Halifaxtiger

If you are on facebook, this is definitely worth a read (Isle of Wight Speedway page) It pretty much sums Barry Bishop up - honest, decent, caring and passionate. I daresay the words he first thought of aren't reflected in the post...………….

Clearly Ian Jordan is trying to distance himself from the remarks made. To be fair, I don't doubt his sincerity for a single moment. Problem for him is they were made by someone very close to the Eastbourne promotion (close enough to actually be able write in the programme) so he won't be able to disassociate himself from them entirely. As to whether Jon Cook is 'perfectly entitled' to make such remarks, I would say that is a matter of debate. While we are all able to give opinion on a particular issue, what we are not entitled to do is to make statements that are blatantly untrue in the full knowledge that they are blatantly untrue which could affect another person or their business interests. The way I see it, that is precisely what Cook has done.

Had my say on this on the Eastbourne 2019 thread. It's clear that most believe that Cook's comments are completely unjustifiable. Word I have is that he has little time for the lower leagues, including the old PL when Lakeside were EL. I know that the points limit in the NL was dropped to its present level against the wishes of most of the clubs and at the behest of the BSPA. This was apparently motivated by a desire to force riders up and lower pay costs in the Championship. There's no question in my mind that it made the NL's ability to draw attendances harder. Despite that, I think that NL teams have done an excellent job in putting out competitive, attractive line ups that are a long way from development league standard - anyone who has seen the Colts(for example) this year would, I am sure, agree.

A rider failing to bridge the gap between the NL and the Championship (or PL as was) is nothing new. They can be nigh on unbeatable at the lower level yet still struggle when they step up - Barrie Evans and Jay Herne spring to mind. Personally speaking, I think your view of the NL is nonsense. The gap between riders in the NL is comparable to the higher leagues and may even be less. Is there anything in the NL that compares to the difference between Craig Cook and Danny Phillips, for example ? How about Jason Doyle and Simon Lambert ? As someone who regularly attends the NSS, the Premiership racing there is better than the NL. There is no doubt in my mind about that, but to suggest the NL is 'pretty boring' is rubbish. The meeting with Plymouth, for example, was to use my own words 'splendid'. If riders like Morley and Wood can't - or shouldn't - ride in the NL, what happens when Eastbourne drop them - as seems entirely possible ? Cook seems to have his own agenda here - Bowtell has 'fire in his belly' despite the fact that of the three his present average is the lowest and around half of Morley's. I wonder if the comments are motivated by the fact that of the three Bowtell is the only one not riding NL speedway. I think what makes me most annoyed is Cook's stupid and entirely inaccurate view of NL - 'where half your opponents struggle to stay on, get their bikes to do four laps and in some cases can barely skid a bike'. That, as anyone who watches the NL speedway regularly, is utterly ridiculous and an unwarranted insult against the riders in that league. Not only that, it has the power to damage the huge effort that NL promotions are making across the country to attract paying spectators and stay in business. They deserve better.

Definitely choose Manchester instead. Far warmer

Just because people aren't buying something doesn't necessarily mean it is too expensive. It can easily be a case of ignorance of what the price actually gets you. Belle Vue's gates are, apparently, around 1200. If half are in the grandstand and half in the south stand, that's income of £22,000. 1700 at £10 is £17,000. That's a £5,000 loss and to make £10 pay, they'd have to increase the gates by 1,000 a week. There is a case for having reduced entry at TV meetings, but it is noticeable that clubs have dropped it. Clearly, the propaganda value of big TV attendances is not enough to overcome the losses incurred. I'll admit I am biased but the comparison I gave is between one sport with near world class competitors while the other is semi professional and light years away from the top of their sport. Comparing the two, to me, makes speedway look cheap. As to turning a profit, apparently Eastbourne are doing very well - even their worst gate was 'break even'.

In the same press release, Eastbourne said that their attendances have been 'excellent and well above target' with even the lowest being 'around break even'. I don't think you are wrong here, but it would be easy to paint a picture that is blacker than it actually is.

Halifax Town is £20 to go in. They aren't even in the football league. Comparatively, speedway isn't expensive. Speedway isn't necessarily dying. Word I got is that Isle of Wight's gate against Kent last Thursday was the biggest they have had under the present promotion during May.

I agree about 5 riders. But 6 (and all taking 5 outings) would be a compromise between the lack of riders and the need to amalgamate the leagues, especially if 1of those 6 was a British junior(as you have suggested). I think it has to be championship level, especially with the increase in travel costs. At the moment, Poole go as far as Manchester and half of the championship clubs are well to the north of that . That still leaves the option open for some to drop into the NL, although again location may play a big part. Berwick, for example, would be about 200 miles away from the nearest current NL club. Its not necessarily the case that the drop in standard of rider (but not racing) will mean a loss in terms of attendances. Word is that Leicester's gates this season have increased, for example, as did Birmingham's when they went into the NL. One thing is certain. With that sort of loss for one meeting, something has to happen.

Not too sure about the slicker the better - we don't want them bald. Having said that, the NSS was somewhat dry, pretty slick and slightly dusty last Monday and we had a cracker of a meeting, easily the best I have seen anywhere this season. Not 'bullcrap' at all, then

Definitely stopped grading the track but the racing I have seen has been slightly below par for Scunthorpe (still better than most, that is).

Its not quite as clear cut as that. According to Belle Vue CEO Adrian Smith, in the school holidays the Aces get bigger gates on a Monday than on a Friday. Its noticeable that even though they can now ride on Fridays, Somerset have stuck to Wednesday. I think the problem is more that teams cannot now ride on certain nights whereas before they could simply take their pick (up to a point). Sheffield and Redcar, for instance, have changed and that can do damage to attendances because people have planned their weeks in advance. Changing means there could be a clash with something else. The problem was created by the unlimited use of riders doubling up and the need for a ridiculous number of guests and rider replacement facilities. Do away with or restrict that and there is a better chance of getting the right night for paying customers.

I think the much maligned David Gordon deserves as much credit as Mort does. For all that happened at Belle Vue during their tenure, the NSS simply wouldn't exist without their combined effort and determination - and that was in the face of a great deal of scepticism, cynicism and downright abuse from right across the speedway spectrum, from members of this forum to other promotions. I got told that one prominent member of the BSPA was especially dismissive. I remember getting a lot of flak for buying one of the bricks that were sold at the time the stadium was conceived. I can say quite honestly that every time I go into the grandstand now I view it with great pride and pleasure. It is sad that - and I stand to be corrected here - neither Gordon nor Morton attend Belle Vue regularly and it would be fitting if, in view of his overwhelming contribution to Belle Vue Speedway for nearly half a century, one of the stands bore Chris Morton's name.

That rule has been in speedway for 50 years. As an example, If you check the 1969 season you will see that Gary Peterson doubled up between Wolverhampton & Nelson. The problem is more that it has got out of hand and has changed from being an opportunity for youngsters to progress to a rider money making exercise. I don't begrudge them a single penny but if it has damaging consequences then it should be reviewed. I think the difficulty is that the point of no return might have been passed. On a separate note, I see that Sheffield have moved their start time back and there has been a recognition that the track has not been good enough. All credit to them for making changes in the hope that things will improve

Spoke to Hoggy a couple of weeks ago and although he will be getting involved with presenting events at the Cardiff GP and attending a meeting in Poland otherwise he has no role in speedway at present. That's a shame, particularly as his nearest track (Scunthorpe) are in serious need of a meeting presenter.

Peteborough can be a fantastic track at its best - one of the few to match the NSS. If I lived in the tropical south I'd go there a lot Last night will hopefully set us up for what has the makings of a screamer on Monday against Wolverhampton.

Its not often I start a thread - particularly after race day - but this match deserves one. I suspect I am not alone in thinking that this would be one sided but it was, in fact, anything but and I think the final score slightly flatters the Colts. It was, in fact, a splendid meeting. Nip and tuck most of the way and with some excellent racing thrown in, the highlight was perhaps a superb maximum from Jordan Palin. Aged just 15, he never really looked like being beaten and how vital his contribution was is shown by the fact that Plymouth's top 5 outscored the Belle Vue's top 5. A word, too, for Ben Rathbone, who also put in an excellent performance and jumped up from what looked like a horrible crash in heat 14. Big credit to the Gladiators. I thought they'd get humped but they really attacked the track, particularly Richard Andrews. His last bend drive to split Leon Flint & Kyle Bickley in heat 15 would have graced any Aces meeting. At just £10 - cheapest speedway in Britain - this was excellent value and a major advert for in NL speedway. If any Aces (or other) fans haven't tried the Colts, give them a go.

Superb post that sums it up for many, I suspect.

I went to Stoke today, and won't be going back to Sheffield for several weeks (mid July, I believe). Had the meeting against Leicester been half decent, I might have come back sooner. It wasn't. 10 races of gate and go followed by 5 getting covered in dust. As a good friend (who was there today) said, why would you go to Sheffield when you can go to Belle Vue or Scunthorpe instead ?

If memory serves me correctly, he's on the track staff so his view might just be a tad biased.

My first visit to Stoke for 4 seasons and I was somewhat impressed. Certainly the track was way, way, better than the dangerous dustbowl on my last visit. Bit greasy early on (particularly the 4th bend) and a bit dusty later, they can be forgiven for both given there is always a compromise between keeping punters happy and making sure less experienced riders stay on. The stadium has been tidied up a bit too, with the greyhound track now covered by grass. I'll be going back and would suggest that everyone who has given them up gives them another try. Kent were deserved winners and with Gilkes would have won comfortably.

Showery clearing up late afternoon. Isle of Wight usually give notice of a postponement pretty early.

That's an entirely reasonable point of view. Anyone who is not a regular would at least bear that in mind when making a decision to attend or not.

I think they watered it because people complain about dust when there isn't any For future reference, Colin Meredith hasn't done the track for a couple of years I think its a cheap excuse to blame the track. True, it was watered but it didn't turn to slop. What did Belle Vue was poor starts by Fricke & Bewley in heats 9 & 10, a lack of ruthlessness by Bjerre, Worrall making a hash of bend 3, lap 4 heat 10 and a poor performance from Wells. In addition, when the chips were down Poole dug in and they should be given the credit for it. Had their team manager been more astute, they might well have won.

I think I heard the same thing this afternoon.