East End Fan 426 Posted May 19, 2021 7 minutes ago, Triple.H. said: Len Silver has always as far as i know called meetings off early in the day if it doesn't look like it can go ahead. At the end of the day if the track has taken a soaking in the preceding days it's not going to take a lot more to make it unrideable. At the end of the day he's been a promoter for donkey's years and has probably forgotten more than some of us know about the sport, the riders seem to like riding for his teams as they all seem loyal towards him as he is to them. Maybe having an old fashioned business style and paying your riders on time is the way forward. So you're a fan then? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
East End Fan 426 Posted May 19, 2021 8 minutes ago, Triple.H. said: Len Silver has always as far as i know called meetings off early in the day if it doesn't look like it can go ahead. At the end of the day if the track has taken a soaking in the preceding days it's not going to take a lot more to make it unrideable. At the end of the day he's been a promoter for donkey's years and has probably forgotten more than some of us know about the sport, the riders seem to like riding for his teams as they all seem loyal towards him as he is to them. Maybe having an old fashioned business style and paying your riders on time is the way forward. So You're a fan then ? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Triple.H. 1,986 Posted May 19, 2021 7 minutes ago, East End Fan said: So You're a fan then ? Not really,, more of a realist, When did he come back into Speedway when he bought Rye House again late 90s early 00s ? How many promoters have been and gone in that time ? People might not like him or his management style but to put it bluntly he must be doing something right 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tsunami 10,219 Posted May 19, 2021 49 minutes ago, Triple.H. said: Len Silver has always as far as i know called meetings off early in the day if it doesn't look like it can go ahead. At the end of the day if the track has taken a soaking in the preceding days it's not going to take a lot more to make it unrideable. At the end of the day he's been a promoter for donkey's years and has probably forgotten more than some of us know about the sport, the riders seem to like riding for his teams as they all seem loyal towards him as he is to them. Maybe having an old fashioned business style and paying your riders on time is the way forward. And very good when it happens. When we had double headers with Somerset on the Friday and then Rye House on the Saturday, if Len thought there was doubts about his meeting he used to ring us to tell us that on the Friday night. He then used to follow that up with a phonecall after breakfast on the Saturday morning, and if he called it off, it allowed the Newcastle team, and our travelling supporters, to head on home saving us considerable time and petrol money. I could always trust Len with his calloffs. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Triple.H. 1,986 Posted May 19, 2021 40 minutes ago, Tsunami said: And very good when it happens. When we had double headers with Somerset on the Friday and then Rye House on the Saturday, if Len thought there was doubts about his meeting he used to ring us to tell us that on the Friday night. He then used to follow that up with a phonecall after breakfast on the Saturday morning, and if he called it off, it allowed the Newcastle team, and our travelling supporters, to head on home saving us considerable time and petrol money. I could always trust Len with his calloffs. He's on a hiding to nothing calls it off early, some fans moan, call it off late some fans moan. Meeting abandoned after a few heats and loads of track work, some fans moan. Personally I think its better to make the call earlier and save everyone time and money. 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
East End Fan 426 Posted May 19, 2021 1 hour ago, Triple.H. said: He's on a hiding to nothing calls it off early, some fans moan, call it off late some fans moan. Meeting abandoned after a few heats and loads of track work, some fans moan. Personally I think its better to make the call earlier and save everyone time and money. It's a case of you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikebv 10,274 Posted May 19, 2021 3 hours ago, Triple.H. said: Not really,, more of a realist, When did he come back into Speedway when he bought Rye House again late 90s early 00s ? How many promoters have been and gone in that time ? People might not like him or his management style but to put it bluntly he must be doing something right One of Len Silvers targets seems to always have been to try and do everything to have 'weekly speedway'... Which has no doubt helped him when deciding to call off meetings, as he knows there is (usually), "always next week". Meaning dissapointed fans won't have to wait long to be back at the stadium, and he won't be 'peeing off' his customers by putting on either a very poor meeting or calling one off after it has started... For many other tracks it may be their only meeting for a month so try everything they know to get 'dodgy weather' meetings on, with often the obvious disastrous consequences for the entertainment value provided and dissatisfaction to their 'customers'... Fair play to the guy, his longevity in the sport suggests that he more than "knows his stuff"... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OldHawk 72 Posted May 25, 2021 Its a good point Cityrebel makes about the curfew and rain on the night but all in all this makes me very uncomfortable. Last Tuesday I was Walderslade (one junction away from the track) there were brief showers but the heavy rain never arrived but of course the damage could have been done. But here we are a week on and (against Eastbourne) with an even earlier call off and the forecast shows no rain today. I don't want to travel and the match to be postponed and of course paramount is rider safety but I don't think speedway can continue to be regarded as a serious sport if matches are called off at the drop of a hat. If it is dry today, I don't believe that with 8 hours to work on the track it cant make it raceable. I worry that the real reason is the general lethargy in the sport. But I do agree wet days are often not an easy call to make and indeed you cant please all of the people. Cheers Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
East End Fan 426 Posted May 25, 2021 6 hours ago, OldHawk said: Its a good point Cityrebel makes about the curfew and rain on the night but all in all this makes me very uncomfortable. Last Tuesday I was Walderslade (one junction away from the track) there were brief showers but the heavy rain never arrived but of course the damage could have been done. But here we are a week on and (against Eastbourne) with an even earlier call off and the forecast shows no rain today. I don't want to travel and the match to be postponed and of course paramount is rider safety but I don't think speedway can continue to be regarded as a serious sport if matches are called off at the drop of a hat. If it is dry today, I don't believe that with 8 hours to work on the track it cant make it raceable. I worry that the real reason is the general lethargy in the sport. But I do agree wet days are often not an easy call to make and indeed you cant please all of the people. Cheers Old Hawk, you make one mistake in your considerations. You may not be aware, but Kent stage 6 greyhound meetings every week, many of them during the day and I also learned only a few days ago that, as well as staging the dog meetings, they have to run dog trials as well which ( I think) happen every day. So I doubt if there are 8 hours available to work on the Speedway track. I have also seen for myself that when a Speedway meeting is ended, the staff pull down the back straight safety fence and load it onto a trailer, so, although I have not seen it as I am never at the stadium early enough, I must presume that before racing can start, that fence has to be erected and must take quite a while. So, Old Hawk, you need to re-consider IMO. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Skodaman 192 Posted May 27, 2021 On 5/25/2021 at 7:57 AM, OldHawk said: Its a good point Cityrebel makes about the curfew and rain on the night but all in all this makes me very uncomfortable. Last Tuesday I was Walderslade (one junction away from the track) there were brief showers but the heavy rain never arrived but of course the damage could have been done. But here we are a week on and (against Eastbourne) with an even earlier call off and the forecast shows no rain today. I don't want to travel and the match to be postponed and of course paramount is rider safety but I don't think speedway can continue to be regarded as a serious sport if matches are called off at the drop of a hat. If it is dry today, I don't believe that with 8 hours to work on the track it cant make it raceable. I worry that the real reason is the general lethargy in the sport. But I do agree wet days are often not an easy call to make and indeed you cant please all of the people. Cheers Try reading Stuart Dickson's report on the Lions Monarchs cancellation. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
