AndyJ

Didn't Chas n Dave play Cardiff several years ago? Seem to recall Suzi Quattro playing a year or two before/after this. Don't recall much interest from the crowd and, with music tastes often varying considerably, it isn't unexpected that even a well known band could flop in front of a speedway crowd.

Love these. It'd be cool if the new Belle Vue stadium had an equivalent upon completion; plenty of photos have been taken during the build but I'm unsure if regular birds eye views have been captured from the same vantage point thus facilitating this.

Looks like http://www.smanager.pl/index.php?lang=1 Hobnob.... Forum does have an English section and seemingly a language selector - although it appears to switch back to Polish no matter what you choose!

Didn't Belle Vue offer Richie a place but he dragged his feet, expecting an offer from Kings Lynn (that didn't arrive), so BV signed Stead instead?

Or perhaps the majority of BSF members quite simply have no John Louis stories to share? I must have seen him race during my childhood years at Hyde Road but, other than he was a heat leader who (I think) scored well when visiting, I've zilch of any value to contribute to this thread. There is indeed a lot of claptrap posted on here and arguments galore, in common with pretty much all online forums, but BSF is still a fantastic fountain of knowledge courtesy of the many who do make plenty of informative posts. Bit harsh to criticise so strongly methinks..

Cheers TWK. If/when they are released on Kindle I most certainly will acquire them.

Having just finished this book on Kindle, after reading about it on here a couple of days ago, I've got to agree with many of the reviews expressed; a thoroughly absorbing read. It was also fantastic to launch YouTube and re-watch some of the events covered in the text including the obvious 1982 World Final incident. £4.99 was a good price - especially considering the ridiculous sums being quoted for buying a second hand hard copy! It's definitely whet my appetite to read more from this era so I'll keep a keen eye and fingers firmly crossed for more being released on Kindle (especially the Malcolm Simmons, John Berry and Chris Morton books). Having just offloaded several hundred books from my overflowing book cases I'm keen to limit my reading to the Kindle these days.

I think the following race from the 2013 Bydgoszcz GP is an absolute 'must watch' too... Tai Woffinden (red), Greg Hancock (blue), Emil Sajfutdinow (white), Krzysztof Buczkowski (yellow). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyEinEyociU

True - but only because the speedway world hasn't yet caught up and abusive telegrams are difficult to send

Bah. My local Sainsbury's has picked a great week to cease stocking the magazine

Totally agree. I guess the point I was (poorly) trying to make is that BSF, like BSS, represents a limited fraction of the UK supporters. The results of any analysis via poll is thus flawed if trying to compare it to the reality of live speedway. The demographics of a gaming community tend to lean more towards the younger end of the spectrum, relatively few contribute on BSF and probably few of the eldest generation of supporters bother with any online activity.

For reference, the British Speedway Sliders community comprises mainly of Speedway fans and our demographics (of active members who provided age details) are visible here http://speedwaysliders.com/stats_site/index.php?id=xyz&c=S&s=9 Typically 10-15% are aged 40+ (up to 24% this season). 35-40% are 25-40yr olds 35-50% are under 25 Whilst our numbers are a tiny percentage of the British Speedway fanbase, and also have some non-UK players, we're perhaps in the same ballpark as the number of respondees to this poll. Perhaps one of the findings of the BSF poll is that younger fans aren't active on here?

As Humphrey says 21 is the max. Remember that the 'Tactical' involves one of the programmed rides these days not an extra one.

If I recall correctly, 0845 numbers are charged at National call rates but with a small 'kicker' paid to the company who the number belongs to. Not quite premium rate but undoubtedly more expensive than local calls for any potential local sponsor.

Snorlax has been around here for quite some time and known for most of that time as Synikalle (10 username changes show on the profile). As Synikalle I believe he offered his services as a marketing expert... EDIT: http://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=75240&page=76 is an example...

Huge surprise for me. Obviously a rider in demand so I figured the Pirates would make him an offer he couldn't refuse. Cracking signing IMHO and a concludes a team that, finally, absolutely must drag the Aces away from the foot of the table (touches wood).

https://yougov.co.uk/opi/js/profiles_app/library/images/characters/C2DE-Male-60+.svg does look quite familiar too...

Can't read too much into the youGov profiler - I seem to recall that the current analysis is based on a grand total of 70 fans. That said I'm sure there are quite a number of over 60 working class supporters - but plenty of us younger ABC1 types too. EDIT: https://yougov.co.uk/opi/profiler#/Speedway is the link that Arnie is referring to I believe.

Presumably a reference to his tweet to Rentruck about wanting a pink van? Or does the rumour grapevine have other reliable sources? Don't know too much about Bech but it seems he is well rated...

Looks like a cracking site but just a shame it isn't database driven. Not a criticism by the way bit if it were the results could be leveraged to provide a multitude of answers. Two examples of what I mean; http://www.speedwaysliders.com uses a database of riders/results to calculate averages, league tables, etc, for the British Speedway Sliders game. All hyperlinked to allow 'drill down' SCB's http://www.speedway-stats.co.uk is also a fine example.

Belle Vue since I started actively following the sport in the early 80s. 1. Jason Crump (if the opposition includes capable opponents who'll create a worthwhile race) 2. Kelly Moran 3. Chris Morton 4. Shawn Moran 5. Peter Collins 6. Jason Lyons 7. Joe Screen Narrowly squeezed out were Andy Smith, Carl Blackbird (1986), Kaj Laukkanen (the all action 1999 version of him) and Neil Collins. All riders who've been worth the entry money on their own at times.

Isn't the point that these young lads are programmed to race in relatively easy heat line-ups and thus the £50 per point yields better rewards than if they race against higher standard riders, at say £200 per point? 3 x £50 is more beneficial than 0 x £200

Signed and I echo the sentiments expressed above. Coventry is one of the few tracks I make effort to visit regularly when Belle Vue are in town. Really do hope that this story has a happy ending... EDIT: just noticed that it's an e-petition where the objective is to secure 100,000 signatures in order to get Government response. Not exactly sure that it has any relevance with regards to what you're trying to achieve here....

From my vantage point in the bar, a very very rough estimate but I'd say somewhere in the region of 1000 there tonight. My first meeting in several months and pleasantly surprised by some of the racing but, at times, I did wonder if I'd stumbled into a library rather than sports stadium. Roll on the new stadium and decent vantage points outdoors!

I see that the Manchester Evening News this morning had a snippet on the front cover.. "Stadium is green for go. A new national speedway stadium has been given the green light at Belle Vue (see page 19)" The ensuing article then commences with "could get the green light this week" then mostly talks about concerns over its impact on the hockey players who could temporarily be left without a home. Sport England are apparently asking for a condition to be placed on the approval to ensure that the hockey players have a base until the Armitage Centre is ready. Hopefully just a minor stumbling block in the overall plan...