and has made the fans feel like the riders aren't 'theirs'. And the stadiums are poor, there is no getting away from that. Racing wise, I've been going for 45 years and we all remember the classics. However, there were duff meetings in the 70s, 80s and 90s and not all meetings are going to be brilliant. I've been to 8 meetings at four tracks this season and would say that 2 were very good, 1 was poor and 5 were in the middle and still enjoyable. I watch Sheffield Wednesday quite regularly as well and would say that the ratio of good, poor and average games was about the same.

It was the same Ron Clarke

I've been one of the biggest critics as to way the sport is run over the past few years but I feel that, this season, the promoters are getting a bit of criticism that is perhaps a bit harsh. For a start, to have any sort of functioning league this season with the restrictions that they have had to endure is an achievement in itself. I didn't think that things would be as good as it is this year and the promoters seem to have pulled together to at least keep the sport going. The doubling up system and the guest system has got out of hand and there needs to be a long term plan to reduce the numbers in both. However, I think a bit of leeway and understanding has got to be given this year and we have to be thankful we have got three leagues running, against the odds, and hope there is a plan beyond this year. I've never known, in almost 50 years of watching speedway, so few team places filled by non British riders and that has got to be a good thing. However, this year has shown that we need the European riders to fill team places and once travel restrictions are lifted, hopefully we will see a few more riders back in the sport from overseas. I've done a quick count and to my reckoning there are 8 Danes, 3 Americans, 2 Germans and one rider each from Austria, Italy, Finland and the Netherlands in UK league racing, and thanks to the resident Aussies, we have got some racing worth watching. I don't know how many leagues are the answer but if we can keep supporting our tracks and keep them all going this year it would be an achievement. If we can get Swindon, Bradford, Oxford and Isle of Wight back into league racing, possibly Buxton and Coventry longer term, things might look a bit brighter. Matt - Speedway Researcher