How Many Of Us Are Losing Interest.?

[barrybishop 896]

Rekindle your love and join virtual skid tomorrow at 7pm when for one night only the Heathens and the Bees return to track..... 15 race, 2 VTMs, 1 winner.... unknow result..

For one night only... Cradley Ride again....

Friends, fans and brethren please spread the word.

Our Virtual Skid project next airs tomorrow, Thursday 16 July and features the Heathens going wheel to wheel against the Coventry Bees from the 90’s. Please come and join us on Speedway Portals Youtube channel, like our FB Page Virtual Skid and Twitter @skidvirtual

Each Heat is sponsored (as are the team managers Garry Stead and Adam Roynon). The Speedway Riders Benevolent Fund will be the sponsorship recipients.

Additional donations are being taken. Don’t  forget the SRBF text line is now open for you to be able to donate £5 - its quick and easy and you will be supporting a great cause. 

Text SRBF to 70085 or SRBFNOINFO to 70085 if you do not want any marketing updates.

Here is the legal bit....

Text SRBF to 70085 to donate £5
Texts cost £5 plus one standard rate message and you’ll be opting in to hear more about our work and fundraising via telephone and  SMS. If you’d like to give £5 but do not wish to receive marketing communications, text SRBFNOINFO to 70085. 

If you haven’t tried Virtual Skid yet, search Speedway Portal and follow the links to one of the five meetings that have already been screened.

[Guest]

On 9/6/2017 at 7:06 AM, Sidney the robin said:

He hurts me to say this but after first going to speedway in 1968 my interest in the sport is dwindling.I still go to the Abbey every home meeting but at times it is hard after getting home from work to get motiavated to go.I sometimes get there see a good race and the excitement comes back my interest in the sport also went from about 1990 to 96 but i stuck with it.But this winter is a very important one for me i am seriously thinking about picking my meeting's next year as i have other thing's to do now i hope i get the bug back when March comes around again.On Monday i taped the Wolves v Swindon match yet have not even got around to watching that yet that tells you everything does anyone else feel the same as me.?

My follow up! Lost interest from circa 1963-72, then spasmodic following  until 1989. Back again in 2002 but last saw a live meeting in 2005. There's no attraction for me nowadays  in regard to TV coverage. For me the golden years were reading about the exploits from the 1930s, then from my first meeting in April 1946 and closely followed until circa 1960.

Edited September 17, 2020 by Guest

[cityrebel 2,960]

I'm not really losing interest, it's the lack of local meetings that are having the biggest impact. I've been to Lydd, Scunthorpe and King's Lynn and hopefully Ipswich next week. Driving over 200 miles for meetings don't do it for me.

[tigerowl 630]

The pandemic and lack of meetings has made me realise how much I have missed speedway and took it for granted. My enthusiasm has been fully rekindled.

[cityrebel 2,960]

14 minutes ago, tigerowl said:

The pandemic and lack of meetings has made me realise how much I have missed speedway and took it for granted. My enthusiasm has been fully rekindled.

The pandemic has had the opposite effect on me. Pre lockdown i used to attend on average 80 meetings per season. When this hell is over, i will definitely settle for less.

[Daniel Smith 5,645]

After barely missing a Stars home meeting & a few away for 20+ years I haven't missed it at all. 

Been living just outside Wolverhampton for the past 3 years & only been once when Lynn were there, 3 years ago.

I'm happy with just watching BT's Speedway coverage, a few Exstraliga & Elitserien meetings that's it.

British Speedway is dead to me

[marko 955]

Find it a bit weird how many people who frequent these forums and post more than average, still claim to no longer have any interest in speedway, why are they here? there must be an element they care about otherwise why waste your precious free time? unless they have an agenda of "i don't have speedway anymore so i hope it dies, so no one has it"

I amongst many others became lost to live speedway when they closed Arena Essex down (its not been bulldozed yet, so i still live in hope) and i have not been to a meeting since, but of course i watch on tv, and i still love the sport, its been part of my life for over 30 years since i was 15, its in the blood now, i am not blind to all the problems that exist and want to make us pull our hair out when the promoters make in our own eyes the wrong decisions but i still enjoy the racing for what it is, four riders, four laps, throwing a bike around that is basically a rocket on two wheels and making it look stupidly easy, in short, everything that appealed to me when i first started going, when i didn't know the riders, or the complicated rules or any of the other red tape that surrounds the sport.

[ruckerroo 792]

ive not had a days work since march 14, i dont really want to drive 3 hrs to plymouth or 4 to scunthorpe so i will have to wait til 2021 unless somewhere more local gets dispensation to race

[Daniel Smith 5,645]

1 hour ago, marko said:

Find it a bit weird how many people who frequent these forums and post more than average, still claim to no longer have any interest in speedway, why are they here? there must be an element they care about otherwise why waste your precious free time? unless they have an agenda of "i don't have speedway anymore so i hope it dies, so no one has it"

I amongst many others became lost to live speedway when they closed Arena Essex down (its not been bulldozed yet, so i still live in hope) and i have not been to a meeting since, but of course i watch on tv, and i still love the sport, its been part of my life for over 30 years since i was 15, its in the blood now, i am not blind to all the problems that exist and want to make us pull our hair out when the promoters make in our own eyes the wrong decisions but i still enjoy the racing for what it is, four riders, four laps, throwing a bike around that is basically a rocket on two wheels and making it look stupidly easy, in short, everything that appealed to me when i first started going, when i didn't know the riders, or the complicated rules or any of the other red tape that surrounds the sport.

Why's it weird, many of us are still big fans hence why we still appear on this forum but only watch "big time" Speedway, Exstraliga, Elitserien, SGP, SEC, World Cups etc.

We've just lost interest in the dross served in the UK. 

Only watch (quite often briefly as the meetings are so bad) UK Speedway on BT. 

 

[iris123 20,935]

19 minutes ago, Daniel Smith said:

Why's it weird, many of us are still big fans hence why we still appear on this forum but only watch "big time" Speedway, Exstraliga, Elitserien, SGP, SEC, World Cups etc.

We've just lost interest in the dross served in the UK. 

 

 

But then you don't fit in the weird category who claim to  " no longer have any interest in speedway ", do you ? You just admitted that.......

[E I Addio 15,843]

1 hour ago, marko said:

Find it a bit weird how many people who frequent these forums and post more than average, still claim to no longer have any interest in speedway, why are they here? there must be an element they care about otherwise why waste your precious free time? unless they have an agenda of "i don't have speedway anymore so i hope it dies, so no one has it"

I amongst many others became lost to live speedway when they closed Arena Essex down (its not been bulldozed yet, so i still live in hope) and i have not been to a meeting since, but of course i watch on tv, and i still love the sport, its been part of my life for over 30 years since i was 15, its in the blood now, i am not blind to all the problems that exist and want to make us pull our hair out when the promoters make in our own eyes the wrong decisions but i still enjoy the racing for what it is, four riders, four laps, throwing a bike around that is basically a rocket on two wheels and making it look stupidly easy, in short, everything that appealed to me when i first started going, when i didn't know the riders, or the complicated rules or any of the other red tape that surrounds the sport.

Pretty much my feelings. Despite what the critics say, the sport itself - by which I mean the actual racing- at its best is fantastic at its worst is utterly boring but the key ingredient is having a team to support. You come back after the boring meetings because it’s your team and it’s in your blood and you support them whatever. It’s never been any different, and by and large the good meetings outnumber the bad .

However , I feel I’ve had enough of the corruption and rule bending. Like you Marks, I havent  been to a meeting since Lakeside finished. I thought I would but don’t feel motivated. It’s not so much that Lakeside closed, its the bitterness I still feel about the way the MC and in particular Rob Godfrey went about it, first of all accepting Lakesides proposed fixtures into the fixture list then, halfway through the season pulling Lakesides and Workingtons fixtures out of the list, costing their respective promotions thousands of pounds, all because Godfrey suddenly realised they were ahead of him on league points when his teams No1 rider was injured. All of them, but Godfrey especially , are contemptible and for me the happy face of speedway will always wear a sinister and corrupt mask. They are simply to thick to realise that those fans that go won’t be back. At least I saw the sport in its best years.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, marko said:

Find it a bit weird how many people who frequent these forums and post more than average, still claim to no longer have any interest in speedway, why are they here? there must be an element they care about otherwise why waste your precious free time? unless they have an agenda of "i don't have speedway anymore so i hope it dies, so no one has it"

Interesting comment and needs thought. So far as I am concerned it's probably near the mark!

[chunky 6,086]

I've just lost interest in people who keep claiming they are losing interest...

[marko 955]

2 hours ago, Daniel Smith said:

Why's it weird, many of us are still big fans hence why we still appear on this forum but only watch "big time" Speedway, Exstraliga, Elitserien, SGP, SEC, World Cups etc.

We've just lost interest in the dross served in the UK. 

Only watch (quite often briefly as the meetings are so bad) UK Speedway on BT. 

 

But the thing is Daniel your not one of those people, as you say you still watch speedway on TV, doesn't matter if its not the UK, its still speedway.

[HenryW 1,178]

7 hours ago, E I Addio said:

Pretty much my feelings. Despite what the critics say, the sport itself - by which I mean the actual racing- at its best is fantastic at its worst is utterly boring but the key ingredient is having a team to support.

I completely agree with you in the first part of that statement.

I watch and enjoy many sports, but I can honestly say that none of them can get close to a great speedway meeting. When the sport is at its best there is nothing that can compare for me, and even some rubbish meetings can still beat what is offered by other sports.

However, for me it isn't all about a team. I still have a "local" team, and I love seeing them have success, but what keeps me going to see meetings is the joy of watching riders take incredible risks and controlling those beasts of bikes around a dirt oval...and that anticipation that this next race MIGHT be a classic. It doesn't matter if it's my local team, a random league meeting elsewhere in the UK or in another Country, or if it's a GP, SWC SoN, random Individual meeting, even a random 80cc meeting...It's all good for me. I love watching the sport...I just wish it was run and promoted a bit better.

I'm probably very much in a minority with the way I view the sport, though...