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When Should I Add Newcastle To The Defunct Speedway Website!


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Lawrence Heppell played "Mr. Blue Sky" as we left the stadium, iirc.

he must have one of those sense's of humour,,, I remember just after Lewis Kerr had the accident when he left one of his fingers in his gloves,,, he played 'turning japanese', which I thought Lewis wasn't and probly wouldn't have been for some time.

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We have stared at the face of closure before: -

 

  1. 1930 (Don't know why it closed)
  2. 1939 (Due to 2nd world war, with the Diamonds top of the league)
  3. 1951 (Possibly due to the entertainment tax)
  4. 1970 (After losing Star Men Ivan Mauger & Ole Olsen)
  5. 1984 (After a disastrous season in the top flight)
  6. 1994 (Don't know why it closed)

 

George English took the plunge as promoter in 1997 and has been there until 2017 and a lot longer I hope. Correct me if you can about any of our closures. Newcastle are now one of a handful of tracks who started at the beginning 1929 and are still operating in 2017

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We have stared at the face of closure before: -

 

  1. 1930 (Don't know why it closed)
  2. 1939 (Due to 2nd world war, with the Diamonds top of the league)
  3. 1951 (Possibly due to the entertainment tax)
  4. 1970 (After losing Star Men Ivan Mauger & Ole Olsen)
  5. 1984 (After a disastrous season in the top flight)
  6. 1994 (Don't know why it closed)

 

George English took the plunge as promoter in 1997 and has been there until 2017 and a lot longer I hope. Correct me if you can about any of our closures. Newcastle are now one of a handful of tracks who started at the beginning 1929 and are still operating in 2017

1994 closure was due to Kevin Wilde the owner who got sick of Speedway in his stadium. That was a surprise because our rent and extras went toward funding his attempt to be a professional gambler. Our consortium still proceeded to buy the speedway off Richard Bailey in the hope that Kevin would change his mind, but unfortunately he didn't. We then sold all the riders assets and I promised I would bring speedway back using my share of the money. As it happened the then accountant bought Wilde out and contacted us, as he knew we were looking at every stadium and land within a 13 mile radius. We then went into a partnership with 5 other tracks and were setting up a 'pirate' league when the BSPA got wind of our plans, and they were forced to drop the big league and formed the cheaper Premier League for 1997 that is still with us now with another name. The accountant then went bust in our first year, and we looked like we had lost it again. Happy days, all cloak and dagger, might write a book about it sometime.

 

 

NB The 1970 closure was about Allied Promotions swapping our licence to their new track at Reading, hence the inclusion of Newcastle's Dag Lovas in their team from that year.

Edited by Tsunami
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1994 closure was due to Kevin Wilde the owner who got sick of Speedway in his stadium. That was a surprise because our rent and extras went toward funding his attempt to be a professional gambler. Our consortium still proceeded to buy the speedway off Richard Bailey in the hope that Kevin would change his mind, but unfortunately he didn't. We then sold all the riders assets and I promised I would bring speedway back using my share of the money. As it happened the then accountant bought Wilde out and contacted us, as he knew we were looking at every stadium and land within a 13 mile radius. We then went into a partnership with 5 other tracks and were setting up a 'pirate' league when the BSPA got wind of our plans, and they were forced to drop the big league and formed the cheaper Premier League for 1997 that is still with us now with another name. The accountant then went bust in our first year, and we looked like we had lost it again. Happy days, all cloak and dagger, might write a book about it sometime.

 

 

NB The 1970 closure was about Allied Promotion swapping our licence to their new track at Reading, hence the inclusion of Newcastle's Dag Lovas in their team from that year.

 

Thanks for that insight Dave, most interesting. Speedway seems to be one of the most intriguing sports around when you hear the in's and out's!

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We have stared at the face of closure before: -

 

  • 1930 (Don't know why it closed)
  • 1939 (Due to 2nd world war, with the Diamonds top of the league)
  • 1951 (Possibly due to the entertainment tax)
  • 1970 (After losing Star Men Ivan Mauger & Ole Olsen)
  • 1984 (After a disastrous season in the top flight)
  • 1994 (Don't know why it closed)

George English took the plunge as promoter in 1997 and has been there until 2017 and a lot longer I hope. Correct me if you can about any of our closures. Newcastle are now one of a handful of tracks who started at the beginning 1929 and are still operating in 2017

Didnt we also close on the eve of the 1988 season?? As I can remember being at a meet the riders night at the PTE club on a Monday night ( Shane Bowes was one rider in attendance) and the next day it was announced we had closed down Edited by KEITH M
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Didnt we also close on the eve of the 1988 season?? As I can remember being at a meet the riders night at the PTE club on a Monday night ( Shane Bowes was one rider in attendance) and the next day it was announced we had closed down

 

Yeah. We didn't run in 1988, returning in 1989, with a top two of Rod Hunter and Peter Carr.

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The takings at the cafe under the grandstand must be considerable judging by the number of people with chips and burgers! Is it all profits to the landlords or does the speedway make anything from the sales? If the "dogs" (no not hotdogs!) pun intended, get the lion share, or all of it, perhaps this could be a bargaining "chip" another pun intended, when trying to get them to lower the rent to help speedway keep going.

 

What date is the promoters meeting scheduled for?

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The takings at the cafe under the grandstand must be considerable judging by the number of people with chips and burgers! Is it all profits to the landlords or does the speedway make anything from the sales? If the "dogs" (no not hotdogs!) pun intended, get the lion share, or all of it, perhaps this could be a bargaining "chip" another pun intended, when trying to get them to lower the rent to help speedway keep going.

 

What date is the promoters meeting scheduled for?

 

If it's the same as before, I believe the landlords get it all. The only 'extra' income the speedway gets is the Car Park money (not sure if we, or the landlords pay for the security), the 50/50 draw and the track shop profits, off the top of my head.

Edited by Steve Park
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The takings at the cafe under the grandstand must be considerable judging by the number of people with chips and burgers! Is it all profits to the landlords or does the speedway make anything from the sales? If the "dogs" (no not hotdogs!) pun intended, get the lion share, or all of it, perhaps this could be a bargaining "chip" another pun intended, when trying to get them to lower the rent to help speedway keep going.

 

What date is the promoters meeting scheduled for?

 

Brilliant 200 bags of chips sort the sport in Newcastle, how many pieces of home made pie to fix Scunthorpe anyone?

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Brilliant 200 bags of chips sort the sport in Newcastle, how many pieces of home made pie to fix Scunthorpe anyone?

 

Not a huge problem then, if the profits from the cafe would save Newcastle from closure? But a hell of a lot of pies would need to be sold to save Scunthorpe ( three per person? ). Perhaps it would work out with everyone also buying two portions of mushy peas ( bigger profit margin on the peas )?

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