Chris116

All the speedway tracks that I have gone to regularly have run midweek and once SWR reinstate the letter trains from Poole and Portsmouth then I will be going to both Poole and Smallbrook again.

I am with you, if it isn't on Freeview then I don't watch it.

I fully agree that both Arena and Ipswich use(d) a separate inner track for speedway and therefore the dangers of the car fence were not as much a problem as at tracks where the two sports use the same track. The real point I was making was that the new Mildenhall fence is a typical modern stock car fence. I wonder if a wooden fence the height of the posts with a foam or air fence in front would be a solution but as has been said already the track looks as though it could be rather narrow by the time all of that has been put in front of the stock car fence. I would be surprised if the track for the cars has been narrowed as has never been a track with that much room for manoeuvre.

The fence is a pretty standard modern stock car fence. The posts will have two or three wires (think pit head machinery lifting gear) on them to make the fence high enough to stop cars joining the spectators. Aldershot, Ipswich and until closure Arena Essex all have similar fences. Not ideal for speedway but vital for car racing safety.

Closed 19th January 2025. The stadium was rubbish as from the expensive seats you could not see the home straight! The old stadium may have been a bit of a dump but viewing for speedway and stock cars was much better.

That would be in line with the problems Skegness had.

The Spedeworth fixture list has been issued for the first half of the 2025 season with the first car meeting bing on 22nd March which means a full season of speedway should be possible if they can be fitted in between the car racing and if the BSPL will agree. Here's hoping things work out successfully.

I only went to Crewe twice. One was an afternoon meeting featuring a National Hot Rods NHRPA Championship round which saw some fairly expensive Hot Rods shaken to pieces on the rough track. The drivers were very unimpressed! The second time was for an evening meeting featuring F1 Stock Cars and I commentated on the consolation. I totally agree about the dark patches around the track. Even the best light places appeared to only have a 60 watt bulb. It was impossible to read the numbers on the cars on the back straight or bends but fortunately in those days I knew the shape of most of the cars. About 30 years ago the track lighting at Skegness had to be changed due to the local council suddenly saying they were too bright in the surrounding area. A firm who did lighting for motorways and major outdoor events put up the new lighting system and they were nearly as bad as the lights at Crewe and they had to double the number of lights before the next meeting which even then were no where near as good as the old lights had been but at least the local council were satisfied.

There, that's corrected it! 😇

I could use some very rude words to describe my feelings but they would serve no purpose. I saw two, three and four wheel racing and my parents must be turning in their graves at what happened to the stadium. They would be equally unhappy at the fate of all the London stadiums, Crawley Heath, Peterborough and so many others we enjoyed visiting for racing.

In the last five years of stock cars at Wimbledon they checked bags for food and drink but it never stopped my father and I getting a thermos of coffee plus sandwiches in. Great having deep inside pockets and a bag with my programme board and extra warm clothing which they checked carefully and there was never anything of interest to them. The bag did a great job hiding the bulge in my coat caused by the thermos!

Sören Sjösten. Rode in the same style as Peter Craven. I loved watching both of them.

That will all depend on who is asking and what effect it will have on the rule makers. I bet it won't be covered in an undisputable way in the rules.

Isn't that the way speedway rules have always been written?

No real news yet on the state of play at Mildenhall following the fire but the one piece of news is that a championship qualifying round is being advertised for 24th May 2025 so Spedeworth must be fairly certain things will be back to normal by then.