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Speedway's future IMO

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22 minutes ago, gustix said:

Probably last pay to enter a speedway was New Cross in 1953.

Do you remember how big the track was??? :rofl:

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17 hours ago, mikebv said:

Partnering  a rider in one night, and then riding against him on another night in another domestic league, and then with him in another country the next night, and against him in yet another country the night after that, must have a huge bearing on the level of racing...

You simply won't be as aggressive to win against someone who you will be sat next to in the pits somewhere else tomorrow..

I'd disagree with that, everybody I know races hardest against their mates and hates being beaten by them. You only have to look at GP's where team mates and best friends will stuff each other against the fence without a second thought.

I don't see Speedway surviving as an individual sport if it is to attract spectators. Only way that can happen is at an amateur level where the riders pay an entry and the club profits from that. It's easy to watch the videos of fast Fridays from California and think Speedway is doing really well there but it's a couple of thousand people from a massive catchment area who turn up for a party. You couldn't do the same in the UK I don't believe, in fact I bet you couldn't do the same elsewhere in California on a regular basis.

Speedway in the UK is a team sport and suffers greatly from having to rent stadiums. I have no idea what would be the best way to move forward, I suspect costs will continue to have to be reduced until we have a big Championship league at a level a little lower than now. Maybe then a few tracks could run individual meetings by bringing top riders over as they could only be seen once in a blue moon. Some decades ago that was the case when a big individual would be your only opportunity to see 8 or 10 really top class riders in the same meeting apart from a World Final. Nowadays you can see 16 of the best from your sofa several times a year.

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52 minutes ago, BWitcher said:

Two serious questions,

When was the last time you PAID to get into a speedway meeting?

When was the last time you entered one for free?

Last time I paid, Buxton 2013, the Airfence meeting. That was the one Ermolenko was in, all the old boys making a comeback to raise funds for Buxton's fence which Dean Felton helped arrange. No self-serving riders waiting for the last race so they could hop off onto the next flight out of here.

Last one entered for "free" was about 2006.  That was when the Reading team turned up at Belle Vue and looked to manipulate the match so they could have an easier team in the PO semis. Reading arrived top of the table and Belle Vue hammered them. Reading couldn't have cared less if they tried. Ian Thomas, Belle Vue manager at the time, took one fan into the bar to have it out with Jim Lynch, Reading manager, about how his side had robbed him of honest racing. I, personally, was glad I didn't pay for that one as well. Makes you question when a speedway race is actually a speedway race. But you'll say different. 

A personal question to you, BWitcher. When was the last time you worked for free?

 

Edited by moxey63

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FAO BWitcher
 
Here is the email (to Eddie Garvey, who put the Belle Vue  programme together) from 2007 to prove, to some, it was my decision to stop attending speedway even though I was getting in for "free." I was still contributing to the programme at the time and promised I would still do so, despite not attending.
It might just re-educate certain people that even "free" speedway isn't a pull for some of us. How filling a couple of pages each week and getting a complimentary ticket is "free" speedway,  I'll never know. 
 
Thu 23/08/2007 00:24
Eddie

I will probably give the rest of the season a miss. Just a bit disillusioned with speedway at the moment and haven't enjoyed a meeting all year, either at Belle Vue or on SKY. In fact, I've only been to half the matches this year - and it isn't because of BV's performances either. Hopefully, my interest will be rekindled in time for next year.
 
Best wishes
Alan 
Edited by moxey63

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20 hours ago, mikebv said:

Partnering  a rider in one night, and then riding against him on another night in another domestic league, and then with him in another country the next night, and against him in yet another country the night after that, must have a huge bearing on the level of racing...

You simply won't be as aggressive to win against someone who you will be sat next to in the pits somewhere else tomorrow..

I would defy anyone to 'give everything' for their teams given such situations..

Just human nature..

Therefore the level of competitiveness has to suffer...

Unless, of course, it's Poland where individual contracts worth several hundred thousands pounds are on the line, and tens and tens of thousands of rabid fanatical fans are critically judging you every race... 

That focuses your mind and motivates you to give 100% every race I would suggest.. ;)

 

Not sure I agree with this. Speedway has long had both team and individual traditions. Is there another team sport that has an individual world champion? The point made above would be an argument against international team sport, England footballers, cricketers, rugby players not going hard against each other when playing for their clubs. Doesn't seem to happen.

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26 minutes ago, Chadster said:

Not sure I agree with this. Speedway has long had both team and individual traditions. Is there another team sport that has an individual world champion? The point made above would be an argument against international team sport, England footballers, cricketers, rugby players not going hard against each other when playing for their clubs. Doesn't seem to happen.

But in Speedway you could be going 'in hard' against tomorrow nights team captain for your other team..

Go in 'too hard' and effectively you could knacker your other teams' season...

Playing aggressively against a fellow international for your own team is perfectly acceptable, you owe him nothing and your club loyalty and own fan base comes first..

However, in Speedway, a different club on another night needs you both to be on the same side so riding too aggressively will have consequences for them..

Must have a bearing on how you react I would think, and definitely takes away some of that 'tribalism' that team sports should always inspire in their participants and fans..

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42 minutes ago, mikebv said:

But in Speedway you could be going 'in hard' against tomorrow nights team captain for your other team..

Go in 'too hard' and effectively you could knacker your other teams' season...

Playing aggressively against a fellow international for your own team is perfectly acceptable, you owe him nothing and your club loyalty and own fan base comes first..

However, in Speedway, a different club on another night needs you both to be on the same side so riding too aggressively will have consequences for them..

Must have a bearing on how you react I would think, and definitely takes away some of that 'tribalism' that team sports should always inspire in their participants and fans..

You over rate how much riders care about club speedway in any  era .. the bottom line is speedway riders ride for money and that means going hard on a team mate the next night in another to earn money that is what they will do 

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1 minute ago, orion said:

You over rate how much riders care about club speedway in any  era ..the bottom line is speedway riders ride for money and that means going hard on a team mate the next night in another to earn money that is what they will do 

Makes you think why we get excited about teams winning things if riders don't even care. They're mugging you off. 

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4 minutes ago, moxey63 said:

Makes you think why we get excited about teams winning things if riders don't even care. They're mugging you off. 

Of course they care they are earning money .Of course most of speedway back in the day was bent with riders  taking bribes ..that was mugging you off 

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Just now, orion said:

Of course they care they are earning money .Of course most of speedway back in the day was bent with riders  taking bribes ..that was mugging you off 

I knew no different. You seem to bask in it.

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2 hours ago, mikebv said:

But in Speedway you could be going 'in hard' against tomorrow nights team captain for your other team..

Go in 'too hard' and effectively you could knacker your other teams' season...

Playing aggressively against a fellow international for your own team is perfectly acceptable, you owe him nothing and your club loyalty and own fan base comes first..

However, in Speedway, a different club on another night needs you both to be on the same side so riding too aggressively will have consequences for them..

Must have a bearing on how you react I would think, and definitely takes away some of that 'tribalism' that team sports should always inspire in their participants and fans..

Yeah you're right..

When Ermolenko/Correy.. Hancock/Hamill used to face off, week before a World Cup meet for the US. They never rode aggressively. ...

 

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2 hours ago, mikebv said:

But in Speedway you could be going 'in hard' against tomorrow nights team captain for your other team..

Go in 'too hard' and effectively you could knacker your other teams' season...

Playing aggressively against a fellow international for your own team is perfectly acceptable, you owe him nothing and your club loyalty and own fan base comes first..

However, in Speedway, a different club on another night needs you both to be on the same side so riding too aggressively will have consequences for them..

Must have a bearing on how you react I would think, and definitely takes away some of that 'tribalism' that team sports should always inspire in their participants and fans..

But would that bother them seeing as they quite often ride in matches (as guests) that could knacker their own team's season.

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I think the riders are being underrated here. At the end of the day they are riding Speedway because they love racing motorbikes and it is part of the make up of the majority to hate losing to anyone. How often do we see complaints about riders passing their team mate with no regard to the meeting score? Of course there are some who sit back and take the safe money but what I see in todays meetings are riders taking ever more slim chances to make a pass, whether that is the security of the air fence or not I don't know.

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A thread that most likely was posted on this forum in 2001 and would have read the exact same word for word then as it does now, same posters, same posts.

Groundhog Day. 

Edited by Hacksaw Jim Duggan

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