Fortythirtyeight

Wrong. The only thing affected by the introduction of silencers is the noise ( obviously ) and engine tuning. Made no difference whatsoever to the standards of racing.

Absolute rubbish. Upright's are ridden with controllable power , laydown's have to be revved to maximum limit to perform , they basically have an on off switch.

Some dissapoiting averages there. Bjerre was considered to be a no.1 a few seasons ago, now a second string, same with Østergaard. Add a rider who hasn't achieved a 2 point average in three seasons the team is out performing its average so proves statistics mean little.

Been there done that. 26 kids with 4 teachers and six parents turned up for the meeting , none came back, when asked why?.... "Too expensive" ( kids allowed in free every week) or " not my thing " . Some promotions do try!

"Just a pity more promoters weren't prepared to take a chance and actually promote the sport, and improve things like Glasgow have done" This is not a dig at Glasgow as I believe they have done a tremendous amount for very little reward but no other club has the financial backing to go out and do the same. Speaking to a promoter recently who spends his own ( not the clubs ) money to do the little he can afford as his club losses money every meeting so has no budget for advertising.

Let me guess where the ref was from.......

Not at all, 47 years of following the sport have taught me that it's always a risk but it looked like the right decision as the sky was threatening and there was allot of water on the start line. As a certain American film star said " I'll be back ".

Oh well, 4 hour round trip for nothing but ' that's speedway ' as they say. Was allowed inside the stadium, still able to get food and drink and use the facilities. Even got to speak to some riders who explained why it was called off ( start line was just too wet after heavy down pour at 5 pm) . Nice to get to speak to riders from both sides, no animosity over the call off and only the home promoter appeared a bit down about it ( understandably ). Got handed a fans survey ( see different thread) which was interesting. Despite my fuel bill not a totally wasted journey as got to eat one of their famous pie n peas!

Despite the meeting at Redcar being rained off this evening it wasn't a totally wasted 2 hour journey. I was handed a survey/ questionnaire on the sport which shows that some one / promoter ? does care what the fans think. (Something we tried at other tracks in past seasons) This site won't let me down load a photo ( too large?) so I'll type it out on here as I was only just discussing these surveys on another thread. Are you a Bears supporter? Are you a visiting supporter? Is this your first speedway meeting? Is this your first season? How many years have you been a speedway supporter Where did you first hear about speedway? Tv, radio, from a friend, poster,. Have you seen a Bears poster at your workplace? What, if anything, could be done to improve your experience at a speedway meeting? Each completed form was to be entered into a prize draw if details supplied. Just goes to show someone out there is trying to listen. Well done Redcar Speedway.

See previous reply. As the main demographic of speedway fans is of that age group who then is qualified to indicate where the sport can be improved? By a fan who's been attending a few meetings and doesn't know what has been tried before ??? I'm interested in hearing who you think should be supplying feedback if it's isn't regularly supporters, please don't say people on here who haven't been to a meeting in years!

Done at the beginning of 2017 and 2018, two tracks we were allowed inside, one outside in the car park. ( 2 interested promoters , 1 not) Those that no longer go I can't answer for via a survey as they weren't there to be surveyed, had to base the outcomes on ' occasional ' fans of long standing interest ( over 20 years following the sport but now pick and choose when they come) Even ex riders surveyed said the standard was higher now than in the 60's , 70's. but they thought the sport was now too professional and expensive for riders and too expensive for fans.

Sheffield ran a ' free entry' meeting and over 2 thousand turned up, the very next meeting back to normal 6-700 level. Big ' free ' crowd does not mean more income in anything especially if the club does not run the food franchise ( as many don't) .

Any weather updates please before traveling from Cumbria?

Then you are misinformed. That's why there is a leagal challenge trying to get The BSPA's money back ( which was never authorised by the BSPA in the first place but done covertly by the top table members) and why there is so much penny pinching going on by the BSPA ( withdrawing funding for youth championship, selling Team GB , etc)

Do you think we just threw it all way and ignored it? Without going into every avenue of our findings here's a few tasters. New fans found their first time experience very enjoyable but expensive in reality. A suggested acceptable adult price was £12-14. They wanted more entertainment between races such as modern music ( not 70's hits) interaction with the crowd ( centre green chats with riders/ fans/ management ) Mascots were often mentioned. They wanted more races, more explanation of the basic rules and better viewing platforms with more interaction with the riders. They appear to enjoy ' 2nd half ' type races , when they took place, when kids were involved as the younger ones could connect with children their own age having a go. None of them could get their head around ' guests ' or R/R or ' excluding a rider but putting him back in off 15m. Car parking was an issue. The ' used to go years ago ' feedback was always harping about bikes on the back of cars, riders in the bar after meetings, ' characters ' starting fights on the track ( riders and team managers) old format 13 heats and ' junior scurry's' and match races between two top stars visiting the track. 74% of fans who completed the surveys had attended speedway for more than 20 years and 65% of those thought that the standard of race meetings now was better than the past. I still have all the feedback sheets and have shared the information with 3 different promotions all of which have tried to implement some of the findings with varying success levels. One track improved their 'new' fan attendance over one season by 45%. Some fans are harder to please than others.

Having handed out questionnaires at meetings, stood in town centres giving tickets away and gone around schools promoting the sport I think I've asked the right questions. '

Not the case at all. I have assisted on promotional events promoting speedway and offering free tickets. The number of ' former fans ' who turned them down was phonominal but new ' fans ' took them and 65% of those actualy attended the next meeting. The older generation are now like you, too sceptical and want £5 admission, free programme and want to see world champions every week. The sport needs new fans , with their children and listen to them about what they liked or did not like. The old brigade who no longer attend are three time as hard to get back so concentrate on new and hope for the future. The comments on here tell you why they don't want to come back, because they went to a bad meeting years ago and now don't have the habit anymore! There are good promoters and good clubs out there,, Belle Vue, Ipswich, Berwick, Glasgow, and Redcar to name a few, read their threads, their fans appear to be very content with their lot.

Nothing, as long as they were at the meeting to form their own opinion. These people haven't been to a meeting in years by their own admission yet still think they have a valid opinion on what's happening now. Its their choice not to go, that's fine, but I've lost my local track because of ' non-attenders' who all went years ago and still feel free to slag the sport and then bemoan the state of the sport and the fact tracks are closing. Ludicrous!

And it looks like neither of you were there so you will never know! Your just ' sheep ' making judgements based on other peoples opinions. Ludicrous.

Then how can you comment on meetings you've never been to? How do you know how good/ bad things are? Its fine following the sport via the Internet but that only gives you a biased opinion of what's happened, either by the author or the club that releases it. As can be seen on here regularly everybody sees things differently , some like what they see, some don't . People on here moaning and haven't been to a meeting for 2 years for gods sake.

Can't for the life of me work out why ' fans '(?) who haven't been to a meeting in two years are actually on this forum? It appears Kings Lynn have more of them than anybody. whilst I fully understand the lack of interest if you are unfortunate enough to live near a track that doesn't provide value for money or even decent racing but why constantly go on this forum? Especially after two years??? I no longer have a local track so travel to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Berwick , Belle Vue and Redcar to get my fix and whilst one or two of these tracks do not provide great racing week in , week out, I still have the desire so pick and choose which fixtures to attend and therefore get my ' value for money ' fix. If you don't go to meetings, there'll be no meetings ! Ask Workington fans!!!

Terry ( can't even try to spell his surname as its Polish) took over the main reigns several weeks ago ( think Harry was ill ) but I understand Harry is still around assisting when able.

Then you will be aware of his strengths and his weakness's.

That's because the Trackman is the afore mentioned Terry!

Ex rider, built Somerset , Redcar and possibly Leicester . Who were you referring too?