mikebv 10,285 Posted November 13, 2019 2 hours ago, bruno said: 8 riders on the track at Wolves!!!! Imagine!!! Be great to watch.... I watched 8 man racing in the US on 110m circuits, it was fantastic.. And if it's carnage then they need to reshape the track or the riders need to use their heads more. (Lesser riders in the US seemed to handle it).. Same old, same old simply doesn't cut it... Use the TV money to improve the entertainment value that you offer.. Not to pay more money out to either the same riders or riders that now decide to honour us with their presence now they can get a few more quid.. Riders that short term will bring a few more in but by the end of the season will be bringing the same old die hards in only.. Riders who when they decide not to ride here any more will leave the sport in no better situation than they found it.. The sports fanbase can be split into three.. One - The 'die hards'. Who will attend anything put out in front of them regularly. Two - The 'ex regulars' who follow the sport and attend now and again and will attend every play off or KO Cup Final And Three - The 'goneaways', those who know about the sport, and still follow the sport closely on social media and TV but won't part with any money to watch domestic British Speedway. Two and Three are the ones that you need things to change for so as to get them to become regulars again.. Doing the same thing won't deliver this. . 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tim G 512 Posted November 13, 2019 I remember being at Oxford where they tried 8 riders in a race, 4 started at the usual tapes and 4 on the back straight. The dust was horrific as it was a morning meeting and the race was stopped after about 2 laps due to a rider falling. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gunner85 603 Posted November 13, 2019 6 man races have been tried years ago. only tracks like Hyde road were safe due to the width of the bends..... others were positively dangerous with 6riders heading in to the bend and insufficient space to be safe. No gimmicks....4 riders .. 4 laps... on well prepared tracks 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chadster 221 Posted November 13, 2019 Essentially people seem to be arguing for the return of handicap racing, which was tried in the 60s and scrapped after 3 or 4 years. I never saw it so can't comment so perhaps some of our senior posters (where is Gustix when you need him?) might comment. From reading about it the impression I got was that the top guys didn't like it and if the likes of Briggs, Fundin etc were struggling with it then......Another difference today is that whilst the superstars aren't in the top league, the overall standard is much closer together and that would make passing more difficult. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Danny Connor 351 Posted November 13, 2019 6 man heat 15s could be cool. Top scorers 10m handicap 4 others at manager's choice at tapes. In the event of riders scoring the same points highest seasons average counts. ? Bit half baked but could be interesting Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DC2 11,150 Posted November 13, 2019 Four man heats for me, but with staggered starts, so the best riders have to overtake rather than just gate. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SpeedyOne 126 Posted November 13, 2019 On 11/12/2019 at 10:15 AM, John Scrutton said: I thought that when the NL was formed it was to help bring on young riders. But is full of riders that were of that standard and started riding in he 1990"s I saw this stupid comment a few pages ago. Now, no one responded, and that's probably the best way to treat a posting of such amazing stupidity. But I thought I'd have a look into this claim "The NL is full of riders who started riding in the 1990s" So how full? How many of the 56 riders (8 teams 1-7s) were riding in the 90s? Most? A half? A quarter of them? 10%? Well..... The answer is...... Rob Ledwith. OK then..... How many of these riders are old enough to have been riding on 31 October 1999 (the last possible day of the 90s)? It's still just Rob Ledwith . In fact 25 riders from the class of 2019 weren't even born until the 2000s! Let's skip forward 10 years... How many were riding prior to 2010? Well it's just 10 (and 4 of those just scraped in in 2009). And, exactly one half of the 56 riders in the final 1-7 of 2019, didn't make their NL debut until 2017 or later. Seems the NL is doing a great job and is full of youngsters. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Skidder1 7,637 Posted November 13, 2019 All these suggested changes to race formats are just as likely see more traditional punters leave and will do nothing to attract new ones whether on Eurosport, netflix or You-tube!!! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DC2 11,150 Posted November 13, 2019 1 minute ago, Skidder1 said: All these suggested changes to race formats are just as likely see more traditional punters leave and will do nothing to attract new ones whether on Eurosport, netflix or You-tube!!! Is there any reason though why a different format could not be tried for the KO Cup? I liked the three team tournament from ten years ago. Something a bit different is interesting. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Skidder1 7,637 Posted November 13, 2019 (edited) 23 minutes ago, DC2 said: Is there any reason though why a different format could not be tried for the KO Cup? I liked the three team tournament from ten years ago. Something a bit different is interesting. Yeah the Supporters Cup with fans nominating the later heats really worked well this season. 'Let's all vote for the oppositions weakest riders'!!? Brought hundreds of extra fans in that did- Not!! I've said before why keep promoting speedway as a 'family sport' ? We've been doing that for years and nothing positive has happened anywhere consistently. Let's promote the danger excitement feuds handbags - a bit of 'Boyce v Gollob' at Hackney. The tv audiences will.lap it up. Edited November 13, 2019 by Skidder1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DC2 11,150 Posted November 13, 2019 3 minutes ago, Skidder1 said: Yeah the Supporters Cup with fans nominating the later heats really worked well this season. 'Let's all vote for the oppositions weakest riders'!!? Brought hundreds of extra fans in that did- Not!! Yes, that was daft. But it doesn’t mean that all innovation is. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hodgy 976 Posted November 13, 2019 (edited) Speedway is 4 riders from the tapes. Why give those that are inferior an advantage? I want to see the best rider win. Prepare a racing track, if you are not good enough, they need to get better. Stop devaluing the sport for the lesser - it’s killing it. Edited November 14, 2019 by Hodgy Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
A ORLOV 8,628 Posted November 13, 2019 48 minutes ago, Skidder1 said: Yeah the Supporters Cup with fans nominating the later heats really worked well this season. 'Let's all vote for the oppositions weakest riders'!!? Brought hundreds of extra fans in that did- Not!! I've said before why keep promoting speedway as a 'family sport' ? We've been doing that for years and nothing positive has happened anywhere consistently. Let's promote the danger excitement feuds handbags - a bit of 'Boyce v Gollob' at Hackney. The tv audiences will.lap it up. That was down to who thought it up and hopefully they do not let them come up with any more ideas, but part of the blame is the bspa for accepting it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikebv 10,285 Posted November 14, 2019 (edited) On 12 November 2019 at 12:21 PM, iwright71 said: How many other clubs have the facility or the money to reshape their track ? probably none. Isn't it rumoured that each track in the Premiership is getting £50k a season? With a five year deal? Thats £250k 'guaranteed'.. You could do quite a bit of track reshaping with that I would think.. Instead, I fear it will be used to pay more in salaries to riders who won't in five years have progressed the entertainment level of the sport forward in any way that better tracks more conducive to passing would do... Edited November 14, 2019 by mikebv 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bagpuss 10,781 Posted November 14, 2019 Nobody should be criticised for trying new things, they might not work but we won’t know until they've been trialled. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites