iris123
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Posts posted by iris123
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Tbh and maybe i missed it, but Wimbledon's end of season, usually the Laurels was pretty tame apart fom the meeting-wise. It was mainly just the meeting and then fireworks from memory. Hackey and Len Silver on the other hand was a 'good show' and well worth crossing the river for. Len was a real promoter and sadly Maido wasn't
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1 hour ago, Humphrey Appleby said:Well, it actually always was about sprints - namely a given number of very short races that form a meeting.
What it's never been about is endurance races (apart from occasional 16-lap gimmicks) or timed qualifying.
Just jumped to the conclusion that when they announced these new sprints, they would of course be something different. I never in my life thought it was just the same old 4 laps under a new name. I was thinking more of the one lap dash/flying lap that they used to have as a filler. Although quite by coincdence i think the only few i saw were at Stralsund and a certain Mr Morris was the fastest
Ivan Mauger breaking the 1km flying lap
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Good points
Risk losing a top rider for the sake of a gimick and a couple of points
And i much prefer your idea of giving a few riders the chance to qualify for the wildcard. Give the event and the fans something, rather than risk losing something
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12 hours ago, enotian said:excellent point
hopefully discovery will read it and abandon the idea.
my take on 'sprint races' in F1, Moto GP and WSB is that they're required because the full length races are dull and they need to fill 3 days content.
Only in speedway could the sprint race be the same distance as the normal race.
I didn't realise this until you posted, but even worse than i thought. Nothing revolutionary, as they try to state. 4 riders on track at the same time doing a sprint over 4 laps. Which if i am correct, and my memory not failing me, as it has been a few years since i attended a meeting now, is what used to be called in the old days a heat. The fastest rider wins, just like in the old heats.....
Trying to make a silk purse out of a pigs ear here
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At least that
But this touches upon a topic that was discussed on the darts thread
Speedway isn't about sprints. Never was. And this is the problem with many sports that the ruling body for whatever reason start introducing rulings fiddling with things that change the nature of the sport altogether. Will we get points for best style ? Best looking outfit ? Or point reduction for a certain number of failures to complete a race ?
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19 minutes ago, DutchGrasstrack said:Sounds like crap. And i think this is the wrong thread ?
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3 minutes ago, arnieg said:There were exceptions, Tilehurst was full of 'teenyboppers' for (ahem) Gary Glitter in 1973.
Sure around that time Alvin Stardust came to Plough Lane. I can't be sure if he boosted the crowd . I do remember shaking all over during some of the cold early Spring meetings though
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15 minutes ago, StevePark said:Which is why they were put on during the interval.
Wasn't the interval after the main meeting in the period that is generally being discussed ?
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2 hours ago, therefused said:do any of those things 'promote speedway'?
Not at all. And it is a bit of a misnomer to call these things 'attractions', as i doubt they attracted anyone. More often than not the stadium emptied out after the main meeting, or people were off to the bar/toilets
I do remember Wimbedon had an annual Kent grasstrack bunch of riders going round the track
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The Aces just got mentioned on German tv. An actor in an interview showed his Belle Vue badge and said a friend of his rides for the club. Guess it is Blödorn
Seems he also participates in Flat track. Got a nice Triumph in the studio with him
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On the other hand i remember going to a meeting in March/April that was badly affected by snow. And also an Ice Speedway meeting in Dresden that was badly affected by unseasonal warm weather making the ice soft
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14 minutes ago, iainb said:There are no "promoters" around like there used to be, I'm really not sure what the current crop are in the sport for. Glasgow are a forward looking promotion and they are the only club to put on test matches in recent years and they seemed to be roaring successes
I just recall my first test match of the new Millenium
A Denmark U21 v Sweden U21 at Esbjerg
I made the mistake of thinking it was a meeting between bitter rivals and turned up well before the start time. And to my utter surprise i was about the only preson, maybe a couple of others apart from riders family and track staff that was there
And Denmark included Madsen, Klindt and Hougaard among others, although they were just starting out on 500cc
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Just now, iainb said:Well an international test match series certainly wouldn't be samey... we haven't seen any on these shores for years!
No, and i think the reason mentioned every year when Bavarian starts one of these threads is......they weren't popular. That is why they stopped. If they made money, then you can be sure a promoter or two would have put something on.
But hope spring eternal. I do remember the Daily Mirror tournament. And England v USA etc at a fairly packed Plough Lane
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4 hours ago, iainb said:Seasons in the past would often start with a touring team from Sweden or somewhere...
Yes. But in those days most of the Swedish or Czech team were unknown or new to the UK public. Nowadays most teams are made up of riders that ride here anyway. An ever decreasing pool of riders.
Think Michanek said back in his day there were 3,4 or 5 times as many riders. Same in Denmark etc
It was something exotic. Something special. Now it is all too samey, with too many riding in different leagues
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4 hours ago, mikebv said:When the sport was "very popular" it wasn't domestic speedway that stimulated the interest..
It was the very regular national success at both individual and team level, being beamed into millions of homes several Saturdays a season...
Domestic speedway then lived off the back of that publicity and interest, and, with no social media, its "Mickey Mouse"' rules, and ad hoc last minute rider changes, which existed even then, didnt impact crowd levels the way they do today.
I am not so sure that is true.
I mean the sport boomed when the British League was formed in 1965.It was on the slide previously during the period Peter Craven was one of the top riders. It took until i think 1972 before England won the SWC. Although you could say the NZ and Aussie riders being called 'British' because of the strange way speedway worked then was success. But did the public sitting at home watching tv really buy into that.
I thought actually by the time the nation, or well , it was England and not the UK or Britain, were successful the crowds were again on the decline
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10 minutes ago, BL65 said:Those were the days. People did actually used to walk to the track! For a few years I used to walk to Blackbird Road, Leicester from Oadby (and back), an 11 mile round trip.
Quite strange, that i used to travel to work here in Germany along the Oadby and Wigston Straße !!! I think there might be a town twinning or something involved. And this post i the first time i have ever heard anyone mention Oadby in my life
But i also used to walk from Colliers Wood along Blackshaw Rd past St George's Hospital and the Cemetary to Wimbledon Stadium and back. Must be a few miles less than your jurney
But in my defence i also used to cycle to Hackney, Arena Essex and sometimes rye House and Eastbourne
Low carbon footprint in those days
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6 minutes ago, StevePark said:Let's be totally honest here, the signing of Celina Leibmann is a win/win for Workington. The publicity for the signing is going to be pretty big (within speedway circles, certainly and, maybe even in a broader sense if some of the National papers and TV pick up on it, which they could well do) and IF she is a success even better for Workington. IF she "flops", then another 4pointer (or even 2pointer) shouldn't be too difficult to find and in the grand scheme of things Workington haven't really lost out on anything.
I really do wish her and Workington all the best and hope they are a big success in 2024 and beyond.
Was a Danish girl signed to a Polish club over a decade back. That was certainly publicity, as I don't think she ever rode in a meeting
I agree this will bring a good bit of publicity to the club. Certainly it seems a big thing within the FIM. So within wider motorsports circles as well. Could be used further in national newspapers, rather like Lindbâck getting national coverage.
Like you, I hope it works out for all
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7 minutes ago, scoobydoo said:As an unattached rider expect shes adapted to just changing in a van but now shes apart of an official league team within the Uk she has to be entitled to the same facilities as her team mates , its something completely new within british speedway and im sure her requirements will be met , would be a bummer if there made to provide something that costs the clubs then she got dropped from the team.
As I said, she has been riding in leagues in Poland and Germany under contract as a team rider. I guess the solution is uncomplicated
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19 minutes ago, scoobydoo said:Does this signing mean all championship clubs will now need to provide separate changing and shower facilities for her .
Well she has been riding for years around Europe, in some I guess you can say anti woke countries like Poland for instance. She must have been able to cope so far. They must have come up with a solution . She has even rode in the UK....
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Does the court decision today against EUFA running a monopoly have any ramifications for speedway ?
Does it mean the BSPA or the FIM couldn't stop a rival set up in the UK etc
Or does the lack of tracks and money mean there is alittle point in setting any rival up ?
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On 12/16/2023 at 12:30 PM, norbold said:
Indeed. In 18th February 1928 The Register (Adelaide) had a piece on Sprouts Elder and mentioned
"They will return to Adelaide and Elder expects to contest here in a fortnight's time, and he will thus only miss the speedway races at Smithfield next Saturday. After seven years of speedway riding Elder is just now coming into his own."
For instance in the 18th February
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The Teterow grass track is still going strong with its hills and both left and right turns. Simon Wigg used to love the place
Your First World Final
in Years Gone By
Posted
Mine was the 1975 final. In fact only went to two. 75 and 85