Vince

It's funny how the vast majority of Speedway fans say they hate seeing crashes and yet crashes and cock ups DVD's outsell all the others by a wide margin. I'm quite happy to put my hand up and say that I like watching crashes if nobody is seriously hurt and that includes my own and those of my kids! Good to see one from a different angle!

Good to see riders out and about making a living, shows that they aren't earning like some think so they don't have money to spare for a crisis. I always found it strange that some slaughtered Tim Stone for driving a Tesco van rather than take wages out of the Speedway.

The other thing that really surprised me when my lad started riding Speedway was that hardly anybody did their own servicing any more, not even the most basic stuff. In the NL at least most riders could easily buy a standard engine and maintain it for the season themselves with perhaps one full rebuild by a good specialist between seasons after all engines don't get much more simple. The problem only comes because the odd lad in the league has money to throw at the sport and turns up with better equipment than most PL riders, then the others have to try and compete with that. How much difference it actually makes to points scored is debatable but if somebody has better bikes than you then you'll always be convinced that's why he beat you! Jason Doyle and Anders Rowe per meeting costs will be very similar for sure. Semi- pro racing is so much more difficult in this 24/7 era than it was for previous generations, at least for those who aren't self employed.

I think some sort of engine cost reduction is desirable but not uprights or two valves really because of the need for everybodys engines to become obsolete overnight. The cost reduction of having 2 valves v 4 is minimal in my opinion and changing to uprights would achieve nothing more than making the rest of the bike obsolete as well. As I've said before just the rev limiter set at a low level would make most of the expensive parts unnecessary on it's own. It has to be remembered that unlike just about every other motorsport having a less powerful engine will often make it more difficult to ride and in many ways harder to set up. I like the idea of a minimum stroke as well but not sure if you can get that with short stroke cases, however it seems that over time less revs would mean riders going back to longer stroke engines anyway. Sticking to laydown chassis also means that if engine rules are different for divisions or leagues you could quickly fit a different engine into your existing equipment or possibly even just different rev limiters. As for the standard of racing being the most important thing it seems entirely logical but what just about every promoter will tell you is that home wins produce the best crowds.

But also even for spectator sports the post war years were a boom time despite it being financially difficult for business and life generally. It seems that when life gets difficult for people entertainment assumes a more important role.

I'm not sure, it has often been the case that sports do well in difficult financial times.

Might not be relevant to league Speedway but possibly to the GP's. The American Supercross series was half way through when lockdown was instigated there and being stadium events looked unlikely to be finalised. However they are now seriously discussing holding all the remaining events in a short space of time in one stadium with no spectators, changing the track between events. It is said they will only allow riders, a mechanic and officials in the stadium all of who will have their temperatures taken on arrival each day. None of the technicians and crew that normally surround these events. The idea is that via TV coverage, expected to be huge with no other events going on, they will meet the needs of sponsors rather than lose them for the following year. Lots still to be decided but it is certainly more than just an idea. Could it be that a limited Speedway GP series could follow a similar pattern? Possibly even a very limited PL knockout or something to keep BT happy.

I think the Isle of Wight is a unique case when it comes to crowd figures relying on holidaymakers for much of their crowd rather than 'home fans'. You really couldn't use their crowd numbers in comparison to others to judge popularity. However they are very clearly doing something right as far as the paying public on here are concerned and at the end of the day that is more than the vast majority of promoters seem to be doing. The 'old guard' need something to jolt them out of their 'stick with what hasn't sent us bankrupt' mindset, understandably in many ways but Barry and Martin have created a feel good factor on the Island without reinventing the wheel.

I would get Barry Bishop and Martin Widman in on the ground floor planning of any rethink of Speedway as the only promoters I have ever known get universal praise from the fans. The BSPA should be talking to them about how to deal with and attract new fans. In fact they should be listening and stop talking Tell people how dangerous the sport is, unlike most 'extreme' sports you don't even need to exaggerate. Take the opportunity to let young British MX and Trials riders of which there are thousands know that there could be a place for them in Speedway in the future. No asset system to work against them would be good. For a start I'd give any under 18 holding a motorcycle competition licence free admission and also give them pit tours, maybe have a different half a dozen of the over 16 each week working alongside the regular mechanics. You might pick up some apprentice rider/ mechanics that way. It seems inevitable that the standard of rider will be a bit lower so have a few laps practice before a meeting so they start the races with a good setup. Also put on some junior riders before the meeting as well. This should get rid of those first few heats when the track is difficult to race hard on. Bring in vulture races for the reserve home berth as well. Introduce rev limiters with a relatively low ceiling that would make expensive tuning an unnecessary waste of money, service intervals would be longer and parts life longer. I would like to see a minimum stroke introduced alongside that which would make engines more manageable for less skilled riders in difficult conditions. It should also make setting the bike up a little easier. It is really easy to police as well. A standard carb and clutch would also be easy to police and could save a good chunk of money. While control engines might be a good idea in theory I doubt that promotions would be keen on the initial outlay and undoubtedly some would skimp on the upkeep as well. Facilities don't need to be fancy but the food areas, bar and toilets need to be immaculately clean and kept that way, the new fans the sport needs won't put up with what the old timers do. If the facilities allow it have a noisy area for the younger adults where they can have loud music and a bit of a party.

Came across this video on youtube. Seems the fashion is knock engine builders/tuners these days but the good ones make a big investment in equipment and put in the hours for their money. Whether you should need tuned engines is a different argument. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuqwkM7_-P0

Nicely put, logical argument. Couldn't even be bothered to follow the comments past the first few pages. It's a forum where people give their opinions, you don't have to agree, if you had half a brain you could make a sensible argument. However you find it easier to just rock up, read a few pages and abuse people. Only embarrassing thing about this is being called names by a complete w&nker like yourself

I'm pretty sure he said to me about riding some second halves as a teenager, lad called Flynn Scott used his old leathers. Like my old leathers they were several sizes too small for 50 year old Dave Be surprised if it's not the same feller

Judging by the people emerging from our local co-op when I went past hot cross buns do so I'm sure you're safe with crumpets.

I'm 95% sure it is him, he did a bit of Speedway as a youngster too then didn't race for years but I know he did some Grasstrack later on before the flat track. He's definitely from Essex and I think he is a year younger than me and I'm 58.

I flat tracked with Dave (assume it's the same one) until he packed it in a couple of years ago, we were of similar ability and progressed through to the Pro's almost together so had some good races,think he is doing MX now. This is my first ever flat track race, I'd had one go on the bike beforehand you can see I am learning each lap. Dave Holman is the guy who won the race and went on to win the Restricted class Championship that year, it was close on the line, neither of us was sure who won at the time. So there I was thinking how I was Billy Big balls nearly winning against the fastest guy in the group, went out in the next race and broke my Tibia and Fibula and messed the ligaments up a fair bit. Back to earth with a bump - literally

Nothing changes for me work wise still doing 12/13 hour nights, horses still need looking after so that's most of my morning done. Converting a Norton Commando for flat track so that takes up the rest of my time and if I finish that I've the Ariel I used last year to convert to a green lane bike. If I run out of things that need doing this will have gone on for a very, very long time!

Be interesting to see what Josh could do with a season in a team with Jason Crump or Nicki Pedersen helping him out with his gating and set ups

Seems to me that schools closing are likely to put many of the more vulnerable in harms way as in so many cases Grandparents will be taking on the childcare. So in a classroom where one vulnerable teacher might be at risk from say 30 students we could have 20 or 30 grandparents at risk from the same children. Whatever measures you take to try and limit the spread will always have consequences and the very best you are gong to do is slow it down a bit. My opinion is that we should let the majority of the population carry on as normal and put all resources into testing and helping the most vulnerable. Those people could be receiving some very good care already if those who are very unlikely to suffer more than a dose of flu weren't so selfish. Speaking to somebody working on the NHS helpline last night and she was telling me how at one time they had 200 calls waiting and dropped 2000 calls. People waiting an hour to chat about their cold and a GP refusing to see a vomiting child supposedly because of coronavirus when it's not even a symptom. How many of those dropped calls were from people in genuine need of help who were put at risk by the same selfish morons that think toilet rolls are the answer? It is mass hysteria whipped up by the press and now politicians have been put under pressure to act solely because of the public concern created.

I thought this one of the better, more informative articles I have read on the subject. Not necessarily what we want to hear but seems like a realistic scenario.

From a government report into flu vaccines :Since 2003, 860 cases of avian influenza A(H5N1) have been reported including 454 deaths, giving an overall case fatality rate of 53%. Cases have been reported from 16 countries. From 01 January 2018 to 09 April 2019, no futher cases have been reported. Looking at the fatality rate you have to wonder why we are arguing about whether it is 1% or 3% for the current outbreak. Remember bird flu was just as big a thing in the press a few years back as coronavirus is now. https://vk.ovg.ox.ac.uk/vk/influenza-flu would seem to be a reputable source. Average of 600 people die annually in the UK from flu complications however there have been two recent winters where it has been well over 10,000. The latest bad winter of 2013 - 2014 had 11,000 deaths and it has to be remembered that this is against a background of the most vulnerable being vaccinated. The estimate of 250,000 to 500,000 deaths because of flu worldwide each year puts the current situation into some sort of perspective though in my opinion. I'm still not going to stay indoors, wear a mask or avoid people. If any good comes of this perhaps it will make all those minty buggers who leave the toilet without washing their hands change their ways!

No, us is plural so obviously I didn't mean me! I meant us as a country generally and if an outbreak happened in the far North I could equally mean us in the south. But I meant a significant risk to this country in reality not in press and internet scare stories.

I actually had to write risk assessments for Motocross tracks....that was a pretty silly thing to have to worry about too! It's possible to pick and choose the things you worry about. Until and unless this virus becomes a serious risk to a reasonable number of us I choose to worry about other things.

So far in this century, like a cat with 9 lives I've managed to survive Mad cow disease (not the 80's version, the new one from the middle of last year) Sars (another coronavirus) TB Ebola a Flu pandemic Possibly Brexit - although that might be premature. and probably more that I cant remember. All of which according to the press were likely to result in vast swathes of people dropping dead worldwide. (possible exception for Brexit but I thought it was funny) As a child of the 60's there are another 39 years before that where I was fortunate enough to survive all sorts of certain death such as lead paint, wrapping asbestos string around exhausts and working on asbestos brakes, walking through a workplace without a bright yellow vest on, lifting more than 25kg all on my own and so on. So no matter what the press and internet tell me I'm going to keep riding my luck and carry on just as I am without giving a toss

No chance, as long ago as the 70's the ACU tried to do this in MX with the AMCA and it was put through the courts where the ACU lost. We've seen it in Speedway where riders were told that practicing at a track would see their licence revoked, that didn't happen either. The BSPA/ SCB might make the threats but it'll never be enforced because they risk the whole house of cards collapsing if people start looking too closely at the way riders are employed.

Since BMR made the track changes at Rye there is a lot more dirt down to work with, certainly more than I remember at Arena. I have practiced there in the afternoon and seen a really good track prepared for the evening that has produced good racing. They have to keep putting water down during practice to avoid dust for the neighbours anyway which must help a lot.