The Direction That Speedway Needs To Take In The U.k.

[The Know 221]

Suggest some ways of getting the kids interested then, instead of sponsoring the GPs why don't you sponsor some "Kids for Free" meetings at your local british speedway club, might do more good!! It wouldn't do your company's name any harm locally and probably nationally as us fans would be more likely to buy off ya if you're caring about OUR speedway

 

since 2001 i have spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on english riders and clubs doing all sorts of things and not just in speedway but motocross and other sports. speedway is not really any good as a commerial tool, you do it as you like it but the thanks you get is none really and the english are the worst either rider or promoter. take ya money and then take the piss.

 

we have come back to sgp this year and we have changed from hans to chris harris as he is english and a nice chap to sponsor.

 

i dont know the answer or even if there is one to the problem speedway has here. i have tried to do my bit for english speedway maybe others should try.

[Trees 2,814]

That's fair enough, I'll shut up.

[HenryW 1,178]

young people are not interested in speedway. times have changed and there interested in other things. i would love my children to want a go at speedway, motocross karting and would back them all the way but they prefer other sports. lets face it speedway is not that popular anymore and hasnt for a while.

Not sure if I am just living in a dream world, but I think that riding a speedway bike would still have some appeal to kids today if it was something that was relatively easy to get into and something that their mates were doing...

 

If there were training tracks easily accessible to kids, with a minimal expense to use a bike, I think that it would be a popular thing to do...Which kid doesn't like a bit of competitive sport, and how many kids would enjoy chucking a bike around a track if they had a chance?

 

Given the history of the sport in this country, you really have to ask why we don't have better training facilities for kids...Why do Australia, Denmark, Sweden, Poland and even Russia have better facilities than the UK?

[ladyluck 1]

Get rid of the BSPA, SCB and ACU in favour of the GSKZ and PZM.

[The Know 221]

Get rid of the BSPA, SCB and ACU in favour of the GSKZ and PZM.

 

i agree with you. the bspa is made up of promoters and nither are interested in investing in the future. its all about money. they will say we cant afford it, we dont own the tracks every excuse under the sun. why is a portion of the sky money not put aside or mr tans fee.

there are loads of ways to sort it but as i said there not interested.

 

and before anyone says they dont make money to do this show me a poor man in a cash industry

[Trees 2,814]

Get rid of the BSPA, SCB and ACU in favour of the GSKZ and PZM

It would be interesting to see what the PZM and GSKZ would do on the money that british clubs get in ...........

[ladyluck 1]

It would be interesting to see what the PZM and GSKZ would do on the money that british clubs get in ...........

 

A start would be making sure rules are followed.

Ever rung up the ACU and asked them about their role in the governance of speedway? I did. The answer I got was that they weren't sure, but that they thought they might've signed away their rights to the BSPA.

Edited May 7, 2011 by ladyluck

[THE DEAN MACHINE 4,740]

it really saddens me to see speedway going the way it is , speedway needs to be cheaper (all aspects of it ) .from a riders point of view the parts and tuning are way over priced , the price of jawa forks for example have gone up about 150% and yes steel has gone up but the steel used is cheap chinese crap ,and the price of jrm engines have gone up vastly but for no real reason except they want to put it up , buy a 90mm piston for any engine from a manufacturer and it will be less than a speedway one ,why? same size piston same amount of alloy , boots ,any sport £100 cheaper than speedway boots and they have less material. from a fans point of view speedway is overpriced , at elite level its not worth the £16+ for a meeting and the same for lower leagues ,the bspa seem totally oblivious to the lack of people attending matches now ,alex harkess said they are going to attack the problems head on ,ok the problems are speedway is going bust so what are they doing about it ,answer- NOTHING , next season the prices will go up again and crowds will get a bit less and the bspa will come up with some revolutionary rule thats going to save speedway but dosent do anything except add another page to an already useless rule book , speedway needs to take a huge step back before it can start to go forward it needs to re introduce itself and yes it will be painfull in the short term but unless something is done i really do fear for the sport in this country ,i wont name names or what part they play in the sport but the arrogance/attitude of some people in speedway is part of the problem , its a case of im doing alright out of speedway why change it

[The Know 221]

it really saddens me to see speedway going the way it is , speedway needs to be cheaper (all aspects of it ) .from a riders point of view the parts and tuning are way over priced , the price of jawa forks for example have gone up about 150% and yes steel has gone up but the steel used is cheap chinese crap ,and the price of jrm engines have gone up vastly but for no real reason except they want to put it up , buy a 90mm piston for any engine from a manufacturer and it will be less than a speedway one ,why? same size piston same amount of alloy , boots ,any sport £100 cheaper than speedway boots and they have less material. from a fans point of view speedway is overpriced , at elite level its not worth the £16+ for a meeting and the same for lower leagues ,the bspa seem totally oblivious to the lack of people attending matches now ,alex harkess said they are going to attack the problems head on ,ok the problems are speedway is going bust so what are they doing about it ,answer- NOTHING , next season the prices will go up again and crowds will get a bit less and the bspa will come up with some revolutionary rule thats going to save speedway but dosent do anything except add another page to an already useless rule book , speedway needs to take a huge step back before it can start to go forward it needs to re introduce itself and yes it will be painfull in the short term but unless something is done i really do fear for the sport in this country ,i wont name names or what part they play in the sport but the arrogance/attitude of some people in speedway is part of the problem , its a case of im doing alright out of speedway why change it

your points are spot on. also look around, how many teenagers do you see at domestic and sgp. hardly any, the future life blood of speedway is not there.

[Nobblytriers 201]

I think speedway needs to change how it appears to the general public. The majority of people still think that speedway is 'first out of the gate wins' and I think that they're right in alot of cases. I'm sure that everyone and his dog has an idea as to what makes a good passing track, but whatever the ingredients are, the promoters should put them together and generate good, close racing with plenty of passing. People pay money to be entertained and it's only the diehards that watch riders going around in circles in a line. I'd happily go and watch a rider on his own, just to watch the skill and courage on display, great to watch but then I'll watch anything with an engine!

 

I've spoken to numerous people, with regards to the return of Leicester speedway, and some of them didn't even know what speedway was! The sport has never had so much coverage, especially with Sky coming on board, and yet people are still unaware. So, what's keeping people away or making them leave? If it's the price to get in, the promoters should drop the price and promote the fact that they've done so. There's not much point in having 50% off at the gate if no one knows about it. If it's the product, change the product. Make it entertaining. Make it a good experience. Ask yourselves what makes you go back week after week or what made you go for a second time? For me, it was the whole package. The noise, the smell, the racing under floodlights (nothing better than speedway at night) and being in a crowd. Today, silencers, not alot of smell and small crowds. At Leicester, you can't even see the riders in the pits! (health and safety apparently) and that is something else that's part of the experience. Seeing the bikes being worked on and the riders close up is all part of it.

 

I think the rules only start to become important as you get into the sport but I do think that they should stop trying to jazz it up with double points and keep it simple. That's where the old Tacticle Substitute rule worked years ago and helped keep things close - well sometimes anyway! Six points down after four races instead of 10 points down now seems better to me.

 

So, promoters should promote their product, and find ways to make it viable, without putting any added costs onto the paying public whose experience should make them want to come back for more.

[Humphrey Appleby 13,955]

The sport has never had so much coverage, especially with Sky coming on board, and yet people are still unaware.

 

Errr, where does it have this coverage? Sky Sports still has a limited number of viewers compared to a mainstream channel, and I've hardly ever seen speedway shown in a pub when it's actually on.

 

The national print media virtually ignores speedway these days, and even the local press which used to give good coverage is in terminal decline.

Edited December 30, 2011 by Humphrey Appleby

[stratton 1,491]

Errr, where does it have this coverage? Sky Sports still has a limited number of viewers compared to a mainstream channel, and I've hardly ever seen speedway shown in a pub when it's actually on.

 

The national print media virtually ignores speedway these days, and even the local press which used to give good coverage is in terminal decline.

Great point,i think people took more notice when it was on Bbc and World of Sport ive been in pubs when the football had finished turned to speedway within 5 minutes turned over.Some people today think the gp series is great and it is all fine the sport is in a meltdown no structure no long term vision.Individuals doing well, i am all right jack you know when i think of that Pothawaite always comes to my mind.

[Nobblytriers 201]

Errr, where does it have this coverage? Sky Sports still has a limited number of viewers compared to a mainstream channel, and I've hardly ever seen speedway shown in a pub when it's actually on.

 

The national print media virtually ignores speedway these days, and even the local press which used to give good coverage is in terminal decline.

 

I can't recall it being on either ITV or BBC every week during the season, and with the GP's as well, I think that's far more coverage than the sport's ever had. With regards to the press, I don't think the national papers have ever been that interested anyway, but our local paper seems to contain regular articles during the season, and over winter when news comes up. By coincidence, I'm just refitting our bathroom and on lifting the floorboards I found a 1981 copy of our local paper. In the sports section there was an article about a forthcoming visit by Ipswich and it was written by our then promoter, Martin Rogers. Maybe it's the job of the promoter, or someone in house, to provide the local paper with some copy that makes people aware of what's going on?

Edited December 30, 2011 by nobblytriers

[dtc 0]

. Maybe it's the job of the promoter, or someone in house, to provide the local paper with some copy that makes people aware of what's going on?

 

This is probably the way forward. My local cricket club has to provide a match report with scores and photos unless it is a "big" match. The same could be done for the local tv, rerun videos could make their material avalable to ITV/BBC even if is only one camera angle even if itsjust heat 15 of the best 5-1. I'm sure ive seen this when down the inlaws for Lakeside.

[mickthemuppet 976]

I can't recall it being on either ITV or BBC every week during the season, and with the GP's as well, I think that's far more coverage than the sport's ever had. With regards to the press, I don't think the national papers have ever been that interested anyway, but our local paper seems to contain regular articles during the season, and over winter when news comes up. By coincidence, I'm just refitting our bathroom and on lifting the floorboards I found a 1981 copy of our local paper. In the sports section there was an article about a forthcoming visit by Ipswich and it was written by our then promoter, Martin Rogers. Maybe it's the job of the promoter, or someone in house, to provide the local paper with some copy that makes people aware of what's going on?

Sorry to disagree with you but nearly all the national papers were involved with Speedway. Did not the Sunday Despatch sponsor the World Championship at Wembley for many years. Then what about the Daily Express Spring Classic meetings at Wimbledon. Then there was the Daily Mirror sponsoring Test Matches.. Back in the 1940 's and early 50' and you were going on a thursday night to Wembley Speedway the Evening News would feature the evening's match. Then the EN was a broadsheet and the whole back page would be about that evenings meeting with heat detail ,pictures and profiles. During that time the national papers morning editions would have last night's results and point scorers and a write up of the match itself. You have to remember during that period Speedway was as popular as football