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2 minutes ago, Rayleigh said:

Still hope Lakeside can ride next season somewhere.

If Jon Cook is off to Eastbourne and the "backer" Stuart Douglas has withdrawn from speedway why was Jon Cook so bullish in the Speedway Star about a deal has been made for Lakeside to run at Rye House next season? Is it that another promotor is lined up for Lakeside? as from many accounts the BSPA kicked out BMR not BMR going bust (so its a stretch to think they will allow BMR back as promotors).

Still cant fathom, if Rye House were behind on payments to riders (still not proven how much) many other clubs have admitted the same yet were never thrown out. It seems punitive given the state of the sport and many tracks.

I assume if other tracks owe riders money they heed  the BSPA warnings and do something about it- Rye House i believe didn`t and therefore the SCB/BSPA had to take drastic action.

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1 hour ago, cityrebel said:

Why would developers buy a site that was totally unsuitable to be built on. All very strange. Perhaps they are playing the long game.

Which is exactly what happened to the Plough Lane, Wimbledon track - the new development going up there is being built on a flood plane. There was supposed to be an order on the land saying it had to remain a sports facility only! 

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17 minutes ago, cityrebel said:

I think BMR upset the old boys club. When you do that, there is only one winner.

Spot on

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1 hour ago, cityrebel said:

Why would developers buy a site that was totally unsuitable to be built on. All very strange. Perhaps they are playing the long game.

The approximate scenario that I have gathered from various sources including people who rent the shops on the site is this :

1. The stock car crowds have been falling for years and it's has taken a handfull of big meetings per year to balance the books.There are 5  members of the Woodroffe family that inherited the site from its founder , the late Chick Woodfoffe, so profits all have to be cut 5 ways. None of them are particularly stock car enthusiasts and the place is just a cash cow to them . For several years they have been apparently screwing the Speedwáy club and the shops foe every penny they could get before bailing out. One of the shop tennents told me the rent the has to pay. I forget the actual figure but it is absolutely eye watering. The rent for the Speedwáy track is said to be the highest of ant Speedwáy track in the country, despite the poor facilities. basically it seems the owners have just been trying to fill their pension funds for sometime and sell the stadium before things start falling down.

2. Representations by the Hammers have been going on by the Hammers promotion to Thurrock Council and the local MP for several years now. A mere Speedwáy club it may be but it still draws the biggest crowds in Thurrock. There was talk at one time of the name being changed to Thurrock Hammers at the councils request . So planning permission has been given for developing the site subject to the developers allowing some facility for "Motor Sport".

3. Apparently there was  buyer  for the site when the club nearly closed in 2016, but he pulled out.

4.As I understand the present position, there is a buyer interested but he would like to buy off the provision for motor sport and help facilitate it being transferred to another site. To that end Thurrock Council have two possible sites under consideration, within the Thurrock boundaries . I.e.not Southend, Chelmsford, Colchester or these other places people have speculated on here.

5. It may well be some time before the present site is built on, because being a former gravel pit there are things like risk assessments for pollution to be carried out and a range of other things to be done before anything can start. As far as I know Speedwáy could possibly have squeezed another season or two out of Arena but of course once the owners decided to cut and run it meant it would be financially impossible for the Hammers promotion to run the place on their own. Jon Cook did say to the crowd just before the move that he was speaking to all parties interested in continuing motor sport of all kinds and if there was a deal to be done they would do but it seems with all the ifs and buts and uncertainties of the situation that was not to be.

The above comments are what I think is a fairly full picture. It may not be 100% accurate all the way through but I I pretty sure it is about 90% of it.

 

Edited by Daytripper
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No planning permission has been given. There hasn't been a formal application yet as far as I'm aware 

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On 11/3/2018 at 6:07 PM, Alan_Jones said:

BMR are affiliated to the MC Federation (MCF) who licence their flat track series and many off road events as an alternative to the ACU. They were going to be the authorising body for the 'breakaway' individual series to be run by ?the Courtneys? a few years back but the SCB/BSPA managed to get that blocked. Maybe time for another try at shaking things up?

Im sure MCF ran grasstrack meetings at Coventry speedway a few years ago? DirtTrack?  I too have heard rumours over the years about breakaways however rather than allowing an alternative the SCB/BSPA threatened to ban any rider competing under a rival banner which has sunk most attempts so far but the threat must still be looming.....

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Most mx clubs in the U.K  left the ACU and joined the MCF as they have brought mx and other 2 wheeled sports into the 20th century and riders can have both ACU and MCF licences  the Courtney's tried to run a speedway GP style event around the country through them but the riders were threatened with bans from the Bspa if any of them run with a MCF licence ,the Courtney's run a very sucessfull mini bike series through the MCF  they run the F2 speedway also 

http://www.mcfederation.com/events

Edited by mac101
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19 minutes ago, mac101 said:

Most mx clubs in the U.K  left the ACU and joined the MCF as they have brought mx and other 2 wheeled sports into the 20th century and riders can have both ACU and MCF licences  the Courtney's tried to run a speedway GP style event around the country through them but the riders were threatened with bans from the Bspa if any of them run with a MCF licence ,the Courtney's run a very sucessfull mini bike series through the MCF  they run the F2 speedway also 

http://www.mcfederation.com/events

Having seen first hand the minibike champs series grow year on year to now have its own world championship , the Courtney brothers and Co are capable of taking speedway to another level if allowed to by the old guard . It's going nowhere but downhill at present so it could just be what's needed to save speedway in this country . 

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13 hours ago, noaksey said:

No planning permission has been given. There hasn't been a formal application yet as far as I'm aware 

Perhaps not formally ,  possibly because development is at a preliminary stage but my firm understanding is tha planning permission is/will be linked to provision of motor sport facilities ( for now at least, but whether that changes in the future remains to be seen). All I can add is that Jon Cook told the fans that the promotion have done all they can and the matter is now in the hands of the developers and the politicians, both of whom have given a commitment to wanting Speedwáy to return to Thurrock. Of course that doesn't imply certainty and who knows what the future holds, but at least the intention is there.

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Strong rumours on the terraces yesterday is that a minimum 2 year lease has been signed, securing the car racing for that period. Depending on who you listen too there are various names in the hat but popular choice suggests Deane Wood may of taken it on. 

Deane has speedway at his mildenhall stadium, sub let's to Ipswich witches at foxall, and he rents Arlington from the Dugards. So he is very familiar with working alongside speedway. Be interesting to see what develops.

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I heard at the Lakeside meeting at Arena the devs were keen to get their hands on the site because of the sheer amount of pollution that needs to be removed from the ground, and that it was potentially a lot worse than they thought it would be, all this plays into motor sports hands, because for every penny that has to be spent on clearing the ground to make it into a area that can be built on, takes away there end profit, and hopefully viability.

Would love it if speedway could carry on for the time being at the stadium, and hopefully for less rent than they have been paying the family who did own it, and who simply took the piss out of it and crapped on their fathers/grandfathers legacy, Chick would turn in his grave if he could see what they done.

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40 minutes ago, marko said:

I heard at the Lakeside meeting at Arena the devs were keen to get their hands on the site because of the sheer amount of pollution that needs to be removed from the ground, and that it was potentially a lot worse than they thought it would be, all this plays into motor sports hands, because for every penny that has to be spent on clearing the ground to make it into a area that can be built on, takes away there end profit, and hopefully viability.

Would love it if speedway could carry on for the time being at the stadium, and hopefully for less rent than they have been paying the family who did own it, and who simply took the piss out of it and crapped on their fathers/grandfathers legacy, Chick would turn in his grave if he could see what they done.

what kind of pollution are we talking about, radiation .fuel spills etc ?

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57 minutes ago, marko said:

I heard at the Lakeside meeting at Arena the devs were keen to get their hands on the site because of the sheer amount of pollution that needs to be removed from the ground, and that it was potentially a lot worse than they thought it would be, all this plays into motor sports hands, because for every penny that has to be spent on clearing the ground to make it into a area that can be built on, takes away there end profit, and hopefully viability.

Would love it if speedway could carry on for the time being at the stadium, and hopefully for less rent than they have been paying the family who did own it, and who simply took the piss out of it and crapped on their fathers/grandfathers legacy, Chick would turn in his grave if he could see what they done.

I wouldn't hold your breath. Spedeworth imposed a hefty rent rise on Mildenhall this year. There are no free lunches on stadium landlords.

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4 hours ago, Daytripper said:

Perhaps not formally ,  possibly because development is at a preliminary stage but my firm understanding is tha planning permission is/will be linked to provision of motor sport facilities ( for now at least, but whether that changes in the future remains to be seen). All I can add is that Jon Cook told the fans that the promotion have done all they can and the matter is now in the hands of the developers and the politicians, both of whom have given a commitment to wanting Speedwáy to return to Thurrock. Of course that doesn't imply certainty and who knows what the future holds, but at least the intention is there.

I'd be very surprised if that was the case however it's certainly possible that Thurrock Council could insist on motor sport provision. I'd think though that if it went to appeal I couldn't see the  government planning inspector upholding that.

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2 hours ago, jenga said:

what kind of pollution are we talking about, radiation .fuel spills etc ?

Pretty much anything that has leached into the ground that should not be there, in the case of Arena your talking about various oils etc, over 30 years of bashed up cars depositing oils and fuel all over the place, you could probably put and oil well in the back car park where the bangers and stocks used to park.

I am not totally in the know when it comes to those things but when Stratford was going through it’s massive regeneration ahead of the Olympic park being built that sort of thing was a massive issue, of course It was never going to stop the project.

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