What Do Speedway Fans Want?

[iris123]

This is a classic

 

Guy starts a topic asking a somewhat sarcastic question-gets some great suggestions-man makes his excuses and leaves

[ColinMills]

Racing, passing, celebrating, cheering, good music, interviews, shown passion (by everyone involved, no good keeping it to yourself, let it show), interesting programmes with off the wall pics, loads of advertising (pretty good on twitter now, just need everyone sharing not just liking), buses\minibuses to away meetings, fairness in team building, consistent refereeing, well prepared tracks (promoters to review the shape and surface of their tracks), positivity of PR (this balloons) ..... etc, etc

get most of that, but consistent refereeing? dodgy refereeing creates atmosphere and passion

[Trees]

get most of that, but consistent refereeing? dodgy refereeing creates atmosphere and passion

Ermmmm true, rather have great racing\passing creating atmosphere and passion though

[topaz325]

Apologies but going over old ground again....

Personally speaking, no long drawn out meetings, no TR rule, stop ripping the fans off with rained off meetings and keeping the entrance money!!!! Better presentation.

 

Already this season we have the Belle Vue saga, the WSL postponement, Redcar v Workington cancellation......just to name a few.

 

I have virtually given up on away meetings now.

[Bryn]

This is a classic

 

Guy starts a topic asking a somewhat sarcastic question-gets some great suggestions-man makes his excuses and leaves

You are totally wrong "iris123" I have NOT left this thread, in fact I'm reading what posts I haven't read before, after getting back here to Kent from King's Lynn where myself and three others left at 8.30am to act in various voluntary capacities to help run a Southern Track Riders Amateur meeting that comprised of 54 heats. I was asked in an earlier post on this thread if I planned to record replies and, perhaps take the matter further e.g. maybe conduct a survey to which I responded no as I literally don't have the time - you perhaps could?

Edited April 25, 2016 by Bryn

[Crump99]

To improve the presentation would cost very little and would go a long way towards keeping fans once they are through the turnstiles

 

I'd agree with that but it's clearly not seen as an issue. Good thing though as with decent presentation etc I'd have seen 13 away heat winners on my own circuit

[New Science]

Bring the old silencers back to give us tracks with more dirt,better racing,proper engine noise and less injuries

I Know, NO chance in hell.

If I want to cheer myself up I watch the box set of the 2010 GP series, AH Tomasz Gollob and speedway at its very best,even Cardiff was great racing, the good old days..Also the 2008 season Wolves may have finished bottom but from memory we had 7 last heat deciders,the racing that year at Monmore was 2nd to non

Sorry, rant over !

Edited April 24, 2016 by New Science

[Gresham]

Bring the old silencers back to give us tracks with more dirt,better racing,proper engine noise and less injuries

I Know, NO chance in hell.

If I want to cheer myself up I watch the box set of the 2010 GP series, AH Tomasz Gollob and speedway at its very best,even Cardiff was great racing, the good old days..Also the 2008 season Wolves may have finished bottom but from memory we had 7 last heat deciders,the racing that year at Monmore was 2nd to non

Sorry, rant over !

But why is there no chance in hell?

 

Who's running this show? Who's making money out of it now? Who is thinking profit short term?

[steve roberts]

Personally I tire of yet another thread asking what the fans want as nobody in 'authority' apparently listens!

 

I've commented elsewhere on numerous threads regarding this subject and really can't be bothered raising them all again.

 

Speedway will continuously plod along on its merry self destructive way (the domestic programme trying to run alongside the GPs, teams full of unpronounceable foreign riders, forever changing rules, lack of tactical awareness, emphasis on bikes, lack of continuity etc etc)

[LunnasPerm]

Removing the tactical ride rule would be a good start. I remember it being introduced years ago, but if I remember correctly, the selected rider started 15M behind the rest.

 

At Ashfield during the Scottish derby, Sam Masters won a heat that he was always going to win. However, his points counted for double. Why? His team were terrible, that's why. I understand the reasoning behind the rule, but it's unfair and rewards poor performances.

 

Its footballing equivalent is, if a team goes three goals down, their opponents goals are bigger. It's mental.

[Ghostwalker]

Except for obvious things as good racing and sunny weather I want:

 

1. scrap tactical substitute

2. Make an international standard for R/R such a mandatory off period for any rider that uses a sicknote to allow his/her team to use R/R. In such cases the rider will not be allowed to
ride for the following 6 days in any league/open meeting. Pretty ridiculous when rider call in sick/injured and rides 1-2 days later.

3. Fewer grading breaks. In normal circumstances only 3 breaks should be needed accordingly to the following "schedule":

Heats 1-4 - short grading break - heats 5-8 - longer "half time" interval with a longer track grading break - Heat 9-12- short grading break - heat 13-16.

Obviously sometimes, due to weather conditions, additional track grading breaks might be needed.

4. 16 heat formula. In Sweden we used to have 16 heats, where heat 16 was the two best scores from each team (excluding reserves) and heat 15 was the team managers choice

where he could use any two riders he wanted except for the two best scorers.

5. Engines and silencers that can handle "proper" grip on the tracks,

6. More professionalism from the clubs regarding preparations for bad weather such as track covers and actually studying the actual weather then blindly trusting unreliable weather forecasts.

7. Mandatory transponders for all elite tracks, FIm meetings (SGP/SEC/SWC qualies, U19/21 WCH/ECH) and riders. Would eliminate the problem with "uneven starts".

Those riders who relies on rolling starts will soon find out that it no longer will be possible.

8. No return to pits after "uneven starts" or TT unless there is a problem with the start tapes or it's mechanism.

9. Very strict enforcement of the 2 min rule. Two minutes is 120 seconds nor 131 or 123 second. If a rider is late he/she is late and shall therefore be excluded.

10. Better airfences. IMO airfences is a very good safety feature but they can be improved since they bounce up too much. Västervik will try a new type of af this season, an af

that is supposed to not bounce up on impact. We'll see if it works better then the "regular" versions.

11. I dislike how riders on gate 3-4 when having a little bit of poor starts, still try to go around the other riders despite that it's obvious that there is no room just so that they can get an all4back restart.

It causes unnecessary delays and I consider it unsportsmanlike conduct.

12. Better collaborations between the 4 top nations when it comes to league planning. Riders should always prioritize their home league when there is fixture clashes due to postponed meetings.

Also try to schedule off days so that teams in the different leagues have days when all riders are available.

13. If possible try to internationally standardize the league rules so that the rules as much as possible are the same regardless of which national league it is. Like heat schedule and heat 15/16 rules.

Understandably rules regarding average cap/squad system/non-squad system is likely better of as independent for each league.

[Gresham]

Many cracking points there...especially points 5 and 6.

[Shale Searcher]

I don't understand this mass hating of track grading???

When I first started going speedway in the early 1970's, tractor grading and hand raking took place after every race, nobody moaned then? If anything, if tracks today were graded "a little less, but more often" this would be far better for the track, the riders racing on it and the fans watching it!!!

You would get a better spread of the dirt, a better track equality and more overtaking.. When you race on the track just before a trackgrade, it's totally different to just after a trackgrade.....

 

2 quick laps with the tractor + 4 rakers on each bend would make for much better track conditions....

Edited April 25, 2016 by Shale Searcher

[Trees]

I don't understand this mass hating of track grading???

When I first started going speedway in the early 1970's, tractor grading and hand raking took place after every race, nobody moaned then? If anything, if tracks today were graded "a little less, but more often" this would be far better for the track, the riders racing on it and the fans watching it!!!

You would get a better spread of the dirt, a better track equality and more overtaking.. When you race on the track just before a trackgrade, it's totally different to just after a trackgrade.....

2 quick laps with the tractor + 4 rakers on each bend would make for much better track conditions....

Hoorah, there is only one thing that differs and that is the patience of a few fans, old codgers now you see haha

[New Science]

But why is there no chance in hell?

 

Who's running this show? Who's making money out of it now? Who is thinking profit short term?

The F.I.M run the show . Maybe we should blame them for killing speedway

[Tsunami]

The F.I.M run the show . Maybe we should blame them for killing speedway

They have a part to play in it.

[Blackadder]

From Rod Colquhoun:-

It is difficult to understand why the UK season starts and ends when it does. It starts with a heap of rain offs, comes good for 5 months and then ends with a heap of rain offs. A shorter, higher quality season would be so much better, but no doubt there is method in the madness.

 

Not suffered any rain offs yet, but it's been cold at every one.

[A ORLOV]

Clear rules, unlike the ones that have allowed the joke replacements in the Poole team for tonights meeting with Kings Lynn where a rider was named and now changed because of confusing and what appears to be ill conceived rules.

[LunnasPerm]

I actually disagree with the suggestion that the season should be shortened to avoid postponments due to weather.

 

My first issue with such a proposal is that the off-season is long enough. October-to-March, five months, is an incredibly long off-season in sport. For the fans, it's a very long time to be without their favourite sport, so to suggest that it be increased - with what is nothing more than assumption that the change would create a higher quality of racing - isn't approporiate.

 

Tracks should receive more protection from the weather. The sport made huge strides with the introduction of air fences, but a simple protective sheet or covering of the track would go a long, long way. Similar to what is used in tennis, but tailored to suit a track. It doesn't require a great deal of work or supervision to shield a track from the weather.

 

Referring back to the duration of the close season, I hold serious issues and concerns with those running the sport in regards to this. How on earth was Belle Vue's new stadium and track not ready for the opening night? That was and continues to be a monumental disaster. It's bad management of epic proportions.

 

Then, we had Edinburgh; their press and practice evening, normally event for team building, turned into a casting and audition session for their number seven race jacket. They had five months to build a side, but couldn't. That, again, is horrendous management which, let's put our cards on the table and be honest here, has short changed the fans because Dan Bewley isn't old enough, big enough or good enough to compete at Premier League level. That's the reality, no matter what way you wish to look at it. Football clubs often have less than a month between the final game of the season and the first day of pre-season.

 

It's poor, unorganised and unprofessional rubbish from dinosaur management.

 

What do I want, personally? Ridiculous rules like the double-points tactical ride; gone. Regular, preventable postponments combated via track protection; yes.

 

The Belle Vue and Edinburgh matters are simply laughable, in my view. It's almost frightening, from a business perspective, that those two instances were allowed to happen. It's embarassing for the sport and ultimately, it shafts the fans which, as someone said elsewhere, will result in their being no domestic speedway in ten years time.

[Trees]

Some of the best meetings are often late in the year when there is plenty ofoisture in the tracks, dark evenings and riders at the top of the game ....

 

I'd hate to see the season shortened any further, we have rain offs in August as well as March ....