Where Is British Speedway Going.

[weatherwatcher]

Speedway these days has now turned out to be an individual sport. The teams are no longer working together as a team should. Or very few are. I have seen lots of meetings of the last few years. It seems now that the top dog has to have to get to the front so that that he can win evry race possible.

Nothing he winning. But I have seen far to many races where the top rider comes from the tapes and figths to get to the front, even at the expense of of taking his team mates line and then sending him back a couple of places, He will even try his best to get by his team mate so he can get that coverted race win.

Normally the top rider goes flying into a lead of 4 or 5 bike lenths in front of all the others, leaving his team mate to fight of the other 2 riders all on his own.

This should never happen, how many races have there been that have gone from being an easy 5-1 to becoming a 3-3 because the other rider has hat no back up from his team mate and has to fight a lone battle against the other 2 riders only to go to the back and lose valuable points for the team,

Gone are the days when 2 riders worked together and covered all the racing lines one up top one on the inside,

It seems that all that matters is to keep your 9riders averages up at the top and then come out as the top rider of the league, it is now just about personal glory.

I used to enkjoy wathing speedway when speedway riding was an art. Much closer racing with the 2 teams riders working as a team and riding together. I thought that is why we had teams.

There are a few mjeetings that have some good team work but very few far to much, of this long spread out line of riders after turns 1` and 2 have been achieved and once the battle behind has been sorted out we get this long spread out line of riders.

It looks more like a meeting at the GP,s these days than team riding on a club track.

Until the promoters get the riders to work together would see a great change in the outcome of meetings if the riders started working together as a pair, What doe it matter if the No2 rider is in front of the No.1 rider, it is time to make the top boys to work with thier team mates and not just storm off from the start to get the win at all costs.

With the riders on such a busy schedual, riding the EL and doubling up in the PL then guesting for other teams, riding in Sweden, Denmark, Poland and the GP,s, it makes you wonder if they even know which team they actually ride for. There is no luxuary of teams being able to get together to practice as a team.

And from what I have seen of recent years, very few riders these days are not capable of riding the inside of the track, or even capable of riding together as a good pair of riders should be able to.

Edited June 14, 2014 by weatherwatcher

[ColinMills]

Your last statement is true. I for one used to sit through three or four hours of GPs, watching them live, and sometime s three hours for a league macth on SKY. I honestly don't know how I survived that, and now, when I feel like watching speedway, I record the match and just can through the needless waffle, watch the races, and I'm done in about half an hours, not waiting for Chris Louis' version on showing me what I've just seen, or Nigel and Kelv trying to sell me something.

Speedway doesn't have to be live, it is best perhaps being editied into a one hour programme and shown later in the week perhaps, give people the hunger to get back to their local tracks and deny them live speedway in their homes.

But, with internet, there are more avenues than before. There are always live matches on there.

good post. edited coverage could be a awful lot better

[Mike.Butler]

anyone know any other sport that doesn't have their top clubs competing in national cup competition? With the fast-track system surely a k.o. cup with PL and EL teams is more attractive this year than ever before?

Edited June 14, 2014 by Mike.Butler

[B.V 72]

Pity we can't claim back Saturdays, let the bloody GPS run on Wednesday nights!

Alot of clubs could if we just bite the bullet and admit that British speedway will never be the same again.Every year there are less top line riders willing to ride over here its only a matter of time till none of them will.I would love the elite league to be as it was but that is never going to happen again.

So the option is do we tell the remaining top boys to sod off and then clubs can race on nights that they want and feel that they will get better crowds in.With the money they save from paying these top boys maybe they could cut a few quid off the admision price.At the mo we have 6 G P riders and maybe 6 or so others who would possibly not want to ride over here so would it be that much different.Most premier league fans seem happy with the quality of riders that they watch every week So do we see which riders really want to ride over here and then pick teams from those that do.The benifits no doubleing up riders,full teams at most meetings,watching different teams visit every week possibly cheaper speedway and could stop a few clubs closing down.

I know all this seems a bit o t t but i think its going to happen over a few years anyway so why not do it now on our terms and maybe save a few clubs going to the wall.

I know it is a gamble but things cannot be any worse than they are at the momment.

[Trees]

I'd rather the GPS run on Wednesdays :-)

[weatherwatcher]

Alot of clubs could if we just bite the bullet and admit that British speedway will never be the same again.Every year there are less top line riders willing to ride over here its only a matter of time till none of them will.I would love the elite league to be as it was but that is never going to happen again.

So the option is do we tell the remaining top boys to sod off and then clubs can race on nights that they want and feel that they will get better crowds in.With the money they save from paying these top boys maybe they could cut a few quid off the admision price.At the mo we have 6 G P riders and maybe 6 or so others who would possibly not want to ride over here so would it be that much different.Most premier league fans seem happy with the quality of riders that they watch every week So do we see which riders really want to ride over here and then pick teams from those that do.The benifits no doubleing up riders,full teams at most meetings,watching different teams visit every week possibly cheaper speedway and could stop a few clubs closing down.

I know all this seems a bit o t t but i think its going to happen over a few years anyway so why not do it now on our terms and maybe save a few clubs going to the wall.

I know it is a gamble but things cannot be any worse than they are at the momment.

I can see where you are going. Do we need these top riders just to draw the crowds or is that all the fands come to see. I would rather see British speedway go along with what you are saying, half the riders that come over here are not bothered if they ride here or not.

That has been proven at Leicester already this year with 2 riders giving up on British speedway after only a third of the season. Not even telling the club they had gone till after a month or so.

I for one would be more than happy to see our teams with riders that are determined to give it a go and to make speeway fun to watch again. At the minute it is nothing short of a farce. We can't carry on with riders missing from teams week in week out. Weaking the teams, with the team bringing in guests, some of them not bothering to put in the effort.

So, unless we do something on this line our sport will be lost, as it can't carry on as it is now.

[Midland Red]

Speedway these days has now turned out to be an individual sport. The teams are no longer working together as a team should. Or very few are. I have seen lots of meetings of the last few years. It seems now that the top dog has to have to get to the front so that that he can win evry race possible.

Nothing he winning. But I have seen far to many races where the top rider comes from the tapes and figths to get to the front, even at the expense of of taking his team mates line and then sending him back a couple of places, He will even try his best to get by his team mate so he can get that coverted race win.

Normally the top rider goes flying into a lead of 4 or 5 bike lenths in front of all the others, leaving his team mate to fight of the other 2 riders all on his own.

This should never happen, how many races have there been that have gone from being an easy 5-1 to becoming a 3-3 because the other rider has hat no back up from his team mate and has to fight a lone battle against the other 2 riders only to go to the back and lose valuable points for the team,

Gone are the days when 2 riders worked together and covered all the racing lines one up top one on the inside,

It seems that all that matters is to keep your 9riders averages up at the top and then come out as the top rider of the league, it is now just about personal glory.

I used to enkjoy wathing speedway when speedway riding was an art. Much closer racing with the 2 teams riders working as a team and riding together. I thought that is why we had teams.

There are a few mjeetings that have some good team work but very few far to much, of this long spread out line of riders after turns 1` and 2 have been achieved and once the battle behind has been sorted out we get this long spread out line of riders.

It looks more like a meeting at the GP,s these days than team riding on a club track.

Until the promoters get the riders to work together would see a great change in the outcome of meetings if the riders started working together as a pair, What doe it matter if the No2 rider is in front of the No.1 rider, it is time to make the top boys to work with thier team mates and not just storm off from the start to get the win at all costs.

With the riders on such a busy schedual, riding the EL and doubling up in the PL then guesting for other teams, riding in Sweden, Denmark, Poland and the GP,s, it makes you wonder if they even know which team they actually ride for. There is no luxuary of teams being able to get together to practice as a team.

And from what I have seen of recent years, very few riders these days are not capable of riding the inside of the track, or even capable of riding together as a good pair of riders should be able to.

Obviously no one told Rospiggarna - they managed to ride as a TEAM this week!

[weatherwatcher]

That was a very good meeting. But it is one of a very few. Manybe they need to take some leasons from them

[Vince]

I don't know how far back you have to go to know about this sport you used to watch? I can go back as far as the late 60's and can't say I remember the sport you describe. Sure I can remember some great meetings, some fantastic passing and some brilliant team riding. However I can also remember that these were exceptional and as far as I am concerned, with the possible exception of team riding happened less often than they do now.

[Bruiser McHuge]

Sam Ermolenko in his prime was a sensational team rider, by far the best I've seen...I remember a meeting at Wolves where he got a paid maximum without winning a race when he could have won them all at a canter...sensational team riding when riders were definitely more team orientated than these days for sure

There is no affinity between riders and clubs anymore and supporters know it...riders are basically hired hands for a season .....and I do think having the big guns back would help as like any sport people want to see the elite they see on TV but that isn't ever going to happen now

Meetings like Belle Vue using rider replacement for Zagar which produces 3 points shows what a farce it's all become..who in their right mind would travel to see that.

[weatherwatcher]

I go back to the late 50's and have seen some great riders and some great team riders. Yes Sam was one of them and did a great job in his early years with Hull and then again at Coventry. One of the best team riders of this era is Grg Hancock. He can ride the inside line and help his team mate win a race. As long as they score a 5=1 he is not bothered if he comes in second just as long as the team needs those points to win a meeting.

He rode some brilliant races last year with Poole and they would have dropped quite a few points if he not been there to help his partner keep his first spot.

At the moment British speedway is struggling to get the top riders to come over here, they get better options by racing abroad, it all boils down to money as most British clubare sruggling fimacially, they just can't afford the fees etc that some of these top riders are asking.

So we are left with perhaps on of the worst speedway leagues in the world as far as getting top riders to come here. All said and done if all else fails, the EL and PL leagues will some how have to come together and this may just help to bring on some British riders that enter into the top flight of world speedway, Other wise our sport will slowy die. But the prices would have to drop that they charge on the gate as people would not pay what they do now to see nothing better than a big PL league.

Then again would the fans still go to watch the riders that are on offer if all the top riders just stopped coming over here.

We managed years ago with the help of riders from Austrailia, New Zealand and the U.S.A.But would that be enough to tempt the fans to come and watch it.

[Midland Red]

I don't know how far back you have to go to know about this sport you used to watch? I can go back as far as the late 60's and can't say I remember the sport you describe. Sure I can remember some great meetings, some fantastic passing and some brilliant team riding. However I can also remember that these were exceptional and as far as I am concerned, with the possible exception of team riding happened less often than they do now.

I go back to 1964, my first meeting saw Ron Mountford equal the old track record of 65.8 at Brandon

What has been lost, as much as anything, is the local identity of the riders and their relationship with the fans

At Coventry we had teams almost entirely made up of locally-based riders, who joined the ans in the bar afterwards, not dashing off across Europe to one of their other teams

And we more or less knew they'd be there all season, and back next term too

They were nearly all semi-pro, which meant riders' costs, and hence admission charges, were kept to a minimum - but it didn't detract from the honest efforts of all riders

And of course, we got a full 13 heat match, plus a second half individual event (and usually a third half with bike testing and novice riders) for our reasonable admission charge

And we knew there'd be a meeting every Saturday night, save for the first Saturday in the month (stock cars)

[Shale Searcher]

I go back to the late 50's and have seen some great riders and some great team riders. Yes Sam was one of them and did a great job in his early years with Hull and then again at Coventry. One of the best team riders of this era is Grg Hancock. He can ride the inside line and help his team mate win a race. As long as they score a 5=1 he is not bothered if he comes in second just as long as the team needs those points to win a meeting.

He rode some brilliant races last year with Poole and they would have dropped quite a few points if he not been there to help his partner keep his first spot.

At the moment British speedway is struggling to get the top riders to come over here, they get better options by racing abroad, it all boils down to money as most British clubare sruggling fimacially, they just can't afford the fees etc that some of these top riders are asking.

So we are left with perhaps on of the worst speedway leagues in the world as far as getting top riders to come here. All said and done if all else fails, the EL and PL leagues will some how have to come together and this may just help to bring on some British riders that enter into the top flight of world speedway, Other wise our sport will slowy die. But the prices would have to drop that they charge on the gate as people would not pay what they do now to see nothing better than a big PL league.

Then again would the fans still go to watch the riders that are on offer if all the top riders just stopped coming over here.

We managed years ago with the help of riders from Austrailia, New Zealand and the U.S.A.But would that be enough to tempt the fans to come and watch it.

The difference in admission prices between the Elite League and Premier League, couldn't be any closer! Average EL admission around £17, Premier League around £16...

Someone is either over or under charging, and I think it's the Premier League over charging, because it's not ran as a division 2, it's just a seperate league, with its own agenda.. Until they come together and work as a 1st division and 2nd division, neither will survive..

[Mixy230]

We need to be in a sitution where teams WANT to get promoted!

Thats when you know the sport / system is doing well.

 

Move away from family friendly! Promote the extreme sport! (As in X Games, TT Races etc)

[The Pedaler]

really difficult to answer but the one thing the game desperately desperately needs is a neutral body to steer things forward - the annual get togethers are no more than fudge and compromise sessions to appease individuals. We need a clear unified direction from such a group.

Again - same as you i could go on all day but my big bugbear is the cost to get in.

While the sport is run by the idiots in charge (bspa) you have little chance of drawing in the punters full stop.

The BSPA, whether you like them or not, are just about the only people willing to put money into running the sport. Just how do you go about getting rid of them and keeping the sport?

 

I can see the logic of having a neutral person to oversee the rules but the owners are never going to hand over all control of their businesses and who can blame them.

 

I'm not a fan of the idiots who are in the BSPA who run (ruin) this sport but I do recognise the problem with this fanciful notion of having an independent body running the sport. Can someone who likes the idea of an independent body please answer the following questions please:

 

Which are the people who would you think would like to serve in this independent body? (it's all well and good dreaming about Bernie Ecclestone or Barry Hearne, but if they don't want to play, you ain't got a game)

What's in it for them - i.e. these people who are independent from speedway and will be running the sport? (Money? Kudos? Self-satisfaction? Altruistic feel-good-factor?)

Who will appoint these independent people on an ongoing basis? - will they be elected or seconded, and by who?

Who will pay the independent people? (or do you think they will just be doing this out of the kindness of their own hearts?)

What sanction will there be on a promoter who doesn't like what an independent person/body tells him and says "sod you, it's my money, I'm doing it my way"?

 

Finally, to those who like the idea of an independent body running the sport, would you allow an independent person to take your wages off you and run your household budget for you, making all the financial decisions, and you having to do as you are told? Because that's what you are, in effect, suggesting is the what should be happening to the BSPA.

[ch958]

I'm not a fan of the idiots who are in the BSPA who run (ruin) this sport but I do recognise the problem with this fanciful notion of having an independent body running the sport. Can someone who likes the idea of an independent body please answer the following questions please:

 

Which are the people who would you think would like to serve in this independent body? (it's all well and good dreaming about Bernie Ecclestone or Barry Hearne, but if they don't want to play, you ain't got a game)

What's in it for them - i.e. these people who are independent from speedway and will be running the sport? (Money? Kudos? Self-satisfaction? Altruistic feel-good-factor?)

Who will appoint these independent people on an ongoing basis? - will they be elected or seconded, and by who?

Who will pay the independent people? (or do you think they will just be doing this out of the kindness of their own hearts?)

What sanction will there be on a promoter who doesn't like what an independent person/body tells him and says "sod you, it's my money, I'm doing it my way"?

 

Finally, to those who like the idea of an independent body running the sport, would you allow an independent person to take your wages off you and run your household budget for you, making all the financial decisions, and you having to do as you are told? Because that's what you are, in effect, suggesting is the what should be happening to the BSPA.

I do it's called government I don't much like it but it would be anarchy without it

[Leicester Hunter]

 

 

Finally, to those who like the idea of an independent body running the sport, would you allow an independent person to take your wages off you and run your household budget for you, making all the financial decisions, and you having to do as you are told?

Looking at some members of society these days, it's not a bad idea. It's called saving them from themselves.

 

You could also say that statement partly describes the bankruptcy procedure, and seeing the state the sport's in these days, not really a bad suggestion.

[mc1874]

does the average fan really think like this? if so we're f**ked

Here here

[ColinMills]

We need to be in a sitution where teams WANT to get promoted!

Thats when you know the sport / system is doing well.

 

Move away from family friendly! Promote the extreme sport! (As in X Games, TT Races etc)

dead right mixy. sport should be about winning and wanting to be the best. shame theres very few matt fords about

[Bruiser McHuge]

One thing that is not wrong with speedway at top level is the Grand Prix and the racing in most of them......I think they do more to encourage the average fan to keep watching and bring the sport right up to date for the 21st century.

The racing in them is better than most world finals ever were , bar the odd couple, and the line ups far better than most of the old world finals were....the GP' s are an excellent advert for the sport..the old world finals were superb in their day but by the 90's they were old tired affairs, well past their sell by date

The downside is the impact they have on league racing in this country , but I don't think league racing offers enough to encourage fans to come anyway, and certainly not enough to keep them coming back for more outside of the old diehards....the growth of the foreign leagues has as much to do for the watering down of the Elite League than the Grand Prix's I think as well..but the fact top level speedway in Britain is virtually a weekday sport certainly hasn't helped.

 

However I still think the best things about speedway these days are the Grand Prix's and the play offs...