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Midland Red

Odsal hopes

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4 hours ago, teaboy279 said:

Steve Rees runs Startrax, thier tracks 3 years ago were Belle Vue,Coventry (for national bangers, the stocks were run in house by Coventry stox ltd),Sheffield,Stoke.

By the time the racing starts up again he will only have Sheffield. 

Think he is quite open his time at promoting speedway wasnt the greatest sucsess story it could of been, but for those anti Steve, I believe all the drainage and track works at Stoke in 17 or 18 came out of his pocket. 

I did post back in the winter when people where being negative, that Steve Rees could well re open the track if he found someone to take on speedway thier, and I was mocked. But looks like it may well come to fruition...

I knew that the bangers were promoted separately from to the BriSCA stock cars but hadn't realised it was Rees.

His abortive promotion of speedway at Stoke is covered in the two piece tribute to Stoke Speedway in the last two issues of the Speedway Star. At least he had the sense to pass Loomer Road onto someone who would know what they were doing in Dave Tattum. Hopefully he can find a partner at Odsal. 

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23 hours ago, waytogo28 said:

The real "elephant in the rooom" must surely be that it would be more fun to burn your money  in an old oil drum or maybe just have a giant firework display than throw it all away in setting up speedway racing at these iconic venues ( which I greatly enjoyed at,  in the past ). No-one can make speedway pay any more without the bulk of the income to run it coming from major sponsors. Speedway has had it's day in the UK I feel.

More elephants than they have in Whipsnade Zoo, by the sounds of things

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Whilst like all speedway fans especially those who went to the venue in the last era when the track was wider than it was in the previous speedway eras there, I hope that speedway can return to the iconic Odsal stadium, I have reservations considering the all conquering first ever EL champions of 1997, the Bradford Dukes more often than not rode in front of crowds under 1000.

 

That 1997 team featured Loram, Havelock, Screen, as well as Josh Larsen, David Walsh and Garry Stead a team that should have attracted viable crowds. A lot of meetings at Odsal that year were staged on Tuesdays which undoubtedly had an adverse effect on crowd levels.

 

Its a shame that the Shay previous home to the Halifax Dukes has been rebuilt cause I've no doubt that speedway would be viably supported in the town.

 

That said combined with stock car racing, then speedway might just be able to hold its head above the water.

 

To ensure the viability of speedway and stock cars at Odsal, racenights have got to be Saturdays and the speedway team should be called the Bradford & Halifax Dukes (with old red, white and blue Halifax colours with the iconic elephant which I believe was something to do with a local regiment) to represent the wider area. I believe Steve Rees has stated he has had interest from existing speedway promotors which is a must cause Rees is a stock car racing man with only a short abortive spell in speedway at Stoke in the 1990's. 

 

Like I said I hope it happens cause speedway is stronger with more tracks but those who invest money in to make it happen will be brave persons indeed! 

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6 minutes ago, 25yearfan said:

Whilst like all speedway fans especially those who went to the venue in the last era when the track was wider than it was in the previous speedway eras there, I hope that speedway can return to the iconic Odsal stadium, I have reservations considering the all conquering first ever EL champions of 1997, the Bradford Dukes more often than not rode in front of crowds under 1000.

 

That 1997 team featured Loram, Havelock, Screen, as well as Josh Larsen, David Walsh and Garry Stead a team that should have attracted viable crowds. A lot of meetings at Odsal that year were staged on Tuesdays which undoubtedly had an adverse effect on crowd levels.

 

Its a shame that the Shay previous home to the Halifax Dukes has been rebuilt cause I've no doubt that speedway would be viably supported in the town.

 

That said combined with stock car racing, then speedway might just be able to hold its head above the water.

 

To ensure the viability of speedway and stock cars at Odsal, racenights have got to be Saturdays and the speedway team should be called the Bradford & Halifax Dukes (with old red, white and blue Halifax colours with the iconic elephant which I believe was something to do with a local regiment) to represent the wider area. I believe Steve Rees has stated he has had interest from existing speedway promotors which is a must cause Rees is a stock car racing man with only a short abortive spell in speedway at Stoke in the 1990's. 

 

Like I said I hope it happens cause speedway is stronger with more tracks but those who invest money in to make it happen will be brave persons indeed! 

Rees claims he wants to run Premiership Speedway on a Saturday, that will never happen.

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2nd Division speedway on a Saturday night would undoubtedly be the best way forward for a reopened Bradford speedway, I'm convinced midweek speedway would get lower crowds.

 

Why do you say it will never happen?

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Just now, 25yearfan said:

2nd Division speedway on a Saturday night would undoubtedly be the best way forward for a reopened Bradford speedway, I'm convinced midweek speedway would get lower crowds.

 

Why do you say it will never happen?

Premiership teams don't run on a Saturday, if they could, Belle Vue and probably some others would already be doing it.

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Sorry I forgot the Premiership is the top flight of speedway now, I was thinking of the Premier League which was the name of the 2nd Division until a few years ago.

 

Your right and the reason that many teams would go to Saturday nights is cause that's the best night to attract a crowd which is why I think that night is the only viable chance for a reopened Bradford speedway to get break even plus crowds. Look at the woeful Tuesday night crowds in 1997 at Odsal, Rye House wouldn't of shut down had they been allowed to stay racing on Saturday nights and Leicester would still be in the top flight if they could of stayed on Saturdays in that league! 

Edited by 25yearfan
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1 hour ago, foamfence said:

Premiership teams don't run on a Saturday, if they could, Belle Vue and probably some others would already be doing it.

Will there be a premiership next season. Speedway's finances might dictate otherwise.

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6 minutes ago, cityrebel said:

Will there be a premiership next season. Speedway's finances might dictate otherwise.

Good point.

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4 hours ago, foamfence said:

Rees claims he wants to run Premiership Speedway on a Saturday, that will never happen.

It’s time they did - like most teams used to

Saturday night is speedway night

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On 6/13/2020 at 3:52 PM, teaboy279 said:

Steve Rees runs Startrax, thier tracks 3 years ago were Belle Vue,Coventry (for national bangers, the stocks were run in house by Coventry stox ltd),Sheffield,Stoke.

By the time the racing starts up again he will only have Sheffield. 

Think he is quite open his time at promoting speedway wasnt the greatest sucsess story it could of been, but for those anti Steve, I believe all the drainage and track works at Stoke in 17 or 18 came out of his pocket. 

I did post back in the winter when people where being negative, that Steve Rees could well re open the track if he found someone to take on speedway thier, and I was mocked. But looks like it may well come to fruition...

I was one of the riders that mr Rees left without money during his flirt with speedway promoting and along with the other 6 had to be bailed out by the bspa, I can still remember Richard Juul storming down the ramp at stoke to literally rip the blokes head from his shoulders cause of his bouncing cheques, IMO he should be let nowhere near speedway again but that won’t be the case as the sport has a history of forgiving “less than honourable” people back in the sport 

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11 hours ago, Midland Red said:

It’s time they did - like most teams used to

Saturday night is speedway night

I should have added...

Live at the track, not in front of a tv screen :nono:

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24 minutes ago, Midland Red said:

I should have added...

Live at the track, not in front of a tv screen :nono:

I couldn't agree more. I questioned the fact that live televised meetings would impact upon the sport at the time but was shouted down on numerous occasions and was 'informed' that live meetings would raise the profile of the sport and attract major sponsorship...neither of which has materialised down the years. I was never sure who the target audience was?

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12 hours ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

I was one of the riders that mr Rees left without money during his flirt with speedway promoting and along with the other 6 had to be bailed out by the bspa, I can still remember Richard Juul storming down the ramp at stoke to literally rip the blokes head from his shoulders cause of his bouncing cheques, IMO he should be let nowhere near speedway again but that won’t be the case as the sport has a history of forgiving “less than honourable” people back in the sport 

I agree the BSPL should not be letting people who have previous debts from Speedway back into the sport, but their have been instances where its been allowed and no doubts they will continue in future, either officialy or unofficially, however it appears that Rees wants a Speedway promoter to come on board rather than promoting it himself. If they could get the Rugby Team back at Odsal or even Bradford Park Avenue AFC however the football club have just signed a 35 year lease with the Council for an alternative venue https://bpafc.com/bradford-park-avenue-afc-cic-completes-35-year-lease-for-the-horsfall-community-stadium-development-in-south-bradford/ .

Edited by greyhoundp

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23 minutes ago, greyhoundp said:

I agree the BSPL should not be letting people who have previous debts from Speedway back into the sport, but their have been instances where its been allowed and no doubts they will continue in future, either officialy or unofficially, however it appears that Rees wants a Speedway promoter to come on board rather than promoting it himself. If they could get the Rugby Team back at Odsal or even Bradford Park Avenue AFC however the football club have just signed a 35 year lease with the Council for an alternative venue https://bpafc.com/bradford-park-avenue-afc-cic-completes-35-year-lease-for-the-horsfall-community-stadium-development-in-south-bradford/ .

There's probably a far greater chance of the rugby league club sharing a revamped Horsfall with Park Avenue than returning to Odsal. I gather there are plans to strip out Horsfall's little-used athletics track and do a proper job of building a stadium. Without the rugby league club on board, I can't see the Odsal money pit being viable.

Speedway was never as well supported at Bradford as it was at Halifax, where anything over 3,000 felt like a big attendance. Being in a crowd of a thousand scattered about Odsal's vast acreage really wasn't much fun. Perhaps many posters only ever went to Odsal on a 'big event' day. 

Having read The Dean Machine's remarks: does speedway not have a 'fit and proper person' test (not that it works in football!) for would-be promoters?

Edited by Piotr Pyszny
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