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Norfolk Bear

They Say Never Go Back.

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It is not so much part time riders that are required for this to work but for riders who accept that they are paid less for riding. As ever there is no transparency in speedway so we don't know what an average deal looks like But from what I have been told riders are overpaid now in terms of guarantees / vans / local sponsors ( bungs ) etc and should be paid on a results basis only. If that turns our to mean the loss of many that don't want to ride for the £s on offer, then that would be as valid a reason for the demise of the sport as the huge decrease in supporters looks like being. Either way the sport cannot go on as it is - or so we are led to believe?

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It is not so much part time riders that are required for this to work but for riders who accept that they are paid less for riding. As ever there is no transparency in speedway so we don't know what an average deal looks like But from what I have been told riders are overpaid now in terms of guarantees / vans / local sponsors ( bungs ) etc and should be paid on a results basis only. If that turns our to mean the loss of many that don't want to ride for the £s on offer, then that would be as valid a reason for the demise of the sport as the huge decrease in supporters looks like being. Either way the sport cannot go on as it is - or so we are led to believe?

WHAT you suggest is probably the exception rather than the rule. Points money is the key.

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And it's all very well saying riders should go part time, but as soon as a rider suffers a string of engine failures or misses a meeting due to work commitments, you can guarantee fans will be asking for him to be replaced.

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And it's all very well saying riders should go part time, but as soon as a rider suffers a string of engine failures or misses a meeting due to work commitments, you can guarantee fans will be asking for him to be replaced.

but isn't that the nature of the beast , when I was crap I was replaced , I didn't like it but as one door closed another opened but nobody has the god given right to be a speedway rider
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WHAT you suggest is probably the exception rather than the rule. Points money is the key.

Taboo subject is points money, Promotions will only tell you that they are losing money and a whip round is nessessary .Promoters are their own worst enemy trying to get "one up".Its all been said before though.Individuals with money are all that's keeping the sport alive at a number of clubs.

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Difficult balancing act with some who believe it is a £10 sport with the assumption that at pricing level more supporters would turn up but to achieve this either the pay scales are fixed (in reality reduced levels for some riders with start and points money only) to reflect the income through the turnstiles or you reduce the number of races in a league meeting.

 

If the club can arrange sponsors then they could pay bonuses when a rider scores over a certain number of points but the clubs have to cut their cloth accordingly.

 

If you have reduced heats to a meeting or six/five man teams again they need to be realistic about the revenue generation to cover the costs.

 

Today not many supporters are willing to compromise and would be unlikely to support a second half of NL standard riders which in itself would also mean lower fixed rates of pay but more racing. These lads have to start somewhere and it is a shame that many who watch today think only league racing is important and open meetings and well as other meetings such as local 4TT etc are not worth supporting. The reality is that you do not have enough teams in split leagues to provide weekly racing and it is either one big league with other types of meetings giving riders track time and probably weekly racing or you watch a watered down product and the slow demise of racing.

 

I doubt that the powers that be take any notice of what is said on this forum but when you watch them destroying each others business without a second thought for the overall good of the sport, is it any wonder speedway has fallen so far and by this I mean to include the fixture fiasco with weeks without a meeting and teams having three home meetings in seven days. The fixture compiler should be sacked for not understanding that it is easy get out of the habit of attending with just one or even two home meetings in one month and then expecting supporters to turn up to three in a week. If you want away supporters to attend more would probably go if they could plan in advance in terms of booking holidays etc. but the compiler makes even that simple task difficult for supporters

 

I really hope that someone somewhere can get through to the chumps at the BSPA and perhaps it might take a petition from supporters and then they might think a bit more about one of the streams of income which they gladly take every meeting without a second thought when it comes to entertainment or value for money they give back in return.

 

Probably not a straight forward solution to sorting out the issues but some are basic and are not rocket science.

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HAWK 127 wrote " I really hope that someone somewhere can get through to the chumps at the BSPA and perhaps it might take a petition from supporters and then they might think a bit more about one of the streams of income which they gladly take every meeting without a second thought when it comes to entertainment or value for money they give back in return."

 

​There is no doubt that almost every fan who still loves speedway ( even those who are more and more disillusioned like myself ) agree with this and hope that it can achieved but history tells us differently It also tells us that it is a wealthy man's vanity project in some cases, who keep some clubs alive but the sport cannot continue long, depending only on the largesse of half a dozen people. The Rye House three home meetings in a week says a lot about speedway insanity! I know that that new promotion is eager to get in the play offs but the fixture compiler must be an AI robot ( or would that do a better job?)

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I think we have more pressing issues than stopping the riders 'gardening' before heats! It's all part of their prep to gain advantage from the start.

 

15 heats are good, I'd do away with the TR but allow the managers to choose gate positions if 6 down.

 

They need to go to 2 nights a week racing in Premiership.

At least that would get me back to Speedway Trees. Good idea. :t:

 

That included some of the away side a lot of the time

True - but they would get home earlier. ;)

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At least that would get me back to Speedway Trees. Good idea. :t:

 

True - but they would get home earlier. ;)

There appears to be a consensus on the forum about the T/S ruling (I believe that it was first introduced in 1955?) but I personally don't recall in all my years of attending speedway (1972 - 2004) that there was ever really an issue...certainly not amongst the group of people that I used to stand with. The only grumble from what I remember was the introduction of a T/S in heat eight. It certainly wasn't viewed negatively in the way that Guest Riders, for example, were utilised...although that's a different story.

 

I guess that nowadays people are more analytical and look at things differently but all I can say that it used to spice up meetings in my opinion where one of the pluses was trying to out manoeuvre the Team Manager and it used to cause plenty of gossip on the terraces between races.

Edited by steve roberts
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There appears to be a consensus on the forum about the T/S ruling (I believe that it was first introduced in 1955?) but I personally don't recall in all my years of attending speedway (1972 - 2004) that there was ever really an issue...certainly not amongst the group of people that I used to stand with. The only grumble from what I remember was the introduction of a T/S in heat eight. It certainly wasn't viewed negatively in the way that Guest Riders, for example, were utilised...although that's a different story.

 

I guess that nowadays people are more analytical and look at things differently but all I can say that it used to spice up meetings in my opinion where one of the pluses was trying to out manoeuvre the Team Manager and it used to cause plenty of gossip on the terraces between races.

 

I don't think anyone disagrees with that at all.

 

It's only when certain folks start piping up how 'unfair' the current system is and advocate a return to the old one based on fairness that there is debate.

 

I much prefer the old system too.

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I don't think anyone disagrees with that at all.

 

It's only when certain folks start piping up how 'unfair' the current system is and advocate a return to the old one based on fairness that there is debate.

 

I much prefer the old system too.

Very glad to hear it BW. :t:

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Very glad to hear it BW. :t:

 

I'm not silly enough to boycott the sport on the basis of the current rule being unfair however.....

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I'm not silly enough to boycott the sport on the basis of the current rule being unfair however.....

No - that s true and how you feel about it.

 

It would be nice if you were to grant me the right to believe that what I am doing is right for me - and not silly.

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No - that s true and how you feel about it.

 

It would be nice if you were to grant me the right to believe that what I am doing is right for me - and not silly.

 

I grant you the right to do as you will, but reserve the right to say it's silly (it's actually way beyond silly) when your reasoning is completely wrong.

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Ref gardening, dead easy to limit it, all they need to do is whack the 2 minutes on and then the riders have 2 minutes to get around get prepared, once the 2 minutes is complete the green light comes on, if they are still fiddling around they will miss the start, so effectively they will be enforcing the 2 minute rule.

 

I think peoples frustrations are that it takes a while for the 2 minute warning to come on, then the riders pootle around to the gate and think they are then ok to dig up etc meaning the fans are hanging around for up to 10 minutes between a race.

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