I remember a few years back our team in the 2nd division was Doyle, Nick Morris and Josh Graz' so what's changed, have the riders costs gone way up and why? as a result are riders asking for more money? are the owners of some stadium's charging more rent? Is the financial situation so bad Somerset cannot reduce admission for OAP's?
If people are going to pay more for less something needs to be done to make an evening at speedway more than 15 minutes of racing. There is now plenty of speedway on TV, you have Swedish and Polish speedway with top stars. So why would you want to go and stand in the cold to watch it live. If it was football, or Darts or many other sports the answer would be, Well it not the same on TV you don't get the atmosphere. and there's the problem, speedway at many tracks has no atmosphere, love them or hate them air horns added to the excitement, the jingles like you have 2 minutes, or music specific to each rider or wipe out when you got a 5-1, or perhaps even one firework at the end of a meeting, or not doing interviews when the tractor grade obliterates the riders reply, or a club mascot for the kids, (used to think Wolverhampton's Mr Wolf was great). I remember the old Bristol flag man dressed up in his flashy suit, dancing around when he waved the flag. It's difficult if you don't have a grandstand as people are spread around, but there is no excuse not to play up to date mood and uplifting music to create excitement, or an announcer who sounds enthusiastic. Why in boxing do the competitors get such an over the top introductions, it's not to make the match boring is it. Speedway does nothing to attract new young customers, and the old boys, who make up a large percentage of the fans, will drift away because of it's no longer value for money and they will sit in front of the fire in the warm with a glass of wine and remember the old days when you could smell the methanol and the bikes were louder and your favourite rider ( for whom you had his coffee cup and rosette and badge) stayed for more than one season.