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Reading Speedway - Smallmead.

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2 minutes ago, steve roberts said:

Yes you blighters back in the early seventies but we got our revenge when Dag Lovaas joined us and he was the first "rebel" to defeat mighty Mich round Cowley I seem to recall. With the re-birth of the "Cheetahs", however, we more or less had the better of those "Berks" from Reading home and away! :)

We called them the " cheaters ":)

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1 minute ago, racers and royals said:

We called them the " cheaters ":)

Yes the Oxford "Cheaters", Reading "Berks" and the Swindon "Budgies"...what days!

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The land was sold by the council to the owners of Green Park, which occupies the large office developments adjacent to J11 of M4. I believe the plan was to develop the land into stage 3 of the Green Park development.  This never happened due to the recession of 2008 and is highly unlikely to happen anytime soon.  

I was waiting for someone to blame BSI for the closure, they actually ensured we had speedway 2006-2008 because at the end of 2005 the track and related speedway infrastructure would not have been able to continue in its current guise.

 
Stadia UK acquired the lease from Pat Bliss and Martyn Dore in 2001 but failed to secure the long term future of the stadium with the council except a couple of short term extensions to an expiring lease on the pretence they would develop a new stadium on land allocated to them just a Mile up the road!  Like every other Stadia UK project that failed miserably and the rest is history.  
So unless a multi millionaire speedway fan fancies buying the old site back from Green Park owners and convincing authorities around developing site for leisure then sport is gone forever in the town.  

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8 minutes ago, steve roberts said:

Yes the Oxford "Cheaters", Reading "Berks" and the Swindon "Budgies"...what days!

The Easter 3TT were great occasions in mid 80s big crowds at all 3 venues.  

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I used to enjoy my trips to Reading , such a shame Reading, Exeter, Trelawny, Newport , Oxford all gone now. 

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4 hours ago, cityrebel said:

 Attending the world cup final there in 2006 was a surreal experience. 

You can say that again. I know there were reasons it was chosen but wtf were they thinking? 

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5 hours ago, salty said:

You can say that again. I know there were reasons it was chosen but wtf were they thinking? 

The pre meeting downpour helped make it a pretty good meeting though, compared to the awful race off a couple of days earlier.

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Didn’t realise Reading’s last season was that long ago :o

Went twice and my second visit was that final year. Oystercard had some very fast kit that year and was unbeaten when I went in a draw against Lynn.

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Funnily enough, I was looking at the Smallmead site on Google Maps the other day. Can't for the life of me remember why.

I always thought a site the other side of the M4 would be ideal, as you're away from all the Reading-side development which is always going to be more lucrative than speedway.

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15 hours ago, The H Man said:

I was waiting for someone to blame BSI for the closure, they actually ensured we had speedway 2006-2008 because at the end of 2005 the track and related speedway infrastructure would not have been able to continue in its current guise.

The seeds of Reading's demise were sown before BSI got involved, by the previous promoters not fulfilling terms of the lease for whatever reason. Maybe the money was just never there, but I think Reading was ultimately doomed anyway once the location and its surrounds was earmarked for re-development - inevitable in a growing Thames Corridor town. Even a long lease wouldn't have protected it, although might have been a bit of leverage for finding an alternative site and funding a new stadium. 

Didn't think the Rubbish Tip was too bad in the 1980s and the site had a lot of potential. I quite liked going there, but it did get rundown towards the end and the crowds seemed to be woeful much of the time. 

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On 6/22/2020 at 10:20 PM, The H Man said:

 

So unless a multi millionaire speedway fan fancies buying the old site back from Green Park owners and convincing authorities around developing site for leisure then sport is gone forever in the town.  

Blimey can you imagine what they would want for it?!

We are however still searching for a suitable site somewhere else in the area in the hope of "doing a Somerset"...

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On 6/23/2020 at 5:15 AM, cityrebel said:

The pre meeting downpour helped make it a pretty good meeting though, compared to the awful race off a couple of days earlier.

Indeed the downpour helped produce a decent track, but when the Saturday afternoon inspection from the Council's H&S man initially concluded that the grass banks were too wet to allow the punters to use, panic set in I'll tell you!  So many great stories from time with the Racers/Bulldogs.   

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22 hours ago, skydog said:

Blimey can you imagine what they would want for it?!

We are however still searching for a suitable site somewhere else in the area in the hope of "doing a Somerset"...

A Somerset type of project would be wonderful, we all keep our fingers firmly crossed it might happen one day.  

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2 minutes ago, The H Man said:

A Somerset type of project would be wonderful, we all keep our fingers firmly crossed it might happen one day.  

I suppose you were an essential person/worker who had to be there on Saturday and was able to watch the match  :)

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3 hours ago, The H Man said:

Indeed the downpour helped produce a decent track, but when the Saturday afternoon inspection from the Council's H&S man initially concluded that the grass banks were too wet to allow the punters to use, panic set in I'll tell you!  So many great stories from time with the Racers/Bulldogs.   

Tell me about it, i had to sit on a plastic bag!

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