heathen52

Let me say what i do know about Laurence Rogers, Firstly I have no idea if he owes anyone any money or not, he is a Speedway Fan above all else, he lives, eats, sleeps, breathes Speedway and has done for many years, yes its true that many of his Speedway projects have fallen by the wayside Mildenhall, Newport, to name a few and he has been involved with other Teams such as Coventry and more recently Plymouth, then there was the young American touring Teams put together by Steve Evans and others. Laurence is an ordinary working guy just like you and I who has done his best to try to keep these teams going, yes primarily with other peoples money but had he not tried then the majority of these Teams would have closed down sooner rather than later, Its surely better to have tried and failed then to have not tried at all, he is always willing to give young riders help and assistance to get on in the sport, The other thing that I know about Laurence is that if I contacted him wanted some help with something to do with Speedway he would most likely never say no and that maybe that is his biggest failing if it can be called that. I agree he is probably not the finest team manager that there ever was but thats possibly more to do with budget restrictions than anything else. My final word, It would probably have been easier for Laurence to walk away from Birmingham speedway and let it be consigned to the history books than to have the hassle and ingratitude of some by trying to keep speedway in Birmingham, but NO speedway is in his blood just like you and I, agreed maybe its not his money but no-one forces these people to put money into clubs that are struggling to survive, one thing is for sure Speedway will be the poorer when he finally decides enough is enough.

Is Luke Becker available to ride in the Championship ie does he have commitments elsewhere in europe ?, I would have thought he would be a very good rider to build the team around.

Nicolai Klindt

I suspect that you will see at least 1 if not the 2 of them back next season, but your correct both of them flattered to deceive last season.

Really sorry to read about the goings on up at Northside this type of travelling commnity really are the scum of the earth, its exactly the same around here in the Midlands from time to time they turn up at various sites, Car Parks, Waste Ground, Sports Pitches and Parks, they cause no end of grief whilst they are there, then when they leave the rubbish they leave behind is horrendous, usually they leave a calling card whenever they visit premises in the form of human excretia. All the local councils have fixed sites for these so called travellers to go to but it has made little if any difference, until the big knobs down in London pass a stronger law this will continue throughout the country. A few years ago they had set up on the car park of a local playing field I wanted to go onto this playing field so walked across the Car Park, next thing a big 4x4 was heading for me I had to rapidly jump out of the way before I got hit, the driver was just laughing as he went past Barstewards the lot of them..

Im surprised that there has not been any mention of any non League Football Club that may have the ability to stage Speedway, surely there must be at least one ?.

According to this Yes.. https://buxtonraceway.com/ and its next door to the Speedway track, incidentally there is activity at Buxton Speedway with Ride and Skid days apparently run by ex riders Aiden, Les Collins and Adam Allott. https://rideandskidit.com/

Is this a similar situation to what Rob Grant found himself in at Newcastle last year, does the potential buyer start an entirely new company or purchase the existing company and the potential debts that go with it ?, and we all know what happened at Newcastle dont we..

Its nowt to do with the Council how many fans watch Birmingham Speedway, do the Councillors tell Brummies to stay away or otherwise ?. The biggest issue Birmingham Speedway need to overcome apart from how many watch meetings is the apparent lack of security at the Stadium, and gaining more access to the Track to do remedial work.

As an ex dog man, who still has contacts within the Sport this is 100% correct, the only thing you forgot to mention is ARC also have major interests in Horse racing Tracks, but the model is pretty much the same with that ie all weather Tracks if possible.

It really is almost impossible to compare, lets take just 2 riders who i had the pleasure of watching during there entire career both cut short for varying reasons; Penhall and Gunderson by whatever yardstick you may use they were both great riders. Firstly Penhall in my humble opinion a better all round racer than Gundersen, however if Eric was in front in any race I rarely if ever saw anyone overtake him, take the last Wembley final yes Bruce won the Final but Eric took the Track record and didnt finish on the rostrum because if memory serves me right in possibly his easiest race he forgot to turn his fuel on and failed to score a point when just an extra point would have put him on 12 equal with Olsen and Knudsen, however thats all ifs buts and maybe`s, back to Bruce as Eric has recently said he and the Americans gave us a new style of riding away from the old upright sitting style, whereby they threw the bike around and moved around on the bikes during races, Bruce could perform on all Tracks and in all conditions be it from the front or back. Eric liked the big fast Tracks and generally would gate and go however he was known on occasion to grab a handful of throttle and take a big blast around the outside leaving the oposition in his wake. Who was the best? probably Bruce but in a match race I really couldnt say who would win.

What happened to the tie up with that promotion company that the BSPL had prior to covid ?, It was run by a young lady if i recall Top Hat Promotions or something like that.

Nope they aint listening and never seem to listen, the majority at the top seem to regard supporters as someone to be put up with rather than treated as customers, this is an attitude thats prevailed for far to long and continues to be the case, those at the top need only look to the Island near to you to see what can be done with a little effort, at least whenever Iv visited there the promoters have always made the effort to make me feel welcome, rather than someone who is there on sufference. With regards the websites again you are right, the first thing I would do is have a different website server rather than the standard thats the norm for most Teams, PR! do they even know what it is ?.

There is the possibility of running an NDL team in addition to Championship Speedway would that be more cost effective than only running 14 or so meetings ?, Iv no idea as im not an accountant, but if the rumoured 50k is a fixed figure whatever the number of meetings you may as well use the dates that you have, and it would give Mr Rogers an NDL Team to manage at the level he is best at.

Generally agree with a lot of what you say is correct, however few points i would like to make about ARC yes they are in the business of making profits and they are not concerned wether or not anyone comes through the gate for Greyhound meetings at PB, they primarily make money from televised Greyhound meetings they get a substantial amount of money from each of those meetings, and i do believe the Brummies will come to the Tapes in 2022. However apart from those 2 points your pretty much spot on especially about fans being replaced "we are all getting older" and when Iv been to PB they generally have a bigger percentage of senior citizens than most other Teams, 1,000 per meeting i cant see it being achieved where are they suddenly going to come from ? after all they havent been there for a few seasons, and if they have Track issues during the first few meetings then its going to be a big big struggle. I wish them luck should they go ahead as im sure most of us do.

If the BSPL were to do a survey to find out the average age of spectators that go to watch live Speedway they may find out the true state of British Speedway, for sure it IS broke but they year on year make no attempt to fix it, I will guarantee now that at least 1 other Team will fall by the wayside in 2022, last team standing turn the lights out please. One other fact some fail to realise is that any NEW Promoter cannot even vote or propose any new measures for 3 years, so he/she can see obvious problems within the Sport but cant even propose/vote for any changes, but he/she can continue to throw money at Speedway but cant do anything about it for 3 years, except walk away how stupid is that ?. Fixed racenights, Doubling up are not in the best interests of British Speedway, they are in fact detrimental to British Speedway but the powers that be cant see any further than the end of there noses.

Whilst trying to be diplomatic the P**i word is used commonly where i live, is it a form of racism ? Iv no idea, but they seem to be doing allright around here property ownership by Asian groups is sky high primarily in the form of HMO,s which in my opinion will cause things to build up into something even stronger in the years to come.I will repeat again the words used to me by a former workmate some years ago "we are far more racist than you" those were his exact words, think about it and was/is he right ?.

ARC or to be more exact Rachel Corden is no friend of Speedway she is the former owner of Nottingham Greyhound Stadium until it was sold to ARC where she was then offered and accepted a senior position within ARC management, Her husband Mark Bird is the CEO of the GBGB which is the Greyhound equivelant of the BSPL so what Corden wants she very often gets, Im told that ARC allegedly wont offer any Tenant more than a 1 year lease how true that is i dont know but iv been told that from a very reliable source. Would any of you invest in a Speedway team with no guarantee of having a racetrack after 1 season ?.

Birmingham ? they have at least been viable in the NDL.

If you are correct which iv no reason to doubt, then why is that ? Ohhhhh i forgot the BSPL in there wisdom decided to dumb down the NL, again short sighted gain for long term loss which just about sums up the BSPL over the years.

They have short memories, and even shorter when it comes to the RS program, with regards Buxton it would be great to see them back in a weaker and cheaper NDL.

Why dont you ask him?, at least he is making an effort i dont see anyone else trying at least not publically, my own thoughts are that this alleged rent increase may be the final nail, unless somone has spare cash to susidise the Speedway rather than giving it to HMRC.

Can someone tell me, whats the point of having a RS scheme in the Premier League but not in the Championship ?, surely the point is progression of young riders so it should follow that the RS scheme means the Championship is the natural step up for young riders then the Premiership.

Makes me worry about Birmingham and Newcastle both having the same Landlords, and both having struggled to get through the 2021 season.

Godfrey will be the death of British Speedway.