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I don't think crowds would drop by 50 % by not having "star" riders about because in reality not many of the Worlds top 30 riders compete in the UK anyway, haven't done for a number of years now and In real terms the smaller amount of fans (compared to years gone by) )that still go to British speedway meetings have long since gotten used to the idea. Also theirs probably not enough interest from current non speedway spectators to potentially come along just cause some foreign guy who finished in the top 10 of previous seasons GP has signed for their local club. Likewise I don't think that most fans nowadays necessarily view watching the highest level of speedway as the be all and end all. The better the rider, the less mistakes they make, the faster they become which both add up to overtaking become much harder and less likely which is a key element to good racing. This is why NL racing is often better entertainment. My local NL track Mildenhall have in my opinion made the correct decision in staying in the lower cost, mainly amateur 3rd tier of British speedway because moving up into the Championship (2nd tier) would increase outgoings on rider wages and travel costs massively but crowd levels wouldn't go up enough to cover these extra costs. This was proved in the 2006-08 spell when Mildenhall moved into the 2nd Division. Likewise 2nd Division clubs moving up to the top flight have found the same thing as well for years now! I do get your theme of British speedway being reborn cause I think sooner rather than later British speedway will have to evolve into a mainly part time, lower level status and clubs and riders will have to cut their respective cloths accordingly. This will involve not paying out big time wages if the crowds can't pay for it, less expensive overseas and/or top level riders and riding on racenights that suit the individual clubs not the F.I.M. While I can't see British speedway returning to the halcyon days of the 70's I do think theirs enough interest for it to be sustainable if run within its limitations and more locally based riders are found that would help to stimulate interest!

Great heat 1 - Steve Shovlar probably thought it ok

I met my wife at a swingers party , bit of a shock she told me she was going to bingo

it would certainly curtail certain activities having a load of speedway parking there. Just don't flash your brake lights or cough when you walk past somebody, or so I'm told! The other thing is, if the visitors of Arcot Lane have a thing about men in leathers, the crowds might double

You are on a roll

Suprised you not changed you user name to Mini Mouse by now

That's right. I was there that night to support the Hackney Hawks v KL who were gunning for the BL title. Mike the Bike was just awesome. Bo Peterson was top of the BL averages for most of that year. ML steamed under him on bend three and then took off and left him. He then rode in between team riding guests in another heat up the home straight like they weren't there. They were from Cradley . Gunderson and an other ? I think he scored a maximum that night.Forget the off track stuff . Kings Lynn came to the Wick c 1976 or 1977. Had read about this wonder boy that was clocking up massive scores for KL and Boston. He came to Hackney all of 16 or 17 and cleaned up. Having watched the sport since 1969 HE was our best ever rider and could have been up there with the greats and been our best ever rider. Woffy is terrific, all respect to him and three World titles BUT Mike Lee for me was even better and as other poster said could have been up there with Mauger and Rickardson. Have to say Dave Jessup also terrific. He could teach our youngsters how to gate !!??

Janowski is really fast

Amazing rider and story! He was better at that stage than the similarly aged Hans Nielsen and look what Hans achieved! - Best 16 year old I've ever seen and probably ever will! Despite his dark, illicit side which indicate a loathsome persona Michaels actually a very nice down to earth person, one that was too easily led one assumes. He has long indicated he has no regrets but surely deep down he must know that he could of been up there with the likes of Mauger, Rikardsson and Fundin in terms of title wins!

I think you'll find they're not interested in listening to any ideas other than their own. If I were you I wouldn't waste my time and just choose another sport to follow

So 25%. Even at that ratio facemasks and social distancing would be required and I not too sure that many speedway spectators on here would be willing to go along with the rules judging by some posts made. That would mean going to empty stadiums just because some clowns don’t want to comply with orders meant to protect others.

It was just one of those rare perfect storms in sport where everything clicked. Gundersen was ripe to step out of Penhall's shadow to be outright no1. He did and then some. King and Wigg had shown potential, but there was no guarantee they would step up a level. Both did. Collins and Grahame were already solid performers, but with Penhall gone and some young team mates, more was expected. They delivered. Pedersen was a raw recruit and could easily have struggled. He didn't and hit the ground running as a superb discovery. Ravn could have been low on confidence having been dropped by Belle Vue. The opposite, he rode like he had a point to prove and did. Fantastic team with no weak link. It is one of the rare times we went out of our way to watch a league match not involving a team we supported. We went to the Shay to see the Heathens visit. The other time was to watch Oxford visit Sheffield, mainly to see if Shawn Moran could get one over a peak Hans Nielsen.

Tickets for this meeting is sold out,well done plymouth speedway!

Mouse!

I wouldn't admit to knowing that RD.

Links for tomorrow- N Sport on air at 4.30pm UK time http://spedway.ucoz.lv/ http://www.maniak.tv/mk7 http://www.drhtv.com.pl/drhtv-1.html https://daddylive.live/embed/stream-75.php http://freestreams-live1.com/nsport/

Could have,but isn't it nice to see some racing instead of putting other riders in danger.

Quicker when it mattered in heat 15.

Wroclaw blew that big time. Woffinden number one culprit. Went awol completely.

Thomson is a really exciting rider to watch.

The Holder / Fricke 5-1 in Heat 10 must have really hurt - it doesn''t look good for Gorzow now

Before you leave a laugh on my previous post. It's only Iversen They should be getting a 5-1 nine times out of ten in that race.

WC in waiting.

Woffinden not the rider he was. He would have picked off Holder for dinner. Holder improved, Tai, lesser rider at the mo.

What a cracker to start.

Yes indeed had Michael won heat 18 in the 1977 World Final at the very least he would he been in a run off for the title!

He could have won that day as both Mauger and Olsen should have been excluded for exceeding the 2 minutes Michael was waiting at the tapes but the referee decided it was too wet for Mauger and Olsen to come out to play.

But Janowski is even faster than Zmarzlik (see SGP) and rides at home today. And the Sparta Wroclaw club have bought loads of ANLAS tyres for their team. Very interesting match coming up.

BEEN reminded that it is 50 years today when Ivan Mauger won his third successive World title.

I can remember on the following afternoon Saturday -highlights was shown on ITVs World of Sport can also remember Dickie Davies saying at the end of the coverage get yourself along to Kings Lynn tonight to as Kings Lynn take on Hackney in the BL go welcome home the world champion Lee and world no 2 Jessup that has to be the best free advert kings Lynn ever had . Also I seem to remember those Lynn fans who was in Sweden for the final Couldn’t get back to Lynn in time for the Saturday night at Lynn meeting there was a lot of unhappy fans about that . That night saddle Bow Road was packed .

Anything can happen in Speedway. Nothing's a shock anymore. Gorzow have been impressive lately but that has all been at home. Question is can they ride to the same standard away from home?

Of course, if you believe other parts of this forum, it could be part of David Icke's conspiracy theory?

One thing to consider is the poles are absolutely race fit , practice is all well and good but the english lads have had no racing, bewley and a fit brennan can hold their own i feel. The less said about the track the better.

Not a lot, i would have thought!

Why? What's happening in 2021?

From The Times today, including comment on sports stadia: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/coronavirus-theatres-reopen-with-seat-out-to-help-out-kflrf0jjb

Too good for the UK second division!

i also rate his longtrack win in '81, incredible style for that size track (as mentioned by Dave Lanning in commentary), up against a good lineup but with a fast DOHC Jawa too

WAS back page lead on the Daily Express and most other nationals too. It was a Friday night meeting and with the time difference it was done and dusted before 9pm, perfect for the papers. Along with colleagues like Graham Baker (Daily Mirror) and Kei Radnedge (Daily Mail) actually left the press box, crossed the track and got our quotes from Michael before he had even been presented with the trophy. Happy days ...

I remember that evening at Ullevi very well and Michael was a deserving champion. I was also present at Ullevi for his first World Final in 1977 and he came quite close that night when just 18! Certainly had the ability to win more than one title but that’s another story!

top rider and top bloke

Correct. He was part of the Aces team that beat them to the Premiership and joined part way through the league cup.

Isn’t it funny how some riders just click all of a sudden? It’s been a mighty fine week for Jeppeson with a 6 ride max in Sweden and 5 ride max in Poland. Fair play to him!

What gives you that impression. She makes an idiot look intelligent , Col has probably got more sense of reality than nippy.

Herr fuhrer Sturgeon has now poliitilised this for her and the Natzi parties own gains. The scare mongering she is spouting about this is bordering on ridiculous levels now. Speedway and other sports should return as well as normality , there was no dusputing that there was a real issue 4-6 months ago as my youngest saw it first hand but not now. The Natzi party up here need to get a grip and stop using a virus to drum independence support up they really are pathetic. People need to wake up to what she is doing imho.

During the last six months, with not much else to do, I have been spending some time sorting out old boxes, files, etc. that have been lying around at home for years, shoved at the back of cupboards etc. Yesterday, I came across a notebook with a number of things in, including some speedway notes and records. It dates from 1962 and one of the things I had noted was the number of times speedway was mentioned on TV and Radio. So here goes....: BBC Grandstand 17 February: Grandstand Television Trophy 1st leg at Cradley Heath; 24 February: Ditto, 2nd leg Today's Sport 8 September: Report on World Championship ITV Sportscast (No dates): Film of European Championship, Wimbledon (? Don't know what this refers to), Film of Internationale; 8 August: Rye House; 5 September: Preview of World Championship. News 9 September: Film of World Championship London This Weekend (no date): Preview of Internationale; 7 September: Preview of World Championship Saturday Sportstime (no date): Mention of John Burton, son of Squib Burton, famous speedway rider Radio Sports Parade 8 September: Mention of interview with Ove Fundin in Sports Report Sports Report 8 September: Interview with Ove Fundin Children's Choice (no date): Request for "When the Red Red Robin" requested by Swindon supporters; 8 September: Request for Flight of the Bumble Bee from Coventry supporters, wishing best of luck to Ron Mountford, Ken McKinlay and Nigel Boocock in the World Championship Final Housewives Choice (no date): A record requested for a Mrs Hart, Robin Richmond muses, "I wonder if she is any relation to Oliver Hart, one of the last of the leg trailers." Here's hoping things get back to normal soon and I can get out more!!!

Dickies are good, 'head lice' sounds more scary.

...there's more Formby songs in there somewhere...A Farmer's Boy With my little ukelele in my hand On the Beat...Oh dear, mother

I have found the opposite to you , when I used to go to Wimbledon speedway & stock cars I used to see other people who watched both sports. The same happened when I was a regular at Reading speedway on a monday night , I would often see some of the same faces at Aldershot stock cars on a thursday night Have friends interested in speedway who also follow moto cross , moto GP , formula 1 etc.