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They did, not sure it flopped, but as with so many things in Speedway it just wasn't nurtured and grown, they kind of said here you are bookies you now have the privilege of being involved in Speedway now it's up to you... instead of working with them to really make something of it.

Swings & roundabouts. Since Speedways inception the UK had the stranglehold over everyone. Raced every day of the week, asset system etc. From the mid 2000's Poland came in to some serious money and have built a product and rocketed past the UK, Sweden & Denmark & left them all for dead. For me, as the Ekstraliga has all the 💰 available, it has every right to dictate. BUT........... The UK just needs to sit tight for a bit, as the bubble is slowly deflating in Poland too. Some clubs are really struggling with their numbers over the last couple of years

I agree and we can look back with hindsight and say that it wasn’t a long term investment. I had 2 Elite tracks within an hours drive but chose to go to Rye House as I admired Len Silver and what he was trying to do for British speedway. Running 2 teams with investment in the juniors - I don’t recall many others doing that but then Len had other businesses to fall back on. I did venture to Lakeside a few times and can honestly say there was little difference in the racing - maybe Jason Crump winning every race by the length of the straight comes to mind.

Championship average last year was around £20.00 with a few charging £22 I believe .

As so many of us say... It needs a root and branch review and complete reset.. But not by anyone in the "UK Speedway Echo Chamber".. And, (most importantly) for any business, include customer Market Research... My old company would spend millions on refitting stores but not ever without me as the Store Manager previously holding several "Customer Focus Groups" with up to 200 of them in attendance.. They had the chance to tell us what they wanted, from after up to six months of disruption, and I got the chance to tell them if their wish list was feasible or not.. We also had many a "brutal" session where I got told what my store was like for shopping in.. However, again, I was able to explain some of the rationale why things were the way they were, and why some things couldn't get done.. I held forums every quarter so any comments I could resolve had a 13 week timeline to deliver before we met again... It certainly focused my attention... But also certainly improved my stores performance and growth... White Middle Aged Men running something for mainly White Middle Aged Men, simply cannot survive... Sometimes humble pie has to be eaten, and you accept that, no matter how good you are, more diverse age groups and genders can improve your business.. Two teams, 15 Heats, Seven riders per team, Four Laps per race, Guestfests and Sharing riders, etc etc etc obviously isn't cutting it... So. Find out why and do something about it... NB. As and aside I was looking at how much Sky put into the sport earlier, and the Oxford Mail covered the 2001 deal... Five years, Five Million and an added £150,000 a season to sponsor the league.. They also showed the admission fees for the then Elite League Oxford for the coming season.. £10 for an adult, which in 2025 is just under £19 allowing for inflation.. The second tier charge more than that don't they?

I've only been to live speedway a couple of time post 1992 but didn't they try getting the bookies involved previously and it flopped ?

That's a fair point, I haven't seen him often, but when I have he's always impressed me. Even when he struggled to score at Edinburgh, looked stylish & on the pace.

I remember when Simmo pulled a stroke and managed to drop down into the old second division with Hackney I've a feeling he ended up a nigh eleven point average and pretty much achieved it with his eyes closed.

And boy did those lads have a hoover up , ultimately you can't blame them as it could all be over for them tomorrow through a bad smash but I'm sure if push came to shove they would have taken a pay increase of 50k on what they had the year before but most of the promoters blew their share of the annual windfall on a 100k increase.

Maybe they were hoping for Dan Gilkes.

Yes there is, not the same but it has its problems

didnt take you long to start complaining about Lambert again for some absurd reason.

But that's the trouble isn't it? Where did that get us? One of the things that blights the sport for many people is doubling up and guests, but all we've done is pay silly money to someone to come over for a year and sod off again. I know I'm likely alone in this, but I personally don't see losing GP riders as a disaster, but what is a disaster is not having a good enough production line of young riders coming through to fill team places. It should be an embarrassment of riches rather than a desperate scrabble to scratch teams together.

Bet there is not all these issues with grass track racing.

I’m sure if Kurtz was being paid the same he wouldn’t worry about the standard - he might even enjoy it like Ivan Mauger did years ago.

Engagement with riders is something Speedway is quite good at, to a point, but it does seem to be hit and miss with some riders. Case in point is after a meeting at Leicester, Ryan Douglas always goes along the line of people after the interviews, poses for photos, signs things, shakes hands and the young kids absolutely love it. Heck I'm 40 and I love it. However the rest generally bugger off back to the pits as soon as it's done, and very rarely if at all do you ever get to meet the opposition unless you're fortunate enough to be in the pits.

Harry Redknapp. Philip Davies. What do they have in common? Gambling!! Maybe this is the real reason that Chris Louis resigned as a Director of Speedway Futures and has got out altogether? Is this all a last, desperate throw of the dice, selling the whole thing to gambling companies?

Nope couldn’t do both so as riders were the product that’s where the money went in the main.

They paid them to come to the UK with wages that competed with Poland and Sweden.

Absolutely. The other option would have been investing in training tracks and training schools, employing trainers, bulk buying equipment to get people started, paying for opportunities for young riders to compete abroad. Really they should have been able to do both, but ended up doing neither.

Certainly better than the Dane he replaced.

You don’t need additional stuff if the core product is good, you can add the extras, whatever they may be further down the line. Can’t they have an area where a mechanic, strips and builds a bike, something informative, kids sit on it after, photo ops with the team or individual riders pre or post meet/signatures. Build some affinity, something engaging close up. It’s not going to add numbers, but surely it’s a small win at no cost.

done good last year i thought

What's wrong with making a profit on your way out?

Now available on ebay