Cardiff 2022

[Chewbacca 653]

I took a first timer along on Saturday and he thoroughly enjoyed it and is currently waiting to buy early bird tickets for next year. As a local, the ‘sights’ of Cardiff were no big deal so his enjoyment was all about how fantastic speedway is. 
 

Yes the track was crap but as a fan without a track now, I still really enjoyed it. Let’s be honest, at least 70% of speedway races feature no passing and a strung out field. 

[Noodles 1,337]

1 hour ago, OveFundinFan said:

At BV in 2016 when they had the world team (or whatever is was called then), there was food/drink stalls outside the stadium, and extra food/drink stalls and toilets inside the stadium at the rear of the temporary stands. You can of course bring/buy your own food and eat outside the stadium

The track for the Friday was rubbish and the racing was very poor.  The food/drink stalls inside the stadium sold out of everything early leaving lots of hungry/thirsty fans.  

[Gambo 1,341]

3 hours ago, R87 said:

Fine for the tourist speedway fans.  The true speedway fans despise Cardiff.

Get rid of it.

Oh Dear! I've been going to Speedway since 1965, been through highs and lows with my team (Coventry), I love the whole Cardiff experience, Friday through to Sunday, but according to you I can't be a true Speedway fan!

[Shockster 402]

18 minutes ago, Noodles said:

The track for the Friday was rubbish and the racing was very poor.  The food/drink stalls inside the stadium sold out of everything early leaving lots of hungry/thirsty fans.  

Totally agree about the track on the Friday for the WTC.  Was far too grippy and impossible to pass, however it was resolved for the Final on the Saturday.  Have to say though I had no issues getting a drink on the back straight either day.

[markandrew23 2]

Is the date for Cardiff 2023 supposed to be announced today ? 

[hammer1969 421]

3 hours ago, R87 said:

Fine for the tourist speedway fans.  The true speedway fans despise Cardiff.

Get rid of it.

Oh really, well I'm a true Speedway fan and I don't despise Cardiff so make your comments  of your opinion of Cardiff but don't presume you are also speaking for other true (or casual) Speedway fans because you are not.

[Noodles 1,337]

2 minutes ago, markandrew23 said:

Is the date for Cardiff 2023 supposed to be announced today ? 

Yes

[markandrew23 2]

Do we know what time and where they will announce it ? 

[Noodles 1,337]

1 minute ago, markandrew23 said:

Do we know what time and where they will announce it ? 

No

[Blue27 0]

From Cardiff and I've always meant to pop along to see what it was like, finally got around to it this year and I was impressed overall. 

Im far from knowledgeable on the sport but I could see the racing itself wasn't the best past the first corner but it was still enjoyable for a noob to see and be a part of. 

Took my son and my parents came along as well. 

Was a good day having earlier watched Cardiff win in the football too. Probably the wrong day to be rushing around though and it was still boiling in there at the end. The queue for drinks was awful where we were as well.

My son enjoyed it, I'd be tempted to go to a smaller track now and then but I really don't think there is anything close. I'll have to look into it. Closest elite league is probably the midlands?

Empty seats are unfortunate, it's a shame as I don't think it's a sport that  really many are too aware of around here. It's also just not marketed very well I don't think. Only remembered it was on last week when I saw the banners on Westgate street. 

I'm not sure if it happens or has in the past but maybe giving out tickets to local schools would be an idea. If even a few kids get interested in the sport then that has to be a positive. 

I can appreciate the racing puts some off but I think if marketed properly (mainstream media seem to ignore it completely?) the bigger arenas give the sport a better platform. Doesn't have to be Cardiff even. But I'd be reluctant to give that sort of stage up purely for the quality of racing alone. 

Sorry for the long post but just to say it has made me more interested in the sport and fair play it was a good atmosphere in there despite people melting in their seats.

[chunky 6,095]

1 hour ago, Gambo said:

Oh Dear! I've been going to Speedway since 1965, been through highs and lows with my team (Coventry), I love the whole Cardiff experience, Friday through to Sunday, but according to you I can't be a true Speedway fan!

I think that applies to almost everyone then, don't you?

Like I said before, how many used to go to Wembley, just for the racing?

Edited August 15, 2022 by chunky

[Panthers99 434]

September 2nd 2023 according to FIM website

[iainb 5,018]

Well, so much to say, and most of it bad. Most of it has already been said, so I won’t re-tread over old ground in great detail but at least reading most of the posts on here during SGP2 kept me entertained more than anything going on inside the stadium.

Getting in was not as bad as I feared it may have been so that was a bonus

The crowd was clearly very disappointing, I would say the lowest ever at Cardiff

The reasons behind that are probably many and have already been discussed but I’ll throw in the absence of the World Champ + Emil and Bartek being the runaway leader making it less of a sporting event.

It’s clear that different people go for different reasons, I think it’s fair to say the Speedway purist did not enjoy Saturday night, for me I enjoyed it as an event with the icing on the cake seeing Dan win the thing but that was about the only thing I enjoyed about it, maybe it was the heat and/or the lack of oxygen inside the arena but I did feel a bit “funny” while I was in the stadium. I’ve been to every GP at Cardiff, the track has always been a bit dodgy, but has steadily got better over the years, Saturday night took us back 20 years. Whether it’s the calibre of rider competing today I don’t know?

I think Phil Morris has come in for a lot of unfair criticism, as far as I am aware he’s responsible for the running of the Speedway meeting, timings, track grading, watering etc. Discovery Events seem to have subbed this whole event out, the actual GP itself to Paul Bellamy’s company and he in turn the track to Ole Olsen’s track laying company, there are too many fingers in the pie. You’d hope there’s some pretty high-level meetings going on this morning.

Sunday’s meeting was very much an after the Lord Mayors show affair, I wandered in, didn’t even have to show my ticket and although a great experiment to hold the SGP2 at the same venue as the SGP, I think it was a failed experiment and I doubt we’ll see it again.

As for the debate on whether the event should stay at the Principality, absolutely YES! It’s a no brainer, look at where it’s come from, Hackney to Coventry to Cardiff, that’s not to say I wouldn’t want to also see one at the NSS. You look at the demographic in the Cardiff crowd and it’s very different to that you see at a league meeting. It’s more akin to a Polish Crowd (I know a lot of them are) but this is exactly the demographic Speedway in this country needs to attract. I thought the whole presentation of the event on Saturday was just lacking, no innovation which there has always been in previous years at Cardiff... even the Champions Parade before the meeting was a half arsed affair and the much trumpeted (get your cameras ready!) light show at the start, reminded me of Telford!

Finally, what a great result for British Speedway with Super Dan winning the event, it washed away much of the disappointment with the rest of the event. The lad should be a Superstar and you can easily see him going on to dominate the series in the years to come. I fear Tai’s days as a contender are over, I hope not, but he’s not really shown anything for a few years now, he seems to spend a lot of his time appearing to try and be cool and it’s all a bit of an act, where as Dan is the real deal and is genuinely cool.

It’s just a shame that if you do a Google search for Dan Bewley his victory barely gets a mention and even Ronnie O’Sullivan’s attendance pops up in the results… and he very much seems contractually obliged to be there!

All in all, it was generally rubbish but finished brilliantly... see you next year, in fact I've just bought my ticket, £22.50

Edited August 15, 2022 by iainb

[Wee Eck 703]

23 minutes ago, Panthers99 said:

September 2nd 2023 according to FIM website

Interesting press release - says Dan will be defending his British GP title then which rather suggests his place is guaranteed for 2023

[fatface 2,554]

23 minutes ago, iainb said:

Well, so much to say, and most of it bad. Most of it has already been said, so I won’t re-tread over old ground in great detail but at least reading most of the posts on here during SGP2 kept me entertained more than anything going on inside the stadium.

Getting in was not as bad as I feared it may have been so that was a bonus

The crowd was clearly very disappointing, I would say the lowest ever at Cardiff

The reasons behind that are probably many and have already been discussed but I’ll throw in the absence of the World Champ + Emil and Bartek being the runaway leader making it less of a sporting event.

It’s clear that different people go for different reasons, I think it’s fair to say the Speedway purist did not enjoy Saturday night, for me I enjoyed it as an event with the icing on the cake seeing Dan win the thing but that was about the only thing I enjoyed about it, maybe it was the heat and/or the lack of oxygen inside the arena but I did feel a bit “funny” while I was in the stadium. I’ve been to every GP at Cardiff, the track has always been a bit dodgy, but has steadily got better over the years, Saturday night took us back 20 years. Whether it’s the calibre of rider competing today I don’t know?

I think Phil Morris has come in for a lot of unfair criticism, as far as I am aware he’s responsible for the running of the Speedway meeting, timings, track grading, watering etc. Discovery Events seem to have subbed this whole event out, the actual GP itself to Paul Bellamy’s company and he in turn the track to Ole Olsen’s track laying company, there are too many fingers in the pie. You’d hope there’s some pretty high-level meetings going on this morning.

Sunday’s meeting was very much an after the Lord Mayors show affair, I wandered in, didn’t even have to show my ticket and although a great experiment to hold the SGP2 at the same venue as the SGP, I think it was a failed experiment and I doubt we’ll see it again.

As for the debate on whether the event should stay at the Principality, absolutely YES! It’s a no brainer, look at where it’s come from, Hackney to Coventry to Cardiff, that’s not to say I wouldn’t want to also see one at the NSS. You look at the demographic in the Cardiff crowd and it’s very different to that you see at a league meeting. It’s more akin to a Polish Crowd (I know a lot of them are) but this is exactly the demographic Speedway in this country needs to attract. I thought the whole presentation of the event on Saturday was just lacking, no innovation which there has always been in previous years at Cardiff... even the Champions Parade before the meeting was a half arsed affair and the much trumpeted (get your cameras ready!) light show at the start, reminded me of Telford!

Finally, what a great result for British Speedway with Super Dan winning the event, it washed away much of the disappointment with the rest of the event. The lad should be a Superstar and you can easily see him going on to dominate the series in the years to come. I fear Tai’s days as a contender are over, I hope not, but he’s not really shown anything for a few years now, he seems to spend a lot of his time appearing to try and be cool and it’s all a bit of an act, where as Dan is the real deal and is genuinely cool.

It’s just a shame that if you do a Google search for Dan Bewley his victory barely gets a mention and even Ronnie O’Sullivan’s attendance pops up in the results… and he very much seems contractually obliged to be there!

All in all, it was generally rubbish but finished brilliantly... see you next year

Interesting read and probably a fair summary. I have been to about 80% of the Cardiff GPs and enjoyed the weekend regardless of the racing. Some has been great, some pretty good, some poor. But either way, it's a fantastic stadium, a brilliant city and great to spend time in pubs with people from all over the UK (and beyond) talking speedway. It's the right place for a Speedway GP...it would be lost in London...and Belle Vue can't bring the prestige. But the track issue needs nailing.

I didn't go this year and really, its down to cost. In previous years its never been a cheap weekend, but I would swallow it as a treat. In today's climate, with bills and petrol soaring, every bit of spend is much more considered. And with young mouths to feed and an uncertain winter, I just couldn't justify a few hundred quid on a weekend at the speedway. There will be others like me making the same calculation.