scampispeedway

Johnnybegood, you will be pleased to know that at the end of the year I will be closing my account on here, for information I don't drink beer and stick with lager and also my life is my concern and not sad but I am always interested in what is happening with the sport. I am sorry to hear that Wolverhampton is closing at the end of the year since it was opened at the same time as Brough Park and the track layout was an exact copy of our track. Bob

Nickinho, someone who used to follow speedway 1964-2005 but no longer go because the entertainment spectacle I saw every passing year diminished to a point where I said to myself that is it and spent my money elsewhere. Bob

ianb, Kenny Carter rode for Newcastle in 1978 as reserve and took part in 41 matches with 1 full maximum 5 paid maximums and ended up with an average of 7.58, he also rode in 16 matches for the Halifax Dukes and ended up with an average of 5.40. On my way to see a Newcastle away meeting I called in to Kings Lynn Speedway in 1986 where he happened to be riding for the Bradford Team and it turned out to be his last match because the next thing I read about was that he had shot his wife dead and then killed himself. Bob

Anyone refusing to take a drugs test should be treated like a drink driving refusal to take provide a breath sample at the road side or taking a test at the police station and are therefore banned for the maximum time allowed when taking to court.

tyretrax, my condition seems to have got worse since my original planned trip and could have met THJ whilst sitting in my warm car but when he said he was not going to any meetings in the future, that made me decide not to bother making the trip over. No matter how good the set up is at Workington, it sadly will join the Redcar's new track that I've also not been to and get with other things. Bob

Neila, thanks for invite, unfortunately in later years because of my Type 2 Dibetes my legs are not strong enough for being on my feet for a long time and need a walking stick to get around also I cannot take being outside even on a warm day. Bob

Neila, I was planning a trip over to meet with THJ at the new Workington Track but later he did say that the situation had changed since I last sent him a PM and he would not be going to any meetings in the future. The reason's for this are a private matter between Workington and himself and I don't want to say anything about his reason's but I did say how sorry I was that things hadn't worked out and so I will not bother to visit the new Track as I did so want to meet up with THJ. Bob

ruffdiamond, in my time of watching the sport we closed in 1971 when the Stadium Manager at Brough Park, I think it was Dan McCormick would only allow a 1st division team to ride and so a new Team was formed and rode at the East Boldon Greyhound Stadium from 1971-1974. I went only once, because Newcastle Fans we were asked to support a Sunderland Team which had formly only run part season in 1964 and instead of paying on entrance 6 shillings and 6 pence as we had at Brough Park they had the cheek to charge 8 shillings and 6 pence for 2nd division Team. It was against the Rayleigh Rockets and not surprisingly Sunderland lost their opening meeting and I never went again until Newcastle re-opened under Ian Thomas in 1975. Bob

StevePark, you are missing the point of my posting, I have no objection to any one doing the jobs you have listed for the Promoter because he must have someone responsible before a meeting is allowed to run. What I objected too are the people who do not have a listed job but still expect to get in for nothing and will find ways of getting round that problem so that they can continue to watch free speedway. Bob

StevePark, I don't understand your logic in saying without Free-Bees meetings would not start, most of them do nothing in the running of any meeting. The people who got me annoyed waited until the opposition rider arrived in the stadium car park and jumped into Riders van and were taken through the pit gate without paying or are known to one of the second half rider's who are looking to ride after the main meeting so likewise they can get in for nothing.. Bob

Neila, that has been my biggest gripe about speedway when I was an active Supporter and the people who got in for nothing were not happy when I dared to say anything bad about many things. Do these Free-bees not realise not realise that not paying for admission is one of reasons why so many clubs are not around now, yes an attractive strong side helps is the main one but what will these people do when there is no speedway to watch. Bob

I posted a little earlier that I would like to pop over from Newcastle to have look at the new set up but unfortunately this will not happen now as I've been told that my car needs a part front end respray. This is because some nice driver bumped the offside lower part panel on my car and sprung the body work which I thumped back in shape but after a trip to my body repair garage because it also took off some outer paint work and this needs repainting to repair the obvious white streak on my main body colour which is dark blue. This will set me back nearly £350.00 and as I'm not claiming on my insurance, I have to stand the cost myself also I do have other things to pay for out of my works and state pension money that sadly means I have to drop my planned trip to Workington for now. Bob

Like Diamonds85, I am looking to pop over sometime when the weather is warmer, I have not been to Speedway for quite a while and found that as I'm now 75, I feel the cold very much and my legs are not great, so if I can find somewhere sit down using my folding camping stool and watch the racing, I'm willing to give it a go. Bob

JSwales, thanks for your reply but as I said earlier my days of going to Speedway have long since stopped as now even being outside for a few hours causes me to feel the cold very much. I was diagnosed Type 2 Diabetic back in 2002 and apart from the Metformin I take 2 times a day I take a tablet to keep my low Chloresterstol even lower and other another one to lower my Blood Pressure so that I will not have either a Stroke or a Heart Attack. As it is easy for me to see how Newcastle are doing on-line, I unfortunately will not spend any more money on the sport than Ihave already done over the years.

Steve, I waited a while to see if this meeting could take place and when I saw nothing posted, I wondered if it would be allowed and hence my query.. It wil be interesting to see what team is selected in Newcastle's name and what the result turns out to be, unfortunately I have my idea about both but will keep my comments to myself.

I'm not bothered if the meeting takes place or not as I stopped going to meetings a while ago due to my age (76), what I was querying was could Redcar run this meeting as Newcastle is now closed

Can I mention that the Tyne Tees Trophy was run over two legs and as Newcastle do not have a Track, Promoter or any Riders registered in their name who will pay anybody for riding under the Newcastle name for this meeting, I wonder if Redcar will be glad to pay the extra money hoping that a good crowd attends from Newcastle. I'm sure that the the BSPA will not sanction a team put out in the name of Newcastle since they stopped many teams from using a former clubs name from riding at another track, Cradley Heath springs to mind.

I went to the first meeting held at Castleford and Rod Hunter won the indiviual meeting and again when the Felton Flyers rode in the last meeting and also went to Quibell Park when Newcastle Diamonds were there in a League match.

HectorRacing, Seaton Burn never had a chance of getting of the ground as it is ear-marked for Business only not any Sport.

StevePark, my original reply did include your full name and I'm sorry about deleting your surname, I did make another mistake in calling Tim Stone Terry but I was thinking without checking about the former Rayleigh Rider who was riding when I started watching speedway in the 60's

Steve, is it not in the rules now after Terry Stone opened Newport Speedway on his own and things were left in a mess when died suddenly, to safe guard this happening again, there must now be at least one other promoter who holds a Promoters Iicence named as Joint Promoter. This ensures that if something happens to one of them, there is always a backup Promoter to carry on with general running of the club..

HectorRacing, as Rob Grant was the only one who was willing to continue to run Speedway the last time, I doubt with what has happened since we closed and everything has been cleared out from Brough Park that it would take someone with loads and I mean loads of money to get it started again. Even Rob Grant had to go into partnership with a former promoter to get started and so the chances of Newcastle Re-opening with a complete unknown to the SCB are very small.

Diamondboy, as Newcastle do not have a team riding in any league they cannot be admitted to the AGM. At the AGM clubs have to declare that they are running next year so that the new Fixture list, K.O. Cup matches can be sorted out.

szkocjasid, for information, a few years ago when Newcastle were strong, it was passed at the AGM of the Promoters that the Overall Team Rider Average could not exceed 50 pts, Ian Thomas didn't like this but it was passed by the majority. Ian found a way round this limit by using Riders who either had not ridden in our league for many years and were assessed at 7.5, or had been injured the previous season, after this the promoters lowered the limit to 45 and this has now been lowered many times as each year passes. The main reason was they could not afford or get the better riders but were quite happy to have a bumper crowd when Newcastle were the visitors and hoped that their team would win.

RuffDiamond, unfortunately in the days when we strong i.e. Ian Thomas's era, we were lucky to get a loyal rider like Tom Owen and we were proud to call ourselves Tom Owen's Black and White Army. Today Teams have make changes every year due to averages and so how can they expect fans to call it their team as some Riders do not belong to you and may ride against you in the future Sadly the days of watching a rider start out as a novice and then develop into a second string then heat leader before he has to leave either because his home club cannot fit him in or his home club want him, have long since gone..