International Speedway 2022

[GrasstrackRacingDrenthe]

Goodmorning,

I am new to this forum, so my apologies if this is not the right place to start this topic.                                                                I have been active since 2000 as an amateur grass track and speedway driver (since 2010 in the 500cc class) in the Netherlands with an occasional trip to Germany and France..                                 Unfortunately my speedway bike has not seen any gravel since 2015, due to a lack of races here in the Netherlands (when I started there were more than 10 races here divided over 4 cirquits. In 2022 there is unfortunately no longer an official meeting in the Netherlands)

This aroused my interest in how the sport is developing internationally. I am curious in how many countries speedway will still be actively operated in 2022. Because of my interest I follow the international speedway closely. I am also familiar with the competitions in Great Britain, Poland, Germany (where the sport is developing rapidly if you ask me), Argentina, the USA, Sweden, Denmark and France. 

But how is this in other countries? For example, what is left of speedway in countries like Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, New Zealand, Canada or South Africa. In my view, quite a few drivers came from here who are decent drivers internationally. (also in more recent times, Hauzinger, Gappmair, Zagar, Skorja, Pavlic, Wilson Dean, Kyle Legault and Byron Bekker for example).

And what will happen to Discovery's ambitious plan to develop the sport internationally? After the press conference I was not able to find anything about this and also on the new speedway GP site there is little useful information about this.

My apologies for this huge wall of text. However, I hope to learn more about international developments in the sport through this forum (you won't find everything by google haha^^)

[HenryW]

Welcome to the forum...I'll try and give my thoughts on the current situation for countries, and in the style of the internet someone will correct what I get wrong but probably wouldn't have posted anything if they didn't have someone to correct 

Austria - Pretty much nothing during the last couple of years due to covid. A small number of meetings were held each year in the years before covid.
Slovenia - Recently lost the Ljubljana track, but Krsko is still going strong and is currently receiving some major renovations to the track to try and improve racing.
Croatia - Have a GP this year but pretty much nothing else gets held there other than FIM events. They have a great stadium but no riders now.
New Zealand - Regular racing still going on but at a fairly low level.
Canada - Not heard anything much from there recently.
South Africa - Nothing. All tracks have now closed for bike racing as far as I am aware.

Some other countries with regular racing that you didn't mention:
Australia - Not as many tracks as there used to be but still a fairly solid number hosting relatively regular meetings and plenty riders coming out from there.
Czechia - Regular league racing and individual competitions across several tracks.
Russia - A small league still runs there with a reasonable number of riders.
Slovakia - At least one track...Not sure if they have more, but it hosts several meetings a year.
Italy - Lost their main track, Lonigo, a few years ago but it sounds like this might return. A few others tracks hold occasional meetings and there is a multi round national championship.
Ukraine - Down to one track recently, at Rivne, but they hold several meetings each year including FIM events most years. Other tracks still exist but are not currently in use.
Latvia - Two tracks, one with a team in the Polish lower leagues (Daugavpils)
Hungary - A few tracks still running meetings there and some bigger efforts seem to have started recently to get new riders involved.
Finland - A small league runs there with a few tracks holding meetings each year.
Norway - Similar to Finland.
Estonia - Had a couple of tracks running relatively recently and were involved in some competitions before covid. Not sure of the current state.
Romania - Similar to Estonia.

I've probably forgotten some Country or got some details wrong in there, but that's as I understand things just now.

As for the Discovery group plans. It sounds like you are in the same position as the rest of us...They made some announcements but don't seem to have followed that up with any details on what their plans are exactly!

[iris123]

Pretty comprehensive Henry

One not listed , and that maybe because nothing is happening is Bulgaria ? I thought maybe one or two riders appeared in Germany now and again. Along with Romanian . Usually at Meißen, who generally have an interesting line up. But honestly don’t know the current Bulgarian situation

[GrasstrackRacingDrenthe]

Thank you Henry! 

I had indeed not mentioned all the countries that I know of, who still actively organize speedway races. 

But you give me a good overview of the active speedway countries, unfortunately they are only getting fewer. 

For example, I myself was a spectator in Sankt Johann (Austria) a few years ago. they have a great stadium there (especially the location between the mountains gives a great atmosphere) it also attracted quite a number of visitors there too. In fact, it is an eternal shame if something like this disappears due to the loss of interest in the sport...            The same in Croatia indeed, in Gorican there is a speedway stadium that many English or Polish clubs can envy. But there is not a single local driver. Are there any efforts in these countries to revive the sport?

What I know about both countries is that the love for the country is great in these countries. (I have quite a few international contacts due to my work as a transport planner).                              I can therefore imagine that these beautiful stadiums are better filled with spectators when a local rider actually competes for the prizes.

Of course I can't go into all countries in 1 comment, but these happen to be 2 countries that I know have beautiful stadiums but unfortunately very little activity.

When it's all about money (which will definitely play a part). It might be something to not only want to develop the sport in your own country, but also to see how the sport develops internationally. How do you make the sport attractive to young riders, how do you make the sport more affordable to enroll. And how do you trigger beginners to continue with the sport.

I want to pick up on that a little bit. for a few years back Joel Sudniviks with his team (Sidecar 102) was a regular guest at our house. They were on a race tour in Europe from Estonia for a summer and used our workshop for their sidecars during this time. Joel then told me that in Estonia they had started organizing speedway races in Tabasalu again.

They had developed a speedway frame for the youth that you can use from 50cc to 150cc. This was also adjustable in height so that the motorcycle grows with the rider. in this way they managed to cut costs and made it so interesting to start with the sport.

And when I now look in to the international results, I see more and more young riders from Estonia who are certainly not doing without merit. 

and as for Discovery, I think they're missing the point a bit. After the press conference with a high Eurovision Song Contest content, I think we all hoped that they would reveal their ambitious plan. if only to start in 2022 to create a broader speedway sport from 2023.

Edited January 23, 2022 by GrasstrackRacingDrenthe

[Bavarian]

This is an interesting topic.

It is a shame that the F.I.M. has done next to nothing to help the sport to grow again in all those minor speedway nations throughout the years the F.I.M. cashed in millions of Dollars from BSI/IMG for the SGP rights. Now they get even more money from DISCOVERY/EUROSPORT, but I don't think any of that money will go fund help maintain and develope the sport internationally. There are so many countries where speedway racing is on the brink of extinction. In the past ten years the sport has died out in Canada, South Africa, Bulgaria, and will soon be gone in Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, Romania, Holland, Belgium, and even Italy. 

I wonder what this SGP4 concept of the Discovery Corporation is all about? Does anybody know? 

[f-s-p]

Feel free to forward this to the CCp

***

My suggestion is that with the money from Eurosport Events the FIM will subsidy the prize money by 50% for the next five years in these events: SGP qualis, semis and challenge (3+1 in total), U21 individual (3 qualis) and a U21 team competition.

 

According to the FTRA 2021 the total points money for the above meetings was 82175€ a year. Instead of the organising club paying full price money, the FIM/CCP would for five years pay 50% of it. This would cost 206787,5€ in total during that time.

 

What it would do, is lower the entry to organise these meetings, and subsequently increase the amount of potential organisers. Also it would give the clubs a better chance to make profit from organising these meetings. This could be called helping the grass roots speedway.

 

For riders the points money would stay the same, if not get better. Hopefully there would be more qualis since it would become more attractive to organise meetings, so more riders could get enter worlds qualifiers. The amount of clubs willing to host these meetings has been in steady decline for years. Tracks hosting top level league speedway don’t want them because no one comes to see them.

****

[iris123]

26 minutes ago, Bavarian said:

This is an interesting topic.

It is a shame that the F.I.M. has done next to nothing to help the sport to grow again in all those minor speedway nations throughout the years the F.I.M. cashed in millions of Dollars from BSI/IMG for the SGP rights. Now they get even more money from DISCOVERY/EUROSPORT, but I don't think any of that money will go fund help maintain and develope the sport internationally. There are so many countries where speedway racing is on the brink of extinction. In the past ten years the sport has died out in Canada, South Africa, Bulgaria, and will soon be gone in Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, Romania, Holland, Belgium, and even Italy. 

I wonder what this SGP4 concept of the Discovery Corporation is all about? Does anybody know? 

When did speedway in Bugaria end ?

I found this from Shumen in 2016, and it looks a decent crowd

 

Plus Milan Manev was competing last season

 

[HenryW]

24 minutes ago, iris123 said:

When did speedway in Bugaria end ?

I found this from Shumen in 2016, and it looks a decent crowd

 

Plus Milan Manev was competing last season

 

The last report of an officially organised meeting at Shumen that I have seen was the "Shumen Speedway Open" in May 2016, which is presumably where the video you linked above came from.

The reports said it had a crowd of over 5,000.

I don't know what happened to stop events being held there. I'd be interested to know.

In 2019 it was reported that former rider Georgi Petranov had taken over a stadium in Veliko Tarnovo that used to host speedway and planned to return it to the sport...but I haven't seen anything more about that project either.

[iris123]

33 minutes ago, HenryW said:

The last report of an officially organised meeting at Shumen that I have seen was the "Shumen Speedway Open" in May 2016, which is presumably where the video you linked above came from.

The reports said it had a crowd of over 5,000.

I don't know what happened to stop events being held there. I'd be interested to know.

In 2019 it was reported that former rider Georgi Petranov had taken over a stadium in Veliko Tarnovo that used to host speedway and planned to return it to the sport...but I haven't seen anything more about that project either.

Found a couple of Polish interviews with Manev, where he states there was a meeting in 2017 in Targovishte !! But he also mentions both tracks are in private hands and the owners a very wealthy and not really interested in speedway (sport). He hopes or hoped to start a training track....... but when he retires and he is now 42 or 43 it could well be the end

Edited January 23, 2022 by iris123

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Bavarian said:

In the past ten years the sport has died out in Canada, South Africa, Bulgaria, and will soon be gone in Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, Romania, Holland, Belgium, and even Italy. 

IMO looking back over the years at UK Speedway racing and the sport's ongoing decline within the next 10 years it will also join the list where speedway has died.

Edited January 23, 2022 by Guest

[iris123]

9 minutes ago, JohnHyam said:

IMO looking back over the years at UK Speedway racing and the sport's ongoing decline within the next 10 years it will also join the list where speedway has died.

IMO looking back at your posts, you have been predicting this for over 10 years and the sport still exists........ 

[Technik]

I don't believe the consistent closure of circuits will be the death of speedway as the tracks that remain will pull the riders in as required. I believe the bigger problem is the fuel, unless we start to explore the use of electric motors in speedway I think in the ten years as already mentioned the whole speedway world could be in trouble. I am aware they are testing in Denmark but this is the only progress I have heard of

[GrasstrackRacingDrenthe]

3 hours ago, f-s-p said:

Feel free to forward this to the CCp

***

My suggestion is that with the money from Eurosport Events the FIM will subsidy the prize money by 50% for the next five years in these events: SGP qualis, semis and challenge (3+1 in total), U21 individual (3 qualis) and a U21 team competition.

 

According to the FTRA 2021 the total points money for the above meetings was 82175€ a year. Instead of the organising club paying full price money, the FIM/CCP would for five years pay 50% of it. This would cost 206787,5€ in total during that time.

 

What it would do, is lower the entry to organise these meetings, and subsequently increase the amount of potential organisers. Also it would give the clubs a better chance to make profit from organising these meetings. This could be called helping the grass roots speedway.

 

For riders the points money would stay the same, if not get better. Hopefully there would be more qualis since it would become more attractive to organise meetings, so more riders could get enter worlds qualifiers. The amount of clubs willing to host these meetings has been in steady decline for years. Tracks hosting top level league speedway don’t want them because no one comes to see them.

****

I think this is an initiative to consider (if I were on the FIM track sports committee I would certainly consider this). When it becomes financially easier for clubs to organize big matches, there will certainly be more interest from countries where this is not possible at the moment.

I mean:  in the Netherlands a club is happy when 1500 people come to watch a Speedway race, with 1500 people you can never cover the costs of organising an World Championchip race (even a quali round).

With lower organizational costs, the tickets can also be made affordable, which also attracts more locals who are only curious.

A club will  have more profit after an big match, which makes it more interesting to organize. 

But this is not the point I want to make. In my view, it is more important to start developing the sport at the bottom. Everyone has something to say about organizing World Cup matches, but let's face it:

When the world championchip only consist of Poles, Swedes, Danes and a few lost Australians. Then the world championship will still be organized and the FIM will still be doing its thing: organizing world championships. 

I firmly believe that we need to look at the breadth of the sport. And that means learning from others, for example take the initiative in Estonia that I mentioned earlier. 

[GrasstrackRacingDrenthe]

3 hours ago, iris123 said:

Found a couple of Polish interviews with Manev, where he states there was a meeting in 2017 in Targovishte !! But he also mentions both tracks are in private hands and the owners a very wealthy and not really interested in speedway (sport). He hopes or hoped to start a training track....... but when he retires and he is now 42 or 43 it could well be the end

Hey Iris, 

I found a speedway website from Bulgaria: http://speedway-bg.com/

This site seems still active to me (last news item was posted on September 15, 2021, this was of course the end of the season).

Maybe you can get more info here via Google Translate (I don't know about you but my Bulgarian is not what it used to be haha) 

 

[WembleyLion]

A very interesting subject and one that I have monitored closely having been to all 31 countries that staged Speedway (including Ice) since I missed Switzerland’s last staged Ice meeting 2017. The last country I missed before then was Bulgaria in 2016.

I thoroughly enjoyed travelling the world to accomplish this and I could probably write a book about my experiences.

Sadly I saw pretty much the last Speedway in both Canada and South Africa. I also saw at first hand the decline of tracks in Europe with many countries just down to one operating track 

Lack of interested riders with few youngsters coming through was a common theme. Some countries were still very reliant on riders who had ‘retired’ some years earlier. Speaking to those riders left in Canada and South Africa I was told that getting parts and bikes were very difficult The machinery was often very old. Kyle Legault was riding a bike he rode in the UK when I saw him at Welland in Canada.

I did notice that Flattrack racing seemed very popular in most places outside of Europe. Also in Europe it seemed to be doing well in some countries such as Austria, Holland and Belgium.

Seeing the decline first hand was very sad but I’m glad I visited several of the countries when I did as I am not certain I would be able to see Speedway at some of those places again in future.

 

Edited January 23, 2022 by WembleyLion

[Guest]

45 minutes ago, WembleyLion said:

A very interesting subject and one that I have monitored closely having been to all 31 countries that staged Speedway (including Ice) since I missed Switzerland’s last staged Ice meeting 2017. The last country I missed before then was Bulgaria in 2016.

I thoroughly enjoyed travelling the world to accomplish this and I could probably write a book about my experiences.

Sadly I saw pretty much the last Speedway in both Canada and South Africa. I also saw at first hand the decline of tracks in Europe with many countries just down to one operating track 

Lack of interested riders with few youngsters coming through was a common theme. Some countries were still very reliant on riders who had ‘retired’ some years earlier. Speaking to those riders left in Canada and South Africa I was told that getting parts and bikes were very difficult The machinery was often very old. Kyle Legault was riding a bike he rode in the UK when I saw him at Welland in Canada.

I did notice that Flattrack racing seemed very popular in most places outside of Europe. Also in Europe it seemed to be doing well in some countries such as Austria, Holland and Belgium.

Seeing the decline first hand was very sad but I’m glad I visited several of the countries when I did as I am not certain I would be able to see Speedway at some of those places again in future.

 

A great and interesting comment WembleyLion. I envy the fact you have seen the sport in so many different countries. I first saw speedway at New Cross in 1946 and domestically over near 80 years have only seen speedway (cheating here a little on the domestic side) England and Scotland and outside the UK in Germany and Holland. Not much to boast about!

[erinil1]

Out of curiousity does anybody know what happened to the track in Portugal that existed atleast somewere in the 2000s. Remember seeing on some old polish result site about some meeting being arranged there. It was also mentioned in a shortlived speedway magazine in Sweden somewere around 2003-2005.

[racers and royals]

4 minutes ago, erinil1 said:

Out of curiousity does anybody know what happened to the track in Portugal that existed atleast somewere in the 2000s. Remember seeing on some old polish result site about some meeting being arranged there. It was also mentioned in a shortlived speedway magazine in Sweden somewere around 2003-2005.

 

[steve69]

Can anyone point me in the direction of where I may get the results for the Argentinian Speedway from their start of the season in November until now?

Have been watching the racing from Carhue & Bahia Blanco tracks

(via En Carrera on Youtube) but would like to keep a record of the riders scores.

[arnieg]

34 minutes ago, steve69 said:

Can anyone point me in the direction of where I may get the results for the Argentinian Speedway from their start of the season in November until now?

Have been watching the racing from Carhue & Bahia Blanco tracks

(via En Carrera on Youtube) but would like to keep a record of the riders scores.

You could try https://www.facebook.com/tianilda.speedway