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I would just like to wish Len and his family a well earned, long, healthy and happy retirement. He has been an ever present during my time as a speedway supporter. He must surely rank amongst the true icons of British Speedway promoters, and I was delighted to see him inducted into the Speedway Hall of Fame this season at Central Park. At 89 years young, he is a truly remarkable man, and I am forever indebted to him for the speedway entertainment he has provided to me over the years. Thank you Len.

How can you reconcile those two statements? How can you claim to know more about the Rye House campaign than those running it? Our 'optimism' is based on simple fact, not blind faith. There HAVE been new, important discussions and a new attitude towards possibly incorporating speedway in the redevelopment. These are facts. Now I clearly stated that a door had been opened, not that we already have success. You sit on the sidelines offering your pitifully ill-informed comments. All it does is steadily destroy your credibility, not ours. Yes we could fail but certainly if we took your approach we would, It would be appreciated if people like you could keep their damaging opinions to themselves rather than try to pass yourself off as some all-knowing authority. It's hard enough dealing with the authorities and new landlord without having tom deal with those supposed speedway supporters undermining it. It would be easy to suspect that you actually want it to fail.

Rye House is far from dead. Important meetings have been taking place and real progress is being made regarding how the track can be restored. It's not exactly a new age of co-operation but at least key figures are now talking rather than simply stonewalling. There is still a very long road but the door to it is no longer locked and bolted.

Len might be a stubborn old goat but i doubt any promotor had done more for the sport than he has. The levels of drive and enthusiasm would be worth a fortune if bottled and crazy as it sounds at 89 still had plenty of vision for the future. Enjoy your well earned retirement Len. The sport you are leaving may be far worse than when you left it but its definitely not a reflection on your efforts or actions.

Provincial League Riders Champion. Not a bad standard for the era. Hackney and Rye House probably wouldn’t have survived as long as they did without him as promoter and he put far more into the sport in terms of both money and effort than he ever took out.

Woffy has a British wife, It's all about money, and who can blame them. If I could of got 6x more by doing the same job in Poland, it would of been bye bye Britain.

He didn't forget his riders and the ones that had ridden for him. Pre season he organised Skiing groups and took them as a party to his resort. I know riders enjoyed these trips and were grateful to be allowed to be included even though they didn't ride for him at that time. He cared for other promotions as well. When Newcastle left Somerset on our southern tour we used to travel on to a hotel in Swindon on the Friday night. If the weather or track was dodgy for their Saturday night, he always agreed to let us know straightaway early on the Saturday morning, so we could go up the road home and not have the wasted journey across London. In addition it meant the mechanics and riders could just drive straight home without prepping the bikes in less than favourable hotel carparks. It is this sort of consideration that is now very rare between promotions in the sport at present.

Basically we will have the same as usual,, the cast offs no one else wants,,,plus Danny and Drew.

Stadium as far as I know owned by the Council but run on a lease basis. I'm sure the local council find having a successful sports team in the town very good for the towns image, also bringing money into the local community. Matt Ford and those Pesky Pirates wether you love them or loathe them are the blueprint holders for a successful team and business.

Hope this doesn't happen to you guys haha

Surprised someone hasn’t lost their bottle and run one over to be honest. Just a matter of time before there’s a flattened leg.

That’s not what the article says. He said he was retiring from Kent Speedway, not all of speedway. My guess is he has phrased this carefully to allow him to reappear somewhere else. He’s only 89 after all. Far too young to retire

Ashfield has a lot more banking on the bends than Poole.

My understanding is that Len promoted at Kent on behalf of the then stadium owner Roger Cearnes (don't think I've spelled that right!). Therefore, no rent would have been necessary. No doubt ARC are now wanting the speedway promotion to pay rent - perhaps what they are asking is excessive - only the two parties concerned will know that.

Be careful using French terminology, you may offend someone or they may think it isn't funny!!

Start Marshalls need to be much more consistent and in line with every club in the league like in Poland. No lining up at an angle other than 90 degrees to the tapes. Front wheel one inch from tapes, which need to be taut. If a rider moves they will hit the tapes and be exc. if they roll back, the will be exc.

It’s been said but unconfirmed that the new owner of Central Park has upped the rent for speedway significantly which has caused this issue.

Scotty tried it for half a season and it didn't work for him. I'll disagree with you it's not turning their back on UK speedway it's about being a professional who wants to progress as far as possible in his chosen career. You wouldn't stay with the same company who year after year struggled to keep their head above water if you could enhance your career with a more forward thinking and financially stronger company. It not Bewley, Lambert's or Tai's fault that UK speedway has a trash operation that attracts zero investment from outside. Three very talented and professional riders who deserve to succeed and earn a few quid on the way.

Excellent, I'll be following speedway updates, appreciate the service

Or Jye Etheridge

I fail to see how it could be colder than Swindon! Have to wear two coats there in the summer months!! Edit - this made me laugh.. Speedway Social on Twitter: "Extraordinary image of Poole fans on their way to Glasgow for tomorrow's final. They've become accustomed to their top league luxuries I think https://t.co/48W7Gcd5Vz" / Twitter

Well you can tell him track is a lot smoother now! So should find it a better experience.

On the photo gallery there are a couple of pics of Posa and Hasse together On my previous link it actually mentions Hasse himself rode ice speedway and finished third in the Swedish championhip 1977 https://www.nyteknik.se/teknikhistoria/trogen-mekaniker-bakom-racingstjarnans-framgangar-6394434

Sorry no i got mixed up with the EMTV live catchup

Just tell em ur Poole fans and they'll soon shift!

Only missed one meeting at the wheels (well 2 as it was a double header) the night before the Bradford world final. I remember the first few meetings in 1984, I didn't drive at the time so I had to find my way to the stadium from the train station. Honestly it was like some kind of assault course off of the krypton factor, lucky I was a lot younger and fitter back then.

The most recent MA is used unless the rider has averages in both leagues for the current season. In your example Kurtz’ PL average would be converted.

Track was decent in 85 but the stox ruined it the following year. The location was indeed, awful. As was the "stadium".

Best wishes for aHappy Retirement,he certainly has done his bit for the Sport and knew the game inside out.Decent rider in his day too.

Nail on the head i reckon.

I went to the first and last Steve. Not a bad race track, but an awful location.

That's OK just being honest with you

i would say 200% better track is now a perfect racing track

The U24 league idea is an absolute belter and will be a great addition to the main league The play off idea is an absolute shocker and must have been given to them by Rob Godfrey or something. A team can finish 6th in a 8 team league, lose their first round of play off matches and still win the league! I don’t begrudge the top 6 qualifying but surely it has to be 3 v 6 and 4 v 5 with the winners then advancing to meet the 1st and 2nd placed teams. After the roaring success of the play offs this year it seems mad to change the system so drastically.

Av a great time up there getting behind the lads. Fantastic wot ur doing to get there, that's hardcore support I'll be down for the 2nd leg, all booked in. This is goin to be a truly amazing finale to the season. C'mon the Pirates

Do you think he would have done that if he didn't have a British wife and live over here?

That's why I fear for future of Birmingham and Newcastle as they all have the same landlord and somthing tells me they are not a speedway friendly outfit

Very true but it never stopped Doyle showing his loyalty to the UK, riding here as world champion.

Same applies to Berwick this season, their riders got significantly more track time and developed a lot more than they would in the NJL. The National League is a lot better standard the the NJL and i've yet to see a 'wobbler' as one has said on here. Hopefully both teams back in the National League next year.

I've said all this before but it is still very relevant. The Louis/Godfrey vision of the 3rd Division is a novice League full of wobblers, no experienced riders and no standalone tracks which is so far from it where it needs to be in reality. Also forget about the pairs half hearted and aborted "British Junior" League. In 2021 the gap between the 3rd Division and the 2nd Division was way too big which is a major stumbling block to riders trying to make their way up the ladder unless as Barry Bishop stated they are exceptional talents that would have made it whatever system was in place. See this is where Chris Louis (like his father before him) doesn't "get it" cause he was an exceptional rider who became an 8 point 2nd tier rider after only one season. What British speedway has lacked since the 90's and it was in decline then was numerous British 1st tier and 2nd tier league journeymen, guys who wern't ever going to be World Champions but were regular, loyal servants to teams and being home grown local people took more interest in going to their nearest track. I saw this first hand from first watching at the Firs Stadium Norwich then the 1970's halcyon days at Ipswich, King's Lynn and Mildenhall. Locally based competitors is major reason why stock car racing is more popular in East Anglia than what speedway is. The 3rd Division has over its various guises since its 1994 formation been a less choppy water for new tracks to test the water, former tracks to reopen and tracks struggling in higher Leagues to run at a financially viable and competitive level. This is what disappoints me about Rob Godfreys stance on the 3rd tier cause he only reopened Scunthorpe (an area that struggled to run viable speedway in the 70's and 80's )in the 00's when it offered the beforementioned values. The likes of Birmingham and Eastbourne only kept going a few years ago because the 3rd tier was in place and offered a viable set up. Mildenhall I doubt would have ever reopened to speedway had the 3rd Division not been around. At this moment in time I suspect more than half the current teams running in the Championship struggle to be viable and would be better suited to racing at a cheaper amateur level. The 3rd tier doesn't need to be turned into a complete novice League because you already had successful junior Leagues below it in the well run Midland and Northern Junior Leagues to cater for novice riders. Experienced 3rd tier journeymen riders who won't ever make the regular step up to higher League like Luke Priest was in the past and Connor Coles is shouldn't be blocked from riding in the League if they wish to race cause they will provide better learning opportunities for newcomers racing against them than just racing against fellow novice riders and can provide good racing. Obviously there should be limits on the number of "old hands" in 3rd tier teams but wiping them out completely would be counter productive. What needs to happen is the top 2 Leagues merge into a bigger top flight at a level slightly better than the current Championship while those 2nd tier clubs that can't make it pay to drop down into a new 2nd tier that is at a level inbetween the current Championship and National League. Then 2 Junior Leagues below this level called the Northern League and the Southern League be formed organised in a similar way to what the well run Midland and Northern Leagues were.

Where is the Captain ? Bit harsh to leave Scotty out after his efforts in the Final...

Let 'em roll creep push and stretch the tapes as much as they dare after the start marshall walks away. Ref lets the tapes up when the rolling rider is moving backwards and is left at the gate. However if the tapes are broken ....that rider is EXCLUDED.

The start marshal's need to be stronger & in a lot of cases less biased. Riders must be no more than 4 inchs away from the tapes. The tapes should be the same hight as the centre of the front wheel so that if a rider moves he will touch the tape instead of going under them before they move. A two minute clock needs to be in place & used correctly. If the rider is not ready at zero then out he go's & the Refs must not turn it off when it gets to 10 seconds to give riders more time to garden.

Can see your point of view but referees would need to be more consistent at starts. Some let riders away with murder . I prefer refs that are sticklers for the rules.

Their is a better way, just exclude any rider who moves prior to the start when the green light is on, no replacement. This would eradicate all the nonsense at the tapes in a few meetings. Very few riders get excluded for a second offence in a meeting having been officially warned once, so they clearly know they get no leeway for trying to cheat.

I think the demise of Proctor and Bates kind of forced the Lions to rebuild the team to have four heat leaders, due to a large extent on who was available, on what average. But I don't think that having four heat leaders really did any of them any great favours individually, or the team as a whole. Go back to the three heat-leader model, find one reliable second-string, one second string who can put a point or two on his average, one reserve who will challenge for a 1-5 place, and one promising youngster. And never, ever, even think about trying Josh Bates again. And maybe consider one of the Thompsons riding elsewhere for a season.

Of course not, the Stars season ended way before the Panthers, why shouldn't he celebrate, he was involved afterall .........

The Fearless and Spectacular Zenon

Zenon was a legend at Hackney and I am devastating by this news. He was fearless on a bike and a gentleman off it. One minute on the line the next up on the fence. Amazing rider. I got to know him well during the run up to the Hackney reunion in 205 when I had the absolute privilege of him staying with me for a week. How many sports top riders integrate with fans (at least from that era) to that extent as speedway. More recently I was a guest at his meeting in Gdansk and was privilege to be invited to the after party where we once again regaled tails of the good old days. The last time I saw him was the day I flew home from that meeting where I delivered a letter to him from his old mate Barry Thomas. His smile whilst reading it lit up the room and it is that picture that I will remember. RIP Zenon and thanks for all the excitement you gave a 9 year in 1976.

Very sad news...always an entertainer and will be sorely missed. Remember watching him for the first time at Cowley in 1973 on a hot Sunday afternoon. RIP