lakeside 2019

[westhamboy66]

On 10/30/2018 at 10:07 AM, TonyE said:

For what it is worth, I believe the Hammers will effectively cease to exist having now completed the season.

Rye House was merely an expedient - I still do not understand the logic of the authorities in ruling we had to switch all remaining fixtures to RH rather than just run the ones we could not fit in at Arena - but then this is speedway , often devoid of any logic. RH is much, much worse than Arena - poor viewing, poor racing, poor lighting and, as others have said, not really a viable option without major and costly changes.

Thanks for the memories.

 

I trust you are serious when you say that Rye is much much worse for viewing than Arena?  There are many like me who live close to Arena but chose to go elsewhere because Arena was simply the worse track in the country  in two very important ways  1 The viewing apart from the tiny bit of  the back straight was just far too far away from the track and 2 Quite importantly the track never cut it as a race track, too flat poor shape etc. It’s always sad to lose a club but the Arena track well...

[E I Addio]

5 minutes ago, westhamboy66 said:

I trust you are serious when you say that Rye is much much worse for viewing than Arena?  There are many like me who live close to Arena but chose to go elsewhere because Arena was simply the worse track in the country  in two very important ways  1 The viewing apart from the tiny bit of  the back straight was just far too far away from the track and 2 Quite importantly the track never cut it as a race track, too flat poor shape etc. It’s always sad to lose a club but the Arena track well...

Viewing is personal preference. I never minded going to RH a couple of times a year when the weather was nice and ejoyed the close up viewing but I wouldnt want it every week and  for regular viewing I much preferred Arena, where I could always see the whole track from the main stand or entry to bend 1.

As for racing, what you said is simply not true.Rye House is a converted stock  car track. It is also a small track that rides like a big track, I.e.full throttle and if  a half decent rider makes the gate and keeps the  throttle open he won't be caught, especially as the straights are relatively narrow. . 

As for Lakeside being too flat, you only have to stand on the stock car track at the apex of the Speedwáy bends and you will see the Speedwáy bends are banked to around knee knee height. The racing at Lakeside was improved when the shape was changed to give more width going into the bends. 

Neil Middleditch described Arena as a thinking mans track, in other words a rider has to be thinking two steps ahead of where he is on the track all the time. Kelvin Tatum said that because it is mentally demanding a lot of riders are beaten in their minds before the race even starts. I think referee Chris Gay summed Arena up pretty well, he said Arena was not the best track he officiated at but it is in the top half.

Unfortunately you, like several others on here want to impose your opinions as being absolute right or wrong, but there are plenty of long term Lakeside fans who take the opposite view. To see a rider like Peter Karlsson going from last to first with one of his famous cut backs, or riders like Ed Kennett or Lewis Bridger scraping the air fence and firing themselves off the banking at Arena is as good as you'll see anywhere.  The great thing about Britsh Speedwáy is that all tracks are different and the style of racing is different. The problem is that some fans are too closed-minded to acknowledge that.

 

[marko]

The thing that above all else that has kept me away from Rye House is the small car park, if that is full I wouldn't want to leave my car over the river/railway, that estate always used to look rough to say the least, at Arena I knew even if there was 3000 in, I would still get parked and my car would be safe.

[KevH]

3 hours ago, marko said:

The thing that above all else that has kept me away from Rye House is the small car park, if that is full I wouldn't want to leave my car over the river/railway, that estate always used to look rough to say the least, at Arena I knew even if there was 3000 in, I would still get parked and my car would be safe.

Why didn't you just arrive earlier?

[Ray Stadia]

10 hours ago, liam said:

He is definitely going to do all he can to give Essex a speedway team.

From the radio interview, although he used Swindon as an example of speedway working with developers, the situation for Lakeside is different. They have lost their 'cash cow' and their home. An interesting part of the interview was he mentioned it could be some time before the developers start to build houses. I wonder if one or two more seasons couldn't still be raced at the track? In other words, if the track/stadium are going to sit idle, someone surely, could arrange a deal. And if Jon Cook truly has the backing of the developers and local council to find a new location, it will give the club time to sort something and provide continuity. I also feel, if the team moves to Rye House in 2019, it will be 'new' Rye House and Lakeside/Arena Essex will just be a defunct club.  

[liam]

3 minutes ago, Ray Stadia said:

From the radio interview, although he used Swindon as an example of speedway working with developers, the situation for Lakeside is different. They have lost their 'cash cow' and their home. An interesting part of the interview was he mentioned it could be some time before the developers start to build houses. I wonder if one or two more seasons couldn't still be raced at the track? In other words, if the track/stadium are going to sit idle, someone surely, could arrange a deal. And if Jon Cook truly has the backing of the developers and local council to find a new location, it will give the club time to sort something and provide continuity. I also feel, if the team moves to Rye House in 2019, it will be 'new' Rye House and Lakeside/Arena Essex will just be a defunct club.  

I think when push comes to shove the new developers and council won’t want a speedway track to have anything to do with the new housing development. I don’t see the club racing at Rye House next year as the Rye supporters won’t watch them and the Lakeside fans will not travel either, I am yet to see a Lakeside fan say anything positive about the racing their. Unfortunately I think Lakeside will stop racing this year and we are unlikely to ever see them again.

[cityrebel]

12 hours ago, Hawk127 said:

No criticism intended but when people talk about Essex are they thinking south or north of the county.

Would former Lakeside fans travel to say to Colchester or Clacton(I am not saying any land is available) which is a fair way off the original patch.

Rayleigh fans travelled to Rye House and probably more latterly to Lakeside (or Arena as it was in the early days) but where is the real catchment area.

It is important to find somewhere with little in the way of local entertainment and build on the fact that people can readily relate to supporting local sporting heroes and the entertainment is at a price point where people are prepared to spend the cash.

I sincerely wish that the sport could find a home in Essex but my gut feeling is that with the demand for housing etc, south of the county is going to be a difficult nut to crack and perhaps any would be track owner/promoter needs to look at less densely populated areas of which you still have some in Essex albeit access is on B class roads. 

Good luck and let’s hope that another team is not lost to the sport.

There is a fair few of us that travelled from south of the river as well. Some of our group were from surrey and sussex, and we were regulars at Arena.

[TRM]

37 minutes ago, Ray Stadia said:

From the radio interview, although he used Swindon as an example of speedway working with developers, the situation for Lakeside is different. They have lost their 'cash cow' and their home. An interesting part of the interview was he mentioned it could be some time before the developers start to build houses. I wonder if one or two more seasons couldn't still be raced at the track? In other words, if the track/stadium are going to sit idle, someone surely, could arrange a deal. And if Jon Cook truly has the backing of the developers and local council to find a new location, it will give the club time to sort something and provide continuity. I also feel, if the team moves to Rye House in 2019, it will be 'new' Rye House and Lakeside/Arena Essex will just be a defunct club.  

I personally think if there was any chance that we would see more speedway in the current staduim whilst the developers are waiting to get in then Stuart would not have called it a day 

[ruckerroo]

Did you prefer lens rye house track shape and surface or the latest shape and surface ?  

[cityrebel]

I preferred the track durings Lens era, it does seem narrower now, and a lot slicker. On the plus side, the safety fence and air bags are a big improvement on the previous set up.

[cityrebel]

1 hour ago, TRM said:

I personally think if there was any chance that we would see more speedway in the current staduim whilst the developers are waiting to get in then Stuart would not have called it a day 

Totally agree. The last thing developers want is sitting tennants. The upkeep of the stadium and the security of the site would fall on the shoulders of the Speedway promoters. It wouldn't be financially viable.

[TonyE]

11 hours ago, westhamboy66 said:

I trust you are serious when you say that Rye is much much worse for viewing than Arena?  There are many like me who live close to Arena but chose to go elsewhere because Arena was simply the worse track in the country  in two very important ways  1 The viewing apart from the tiny bit of  the back straight was just far too far away from the track and 2 Quite importantly the track never cut it as a race track, too flat poor shape etc. It’s always sad to lose a club but the Arena track well...

I could ask the same question of you. You are entitled to your opinion of course and there has already been a rebuttal of a couple of your viewpoints. Watching from a little further back allows a greater field of vision, especially when we have 'the two races in one' scenario and, also, in my opinion Arena was a much safer track. Rye House is too narrow and had Nick Morris had the same type of incident as happened in the first attempt to run Heat 15 against Glasgow, he would have piled into the fence - no wrap around the corners airbags at RH!

As for the quality of racing, I find it really difficult to even put RH in same league as Arena which at least offered riders options on the lines they take rather than just open the throttle and blast round for four laps.

[HAMMER180]

if the new track is to happen it will not be for a few years and that could be

to long to keep a fan base as I have already said. jon did not say that a track on the old site was the only option

there were several others but for some reason the developers and council do no like one of them.

jon also said there had been a lot of positive phone calls during the day maybe there is someone with the deep

pockets needed for it to work is out there.

I would like to know what was so special about the phone calls from adam and Richard were about for jon to mention it.

re next season if all parties at rye and lakeside can find some common ground then it could work there for the few years needed

to keep the club alive of course that's depending on someone stepping up to the plate in the next couple of weeks or the

powers that be give the likes of us and Workington an extention of  say 3 months to get things in to place wont hold my breath on that one.

[marko]

Probably just words of support Hammer180, I remember when the club were looking to drop the NL, Richard asked if there was anything he could do to ensure the club continued to race at a higher level, Top man is Richard Lawson.

If you made a list of the top 5 most likable riders the club has had in its entire history, Richard would be in that.

[jenga]

Just now, marko said:

Probably just words of support Hammer180, I remember when the club were looking to drop the NL, Richard asked if there was anything he could do to ensure the club continued to race at a higher level, Top man is Richard Lawson.

If you made a list of the top 5 most likable riders the club has had in its entire history, Richard would be in that.

aye , nice guy is richard ., shame about the fingers he gave to the crowd @  workington ...........league final meeting . 

but still a good lad .

[cityrebel]

29 minutes ago, marko said:

Probably just words of support Hammer180, I remember when the club were looking to drop the NL, Richard asked if there was anything he could do to ensure the club continued to race at a higher level, Top man is Richard Lawson.

If you made a list of the top 5 most likable riders the club has had in its entire history, Richard would be in that.

Richard is definitely a Lakeside legend. He's in the clubs all time top 10 in my eyes.

[liam]

Without doubt one of the best signings the club has made. Top bloke

[geoff100]

1 hour ago, liam said:

Without doubt one of the best signings the club has made. Top bloke

He has to be the worst ex.comet their is you and others are welcome to him!

[jenga]

6 minutes ago, geoff100 said:

He has to be the worst ex.comet their is you and others are welcome to him!

not the best comments there . geoff. you will have done your fair share of cheering richard  in in his early days .

as did the rest of us . 

 

 

[liam]

17 minutes ago, geoff100 said:

He has to be the worst ex.comet their is you and others are welcome to him!

Thanks Geoff lol