Chris116

I think the narrowest track I have seen racing at was Romford.

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Wimbledon had large stands all around the track but living two miles away our next door neighbours always knew when the racing was on as they could hear both the bikes and the cars, and they knew which was racing by the length of the races. Sound barriers cost a fortune for very little effect except as a sop to the NIMBY's.

Spedeworth TV covers the car racing at Ipswich and all their other tracks for £12 a month!

Since we came out of lockdown I have had three meals with my wife in restaurants and a Stock Car meeting at Aldershot which is just under an hour by train and then a 30 minute walk. Sadly I have not got to a speedway meeting and doubt if I will this year. My wife normally does four or five trip abroad each year and will not be doing any for the time being. Both of us are getting rather fed up with life.

Can I ask exactly where the details of the British Championship being held at Ipswich are? I have looked on the speedwaygb site and also on the Ipswich website and neither make any mention of it and while other places can do good advertising I would have thought that the two I mention should be among the first places for such news to appear.

We also need to remember that the size of the crowd has to be limited so if NDL meetings normally cost £13 with around 600 paying fans the admission price has to go up if only 400 are allowed by the rules in force at the moment. Last season I went to two meetings on the Isle of Wight and paid my £13 admission plus around £40 in train and boat fares from London. If the Warriors were to run a meeting this season (they have said they are not going to) I would expect the admission to be £14 or £15 and be quite happy to pay that amount.

The Stock Car promotions are asking that you wear a mask at all times inside the stadium so I would expect Speedway to be the same. I went to Aldershot on 26th July and the person in front of me at the entrance explained to the staff member that they could not wear a mask for medical reasons and was allowed in but told to keep away from other spectators so that they did not catch or pass on anything.

Wimbledon was opened in 1928 and ran until the team was moved to Eastbourne before it returned in the Conference league for a short time. Nice new stadium being built so all that needs to happen is to get AFC Wimbledon to move out!

Most sports events that are running also accept the email being shown on your phone. Before the virus arrived many of the smaller concert venues preferred you to not print the ticket so not having a working printer should not be a problem.

Speedway Updates now changed to show Leon Flint with 4 points. The original tweet by SpeedwayGB also said 3 points but the BSPL report said 4 like the FIM say. Seems that wrong information has been coming from more than one source which is not a good advert for the sport but at least all the sites now have the same information.

That is as stated on speedway updates but the lead report on the BSPL website incorrectly says he scored 4.

It is a shame that the speedwaygb site gives Leon Flint's score as 3 in one place and 4 in another. Having checked speedway updates, he scored 3 and appears to have suffered machine problems. Well done to Tom Brennan and better fortunes in the future to Leon.

I have watched all the Virtual Skid meetings but only one of them at the time they are first shown. I suspect many people watch them the next day or later in the evening.

Very sorry to see that Warriors will not have any meetings this year but totally agree with the reasoning and wish Barry and Martin all the best for a successful future.

Yes, that is very true. It is true that the international meetings due to take place for National Hot Rods, F1 and F2 Stock Cars and possibly Superstox have all been cancelled due to the limited crowds that are being allowed.

Nothing, hopefully!

There are some important differences between stock cars and speedway when it comes to the promotions. Speedway is a part time job for the promotions who have other jobs to provide the funds that enable them to run the speedway whereas most of the stock car promotions have offices and staff working seven days a week throughout the year with some running five or six meetings during a week in the summer which means that Spedeworth run more meetings in three weeks than are in the normal speedway season. Autospeed, Incarace and Startrax also run a lot more meetings than any speedway track sees in a season.

While the lower cost of track preparation is true on tarmac tracks both sports have costs for track preparation for shale tracks. Incarace spent a fortune to put shale down at Northampton and have to do a lot of work between meetings to keep a smooth racing surface. Without that work you get tracks like Nelson was where a scrambles racer would have been unhappy with the track surface. As a fan of both sports (I am going to Aldershot on 26th July meeting) I think the problem that speedway has is the international nature of the riders. It is notable that the World finals for BriSCA F1 and F2 Stock Cars plus National Hot Rods have all been cancelled due to the problems with travel and needing a much fuller stadium than can be allowed at the moment. Speedway at NDL level and below is ready to run at some tracks with the same rules as apply to Stock Car crowds.

The only Spedeworth formulae that paid to race were the Rookie Rods and Bangers. The National Bangers were sometimes paid start money and the BriSCA Formula One Stock Cars are paid start money. However no drivers make any money out of the sport these days although some claim to nearly break even.

While what you say was true up until the virus stuck, the new normal is that drivers have to pay £25 to race and that will kill the number of entries which will kill interest in the sport. The meetings at Ipswich on 25th July and at Aldershot on 26th July will have drivers paying to race in National Hot Rods, Superstox and 2 Litre Hot Rods. They will also feature crowds for the first time. Exactly how many will be allowed in is not known at present but as the Superstox are racing at Aldershot i hope to be among those who see the meeting, I just hope the car numbers make it worthwhile as small grids can be like watching a bad case of gate and go at Speedway.

That is exactly what Spedeworth are doing at Ipswich and Aldershot for their first two meetings.

So is the meeting against Berwick or Hull?

If you wanted narrow you went to Romford. The handlebars of the all the riders were touching each other at the start!

I only got to two meetings last year having only missed one Rye House meeting the previous year. I enjoyed my two days on the Isle of Wight and was looking forward to going two or three times this season. As well as missing Speedway, I am also missing my Superstox meetings, guarding on the Mid Hants Railway and going to Country music concerts. So Speedway is one of the four things I am missing due to the damn virus. Stay safe and hope for a better future.