Hammer

While that is an amusing story, it's exactly that type of promotion that has led to Speedway becoming some scruffy amateur sideshow that the national media (and therefore everyone else) now ignores

A great thread, full of reasoned well written opinions, some with which I agree and some not. I am absolutely against doubling up, points limits and guests BUT............................. Speedway depends on racing being exciting and that means close. So that means the four riders in each race have to be of a similar ability. As a few have mentioned, other sports like football have sporting purity in that the teams can only build within their means and are not penalised for success however you could have two mismatched teams and possibly still get an exciting game, even a giant killing, whereas in Speedway, every single heat will be a procession with 20 yards between each rider. Therefore, a wider pool of riders needs to be available with a closer level of ability Conference league teams should never be run at tracks on their own because it is an inferior product and will only attract die-hards ( who I agree, are disappearing) and anyone new to the sport will be left with a bad impression. The team element is a very exciting and marketable idea if done well (Speedway promoters have never done it well) - Do team managers tell their riders to team ride and berate them if they get away from the tapes and clear off to leave their team mate at the back for a 3-3?? These days, so many people identify with football teams and even American football and basketball teams, the team identity is an attractive thing and should be seized upon by promotions

What was wrong with a fenceless track?

Arena-Essex is due north of the Lakeside shopping centre

From the Club official website "The Arena-Essex Raceway club are back in senior action at Championship level after securing promotion" Am I missing something, didn't Lakeside finish fourth?

One of the best team riders I've ever seen, a great captain

Went a couple of years ago to Brandon, depressing place, very empty, racing was awful, staff were unprofessional and unfriendly (typical speedway) I was even told that one of the snack bars didn't sell chips becasue "they were too popular" League Speedway in the UK will become a hobby (if that) because of the very low intellect, insular dimwits who have owned the clubs for the past 40 years

Isn't he saying that She is off to Oz soon so not to worry?...."Don't worry Aussie soon for you"

Team Speedway is a sideshow and always has been. It could be developed into a sport but that would need consensus at the top and it's never happened. It's one of a number of pseudo sports where rules are about increasing a very superficial entertainment value rather than introducing a pure sporting integrity. I am not expressing an opinion on this either way because in my opinion the most important improvement would be to improve the closeness of the racing and presentation of stadiums and meetings, so to a certain extent, I enjoy the sideshow aspect of it. When promotion and relegation is introduced, it is always a cosmetic exercise to entice serious sports fans in but cannot possibly work becasue Speedway does not have enough integrity.

I think this is a legitimate and interesting topic for discussion and so it would seem, quite a few others. Posting this remark is fantastically ironic!

Maybe it was just that meeting Dave?....why so angry, can't we discuss like adults?

Gosh, another nail in the coffin. This sort of thing is why I havent attended a Speedway meeting for approx 3yrs now. Team Speedway is an entertainment spectacle a bit like the wall of death - it isn't a sport and that's why it will continue to die off and leave individual Speedway as the sport. Even the World cup is a series of individual races!!!!!!!!!!!

Just wondering why the Star got Mildenhall's nick name wrong on a full back page glossy colour team photo last week. If I was a Fen Tigers fan I would be miffed, it's one of Speedway's great nickname's in my opinion

How does the illustrious Speedway Star make a 'mistake' over a famous nickname of a club that's existed for 40 years? Oh and if you are so apathetic toward my thread, possibly don't bother commenting

Presentation is good on the whole BUT......could we have a fanfare for the start of each heat? I think this would add to the gladitorial atmosphere of the GP. Something like William Tell as the tapes are about to rise (works well at Lakeside) Apart from the obligatory embarrassing d-list singing act, there was hardly anyhting other than the Speedway. Why not something interesting like trick riders etc etc?

You are both playing rather childish litle games and I'm obviously trying to communicate with plebians You are both wrong in your interpretation of the colloquialism 'has been' it means someone who is trying to recreate past glory but sadly falling short. It is NOT someone who retired with dignity from a fabulous Speedway career. Now scuttle off and make trouble on the Coventry forum instead and leave the adults alone.

What's your agenda here? I can't believe I'm taking the bait but "Marty is a has-been. There's no future for him" is a disrespectful and unpleasant thing to say. I believe this type of behaviour on internet forums is called 'trolling' that is, deliberately being provocative or deliberately misunderstanding an argumant with no real interest in the subject matter.

My girlfriend got me his autograph on saturday night in our hotel bar!

Ha ha "mind controlled sheep" this is straight out of teenage angry poetry Wow you are really impressive, a rebel, a lone wolf, really cool..........NOT I agree that it is an individual's choice to not stand for your own national anthem, but to not respect the anthem of another country is rather immature. I am agnostic but I repect the religion of others so that when I'm in a church I behave appropriately. This is how to behave when you're over the age of ten. Given that I can't see you and taking the standard of your other posts in to account, you my be under ten years old and if you are I apologise.

I agree there is too much reverance in this country for people like X factor winners, the England football team, minor celebrities etc etc. Everyone likes a good natured upstart but you are being rude and you of course know this.

You are either ignorant or are just being disingenuous and unpleasant. If someone has achieved success in the past it is rude and rather offensive to call them a 'has been' Ben Barker had the decency to apologise for saying it and the reason he did that was because it is an unpleasant thing to say. I'm not entirely sure what the point of your post is? We don't need a lesson in literal accuracy and grammar. Your argument could be applied to this statement: "SCB is as thick as s**t" given that you are a functioning human being and made of matter, it is a given that your body mass must render you as being at least as thick as a feacal stool. An average adult human being I would guess has a torso circumference of 34 inches. This is much thicker than "s**t" I'm sure you would agree that it is much better to be "as thick as s**t" than dangerously underweight? I think Mark Loram OWNS a car sales business which I'm assuming you know already. To refer to him as "a car sales man" is deliberately downgrading his current career. If you "love Mark Loram as much as the next man" give him the respect he deserves. It is my opinion that you are solely trying to upset people (Ben Barker, Shazzybird, Mark Loram, other forum users)

Hello all, just wanted to say how good this book is and well done to Norman Jacobs My girlfriend bought me it and I really enjoyed it. It's well written and some great facts/insight into a really fascinating Speedway team.

Gosh! I'm shocked! , I think Kelvin does a great job and seems to be a professional and nice guy, and of course a great Speedway rider. Chris Louis is also excellent Alun Rossiter is just a pantomime character always pretending to have 'team talks' or being all angry at ref's decisions

He isn't shouting he's typing a message in capital letters Maybe you should leave the house more often??? - a long and extensive experience of the internet isn't always healthy, it leads to people finding it unpleasant to read capital letters

People watch because they love Speedway and therefore we watch the only version of the sport available even if it includes childish 'it's a knockout' rules. Unfortunately Speedway is still run by Promoters who see it as a sideshow attraction that has to make money. Yes it does have to make money to survive but this surely doesn't have to affect it's purity as a sporting contest. And, if by 'creaming it' you mean cheering???????, I think you are assuming that other forum users are being argumentative and petty. You are wrong, I don't think the other posters would be 'creaming it' if England won by using 'it's a knockout' rules.