Garry1603

Thank you for posting my question to Martin and to him for the excellent, well thought out reply. It's nice to be able to get an honest answer from a man who was at the centre of our sport when it was at it's best. Pity we don't have more promoters like him now.

Yes, the 1978 team were an excellent blend of youth and experience -so tragic about Wilkie.

I agree that Jack Millen was extremely hard - his battles with Frank Auffret were something to behold. No love lost there at all!

Interesting read that Moxey. For various reasons I had fallen out of love with the sport from the early 90s, so although I knew that Belle Vue had won the league in 1993, I never realised the circumstances behind it. Still, the record books show that we won it! Thanks.

Very interesting interview with Kym Mauger, so good to see that he made a success of his life in a different field. Must be so hard to be a son of a legend if you try to go into the same sport.

From a personal point of view, I don't think expanding the coverage would stop anyone from buying the magazine as long as it stays true to it's 'Golden Era' of the 70s. There will always be new angles to take with riders previously interviewed. As far as the 90s goes It would certainly be interesting to hear about the riders / promoters views regarding the dawning of the GP era and emerging riders of the time (Crump, Rickardson, Loram, Adams etc)

I always felt that Chris Turner at Belle Vue in the late 70s was going to be the next 'Big Thing', but he never really moved up from being a decent second string.

BV have the potential to be play off contenders but there are several unknown quantities this season. The starting seven will probably not be the team come around June anyway (like most clubs) so there's no point speculating their final position yet.

I must admit that I fell out of love with the sport for most of the 90s so I'd welcome the chance to learn more about that era.

I love the magazine and it's a real delight to receive it very couple of months, but is it time to move the timeline from 70s/80s to 80s/90s? It would open up a lot more riders to be included (and let's be honest, just about every decent rider has been discussed / interviewed now). Might even tempt some 90s fans to buy it as well. Not meant as a criticism at all, just an opinion.

Just received my copy of Smyth's Speedway World and it's well worth getting.

Great post pathfinder. Personally I'd like to see some regionalisation to try to attract a few more away fans to local derbies. There can still be playoffs between the Northern and Southern champions to give the tv companies an end of season finale, but it might keep costs down a little and create more local rivalry if for example Belle Vue meet Sheffield four times over the league season. More technology needs to be integrated into the sport, which surely wouldn't be difficult to achieve, and riders encouraged to get out to speak with local journalists / sponsors / marketeers. It is very noticeable that the sport is still very white / male orientated too with only Antonio Lindback in the top category. In the current era surely a more ethnically diverse product could gain more support? Races for women should be encouraged too, perhaps starting as 'second half' rides after the team match but hopefully increasing as time goes by.

Sadly, long time Belle Vue Starting Marshall Peter Morrey has passed away. There was never any messing around at the starts when he was in charge! Belle Vue released the following press release today:- It is with great sadness that we have to report the death of long time Belle Vue Start Marshall Peter Morrey after a short illness. Peter was a member of the Belle Vue track staff from the early 50s where he worked for the infamous Johnnie Hoskins along with older brother Allan, who was Clerk of the Course for over 40 years. He was a tremendous servant to the club and was well respected by all the riders for his calm but firm approach to the many tricks they liked to pull to gain an advantage at the starting gate. Peter died peacefully at his home in Poynton in the early hours of Sunday morning (21st October) surrounded by his close family. Belle Vue Speedway wish to pass on their sincere condolences to the family at this very sad time

Don't see many of the current GP riders being able to be consistent enough to win over a season - but in a one off world final there were often around ten riders who 'could' put it together in one night. Most of the current GP riders can win a GP. but very few are professional enough to do what Tai / Greg do which is to be consistent and win a championship

Tai Woffinden is an exceptional rider who is certainly a worthy multiple world champion in the current era. Good luck to him and he has achieved more than he (probably) thought he would. I don't personally think that he is a genuine all time great, but that's not his problem - he's proved that he can be consistently good at the top level in current times. Would he be as dominant if he had six to ten genuine world title contenders (as opposed to a couple) like the Nielsens / Gundersens / Collins / Penhall had, I'm not so sure, but it's all a matter of opinion.