moxey63

It's as you get older, and speedway fans being old, attention spans don't last too long.

I think too much is given to Hearn running speedway. I know he revamped darts, but come on, speedway crowds would look healthy (in size) if they were locked up in some bar somewhere. They would create at least some atmosphere, too, if you plied them with slosh and handed them a board with a magic marker to write silly things on. Or, why not just hang a dart board in the pits and have done with it? You could watch riders on a big screen between the heats playing around the board or 501.

Received my copy today and I am truly impressed by the work that's gone into this book. Even if you are not a Newcastle supporter, speedway fans generally are renowned for their love of keeping records and statistics. Therefore, this book is a must for fans everywhere.

When riders admit to joining your team merely because it fits in with their other commitments between the leagues and on foreign jaunts, it shows a disconnection between the importance of the team and the fan who is supposed to travel miles after work, pay a large sum of his wage and support a group of men who act as a team for a few hours and then disperse their separate ways to act as a team somewhere else. When a rider who was part of that newspaper article used British speedway to learn his trade against genuine competition and then sits on his lofty perch and feels he isn't part of the problem, not wanting to dirty his boots racing on these shores any more... that is another problem. And the rider I'm referring to isn't the only one. But he states that he is in the best physical shape he's ever been going into this season, so get some money on him winning the GP. To me, as a former fan driven away by this type of thing, I'd say that I'm not bothered about your individual aim. You don't ride over here for a club, so how can I get excited about your chase for individual profit? When Peter Collins had to quit in 1980 because of his shoulder injury, the first thing he suffered was being banned from riding in the British qualifiers for the World Championship. I know we're living in different times, but riders have just gained too much power over the years and now, it seems, get more out of speedway than the fans who pay them. British speedway has allowed so much of its grip to slip away. The start was letting riders race in other leagues across Europe. Loyalty is a two-way thing between competitor and supporter. Somewhere in time, it's been lost. Without the feel of a connection between you and your team, that need to get up off your backside and leave the house to support it at the track isn't as appealing. I feel that is just one of speedway's current problems. Supporters must have been lost because of it. I mean, it's an instant passion killer for a fan, when a rider grabbingly states something akin to these words: "Yeah, I'm happy to join the club because it fits in with my other meetings in Poland and Sweden, as well as my commitments to my Premier League side. Sorry, I know it's a Monday track... but who am I joining?" Edited just now by moxey63

When riders admit to joining your team merely because it fits in with their other commitments between the leagues and on foreign jaunts, it shows a disconnection between the importance of the team and the fan who is supposed to travel miles after work, pay a large sum of his wage and support a group of men who act as a team for a few hours and then disperse their separate ways to act as a team somewhere else. When a rider who was part of that newspaper article used British speedway to learn his trade against genuine competition and then sits on his lofty perch and feels he isn't part of the problem, not wanting to dirty his boots racing on these shores any more... that is another problem. And the rider I'm referring to isn't the only one. But he states that he is in the best physical shape he's ever been going into this season, so get some money on him winning the GP. To me, as a former fan driven away by this type of thing, I'd say that I'm not bothered about your individual aim. You don't ride over here for a club, so how can I get excited about your chase for individual profit? When Peter Collins had to quit in 1980 because of his shoulder injury, the first thing he suffered was being banned from riding in the British qualifiers for the World Championship. I know we're living in different times, but riders have just gained too much power over the years and now, it seems, get more out of speedway than the fans who pay them. British speedway has allowed so much of its grip to slip away. The start was letting riders race in other leagues across Europe. Loyalty is a two-way thing between competitor and supporter. Somewhere in time, it's been lost. Without the feel of a connection between you and your team, that need to get up off your backside and leave the house to support it at the track isn't as appealing. I feel that is just one of speedway's current problems. Supporters must have been lost because of it. I mean, it's an instant passion killer for a fan, when a rider grabbingly states something akin to these words: "Yeah, I'm happy to join the club because it fits in with my other meetings in Poland and Sweden, as well as my commitments to my Premier League side. Sorry, I know it's a Monday track... but who am I joining?"

Do you know what's worrying? That this thread hasn't spread to pages and is a handful of posts. I don't know if there is another busier thread elsewhere, but there seems to be an apathy out there or a set of supporters who are head-in-sand people and can't - or won't - see the demise of speedway in 2019 compared to 15 years ago. We really are seeing a drastic decline. I don't know the answers but I am worried. But, typically, I can't call anyone - because I don't attend anymore either.

Race suits may look more professional. But the reality is... the sport is a mess. You can't sell it to newcomers on race suits alone.

Don't you find it odd that speedway was more a team sport when riders wore different leathers to each other but the same race jacket, and yet today we have riders in identical suits and yet it's more an individual sport?

I think it was Heat 3 of the BLRC at the old Belle Vue. Three riders - Peter Collins, Chris Morton and Shawn Moran swapping positions in a real close scrap throughout. Unfortunately, it is somewhat misted in my memory after 34 years of time, I just remember it being brilliant to watch. That was a great race, unfortunately, the meeting not covered on TV or by a local video company.

Wolves '93 had one misfortune after another but were still there and in with a shout in their last match, the last heat. There were so many things that went against the team. They would have chalked up another title but had several really influential riders taken out when it was really only a matter of time before the title was clinched. At the death, their leading light (Sam Ermolenko) was sidelined in the first race of the match against Bradford - a week before the decider vs. Belle Vue. Wolves needed just the aggregate bonus point against the Yorkshire men to lift their second title in three years. They would have breezed it with Ermolenko. Seven days later, in the decider against the Aces, without the expected maximum Ermolenko would have pocketed, and the added points he would have prized from lesser men, Wolves would have just about beaten the Aces and won the Championship. Let's not also forget that Stephen Morris, Wolves' reserve, had a third-placed point taken off him after he had fallen and received outside assistance in that match (vs. the Aces). So many things conspired against them that you can't compare with the Play-Off system, which nullifies being the best team in the table matches and comes down to nerves, how riders fair on the opposing tracks in those semis and the Play-Off Final two legs. A team that is being considered the most unfortunate because it lost the title over 30 Heats of a Play-Off Final cannot be put in the same argument. Getting to the Play-Off is one hurdle, even as table toppers. But the competition more or less starts again for the aggregate matches. The league system pre-2002 Play-offs was different - like the one-off world final is to the GPs. From memory, three other instances of misfortune stick out before the Play-Offs arrived 17 years ago. Cradley Heath were surely robbed of the title in 1982 when Penhall quit. Belle Vue were going full steam ahead for the title in 1978 when they lost Alan Wilkinson, the same season Hull were serious contenders before Joe Owen was injured. Although losing these men was influential - Wolves '93 were like the determined competitor in the game show we've all seen who is walking the pole while opponents are trying to knock them off with a huge foamy implement. They stood up to every obstacle - right until the death. Down went Jones, Dukie and Correy, and remember, Wolves couldn't rely on guests to see them over the line as this rule was for your top man and nobody else. So they got up off their backsides and brought in new men. Indeed, they could only use guest the once - Henka Gustafsson for "Sudden Sam" on the night they finally lost grasp on the title. Henka dropped two points to the Aces - I'd bet tonight's takeaway that Sam would have got an untroubled full 18. We all know what his presence in the team would have done to those around him. I just think Wolves suffered the perfect storm in '93. And, remember, I was a Belle Vue fan in the Midlands that night.

Has to be the most unfortunate team pre-Play-offs, over a full season. The Play-Off system only becomes important in the latter stages and perhaps being unfortunate in that is like being unlucky in the KO Cup Final.

I offered my input to the Belle Vue programme in 1990, which I contributed to for 18 years and received a complimentary pass for my efforts. Belle Vue banked money from programme sales Yet I am called a freeloader!

You can have the most attractive girlfriend in the world, but if you believe she's not entirely faithful, what fun is there. Speedway in the old days may or may not have been as exciting, but there was a belief that it was real, with real characters and an attachment between fans and teams. Nowadays, even the best races may be between two opponents racing later that evening for the same team. That is the problem. No loyalty.

I read pieces of this article. The worry is that for decades we have run a sport where men in charge boast of losing thousands upon thousands of pounds just to keep the club running. And they seem proud of it. I call this stupid. Have we had the wrong people running the sport? Another piece I read is how the idea of allowing people in for free has been tried - and they didn't come back the next week. I assume the problem here, was that the new people were just plonked on the terraces, without any idea of what the sport was about - just four riders racing, which is exciting at first but can become tedious. Keeping score is the most - or one of - important things a perspective speedway fan should learn. I introduced my younger brother to the sport - but only after I showed him at home the basics of filling in a programme. He knew what to do when he got there and had been a fan ever since. The racing and keeping score are like egg and chips. Yum!

The result would have been different with Ermolenko. Just my opinion, but I felt he would have brought extra from the lesser light in Wolves' team. I had seen him, his determination, a week or so earlier at Belle Vue when he fell, was a distance behind the rest, but got up and still managed to claw back second place. He was in a class of his own at the time. He would have got a maximum against BV. This, added to Wolves' other misfortune, would have deservedly seen them crowned Champions. And we'd never have had that last night if things had gone to plan for the Midlanders. It was a cracking occasion. But Wolves had so much bad luck.

Just race-points separated Reading and Peterborough that season, it was that close in the table. Peterborough gained nine points over the two legs through the double points rule, whereas Reading had opened up a lead to enable Panthers to do this. It made good speedway on SKY, but the Racers played a foolish game by actually trying to open up leads in the two legs. And it backfired, as Peterborough and their nine double-bubble points won by a point on aggregate. If you base your argument on Peterborough topping the table and being the best team, then why do we have the Play-Offs? And the second leg was at Peterborough.

I think Wolves are the unluckiest because they got as far as the last race before being denied, and after all that s**t they'd endured. Of the top of my head, I'd plump for Reading in 2006 as next because they lost to Peterborough in the Play-Off Final and didn't fall into a position to use double points, whereas Peterborough won the Final and benefitted enormously from the Golden Double.

Schofield and Smith were brought in mid-season at a time Belle Vue hadn't won on its travels - 12 matches, 12 straight defeats. Usually, any side that has come that far without winning on the road would surely have been also-rans - based on a normal league system and not the Play-Offs, in which just a top-four spot sufficient to begin with. In 1993, Belle Vue had won all 12 home matches and it wasn't until Ipswich on August 12 they picked up anything on the road. Usually such a dormant start - in round-robin matches and excluding the Play-Offs, which Matt Ford's club manipulates within an inch of preciseness - that's form of a mid-table side. At the end of August, Belle Vue were 13 points adrift of Wolves. When you remember, also, the third place point that Wolves’ reserve Stephen Morris thought he had picked up after crossing the line against the Aces, and then taken away as he had fallen earlier and gained outside assistance from a member of the track staff, would have given Wolves a draw - and the title!

Belle Vue started the year with two real juniors - Peter Scully and Jon Armstrong - before they were dumped and Shawn Venables and Mike Lewthwaite came in during April. Schofield came in for Lewthwaite at the end of May, and Smith for Venables in June after the Canadian was injured. The tinkering with the reserves finally turned Belle Vue into a decent side and they started finding form on the road. I doubt they'd have been top three without the changes.

I overlooked the bonus against Bradford when Ermolenko was injured, and the home loss vs Ipswich. Ermolenko was some rider that season, breaking the league points record held by Hans Nielsen. Also found it a bit ludicrous that Belle Vue used two "juniors" at reserve that were seasoned riders - Paul Smith and Max Schofield. Stretched it a little.

While I state Belle Vue were "lucky" in 1982 and '93, it was Alan Wilkinson's 1978 injury that stopped us winning the title that year.

I'd have titled that "Most Tragic Team."

I didn't realise how unfortunate Wolverhampton were at the time. I just wanted my team, Belle Vue, to win the match - and in doing so, the title. I'm talking about the 1993 season. Remember, that final showdown between Wolves and Belle Vue that decided the league winners, long before the hyped-up and often manipulated Play-offs. Although I was a keen Aces' fan at the time and got caught up in winning the title, I still felt sorry for the Wolves. But, just going through some mags from the season, I didn't quite realise the extent of Wolves' misfortune. They had been odds on favourites to win the title, all season, having a double-figure points lead much of the time. However, at the same time Belle Vue began registering their first league points on their travels - it was as late as August - Wolves had a terrible dousing of misfortunate sprinkled over them. Within two weeks of late August-early September, they suffered three injuries that would have finished most other teams. Middle-order rider Graham Jones was injured on August 21. That was six points a match gone. Then, 10 days later Charlie Ermolenko picked up arm injuries at Poole that also wrote off his season. Another six points were gone. But worse was to come. Twenty-four hours after the younger Ermolenko was crocked, Ronnie Correy, the number two, broke his back while riding in Sweden for Bysarna. His year was over - indeed, the injury meant he didn't race in 1994 either. That was almost another 10 points a match gone. Wolves should have been on the canvas and counted out. But they battled on. Obviously, the loss of over 20 points from three riders took its toll. Wolves lost five in a row and their title chase hit quicksand. Young Mikael Karlsson, for his first taste of British racing, and veteran Gordon Kennett, out in the cold after starting the year at Exeter, were introduced. Wolves battled on as the Aces clawed back the gap on the Midland side in an interesting end to the season that, in all reality, would have been all but over had the Monmore side remained untouched. Personally, I feel history would have been different and Wolves would have managed to hold on - but in their penultimate fixture, the final, cruellest blow came when Sam Ermolenko was injured and his year was through. It was the first race of Wolves home match with Bradford. Ermolenko, of course, was the best rider in the world and in domestic racing. It was his finest season. They had lost their kingpin, the World Champion, and did well just to hang on for a 56-52 win over the Dukes. Wolves went into the decider with Belle Vue four riders missing from the side that had brought them to within touching distance of their second title in three years. They borrowed Gustafsson from King's Lynn, and his paid 16 from six starts just wasn't enough to claim the draw (they lost by just a point, 53-54 ) which would have won the title for Wolves and denied Aces the dramatic last heat clincher. History would have been changed. Ermolenko, I'd have bet, would have roared to a maximum. He had scored the full 21 at Bradford before his injury. His presence in the team alone would have encouraged lesser men to cajole an extra point or two, maybe. But he was out with a broken thigh. Not only had Wolves lost three integral members of their side - numbers two, for and five, which otherwise they'd have coasted to the league, I believe they would have dragged out a win versus the Aces - and therefore been league kings - with Sam against the Aces. As it was, they won just thrice from their final 10 matches without their full side, and for the first time since 1979, the title had gone down to the wire. As a fan of Belle Vue, I recall the jubilation on the terraces that night. But, at the same time, I also felt like we'd won through an own goal. The annals of history should have been written differently. Luck swings two ways - good and bad. Indeed, it reminds me of the previous Belle Vue title win of '82, again fortuitous after Cradley lost Penhall. Wolves 1993 have to be the most unfortunate team... least in my memory.

You worry about the future when such clubs as Reading, Belle Vue (Hyde Road), Oxford, Cradley and Coventry lost to the sport. They all won titles in the 1980s. The sport isn't too big to lose. Bradford shut, months after winning the title in 1997. The sport now hangs by a thread. Lesser clubs are pulling down shutters one last time. The sport is being run under the BSPA umbrella but each member goes off in their own direction to run their respective club. They have no real power, as each venue is owned by someone else who may take a stash of cash for redevelopment. The sport lost its chance to own each and every stadium, it lots the chance to cement the sport by at least owning the tracks they race on. That is the problem. When the future rests in the hands of others and is not controlled by the sport, the future looks cloudy.

I understand your point. But I no longer attend because I saw the gradual demise of team speedway and of riders putting clubs second behind what was actually the best night for them to ride. The few fans remaining now only reiterates that not all are bothered about who rides for their team. It is about winning. Poole last year proved that. It is more important to win now than anything, and faces are introduced to a club just to appease fans who have lost a few matches. These riders have no attachment to the club, fans are happy so long as it's successful. You use the argument of me not attending as me not having a grasp of current day speedway. But I stopped attending because I didn't like how speedway was going. I have enough nouse of the sport now to realise it's a case of riders' names thrown in the air at the start of each season, where they land is where they ride. You defend speedway because you still attend. You'd be silly not to, and layout £20 for something you no longer believe in. You mention Workington. Didn't they close because they weren't getting the fans to warrant them continuing? More terrace spaces, fewer fans, no speedway. You are neutral, which highlights my point. You would watch any speedway and switch clubs when your track ceases. You weren't really supporting a team (Halifax) but just liking the racing. The testimonial argument is flawed. Twenty riders in 10 years is a decent amount. You don't mention how many riders did six or seven years at clubs. As for Craig Cook riding for Belle Vue for six years - but how many of those did he spend doubling down and riding for another club? Instead of trying to prove me wrong, just look at speedway as a product. Take me out of the equation, and I bet there are so many others who lost the love of speedway because there was no real team ethic in the sport anymore. When riders can ride in the same team one night and be dicing in opposition the other (for another team), don't you find that silly? If not, try explaining it to someone you're trying to introduce to the sport. If you think this is how team sport should model itself, then it is no wonder teams, clubs, tracks are fighting to keep afloat. I didn't attach myself to an individual sport when I fell in love with speedway, but that's what it's become. I don't think speedway in 1975 was a perfect model, but you expect things to be improved over the years. But they haven't. If you really feel I don't have a point, then I just expect it to reach your way of thinking when your local track folds, which it no doubt will. But, as you didn't when the Shay closed, you'll travel elsewhere to watch the racing. And that, in a sentence, shows why you are more the follower of speedway than any one team. And, sadly, there aren't enough of you left. Team speedway is speedway's lifeblood.