New Club for 2024?

[Mimmo]

14 hours ago, Chadster said:

Peter Oakes running a piece in the Star saying that the 'new' track might be Brafield.

I've suggest Brafield for weeks now on my FB postings, and it's not to far from Coventry.

[Sully]

12 hours ago, RoundTheBoards said:

The proposed "new track" is Brafield, but I doubt it happening now.

With Wolves and Peterborough closing, Brafield was a fallback option for the BSPL to keep the Premiership at 6 teams.  But with Birmingham looking likely to move up and become the 6th team, Brafield won't be needed.

The idea that a new track “won’t be needed” is somewhat odd considering the current state of the sport in this country. 

[Deano]

2 hours ago, Sully said:

The idea that a new track “won’t be needed” is somewhat odd considering the current state of the sport in this country. 

Exactly! Keep the hundreds of potential new clubs on hold until they are needed lol

Edited October 20, 2023 by Deano

[heathen52]

I have wondered for some time with the goings on at Rye House would the Greyhound Stadium at Harlow be suitable ?, I know the owner of Harlow is a builder and put his own money in to the Stadium, some years ago maybe 8/10 I know he was interested in staging Speedway, If there are any potential investors out there then they could do worse than contact the Stadium owner (Dave Barclay) he is the kind of guy that will listen to any decent proposal, and with Rye House seemingly gone for good this could see the revival of Speedway in the area.

[noaksey]

2 hours ago, heathen52 said:

I have wondered for some time with the goings on at Rye House would the Greyhound Stadium at Harlow be suitable ?, I know the owner of Harlow is a builder and put his own money in to the Stadium, some years ago maybe 8/10 I know he was interested in staging Speedway, If there are any potential investors out there then they could do worse than contact the Stadium owner (Dave Barclay) he is the kind of guy that will listen to any decent proposal, and with Rye House seemingly gone for good this could see the revival of Speedway in the area.

It's certainly in the "right" area being the industrial bit by the Football ground. I think the track is very small though so not sure what size track you could get inside it, maybe something Plymouth sized?

[RoundTheBoards]

10 hours ago, Sully said:

The idea that a new track “won’t be needed” is somewhat odd considering the current state of the sport in this country. 

The point being that the Premiership would collapse if only 5 teams were going to take part.   A sixth team was needed.  

One option was to encourage a team to move up (Birmingham) but if this didn't happen the only other option was for the remaining 5 promoters to create a sixth team from somewhere.  (Northampton).

With it looking that Birmingham will be the sixth team, there's not much enthusiasm for anyone wanting to throw money away creating a new team just for the sake of it.

[Chris]

8 hours ago, heathen52 said:

I have wondered for some time with the goings on at Rye House would the Greyhound Stadium at Harlow be suitable ?, I know the owner of Harlow is a builder and put his own money in to the Stadium, some years ago maybe 8/10 I know he was interested in staging Speedway, If there are any potential investors out there then they could do worse than contact the Stadium owner (Dave Barclay) he is the kind of guy that will listen to any decent proposal, and with Rye House seemingly gone for good this could see the revival of Speedway in the area.

Steve Ribbons is still fighting to get speedway back at Rye. The new leaseholders(kart track owners) have had planning for football pitches refused & from what the planning officer said, is very unlikely to get planning permission in the future. Plus they have pissed the council off by breaking planning laws at the site already.

They must have spunked a hell of lot of money on the site for little return so far, so they either let the speedway back(which already has planning permission), appeal or put in a new application. The planning/decision took about 3 years for the football pitches, so they'll have to decide soon I would have thought. Do they bite the bullet & accept £40k a year from the speedway?

[25yearfan]

Where has it been said that Rye House is lost for good where speedways concerned?

 

Harlow greyhound stadium has been investigated as a potential speedway venue more than once I believe but while the more suitable and nearby Rye House remains in its current guise then that remains the best bet to get speedway back in that part of the world. The current Rye House lease holders shenanighans over the last few years have only helped to strengthen the argument that the venue is best suited as a speedway track!  

 

Rye House only closed because it was a well supported Saturday night track that was forced to run midweek cause of the set racenights which cut their crowd levels to a third of what they were on Saturdays. Rye House if ran properly in the 2nd tier racing on a Saturday night would in my opinion be sufficiently supported and the current lack of a track near the "big smoke" would make it even more appealing. Also the generous planning restrictions means that the speedway operation could be subsidised by practise sessions/ amateur meetings and private track hire in a similar way to how Scunthorpe is. - Indeed it could serve as a National training centre for the South much like it used to do in the decades before they joined the 2nd Division in 1974. 

 

Brafired would make a good 3rd tier venue, it probably would need to start at that level to test whether it would be able to attract viable crowd levels. - Another  good reason to retain the 3rd Division. But opening the venue in the top flight just to keep numbers up would be a very expensive foolhardy move I suspect cause the promotion would need crowds of 1000+ to make it viable in an area that hasn't staged speedway since the 1960's and not the far of Milton Keynes speedway struggled to get sustainable crowds during their 14 year existence in an era when the sport was better supported. Existing established tracks that have been operating for years struggle to get viable crowds.  

Edited October 23, 2023 by 25yearfan

[uk_martin]

On 9/19/2023 at 10:24 PM, PotteringAround said:

Phil Morris mentioned a new stadium "completely new to Speedway"

Allowing for some poetic license in that statement, what's the betting that some diplomatic schmoozing and compromising will be going on to persuade the Isle of White back into the fold?

[Bears4]

On 10/20/2023 at 8:24 PM, RoundTheBoards said:

The point being that the Premiership would collapse if only 5 teams were going to take part.   A sixth team was needed.  

One option was to encourage a team to move up (Birmingham) but if this didn't happen the only other option was for the remaining 5 promoters to create a sixth team from somewhere.  (Northampton).

With it looking that Birmingham will be the sixth team, there's not much enthusiasm for anyone wanting to throw money away creating a new team just for the sake of it.

With Birmingham's future now looking uncertain, maybe this new track will be needed in the prem, but is it too late for 2024?

Edited October 26, 2023 by Bears4

[Fortythirtyeight]

On 10/23/2023 at 9:21 PM, uk_martin said:

Allowing for some poetic license in that statement, what's the betting that some diplomatic schmoozing and compromising will be going on to persuade the Isle of White back into the fold?

None, I would have thought. IOW chose to leave, they appear to be very happy staging amateur stuff , might possibly be joined by a couple of other southern tracks doing a mini Nora ‘league’ racing so why look to rejoin a crumbling ‘professional ’ set up ? ( I do use the word ‘professional’ lightly ).

 

Edited October 26, 2023 by Fortythirtyeight

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

The stock car track at Northampton (brafield )has just had a new seated stand installed 

Edited October 27, 2023 by THE DEAN MACHINE

[False dawn]

3 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

The stock car track at Northampton (brafield )has just had a new seated stand installed 

Did they buy it from Peterborough?

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

4 minutes ago, False dawn said:

Did they buy it from Peterborough?

No 

[BacktrackBandit]

Could the new track be Duns?

[HertsRacer]

On 10/20/2023 at 8:19 AM, Mimmo said:

I've suggest Brafield for weeks now on my FB postings, and it's not to far from Coventry.

Saw a post on Instagram from someone from Incarace saying there were no plans for speedway at Brafield next year.

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

13 hours ago, HertsRacer said:

Saw a post on Instagram from someone from Incarace saying there were no plans for speedway at Brafield next year.

I can’t see it either but it’s really the only shale track that is ready to go other than Bradford and their future is unsure, non of the other venues banded about have a shale track that would be ready in 5 months 

[MattB]

I remain very sceptical about Bradford being viable for league racing in particular.  Their crowds were never great from my memory in the 90s (certainly when you compare it against the size of the stadium).  You couldn’t accuse the Hams of putting together cheap teams either - they were always very strong teams and were particularly strong in the KO cup.

[HertsRacer]

6 hours ago, MattB said:

I remain very sceptical about Bradford being viable for league racing in particular.  Their crowds were never great from my memory in the 90s (certainly when you compare it against the size of the stadium).  You couldn’t accuse the Hams of putting together cheap teams either - they were always very strong teams and were particularly strong in the KO cup.

I agree. In the 60 years I've followed the sport we've had the Panthers, Northern, Barons and Dukes, none of whom drew good crowds, even in the 70's boom years. Not sure why things would change now.

[Disasterpiece]

So no new track from this agm then? Just 4 more clubs gone?