MSDL Results no longer included in Speedway Star?

[Sings4Speedway]

Am i the only one who has noticed that the MSDL results are no longer being published in the speedway star? The league and its riders / promotions barely get any recognition anyway so to remove the few column inches that the star used to grant them seems a little unjust compared with some of the other waffle that is included.

[moxey63]

I know it's probably down to drop in sales and having to shave costs. A lot of the effort of the old journalists to find stories seems to have disappeared.

Although the cover is a big improvement, this year's Speedway Star has reverted back to being the type of magazine we had with the Speedway News in the 30s and 40s, which carried little information any researchers in later years could call back on. I think it should try to include all British speedway results and, as I have stated before, I would ditch the grass track pages.

Speedway match reports were important to me. But this year matches get a brief review and all connectivity of having someone reporting the action at trackside is gone. We now have a rush job with a small weekly review.

I even miss race times, as they could offer some form of info as to how a rider was going if, for instance, they had won their first race in a long time.

And it's laughable when you read that a rider broke the track record last week, but you aren't given any clue as to what the record is... It's a pointless piece of info if the times aren't given in the first place!

I can't grasp what it is, but much of the detail I used to rely on the Star for has vanished - unless I want to find out something on last weekend's Grand Prix. And that's tragic, in some way, as the GPs have arguably helped put British speedway where it is now!   

Edited July 11, 2019 by moxey63

[Sings4Speedway]

There are some elements of the modern star that i like, there are more interviews and a few riders/managers etc are actually quite candid and open about the goings on rather than the dull company line. However to not be able to include results from a genuine British league and still have plenty of space for results from Germany & South Africa is baffling. We all have opinions on what should be trimmed (personally i don't care for the dear deidrie style readers letters as they are just handpicked opinions) why not keep it factual and report results? As ever development leagues are treated like trash,i await the uproar when the youth rounds are next to be pushed out. 

[Guest]

'Speedway Star'  may well cover grass track racing because its research has shown that it has a strong readership base among those who prefer this form of motorcycle racing?

Additionaly the same reason could apply to the fact that grass track racing has a larger  following than the Development Leagues? 

Many grass track riders are also established speedway names which is more than could be said of those taking part in Development Leagues.

Edited July 11, 2019 by Guest

[Sings4Speedway]

9 minutes ago, gustix said:

'Speedway Star'  may well cover grass track racing because its research has shown that it has a strong readership base among those who prefer this form of motorcycle racing?

Additionaly the same reason could apply to the fact that grass track racing has a larger  following than the Development Leagues? 

Many grass track riders are also established speedway names which is more than could be said of those taking part in Development Leagues.

Im all for the grasstrack section as i follow both sports and i do believe that pages vs subscription base its a worthwhile addition. 

There are also plenty riders who ride both sports which i also agree with but to knock those taking part in the development leagues isnt on as there are plenty of established names who started out in DL's and im sure they were very appreciative of the tiny amount of press coverage they received.  To completely omit an active UK league while offering space to other world leagues or memory lane chatter is insulting to all those involved.

[Grand Central]

I have to say that I have totally lost patience with the mag this year ... Every Thursday I get more and more frustrated and disappointed with it.
I'm really unahappy with myself for leaving them after decades but my subscription will be ending at the next renewal.

[moxey63]

16 hours ago, Richard Weston said:

Race times are surely provided in club reports. Eastbourne do it, both home and away for all their matches.

That's brilliant, but I expect to buy the Star to have all the things in it I have always purchased it for. Race times have always been there. You don't always look at them but they are handy when seeing how fast a rider who doesn't win races that often was travelling compared to others.

I know something like £11,000 was saved by getting rid of match reports, but the mag has taken on a soulless state in which you probably find out more in reports about Polish matches than our own! There are surely wanna-be journalists out on the terraces that would send the Star copy of each match. Look how Natalie Quirk started as a 14 year-old at Belle Vue and where she is today.   

It seems like they have given up hope on British domestic speedway. But if you want to find out about a GP you have probably just watched on various devices, you are given seven or eight pages the following week.

We don't see every domestic match and therefore reports from each were good. With the quarter-page section of every match for the week (and, I know, there aren't that many nowadays), you are merely finding out the minutest of detail.    

GPs, I'm afraid, are now just an individual arm of the sport that I didn't start to follow this supposedly team game for. The riders in it are far removed from any one club that I find it difficult to imagine any British team fan bothering who wins the thing or not.

Maybe it's just me.

 

 

Edited July 12, 2019 by moxey63

[Midland Red]

PHILIP RISING is very quiet on the subject! 

[PHILIPRISING]

33 minutes ago, Richard Weston said:

Think it would take just a quick email to club press officers - along with the style for how they wanted the info presented. 

I HAVE read all of the above and respect everyone's opinion even if, as in this case, I don't agree with them. 

[JamesHarris]

I've not read the Speedway Star for a good 5 years now so I can't comment on it's current format. I found it to be boring, repetitive and not worth the £2.90 it was back then (sorry Philip Rising but that's just my honest view) What I can say about the development league from my time running it is that you have to rely on the guys that run those teams to feed you back the results, heat details and times etc so you could submit them to the star on time for it's next publication. At times it was difficult getting the results let alone heat details without chasing but that was just a minority and most of the team managers/organisers were spot on. Of cause I can't speak for now. There is a facebook page for the MDL (MSDL) so maybe that's where the majority of people look nowadays? 

[iris123]

Wasn't a lot of the problems dealt with in the previous thread?

It was a case of a cheaper Star or no Star at all. And in that it seemed to be cheaper on the report side

[Sings4Speedway]

14 minutes ago, kelvinlapworth said:

I've not read the Speedway Star for a good 5 years now so I can't comment on it's current format. I found it to be boring, repetitive and not worth the £2.90 it was back then (sorry Philip Rising but that's just my honest view) What I can say about the development league from my time running it is that you have to rely on the guys that run those teams to feed you back the results, heat details and times etc so you could submit them to the star on time for it's next publication. At times it was difficult getting the results let alone heat details without chasing but that was just a minority and most of the team managers/organisers were spot on. Of cause I can't speak for now. There is a facebook page for the MDL (MSDL) so maybe that's where the majority of people look nowadays? 

Probably right about the facebook page (as could be said about most teams) i just feel its a shame that the Ukrainian league or USA div 2 gets coverage and yet a UK based league that is designed for British rider development (however flawed or mistreated it may be) has been omitted completely. 

[moxey63]

42 minutes ago, Richard Weston said:

My view of the 'new' Star is that I have got used to it. The journalism is certainly a step up from much of what went before.

I have noticed the match reports segment are getting longer, more detailed and, I think, nicely crafted by David Rowe. Approve of that.

TBH, if I want to look at heat details, I go to speedwaygb and click to the referee's scorecard. 

You have got to watch out though, those who want to look at race times and heat details might just cancel their subs to the Star and wander across to the internet like your good self. I hear the world wide web also produces quite a bit of speedway news without waiting a week to find out. But you can't please everyone.

Edited July 12, 2019 by moxey63

[Guest]

6 hours ago, PHILIPRISING said:

I HAVE read all of the above and respect everyone's opinion even if, as in this case, I don't agree with them. 

Well said PHILIPRISING. 

[moxey63]

It is all about opinions. I admire Philip Rising for the job he's done over the years at the Star. He has more knowledge than I do how to run a successful mag. But I also believe the sport itself is in the position it is because promoters held the position of knowing what's best and disagreeing to what fans wanted.

Edited July 12, 2019 by moxey63

[Guest]

Much is being made of the need for race times to be carried in 'Speedway Star.' Has anyone considered that sometimes - maybe not often - that a given race time might - just might - not be accurate.

For instance a race time officially may be 72.4 seconds. But the meeting reporter could have a touch of 'fat fingers on his keyboard' and key in 73.4 seconds in his report. A reader who attended that meeting may notice this difference but not take the matter up on the assumption they have the time wrong. Thus the error presumably would last for speedway posterity.

And, offhand, wasn't there a period in the late 1950s when no race times were given at meetings?

[Trees]

1 hour ago, gustix said:

Much is being made of the need for race times to be carried in 'Speedway Star.' Has anyone considered that sometimes - maybe not often - that a given race time might - just might - not be accurate.

For instance a race time officially may be 72.4 seconds. But the meeting reporter could have a touch of 'fat fingers on his keyboard' and key in 73.4 seconds in his report. A reader who attended that meeting may notice this difference but not take the matter up on the assumption they have the time wrong. Thus the error presumably would last for speedway posterity.

And, offhand, wasn't there a period in the late 1950s when no race times were given at meetings?

I don't give a toss about race times these days because the way of recording them (to two decimal places!!!) is out of date, what we all want to know is was the race a great one .....

[Grand Central]

18 hours ago, Richard Weston said:

Yes, I see your point as far as heat details etc concerned. However, I now find the Star has interesting pieces on riders/clubs that I, for one, have not read elsewhere.

Perhaps the Star needs, a 'for the record' couple of pages at the back of the mag for those who like the detail and just keep developing the rest along the lines it has.

You have to admit some of the match reports from the past were tedious in the extreme, let alone so out of date.

If you think about, the Star should not try and compete on match reports, heat details, times etc -- they are on the internet for free. It should tell us stories which are not elsewhere, which I think it is to a large extent succeeding in doing.

I have had divergent views in recent times with Philip Rising but, speak as you find (as mother said), I think the Speedway Star's new course is pretty good.

They might consider a few tweaks round the edges (MDL etc, race times) but as a strategy - all good by me.

Good to see a print product trying to be different to the web.

 

 

 

I really do appreciate all that you say.  And I am glad that you are enjoying the Star in 2019. Hopefully there are plenty more like you to keep it going.

It must be me. More than anything. But I just dont like it and am not enjoying it at all this year. Main problem is probably the Lanning-ising of the articles now. Didnt like it in 1993 in the Mail and dont like it now.

But I'll move along and allow others to get their fix as I did for 30 + years.

Edited July 13, 2019 by Grand Central

[Andrew]

2 hours ago, gustix said:

Much is being made of the need for race times to be carried in 'Speedway Star.' Has anyone considered that sometimes - maybe not often - that a given race time might - just might - not be accurate.

For instance a race time officially may be 72.4 seconds. But the meeting reporter could have a touch of 'fat fingers on his keyboard' and key in 73.4 seconds in his report. A reader who attended that meeting may notice this difference but not take the matter up on the assumption they have the time wrong. Thus the error presumably would last for speedway posterity.

When I copied out  a score chart and heat details from a 1986 meeting at Belle Vue from the Speedway Star,the time given for heat two was printed as 62.3.Nobody ever went that fast around Hyde Road,so logically the time must have been 72.3.A honest mistake and no doubt there are many other misprints etc.It still happens nowadays,on Somerset's match report on their recent meeting at Sheffield,it mentions that Todd Kurtz won a race in 50.38! (actually 60.38)

[Bavarian]

Who cares about race times? I don't get it, what's so important about it? This is speedway racing and it is about race winners and place getter, but totally irrelevant what times are achieved. 

Here in Bavaria we ususally don't get told the race times at the meetings, but they usually do tell us the average speed achieved by the race winner, at least when he was really fast. Then at some tracks (Pocking for example) they do not even employ a time keeper at all. The F.I.M. does not make it mandatory to have a time keeper.