E I Addio

Looking back over old programmes it is surprising the number of riders that my memory tells me were very good weren’t actually all that consistent, it’s just that I have been judging them on the basis of a few great races I remember and one tends to forget the ones they don’t do so well.

They are to all intents and purposes, the public face of speedways administrative body. They are by far the worst leaders the sport has ever seen. Both are totally inarticulate, totally unimaginative , totally unable to project themselves or the sport, totally unable and unwilling to comunicate with the fans in a meaningful way, and totally unable to seriously consider any outlook on the sport but their own. Other promiters may have simialar flaws but these are the two front men who should be selling the sport. Quite seriously, what progress has the sport made since they have taken over the reins , despite Chapmans bluster at the outset ? They are the worst of a bad bunch. Beyond useless.

So if we say, in general terms, the quality of the racing is roughly the same as it's always been, some good meetings, some not so good, then as long as there are not too many bad meetings, we can say it's not the quality of the racing that turns people away. Obviously there are a lot more ways to spend your leisure time today than there were 30 or 40 years ago, and less and less people want to stand around in stadiums all evening because it's not just Speedwáy that has suffered. Dog racing has suffered heavily and stick cars are not doing as well as they used to. So if we say that is not the on track action that had turned fans away, at least not in great numbers, it has to be the off track issues like presentation and the cheating which to my mind is a major factor , even though it was probably always there to a point. If it is the off track issues that are the problem then that falls back in the lap of the BSPA. Unless and until the likes of Godfrey and Chapman take a long look at themselves and take their share of responsibility, nothing will change.

If the future of the sport is in the hands of Godfrey and Chapman we might as well shut up shop now . Godfrey behaviour last season was beyond the pale. As 50+ year follwer of the sport since knee high to a grasshopper, I now find motivation to see another meeting ver difficult, and it’s almost entirely due to Godfreys machinations last year. The sport can’t afford to lose a single fan yet Godfrey has just turned thousands away. The man is a complete and utter plonker. As one promoter said to me last season, the way things are going we will finish up with the same two teams facing each other eeek after week, nothing else left.

So let’s get this right. You start a thread asking a question you already know the answer to, and which nobody has the slightest interest in, and when challenged you try to tell us your reason for starting it was to see if Iris 123 would trail you . Of course you didn’t expect him to catch you out by pointing out that it was just another of your attention seeking scams. Take notice of what Chunky says and stop making a complete fool of yourself.

Jack Young, Adam Shields, Dave Watt, Nick Morris, Geoff Mudge , Aub Lawson, Leigh Adams, Jason. Crump,

A excellent choice, if I may say so Mr Bold, although I have liked to include the Hurri-Ken himself, namely the immaculate Mr McKinlay.

The duplicity of the BSPA general and Rob Godfrey in particular knows no bounds. My utmost sympathy to Worky fans. It was Godfreys interference in the fixture list that created the problem.You can bet your bottom dollar that if Scunthorpe were in Workys situation acw@y round it would have been found. Still more money in the BSPA coffers and another promoter who loves the sport forced out.

Yes, I agree 100%, but it raises the question " when is a troll not a troll?" , in other words , how do you draw the line between the genuine trolls, and those that are just plain thick, or socially inept or attention seekers or like others to think they have inside information when they don't, and all these other things that are irritable to most of us but not exactly trolling Bottom line is, it's a public forum and you can't ban people just because you don't like the way they express themselves. You are right though. I haven't looked at the Premiership section since the season finished and usually only have cursory glance at the Championship section, for the reasons you state. In a sense it reflects the way the sport in general is going, which is a shame because I have met some great people through Speedwáy.

You have a report facility on each post. If you don't like something that has been said you can always report it. No good moaning about the mods if you don't use the report facility they have given you.

Instead of attention seeking it would be a good thing if you got yourself informed on what the petition is for. It is not for a debate. You can go on the Thurrock council website and keep up with the news if you are genuinely interested instead of putting stupid post on here, so toddle off.

I remember him guesting for Lakeside. He fell and dislocated his shoulder . He still went out I his next race, in a lot of pain to crawl round at about 20m.p.h. To collect third place in a three rider race to collect the single point that gave Lakeside the narrow win. Considering the amount of pain he was in, and the fact that he wasn't even a Lakeside rider, just a guest, it was one of the most courageous rides I have ever seen. He would have been quite justified in withdrawing from the meeting. If ever a rider deserved more success, Adam did. Best wishes for the future Adam.

The other thing is that when the 211 fans turned up it was at the end of that run of rain offs and double headers we half the time we didn't know whether matches were on or off. The last meeting at Lakeside drew a huge crowd and the crowds at Rye were pretty good at first till it was all messed up with the weather. its also the case that the stock car crowds were falling off dramatically in the last few years, only kept up by a few big meetings per year. If the stocks were more profitable it's unlikely the owners would have pulled out as early as they did.

Based on how Morris perfumed at Lakeside last year I would say that Wolves is a great move for both rider and club. If Morris is given a good racing surface ( which he will get at Wolves) he will be a very entertaining rider to watch I am sure. Pretty good gater, and decent overtaker when he doesn't make the start.. He rapidly became one of my favourite riders last season. He also seems very professional in his set up. Its only the poor racing surface at Swindon last season that kept his average down after a few bad knocks caused by the track. I wish Nick and Wolves well for the season.

Yeah, but dullards like Chapman and Godfrey see that the other way round.

Viewing is personal preference. I never minded going to RH a couple of times a year when the weather was nice and ejoyed the close up viewing but I wouldnt want it every week and for regular viewing I much preferred Arena, where I could always see the whole track from the main stand or entry to bend 1. As for racing, what you said is simply not true.Rye House is a converted stock car track. It is also a small track that rides like a big track, I.e.full throttle and if a half decent rider makes the gate and keeps the throttle open he won't be caught, especially as the straights are relatively narrow. . As for Lakeside being too flat, you only have to stand on the stock car track at the apex of the Speedwáy bends and you will see the Speedwáy bends are banked to around knee knee height. The racing at Lakeside was improved when the shape was changed to give more width going into the bends. Neil Middleditch described Arena as a thinking mans track, in other words a rider has to be thinking two steps ahead of where he is on the track all the time. Kelvin Tatum said that because it is mentally demanding a lot of riders are beaten in their minds before the race even starts. I think referee Chris Gay summed Arena up pretty well, he said Arena was not the best track he officiated at but it is in the top half. Unfortunately you, like several others on here want to impose your opinions as being absolute right or wrong, but there are plenty of long term Lakeside fans who take the opposite view. To see a rider like Peter Karlsson going from last to first with one of his famous cut backs, or riders like Ed Kennett or Lewis Bridger scraping the air fence and firing themselves off the banking at Arena is as good as you'll see anywhere. The great thing about Britsh Speedwáy is that all tracks are different and the style of racing is different. The problem is that some fans are too closed-minded to acknowledge that.

I can see the logic of a one minute warning even though personally, I think it's a bit harsh. My point though, is that the issue is not whether the pit gate is opened or closed, it's a matter of having a fixed time interval in which the riders have to be back at the tapes.

Opening or closing pit gates is irrelevant . All it needs is for the ref to put two minutes on immediately. If he does that ( which to ne fair many of them do), it doesn't matter whether the rider stays on the track, phones his girlfriend , or goes off and powders his nose, he still has to be back on the start in two minutes, which is hardly a massive delay.

Let’s hope those in charge learn by this. They have to get the fixture list sorted. We have Ipswich fans, for example, having had 13 meetings and a season that finished in early August while others e.g. Lakeside Peterborough and Worky , with great gaps in the fixture list sometimes weeks between meetings then rushing to get meetings in before November.

It would be a big improvement if they were.

Adam is poular whichever club he rides for. I ‘d have him back at Lakeside any day. When he left the club a few years ago he told me that he found the track difficult but wanted to come back eventually and master track because he knew itwould make him a better rider. Trrue to his word he came back this year and has been superb.More tothe point he has been a great team man. Good all round bloke and good rider. Can’t fault him. Any club that gets him next year will be lucky.

He was, but Wards post was at best pathetic and childish so he can hardly complain. Nobody with a shred of decency gloats over Wards injuries, but his childish mentality existed long before he was injured. His post was intended to be provocative and ouch was provoked. That’s about all there is to it.

I love Rob Gofreys comment : “ There was risk of damaging the credibility of the sport........”

Lambert and Kurtz are both a bit strange looking though aren’t they ? A bit odd around the eyes I would say.

That isn’t clear. It was originally listed on the BSPA site as a 2.30 start but when the line up was confirmed on the 20th Sept the start was given as 1 pm. It’s not clear why it was changed or whether the BSPA site was wrong ( not for the first time ) when the time was stated as 2.30.Nothing to suggest it either was or wasn’t changed at Lakesides request.