Swindon 2019

[mikebv]

1 hour ago, 89buttons said:

 

i think your timeline is a little skewed it was well into the 2000’s before the top boys all upped and left.

To illustrate here’s a list of a few riders that rode in the elite league in 2005:

tony rickardsson, Chris Louis, hans Andersen, Leigh adams, Ryan Sullivan, Antonio Lindback, Pepe Protasiewicz, Billy Hamill, Greg Hancock, Jason crump, Nicki Pedersen, lee Richardson, Scott Nicholls, Sebastian ulamek, Greg Walasek, Freddie Lindgren, Peter Karlsson, Michael max, ales & Lukas Dryml, Mark Loram, Andreas Jonsson, Kenneth Bjerre, Joe screen, David norris, Chris Harris, Kris kascperzak, many others that arguably worth a mention, Troy Batchelor, Matej Ferjan, Jason Lyons, Mads Korneliussen, Martin Smolinski

my memories of the late 90’s as a witches fan is the team of 98 - gollob, rickardsson, Louis, Svab, nicholls & clouting! 

With Sky's money paying for so many of them...

Over £100k per team given out for a long, long time...

Now, no Sky money therefore a lot less 'top quality' riders..

Time for some clear re-alignment and re-avaluation when it comes to salaries in the UK, and it looks like it is starting..

Maybe it will need several more steps back to eventually start to go forwards..?

[Ben91]

On 4/10/2019 at 10:51 AM, waytogo28 said:

I can't see any professional speedway running in the UK in 20 years time. Possibly semi-pro but more likely another defunct  UK sport. With a fanbase now so low there is nowhere it can go other than down.

Speedway here should be semi-professional already. The fact that it isn’t is part of what’s preventing it from starting from scratch and building from grassroots up to perhaps be a well followed sport again. 

[waytogo28]

2 hours ago, 89buttons said:

my memories of the late 90’s as a witches fan is the team of 98 - gollob, rickardsson, Louis, Svab, nicholls & clouting!

And look where that got them - they got beaten from time to time! (TIC). I have the DVD brilliant stuff. So all those who say rose-tinted spectacles worn by sad old geezers is how we view the past can take a running jump. 

[orion]

On ‎4‎/‎10‎/‎2019 at 1:57 PM, Long Eye said:

Wow! You dumber than I gave you credit for.

You dumber ? irony of the highest order .

[Midland Red]

So . . . Swindon 2019, eh!  Not a lot to say, apparently?

[BuxtonTiger]

When is practice at Swindon?

[Speedy swindon pete]

So after all the hand-wringing and gleeful doom-mongering from people only taking a passing interest in what has been going on with the Abbey Stadium saga, believe it or not the opening night on the modified track went pretty well. Not that that would be of much interest to some of the idiots on here. 

Firts half of the meeting might as well have been on the old track it was so dull, but in the 2nd half the racing got better and better. Crucially, there were no signs of it cutting up or becoming tricky to ride at all. Credit to Ron Russell and everyone else for putting in the hours to get it ready, especially as it sounds like Tuesday’s test didn’t quite go to plan.

Particularly pleasing to see it go well in front of a huge crowd. Proof that there are still plenty of people out there who want to come out and pay to watch speedway. Hopefully some of the more casual attendees last night were sent home happy after watching a great few last heats racing, a tight score line and a tense finish, and are planning to come again soon based on the evenings entertainment. Thankfully this forum barely represents 1% of most speedway crowds. Reading some comments on here you’d think everyone would be avoiding the meeting for fear that the track would be unridable, and those that did attend would have been sent home disappointed after watching another National Stadium disaster unfold. Thankfully most attendees don’t think like that, they just want to turn up and watch some blokes bang handlebars for 4 laps at a time with a close score line and hopefully a home win. It’s not that complicated.

The big crowd did create its own problems with getting in which the promotion really need to sort out. The car park was full by 10 past 7 (not a lot they can do about that admittedly), but the queues for the turnstiles were huge, with only two of them open, and there was no signage (that I could see) saying where people should go. I assumed as with previous years, pre booked tickets should go through the cabin at the top, but that apparently wasn’t the case, and it was being used as a normal turnstile, which I assume everyone queuing up for the main turnstiles didn’t realise. They were also telling everyone in the queues that they would be delaying the meeting by a few minutes to get everyone in, only for the tapes to go up 30 seconds later. Thankfully it sounds like Lampart got a late memo about the situation and decided to lay the bike down to buy everyone another 5 minutes.

That aside though it was a decent evening. It shows that with some decent weather, the crowds are still there and not everyone has been put off by the daft rules or politics of the sport, we just need to try and make them come back as often as possible. Again, it backs up my theory that as long as the club is running with healthy attendances, it’s much harder for Osbourne to come up with excuses for not sorting the stadium out and trying to get rid of us completely.

Well done to the club for getting the meeting on with their hands effectively tied behind their back until the very last minute.

 

 

[teaboy279]

12 hours ago, Speedy swindon pete said:

So after all the hand-wringing and gleeful doom-mongering from people only taking a passing interest in what has been going on with the Abbey Stadium saga, believe it or not the opening night on the modified track went pretty well. Not that that would be of much interest to some of the idiots on here. 

Firts half of the meeting might as well have been on the old track it was so dull, but in the 2nd half the racing got better and better. Crucially, there were no signs of it cutting up or becoming tricky to ride at all. Credit to Ron Russell and everyone else for putting in the hours to get it ready, especially as it sounds like Tuesday’s test didn’t quite go to plan.

Particularly pleasing to see it go well in front of a huge crowd. Proof that there are still plenty of people out there who want to come out and pay to watch speedway. Hopefully some of the more casual attendees last night were sent home happy after watching a great few last heats racing, a tight score line and a tense finish, and are planning to come again soon based on the evenings entertainment. Thankfully this forum barely represents 1% of most speedway crowds. Reading some comments on here you’d think everyone would be avoiding the meeting for fear that the track would be unridable, and those that did attend would have been sent home disappointed after watching another National Stadium disaster unfold. Thankfully most attendees don’t think like that, they just want to turn up and watch some blokes bang handlebars for 4 laps at a time with a close score line and hopefully a home win. It’s not that complicated.

The big crowd did create its own problems with getting in which the promotion really need to sort out. The car park was full by 10 past 7 (not a lot they can do about that admittedly), but the queues for the turnstiles were huge, with only two of them open, and there was no signage (that I could see) saying where people should go. I assumed as with previous years, pre booked tickets should go through the cabin at the top, but that apparently wasn’t the case, and it was being used as a normal turnstile, which I assume everyone queuing up for the main turnstiles didn’t realise. They were also telling everyone in the queues that they would be delaying the meeting by a few minutes to get everyone in, only for the tapes to go up 30 seconds later. Thankfully it sounds like Lampart got a late memo about the situation and decided to lay the bike down to buy everyone another 5 minutes.

That aside though it was a decent evening. It shows that with some decent weather, the crowds are still there and not everyone has been put off by the daft rules or politics of the sport, we just need to try and make them come back as often as possible. Again, it backs up my theory that as long as the club is running with healthy attendances, it’s much harder for Osbourne to come up with excuses for not sorting the stadium out and trying to get rid of us completely.

Well done to the club for getting the meeting on with their hands effectively tied behind their back until the very last minute.

 

 

Well written sir.

[hyabb17]

Bravo to all at Swindon....241 for the BT meeting.

http://www.swindon-speedway.com/news.php?extend.3237

[Spl77]

On 4/11/2019 at 1:19 PM, 89buttons said:

 

i think your timeline is a little skewed it was well into the 2000’s before the top boys all upped and left.

To illustrate here’s a list of a few riders that rode in the elite league in 2005:

tony rickardsson, Chris Louis, hans Andersen, Leigh adams, Ryan Sullivan, Antonio Lindback, Pepe Protasiewicz, Billy Hamill, Greg Hancock, Jason crump, Nicki Pedersen, lee Richardson, Scott Nicholls, Sebastian ulamek, Greg Walasek, Freddie Lindgren, Peter Karlsson, Michael max, ales & Lukas Dryml, Mark Loram, Andreas Jonsson, Kenneth Bjerre, Joe screen, David norris, Chris Harris, Kris kascperzak, many others that arguably worth a mention, Troy Batchelor, Matej Ferjan, Jason Lyons, Mads Korneliussen, Martin Smolinski

my memories of the late 90’s as a witches fan is the team of 98 - gollob, rickardsson, Louis, Svab, nicholls & clouting! 

Problem is there are also far less top riders world wide apart from Poland it seems in decline everywhere even the GP are at best operating at the same level but certainly not to the potential that they had back in the early 2000s. Sad times really. 

[Bunce]

I'm on holiday in Burford when Swindon take on the Kings Lynn Stars, and having not been to Swindon Speedway since the 1970's I fancied a night out to support my "Stars" Could anybody advise me on the parking situation at the stadium please? The web site says limited parking at the stadium for £1-50 but if that's full when I arrive, where is the best place to park, thats a) not too far to walk and b) safe enough that my car still has all its wheels when I return!  Any advice would be very welcome.

[severnsider]

40 minutes ago, Bunce said:

I'm on holiday in Burford when Swindon take on the Kings Lynn Stars, and having not been to Swindon Speedway since the 1970's I fancied a night out to support my "Stars" Could anybody advise me on the parking situation at the stadium please? The web site says limited parking at the stadium for £1-50 but if that's full when I arrive, where is the best place to park, thats a) not too far to walk and b) safe enough that my car still has all its wheels when I return!  Any advice would be very welcome.

Car park it still good size so if you are there around half hour before you should have no problem getting it.

Quite a few park over the dual carriageway on the old route of the road near the Cold Harbour 

[Bunce]

3 minutes ago, severnsider said:

Car park it still good size so if you are there around half hour before you should have no problem getting it.

Quite a few park over the dual carriageway on the old route of the road near the Cold Harbour 

Thanks for that info Severnsider, it sounds as if getting there early is the best plan.

[Sir Sidney]

44 minutes ago, Bunce said:

I'm on holiday in Burford when Swindon take on the Kings Lynn Stars, and having not been to Swindon Speedway since the 1970's I fancied a night out to support my "Stars" Could anybody advise me on the parking situation at the stadium please? The web site says limited parking at the stadium for £1-50 but if that's full when I arrive, where is the best place to park, thats a) not too far to walk and b) safe enough that my car still has all its wheels when I return!  Any advice would be very welcome.

Hello Bunce

I went myself (for the first time in many years) on Bank Holiday Monday and asked the same question. The advice I was given was arrive by 6.30pm to 7pm and it would be fine. I arrived at about 6.15pm and had no problem. It still looked as though there was room to park at 6.45pm

[Bunce]

Just now, Sir Sidney said:

Hello Bunce

I went myself (for the first time in many years) on Bank Holiday Monday and asked the same question. The advice I was given was arrive by 6.30pm to 7pm and it would be fine. I arrived at about 6.15pm and had no problem. It still looked as though there was room to park at 6.45pm

Thanks Sir Sidney, I'll take your advice.  My past experiences of Swindon in the 1970's involved lots of rain! Two meetings I went to were rained off, and the third abandoned half way through with a waterlogged track. Hopefully I'll be luckier if I try again.

[Sir Sidney]

Just now, Bunce said:

Thanks Sir Sidney, I'll take your advice.  My past experiences of Swindon in the 1970's involved lots of rain! Two meetings I went to were rained off, and the third abandoned half way through with a waterlogged track. Hopefully I'll be luckier if I try again.

Good luck. I quite liked the remodelled track. The racing improved as the meeting progressed, with some excellent heats

If you want to sit down don't forget to take a seat in with you.

Enjoy your night

[Bunce]

49 minutes ago, Sir Sidney said:

Good luck. I quite liked the remodelled track. The racing improved as the meeting progressed, with some excellent heats

If you want to sit down don't forget to take a seat in with you.

Enjoy your night

Thanks again. So no "Royal Box" to sit in like Saddlebow Rd?   I'll take a couple of seats!

[hyabb17]

Check out Swindon’s YouTube Channel...two races from the Poole match & two from Monday....heat 12 against Ipswich was worth the admission alone!!! Suggest any speedway fan takes a look!

[Ovalman]

Good vibes around the Abbey at the moment. 2 good size crowds, some good racing on the new track, good results, and with Lee Kilby coming in as co-promotor much better communication with the fans. Even some people that havent been for years are interested again.

[thecoombdog]

14 hours ago, auntie doris said:

Good vibes around the Abbey at the moment. 2 good size crowds, some good racing on the new track, good results, and with Lee Kilby coming in as co-promotor much better communication with the fans. Even some people that havent been for years are interested again.

Couldn't agree more. 2 big crowds, a decent track at last and also a good team with a proper number 1. Haven't had this much enthusiasm for speedway in years and know my mates feel the same. Lee Kilby is doing a great job as well. Who cares about a new stadium. As long as we are in the old one and have speedway then that's all that matters.