motospeedway-espana

Hi 'DK Rides Again', I have only just picked up on this thread so my apologies for the delay in replying to straighten the record. Am not too sure what IIRC means but it gives me the impression that you disbelieve what actually happened to us out there. Money did indeed become a problem even though their was £25K in place ready to take us through to opening the circuit we would have needed to source at least another similar amount to replace the tools, riding equipment and workshop equipment that was stolen. There was never any question of lack of inclination as we had not got ourselves that far in the first place, however, when you are living and working on your own in the middle of nowhere and your life is threatened by a convicted armed robber from the UK (who openly admitted to me on several occasions that he had shot security guards during various robberies) because i would not lend him 2000Euros to get in on a big cocaine deal it tends to undermine your ability to focus on the job in hand and eventually i was forced to return to the UK after suffering a breakdown, which i have no shame in admitting. If you see this as a lack of inclination then so be it, we were beaten pure and simply by the system over there and eventually the systematic robbing of the bulk of our brand new riding gear (60 helmets, 70 suits of body-armour, 60/70 Wulfsport race suits plus googles and gloves), thankfully no bikes were taken showing that all the kit stolen would be sold on to moto-crossers, a sport that is huge in Spain. Three and a half years to get full permission to build the workshop/changing facilities and open the track would have tried anyones patience especially after investing some £250k in buying the land, landscaping it, shipping everything we had out to Spain and kitting out the school with 40 bikes and riding equipment, not to mention tractor, jcb, water bowser, the list goes on. In the end for our own sanity and the sake of our relationship we were forced to abandon the project, so you may diss what has been said and what has been written although a two page interview with Peter Oakes in the Speedway Star went into lots of detail about the problems we came up against, it's obviously a shame you missed it or you would have been a bit better informed before you made your own judgement. There is no disgrace in trying and giving something everything you have in trying to make it work, the real disgrace is for someone who sits on his/her arse doing nothing constructive and is happy to pour scorn on someone else's efforts. As i said on several occasions in the past, the 'it'll never work mongers' proved to be right in the end and good luck to them, but both Claire, Dan, Myself and all the people involved with the project were obvously devasted but content that we did the very very best we could and in the end it was circumstances well beyond our control that saw the death of the project. Thankyou Quasartech for your original posting and interest it is very much appreciated, and to answer Deano there have been no enquiries whatsoever about taking the project over, but the infrastucture is still in place and the land is still ours so who knows, in a few years to come we may be in a position to have another go because we still believe that the project was a viable idea. Thankyou for taking time to read this, Best regards, Russell Paine

It is with utter devastastion that we have to announce that the project to introduce a speedway track and training centre to Spain is finally over. In what will without doubt go down as the most bizarre day in the history of Motospeedway Espana, Claire and Russ have been left with no choice but to pull the plug on the project. The events that lead to this outcome came about when Russ got the call from our Spanish counterpart Hilario Sanchez to say that he was finally in possession of the elusive final piece of paperwork that we have patiently waited 21 months for. Russ immediately flew out to collect this and present it at the Town Hall in Huercal Overa. This was received and approved by them and Russ was given the nod that 'that was it' all the paperwork required was now in place. Three years and nine months after moving out there the mammoth quest for the paperwork was at last over. He relayed the news to us back in the U.K. straight away and in some kind of disbelief we spoke amongst ourselves as to where we go from here. Unfortunately joy soon turned to despair as Russ arrived at the site to check things over to find that our artic trailer containing the bikes, riding kit and tools amongst other things had been broken into and more or less systematically emptied. Theives had got on top of the trailer, cut through the metal roof and dropped themselves inside. Once in they proceeded to cut a hole in the side and set about removing a large quantity of the contents. Around 85% of our riding kit was stolen, including 60 brand new crash helmets, and 60 brand new wulfsport suits along with brand new body armour, goggles and gloves. All of our tools that would have kitted out the workshop were also stolen and although they had removed two of the bikes from the trailer they had left them behind. We have calculated that in excess of £30,000 worth of stuff had been taken. We have always been aware that once the paperwork was finally completed we would need to invest another £25,000 in the project to take it through to opening and thankfully this money was in place, however, we would now need to replace all the stolen kit and tools to be able to do this and unfortunately it is just too much of an ask for us, and above all is just one kick in the teeth too many. The theft was reported to the Guardia Civil and we have since had it on very good authority that it was carried out by a group of Spaniards and we presume the kit will be used for moto crossing, hence why no boots were taken !! So, at the end of the day as much as its our business that has gone down the tubes it is the Spanish that have screwed it for themselves. They would have been given the opportunity to have a go at something new to the country (from a riding/learning perspective) but the scum that carried this robbery out have blown it for them. We appreciate that they obviously couldn't give a toss but for the rest, like ourselves, will never know how far we could have taken the project but, with offers of second and third sites for tracks on the table the future was looking very rosey. For us as a group, major investors, minor investors and physical helpers we all agree that we have reached the end of the road. From day 1 Claire and Russ were part of a four person group that set out to create Motospeedway Espana, but unfortunately soon after legitimately found themselves going alone, but hoping that the other people involved may be in a situation at a later stage to allow them to become re-involved. So it has never been a case that as Russ said recently "its never been the situation that its our ball and if we can't score all the goals then we are not playing, we were always going to be in a business partnership and even now, if someone came along and showed some interest in coming on board we would be very interested in what they had to say, as we would much much rather be part owners of something existent and successful than 100% owners of nothing, its certainly no me me me ego trip despite what a lot of people think !!!" Unfortunately, all the way through no-one has shown any interest in what we were trying to do so we had no choice but to go it alone, it would indeed have been a real boost to have another head or heads on board but that was a luxury that never materialised. We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that has been involved with the project since we embarqued on this journey and we know for a fact that both Claire and Russ feel devastated that they have let so many people down that have given their time and effort towards getting the project of the ground. As a group we will do whatever we can to recompence those who invested in us in whatever form we can. We also thank all those that have left messages on the website guestbook and on here with positive comments, they have meant the world to all of us and helped keep us focused on our goal. To those doubters and people that were desperate to see us fail, (you know who you are!) all we can say is YOU WIN, we didn't pull it off, well done you !!! Perhaps you'll turn your attentions to having a pop and dig at someone else now, god help them! All we do know is that we gave it our very very best shot and feel that we could not have done anything more to help our situation. Every bit of advice we were given we took on board and every request for paperwork and payments were seen to straight away, even the licences that we have at last received we paid almost 3000 Euros for back in January 2007 !!! We do feel a bit let down by our so called 'friends' in Spain that vowed to keep an eye on the place in our absence, some nineteen months back in the country and we received not one call, e-mail or text from anyone to say that they had been up to the circuit, had a mooch around and everything was fine. We do appreciate obviously that the responsibility ultimately lies with us and Russ and his Dad regularly ensured that they did everything they possibly could to protect everything at the circuit but as you all know, if people are THAT determined then nothing will stop them. Thankyou for taking time to read this post and thanks again for your interest, Very best regards from all of us at Motospeedway Espana.

A big hello to all those people that have taken an interest in our project to introduce a purpose built speedway circuit to Spain. This thread is just to let you know that the very latest news on the project as well as new photos in the 'Track Construction' and 'others' section have been uploaded onto the website. www.motospeedway-espana.com (a huge thanks to Dan 'the Man' Lowe for all his hard work) Although all has been quiet on the project front publicly, work behind the scenes in trying to finalise the Licencing process has continued and numerous trips back and forth have been made by Claire and Russ or just Russ alone. We genuinely thank everyone for their messages of support throughout this ridiculously long journey and likewise those who have expressed an interest in what we are trying to achieve. The Fat Lady hasn't started singing just yet, thankfully im not fat and im not a lady so there's still every possibility that we may just pull this off !!!!! Many Thanks and Best Regards, From Team @ Motospeedway-Espana.

The attempt to establish speedway in Spain received a timely boost last week when the Circuit in the South east of the country was featured in the mainstream motorcycle magazine TWO or Two Wheels Only (August Edition). The venture was included in a feature "The 50 Greatest Motorcycle Adventures Ever!" We were contacted by one of the feature writers who has been following our progress, needless to say we are over the moon and extremely pleased with how our inclusion has been put over. The list also includes short track racing so all in all a good shout for our beloved sport.

Dear All As of lunchtime today we have just been dropped the bombshell from our local town hall that the Mayor has revoked our permission to open on the 19th May 2007. We have been informed that due to the fact that the local Mayoral elections take place 4 days after our opening meeting, the Mayor has been advised to revoke our permission on the grounds that should there be any problems or such like this could have a negative reflection on him. We are lost for words at this decision and we are so sorry to have to break this news so close to the meeting date but we have only just been told this news ourselves and this situation is completely out of our control. As many of you are aware, we have had to contend with Spanish red tape for the past two and a half years and just when we were told we had cleared it all, this its what happens. This opening meeting was our lifeline is getting the project back on schedule and now again the future of our track is hanging in the balance. We are so sorry for all the inconvenience that this will cause to everyone that has booked to attend the meeting, we can't put into words how devasted we are at what has happened today. Regards Russ and Claire Motospeedway-Espana

Dear All As of lunchtime today we have just been dropped the bombshell from our local town hall that the Mayor has revoked our permission to open on the 19th May 2007. We have been informed that due to the fact that the local Mayoral elections take place 4 days after our opening meeting, the Mayor has been advised to revoke our permission on the grounds that should there be any problems or such like this could have a negative reflection on him. We are lost for words at this decision and we are so sorry to have to break this news so close to the meeting date but we have only just been told this news ourselves and this situation is completely out of our control. As many of you are aware, we have had to contend with Spanish red tape for the past two and a half years and just when we were told we had cleared it all, this its what happens. This opening meeting was our lifeline is getting the project back on schedule and now again the future of our track is hanging in the balance. We are so sorry for all the inconvenience that this will cause to everyone that has booked to attend the meeting, we can't put into words how devasted we are at what has happened today. Regards Russ and Claire Motospeedway-Espana

Dear Wolves 2005 As of lunchtime today we have just been dropped the bombshell from our local town hall that the Mayor has revoked our permission to open on the 19th May 2007. We have been informed that due to the fact that the local Mayoral elections take place 4 days after our opening meeting, the Mayor has been advised to revoke our permission on the grounds that should there be any problems or such like this could have a negative reflection on him. We are lost for words at this decision and we are so sorry to have to break this news so close to the meeting date but we have only just been told this news ourselves and this situation is completely out of our control. As many of you are aware, we have had to contend with Spanish red tape for the past two and a half years and just when we were told we had cleared it all, this its what happens. This opening meeting was our lifeline is getting the project back on schedule and now again the future of our track is hanging in the balance. We are so sorry for all the inconvenience that this will cause to everyone that has booked to attend the meeting, we can't put into words how devasted we are at what has happened today. Regards Russ and Claire

Hi from a currently very sunny Spain. Many thanks to all the messages of support, we are very grateful. In answer to a few points, maneacat: we have secured television coverage of the meeting and it will be filmed and shown on a Sky Channel some time in the future. Ray Rocket: My very good buddy Jaypee is as we speak busily sorting out a passport, so who knows !!! TNT: Re Pre season training, that is exactly what we intend to do. The track will be available for private hire either individually or as teams. Keep track of our progress on the website and don´t hesitate to call us if you have any queries. Many many thanks once again and we very much look forward to seeing some of you either on or off track in the future, especially as out of holiday season you can pick up return fligths for as little as 20 pounds inclusive!!

To all those who have had a passing interest in the Speedway project that is currently being undertaken in Spain we can now announce that a date of Saturday May 19th has been set for the Opening Celebration/Demonstration meeting. Apart from those with SKY Sports, not very many people here have seen or have any idea what Speedway is all about and how it works. Therefore rather than getting the circuit up and running and just hoping some people will come along out of curiousity we have planned to put on a demonstration meeting that will involve very good friends and riders from the UK that have been involved with helping us get this far. With all the problems we have encountered it is extremely unfortunate that this will come about during the domestic speedway season which means that numerous of our targeted riders are contractually obliged to ride elsewhere. However, with the line-ups completed and our ´past masters´also ready to take to the track showing that age is no handicap for getting on a speedway bike we re extremely pleased with what we will be offering the public. More in depth detail is on our website www.motospeedway-espana.com and we all very much look forward to a truly historic day for the world of speedway. Many thanks to all those who have expressed interest in what we are trying to achieve it is very much apprecited.

Hi Ray, thanks for yours and t.m.w.'s interest. Firstly, the track is sited at Huercal Overa on the border of the provinces of Murcia and Almeria. We are 1 hour from Almeria airport and 1 hour 15 mins from San Javier (murcia) airport. Anyway, the latest news is that we are currently under two feet of water due to the freak storms we have experienced over the last week. Everyone has told us that this is very unusual (not that it helps when we spend day after day pumping up to 30,000 litres of water of one of the bends!!!!) Having been stitched up by our architect with our Licence applications, of which we were lied to by him and never actually had any we have had to start the whole process from scratch. This time round all is in order, we have been passed by our Town Hall, our regional government and have come through four weeks on a government web site, on which any members of the public can oppose our intent. This coming week we should receive our temporary licence from the Mayor of Huercal Overa as he is 150% behind us and eager for us to get back working towards opening for business. Our official licences should follow within 3-4 weeks, what a day for celebration that will be. We very hope hope to be open for business (training schools) in August, this will be helped by the fact that we have superb floodlighting being put in place and the fact that the Spanish never go to bed before about 2am !!! We already have had over twenty enquirys about training with us, this includes two females. We have now got 8 local companies that want to come on board as sponsers and advertise at the track as well as a national company that hope to come on board as a main sponser and put their name to our project. The second part of our opening plan is for a meeting around the end of November. This will be an invitation meeting to show the Spanish people what we are bringing to the area and to their country. The date of this is to be confirmed and will be published as soon as it is. We are just in the process of updating the website (www.motospeedway-espana.com) and this will be regularly updated as we progress over the coming months. Once again thanks very much for your interest, it really does mean a lot to Claire and myself, and gives us extra strength and positivity to continue considering the crap we have taken along this journey. Russ