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Thornaby48

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Everything posted by Thornaby48

  1. Thornaby48

    The continuing decline of Speedway

    I noticed as I was driving to my speed way at Redcar( sorry Middlesbrough) last night that there wasn't one sign pointing the way to the track ,even at the entrance there wasn't anything . A missed chance of low level advertising I think.
  2. Thornaby48

    The continuing decline of Speedway

    From my experience since 1968 ,the standard of racing is pretty much the same but it is a lot faster now and I think is resulting in a lot more crashes.
  3. Thornaby48

    The continuing decline of Speedway

    The current premier league has to weaken if they want to survive ,with only 7 teams now it cannot be a viable attraction to new and old supporters.
  4. Thornaby48

    The continuing decline of Speedway

    It's time for the annual reorganisation of our favourite sport. I think it's obvious that the two leagues now have to merge. Make it a 16 team premier league initially, with the rest in the national league. 16 teams makes it easy to run subsidiary comps like a league cup , a knockout cup and a fours comp. Start the league comp in the 3rd week of May with every team racing one home and one away each week and ending in September.Prior to this date ,and after the subsidiary comps can be raced. For next season lower the points limit until teams are settled and it can be amended in the following years. Limit the scourge of guests to only the injured no 1 rider, no one else and further limit it to a guest can only be used ,say ,6 times in the league season otherwise use a new system of r/r. Bring back the old 13 heat formula and start a second half regionalised reserve league to bring on New riders. To make races more exciting,which after all is what we pay our money for, handicap the heat leaders to give the lesser riders a chance to shine. Well thats my 10 pence worth. Forgot, speed way has to advertise, no business can survive if people don't know it exists. In following years the 2nd tier championship league can be revived Simplest.
  5. I cannot see it being postponed ,it would make a mockery of speed way if it was, not everybody is a football fan. I will be going , it will be nice to see red car win for a change
  6. Thornaby48

    Rye House 2018

    I returned to speed way 3 years ago after an absence of 14 years. I didn't know any of the riders names or wether they were top riders or not , I just enjoyed the racing. What did shock me was the number of guest riders, even at reserve and I hesitate to attend now if there is more than 1 guest riding. I want to watch my team not a random collection of riders. To my mind there are several reasons for speed ways decline, 1) the lack of publicity locally and nationally 2) the excessive use of guest riders. How can you associate yourself with a team that is not yours 3) I like r/r but in its current form is not fit for purpose.
  7. Thornaby48

    Redcar 2018

    Last night, against Peterborough i saw Dimitri berge ride for the first time. Apart from his first ride he was excellent and seems to like riding wide. Now, partner him with a rider who likes to ride tight and we have the ideal pairing for team riding which is not only a joy to watch but is also a potential 5-1, or at worst a 4-2. In heat 12 he was paired with Nathan greaves and for a while they were team riding until Dm sped off and we had a 4-2. I remember the crazy Jack Millen ( now, there was a showman who was a great rival of Frank auffret ) team riding with Dave gatenby at Sunderland to great effect. I am sure that speed way as a spectacle would benefit if more team riding took place rather than riders just taking off leaving their partner behind. Obviously it wouldn't always work but worth a try.
  8. Thornaby48

    Redcar v Peterborough Thursday

    It would be interesting to know what size crowd we need to break even.
  9. Thornaby48

    Redcar v Peterborough Thursday

    Good meeting tonight ,wrong result though but all credit to Peterborough. PalmToft was excellent and shame he didn't get his max. Very impressive for red car is Dimitri Bergen,likes to go wide and a shame that in heat 12 couldn't team ride with greaves for a much needed 5-1.
  10. Thornaby48

    The continuing decline of Speedway

    Perhaps to avoid this happening there should be a cut off point , say, two thirds of the way through the season when guests cannot be used
  11. With all due respect that is irrelevant and is only complicating a simple solution
  12. All this could have been avoided by having one group of 5 teams, one group of 6 teams with top 2 in each group going into semi finals ____simples.
  13. Thornaby48

    Redcar 2018

    I would much rather see one guest, rider replacement and where possible give the number 8 a ride ,so that I am watching my team rather than a championship league select.
  14. Thornaby48

    Redcar 2018

    Two guests for red car this week ? One supporter not going if correct
  15. Thornaby48

    reserves

    Years ago British riders tried to make their way into speed way via the second half reserve and rider of the night races, these have long gone now but it was interesting spotting future talent. Nowadays we don't even give them a chance at no 8 when rider replacement is used.
  16. Thornaby48

    How good was the racing at the Shay.?

    I visited the shay a few times and seem to remember Eric boothroyd ,the promoter doing a cartwheels at the starting gate
  17. Thornaby48

    Advertise in Asda

    One way of advertising speedway ,or any sport for free is via the sports results in local or national newspapers. Displaying the league tables shows people interested in sport that speedway exists in their area something they may not have been aware of. Our leagues are not large so wouldnt take up much space. I was talking to a fan at Redcar recently who lives in Redcar and he said people didn't know about the speedway. I don't know how one goes about publishing the results and league tables ,this should be the responsibility of the promoters to get it sorted.
  18. Thornaby48

    Handicap Racing

    I agree that gate positions are important but it wouldn't stop the high average riders on their faster bikes making the gate ahead of the lower ave riders and in many cases the race for position is over by the end of the second bend.
  19. Thornaby48

    Lack of fixtures

    It would have better to run the Championship Shield as two groups rather than three thus adding two more home meetings
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