Vince

There are limited things you can change to make Speedway safer and most will have a for and against argument anyway. The biggest improvement would be a large run off area but you can't have that if you want Speedway in stadiums. Silencers might cause issues but would certainly cause less problems on the older style long stroke engines yet that doesn't appear to be an option on any riders list. Yet again if you want Speedway in stadiums you need to learn to live with noise reduction as the limit will be lower in years to come. The only thing I would say on that score is that it would seem to me to be much simpler to have a noise limit and let competitors fit any silencer that complies. The amount of power the bike makes after you get past about 60hp is pretty irrelevant to safety in my opinion, the way it is produced being far more important. I would bet that many more crashes are caused by bikes that are too soft than too powerful on Speedway. As the earlier post proves the actual speeds aren't so much higher as to have much, if any impact on injuries. If speed needs to be reduced I would look towards tyres or possibly wheelbase to make the bikes drive less but the riders and tuners would soon find a way around that. Neck protectors (the expensive ones at least) appear to be a no brainer safety wise these days. There is no evidence that they cause the other injuries that people were concerned about and plenty that they protect a significant part of the spine. Apparently most severe spinal chord damage is in the middle back area which the neck protector doesn't help. I know that yet I don't wear one because I just find them too difficult and uncomfortable to wear. Could be argued that I haven't tried every make and model but it would cost thousands of pounds to do so. I'm fully aware of the risk but big enough and certainly old enough to make that choice and that's the way it should be. I was 10 when I got my first motorbike and my dad told me at the time that if I race bikes I will get hurt sometimes and there's no point whinging. My kids were told the same, it is part of life if you race bikes at any level and it wouldn't be as much fun if it wasn't. There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that Speedway has less life threatening injuries now than in the past. However I do think that there are probably more broken bones and crashes than there were although I have no evidence to back that up. However I think you will find that in most motorcycle sport as kids come along who accept broken bones as part of skateboarding and BMX before they even get to motorbikes, todays kids just seem to push harder and take more chances. You see that especially in Motocross, in a local club in the 80's it would be a bad year if you had a half dozen broken bones throughout the season. Now that would just be a bit of a bad meeting and that is down to the type of track the kids want to ride with lots of difficult jumps and the way they go about it. There are those who point out that if they were all riding BSA's on natural terrain tracks like in the 50s the injuries would be massively reduced and they are right. Not least because the sport would have died as nobody would want to race, however the number of competitors has grown by a large amount (and the number of spectators dwindled, like the majority of live sport).

The wages are completely immaterial to the risks riders take, by far the majority of people taking part in dangerous sports put all their money into it rather than get paid. There are competitors and spectators, competitors are the ones willing /wanting to take the risks. Whilst I think that light flywheels and short stroke engines don't help I don't think banning them would produce any significant reduction in serious injuries and nor would much else. It's a dangerous sport, no adult rider participates unaware of the risks, for many it's part of the attraction. Sometimes things go wrong and that will never change.

Easily said but just what will put things right? Ask 100 people on here and you'll get lots of ideas, most of which will cost money and not increase crowds. Unlike being BSPA Chairman nobody putting those ideas up has to sell it to the people who stand to lose a great deal of money. Personally I think the guy is at least being honest which is about all you can ask.

Unless, like me, you think that any artificial point scoring or management tactics takes something away from the best thing about Speedway which is it's simplicity. Four riders in a race, two teams of riders competing in their programmed rides the team which scores the most points wins. Anybody can understand that same as they can understand an injured rider being replaced by a lower order rider or reserve. The only thing I would do in an effort to diminish home track advantage would be to allow the losing team to select gates 1&3 or 2&4 or if level the away team. Not a major advantage but perhaps enough to encourage promoters to prepare a track their riders can pass on when they don't make the gate. Other rules: if riders have a punch up make sure the crowd can see it rather than fine them. If anybody other than a rider hits a rider ban them from the pits for life. Injured heat leaders can be replaced by any rider with a lower average. Everybody else by a reserve. Riders to race as programmed unless injured. 2 minutes comes on as the last rider passes the chequered flag except for scheduled grading. The rev limiter to be introduced for the start of next season. No oversquare engines. Think the sport would improve but wouldn't make hardly any difference to crowd levels, that needs a major change in the way it is marketed.

If you made everybody ride uprights tomorrow they would be short strokes with light flywheels so would be harder and not easier to ride.

Personally I think the new silencers wouldn't be an issue if long strokes and heavier flywheels were being used at lower revs. Air fences definitely need to be changed so they no longer disappear just before the rider gets there. Still think the Rye house 'collapsible' fence was as good as any air fence and better than many.

I actually think the opposite, this is a situation that will need rules enforcing to change the situation. Tuners and riders have too much of a vested interest to come up with unbiased solutions. Maybe some ex riders would be a better solution, much as he gets knocked on here I think Kelvin Tatum would be a good start. Not sure there is enough to be said about how a Speedway bike works to make it a regular feature, maybe 3 or 4 articles would be interesting but the actual changes that can be made are pretty limited.

Im with Oldace in that the short stroke, light flywheel engines make life difficult even for the GP riders but especially in the lower leagues. The rev limiter that seems to have disappeared could be used to make those engines redundant. Bringing the limit down in stages over a couple of seasons would make a healthy difference I think. Long stroke engines and heavier flywheels will also make the inevitable future noise reductions safer. Just don't advertise the fact you are trying to make the sport safer!!! As an afterthought I also think that the latest engines are more difficult to get set up for track conditions so getting rid of them could level the playing field a fair bit as well as improving engine longevity and therefore cost. The rev limiter is such a good idea I'm sure we'll never see it

I think the whole thing is being blown out of all proportion. One rider gets pushed wide by another rider, gets the hump and belts him. Hardly unique, its a tough sport and riders involved will hardly ever see the same incident the same way. Think NP missed a great opportunity by putting in a complaint about the incident. If he had let it go without any further action he could have answered every future complaint by the Monster gang by saying they didn't see him whinging when he was attacked. They seem to have built this up to the stage where they are egging each other on to moan about Pedersen although as somebody else pointed out it does appear that Tai has got away from that this year. I like NP and think he is great entertainment but he does push people hard, sometimes too hard in my opinion but not as often as his reputation gets him in trouble for stuff that others do without mention. What I don't like about him is that he does whinge when he gets knocked about, if you ride like that you should accept that it's going to happen to you sometimes. I think the sport will be very much poorer when NP retires and Kildemand makes him look like a saint.

I'm no fan either and thought it a really poor decision. However having met Mr Lawrence the idea of him accepting instructions from anybody is laughable

Typical shabby Speedway journalism, using facts and putting the truth ahead of somebody's right to a rant!!

I think BWitcher is spot on, the rules don't really keep people away from Speedway. May eventually wear down fans who are disillusioned with the sport anyway and add to their lack of desire to keep going but I don't believe they are the reason crowds are poor. Speedway hasn't been a mainstream sport for a long time now, even in the 60's when I first started going it didn't get the coverage it had two decades earlier. I have a horrible feeling that it's probably a sport that has had its day and will now keep going much as it is with spells of slightly more and less popularity. I personally believe the racing is generally as good, if not better, than it's been since I started watching. There are many things that could be done to improve the sport, for one I would do away with the double points nonsense immediately if I could but like most other changes to rules it won't make any difference to crowd levels. Where I do differ slightly to BWitcher is that I think you need good track prep that produces good racing as I think that can make or break a first time visitor. I would also forget fining riders for having a bit of a dust up following an incident and even encourage it a little as there is no doubt that crowds love it. There are always posts expressing disgust on here when one rider hits another but the same posters will often talk about past hard men of the sport with relish. None of that will make Speedway popular again with conditions in stadiums etc, might keep current fans around longer and get a few new fans to stay around but the difference will be marginal. Atmosphere is everything at going to a Speedway meeting these days it is hard to believe that it is an exciting, dangerous sport because it has the feel of an old peoples home with music to match. Unless there is a massive effort to re-market the sport in a different way I think it will stay much as it is, if there is a complete re-branding that brings in youngsters then many of the older fans will hate it anyway!!

If Speedway promoted the sport as being extreme and highlighted the dangers then guests, R/R and doubling up could be sold as positives. Your newbies might be impressed that the sport is so dangerous that there just aren't enough riders to go around when the injuries start to hit teams.

Im not so sure that his bikes are especially quick, he clearly gets them set up really well within a couple of races. Personally I think he makes his bikes look quicker than they are because he has an uncanny ability to get his wheels in line early. I'd agree that he is the best first bend rider at the moment, he makes fantastic cut backs but also seems to get the bike to drive after turning so tight. I wouldn't disagree that he is probably the best rider in the world at the moment, annoying thing is that first time I saw him ride I wasn't impressed :-)

Except the post you quote proves they don't!!

It's such a shame that those in power within the sport don't take this forum seriously!!!!

Think understanding bosses who would give time off and put up with injuries for Speedway are very few and far between these days. Think understanding fans who would accept one of their riders not being available for some meetings due to work are even fewer! Practically I think the chances of a young rider doing anything that isn't self employed during the season these days is going to be very difficult although they should and do work in the off season.

Never did anybody choose such an ill fitting user name!

Next Friday sees the 4th round of the UK Dirt track Championships. Vintage, Thunderbike, Restricted and Pro classes are running Friday night with the Rookie class running on Saturday morning. Under lights last year the track held up really well and produced some great racing, especially in the pro class. Saturday also sees the very popular annual Dirt Quake event run by Sideburn magazine. An event you'll never forget with all sorts of riders on all sorts of bikes, ranging from sports bikes through scooters to choppers racing around a Speedway track. Some of the riders are very good, Guy Martin won last years chopper class, some are a little lacking in off road and racing experience to put it politely. If it's not too embarrassing to be seen with me after seeing me race come and say hello to No 95 on Friday night or ask any of the organisers where Vince is on Saturday.

Oh if I'd known you'd spoken to a start marshall I would have realised how much more knowledge you have than I possibly could. I'll try again, once the start marshall has called them to the tapes the referee doesn't allow them to roll backwards. Not sure why that is so difficult to understand in theory or practice. Having raced motorcycles of various types on and off for 44 years and still going I have a reasonable understanding of clutches and their behaviour when in all sorts of condition. Considering how much time and money Speedway riders spend on clutches I have to say that in my opinion there is no reason for them to not sit still if they had to. You will at times have a clutch drag but that's a mechanical fault like any other so if you can't sit still it's a breakdown. Besides which in your haste to ridicule people you said that anybody who thought it possible to sit still on a race bike didn't have a clue, no mention of that only applying to a knackered clutch.

I'm really sorry that we can't all have your superior knowledge and expertise but I assumed that by mentioning the ref as well it was blindingly obvious what I meant, however I will explain. The Start marshall calls the riders into the tapes and is strict about putting them in position. While he does this the ref (who is sat some distance away and therefore is able to watch all 4 riders)makes sure that nobody move backwards at any time. Hey presto!! we have 4 riders sat in position and unable to move backwards so problem solved. Now that I've enlightened you perhaps you could explain to me why a decent, properly adjusted clutch won't allow you to sit still at the start. For further education and enlightenment perhaps you recognise that sarcasm will generally be met with sarcasm.

I'd hate to see tape touching re-introduced, one of the best things they ever did was get rid of it. Now at least you generally get four riders leaving the gate in a position to compete for the first corner. Generally it used to be two at best because two or three would get caught out. I'm with Robert Lee in the Start Marshalls can stop the problems completely with the help of a strong ref. The Marshall puts them in place and anybody moving backwards by even a fraction is disqualified. You wouldn't deprive the public of too many four man races once the riders realised they can't earn while sat in the pits!

I have and still do and can sit as still as you like.

For me Speedway is 4 blokes with big balls racing as hard as they know how. Personally I like individual meetings more than team racing but it doesn't really make a lot of difference if you just watch the 4 blokes tearing around. The negativity on here and places like it is largely self feeding in my opinion. When you read how much better it was in the old days forget about it, it's what they were saying at the first meeting I went to in about 1967 or 68. Like any sport there are good meetings, poor meetings and the rare superb meeting. The great meetings make all the poor meetings worth sitting through. Speedway today offers, in my opinion, the best racing it ever has. The standard of the riders is very high and few of them like to sit back and settle for what they have in a race. Get along to see a live meeting and the speed and danger will take your breath away. Finally one important thing to remember is that unlike the overpaid participants in some other sports these lads are largely paid by the point and not very well in the main. Injury is a near certainty during the season and they will carry with pain that would see the average man off work for weeks. Yet they are usually friendly and willing to mix with the fans. There are undoubtedly many faults within the sport and the rules, pretty much like any other sport. It is still a fantastic sport

I'd bet that there are far more accidents caused by engines that have been 'softened' picking up too much grip than there ever are by outright engine power. Very noticeable in the NL when you sometimes see inexperienced riders trying to use the same set up as top riders and struggling to even get the bike turned. Strange as it may seem a novice is generally safer with more power rather than less (too much wheelspin is safer than too much grip). Where I think modern bikes are more difficult is that they are very sensitive to set up because of their lighter flywheels and higher revs and the difference between a fast well set up bike and a complete pig to ride is narrower than ever before. My opinion is that the rev limiter could be the best thing ever by not only making service intervals longer but by making super light flywheels a bit less effective. A minimum stroke would help as well.