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TonyMac

So where did it all go wrong?

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8 minutes ago, Gemini said:

Mick Horton tried something similar at Coventry last season to encourage more families to attend. Senior Citizen's lower admission price was removed so they had to pay the full adult price and it was cheaper for students and children.  Result ~ they lost lots of OAP's who refused to pay another £2 because they had always paid less.  Sad isn't it? Who would be a promoter.

Didn't the entrance jump from £13 to £17  ?   :unsure:

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7 minutes ago, Dave Jones said:

Didn't the entrance jump from £13 to £17  ?   :unsure:

It certainly wasn't £4 extra. I seem to remember the entrance for adults was dropped by one pound from £18 to £17 and OAP's had paid £14 in 2015 so perhaps the difference was £3? No doubt someone with a better memory than me will give the correct figures.

Edited by Gemini

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1 minute ago, Gemini said:

It certainly wasn't £4 extra. I seem to remember the entrance for adults was dropped by one pound from £18 to £17 so perhaps the difference was £3? No doubt someone with a better memory than me will give the correct figures.

Same here it's all a distant memory now.:)

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In my case everything is. No idea why I've gone upstairs or out to the garage until I start from the beginning again. I must spend ages aimlessly walking about. :D

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3 minutes ago, Gemini said:

In my case everything is. No idea why I've gone upstairs or out to the garage until I start from the beginning again. I must spend ages aimlessly walking about. :D

Do what I do and write down what it is I'm want to do before starting out.:D

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8 hours ago, Gresham said:

How refreshing to see a Promoter take time to come on here and make comments.

I've watched IOW from afar and have always been impressed with their commitment and ethos.

It just goes to show, you can follow your team, have a great night out, feel part of the club and involved, without it being the 'top riders' in the sport.

I'd be happy to follow such a team and set up if it were local to me.

We've lost our focus and direction...it's not all about having the 'GP type' riders at your club and all the costs and problems that brings.

Great...he's got fast bikes and expensive gear...and can go 4 seconds faster around the track...big deal. I and many other fans would rather watch four riders of equal ability on lesser equipment, racing week in week out...and if they have other jobs like the rest of us to get by...so be it. Fantastic...we can relate.

They don't watch them thou do they .....people don't care about watching 4 riders of equal ability on lesser equipment it's  a complete myth ..the general public in any sport want to watch the best even if the crush the oppo ...your post some up's why speedway is going to die in the uk .

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Some great info from the Isle of Wight bloke....makes me want to go and check it out next season.  People like him deserve to be a success.

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12 minutes ago, orion said:

They don't watch them thou do they .....people don't care about watching 4 riders of equal ability on lesser equipment it's  a complete myth ..the general public in any sport want to watch the best even if the crush the oppo ...your post some up's why speedway is going to die in the uk .

Not so sure about that.....British touring cars is becoming very well supported again since they made the racing even more closer by boost control and success ballast.

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From what I can gather, there isn't a lot wrong with the racing. But when you attract new supporters to that first match, you have to make sure it's an experience they want to relive. Endless restarts and track work is the last thing you need to make it a memorable experience. Sometimes it can't be helped, but other times it just seems shoddy. It is part of speedway, putting up with endless waits until the next race on the programme. Youngsters, if that's what the sport needs to flourish, simply won't have the attention span to see a sport exists somewhere amongst the haze of track work and memories of the last race that was run ...some 15 minutes before.

Edited by moxey63
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47 minutes ago, orion said:

They don't watch them thou do they .....people don't care about watching 4 riders of equal ability on lesser equipment it's  a complete myth ..the general public in any sport want to watch the best even if the crush the oppo ...your post some up's why speedway is going to die in the uk .

99% of fans wouldn't even notice if every rider switched to factory standard sealed engines, the general public maybe do want to see the best riders but the equipment they use is totally irrelevant to fans,  it only matters to the riders , speedway is not like other motorsports ,its more like a team sport on motorbikes

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12 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

99% of fans wouldn't even notice if every rider switched to factory standard sealed engines, the general public maybe do want to see the best riders but the equipment they use is totally irrelevant to fans,  it only matters to the riders , speedway is not like other motorsports ,its more like a team sport on motorbikes

Good post.Speedway riders ride for themselves in a team sport. 

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1 hour ago, orion said:

They don't watch them thou do they .....people don't care about watching 4 riders of equal ability on lesser equipment it's  a complete myth ..the general public in any sport want to watch the best even if the crush the oppo ...your post some up's why speedway is going to die in the uk .

The people who do care...have stopped going to watch speedway. You have been left with a minority. More people have left, than watch. Speedway has slowly strangled itself.

You can only have one winner in a league...and generally like Swindon last season, when doing well, crowds go up.

You then have the majority of the rest of the league where crowds average out. Towards the bottom they may even go lower than average. True...all sports have 'glory hunters'...but in general people want to be entertained and enjoy good close racing.

As Deanmachine said in a previous post...most fans wouldn't know whether the riders were on standardised equipment or not.

And when you say 'best riders'...are they really? So much of todays riding is reliant on good and fast equipment. Stick many 'middle order riders on the best equipment and you would see some differences. Many riders are of similar ability...the quality of tuning and set up and equipment helps some rise to the top. Others don't have that opportunity.

Put every rider on standardised equipment, and you will find the 'best riders' right now, may not be what you think they are.

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34 minutes ago, Gresham said:

The people who do care...have stopped going to watch speedway. You have been left with a minority. More people have left, than watch. Speedway has slowly strangled itself.

You can only have one winner in a league...and generally like Swindon last season, when doing well, crowds go up.

You then have the majority of the rest of the league where crowds average out. Towards the bottom they may even go lower than average. True...all sports have 'glory hunters'...but in general people want to be entertained and enjoy good close racing.

As Deanmachine said in a previous post...most fans wouldn't know whether the riders were on standardised equipment or not.

And when you say 'best riders'...are they really? So much of todays riding is reliant on good and fast equipment. Stick many 'middle order riders on the best equipment and you would see some differences. Many riders are of similar ability...the quality of tuning and set up and equipment helps some rise to the top. Others don't have that opportunity.

Put every rider on standardised equipment, and you will find the 'best riders' right now, may not be what you think they are.

People in general want to  see the best and there team to win ..you could have the greatest meeting in the world but if your team get's beat each week fans will not come ...so great racing bringing in fans is a myth and down the list in what is in  important   ...the best riders get the best equipment as  they are  better in the first place hence they get the bigger clubs and better sponsors so they can buy the  equipment ...Why do think Woffy  got the chance to get better equipment than say Josh  Auty ? the reason he was better in the first place .

Lewis Hamilton Drives get to drive the fastest cars in F1 as they know he's the best driver ,Ryan Moore in Horse Racing rides the best horses as they reckon he's the best jockey. yet again it's not  by luck that they get to position  in the first place 

 

Edited by orion
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although fans want the best riders in their team , a team is a bond thing between the riders and fans and sometimes the unlikely not so good rider becomes a sort of legend at that club , we can all point back to a rider for our team that fits that bill, but we are not getting that anymore ,riders just don't seem to care and all they want is to ride and be paid for it and I think fans feel that , im still slightly involved the sport now and cross paths with various riders from time to time and when you get in conversation with them there is no team its just me me me,money money money ,I know when I rode for a team I became that team ,the town the club ,everything was important about the club and I loved the fans and I hoped they loved me back but I would always try to do my bit for them, I cant seem to relate to todays riders , I had a conversation with a rider back in march and he said he wanted this and wanted that and the team he signed for wouldn't give it to him and the deal he was on was not the best although I thought for the rider he is it wasn't a bad deal. he said he couldn't wait to get some guest bookings for his former club as they always pay well , all I kept thinking was what would his new fans think if they heard him saying that ? but maybe they feel what he is saying even if they didn't hear it and that's the missing bond from today , I don't like to call riders mercenary's but it feels like that's what they have become and I feel why should I spend my hard earned money to support my local team if the 7 that turn up that night don't care if I turn up or not as long as they get paid . I know some say I keep banging on about Poland but just look at whats going on over there this week ,teams are having big team ceremony's , all the riders in suits ,the mascots. the fans everyone connected to their clubs, the new kevlars the new merchandice  ,glitz and glamour and razzmatazz the works and it all spells the word TEAM, riders going into schools and visiting sick children in hospital ,we get a practice night a week before the season when you are lucky to get a hello from your so called hero's before he goes off to ride for his other team the next night

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3 hours ago, moxey63 said:

From what I can gather, there isn't a lot wrong with the racing. But when you attract new supporters to that first match, you have to make sure it's an experience they want to relive. Endless restarts and track work is the last thing you need to make it a memorable experience. Sometimes it can't be helped, but other times it just seems shoddy. It is part of speedway, putting up with endless waits until the next race on the programme. Youngsters, if that's what the sport needs to flourish, simply won't have the attention span to see a sport exists somewhere amongst the haze of track work and memories of the last race that was run ...some 15 minutes before.

I agree. I don't think the racing is any better or worse than it was years ago but the biggest thing that annoys me is all the hanging around watching tractors go round. I'm sure it's done so often so the meeting is longer and we think we've had our monies worth........ and don't get me started on sun breaks waiting for 45 minutes or more. :rolleyes:

Edited by Gemini
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