Riders.

[Trees]

Just bear in mind that people generally have more enthusiasm for anything when they are young ;-) whatever the rules :-)

[ColinMills]

very true, but aim the sport at BOTH young and old....youngsters see todays product, they not coming through the gate...oldies see todays product, they not coming through the gate??....look at how we DID come through the gate

[BWitcher]

No, we can't afford spectators like you (I refuse to use the term supporter) who want to take the sport to its doom just so they can say "I only watch the best names".

 

The rest of us want good racing......

 

I wonder if it's cheaper to just supply people like you with air flights to Poland rather than fly the riders in. Then we can get along with a sane sport. - and a far more readable forum.

 

So some of you keep saying, except you have absolutely NO evidence to back this up.

 

In fact evidence points that it has little bearing whatsoever.

[ColinMills]

if you walk past your local dog and duck pub, and see Phil Dickinson verses Tom Bloggs darts match, you wouldn't be bothered.

if you see Phil Taylor verses James Wade? hello?...got a feeling you may just pop in.....good racing could happen every night every week, but big names only, will attract big turnouts....hence 16 lapper, olympique, pride of the east, star of Anglia, todays line ups are tripe (no offence to riders) but ONLY big names will put bums on seats

Edited October 16, 2015 by ColinMills

[customhouseregular]

very true, but aim the sport at BOTH young and old....youngsters see todays product, they not coming through the gate...oldies see todays product, they not coming through the gate??....look at how we DID come through the gate

As I keep saying...Learn from past success.

[Trees]

Yes but times have completely changed, many of the top boys don't want to race here whereas they ALL used to .....

[kingbee]

Yes but times have completely changed, many of the top boys don't want to race here whereas they ALL used to .....

Yes but that's why us older generation have stopped going myself included because we were brought up on top class speedway the top riders we don't want to see second rate no disrespect to the riders over here now but it is not the racing I used to watch .Personally I think the GP killed speedway as it was it just needs to find a new dimention

[customhouseregular]

They wanted to race here because this used to be the place to be. Now it is not. The people promoting and running British speedway need to go back to the drawing board. Make Britain the place to be and Tai, Nicki, Greg et al will want to ride here. A meaningful league with an attractive fixture list and offering value for money is vital if the decline is to be reversed.

 

One league of 21 teams.

All riders committed to British clubs.

No d/ups.

A worthwhile cup competition.

20 heats of speedway at every meeting.

 

Run speedway the way it was run in 1965 and people may just find it attractive.

 

Please...No dinosaur, fossil or old fart comments. If you disagree, fine but respect for others opinions costs nothing .

[MattK]

Make Britain the place to be and Tai, Nicki, Greg et al will want to ride here.

 

The top riders want one race night a week, so they can fit Britain in with their other commitments.

 

That means around 20 meetings a season, so a league of around 10 teams, similar to what they have now in Poland and Sweden.

 

You can either try to tempt top riders back with a scaled down league which races one night a week or you can have a larger, more meaningful league with riders committed to racing in Britain, but you can have both I'm afraid.

[Trees]

The top riders want one race night a week, so they can fit Britain in with their other commitments.

That means around 20 meetings a season, so a league of around 10 teams, similar to what they have now in Poland and Sweden.

You can either try to tempt top riders back with a scaled down league which races one night a week or you can have a larger, more meaningful league with riders committed to racing in Britain, but you can have both I'm afraid.

Unless we had tier 1 and tier 2 meetings maybe, so 1 set of meetings included the GP boys and the other not?

[MattK]

Unless we had tier 1 and tier 2 meetings maybe, so 1 set of meetings included the GP boys and the other not?

I think we have to face facts that the top riders are never coming back. We simply don't have the crowd to pay them what they require to race in Britain and we don't have the co-operation among promoters to determine a structure which would allow something like two tiers.

[June01]

but ONLY big names will put bums on seats

Playing devil's advocate, aren't we being told that promoters are trying to bring new supporters in through the gates? I'd guess most of them wouldn't know a Sayfutdinov from a (insert your own choice of lesser rider here as I'm not going to pick on anyone!)?

[customhouseregular]

Is that the promoters or the new supporters June?.

[stevebrum]

Good racing is important yes but people want to see the best. Why do Premier League football teams get better crowds than Conference League football teams when there are good matches in both leagues? Because the top stars are in the Premier League. Now with Speedway in Britain it's a little different but the better riders who do ride here ride in the EL however there are better riders in the world, why shouldn't we aspire to having them race in our top division?

 

Top riders and good racing shouldn't be an either or scenario, stick four of the best riders in the world together on one track, a good track mind, and they will have a good race. Stick four equally skilled NL riders on the same track and they will also probably have a good race, albeit at a slower pace.

 

The issue is disparity of talent on track half the time, why are there strung out races? Because there are differing abilities in each race and lets not kid ourselves and say that is just an issue in Britain, there will be strung out heats in Polish and Swedish meetings too.

 

Why should we pay through the nose for second rate Speedway though? This is half the problem, there's too much of an 'any speedway is better than no speedway, take what you're given' attitude in the sport now. We don't want to see tracks close down but fans need to be treated with the respect they deserve and be given the best product available at the cheapest price possible for teams to viably run.

 

PS: The forum is far more readable when it's used to debate properly and not just to stick the knife into people who don't agree with your viewpoint.

 

Quality reply.

And you're PS is spot on.

[June01]

Interest in league racing has waned! Why, I wonder?

 

Back in TGOD...Teams only lacked a rider through injury - real ones, too! - not because they were riding somewhere else in Europe, or in another UK league

Looking back, with one bike strapped on to the back of the car, the riders were virtually all semi-pro's - even Little Boy Blue - yet were provided with a full calendar of racing throughout the week throughout the UK

Perhaps we really should look back for answers on how to go forward

Largely because my clubs kept closing (nothing to do with me, honest!) and my favourite riders left through injury or retirement.

 

The past riders only rode a couple of times a week though, and supplemented their income in other ways. Nowadays speedway is a full time profession, and a rider can make a living from the sport – so you could consider that a progression for speedway, perhaps?

 

CHR – the newbies You’d hope the promoters would know the difference.

Edited October 16, 2015 by June01

[TMW]

I wouldn't go to Cardiff every week, whatever the costs were.... We go because of the occasion, not because of the racing and are charged through the nose for the privilege . Being a Cardiff regular, I am often amazed at the relevance, people place in the meeting, and how it is used as a measuring stick when comparing with other events. Yes, there are 40,000 plus crowds; Yes, there are the best riders in the world, but surely that alone, is not the reason to hold it in such high esteem. Usually the amount of decent races can be counted on one hand. Undoubtedly, the track has made huge strides in recent years compared to what it once was, but it will always be a temporary surface, and as a meeting, it will never compare with the likes of Torun in Poland. but we do not have that scenario...

 

No, the reason the event is so special is because, It's the only opportunity for most to see a SGP live, It's the weekend when speedway takes over the city... Yeah it's a good, expensive time, but please don't think the racing is anything special, I seen far better races in league matches up and down the country most weeks....

I go to Cardiff mainly for the off track event the meeting is just another meeting to me.

[kingbee]

Largely because my clubs kept closing (nothing to do with me, honest!) and my favourite riders left through injury or retirement.

 

The past riders only rode a couple of times a week though, and supplemented their income in other ways. Nowadays speedway is a full time profession, and a rider can make a living from the sport – so you could consider that a progression for speedway, perhaps?

 

CHR – the newbies You’d hope the promoters would know the difference.

I think they rode more than a couple of times a week . If my memory serves me right from 65 onwards there was a speedway meeting every night of the week including Saturday plus individual meetings cup matches local chalenge matches test matches etc more matches then than today I don't agree with your comment at all sorry

[RobMcCaffery]

if you walk past your local dog and duck pub, and see Phil Dickinson verses Tom Bloggs darts match, you wouldn't be bothered.

if you see Phil Taylor verses James Wade? hello?...got a feeling you may just pop in.....good racing could happen every night every week, but big names only, will attract big turnouts....hence 16 lapper, olympique, pride of the east, star of Anglia, todays line ups are tripe (no offence to riders) but ONLY big names will put bums on seats

There's a hell of a difference between an amateur darts match and a professional, far, far more so than comparing say, an NL race with EL.

 

Speedway isn't darts, thank God. There is this constant, stupid assumption amongst too many speedway supporters that you can only get a good race between the best riders. You may get the best riding but riding and racing are completely different things!

 

The public are completely bombarded by journalists and publicists constantly trying to convince them that something is important. The chief weapon is to promote 'personalities'. I've had to do it.

 

Reading this forum you can see how gullible their readers are.

Edited October 16, 2015 by rmc

[ColinMills]

There's a hell of a difference between an amateur darts match and a professional, far, far more so than comparing say, an NL race with EL.

 

Speedway isn't darts, thank God. There is this constant, stupid assumption amongst too many speedway supporters that you can only get a good race between the best riders. You may get the best riding but riding and racing are completely different things!

 

The public are completely bombarded by journalists and publicists constantly trying to convince them that something is important. The chief weapon is to promote 'personalities'. I've had to do it.

 

Reading this forum you can see how gullible their readers are.

this WAS a thread with similar views...opinions differ, of course they do...to call our views "stupid" is your opinion. I have attended this sport for 37 years EVERY week, more than once a week, at times, travelled abroad toview this sport as well.

So MY CHOICE, not YOURS, I willnot pay to watch NL OR PREM racing...MY CHOICE..if that's a stupid choice, then that's MY stupid choice....I also wont pay to watch riders learning their trade, if I did, id go to a NL track, not interested..i don't want to see doubling up, where one week a riders against you, next week for you...all MY CHOICE..As I say,this was a very interesting thread until this last person decides us "fossils" are gullible!!...im not gullible enugh to be short changed by this current backward looking amateur run sport

Edited October 16, 2015 by ColinMills

[BWitcher]

this WAS a thread with similar views...opinions differ, of course they do...to call our views "stupid" is your opinion. I have attended this sport for 37 years EVERY week, more than once a week, at times, travelled abroad toview this sport as well.

So MY CHOICE, not YOURS, I willnot pay to watch NL OR PREM racing...MY CHOICE..if that's a stupid choice, then that's MY stupid choice....I also wont pay to watch riders learning their trade, if I did, id go to a NL track, not interested..i don't want to see doubling up, where one week a riders against you, next week for you...all MY CHOICE..As I say,this was a very interesting thread until this last person decides us "fossils" are gullible!!...im not gullible enugh to be short changed by this current backward looking amateur run sport

 

Careful.

 

Rmc will throw a hissy fit and quit the forum.. again!