Chadster

Is there any possibility of entering into negotiations with the Swedes and the Danes to ask them to change their race nights to Monday and Thursday, giving Britain protected Tuesday and Wednesday? I don't know whether Tuesday and Wednesday are sacrosanct in Seden and Denmark. I recognise that people will say why should they change but a programme of Poland on Sunday, Sweden on Monday, Britain on Tuesday and Wednesday and Denmark on Thursday would probably make for less travelling for riders and might enable them to perform better.

I accept that race suits are good for uniformity and professionalism, but that Sheffield suit is ridiculously fussy, odd bits of blue, black and white with a tiny splash of yellow. I'd make the same obsevation about the Ipswich and Belle Vue suits from what I've seen. One of the things that's being lost in this fussiness is team identity and particularly through the use of team colours. Anyone looking at those Sheffield suits would have a hard job guessing that the club colours, which you'd prsumably want to use on publicity etc, are blue and yellow.

I like the red top on the front cover; took me right back to the 60s. Could we have a black and white photo to go with it? Seriously, I do like the new style presentation.

I never went to Harringay so it was just the scarves that got me thinking. Agree with you about the commitment of those riders in those days, especially for the Aces and Odsal travelling to the 5 London tracks. Most of the riders would have one bike, transported in the boot of their car. Looking at the photo again, another thing that struck me was the number of women spectators. Would have been unusual in others sports at the time, I would imagine.

Thank you! Amazing what conclusions you can draw from the colours in a black and white photo!

This is a photo of Harringay from the excellent Defunct Speedways site. It looks to me like the riders in the original photo are walking by the picket fence running down from the stand to the dog track.

The fans in the stadium shot appear to be wearing a mix of colours that are dark and light, maybe the blue and yellow of Harringay?

I remember a meeting in 1975, Belle Vue beating Coventry by 49-29. Not much to write home about, it might seem but for two of the best races I've ever seen, Alan Wilkinson and Nigel Boocock going at it hammer and tongs for 4 laps and Booey both times winning it with a last bend pass. Terrific stuff and almost as good was the respect between the two rivals after each race. They obviously enjoyed it as much as I did.

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You're right, of course but those fixtures would be a lot less attractive if you were riding West Ham, Hackney etc twice in the League and then twice more in 'challenge' matches and then if their riders were in a Southern Riders Championship, which you derided, probably for that reason. Some of the most fiercely contested meetings I saw at Plough Lane were the early season challenges against Hackney, the league matches always seemed desultory.

Belle Vue was the same in the late 60s and early 70s when I was watching there. The Belle Vue management wanted people out of the speedway by 9.00pm and into the amusement arcades etc. There was a story that the clerk of the course had his own unofficial 2 minute buzzer if he felt the ref was tardy. My recollection was that as riders came in off one heat the riders for the next heat were being pushed off. I go to relatively few meetings these days but slow presentation is a regular annoyance when I do go.

I think those regional title meetings worked when each team visited only once a season so it might offer another chance to see a top star at your track

I believe Keith Chapman has suggested 'The Only Way is Up' by Yazz.

Tokyo Melody at Belle Vue, Blazeaway at Wimbledon.

This was in an era when teams met in the league once at home and once away and when guests were far less prevalent. So these individual meetings would be a chance to see riders for only the second time that season. Sadly, that doesn't apply now and it may be a reason why Test matches are not considered, because it would just be the same riders you've seen several times before.

I recognised Bengt Jannson, Dave Morton and Eric Broadbelt. Mike Patrick, too

When I attended the NSS there was a piece in the programme about welcoming old riders back, but on WSRA terms. It was accompanied by a photo of Eric Broadbelt on a recent visit. I think the people on here who have been critical of PC's stance have all expressed their great admiration for him as a rider and their reluctance to be critical. Of course, we also have the timely reminder from nw42 of the health issues which should always be borne in mind.

Any kind of tactical substitution system in any sport will produce a 'false result'. In football, for example, teams with strong squads (usually the bigger clubs) have the capacity to make changes which influence matches much more effectively than the majority of teams and yet no-one decries a football result in which a substitute scores the winner as being a 'false result'. The double points rule contibutes, with guests and doubling up, to an impression of speedway as not quite a serious sport. Of those mentioned, I think doubling up is a more serious issue.

The old tac sub rule was less offensive because it was very closely linked to what happened in other sports such as football or rugby. Is there another sport which has a double point rule like speedway? I can't think of one.. Tac subs also allowed out of touch riders to be replaced, whereas at the moment you see reports of meetings were a rider is taking 5 or 6 rides and scoring only 2 or 3 points. I can accept that promoters might not want to pay star men for an extra ride but instead of double points perhaps choice of gate positions might be a better tactical option

Seems a valid original posting to me. Quite a few posts suggest that speedway is currently at its lowest ebb, but things were a lot worse in the late 50s/early 60s. Maybe the solutions then might be valid now. It's also worth pointing out that 10 years after the article was published, the second division was established and fuelled a great boom in British speedway. So things can change dramatically over a relatively short period of time.

Would this new 10 team Premiership be riding once at home and once away? Can't see a 9 meeting home season going down well but on the other hand the big guns that are supposedly wanting to ride over here always say they don't want too many meetings here. If the big guns do come back it will buck the trend which the BSPA seems to have established over the past few seasons of bringing the leagues closer together.

Thanks! That rather confirmed my impression. Hopefully, things will improve soon.

Last night was my firs visit to the NSS. I left feeling disappointed, having seen so many great races there on TV. The two memorable races were for 2nd/3rd place. It seemed to be that the guy in second on both occasions lost out by trying to catch the rider in front and was riding slightly the wrong line. Last night there seemed to be one really fast line out wide. Perhaps regular attenders could comment on whether the track was prepared differently to usual. One thing that struck me was that Cook was very reluctant to try the outside line, continually trying to work his way through on the inside. I'd have thought he'd have worked it out after his first ride. Maybe he had bike problems?

I hope this works out. It's good to see an attempt to offer something to the community and hopefully that will be a way forward for this and other potential new tracks.

The problem with extensive rider commitments these days is that it would be almost impossible to organise, certainly for the major nations. Back in the day, Poland or Sweden would come over and ride 5 or 6 meetings in 8 - 10 days but there's no chance of that happening now. A way forward might be to invite teams from some emerging nations (Germany or Latvia, for example) to send a team to ride against our under23s, with the possibility of a reciprocal tour. It's most important for our younger riders to get experience and exposure on the continent