Chris116

Dear BSPA, I have watch speedway regularly since 1958 at Wimbledon, West Ham, New Cross, Hackney, Crayford, Romford, Rye House, Arena Essex and Skegness. I am now back living in London which maybe you have not noticed is the CAPITAL of both England and the UK. Without a car how do I support this wonderful sport? Yours One very upset former supporter, who would still be a supporter if there was a track in London.

Is this a leak of what really has been discussed or a vivid imagination?

Trouble is that even if you did buy the clubs you would not have a vote for three years and by that time your investment would be worth very little!

Huge congratulations on the award. If most clubs were run the way that you run on the Isle of Wight I am sure the sport would be in a much better state than it currently is. Keep up the good work and all the best for the future.

I would suggest a slick, well run meeting (Frank Ebdon as referee always used to help with the slick running of meetings!) in the league between April and August with September for Play-off meetings for the top teams in the league and a Trophy/Shield event for the teams not involved in the Play-offs. That way even teams who have a bad year can get some silverwear!

Over the years I have watched Wimbledon with Ronnie Moore when the locals thought it was a bad meeting if the visitors go within 10 points of the Dons! Provincial League racing at Hackney, plus racing in all three leagues over the last 30 years whatever they were called at the time. After 60 years of watching racing, in my opinion, it is not how good the riders are that in fact matters, it is that the teams are of similar standard. I would much prefer to watch a National League match that ends 46-44 than a Premiership match featuring the World Champion and another GP rider which ends 60-30. The advantage of lower division racing is that they make mistakes so there is often more overtaking and fewer from the gate processions. If the BSPA can get racing that is close with passing then whether the races take 55 seconds or 59 seconds will not matter as people will be enjoying the close racing and not be worried about who the riders are.

The above post in this thread gives a list of costs for entertainment. It misss out the cost of Stock Car, Banger and Hot Rod meetings which range from around £10 to £20 for normal meetings depending on which classes are racing and which stadium/promoter is involved. When I started watching both bikes and cars on stadium ovals in the late 50s and 60s the cost of going to cars and bikes was between 4/- and 7/6d (20p to 38p for those who don't remember proper money). The cost of top league football was also in a similar range but football admission prices have gone up more than oval racing due to the massive wage increases in football. I have purchased tickets to two matches at Fulham for myself and my wife this season. One game cost £55 for the two of us and the other £85. At Rye House this season it cost £18 for adults and £16 for over 60s so for two meetings for the two of us it would have totalled £64 while football has cost £140 which, for what I have seen so far this year makes speedway admission prices reasonable. I would love it to be cheaper but the costs of running or hiring a stadium plus insurance and staff make that unlikely. The riders are often blamed for wanting too much money for racing but how many of us would be prepared to take the risks they take in pursuit of making a living? From the end of World War Two until the mid 60s there was very little entertainment at home (two TV channels, four radio channels plus Luxembourg and the pirates), now we have goodness knows how many TV channels, a massive number of radio stations, videos, DVDs and internet. People have reduced how often they go out and become couch potatoes who except for football and firework displays very rarely go out and that has hit speedway and a number of other sports badly. I don't see how the promoters can beat the change in habits of most families but a little real promoting would help. Rye House had a large advertising board at the entrance with the date and time of the next meeting. When I arrived for meetings it normally showed the date of the previous meeting or was blank! I know there was limited passing traffic but what traffic there was did not get the message about the racing and would have thought that it had maybe closed months before it actually it. A bad case of not helping your own promotion! Those of us who the BSPA have not alienated need to start taking friends and do our best to encourage them to keep coming back, I know the BSPA make it hard to justify the sport being professional but we need to do our best if we are to be able to continue enjoying the racing we love.

Sadly the lack of Polish spectators is probably more to do with lack of publicity rather than lack of interest. That probably goes for potential spectators of all nationalities. The one track I visited this year regularly failed to have the right date of the next meeting on the sign outside the stadium!

Do we have to bring a torch to use for any floodlighting problems? So far both tracks involved have had a lighting failure and I have zero confidence for Wednesday to be any different.

With all the meetings that might need a coin tossed I fear the BSPA could need sponsorship for the cost of the coins!

I suspect they have come up with three options! Trouble is they can't agree on which excuse explanation to use. OPTION ONE - Lakeside were ahead so they should move forward to the final. PROBLEM is that rewards the team who failed to have a track that could stage the meeting fully! OPTION TWO - Peterborough go through as Lakeside have failed to provide a track that the meeting could be finished on. PROBLEM is that this means the side that was being beaten qualifies for the final! OPTION THREE - Rye House are awarded the win as they stopped both Peterborough and Lakeside from qualifying! PROBLEM is that Rye House were kicked out of one league and are not in the league they have now qualified for! The other alternative is to ask Workington who they would like to race against! Now that could be interesting.

This is a very unhappy situation but I do not understand why the rerun cannot be on a midweek date. The stadium was rented for a speedway meeting that could not be finished due to the stadium lighting failing so the owners should allow the rerun to take place rent free or the Lakeside promotion should sue them for a full refund of the rent plus the loss of income for the final. I supported Rye House but it appears that they not only cannot run a team, they also cannot provide a stadium for others to race at. BMR should not be allowed within a million miles of the sport ever again.

Run the KO Cups during April to July. The Leagues from April to August with Play Offs in September. Those teams not in the Play Offs race for a secondary trophy/shield. The leagues need to have at least 8 teams for it to work but this means even the bottom teams have something to race for in September and October would only be used by clubs who want to run events like the Ipswich 16 lapper and Wolverhampton Olympique.

Ronnie Moore with his red scarf flying behind him much to the annoyance of some of the referees, Peter Craven and Soran Sujostian (I know, the spelling is wrong!) with their balance style were the most easily recognised in the days of black leathers.

Sadly the weather could mean this meeting is postponed. The start time has been moved to 5pm in the hope that the weather improves during the day. Good luck to both teams with a safe, exciting meeting.

As a youngster I was by the pits at Wimbledon one evening when Teo was racing and at the end of the meeting he came over to a small group of kids and gave each of us one of his flick off visors. Tragically he had his accident a month or so later and I treasured that visor until it vanished in a house move in the mid 90's. I still very much regret that I lost it as and have never forgotten Teo and his kind and friendly nature.

One of the biggest problems is that the last few seasons we have suffered a mad dash at the end of the season to complete fixtures before the cut off. The cut off also can mean that teams finish their season far too early (witness Sheffield this season). To get around the problem I sould suggest running the league until the middle of September which then leaves six weeks to stage the playoffs. The League Cup would only be open to those teams not in the Playoffs and would ensure that all teams have meaningful meetings to at least the middle of October. This can happen as part of one big PL/CL or with the two leagues run much as they have this last season. If we do have one big league then I would think that it should be run with North and South divisions and if 18 teams are involved them 2 Home and Away meetings between those teams in the same division and 1 Home and Away for those in the other division. That gives 16 Home meetings within your division and 9 Home meetings against those of the other division. Mid March to Mid September is 25 weeks so teams could run weekly. All fixtures would be fixed at the start of the season and a Rain-off would be 1 point for each team with no rearranged dates. If the league is run on this basis then I would drop the KO Cup as it would make for too many meetings in the season.

I enjoy car and bike racing but having been to both on circuits and ovals would always choose Stock Cars and Speedway over anything the places like Brands Hatch and Silverstone can dish up. The fact that on an Oval you can see all of the race but on a circuit the race flashes past every however long they take to do a lap is a big factor for me.

It is interesting that Lakeside are giving the Peterborough fans a chance to pay for only one meeting but not accepting the Newcastle fans rain-off tickets. The simple thing would have been to run the meetings in the other order but that would have meant a late finish before a long journey for Newcastle fans and left the Peterborough fans forced to watch a meeting they probably have no interest in. Of course, better fixture planning that stops double headers being needed would solve the problem!

I think the cut off is two weeks before the KO Cup date so looks like they need to get a move on.

Lakeside are advertising the KO Cup against Peterborough on Saturday 29th September and Rolling Thunder Show are also advertising a meeting on the same evening. One of them will have to be either moved to another track or the date changed.

The Rolling Thunder Show, car racing, has a fixture for Ninja Sprints Southern Championship, Stock Rods, Superstox, Junior Hot Rods, RTS Hot Rods, Euro Rods and Thunder Cars which could be interesting or could point to the speedway not being at Arena Essex!

Wimbledon had an electric scoreboard in the 60's and 70's until the GRA started to destroy everything in the stadium so they could close it. The scoreboard was used for dog meetings for the tote betting and for speedway and stock car meetings for results.

At least one season in the early 1960s had handicap racing in the league. The sight of Ronnie Moore going from 30 yards and still being in the lead at Plough Lane is forever etched on my brain. Second half races were often five rider, handicap events and great fun for the spectators although the riders may have been less keen about the idea.

Sadly one factor in the decline of Speedway is that the younger generation think an evenings entertainment consists of watching TV, playing video games or chatting on social media. Many people only "go out" when they go to work or for weddings and funerals. Many have stopped going to the pub because it is a ten minute walk and they can't take the car. It is that sort of mentality that many sports like Speedway are fighting. Added to that is the very short attention span of many younger people and sport in general has a problem.