Is British Speedway A Dying Sport? If So, Why? And What Can Be Done To Save It?

[obrien48 27]

Sigh...

[MattK 3,447]

Have you seen the film Project X? Make a speedway meeting like that.

[Mad Potter 2 109]

Have the promoters ever looked in the Oxford Dictionary? It says Promote :- Someone promotes something, they try to make it happen, increase, or become more popular, e.g. The need to promote Speedway.

[waiheke1 4,295]

Go back to 13 heat meetings and a proper second half, get rid of the play offs, get rid of the joker and golden double rules, a proper world championship with qualification, that should solve everything i expect

[Deano 1,318]

Surprise land mines hidden into the track at specific unknown locations. "Harris goes wide into the dirt.. *BOOM*.. ooowww that is unfortunate."

[SCB 0]

Go back to 13 heat meetings and a proper second half, get rid of the play offs, get rid of the joker and golden double rules, a proper world championship with qualification, that should solve everything i expect

You forgot black leathers, open face helmets, war crys, jumpers knitted by your nan (although the average speedway fans nan is dead these days :/), riders waving, riders having one bike and turning up at the track in an estate car.

[waiheke1 4,295]

and more characters. riders who liked a bit of biffo and more than the odd drink - under no circumstances however tsking drugs, which have no place in a famiy sport like speedway.

[The White Knight 9,039]

and more characters. riders who liked a bit of biffo and more than the odd drink - under no circumstances however tsking drugs, which have no place in a famiy sport like speedway.

You forgot black leathers, open face helmets, war crys, jumpers knitted by your nan (although the average speedway fans nan is dead these days :/), riders waving, riders having one bike and turning up at the track in an estate car.

Go back to 13 heat meetings and a proper second half, get rid of the play offs, get rid of the joker and golden double rules, a proper world championship with qualification, that should solve everything i expect

 

GET IN!!! :approve:

 

Sounds GREAT to me. :t:

[Harley Keith 3]

The title of this post has been discussed in various forms all the forty plus years I have had an interest in the sport, this is my profound view.........Typically from everything the sport is, blame the cost of the laydown motor - did'ent Douglas produce one of these in the early days??? I remember riding a JAP, the two valve JAWA emerged and cost was a concern then. In fact it turned out the JAWA was a lot more reliable than the JAP, which I still have and runs well to this day. Slick tracks, at least the majority are slick, same for everyone. I remember riding on tracks which would change every week, you did'ent now what to expect. Maybe that's what produced the interest !!!!

The old argument of cost, if you enter any motor sport it's a bottomless pit were finance is concerned, I now I have been there and it escalates out of all proportion. And of course you can go on and on with different arguments.

Another point is the seemingly the lack of British riders, again many points of view on this one........I can only say, back in the nineties I was involved in the Youth Grass Track scene. That produced a number of good riders that went on to be good Speedway and Grass Track riders, with a few reaching GP standard. At the time you always had people pass comments they could do better, we were doing this wrong and that wrong......... we stopped being envolved for various reasons, and where were these people that could do better, they did'ent come along and carry on were we left off did they..............so there you have it another avenue for youngsters to come through reduced. I rest my case on that one.

 

However, I did attend Bob Kilby's Memorial meeting at Swindon. Excellent rider line up and meeting presentation was really good. However, I can't help feeling that it played into the hands of first one out the gate won point of view........apart from two races which produced a good Speedway race. I payed £20 to see two actual races !!!!!!! In the meeting one race was stopped through unsatisfactory start, the rider concerned did'ent touch the tapes just got a flier of a start, now he has beat the referee, fair game as far as I'm concerned, what other sport penalises a competitor for being to good ?? Another race a rider excluded for falling and the race being stopped, the rider caused no infringement to other riders and was unhurt. Why penalise the rider for making an error of judgement, is'ent that what makes Speedway interesting ? And more importantly me and many others have payed to be entertained with four riders in a race.

Would I go again after watching that meeting ? Probrably not.

Can anything be done? In any motor sport technology progress will always be the for-front, in BSB this is controlled by various means to increase the entertainment value, may be there's an idea.

[Papryk Ash 4]

You forgot black leathers, open face helmets, war crys, jumpers knitted by your nan (although the average speedway fans nan is dead these days :/), riders waving, riders having one bike and turning up at the track in an estate car.

 

Unfortunately, the guy's lost the black leather:

[keef robin 551]

The title of this post has been discussed in various forms all the forty plus years I have had an interest in the sport, this is my profound view.........Typically from everything the sport is, blame the cost of the laydown motor - did'ent Douglas produce one of these in the early days??? I remember riding a JAP, the two valve JAWA emerged and cost was a concern then. In fact it turned out the JAWA was a lot more reliable than the JAP, which I still have and runs well to this day. Slick tracks, at least the majority are slick, same for everyone. I remember riding on tracks which would change every week, you did'ent now what to expect. Maybe that's what produced the interest !!!!

The old argument of cost, if you enter any motor sport it's a bottomless pit were finance is concerned, I now I have been there and it escalates out of all proportion. And of course you can go on and on with different arguments.

Another point is the seemingly the lack of British riders, again many points of view on this one........I can only say, back in the nineties I was involved in the Youth Grass Track scene. That produced a number of good riders that went on to be good Speedway and Grass Track riders, with a few reaching GP standard. At the time you always had people pass comments they could do better, we were doing this wrong and that wrong......... we stopped being envolved for various reasons, and where were these people that could do better, they did'ent come along and carry on were we left off did they..............so there you have it another avenue for youngsters to come through reduced. I rest my case on that one.

 

However, I did attend Bob Kilby's Memorial meeting at Swindon. Excellent rider line up and meeting presentation was really good. However, I can't help feeling that it played into the hands of first one out the gate won point of view........apart from two races which produced a good Speedway race. I payed £20 to see two actual races !!!!!!! In the meeting one race was stopped through unsatisfactory start, the rider concerned did'ent touch the tapes just got a flier of a start, now he has beat the referee, fair game as far as I'm concerned, what other sport penalises a competitor for being to good ?? Another race a rider excluded for falling and the race being stopped, the rider caused no infringement to other riders and was unhurt. Why penalise the rider for making an error of judgement, is'ent that what makes Speedway interesting ? And more importantly me and many others have payed to be entertained with four riders in a race.

Would I go again after watching that meeting ? Probrably not.

Can anything be done? In any motor sport technology progress will always be the for-front, in BSB this is controlled by various means to increase the entertainment value, may be there's an idea.

 

Yep with Blunsdon being such a big track with long straights its normally gate and go. They've tried spiking it up to give it a few more lines on the turns. The IOW, being the biggest, is too much gate and go.

[Trees 2,814]

NO IT'S NOT, IT'S ALIVE AND KICKING, NOW TELL YOUR MATES!!!!! Positivity breeds positivity

[Pirate Nick 1,801]

Surprise land mines hidden into the track at specific unknown locations. "Harris goes wide into the dirt.. *BOOM*.. ooowww that is unfortunate."

 

Not forgetting power ups at various points and banana skin dispensers on the rear mudguard 😀

[george.m 3,063]

Surprise land mines hidden into the track at specific unknown locations. "Harris goes wide into the dirt.. *BOOM*.. ooowww that is unfortunate."

 

Allow supporters the use of paint guns!

[pandorum 1,259]

Unfortunately, the guy's lost the black leather:

 

 

Thats a great idea fat bloke racing in the second half. It would probably be hilarious.

We had a lot of fat bloke racing in the 70s but they were usually the guys in the team.

The answer sadly is really Yes! British Speedway IS A Dying Sport.

The only thing that can save it is huge investment or a fairy godmother but there is little chance of that happening.

The fairy godmother is the more realistic which shows how bad a state the sport is in.

Once SKY bail out a lot of teams are going to have to cut their cloth drastically and we may lose tracks.

The sad part is speedway lives in a different era to the majority of the population here in the UK.

Edited March 30, 2013 by pandorum