martinmauger

Just thinking out loud, don't and have never followed rugby league so no idea of their season, my only reason to visit rugby grounds has been when speedway has been staged within....

Think Scunny have a long term lease on the land there but possiby don't actually own the site, probably Scunny council do ?...

Odasl would probably be good GP venue if the track could be widened quite a bit, say after the rugby league season when pitches are usually completely dug up and relaid anyway, sadly think it's too big to be economical for a league speedway venue. As others have said, we have the very excellent NSS at Belle Vue so best to concentrate on increasing the crowd capacity there....

Good to see so many riders do a lap of honour and wave to the crowd and enjoy doing it. A couple of times at Scunny I've seen teams where their fans, including children - hopefully the fans of the future, will have travelled 100's of miles in support, yet their riders couldn't manage an extra 300m or so to them a wave....

When Hull Vikings won the treble in 2004, the attendances hardly went up at all, staying at circa 1,100 - 1,200,. Like with the Comets I'm sure the amount paid out for higher points in 2004, as all those hugely enjoyable home & away pastings with trophys won almost for fun had to paid for, had a huge & similar impact on the club the following season. Think the final speedway crowd at Craven Park in 2005, when the Vikings closed with 2 matches outstanding, was around 650 ....

What Dean says is true; in the old Weslake days speedway bikes revved to around 9,000RPM, now they often rev to 12,000 or more (!), which is too much for a 4-stroke single cylinder engine. A bit like riding a regular i.e. not sporty, bike on the road or driving your car in 1st or 2nd gear all the time. There was an excellent 'lockdown interview', could been by Lee Ashby ?, with Shawn Tacey and one of the posted questions was if 'speedway bikes rev more and produce more power, why aren't more track records being broken ?'. Tacey said due to the higher revs and modern tyres the back wheel is spinning so many more RPMs faster, I forget the actual figures quoted, & tracks are slicker to cope so not producing hardly any more speed, if any. I recall a series of Speedway Star articles on the Czech Golden Helmet meeting in Pardbuce (sp?), the 'Star' interviewing winners like Jeremy Doncaster & Jason Doyle. I forget which it was but one said he was amazed that the winner's times in the older 2valve JAWA days with spindly telepscopic forks and lower power outputs were not that different from more the modern machinery of higher revvimg GMs with leading link forks, better frames etc. Think this was when Ole Olsen semi-seriously suggested changing back to 2 v JAWAs, I don't think the Pardubice (sp?) track has changed since it was built, possibly a bit slicker surface ?. So, yeah, as Dean said; spend more to stay the same....

Jumping in very late; Bewley still won though admittedly only just made the final. Still not a huge fan of the format as riders really just need to pace themselves to score ideally 9 or more to make the semis, finish top 2 to transfer to the final itself then go flat out, Smarzlik does this and makes it work so gotta say good luck to him.....

Bewley did it again, this time he kicked the Poles backsides in their own backyard. Look out Smarzlik, Dan Bewley is coming to get you !...

Me too , loved that, if the Poles gated on him they may have made it, difficult, either way Dan IS The Man of Cardiff 2022. Get in !...

Heard on BBC Radio2 this morn "we are on our way to the Principality Stadium in Cardiff for the Speedway GP, shout out to all the riders", from Martin Jones think it was, either way good on him. Tough luck for Ellis after all the issues re; missing last year & British Final....

The return of speedway to Birmingham was a tremendous achievement, with Brian Buck himself involved in no small way. Thing is, some, not all, local authorities & stadia owners just don't want speedway no way, no how, and refuse to even entertain the idea despite the sport bringing more people and therefore more spending into an area. Sad fact....

Thanks for 2022 rule update. Musta bin another year when a championship was decided by a coin toss, pretty sure it happened though; poss Tony Briggs / Dennis Sigalos / Ron Preston / (early) Tommy Knudsen & Erik Gundersen U21 era ?...

Nutshell: Not sure of the exact regs or rider opinions on then night but as the meeting didn't reach a satisfactory result to 'just let the previous winner keep the title' is a new rule on me. Obviously very disapponting to the riders well in the running, gotta feel for Harris & Brennan in particular, and surely once the meeting, pretty much any meeting, starts there is no holder of the title as it is effectively vacant and so up for grabs. Of the top of my head way back 1977 the then World Junior Final, now World U21, after 3 rides each (I think) the meeting was rained off with Joe Owen & Alf Busk, and maybe Les Collins, tied on 9 points so a coin toss decided the winner, which was Busk. Ok many moons ago and an FIM event, opposed to an SCB / BSPL meeting, but the coin toss was between the two 2 (or 3) leading riders at the time of the stoppage. (can't recall anymore as it's 2.49am & I'm v tired) TBF Ellis didn't look too happy at still being British Champion and securing the Cardiff GP Wild Card given the circumstances, but sadly the 2022 British Final had an unsatisfactory ending for everyone.....

Yeh I was there, but kinda wished I wasn't, terrible crash hope Kennedy is ok, a real 100% trier bringing entertainment and enjoyment in spades, wishing him all the very best ....

Cold, cold ?! I laugh in your general direction (cleaned up Monty Python quote) . At Hull's Craven Park it was ALWAYS cold, benefitting as it did from the 'cool freeshing breeze' directly off the River Humber . Tip for Monarchs promotion:- BEFORE you start digging for the new, planned Edinburgh West Lothian Comunity Stadium - hold a wetted finger in the air to check from where the wind blows, fans will thank you in the future. But seriously, best of luck with the new stadium; remember 'wetted finger in the air'...

Text editor issues, double post....

I was at Scunny on Sunday and can confirm Masters took one heck of a knock on1st bend of ht5, dunno about his track perferences but he easily won Ht1 after blasting from gate 4 like a scalded cat, winning by almost length of the straight....

All the very best to Dave, family & friends, hope he has a quick and complete recovery....

Track & set up looking good. Even better (?) are the raised viewing areas, speedway looks so much better when viewing the track from at least a bit of height....

Speaking as a neutral; some of the racing last nite was brilliant, the likes of Douglas, Allen, Worrall, Lawson & King (late on) gave terrific entertainment, loved it. A meeting where you could've dragged non-fans 'kicking & screaming' (!) to watch and they would've said "that was great, I can understand why you enjoy speedway". Good stuff ....

Jumping in late, don't always agree with Rob Godfrey but he did good by fans allowing re-admission tics for Leicester match to be used, I was due to attend that meet but couldn't last minute due to, reasons. So Scunny v Redcar, never really fan of afternoon meetings as tracks dry out and go slick, it happens, but the racing got better and main thing I enjoyed it and will defo return. (I'd have returned anayway as I love speedway). Oh, and I musta missed any announcement but is the ever-trying Connor Coles a permanent replacement for the desperately unlucky Joe Alcock ?......

And in days of yore people said the likes of Exeter, Hull (Boulevard), Newport (Somerton Park) & Newcastle (early 1960's) were a tad bumpy . Still, it was experience for the riders not used to such choppy comditions and hopefully the riders who spilled weren't too badly shook up. And new GP scoring takes a bit of getting used to, not 100% sold on it myself but it is what it and being speedway could well change at the end of the current season....

In echoing other posts I can fully reccomend a visit. The building is absolutely packed to the rafters from floor to ceiling with so much amazing speedway memorbilia: 'amazing' is such an over-used word these days but it definately applies here. For various reasons I was only able to spend 30-40 mins looking round when at the very least an hour needs to be put aside. Bikes (2 Mauger machines), race bibs - many framed (at least 1 Hull), leathers, kevlars, posters, the Wembley display, the late 'Simon Wigg Collection' etc, etc, so much to see, and fill in visual clues in the speedway memory bank of riders and teams of not only yesteryear but also current riders, there being some Jason Crump items also. I was shown round by a very pleasant chap, a Teeside Tigers fan - I forget his name, and he told me they have so many more items to display that they could change nearly the displays regularly if they so wished. Most of the current speedway books were on sale together with old Speedway Stars, programmes, model riders, greetings cards, model bikes and a few mugs I recall. The Paradise WIldlife Park is also to be reccomended with talks and animal ability displays and look out for the scale-corrected 'Animal Olympics' 100m video race between various creatures from insects to the cheetah; not telling who wins. It's almost worth it just for the animal race, LOL! Really a full day needs putting aside to visit the speedway museum, look at the animals then return to the museum for another look to pick up things you missed on your first lap, then visit Rye House Speedway which is literally just down the road. The museum is of course situated in the PWP which is clearly signposted off the A10 on the way to Rye House, entry is £16 with the museum effectively free. Ask about the speedway musuem on entering the park as it isn't open all of the time but they will happily open it up for you. A defo must see for any speedway fan....

Correct me if I'm wrong (or I didn't pay sufficient attenion) but don't think cameras showed the home stand last nite. My point being when the YTV Trophy was filmed at Hull, Boulevard 1974-81 often few fans stood on the terracing at either end, while both stands on the straights were packed, so would give the impression hardly anyone was there. Just sayin'....

Jumping in late: I watched the event live at a mate's house and then the hi-lites on Quest; it came across great and people watching may just think "wow that looks cool I'll check that out", hopefully they may do. Just a tiny critique, think the text graphics are still a bit too small. The hi-lites package 24 ish hours later on Quest came across good too, better if were shown at 10 or 11pm as opposed to midnite. But Discovery have produced an excellent TV slot for speedway....