Is British Speedway A Dying Sport? If So, Why? And What Can Be Done To Save It?

[SCB]

Go back to 13 heat meetings and a proper second half, get rid of the play offs, get rid of the joker and golden double rules, a proper world championship with qualification, that should solve everything i expect

You forgot black leathers, open face helmets, war crys, jumpers knitted by your nan (although the average speedway fans nan is dead these days :/), riders waving, riders having one bike and turning up at the track in an estate car.

[waiheke1]

and more characters. riders who liked a bit of biffo and more than the odd drink - under no circumstances however tsking drugs, which have no place in a famiy sport like speedway.

[The White Knight]

and more characters. riders who liked a bit of biffo and more than the odd drink - under no circumstances however tsking drugs, which have no place in a famiy sport like speedway.

You forgot black leathers, open face helmets, war crys, jumpers knitted by your nan (although the average speedway fans nan is dead these days :/), riders waving, riders having one bike and turning up at the track in an estate car.

Go back to 13 heat meetings and a proper second half, get rid of the play offs, get rid of the joker and golden double rules, a proper world championship with qualification, that should solve everything i expect

 

GET IN!!! :approve:

 

Sounds GREAT to me. :t:

[Harley Keith]

The title of this post has been discussed in various forms all the forty plus years I have had an interest in the sport, this is my profound view.........Typically from everything the sport is, blame the cost of the laydown motor - did'ent Douglas produce one of these in the early days??? I remember riding a JAP, the two valve JAWA emerged and cost was a concern then. In fact it turned out the JAWA was a lot more reliable than the JAP, which I still have and runs well to this day. Slick tracks, at least the majority are slick, same for everyone. I remember riding on tracks which would change every week, you did'ent now what to expect. Maybe that's what produced the interest !!!!

The old argument of cost, if you enter any motor sport it's a bottomless pit were finance is concerned, I now I have been there and it escalates out of all proportion. And of course you can go on and on with different arguments.

Another point is the seemingly the lack of British riders, again many points of view on this one........I can only say, back in the nineties I was involved in the Youth Grass Track scene. That produced a number of good riders that went on to be good Speedway and Grass Track riders, with a few reaching GP standard. At the time you always had people pass comments they could do better, we were doing this wrong and that wrong......... we stopped being envolved for various reasons, and where were these people that could do better, they did'ent come along and carry on were we left off did they..............so there you have it another avenue for youngsters to come through reduced. I rest my case on that one.

 

However, I did attend Bob Kilby's Memorial meeting at Swindon. Excellent rider line up and meeting presentation was really good. However, I can't help feeling that it played into the hands of first one out the gate won point of view........apart from two races which produced a good Speedway race. I payed £20 to see two actual races !!!!!!! In the meeting one race was stopped through unsatisfactory start, the rider concerned did'ent touch the tapes just got a flier of a start, now he has beat the referee, fair game as far as I'm concerned, what other sport penalises a competitor for being to good ?? Another race a rider excluded for falling and the race being stopped, the rider caused no infringement to other riders and was unhurt. Why penalise the rider for making an error of judgement, is'ent that what makes Speedway interesting ? And more importantly me and many others have payed to be entertained with four riders in a race.

Would I go again after watching that meeting ? Probrably not.

Can anything be done? In any motor sport technology progress will always be the for-front, in BSB this is controlled by various means to increase the entertainment value, may be there's an idea.

[Papryk Ash]

You forgot black leathers, open face helmets, war crys, jumpers knitted by your nan (although the average speedway fans nan is dead these days :/), riders waving, riders having one bike and turning up at the track in an estate car.

 

Unfortunately, the guy's lost the black leather:

[keef robin]

The title of this post has been discussed in various forms all the forty plus years I have had an interest in the sport, this is my profound view.........Typically from everything the sport is, blame the cost of the laydown motor - did'ent Douglas produce one of these in the early days??? I remember riding a JAP, the two valve JAWA emerged and cost was a concern then. In fact it turned out the JAWA was a lot more reliable than the JAP, which I still have and runs well to this day. Slick tracks, at least the majority are slick, same for everyone. I remember riding on tracks which would change every week, you did'ent now what to expect. Maybe that's what produced the interest !!!!

The old argument of cost, if you enter any motor sport it's a bottomless pit were finance is concerned, I now I have been there and it escalates out of all proportion. And of course you can go on and on with different arguments.

Another point is the seemingly the lack of British riders, again many points of view on this one........I can only say, back in the nineties I was involved in the Youth Grass Track scene. That produced a number of good riders that went on to be good Speedway and Grass Track riders, with a few reaching GP standard. At the time you always had people pass comments they could do better, we were doing this wrong and that wrong......... we stopped being envolved for various reasons, and where were these people that could do better, they did'ent come along and carry on were we left off did they..............so there you have it another avenue for youngsters to come through reduced. I rest my case on that one.

 

However, I did attend Bob Kilby's Memorial meeting at Swindon. Excellent rider line up and meeting presentation was really good. However, I can't help feeling that it played into the hands of first one out the gate won point of view........apart from two races which produced a good Speedway race. I payed £20 to see two actual races !!!!!!! In the meeting one race was stopped through unsatisfactory start, the rider concerned did'ent touch the tapes just got a flier of a start, now he has beat the referee, fair game as far as I'm concerned, what other sport penalises a competitor for being to good ?? Another race a rider excluded for falling and the race being stopped, the rider caused no infringement to other riders and was unhurt. Why penalise the rider for making an error of judgement, is'ent that what makes Speedway interesting ? And more importantly me and many others have payed to be entertained with four riders in a race.

Would I go again after watching that meeting ? Probrably not.

Can anything be done? In any motor sport technology progress will always be the for-front, in BSB this is controlled by various means to increase the entertainment value, may be there's an idea.

 

Yep with Blunsdon being such a big track with long straights its normally gate and go. They've tried spiking it up to give it a few more lines on the turns. The IOW, being the biggest, is too much gate and go.

[Trees]

NO IT'S NOT, IT'S ALIVE AND KICKING, NOW TELL YOUR MATES!!!!! Positivity breeds positivity

[Pirate Nick]

Surprise land mines hidden into the track at specific unknown locations. "Harris goes wide into the dirt.. *BOOM*.. ooowww that is unfortunate."

 

Not forgetting power ups at various points and banana skin dispensers on the rear mudguard 😀

[george.m]

Surprise land mines hidden into the track at specific unknown locations. "Harris goes wide into the dirt.. *BOOM*.. ooowww that is unfortunate."

 

Allow supporters the use of paint guns!

[pandorum]

Unfortunately, the guy's lost the black leather:

 

 

Thats a great idea fat bloke racing in the second half. It would probably be hilarious.

We had a lot of fat bloke racing in the 70s but they were usually the guys in the team.

The answer sadly is really Yes! British Speedway IS A Dying Sport.

The only thing that can save it is huge investment or a fairy godmother but there is little chance of that happening.

The fairy godmother is the more realistic which shows how bad a state the sport is in.

Once SKY bail out a lot of teams are going to have to cut their cloth drastically and we may lose tracks.

The sad part is speedway lives in a different era to the majority of the population here in the UK.

Edited March 30, 2013 by pandorum

[ch958]

Once SKY bail out a lot of teams are going to have to cut their cloth drastically and we may lose tracks.

The sad part is speedway lives in a different era to the majority of the population here in the UK.

 

 

a comma after the word 'out' changes the whole meaning of this post and i think conveys what the poster means!!!

[Vince]

Speedway has supposedly been a dying sport on and off since the 30's yet somehow it's still here. I think it will survive even if at a reduced level for a while and then who knows maybe there will be another revival like in many of the previous decades. Maybe not and it will become a mainly amateur sport with a thriving World Championship like most motor sports but it will still be here.

 

It's easy to have all the answers in theory and to blame the promoters for everything but in the main they are succesful businessmen with an enthusiasm for the sport and therefore far better qualified for the job than the majority of us on here. They are also far better informed than we are about the actual income and expenditure of the sport and as it's their money I find it difficult to argue that they shouldn't spend it as they see fit. I might think that I have some ideas that would help the sport but the fact is that if they are tried and don't work I lose nothing, very easy to be sure of oneself in that situation.

 

I do think that there is a real danger of talking Speedway into it's grave by always emphasising the negative. It is still a great sport, it's still fast, dangerous and very often exciting and perhaps if people were told that rather than how silly some of the rules are they might give it a go. I keep saying it but I have been going to Speedway since either 1967 or 68 and I honestly believe that the racing and the riders are at least as good now as I have ever seen in that time.

[stratton]

I do think we still have a good product, i think most people's bug bearer is the stupid rules when really the sport is simple to follow.Once the sky money has gone then i think then the purse string,s will have to be reigned in.The worrying thing is from the outside looking in from the GP Series everything looks rosy but in reality it is far from that.

Edited March 31, 2013 by sidney

[moxey63]

Yes, indeed, one poster stated that speedway has been a dying since the 30s... but is still going.

 

They said the same about Ronnie Biggs a year or two back... but even that's only a matter of time.

Edited March 31, 2013 by moxey63

[25yearfan]

The British speedways dying theme has ongoing since the early 80's yet here we still are with many new tracks having opened since then, others trying to reopen and most tracks that have closed in that time have only done so cause of other reasons than poor crowds, losing money etc!

 

Indeed in my early years watching the sport in the 50's the sport very nearly died and it was only the mid 60's onwards that it recovered!

 

We all know theres problems but speedway can still hold its own with most other sports and while I think it may have to sink lower in order to get better things aren't as terminal as we're led to believe. End of the day if all sports in this Country were required to be proftable in order to keep going we wouldn't have hardly any sport at all!

 

The obvious problem is the cost which puts of potential riders, supporters, promotors and sponsors. I've always maintained one of the biggest mistakes ever in speedway was the move from 2valve to 4 valve engines becauses the costs exploded and the racing has got worse with it!

 

Another problem is we have too much speedway in this Country so we all get saturated with it and sick of it. Speedways a summer sport so should only take place from April to September. Its no coincidence that crowds in Poland and Sweden are much higher than ours and they on average have just over half the meetings we do. My local NL team Mildenhall are another example of how having less meetings can result in bigger crowds cause supporters can't pick amd choose and stay hunger to go to speedway. On the other hand my local PL team Ipswich have definately suffered from having too many home meetings which dilutes the crowds. In the latter EL seasons at Ipswich many supporters wanted regular weekly action so welcomed the PL move. When it happened and more home meetings were staged many found it too saturated and subsequently many Ipswich fans pick and choose their meetings!

Edited March 31, 2013 by 25yearfan

[Leicester Lion]

Easter Monday, and there certainly isn't too much speedway going on in the UK today. A day when you'd think the promoters would want to fill their boots and capitalise on the available audience. But then speedway isn't run for the spectators.

[Trees]

Easter Monday, and there certainly isn't too much speedway going on in the UK today. A day when you'd think the promoters would want to fill their boots and capitalise on the available audience. But then speedway isn't run for the spectators.

Buster has an array of banger races going on at the NA today so that's why we have no meeting no doubt! Together with the fact that we had a meeting on Friday, fans would have been moaning about 2 meetings in 4 days!!

Edited April 1, 2013 by Trees

[SCB]

Easter Monday, and there certainly isn't too much speedway going on in the UK today. A day when you'd think the promoters would want to fill their boots and capitalise on the available audience. But then speedway isn't run for the spectators.

At EL level it's because the Poles have Easter Monday and the EL gets Good Friday. No idea about the PL.

[John Ernest Holland]

AS MANY POSTS HAVE STATED PICK ANY 3 FROM A HUNDRED REASONS THE REASON WHY I ONLY WATCH 1 X MEETING A MONTH IS SIMPLE ITS ALL I CAN AFFORD

[The White Knight]

At EL level it's because the Poles have Easter Monday and the EL gets Good Friday. No idea about the PL.

 

It seems like an opportunity missed to me. There will be some reason no doubt - but - I can't think what.