RogH

I was at Sheffield, great night, great crowd, great final race. The overall impression I have of everything Steady has said since his terrible crash, not a single hint of feeling sorry for himself, totally positive, wanting to stay involved in speedway Steady, as a Vikings fan I always knew you were a class act as a rider, I now know you are a class act as a man. If ever Vikings re-open you are my vote for guest of honour on opening night.

Football and rugby fans are used to their teams not being at home every week, so speedway might follow suit. It might allow speedway to concentrate it's fixtures on one or two nights a week, as in Sweden and Poland rather than the disjointed system now in place. Also there would be no place for the meaningless fixtures that so often clog up the fixture list. Open for debate.

Very interested in your proposed book, Moxey, a much needed addition to speedway's library. If you get no joy with Tempus, you might try the people who produce Backtrack magazine, they've done some books, or possibly Methanol Press, who do Jeff Scott's books. Robert Bamford, author and Press Officer at Swindon was a great help to me when I did my Hull books, he would help, I'm sure.

Thanks for your good wishes, 25 year fan. The Boulevard is out of the question for two reasons. One it is surrounded by houses at present, and two the stadium is shortly to be demolished to provide low cost housing. The search goes on though.

Would'nt it be wonderful if all those tracks could be reborn. Trouble is, the alarm clock rings and we're back in the world of reality. Ask people at Cradley, Long Eaton, Norwich, Halifax, Trelawny, Bristol, Southampton, Wimbledon, Boston, Leicester, Bradford and latterly Exeter how easy it is to find a suitable venue. Add to that list Birmingham as per this thread together with us at Hull. Finding a site that is available at an affordable price that the planners will accept is a nightmare, as any promoter will tell you. The promoters at Scunthorpe, Plymouth and Redcar have done wonderfully well to revive their clubs, although all three clubs were many years out of the sport. I believe that professional advice should be available via the BSPA for promoters looking to open new tracks, to weave a way through the planning maze. The consultant helping Cradley Heath would be an ideal choice. Also, I know it upsets the purists, but I believe speedway must address the noise issue, which has prevented and indeed closed many tracks. Noise reduction measures for the machines must take place plus acoustic fences as at Weymouth need to become standard. Such changes must make us more user friendly and increase the chances for new venues to be established.

Taking a different angle on the same theme of "Keeping Speedway alive", I am involved with the team trying to bring back speedway to Hull, and it has become very clear to me that trying to set up a speedway track in an urban or semi urban area is not much short of impossible with the planning and environmental regulations, together with the inevitable forest of objections based on real or imagined fears of what speedway might bring. Watching GPs / World Cup meetings from Sweden and Poland, I notice that most of the tracks in those countries seem to be located in a rural setting, and I wonder if speedway is to have any kind of secure future here, pehaps that is the way we should go. Of course, like eveything connected with promoting speedway it would be a gamble, but it could lead to speedway clubs owning their own stadiums, or enjoying long lease arrangements with their local councils, and thus a measure of stability. One UK template for this seems to be King's Lynn who own their own stadium, stage a multitude of events there which help to subsidise speedway by generating non-speedway income, and are also heavily involved in their local community. This would involve a culture change for British fans, who would probably have to accept that they would have to travel greater distances to support their team at home, but if it means club stability and a promise of a more hassle free future, maybe that's a price we must pay. What do other fans think ?

It's finally off.

It seems the ref has told the riders to get on with it. A strong decision.

Once again a demonstration of how totally unprepared British speedway is to cope with the weather. How many times do we have to hear that the meeting would have continued if it was in Sweden or Poland.

Can't think of anywhere on line that gives all the tables, but there are a couple of books which do. Peter Oakes's Complete History of the British League goes up to about 1990 but covers the years you are mainly interested in. The British Book of Speedway Champions by Speed-Away Promotions Ltd contains all the league tables up to 2004.

I'm not saying you'll be wrong because I don't know, but that's a highly cynical attitude. The Council's track record is not bad with £43M spent on the KC Stadium, £500,000 just been allocated to Hull KR, and much support over the years for the Ice Hockey team. I think that the new stadium would be Council owned and managed, and like the KC would be home to various events as well as speedway and the dogs. The Council are well aware of the prestige that accrues from successful sporting teams, and also the loss of prestige when a professional sports team folds. Even before planning permission is applied for, potential sponsors are making themselves known, this would go some way to defraying the construction costs. I think you should give them a bit more credit. Regards the management of the club, shall we say there is a long time between now and March 2007, plenty can happen.

From Hul Daily Mail VIKINGS COULD GO 'HOME' TO HEDON Hull Cpd Vikings could return to their 1940s home next season. The out-of-town Hedon Aerodrome site is one of two earmarked by Hull City Council for the reigning treble champions. The other is near Makro, alongside Clive Sullivan Way. A third location - Chapman Street - has now been ruled out, due to lack of size. Vikings are also likely to share their home with the greyhounds. At the moment, the Hedon site appears the favourite, especially given Vikings must leave Craven Park next month, having been unable to agree a new deal with Hull KR. Councillor Phil Webster, the Council's portfolio holder for sport and sports development, confirmed: "Chapman Street is big enough for a track, but not to fit in spectators. "We still have two other sites under consideration, one is where the old go-kart site was housed on the Humber corridor. "The other is the Hedon Aerodrome site." Their old home at Hedon appears to give Vikings the best chance of racing next season as it is City-Council owned, even though it lies under East Riding Council jurisdiction for planning purposes. The central site is undeniably a better location, but is privately owned so could have an extra cost, joins into a main highway and may have implications for the wildlife. Those factors may make it impossible for Vikings to take their place in the Premier League next March, and force them to take a year out. Webster explained: "We've had an informal conversation with the East Riding regarding planning permission. "We have already contacted the private owners of the second site. "As a Council we would possibly need to either purchase or lease a four-acre piece of that land. "A valuation is currently being carried out." Webster acknowledged both sites have plusses and minuses, especially concerning the timescale of the project. He added: "Hedon is probably favourite on the speedway front, but for longer-term sustainability it may be the more central location is better. "My personal view is I would like to keep speedway at a more central location." Vikings' owner Paul Hodder was delighted that further progress is being made, but sees the pros and cons of both sites. He said: "Hedon is our former home and, timescale-wise, the easier option, which gives us the best chance of continuity of speedway racing. "However, the central site is very high profile." Webster meets the City Council leader and deputy next week to discuss the Vikings. The next inter-departmental meetings will also include representatives of the greyhounds.

I agree with a lot of Ivan's comments in Backtrack. Of course you can never know who would have won what if the GP system had been in force in Ivan's day, but I was more interested in his opinion that the GP can not be called a World Championsip when it is invitation only and there is no qualifying. IMO he has a very good point. He also goes on to say that the current GP format is making the whole series static. The top riders have only to get 8/9 points out of 15 to reach the semis, and a rider like Tony Rickardsson will feel confdent of beating anyone in a knock out race. The effect is to make it harder than ever for up and coming riders to dislodge the Rickardsson/Crump/Pedersen trio at the top, which if allowed to continue will create a same old same old feel about the GP and will potentially turn off TV viewers. Ivan also said that if you replace the bottom 7 riders, who do you bring in that's any better ? There is a need to keep things fresh, and a qualifying system for the 7 available places would do that. A lot of good sense IMO Ivan. BSI still haven't got it right and will need to look at it again I think.

I would change the format of the knockout races, so that higher placed riders get a second chance if they miss out in their first race. For example... Heat 21: 5th to 8th placed riders (3rd and 4th eliminated) Heat 22: 1st to 4th placed riders Heat 23: 3rd and 4th in Heat 22, 1st and 2nd in Heat 21 (3rd and 4th eliminated) Heat 24: 1st and 2nd Heat 22, 1st and 2nd Heat 23 <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I like this idea, it keeps an element of the current system, whilst still ensuring every rider has 5 rides.