marko

Despite being only 45 mins away I have not been to Rye for many years, the teams have always had the same Len Silver look about them, when I saw the 2016 team in the recent speedway star my gut reaction was, this is not a regular Rye team even though several have ridden for Rye before, imo they have a very good mixture of youth and experience, racers and trappers, I think you will get a reasonable amount of cross Lakeside support too as you track a number of Hammers favourites past and present but above all else people crave entertainment and I think you will get that with that team, I will definetely be looking to pop along.

I was a big fan of Christian, very stylish rider, yes not always one that scored a ton of points but he had his moments for sure. Always remember one season he was with us we went to Oxford and I think he scored 15 or something and was the star of the show.

The Claret tag is not a reference to speedway but the football team I follow. Interesting to read that the original colours were going to be what we have now until Essex Radio became sponsors, never heard that before but does sound completely plausible. Looking forward to seeing how this team looks once all signings are complete, disappointed to lose Bech but he seemed to lose his way in last season or so and he seemed to miss more meetings than most through other commitments.

I would much rather see us going back to being a red,white and blue team like the old days of Arena Essex, the idea of adopting West Ham style colours was a decent one but has not yielded anymore support because of it, we just lost a bit more of our original identity.

I would not want Batch in my team either, decent rider, on his day can be very good but that is all few and far between, he seems to have a big attitude problem which is the main reason most would leave him alone, funny enough though if he was to ride for Poole I think he would pull his socks up a bit such is the pressure to perform there plus Ford and Middlo would have the bottle and asset list to replace him which he would be mindful of.

The way the bikes are now quite frankly who does not struggle with the Arena track to some degree?

It's possible you have just answered your own question, its possibly the car racing aspect that is the potential stumbling block if as i have heard and read elsewhere that Friday night being prime time slot is wanted by more than just the speedway which could force either a change of race night or result in a higher premium to use the same Friday race night and either would then bring the thorny topic of viability into question.

Today is the long awaited day where we find out the status of the clubs immediate future, the fact there is a fans meeting does fill me with hope that something has been worked out, no one would surely hold a meeting just to tell a couple hundred of fans that sorry this is the end, would they? At this point I don't care which league Hammers opt into just so long as they keep a foot in the door.

Oh for the days when a good percentage of the team was made up of local talent hey, Ipswich have a been a prime example of that in the past.

Purely guessing here but I suspect the issue is not one of can speedway use the stadium but simply when and at what price, if AJ is not in the Grand Prix next season it's makes wanting to retain a Friday race night even more attractive but then if Kent run on a Friday it muddies the water further, if it is a question of race night, we cannot expect any promotion to take one which they feel will cost them thousands in debt to run because once your bankrupted, stadium or no stadium it makes no difference. I recall Jon saying at the last home meeting if the wind does blow in the wrong direction or words to that effect they would run a special farewell meeting, whether that's 2015 or sometime in 2016 i don't know but I hope it does not come to that just yet but it's clear that whatever happens that venue in its present form is only temporary.

Birmingham was the classic example of buyer beware, go back a decade and you could say almost the same thing about Arena Essex, doing quite nicely in the second tier, big Ron gets the invite to take the club up with promises of help which never came, what followed was the worst few seasons the club has ever had in its history.

If Kent do go Elite then I think that will be that for Lakeside as the cross area catchment area cannot support two EL clubs especially racing on the same night, it's why Lakeside and Rye have never shared the same race night despite for much of their existsnce being in different divisions besides there is probably not enough riders around to support 9 EL teams? But I would not be surprised to see things turn full circle and see a repeat of 1996 where Hammers run solely as a NL team racing at least for one season.

Matt is very capable modern day promoter who has built up a business model that year on year is successful both on the track and i imagine off it, to be a great though would mean he standing among the likes of Johnnie Hoskins, i think with respect he has some way to go to match that and i am not implying anything to do with the way Poole are seen by other fans, the club are fortunate to be in a area where there is not an awful lot of things competing for peoples money though. But you cannot take away the fact there is probably quite a gap in total club value between Poole and next solvent club whoever that maybe.

Whilst true that will not go anyway near to making up for the fact the previous six months were about watching select teams in almost empty stadiums, well done to Pirates and Aces for an entertaining final but lets not kid ourselves, our sport is in a shocking state and no matter how good the play off finals were it won't bring back the thousands in lost revenue the majority of tracks have suffered during the season because fans stopped going.

Everyone knows the sky deal (which is the be all and end all) is dependent on at least 8 clubs in the EL, whether its by hook or by crook, there will be 8 clubs next year, regardless of whether Lakeside, Coventry or Swindon run or not, purely my opinion.

Not trying to be funny but we have all spent the last six months watching select team vs select team in a bid to see which clubs select team makes the top four, somehow i do not think it matters one bit if the play offs happen to contain the odd guest regardless of the reason after what has gone on before.

The trouble was the sheer gulf between the class of riders in each group, you could swap the odd rider here and there and the league table would look very different.

Another drift meeting would not surprise me, from what i have heard first hand from a petrol head i know these events are very popular and very profitable for the stadium owners and money is ultimately what it comes down too. If and its a big IF the Elite League goes down the route of a fixed night of racing it will be midweek anyway so that scenario may happen in any case.

There has been talk/gossip among the fans that the stock cars are safe for 2016, which if that is really the case then surely no reason why speedway cannot continue, also i have no idea where this would leave the Hagon Academy?

IMO the risk is unacceptable but it has become accepted, too many horror crashes too many injuries, enough is enough, something has to be done.

I know there was Poole fans there but the size of the crowd must give the promotion some positive vibes that there is a crowd base there if they can secure the venues short term future at least. As i have already said it had been some time since i have visited the track and despite some of the unfortunate and unavoidable delays i really enjoyed the evening. I never report to be a big fan of Jon Cook but his words last night were that of in my opinion an honest man, i really hope that speedway can continue at this venue for at least another season.

Actually when i really think about this, there is really only one important thing that is required! And that is for the BSPA to actually admit to themselves there is a big problem in the first place, no more burying heads in the sand thinking what a great product it is and only minor tweaks are needed, if the racing was out of this world people would still be going, the whole f'n show "as they say" needs looking at. I know a lot of us fans talk a lot of BS but use your eyes, people are not going anymore in numbers you require to stay solvent! Think carefully now! this could be your last chance to save the patient and indeed your business.

Let you into a little secret here, I have not actually attended a live meeting at Lakeside or indeed anywhere since May 2014 (this is down to multiple things but primarily the state the sport has sank too) however as this could well be the final time racing of any kind takes place at this venue i do intend to attend regardless of what team make ups are on the night. Once more for old time sake, shall we say.

Just to clarify my reference to costs in my previous post was not geared towards lowering gate charges, what i think needs to happen is to address the costs incurred by the riders, talk in the star this week that we need more training tracks and that is true but once a kid has got so far on a 150cc they will eventually need to buy there own bike etc and that costs a lot more money than most parents can afford. Your modern speedway bike costs too much to buy and too much to run, plus they are more unstable, its one area which has never been addressed, we have air fences but they are reactive to the problem, not proactive in solving the underlying cause which is the bikes. A large part of a promoters outgoings are in wages to riders and the wages are high because the riders need to earn more to offset the costs of the bikes and tuning. Bring those costs down and then your typical promoter will have more chance to make a profit which hopefully will then be put back into the club either via advertising or improving facilities. Makes British Leagues a more standardized form of racing, get the youth coming through and give them places in teams instead of going for some unknown foreign import, the PL is terrible for this, i have lost count of the number of riders in that division i have never heard of before they came here to ride.

Before they even think about heat formats or points limits they need to address the issue of costs, does not matter how good the sport looks if its does not pay then its only a matter of time before it goes away. My main concerns are: Bikes are too quick and too expensive Not enough riders around and what riders we have get injured all too frequently sometimes seriously, more must be done to enhance safety.