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If the sport continues its dumbing down and our top riders are either not wanted or are to be shared amongst those with no desire for rider development then The Aces should embrace this and purely look after themselves. Forget the GP & British Final, let another track look after that as they had a detrimental affect of our domestic attendance. Build a team to Birmingham’s total from last year and save on rider costs both from an initial point of view and a match by match basis - less points, less pay. We are pretty much running on diehards with regards attendance and they like me will turn out for their fortnightly speedway fix. The days of us looking at the bigger picture need to end as it’s not as though we’ve change anything nor gathered more friends within the sport. Ben Cook 6.39 Jake Mulford 3.00 Charles Wright 6.11 Tate Zischke 3.00 Zach Cook 6.20 Billy Budd 3.00 Jack Smelt 3.00 30.70 just short of the Brummies total last year.

You use to be able to watch top flight speedway every night of the week as clubs had their own set days that worked for them. Poole moved down a league to keep their midweek race-night. It’s not always the case that weekend is best. Belle Vue ran on a Sunday this year (without top stars) and the attendance wasn’t anything to shout about. Imo, with everything on offer in Manchester on a weekend, Belle Vue would find the battle for the leisure pound in the area much tougher. For my five pen’orth, I only saw one Belle Vue team meeting on a weekend this year as I was busy for the others. In previous years I maybe missed one.

There’s the rub. Plenty of people know about the sport including many speedway fans and they cannot be bothered to come out and watch aside from BH or big ticket events. We need to change the racenight experience to increase interest. I’m a lapsed speedway nut with another track less than 30 miles away as the crow flies. I use to visit this track every meeting as they were my second division track. I stopped going as I got fed up with the entertainment on offer and the journey plus admission didn’t feel worth it. This thinking then gravitated over to Aces away meetings with my final one being mid 2022. The thing is if the sport cannot appeal to a speedway nut previously happy to take in 100plus meetings a season anymore, apart from a few at the NSS what chance has the current product got of attracting and KEEPING new customers?

It stands to reason that us fans make excuses for the sports poor following as the reality - the fact that people don’t like speedway - is hard to take as it is in direct opposition to our choice to spend our leisure pound the way we do. Every idea presented on here has been attempted, many times in some instances. It’s constantly stated on here that we are the best kept secret etc. This is just not true. If you have no interest in something you don’t retain the information thrown at you. United & City are two of the biggest sporting teams in the world, right on my doorstep but I couldn’t tell you when their next match was, when the season is or who plays for them. I can watch a set of adverts and should you question me straight after, I’d have little clue what I saw. Lakeside was full to the rafters one week, the next back to its regular poor attendance. People know about our sport but CHOOSE not to watch it. We cannot recreate the world or peoples circumstances that led to full stadia back in the ‘70’s so we need to change with the times. Speedway needs to become memorable and create water cooler moments. The racing can provide that (British Final - final) but in the age of social media we need to be creating content with memorable characters and happenings - even if these are part concoctions. One of speedways issues is it’s pretence that it’s a credible sport when as we know it’s anything but. This I do not see changing but the same can be said of other sports once you scratch the surface. We need to grasp the entertainment nettle and go full on with a set of goodies & baddies with interactions between the two, the officials and the crowd to create these moments of interest perfectly suit to social media clips that can act as a trailer for something fuller that showcases the event and leaves a fomo for those watching.

I know I sound like a stuck record on this but I’ve asked before that everyone sells the sport to their close circle of friends and family and attempts to get JUST ONE to visit with them. Sharing your feedback on here when doing this will give us a clearer indication of the task in hand. If passionate fans cannot convince the people closest to them, who already trust and respect their opinions, to accompany them to a night at the speedway then any number of leaflets etc just won’t cut the mustard.

People say prospective fans don’t know the difference between Simon & Robert Lambert and more to the point don’t care. They also say it’s mad to run midweek and that meetings should be run at the weekends. The repetitive nature of the league is also off putting as you can play the opposition 3,4 or 5 times a season. Limiting visitors to just once a season will create greater demand. It’s beneficial to run a locally based team that people can identify with and the travel cost of flights isn’t an issue. Put the events on at stadiums that don’t “look like a bombsite” with comfortable padded seating that affords great views of the action. Do all this for £10-£15 instead of the £25 we currently charge with kids free and maybe we can get the sport back to where it should be - or maybe not. https://britishspeedway.co.uk/team/belle-vue-colts/

We didn’t seriously challenge Ipswich. They knocked us out of the cup & play offs and rightly so given the team they had this year, next year will not be as good as they’ll have to de strengthen. Our team this year was basically the same as our title winning team from last season and if it stayed the same for next season, we’d be in the mix again.

Five of those riders in The Aces team are British based, as is Brady.

Five of those riders in The Aces team are British based, as is Brady.

The regular media coverage keeps us in people’s heads week on week. Leaflets, posters and special offers have had an immediate but not long lasting effect. Phillips social media work has worked well in getting families through the door and like people have mentioned on here, I think this is the way to go.

The regular media coverage keeps us in people’s heads week on week. Leaflets, posters and special offers have had an immediate but not long lasting effect. Phillips social media work has worked well in getting families through the door and like people have mentioned on here, I think this is the way to go.

It would be just our luck if the only one over 8 rule came in again. The first time it was implemented was at the end of the 2017 season and after decades we finally had two riders with 8 plus averages and sadly had to let Bjerre go. Many teams had two riders over 8 during those decades but would you believe it as soon as we do a rule comes in to break us up. Dammit. Apart from 2017, Dan & Brady are the only other two to achieve such a feet in all those decades. Fingers crossed a purely random rule doesn’t affect us again.

This is what we’ve done to attract fans to Belle Vue over the last decade or so….. Have an advert on local radio over an extended period of time. Have an advert in local newspapers over an extended period of time. Have an advertising board on some of the busiest roads in Manchester. Have posters in shops and businesses. Had out flyers in local shopping areas. Have a float or attend local fairs and carnivals. Attend local trade shows. Give out free tickets to schools and businesses. Take bikes and merchandise into schools to accompany the talk they deliver on the sport. Be featured on local tv news’s 4 or 5 times between March and October. Have a regular editorial in local papers. Have a 30 minute highlights programme on a local tv satellite station. Form a tie up with local groups and offer free entry and supporters club membership. Attend (and win) local sports team of the year awards. I’ve probably missed a few others.

Current rules 4.50 but with our apparent interest in the lad the rules might be altered for ‘26 and he could be 5 or above. That will depend on our proposed lineup.

Current rules 4.50 but with our apparent interest in the lad the rules might be altered for ‘26 and he could be 5 or above. That will depend on our proposed lineup.

When seven out of this years top ten were taken from novice to star in the British League I find it hard to accept their view.

I get what you’re saying if it’s “off the peg” signings like many teams do but if you sign a couple of 3.00ers, a 4.50, and 7.50 then invest time and money on developing those riders to GP or FIM gold standard then it should be right you can keep them rather than help feather the nest of other clubs that operate outside of our mindset.

If Glasgow & Poole had the support to cover it, they would be in the top league with top riders in their teams. They don’t and they haven’t - it’s not rocket science

In 1983 (chosen at random) we had Cradley visit 3 times and Sheffield hosted Coventry 4 times. Multiple visits have gone on for years and are not the main reason for none attendance imo.

When comparing the two leagues people often stat the repetitive nature of the top league as off putting. Ipswich rode at Belle Vue four times this year but the rest of the league only rode two meetings at the NSS. The only reason Ipswich were there so often was due to cups and play offs. If we are to include all competitions then the championship is equally as repetitive or some would say more so. A quick look at three teams has….. Glasgow v Edinburgh 5 times Poole v Oxford 3 times Redcar v Poole 4 times

The trouble is when you remove the big hitters all the others move up and subsequently start asking for an increase due to riding at number one and this happens throughout the new team. They don’t get Emil money but they get more than they were worth as their value has increased overnight due to supply and demand. IMO it’s not 7 or 8 top stars that are bankrupting speedway (they bring crowds in), it’s the lower order riders asking for big bucks due to trying to emulate the GP lads with increased machinery costs, vans, mechanics and tuners. Pointing the finger at 15% of your product and blaming it is a misreading of the entire league set up and it’s associated costs.

Average wise there’s only Gilkes and Edwards better than Jake for next season I’d stick with Tate on a 3. We need to focus on our dreadful away form as we only won 4. We need to match the top two in the league who were excellent with 5 wins each.

PC, with his check, spark, flame, Aces leathers etc were great in the ‘70’s.

Brady was less than a point better away than Jaimon but that’s more a reflection on Jaimon being one of the better away riders than Brady being particularly poor.

I think The Aces will stick with six of this year’s team that have been the mainstays for many seasons. The vacant spot will depend on the points limit being between Zagar or Cairns. Brady & Dan. No better top two. Jaimon. No better third heat leader, home or away. Norick. No one better at his age or younger. Tate. No better three pointer. Jake. As good as most RS for this coming season, though he’d move to first reserve should the limit be low and gain a 25% reduction with a real average being used rather than the 3 point base rate. Zagar or Cairns. Best number four or a very promising RS.Play offs as usual then hope we have Brady & Dan from 2024 instead of 2025. Be sad if we need to off load more from our conveyor belt of talent but if it keeps or brings teams to our league then I’ll live with it. In an alternate universe we have a top five of Brady, Dan, Max, Jaimon & Tom. Staring average of that team before we worked our magic, around 22 - wow.