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old bob at herne bay

Will British Speedway Survive ?

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There used be a range of Raleigh bicycles, not quite BMX but today we would call semi-mountain bikes, one was a Grifter (the one I wanted) and a smaller model called a Striker or Strika; tag line, along the lines of "aimed at the young speedway rider".  Thiing is, it really didn't look much like a speedway bike, anymore than the rest....

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2 hours ago, MattK said:

Being noisy, dirt and anti-social are not necessarily bad things. Look at the massive popularity of mixed martial arts. The top fighters earn millions, as do the owners of UFC. It depends how they are promoted. I remember Lakeside promoting speedway as an extreme sport, which I always thought was a great angle for precisely the reasons you describe.

However, other clubs promote it as family friendly, which I never really understood.

Again, a fundamental problem with speedway is that they don't know who their target market is, so take a scatter gun approach to trying to get new fans.

Good points. Agree, the fundamental problem with speedway is the people that run it, they have run the sport so badly..that’s why it’s in terminal decline. Speedway is not a ‘fashionable’ sport and Promoters have not moved with the times and modernised the sport for new and demanding fans who have lots of other leisure-time options available and want more for their hard earned cash than 15 minutes of entertainment in substandard run down stadia. I really hope, but I’m not convinced, that when this pandemic crisis is over and if, and it’s a big if, the sport can be salvaged from the wreckage, that anything will fundamentally change for the better. 

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Hardly likely if the same people that let it run down are running it after the Covid 19 crisis is over.

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Will the clubs that survive have the funds to pay the 'top' riders. So many people will lose their jobs and a night at the speedway will be well down their priorities. I hope the sport can survive, but like life, it will never be the same again.

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4 hours ago, DC2 said:

 

Good points, but even MMA is promoted as family friendly at grass roots level.

I’m surprised no one has manufactured “speedway bikes” for kids, normal bikes that resemble speedway bikes and developed little leagues for bike riding.

 

MMA became more family friendly thanks to the continued development of its rules and operations.

UFC originally had limited rules mismatched fights, soccer kicks to a ground opponent etc. It has forever evolved and then filtered down to grass roots level.

Say even 10-15 years ago it was brutal and I doubt many families would go. Guys would rock up at grass roots level not having a clue who they would be fighting.

Now kids go with their parents, women go out in groups and it's much more professional but its evolved over time speedway in its entirety is still the same as before 

Probably cant use UFC as an example to british speedway because UFC has all the stars but grass roots UKMMA is similar to speedway 

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9 minutes ago, cityrebel said:

Will the clubs that survive have the funds to pay the 'top' riders. So many people will lose their jobs and a night at the speedway will be well down their priorities. I hope the sport can survive, but like life, it will never be the same again.

I think there will be one league and semi pro at least till the world settles down again ,what ever happens I think there will be many riders retiring if for no other reason than 18mths inactivity .Those the wrong side of 35yrs old will find it hard to pick up from where they left off ,once  a rider stops after a certain age it is hard to get back to where they were and somehow the danger of the sport becomes more apparent  .

Edited by FAST GATER
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FWIW (not much), here is my take..

If any team racing takes place I would suggest it will be littered with guests as so many riders either won't come back as it won't be worthwhile, or Poland and Sweden will be wanting the same riders and paying more, or both leagues will want the same riders on the same night as they cram fixtures in..

Therefore, maybe it's best to scrap the team aspect this season altogether and see if running well promoted (and sponsored) individual events, on the nights each club would like to run, could be a money maker?

Riders will want to race as much as they can in a very short space of time so maybe giving the majority of them all seven nights a week to earn their corn could work?

A format such as this maybe could work?

12 riders, 3 groups of four, four races per group so all have a start position from every gate.

Winner of each group goes to the final, runners up of the three groups and highest scoring third place rider go into a race off.

Four play off races later the finalists are known...

A four race final and that's 20 heats of Speedway. (Maybe more if run offs are needed for the best third place rider, play off, and any ties in the Final..

Minimum £1000 a rider meaning the 'fourths' earn £3k, £1200 for the two third place riders meaning £2400, the two 'seconds' who failed to reach the final, and the top scoring third place rider earn £1400 meaning £4200, and the finalists earning £1600, £1800, £2000 and £2500,

A total of £17500, (is that similar to what clubs pay out now for the home and away costs from their one home meeting for their seven rders?).

Could the Premiership clubs get 2000 or so on their best night? Paying circa £18 to watch 12 riders Premiership Heat Leader/Second string level or Championship heat leader standard? If so they would make a fair few quid. .

Championship clubs might need to reduce the prize fund accordingly to suit their income (and bring in a lower level of rider), but each track using 12 riders would mean several of them being able to ride four of five times a week (and maybe more)..

Should we get say a 10 week season then 40 or 50 or so meetings for some of the riders would help them offset some of their season losses I would think. .

And maybe racing on nights that the clubs feel can bring in most fans might prove to be a pointer for the future..?

 

 

Edited by mikebv

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8 hours ago, MattK said:

Being noisy, dirt and anti-social are not necessarily bad things. Look at the massive popularity of mixed martial arts. The top fighters earn millions, as do the owners of UFC. It depends how they are promoted. I remember Lakeside promoting speedway as an extreme sport, which I always thought was a great angle for precisely the reasons you describe.

However, other clubs promote it as family friendly, which I never really understood.

Again, a fundamental problem with speedway is that they don't know who their target market is, so take a scatter gun approach to trying to get new fans.

Speedway doesn’t know it’s identity and that’s half the issue. It is dirt track racing. Yet the riders expect it to be their full time job. Promoters expect fans to pay upwards of £18 at the top level for less than 15 minutes of action (terrible value for money). Fans expect facilities befitting of the price they pay and don’t get them. Landlords expect their rent and don’t care how much money the speedway makes or doesn’t make. 

The problems are deep rooted. What needs to happen is a proper reset, if that means going back to being a semi-professional sport then so be it. One constant that I always find is that as fans we seem to be bottom of the totem pole when it comes to priorities within the sport. Realistically it should be opposite. There will always be people willing to race Speedway for the love (granted they may not be of as high a standard as some riders in British speedway now) but there won’t always be fans if the sport continues to be run the way it is now. 

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57 minutes ago, Ben91 said:

Speedway doesn’t know it’s identity and that’s half the issue. It is dirt track racing. Yet the riders expect it to be their full time job. Promoters expect fans to pay upwards of £18 at the top level for less than 15 minutes of action (terrible value for money). Fans expect facilities befitting of the price they pay and don’t get them. Landlords expect their rent and don’t care how much money the speedway makes or doesn’t make. 

The problems are deep rooted. What needs to happen is a proper reset, if that means going back to being a semi-professional sport then so be it. One constant that I always find is that as fans we seem to be bottom of the totem pole when it comes to priorities within the sport. Realistically it should be opposite. There will always be people willing to race Speedway for the love (granted they may not be of as high a standard as some riders in British speedway now) but there won’t always be fans if the sport continues to be run the way it is now. 

In the 70's they were all mainly semi pro except for the likes of Mauger ,Olsen and the mighty Mich  and that was said to be the heyday's  of the sport .

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I'm working on my plan for british speedway (if I had any sort of voice that is) going to take me most of the week to put it together but will post it up.  Might like it if you like cricket (I don't like cricket). 

Stay tuned for Friday haha

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6 minutes ago, FAST GATER said:

In the 70's they were all mainly semi pro except for the likes of Mauger ,Olsen and the mighty Mich  and that was said to be the heyday's  of the sport .

Many riders were more than happy to ride Speedway whilst holding down another job..

Riders could earn a weeks money (and even more) from their other job in just one night of Speedway..

Ride for just four nights and you had the same as your months salary from your other job, and many rode four or five nights a week..

But then again, back then, not many spent fortunes on engine tuming, the latest carbs, clutches, etc etc etc, like so many seem to do now for their ever growing stable of bikes that they use in various countries...

The costs seem to have grown year on year whilst the income to pay the riders to pay these costs has eroded away almost annually...

Higher salary costs to help riders cover their costs, often results in admission cost increases which then means less fans attending, which then results in more admission cost increases to cover the shortfall, which then  results in less fans attending, and on and on it goes..

The tipping point can't be far away,

(If it hasn't already happened)..

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My old man used to be a container repairer down the docks and ride speedway tho he was self employed so could down tools to do the northern tour over a few days. He earned good money in both back in the day

What he didnt have was a band of sponsors as with the now digital world it was harder to get in touch with sponsors back then as no internet lol easier to approach businesses now with the level of access available 

 

One bike as well all stuffed into a citroen estate. No van :)

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8 hours ago, mikebv said:

Many riders were more than happy to ride Speedway whilst holding down another job..

Riders could earn a weeks money (and even more) from their other job in just one night of Speedway..

Ride for just four nights and you had the same as your months salary from your other job, and many rode four or five nights a week..

But then again, back then, not many spent fortunes on engine tuming, the latest carbs, clutches, etc etc etc, like so many seem to do now for their ever growing stable of bikes that they use in various countries...

The costs seem to have grown year on year whilst the income to pay the riders to pay these costs has eroded away almost annually...

Higher salary costs to help riders cover their costs, often results in admission cost increases which then means less fans attending, which then results in more admission cost increases to cover the shortfall, which then  results in less fans attending, and on and on it goes..

The tipping point can't be far away,

(If it hasn't already happened)..

As I have said we got out when it all went silly ,from my own point of view the Street conversion was the start of the real problems from then on costs went through the roof   .The only real mod we had to the engines before that was what they called a Piper Conversion ( having a larger than standard exhaust valve) .

Edited by FAST GATER

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11 hours ago, mikebv said:

Could the Premiership clubs get 2000 or so on their best night? Paying circa £18 to watch 12 riders Premiership Heat Leader/Second string level or Championship heat leader standard? If so they would make a fair few quid. .

Thinking of King's Lynn - I believe that they could pull 2.000 on a Saturday night with the right kind of team format and visiting team variety to make the proposed scheme viable. Providing that the quality of racing on track makes it a VFM night out for the supporters. Riders have a major part to play in making the racing worth watching and rebuilding the sport in 2021.

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1 hour ago, FAST GATER said:

As I have said we got out when it all went silly ,from my own point of view the Street conversion was the start of the real problems from then on costs went through the roof   .The only real mod we had to the engines before that was what they called a Piper Conversion ( having a larger than standard exhaust valve) .

It is a strange buisness plan isn't it?

With the ultimate result of course being that not many people actually really care who wins a Speedway title in Britain, as a) the sports following is very small, and b) given the often contrived way the comps are ran there is very little kudos in 'winning'..

Yet promoters, in their own bubble, seem to take things very seriously and expect riders to have the best kit available to help their teams win the leagues...

Kit that costs many thousands of pounds...

Which means many more thousands of pounds need to be paid to the riders to pay for the kit and then maintain it...

Kit they all buy from pretty much the same place, and then buy upgraded parts from pretty much the same places, and get their bikes tuned often using the same tuners..

Meaning very little advantage for anyone as they are mostly doing exactly the same thing..

Hundreds of thousands of pounds each paid out by riders and promoters..

With all effectively running to stand still...

All to win something hardly anyone gets excited about, and hardly anyone outside the sport will even notice..

A true race to the bottom isn't it?

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