Jump to content
British Speedway Forum

Recommended Posts

I think that what Chris Harris maybe needs to keep in mind is that Speedway Rider isn't a proper job, so if his income needs aren't being properly met in that way, he needs to find ways to supplement that income. Saying that he wasn't any good at school and implying this prohibits him from doing anything else is utter piffle, which I'm sure he knows. What is he expecting to do, carry on riding speedway for a living until he turns 67? 

  • Like 4

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So many different opinions with regards to saving our sport in the speedway star last week,  you have a riders point of view and an ex rider with different thoughts on cost, C Harris has been a great servant to British speedway but if he can’t make it pay without doubling up then it’s time to find other employment,  it seems riders wages have gone through the roof in recent years and they have two teams to race for in Britain , years a go the riders raced one league and had a job outside speedway, now you have kids leaving school wanting to be a professional speedway rider as there only employment.

The riders see the crowds on the terraces and they know the wages there on don’t match what comes through the turnstiles anymore but if they get offered silly money then who can blame them for taking it.  

If clubs are trying to find new supporters out there why do you need the top earners you can’t afford? New fans won’t know the difference between Doyle or a reserve in the top league or Cook and a reserve in the middle tier as long as the racing is exciting!

doubling up needs to be phased out over 3/5 years as we can’t run at present without it, but it has to go eventually 

The sport will never move forward as long as promoters pay wages they can’t afford but there all trying to put one over each other and get there man ,  so many good ideas from supporters but will the promoters listen or can they afford to try them?

Is the sport value for money? 

Is it a great evening out?

Two key points that need to be considered, cause if the answer to the two questions above is no, then no matter what changes are made next week it won’t make any difference .

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Speedway doubling will not be stopped immediately it will have to be phased out , is one comment made by Terry Russell or Alan Rossiter cant remeber.

Chris Harris said he rode virtually this season just to pay the bills and I,m sure Craig Cook said  a similar thing recently.

So reading most of the interviews in the SS this week, what is required :

Three Leagues

Fixed race nights (not sure which, Sweden want Thursdays)

Stronger top League. (increased points limit)

Reduced costs, Engines/Tyres/Power

Better planning (Three years five or longer)

Better presentation of meetings ( presenters/media/Kids events)

Better promotion of the sport at a national level.

Riders want more meetings, promoters cant afford to pay them!

 

:blink:

 

 

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yea look how many fans  getting rid of double points brought back lol .Remember when people said they knew people that  had left because of that one reason .another speedway  myth gone.

Edited by orion
  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
4 hours ago, MattK said:

One big league wouldn't deliver anywhere near the number of meetings that doubling-up currently does.

One league of 18 team would give 34 league matches + play off +koc or any other competition + any challenges , that’s around 50 meetings 25 home 25 away , season is only 26 weeks long , that pretty much 2 aWeek , how many do they need ? , I like bomber but his interview was selfish and at odds with what the sport needs to do to move forward 

  • Like 9

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
31 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

One league of 18 team would give 34 league matches + play off +koc or any other competition + any challenges , that’s around 50 meetings 25 home 25 away , season is only 26 weeks long , that pretty much 2 aWeek , how many do they need ? , I like bomber but his interview was selfish and at odds with what the sport needs to do to move forward 

A rider doubling-up this season would have a maximum of 70 league and cup fixtures. Under one big league it would be a maximum of 46 and with a significantly lower chance of making the play-offs (assuming top 4 from 18).

I make that a 35% reduction in meetings.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
40 minutes ago, MattK said:

A rider doubling-up this season would have a maximum of 70 league and cup fixtures. Under one big league it would be a maximum of 46 and with a significantly lower chance of making the play-offs (assuming top 4 from 18).

I make that a 35% reduction in meetings.

If a single league is on offer, a lot of teams will drop out due to anticipated rising costs, and we will be left with a single league but reduced in numbers.  :(

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, topaz325 said:

Speedway doubling will not be stopped immediately it will have to be phased out , is one comment made by Terry Russell or Alan Rossiter cant remeber.

Chris Harris said he rode virtually this season just to pay the bills and I,m sure Craig Cook said  a similar thing recently.

So reading most of the interviews in the SS this week, what is required :

Three Leagues

Fixed race nights (not sure which, Sweden want Thursdays)

Stronger top League. (increased points limit)

Reduced costs, Engines/Tyres/Power

Better planning (Three years five or longer)

Better presentation of meetings ( presenters/media/Kids events)

Better promotion of the sport at a national level.

Riders want more meetings, promoters cant afford to pay them!

 

:blink:

 

 

That pretty much sums everything up. ,     Forgetting about the last line of the list,  but the rest could be set in stone as the direction that this sport intends to go...   Nobody expects miracles and Rome wasn't built in a day,  but we need to start somewhere and there no time like the present...……    

I have  often asked the question about tyres,    and who is the main benefactor of the contract of supplying every match with 14 tyres .    Howe touch on it in his column and spoke of the added costs to promoters,   like he said  if riders were responsible they would more often than not use them for 2 meetings.     Why not have harder compound that last longer.  It appears to me the tyre supplier is holding all the aces, making a pretty penny out of a sport that can ill afford  such elaborate ideas...       Cant believe a sport, so desperate to make ends meet , would agree to such an expensive operation ….     The mine boggles......

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, MattK said:

A rider doubling-up this season would have a maximum of 70 league and cup fixtures. Under one big league it would be a maximum of 46 and with a significantly lower chance of making the play-offs (assuming top 4 from 18).

I make that a 35% reduction in meetings.

Unless riders accept the realty it’s going to be a 100% reduction, when I listen to today’s riders talk its like they think they have invented the wheel and before their career riders didn’t exsist, had a long chat with a former manager/mechanic of a world champion a few weeks ago and he was saying riders of today don’t realise how easy they have it , he said they did twice as many meetings as today’s riders and they had to drive all over Europe in a transit ,not flying like today with bikes and mechanics already there and then wash and prep the bikes and run a business too., before doubling up reared it’s ugly head riders would do around 50 british meetings a year and most had a job too , when I was at Berwick our no1 was a postman 

Edited by THE DEAN MACHINE
  • Like 8

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
13 minutes ago, dhr said:

I’ll tell you exactly what I was on if it is of such importance, it’s no secret, £60 per point, 15pence per mile and £1000 sign on fee which was split into two parts, now I don’t know exactly the amount of points I scored so let’s say 300 max and I’m being nice to myself  300 x 60=£18000, great wages, Now let’s take out the 10k it cost me to race so that’s 8k from April until mid August, not bad but not great wages BUT I have a job, I don’t expect speedway to pay 24/7 anymore, anyone who thinks that the majority of speedway riders are earning loads are deluded. Now please, don’t get me misconstrued I get that riders cannot demand what isn’t there but please, please don’t think riders are on mega bucks because it simply isn’t true

How many meetings did you do this season for Berwick ? Did you double up ? I totally agree your piece in the star about the bikes , it costs way more than is needed  

Edited by THE DEAN MACHINE
  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

8 Grand in 4 and a half months! 1800 quid a month...

How many meetings is that? 

We'll call a meeting a full days work and then add another day's work for meeting prep...

So many "days" work to get 8 grand?

On the bigger picture, I've not yet read this weeks Star cover to cover bit I've not yet picked up on anyone saying the tracks need to be fixed, apart from Andy Meredith wittering on about everybody getting decent shale - that won't help with the poor size/shape of most of them.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
2 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

How many meetings did you do this season for Berwick ? Did you double up ?

To be honest dean I have no idea how many or how many points I scored, that isn’t the point I am trying to make, and no I didn’t double up. The point I am trying to make here is that riders are not on what “some” people think there are.

now if we get to the real crux of the argument it’s different, riders cannot demand what isn’t there and this me,me, me attitude can’t be sustained. We need to work together, riders, promoters and fans to get this great sport back on track.

i am lucky I didn’t work from 1998-2014, now I never had any real money but bloody hell I had a good life, I gave up my job for 5 months knowing I could go back, not for the money but for the life but as soon as it was over I was back at work, it’s the only way I could race

  • Like 4

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
5 minutes ago, Stoke Potter said:

8 Grand in 4 and a half months! 1800 quid a month...

How many meetings is that? 

We'll call a meeting a full days work and then add another day's work for meeting prep...

So many "days" work to get 8 grand?

On the bigger picture, I've not yet read this weeks Star cover to cover bit I've not yet picked up on anyone saying the tracks need to be fixed, apart from Andy Meredith wittering on about everybody getting decent shale - that won't help with the poor size/shape of most of them.

Exactly, my point is I raced because I wanted to, because I wanted to prove something to myself, not because I was going to earn millions. I am better off not racing, but is life as good? Hell no. 

  • Like 4

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
7 minutes ago, Stoke Potter said:

8 Grand in 4 and a half months! 1800 quid a month...

How many meetings is that? 

We'll call a meeting a full days work and then add another day's work for meeting prep...

So many "days" work to get 8 grand?

On the bigger picture, I've not yet read this weeks Star cover to cover bit I've not yet picked up on anyone saying the tracks need to be fixed, apart from Andy Meredith wittering on about everybody getting decent shale - that won't help with the poor size/shape of most of them.

But most of the tracks have been the same shape for years and there have been no complaints (or not many) until recently. If the modern bikes cannot be properly controlled on British tracks then surely it is the bikes which are not fit for purpose, not the tracks. This trend towards slicker and slicker tracks just to accommodate the lay downs is ruining the sport.

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now

×

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. Privacy Policy