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It’s my opinion that crowd levels are hit when the top stars disappear and sponsors too like the idea of being involved with a team sporting a world class rider or two. As has been shown with Belle Vue, Sheffield, Ipswich & Leicester recently is that top stars result in a competitive team. All those teams bar The Aces have dropped a division or closed due to crowds dwindling when success wasn’t on the cards. I’m not having it that people don’t know speedway exists in town. I’ve detailed all the many avenues used to enlighten people but the fact is they don’t want to come and that is what needs addressing. I live a few hundred yards from Stockport County and I couldn’t tell you when the next fixture is, what league they are in or who is in the team. The reason is I’m not interested so will not take in any amount of public attention they seek. I don’t like football so have no idea about it and that goes for two of the biggest clubs in the world who are also on my doorstep. This is true of any event in Manchester I’m not interested in and it’s just the way people behave.

I’d never claim Brady to be one of our own in the same way as Dan but we should be looking for more riders to move from 7.50 to 9.50 and become GP challengers as despite popular opinion on here, they put bums on seats.

I was comparing Bewley & Shimelt as I continually get told that we don’t need names as nobody knows any different. Is this the case or not? People who don’t know the difference also wouldn’t feel the difference in speed , which is less than a second a lap.

Belle Vue tried that last weekend. Sunday afternoon, lovely weather, £15 for over 30 races and any number of kids free. The riders were all a similar standard with no top stars as like you say people don’t know their Bewleys from their Shimelt’s. Less than 200 people were there when I looked around. On the last point we didn’t get top players over at great initial expense but rather signed the likes of Fricke, Brennan, Kurtz, Lidsey, Bewley, Blodorn & Cairns and watched them become the lads they are today. In Britain we don’t need to spend but we do need to foster development for those within our commonwealth.

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head there. The capitulation of Jason’s Aces teammates is a common thread and it’s something they need to work on. Just looking at our recent wins at Northampton & Kings Lynn clearly shows the lack of points scoring by his team mates to secure a win without Jason’s top scoring contribution. This is by no means a new thing with the lack lust Aces as losses would have been more common without the input of other top scores from Peter Collins to Jason Crump.

Wacky assumption I know but I think the loss of ex Leicester number one & world champion who is currently twelfth in the world GP standings and is our strongest away rider had something to do with our defeat. Doyle in, 12 up. Doyle out, 2 down.

Whoever does it next has an even harder task as the team Mark assembled is currently almost a point over the limit (3rd best actually) and no other team has ridden less home meetings than the foxes so I can only see that total going up.

Whilst I knew we couldn’t cover Dan’s paid 18 from our previous fixture, I was happy that Jason’s 5 rides would get us a decent haul but Aces luck struck again. I have to say though that the way we rallied to the cause was fabulous. We lost out due to misfortune but with the way trophies are now decided, it’s terrific to see how they joined forces to deny the opposition any kind of foothold over 30 heats.

Jason Doyle has withdrawn from the meeting with a recurrence of his holiday.🤣

Lord only knows what on earth you are running on about. Have you got the link detailing the ‘knee injury’?

Not quite 0%. Junior racing, check. (Go Dan!) Track surface & equipment, check. Investment in stadium, big check. We’ve not needed to use our track covers as only if there is bad rain during a meeting do we feel the need to call it off. Rain beforehand runs off well due to the investment in an effective drainage system. I get what you say about the squandering of the Sky money in speedway generally.

I’m sure the main voice is working away at removing this new “lone voice” as has happened with three voices over tecent years. In the past he was surrounded by like minded cronies on the top table but that has been diluted somewhat this close season. With the addition of Mark & Rob to the inner circle and Cairns and Colman supporting from the outskirts, I see a really opportunity to finally push things through for the better. With Richard’s help maybe we can see us build up rather than continually dumb down.

Given everyone knows it’s not possible to go on holiday with an injury you wonder why he lied about it. I sprained a ankle in Benidorm a few years ago and obviously was sent home immediately. Is he a serial lier what with this and stating recently his new team was his “ number one choice”? Luckily with the help of some knowledgeable Ipswich fans we were able to dismiss that lie very quickly.

The kicker on here is if I had gone on about free tickets that have been and are given out or discounted offers, all of which haven’t worked in the long term, someone would have replied with, “why don’t you try leaflets”? Maybe we should let everyone in for nowt like Lakeside did as that ended well. With regards the emails to the fan base, they have gone out to drum up business for Sunday as they often do and around 100 posts a month go on facebook and are duplicated on other platforms. My opinion is that most people think speedway as a regular biweekly event is a no go but a bank holiday speed fest is fine. Mondays meeting was boring and the dust wasn’t great so any newbies there would be unlikely to return. This happens occasionally and if you’re not hooked then it’s easy to give up as most people now enjoy staying in. It’s comfortable, the food & booze is cheap and the travel time to bed is hard to beat. If we could have plugged ourselves into social media or 100’s of TV channels in the 70’s & 80’s then we would have done so with the only pull being a special one off event coming to town every now an then.

Thanks for the advice. We will try…. 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. 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. Constant bombardment of social media posts across all the mayor platforms. Again!

I won a heat at Foxhall after gating first. I was only cutting across the track to get a burger and ended up winning the heat as I “impressively blocked all attempts to pass”. Not my families only claim to fame there as Mum won heat 7 there one year on her scooter when she was desperate for a pee.

I won a heat at Foxhall after gating first. I was only cutting across the track to get a burger and ended up winning the heat as I “impressively blocked all attempts to pass”. Not my families only claim to fame there as Mum won heat 7 there one year on her scooter when she was desperate for a pee.

Should be a cracker. I’ve asked if they will name the final in your honour as they have used your ideas to run the show. No expensive GP stars. Check. Run at weekend. Check. Cheap entrance fee. Check. Appeal to families. Check. Quick turnaround in the 30 odd heats, so no getting board in between heats. Check. Bringing on the next generation. Check. An event where you don’t need to worry about guests or du’s. Check. Jeopardy. Check, or as much jeopardy as we get in the other individual meeting Belle Vue run (PCMT). Nice modern facilities to view the racing. Check. The only thing holding us back this weekend is the podium, unless you can think of anything. The golden era starts here.

Looking forward to the NSS this Sunday at 1pm. Races galore for £15 or free if you’re under 12 (£6 if you’re under 18). None of the unnecessary GP riders, run at a time to suit which is also good for families with a comfortable grandstand view. I’ll probably have to get there early to avoid disappointment as this ticks all the boxes for speedways new golden era. Note to the promotion, leave the GP stand up next time as this event will be rammed. It’s good to see a club actually taking on board the brilliant, cannot fail ideas presented on this very forum. I don’t know if I can live with their smug “told you so” comments on here after the event. See you all there.

Like a knife through butter.

I’m hoping we are getting the absences out of the way and we don’t get our usual play off curse that sees a significant injury a week or so before the play offs, as has been the case for five out of the last seven play offs.

Belle Vue banging the drum at the local Gorton carnival again.

I can only think of one promoter in the Premiership whose sole job/income is from the speedway club they are running. Could be wrong though.

Fred Fearnley & Harrison Gill. Droylsden, Manchester 25/06/27. Oops, should have read the question, 1927 is too early. 🤣

It’s always baffled me the level of hubris attached to track prep. Rather than the “I know best” mentality why not reach out and discuss things with other track men? Whilst all tracks are different things are also very much the same and the sharing of information for the good of all should be the goal. Material make up and distribution, moisture, drainage, maintenance before during and after meetings are some of the things that the track men up and down the country need to discuss together on a regular basis and if they see results at other circuits don’t be afraid to quiz those involved to gain tips and tricks. From a governing point of view, no club should be allowed to purposely prep a gate’n’go track as there is too much of that as it is. Speedway racing - fuelled by excitement.