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Ray Stadia

Newport Speedway (Wales)

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12 minutes ago, ch958 said:

is there a point to this thread? If so, I've missed it

The point was a topical point Sh, I mean Ch. The Severn Bridge is now toll free, so, my question was, as it is a forum, if there had been no toll during the days of Newport Speedway, could the track have survived, attracting more people from the other side of the river, without the additional cost to the fan of the toll charge.   

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On 12/17/2018 at 9:18 AM, adonis said:

There was more involved in newports closing than the cost of the toll . something very very dodgy to do with the promotion and their transport business , i can't remember what it was ,but the  pervert SCB  knew  what it was  , and blamed I a member of these forums for colluding in the closure

If Tim Stone had not tragically died, Then I think Newport Speedway would still be operating. At the time if his death Tim had in place several projects to generate extra income for the stadium other than through speedway alone.  What then happened with the Mallets, well that would be a good Speedway Star winter tale!

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46 minutes ago, Ray Stadia said:

The point was a topical point Sh, I mean Ch. The Severn Bridge is now toll free, so, my question was, as it is a forum, if there had been no toll during the days of Newport Speedway, could the track have survived, attracting more people from the other side of the river, without the additional cost to the fan of the toll charge.   

mmm...food for thought

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newprt had a great shaped track for racing .but the surface was always poor ,slick and potholed ,nice stand which sadly was never properly comlpleted , decent changing rooms and rerasonable pits ,  one of the problems with it was Tim Stone himself . heart 100% in speedway ,but an utter meglomaniac , we used to go to southern track events there that dragged on for hours and hours ,because he wouldn't let anyone help him ,  instead of letting somebody drive the water truck while he graded he had to do both . and every 4 heats , in a meeting that has 60 heats that's a very long time ,  I have heard only second hand mind ,that he pissed off sponsors because he was a little arrogant , having said that . a bloke who is prepared to collect supermarket trollies  and put the money into his speedway  team , maybe he had felt he had a right to say his piece ,

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20 minutes ago, adonis said:

newprt had a great shaped track for racing .but the surface was always poor ,slick and potholed ,nice stand which sadly was never properly comlpleted , decent changing rooms and rerasonable pits ,  one of the problems with it was Tim Stone himself . heart 100% in speedway ,but an utter meglomaniac , we used to go to southern track events there that dragged on for hours and hours ,because he wouldn't let anyone help him ,  instead of letting somebody drive the water truck while he graded he had to do both . and every 4 heats , in a meeting that has 60 heats that's a very long time ,  I have heard only second hand mind ,that he pissed off sponsors because he was a little arrogant , having said that . a bloke who is prepared to collect supermarket trollies  and put the money into his speedway  team , maybe he had felt he had a right to say his piece ,

Yes, Tim could upset everyone at any time. He needed exclusive control and virtually ran a one man show. In saying that, you have to admire the total commitment and his forward planning like buying up the Somerton Park seats and storing them for years, knowing he was planning to build a stadium/track one day. I believe he had been Phil Crumps mechanic, which presumably would explain the unique relationship he had with Neil Street, who always made a point to speak to me on my visit with the Diamonds even though I usually only saw him once a year. Lovely man. As adonis has said, the track could be very problematic even for big meetings like the  Premier Pairs/Welsh Open. It always had a double hollow  going into the third bend, one was bad enough but a second hollow was always there as riders jumping out of the first hollow landed and created the second hole. The track material was very unique, sometime being like oatmeal in colour and packed hard, but soft only inches below the surface. I remember James Birkenshaw once tyre warming on the home straight and he dropped into a hole having gone through the top crust. Of course Tim was furious at it, and he made sure it never happened again. I personally had a lot of respect for him, talking with him for hours at the stadium, and him sharing his thoughts on setting up our original Gems team in 2002. On his advice we combined the Diamonds and Gems meetings and added a £1 on the entrance with good results. His team and the our Gems were about the only teams to stay with the original concept of why we had the Conference League, and that showed in the league positions we  were in by giving new youngsters their first rides and persevering with them. We never tried to take on the moneybags teams like Mildenhall by hoovering up the top junior riders for the promoters personal glory.  Tim will be remember by many for both good and bad reasons. 

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I had so many crashes at Newport, I very rarely left the stadium in my own van it was always in an ambulance , I broke my shoulder there and my collarbone and my profile picture was took there where I smashed my helmet on the fence and I pretty much ended a team mate’s career there when I collected him after clipping an opponent but despite all that I quite enjoyed racing there, I got on well with Tim stone but was aware just how stubborn he was, I don’t think the toll would of made a lot of difference, a lot of Newport fans stopped attending because of Tim and his stubbornness and well the less said about the ending of Newport the better 

Edited by THE DEAN MACHINE

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29 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

I had so many crashes at Newport, I very rarely left the stadium in my own van it was always in an ambulance , I broke my shoulder there and my collarbone and my profile picture was took there where I smashed my helmet on the fence and I pretty much ended a team mate’s career there when I collected him after clipping an opponent but despite all that I quite enjoyed racing there, I got on well with Tim stone but was aware just how stubborn he was, I don’t think the toll would of made a lot of difference, a lot of Newport fans stopped attending because of Tim and his stubbornness and well the less said about the ending of Newport the better 

Who did you wipe out?

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16 minutes ago, JCookie said:

Who did you wipe out?

Ben Taylor , I broke his knee/leg, he was out for quite a while and did eventually come back but only briefly 

Edited by THE DEAN MACHINE

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12 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

Ben Taylor , I broke his knee/leg, he was out for quite a while and did eventually come back but only briefly 

Wasn't a bad rider him, him and Jack Roberts were about at the same time and never seemed to make the next step up.

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Tim Stone at the track on a race day and away from the track was two completely different people. For sure the stadium was his baby and he wasn't going to let anybody else play with it but given that following years of working all over the world on really good money only to put it all (and some) into the stadium you can see why. No matter what the fans stood to lose he had literally everything he had at risk. Nobody could ever accuse him of being a people person on race day! However he'd been a fan, had a go at riding Speedway then been a mechanic for years so by the time you took his promoting experience into account he had as good an understanding of the sport as anybody and far more knowledge than most of his critics.

Away from the track he was one of the funniest people you could ever meet with a never ending list of stories told in the most deadpan style followed by his loud belly laugh. A very decent bloke who always dealt with Sam fairly and honestly. The few months before he died he would be on the phone for hours chatting about how to get other revenue streams for the stadium and there were some deals already in the pipeline that I am convinced would have subsidised the Speedway for years to come. He'd finally got to the stage where he wanted a life away from the stadium as well.

His detractors were always saying he had to speculate to accumulate but given what happened after his death when just about everything the fans asked for was put in place I would say he was proved right that a tight budget was the way to see Speedway continue in Newport. Whatever else the Mallets did they did improve the track and facilities and spend a lot of money on riders to build a winning team but it didn't work financially.

I can't imagine the bridge would have made much difference although it would have saved a few quid on the wages bill.

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3 hours ago, Vince said:

Tim Stone at the track on a race day and away from the track was two completely different people. For sure the stadium was his baby and he wasn't going to let anybody else play with it but given that following years of working all over the world on really good money only to put it all (and some) into the stadium you can see why. No matter what the fans stood to lose he had literally everything he had at risk. Nobody could ever accuse him of being a people person on race day! However he'd been a fan, had a go at riding Speedway then been a mechanic for years so by the time you took his promoting experience into account he had as good an understanding of the sport as anybody and far more knowledge than most of his critics.

Away from the track he was one of the funniest people you could ever meet with a never ending list of stories told in the most deadpan style followed by his loud belly laugh. A very decent bloke who always dealt with Sam fairly and honestly. The few months before he died he would be on the phone for hours chatting about how to get other revenue streams for the stadium and there were some deals already in the pipeline that I am convinced would have subsidised the Speedway for years to come. He'd finally got to the stage where he wanted a life away from the stadium as well.

His detractors were always saying he had to speculate to accumulate but given what happened after his death when just about everything the fans asked for was put in place I would say he was proved right that a tight budget was the way to see Speedway continue in Newport. Whatever else the Mallets did they did improve the track and facilities and spend a lot of money on riders to build a winning team but it didn't work financially.

I can't imagine the bridge would have made much difference although it would have saved a few quid on the wages bill.

There are only a few of us that knew the real Tim & you have summed him up very well. Everyone of us is different, I would say the only person Tim never had a flair-up with was Neil Street. But Tim did fell the pressure on race-days & he would let rip, it was soon forgotten by most of us. Man management was not one of Tim's forte'.  R.I.P. Tim.  

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15 hours ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

Ben Taylor , I broke his knee/leg, he was out for quite a while and did eventually come back but only briefly 

I wondered what had happened to him. He was showing up well at the Brummies at one time.

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15 hours ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

Ben Taylor , I broke his knee/leg, he was out for quite a while and did eventually come back but only briefly 

I would imagine Dean that this could be one of the most difficult things to deal with

Whilst all riders go into it with their eyes open about the risk of injury to themselves to know you are the cause of anothers misfortune (however accidental) must be very hard at times

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1 hour ago, dontforgetthefueltapsbruv said:

I would imagine Dean that this could be one of the most difficult things to deal with

Whilst all riders go into it with their eyes open about the risk of injury to themselves to know you are the cause of anothers misfortune (however accidental) must be very hard at times

I did feel guilty about it at the time and appolgized to Ben but he was fine about it, he understood it was an accident and it happens, you can’t dwell on these things, it happens and if you are thinking about crashing or other riders then it’s time to retire 

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2 hours ago, *JJ said:

I wondered what had happened to him. He was showing up well at the Brummies at one time.

I think off track things were the final nail in bens career 

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