Stoke Potter Posted November 2, 2015 Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 Anomaly time...... With Scunthorpes perfect track, week in, week out, how come they struggle to fill the Eddie Wright Raceway on race days? You'd think it would be packed to the rafters!! But it's not, why not? Don't tell Tsunami or Ei Addio but its because it's only 285m and races only last 57 seconds! ;-) I recall my visit to Scunthorpe in the summer, 4-5 races in before we got one worthy of the name. Never happens though if you listen to some folk! As always in speedway it all comes down to money, track maintenance could easily be a full time job. It's like the old joke: How many corners on a speedway track? Answer: None, they've all been cut by successive generations of promoters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsunami Posted November 2, 2015 Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 Don't tell Tsunami or Ei Addio but its because it's only 285m and races only last 57 seconds! ;-) I recall my visit to Scunthorpe in the summer, 4-5 races in before we got one worthy of the name. Never happens though if you listen to some folk! As always in speedway it all comes down to money, track maintenance could easily be a full time job. It's like the old joke: How many corners on a speedway track? Answer: None, they've all been cut by successive generations of promoters. So your opinion is that Scunny is a rubbish race track cos it's only 285 metres. End of your argument, and is your last comment really meant to be humour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoke Potter Posted November 2, 2015 Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 (edited) So your opinion is that Scunny is a rubbish race track cos it's only 285 metres. End of your argument, and is your last comment really meant to be humour. No, its not rubbish, it's actually better than most in the country. But too many in the country are poor. And the authorities never do anything about it. You've never heard that joke before? You do surprise me. Edited November 2, 2015 by Stoke Potter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 2, 2015 Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 Just as a comparison - yesterday (Sunday, 1/11/2015) a 10,000 crowd is reported to have attended the Spedeworth International promotion for stock cars at Yarmouth. This was a regular staging for the cars - why can't speedway attract the same numbers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trees Posted November 2, 2015 Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 Can't understand anyone going to the stock car meetings unless your family member or mate is racing, they do advertise it well though . . . and the meetings aren't weekly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinMills Posted November 2, 2015 Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 id be surprised if Yarmouth holds 10,000, but get your point, foxhall was choc-a-bloc a few weeks back Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g13webb Posted November 2, 2015 Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 Speaking with Buster, he has said he would love to have the crowds at Speedway like he gets with Stock Cars.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinMills Posted November 2, 2015 Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 Speaking with Buster, he has said he would love to have the crowds at Speedway like he gets with Stock Cars.... especially if he paid riders that banger winners get!!!! £40 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 2, 2015 Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 Just as a comparison - yesterday (Sunday, 1/11/2015) a 10,000 crowd is reported to have attended the Spedeworth International promotion for stock cars at Yarmouth. This was a regular staging for the cars - why can't speedway attract the same numbers? Can't understand anyone going to the stock car meetings unless your family member or mate is racing, they do advertise it well though . . . and the meetings aren't weekly? id be surprised if Yarmouth holds 10,000, but get your point, foxhall was choc-a-bloc a few weeks back Speaking with Buster, he has said he would love to have the crowds at Speedway like he gets with Stock Cars.... This is a forwarded message to me re the large weekend crowd at Yarmouth for stock cars - claimed to be 10,000: "Yesterday my son and daughter in law invited me to Gt Yarmouth Stadium to Spedeworths super stoxs and banger racing evening.. The first thing I noticed was a huge crowd, I doubt you could have got another spectator in the stadium.. I wondered why this was,,, Trying to draw parallels between this sport and speedway. I discussed this with my son ,,Its simple,,,Just look at how Speedworth market this sport, Even where I live some 30 miles from the stadium you will see posters,also as we drove to Yarmouth many posters at prominent points along the road,, Yes Speedworth are big on advertising. When did I last see an advert for speedway in any local paper, or posters in the towns of Norfolk?????..This morning I see the crowd was over 10.000." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinMills Posted November 2, 2015 Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 (edited) This is a forwarded message to me re the large weekend crowd at Yarmouth for stock cars - claimed to be 10,000: "Yesterday my son and daughter in law invited me to Gt Yarmouth Stadium to Spedeworths super stoxs and banger racing evening.. The first thing I noticed was a huge crowd, I doubt you could have got another spectator in the stadium.. I wondered why this was,,, Trying to draw parallels between this sport and speedway. I discussed this with my son ,,Its simple,,,Just look at how Speedworth market this sport, Even where I live some 30 miles from the stadium you will see posters,also as we drove to Yarmouth many posters at prominent points along the road,, Yes Speedworth are big on advertising. When did I last see an advert for speedway in any local paper, or posters in the towns of Norfolk?????..This morning I see the crowd was over 10.000." I only mentioned I doubted 10,000 as I been there for greyhounds, and it didn't seem overly large, but im sure they are correct..yes, spedeworth do great advertising, with cars carrying advertising around the Yarmouth see front along with posters it appears to be effective Edited November 2, 2015 by ColinMills Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crump99 Posted November 2, 2015 Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 (edited) I only mentioned I doubted 10,000 as I been there for greyhounds, and it didn't seem overly large, but im sure they are correct..yes, spedeworth do great advertising, with cars carrying advertising around the Yarmouth see front along with posters it appears to be effective Not necessarily in speedway? During my time at Peterborough, I have done everything humanly possible to attract newcomers to our sport and all I might add on little or no budget. I have presented to over 2500 kids in various schools road show initiatives, I have invited and hosted whole organisations along for free and whole streets along for free. I have put up banners and posters, I have given away 1000’s of (sponsored) car stickers and more kids goodie bags than you can shake a stick at. I have offered free admission to members of the thriving local Polish club (one person came – once), 2 for 1 offers, Kids for a quid and Kids for free. We have on occasions been overrun by hundreds of Scout groups and I have undertaken umpteen radio interviews and quite a few local TV vox pops. I have put leaflets in newspapers, I have put leaflets through letterboxes, I have handed leaflets out in shopping malls and I have put 1000’s of leaflets on cars (with apologies to the owner of the Blue Vauxhall Astra in the Peterborough Railway Station Car Park in September 2007, honestly, it really did come off in my hand, so it must have already been broken). You name it and I’ve pretty much done it and all the time, our attendances have remained constant. Constantly poor. borospeedway.proboards/Mick Bratley final-curtain Edited November 2, 2015 by Crump99 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldace Posted November 3, 2015 Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 Just as a comparison - yesterday (Sunday, 1/11/2015) a 10,000 crowd is reported to have attended the Spedeworth International promotion for stock cars at Yarmouth. This was a regular staging for the cars - why can't speedway attract the same numbers? Thats a good crowd for a stadium with a capacity of under 6000. Maybe they need investigating for seriously exceeding stadium capacity, or maybe some people have poor perception of how many were there 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halifaxtiger Posted November 3, 2015 Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 Anomaly time...... With Scunthorpes perfect track, week in, week out, how come they struggle to fill the Eddie Wright Raceway on race days? You'd think it would be packed to the rafters!! But it's not, why not? Have a look at their results at the start of last season and you'll see why their attendances dipped. If memory serves me correctly, they lost 12 out of 13 and 5 out of 6 at home, some by large margins. No matter how good the racing is, home form like that is disastrous. It says a lot, though, that when Rob Godfrey went public about the situation crowds significantly improved. I'd like to think that that was because the thought of losing our best racing track was something that many could not stomach. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Humphrey Appleby Posted November 3, 2015 Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 During my time at Peterborough, I have done everything humanly possible to attract newcomers to our sport and all I might add on little or no budget. I have presented to over 2500 kids in various schools road show initiatives, I have invited and hosted whole organisations along for free and whole streets along for free. I have put up banners and posters, I have given away 1000’s of (sponsored) car stickers and more kids goodie bags than you can shake a stick at. I have offered free admission to members of the thriving local Polish club (one person came – once), 2 for 1 offers, Kids for a quid and Kids for free. We have on occasions been overrun by hundreds of Scout groups and I have undertaken umpteen radio interviews and quite a few local TV vox pops. I have put leaflets in newspapers, I have put leaflets through letterboxes, I have handed leaflets out in shopping malls and I have put 1000’s of leaflets on cars (with apologies to the owner of the Blue Vauxhall Astra in the Peterborough Railway Station Car Park in September 2007, honestly, it really did come off in my hand, so it must have already been broken). You name it and I’ve pretty much done it and all the time, our attendances have remained constant. Constantly poor. The problem is that underlying product is basically poor and has a dated image, so it won't really matter how you promote it whilst this remains the case. Traditional advertising and old-style promotions are just not going to cut it nowadays - everyone is bombarded by this and that and have to have some inherent interest in watching the sport in the first place. Speedway always was, and probably still is a sport that you get into because you friends and/or family are into it. The problem is that crowds have declined to such an extent that this can't be relied upon any more, even if the kids can be interested in a 1970s era sport. However, speedway does have curious things that are different to other sports, so maybe this could be played up somehow. I largely got interested in speedway through reading meeting reports whilst doing a paper round, but I think the fascination came because I discovered there were different types of meeting, heat formulas and averages that actually interested me in maths for the first time, and all sorts of other weird tactical rules that you simply didn't get in a simpler sport like football. Now I agree most people aren't going to follow a sport for these reason, but equally some people are looking for something different. Cricket should never work as a modern day professional sport, it's too complicated, most of action takes place away from the spectators and it goes on for too long, but billions still follow it. Niche products basically get promoted through viral online campaigns these days, starting by targeting information at selected groups that might be potentially interested in speedway, and offering something to draw in the customer like a round-up of match action, exciting highlights etc.. Along with this, the product on the ground simply has to be cheaper and better - only a handful of diehards are going to pay 17 quid to watch 15 heats dragged out over 2 hours. Races need to be run more swiftly, there needs more of them, probably adding some sort of support event, and maybe even experimenting with different race formats (e.g. more riders per race - obviously with a staggered start). Some of these things may not be to everyone's taste (not even mine), but the sport is doomed to be nothing more than a niche motorsport with a few blokes riding around training tracks unless it moves into the 21st century soon. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crump99 Posted November 3, 2015 Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 (edited) "only a handful of diehards are going to pay 17 quid to watch 15 heats dragged out over 2 hours. Races need to be run more swiftly" That's nearer the problem but it's like banging your head against a brick wall. I don't mind the 17 quid (well for EL, not PL) as long as they get on with it and seriously improve the communications. How hard is it to tell you who is in the race before the riders leave the pit gate, or who's in heat 15 before everyone falls asleep? I read in 2014 whereby a lad leaving a Sky meeting was heard to say to his dad that that was good and could they go next week? (he'd need to check the fixtures first to see whether we're on a 2 or 3 week break and what day the next meeting is) Problem being that WYSI not WYG next week. Meeting efficiency and the best cutlery only appears when the cameras do, not a standard practice. Edited November 3, 2015 by Crump99 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 3, 2015 Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 Thats a good crowd for a stadium with a capacity of under 6000. Maybe they need investigating for seriously exceeding stadium capacity, or maybe some people have poor perception of how many were there More likely the latter is correct. Spedeworth International are long-time and top class promoting group. Speedway needs an prganosation like the, IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Leslie Posted November 3, 2015 Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 Speedway needs an prganosation Can you get them on the National Health? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldace Posted November 3, 2015 Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 Speedway needs an prganosation like the, IMO. Can you get them on the National Health? Isn't it a type of dinosaur?. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Leslie Posted November 3, 2015 Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 Isn't it a type of dinosaur?. Gustix is. Not sure about the prganosation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemini Posted November 3, 2015 Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 .......Crump99....... "only a handful of diehards are going to pay 17 quid to watch 15 heats dragged out over 2 hours. Races need to be run more swiftly" Oh yes! The biggest annoyance to me and the only thing I moan about really......well apart from sunbreaks and teams in alphabetical order. Why would I want to watch blinking tractors going round umpteen times when I've paid to watch Speedway? I'm sure half of the time it's not necessary and just something to prolong the meeting so we feel we're getting our money's worth. Must admit Coventry are pretty good with second half racing but that should be the norm at all tracks. Get the youngsters out there for a few races. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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