GWC

People see a name from 5 years ago and compare them to today thinking they have the same ability which is clearly not. Dan Bewley is a case in point!

I’m surprised the 4 team events seem to have lost favour back in the day there was always these in the calendar at most tracks. Rayleigh Romford Canterbury and Eastbourne drew big crowds and lots of rivalry - all gone now of course. You get a full meeting of racing matching riders of similar abilities. Might they be used to reduce costs and rider availability becomes even more acute especially at the Premier league level.

I think what we have now is what the music industry did as good producers could make great stars. The tuners call the tune - if you pardon the pun and money is thrown at them to give a rider 1 more horse power than the other guy. The skills of a rider became less important as the lay downs arrived but I’m sure even if we had kept to 4 valves the same scenario would be happening but not costing so much maybe.

The formation of the second division in 1968 gave Taffy the opportunity to ride in team racing and gave pleasure to a lot of people who might not have seen him otherwise.

A professional division of 12 clubs with full time riders is probably where we need to be and secure the sport here. Having 3 different leagues isn’t doing the sport any good with clubs struggling and over extending themselves financially - Eastbourne - Newcastle - Birmingham and a few more. The BSPL to have total control of the clubs and the buck stops with them to make it pay and work. Limits on spending on equipment with engines restricted with limiters. The sport contracted before (1957 - 60) when faced with disappearing crowds and tracks closing down so it needs to restructure to survive.

I agree U.K. promoters are only going to look inwards at keeping the leagues going with a diminishing number of riders. If Poland are not careful they won’t have any other countries to compete against so I guess it’s in their interest to try and produce riders for others - a bit like we used to!

Me too !

Football Cricket Rugby Golf and more have academies of excellence where future stars are made. Leaving it to league experience isn’t going to work for the majority. Occasionally a gem like Bewley comes along but if we want to produce more then a set up like at Belle Vue needs to be established for riders to train and learn. Its the nearest track to high speed Polish tracks and that’s the benchmark we need to aim for. Sweden are in free fall and have very few young riders - similarly Denmark are not producing the top class rider any longer for some reason. Poland want to dominate but when the U.K. had its place at the top (70’s) we tried to bring other countries along with us - Poland being an example where their standard of rider at that time was similar to where we are now. We encouraged the USA and Danes to come to the U.K. and they profited greatly - do Poland now want to do the same?

I understand a lot of Swedish and Danish riders are ‘part time’.

I think it was partly due to travel for Len up from Kent. Sadly the stadium needed huge investment to bring it up to current safety standards and I think Len didn’t have that to give.

I can’t see any top foreign riders coming back as they will drain the fragile finances clubs have and probably bring about a quicker end to the sport.

Today’s high revving lay down engines don’t perform on well on sawdust apparently and become even more dangerous. Some riders have the skills to adjust but a lot would not.

In my view lay down engines have hastened the demise since their introduction.

I’m not sure what he actually said about the situation. ok if you want to stop rumours then say something about what the financial situation is and be honest with fans as sometimes people can help!

‘’The British Final used to be contested by several riders who you would feel had a chance of the World Championship itself, and when only five went through, many genuine World Class riders got knocked out..’’ I doubt the racing was any better and that’s what really counts.

But I think it goes back to what standard of league do you want and clearly the CL wants a league that is too strong for the ability of many riders that would have been available. This has been born out by some teams in the middle league employing overseas riders and outnumbering U.K. riders.

If you have followed speedway for years as I have then you will find that the 20% is pretty much the norm. Injury accounts for about 50% and then lack of good equipment or just lack of ability accounts for the rest. Speedway is an elite sport and we want good riders who can adapt to all conditions any many just can’t.

I’m sorry but that is why speedway is in the mess it is with promotions sacking riders and then bringing in another rider probably costing the club more money. Its one thing to have ‘competitive’ team in normal times but we have currently a season of make or break for many clubs.

It’s the Premier that’s weak not the Championship.

Looks like Newcastle expected to lose to Poole so didn’t put up a fight. Different against Plymouth though. Sort of highlights the have’s and have nots’ of speedway this season - Leicester Glasgow and Poole in the haves’ section clearly.

Yes and when compared to the video of Basso it shows how narrow some of our tracks are compared to the tracks abroad. This must inhibit rider development as you have to be quite precise in your manoeuvre as Richie showed. Thumbs up to Hume who along with Bowtell I watched as novices at Rye House and it’s great to see them keep at it and not lose heart. If U.K.speedway is to succeed in these difficult times then we need plenty more of these lads.

Same thing happened at Rye House as soon as Silver left the place fell apart and has now gone. The loss of John Cook must have impacted the place as well.

Was there a fear of rain as the track was way too dusty for enjoyment. The NDL tracks were far more heavier than that last night as I recall.

It’s probably what speedway needs - less speed and more overtaking. Great when it’s not someone on your team I guess! Maybe that’s why racing was better in the ’old days’ as riders were more inconsistent and machinery unreliable.

Is the Peterborough team any worse than Sheffield’s ? Of course it isn’t. It’s the system of the current averages being meaningless when you have a rider being able to take 7 rides. Totally different when you had teams built on strong heat leaders and your 3 or 4 point riders were a reserve (Elite league some years ago) We don't have that luxury any more. Teams in this league are more or less similar in ability now. Harris for instance hasn’t suddenly become a poor rider, but for the sake of a few decimal points he gets 7 rides.