HACKNEY HAWKS

[Sean 3]

The crowds at Waterden Road were "extremely disappointing", but it has to be said that the promotion could have been better. People living only a few miles from the track were unaware that speedway had returned.

 

 

Sadly thats seems to be how speedway is (not) promoted these days, the amount of people in Newport who say we had a speedwya team once or where is the stadium is unbelievable! They all do there shopping a 5 minute walk from the stadium as well! At least we do have some signs up now.

 

This might be stupid, infact it almost certainly is, what going into this new stadium when the olympics ahve finished? Sod all I would guess so why not use it for speedway? Ok, it'll never be full, half full, well not much passed the front row realistically BUT in a plush stadium people may just go an watch speedway there for £13. It coudl then be used for the GP, the 4TT the British Final, Riders Championships and anything else they can fit in with the avaliable dates if it all starts to work.

 

Obviously this requires the government allowing a promoter the rent the stadium on the cheap but surely very little money from a speedway promoter once a week is better than nothing form anyone?

 

very good point SCB, the stadium i think they are planning would be far too big for a league team, even elite league, but bigger meetings would maybe an option.

BUT

As i have said elsewhere on another thread, the possibilities of say the Hockey stadium that is planned would be ideal, or maybe one of the other arenas they plan as part of the whole complex.

[Guest SteveC]

Does anyone know or remember if the old well under the centre green is still there ?, if so, I wouldn't fancy building anything on that

 

Not putting any cats amongst the pigeons, but Cradley is built on disused mine shafts and Barretts are still keen.

 

Did the London Lions get much support? I never actually went for a league meeting. Seems strange really I'm pretty sure the support would be just as big as Wimbledon's potential.

 

The main problem with the London Lions was the lack of viewing facilities, unless you enjoy watching your Speedway behind glass. There was no banked terracing on any of the bends (this was later rectified on the 2nd bend after the British GP), also, the track was absolute rubbish - no reflection on the old track at Hackney.

[Paul 67]

The £30m that it cost to rebuild Hackney Stadium just shows what could happen if [which I very much doubt] London do get the nod for 2012. The old dome is the same, millions spent, then nothing after a year of opening. This part of London does need a massive amount of money invested in it. If you look around Stratford now it is on the up. With the Channel rail link in Stratford due to open in a few years time, this part of London could well become a success without the Olympics. The main grandstand is used during the day. I think its a Conference Centre with a bar area open to the public. I wrote several years ago to the local MP, he stated that the future of the Hackney stadium site was between Hackney Council and the owners. Hackney Council have always stated that Hackney Stadium was for sporting events and not for housing or industrial units. Hence it's in the mess it is in now, and not a supermarket. The old stadium had so much going for it. Not perhaps in decor, it may have well been falling down but the atmosphere was second to none. Must go and have a look at a Hackney video now, will probably shed a tear to.

If the Olympics do come to London does that mean my house will be part of the Olympic village? Plus the price of my house might rocket up, and that would be a result!

The site of Hackney Stadium, well they could build the biggest Wetherspoons public house in the world and that would be result!

[salty 2,194]

Steve C is absolutely right. The viewing at the new stadium was very poor and the track was not conducive to good racing, with very little banking compared to the old track.

What kept Hackney Stadium going for years were the lucrative BAGS(Bookmakers Afternoon Greyhound Service) contracts that they had. Hackney dogs were part of Saturday mornings in the bookies for years. When Brent Walker(the original owners) went bust the contracts were lost to tracks like Romford and Crayford and these contracts were not recovered when the new stadium was built. The new owners tried to attract the same sort of punters who have kept Walthamstow so popular, but I don't think they ever had the crowds to cover their investment.

I can remember when I first went to the new stadium there were loads of bar staff, but by the end of the London Lions season things were being run on a shoestring.

It is a crying shame the stadium is just sitting there not being used.

Best case scenario as far as Speedway is concerned is that it gets tarted up for an Olympic bid. Bid loses out to Paris(which is far better suited to running the Olympics than London) and somehow we get the Hawks back in a lovely stadium as the Government try to cut their/our losses.

Heres hoping.

[shazzybird 10]

Well put Salty

[salty 2,194]

Jblanch

Don't think you have to race at a track to be able to say whether it is a "good" track or not. The meetings I went to in 1996 were definitely not as good as meetings I went to in the 80's, when there was far more banking.

Regards

[Guest cheetahhawk]

Salty is right, the track for London Lions was too flat.It was much better when the banking was there in the old days.

Having said that I think the racing did improve a fair bit as the season went on in 1996. Pity nobody wanted to carry on running speedway there after that year. :-(

[Guest SteveC]

To be fair, the promotion at the London Stadium did listen to the concerns of the supporters and tried to resolve them.

The added some terracing and attempted to change the track (The brought in Malcolm Simmons ), unfortunately, the damage had already been done during the earlier months.

[salty 2,194]

SteveC

Don't know about you but I got the feeling that the promoters had made their mind up pretty early that they weren't going to be back for another year. As I remember the end of the season was a bit of a damp squib.

Regards

[KevH 257]

SteveC

Don't know about you but I got the feeling that the promoters had made their mind up pretty early that they weren't going to be back for another year. As I remember the end of the season was a bit of a damp squib.

Regards

 

I agree with you about that decision being taken very early Salty, but in fairness, although clearly suffering a considerable financial loss, they stuck with it and made no attempt to withdraw from the league as many teams have done in the past.

[shazzybird 10]

Hmmmm maybe it's my tablets not agreeing Sorry but I can't make head nor tail of your postings at the mo Jim :!:

[salty 2,194]

JBlanch

Just to clarify...my viewpoint is that of a spectator. As such I would view the quality of a track by the quality of the racing I see upon it. This obviously depends on many things shape, size, amount of shale etc,etc.

My point was that I didn't feel the re-vamped Hackney track didn't provide racing of the quality of the previous track. Having said that I seem to remember that the lack of banking was forced upon them by the confines of the new stands.

Can't remember the pie and mash stall either....

But I take your point that the riders and fans may have different (slightly)views on what is a "good" track.

Regards

[salty 2,194]

Accepted with grace.

[Paul 67]

Hackney Hawks will racing after the Vic Harding Memorial Trophy against Sittingbourne at Iwade on the 29th June. Its what we've all been waiting for.More details to follow.

[Paul 67]

Start time for the Vic Harding Trophy will be 2.30pm. Following this meeting the Sittingbourne v Hackney match will take place. Get those old Hackney boards from the cupboard, loft, draws etc. In case you can't find your proggy boards there will be a few for sale at the track!