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foamfence

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Posts posted by foamfence

  3. Posted · Edited by foamfence

    18 minutes ago, orion said:

    Yet again it not what you said no one even spoke about the money ..you said the standard of the rider makes no difference to the crowds ..so I ask again if NL rides  were riding at Cardiff next week would the crowd be the same ..it's not hard its just yes or no 

    Cardiff is a unique event, if the league had to re-structure and teams had to lessen their averages, it might make a slight difference. Anyway It looks to be heading that way whatever changes are made. Land is too valuable, tracks are too inaccessible and people have different leisure priorities. I can see the day when about a dozen tracks hold meetings clustered around weekends and Bank Holidays, using riders who work in other jobs through the week. I don't think the sport will stop but I think it'll change greatly.

    • Like 2

  4. Posted

    23 minutes ago, orion said:

    So why don't the National league have big crowds then if it's not about the standard of rider ..why don't they have just juniors rather than Tai and co  next week at Cardiff ? after all using your logic the crowd would  be  the same .

    This is a big  problem old people who are happy to watch anything and  think that is  how the rest of world think ..you can see why speedway has the problems it got , . anyhow I got a great plan lets cut the standard again so the crowds drop it's not worked for the last  20 years so lets try it again 

    We are simply debating opinions here but in mine I think if we splashed out on more top stars (especially when you consider their wage demands), you would get tracks closing at an even faster rate than now, it just wouldn't work, you either go with what you can afford or you go out of business, same on the high street where only the cheapo stores selling downmarket rubbish survive. Cardiff does well but it's a one off that has become a tradition for many but it isn't a patch on Belle Vue but even the international meetings there don't do brilliantly. Imagine Zmarzlik at Belle Vue (or any other track), you'd need an extra two to three thousand more just to pay his wages, you wouldn't get them, then look at the state of most stadiums and tracks, the majority need bulldozing and replacing.

    • Like 3

  5. Posted

    29 minutes ago, orion said:

    It's get shouted down because putting the standard down  is one of the main problems speedway has and why crowds have drop and stadiums are shutting down ..of course when this happens the answer is the lower  the standard again .

    The same old people who reckon 7 juniors on a sat night with no guests is somehow the way forward ..

    If you can't afford caviar you get scraps at the chip oyle.

    • Haha 1

  6. Posted

    5 minutes ago, moxey63 said:

    Belle Vue's Hyde Road was bulldozed for car auctions. Sometimes outside forces influence things. Perhaps Stoke's closure isn't entirely the sport's fault. You can follow a team loyally for decades and yet this happens. Speedway is so cruel and its existence hangs by a thread. Sort it out, promoters. 

    And the man who looked to be it's saviour turned out to be the reaper.

    • Like 1

  7. Posted

    1 minute ago, mikebv said:

    Run it like a proper team sport with credibility?

    Run it to a budget that makes it sustainable for you rather than reflecting the costs your employees stump up?

    Run it on nights when your customers tell you they can get there, not when your employees tell you they can get there.?

    Stop sharing employees who see you as the lowest paying employer out of the three they have..?

    Set an admission fee reflective of what you offer to the public, not one which needs to try and cover ridiculous salary levels which are far in excess of what a sport with such a poor following can ever hope to maintain.. ?

    A few starters for ten...

    I agree with that but it would mean reverting to one league and initially a lower standard of rider, fine by me but every time anyone suggests it on here they get shouted down.

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1

  8. Posted

    1 minute ago, mikebv said:

    "What in earth is happening?"

    Years and years of promoters ignoring the feedback from disenfranchised and disillusioned fans is 'happening' so British Speedway continues to reap what it has sowed..

    Be interesting to see if those left finally change a wholly unfit for purpose operating model before any more tracks close...?

    Somehow I doubt it as surely they would have done so over the last decade or so, when it was clear year on year it wasn't working...

    What would you suggest, you have the best track there's ever been in this country and still it has pathetic crowds?

    • Like 3

  10. Posted

    44 minutes ago, scunny1 said:

    We don't have a team of gaters, but rather a team of racers that like to ride the fence. On many occasions this season we have not had an outside line. That is where we have missed a trick . Perhaps the track curator should go to the after meeting riders get together and listen to what his team riders think of the track.

    Are you sure that he doesn't or that messages aren't passed on from management and above? Most riders like an easy to ride track and don't give a hoot about what things look like from the other side of the fence.

  11. Posted

    10 hours ago, scunny1 said:

    Was the track so great this year?  Myself, other fans and some of the riders themselves think the track has not been up to previous year's standard. Rob needs to listen to what his riders want, rather than what track conditions he wants to produce.

    It's listening to what the riders want that has lead to most tracks becoming boring and processional.

    • Like 6

  16. Posted

    13 minutes ago, steve roberts said:

    'Wilkie' was an extremely tough competitor but I would like to think fair. I well recall the time at Cowley when he objected to some offence and came striding out of the pits and ripped the tapes from their sockets to the boos of the crowd. However he was well respected by his rider colleagues (John Davis amongst them) and was fiiercely loyal to his team mates. His great buddy, Chris Pusey, never really got over Wilkie's accident apparently.

    In my years (50s onwards) as a spectator, mechanic and sponsor, those three stood out as being unpopular, they might well have been adored by their own fans etc but I was going by the thread title.

    • Like 1

  18. Posted

    43 minutes ago, Mark said:

    Yesterday I said Hancock deserved a card for only sentimental reasons. Services to speedway and a farewell tour.  But having thought more I'd ask what more would he bring to the series that a young rider like Lambert or Mickelson would do.

    The answer is he would bring less.  There is no chance of Hancock riding a race like Lambert did to beat Lindgren at Teterow.  That was exciting to watch.  

    So my view is Sorry Greg you are out but maybe hand him a GP wild card in a couple of GP's so he gets a chance to say Goodbye.   Warsaw in front of 50000 a lovely way to finish or Torun.

    That was a brilliant race but sadly he doesn't yet produce many, in fact his giving way to pressure is often disappointing, much as I'd like more Brits in the GPs, I don't really think he's quite ready yet.

  20. Posted

    3 minutes ago, heathen chemistry said:

    i carnt believe folks talking about dropping harris, come play off he is the one rider you need in your team, look what he did last year at poole , ipswich could well be at poole some time in the play offs

    another point id make is does anyone think it rather a little bit suspect that  ipswich and poole have suffered massive losses then made huge signings just in time for the play offs , speedway still a numbers game , worrall's average is 5.22 how can THJ average be below that?

     

    'carnt' disagree.

  23. Posted

    7 minutes ago, moxey63 said:

    It would be nice for any track to return. But why do we want to revive a failing speedway that couldn't make it pay when it had just won the Elite League? Odsal was too big for domestic activity but  could be kept in the background should Cardiff kick it out. 

    No need for it, we have Belle Vue which is a better track than Odsal ever was.

    • Like 1
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