moxey63

If they attempted a war cry nowadays the echo of an empty stadium would come back and smack them in the face.

Just think, there might not be any tracks left to race on when his two years is served.

For starters, let's look at the actual staging of an average match. Majority I see on BT always run-over time. Can we not have a strategy in which there's no longer than five minutes between the heats. New fans and old alike don't like the wait between the heats. I used to see numbers of fans having to leave the stadium early after a drawn-out meeting and because they had to catch the bus. Not all have vehicles. Over two hours to do 15 heats is not good. That's one idea. I know accidents etc hold things up. But by aiming to get things done and out of the way within 90 minutes or so would be a start to make an evening seem more organised.

Shocking news. Terrible.

This is a really interesting but sad story.

Riders' bonus points were incorporated into team scores in the 1995 KO Cup. The League Cup was a good competition lasting six years. To have the LC league matches early in the season and the final in October was laughable.

You've got to remember, speedway has had decades of thinking the sport is losing popularity. They have always tried new ideas to keep fans interested. Rider Control, maximum points limit, new competitions like the old League Cup in the 80s, and the change of race format that brought, ditching the popular 13 because they thought fans wanted something different when, at that time, they just wanted dirt on tracks (Phil Collins quit the BL for this reason). They introduced riders' bonus points in the KOC to go towards team scores - but that idea lasted just the one year. Six man teams, eight-man teams... Tactical subs, Golden Doubles and six-lap nominate heats. Most of these ideas have been ditched, so they weren't the best. Promoters have tried, but would it have been best to stop all the tinkering?

Remember playing pool in a pub the night the story featured on the national news - might have been BBC's 9 o'clock - and much of the pub stopped and watched. There was quite an interest. If it were now, most in the pub would be surprised speedway still exists.

You need to build up a love for your team and a hatred of others. How can you do either of these when the club remains the same but the faces always change?

There are so many differing opinions on here and I guess promoters can never win..

A get-by attitude... let's get-by for today and worry about tomorrow then.

A get-by sort of attitude.

Yeah, and mirroring speedway's plight, it's mainly the same few fans.

But what about the guest player system. I hated it that time Sergio Aguero picked up injury playing for Bolton and he missed City's next three matches. But never mind, Man United borrowed us one of their players along with Arsenal and Chelsea, and we trundled on. Couldn't understand why each missed open goals and one even put one in our net by mistake. I wish speedway was 1% as credible as even non-league soccer. To compare both sports is ridiculous. I'd compare it with wrestling.

Rider Replacement isn't so bad. But (and this happened over the sport's lifespan) when a rider can turn out as a guest for a team that's challenging his own club for the title, try explaining that to a newbie. In fact, even longtime supporters must wince at this one. To me, guests and doubling up and down just shows that promoters have become a little too lazy and aren't trying to fetch in new talent from home and abroad. Dent Oliver produced five of his championship winning teams by hard work at the Belle Vue training school. Others at the time benefitted when Rider Control took many off the Aces. While allowing the doubling rider rule, promoters have it made and don't have to try. It smacks of a small-time sport not only lacking fans but riders.

Please tell me you're joking. I'd say they're up there with the Joker and Golden Double.

I gather stockcars and banger racing aren't staged every week and therefore there is the time and energy to promote upcoming events between the breaks. I may be wrong though. But you have to ask yourself, would speedway attract that many new fans and be able to keep them? It's alright showing flashy videos of action and spills during, say, a 30-second period. But the reality hits home when you actually enter the stadium and discover the sport isn't as fast-moving as you had been fooled into believing. The video that's attracted the newbie suddenly turns into the real world of "mummy, look at that tractor."

At last, someone else who feels the same as I do. I have only got to plonk an old video (now dvd) on and I know I still love speedway... just not this speedway of 2018. It is so different now. Where have the times gone where riders had to earn their point, beating both opponent and using their entire strength for 60-odd seconds to defeat the track as well? Nowadays the track seems so smooth but the riders still aren't able to fully control the machines that sometimes turn into pogo sticks mid-race. It seems like rev -and -go speedway now. In my day, even if the racing was dire you still admired riders battling, say, to a four-point score and walking away feeling he deserved double that for his efforts alone. I look at score grids now and, tell me if I'm being daft, but even a 13 point score doesn't seem the same as a 13 point score from when tracks were deep and riders were men. And leathers made them more appealing too.

The race for the Play-Offs may be exciting to some as it's a close scrap for the final places, but turnstile clicks are the whole thing that keeps the sport going. The crowd may seem good but compare it to even a decade ago and the trend is worrying. The attendance may be good but it isn't good regularly, isn't keeping speedway in profit. Tracks will struggle and close. Or the diminishing number of fans will happily pay more to subsidise the ones that have gone. The confidence has been lost that our promoters can resurrect it any day soon. In fact, the slowing at the turnstiles will probably just see them order another can of WD40 and try to get another year out of the way with the promise of a fresh dawn next winter. Speedway runs entirely on short-termism.

That "miracle" has been and gone. It was Sky Sports.

An interesting account by an ex-rider who has experienced both sides of the fence. The family of new attendees will not be back in a hurry. Seriously, I find it insulting when there's a delay to prepare the track when they've had enough time to do it before the event. What was the problem, a sinkhole just appeared at 7.25? Even older fans become bored by the constant breaks between heats, as work that really should have been already done is now crucial for the match to take place. The speedway may be fine, but such things wear you down... like the false starts and re-starts. It should be a slick show. And to keep the new people through the gate that actually give it a try, have a way to show them how speedway scoring works. Riders going round and round does get boring if you don't know what's happening. Not as boring as track grading, but boring non-the-less. Even in a brand new stadium with brilliant racing, speedway doesn't half seem shoddy at times.

And to keep older fans interested, perhaps keep the race gaps to a few minutes so they don't forget what they're actually there for and don't get confused thinking it's a tractor show.

We should just admit it. We fall for the sport because we love it. The novelty then wears off. We then decide there are things about it we don't like and want our own ideas implementing and don't like any new idea. We also think it could be run better and want people who have put their money in to take our ideas on board. When they don't, we gradually stop attending as we don't like most new ideas. But it is simple... we never feel the same way about speedway as we did in our initial years and always want to change it. Bit like being married really.

Remember the "bring a friend" slogan? Speedway survived for decades using this method. I bet most fans were introduced by a friend or family member.

I never watch the garbage, but it's a bit like those talent shows that Simon Cowell cranks out. You start off with acts that have no chance of winning the series and then, as the weeks go on, the better acts lie in wait. Then the serious stuff begins, the weak tail off and, as if scripted, the winner comes from... er.. usually Poole.