Vince

I still believe that Grasstrack needs to be the route into Speedway for youngsters in this country. Both sports are dying at the moment but if Speedway clubs associated themselves with a local Grasstrack club, or even formed one it could really be of benefit. Not much point kids taking up Grasstrack at the moment because there are not many meetings within reasonable travelling distance and nowhere to practice. However with the requirements for a practice track being a field, some posts and some rope it is a much easier and cheaper way to get kids on bikes than a Speedway track. Get the riders from the Speedway club along to meetings to help the youngsters and give second half rides at the Speedway as the prize for getting to the finals, bring Grasstrack kids into the pits as mechanics at the Speedway and just maybe you will see kids wanting to ride Grasstrack and Speedway rather than MX. Ultimately the Speedway will benefit not only by an influx of possible new talent but by all those kids and parents turning up to watch their mates ride Speedway.

Gaming International tried very hard to come up with a scheme that was financially viable and allowed for a Speedway track. However Health and Safety issues made the scheme impossible so unfortunately and despite their best efforts they are unable to incorporate Speedway into the scheme!!!

Given that most training schools run for about 4 hours and cost about £40 (+ licence in many cases) with your own bike I thought the costs with all the equipment thrown in was very reasonable. It's a fact of life that it's not much good attracting kids to have a go at Speedway unless their parents are willing to find a good few quid to keep them going (notice 'find' not 'afford'!). It will certainly cost a lot more than that to run your own equipment.

The real difference between the Danes, Aussies etc and the Brits is that we only see the foreign riders that have already got the ability, finances and dedication to make the grade. For every one we do see there are dozens that have fallen by the wayside as far as reaching the top level of the sport. There isn't so much difference between the best of the British lads and the rest as far as ability and dedication. There is a difference in experience that makes a comparison between a 25 year old British lad and a 16 year old foreign lad who has been on a bike of one sort or another every day for years fairer than comparing riders of a similar age. The countries producing top World Championship contenders has always gone in cycles and seems likely to continue to do so One thing for sure is that people repeatedly spouting that Brtish lads don't work hard enough, aren't dedicated, have a bad attitude and so on is becoming infectious and if the same was done on this forum about any other nation the same people would be calling the posters 'little englanders' and so on. It is a massive generalisation that is unfair and in some cases untrue. The percentage of riders who aren't dedicated enough to make the top of the sport will be much the same for any nationality.

But the tracks have been so much better on Eurosport!!! Seriously it's a non argument - the Eurosport coverage of the GP's and World cup has been by far the best on British TV in 2013 and thats all that matters.

Whatever the problems associated with making bikes quieter the sport needs to find a way to live with it because in the future the noise limit is going to continue to reduce. Complaining about how it ruins things for spectators or how it makes the bikes more expensive or harder to ride is a waste of time. For every Speedway fan and rider there are dozens of people happy to jump on the noise nuisance bandwagon and try and put a stop to anything remotely noisy unless it is their own hobby. Perhaps this would be a good time to introduce a minimum stroke and or flywheel weight. Or the rev limiter, seems to have gone quiet on that one at the moment. Logic says that a longer stroke and lower revs will allow engines to be tuned for torque and make them easier to ride. Would increased piston speeds cause more problems with heat that have been associated with the new silencers? I don't know but it's possible that what is seemingly obvious may not be the answer after all.

Still 11am to 3pm

Not seen it mentioned on here that Rye House run practice sessions every Sunday (weather permitting, Saturdays in the winter). Speedway, Grasstrack and flattrack bikes all welcome, Speedway and Grasstrack bikes need to run the new type silencers. They also prefer Grass bikes to run a Speedway rear tyre. Andrew Silver is on hand for tuition if you want it and they have hire bikes available. Starts at 11am and runs until 3pm. I have been there quite a lot over the past year or so and there is a great, relaxed atmosphere and everybody always seems to get all the track time they can handle.

I think that the air fence could have a plastic layer attached to the bottom that then has shale heaped on it to stop it lifting. Then if it had proper kickboards attached there should never be a problem with riders going underneath, the kickboards would also prevent riders getting 'pulled in' to the fence and give them a chance of bouncing off and carrying on. I was at Rye House today and saw Adam Kirby go through the fence twice at speed, walk away and carry on riding. Had that been anywhere else, air fence or not, I very much doubt that he would have got away with the same thing. If they force Rye to install an air fence it will be criminal.

I can understand the logic of the perceived value of Speedway being around the £10 mark. However I am not sure that cutting costs drastically will save the sport either unless it is at the cost of a large number of current clubs. My worry is that just cutting wages will not see riders reducing what they spend on equipment as there will always be a few who can afford it and being racers the rest will try to keep up. More and more riders will be lost to the sport as there will be cheaper and less difficult ways to race a bike if you are paying to do it. There are already decent riders walking away from the sport because they can't afford it anymore. The only way I can see drastic cost cutting being effective is to bring in very strict rules on equipment, then that makes current stuff obsolete overnight and the legal gear will immediately start increasing in price so even that would be very difficult for riders. Difficult to see a way out so my guess is the sport will just stumble along 'as is' with periods of popularity now and again. Or it will become like most sports with a very few professionals riding at World Championship level and everybody else paying to ride on a Sunday, that will be the end of tracks anywhere near housing though.

Typical comment from somebody who has no idea of what it is to put every penny you can raise and give all your time to chasing a dream, sometimes it goes wrong and there is nothing left to keep going. Hopefully the lad can get back to a situation where he can afford to have another crack. In the meantime you get to stroll through life telling others how to do things.

To be fair Mick I see your posts in a different light to those of Robert 72. You make a point and reply to other posts on the subject where Robert 72 just says the same thing over and over again. I think the Newport situation is a fair comparison because it is a very similar situation where one or two people just go way over the top while the majority discuss the matter more responsibly. Possibly Plymouth is similar but I think the posts from Weymouth supporters were generally positive until very near the end. My point is that people should be careful what they wish for because what seems blindingly obvious to some as the way to success may not work after all.

The difference being that the Promoter has something to lose if fans stop going because of what he has done. You, on the other hand have nothing except having to travel an extra few miles to watch Speedway. I think everybody has the message that you don't like the track, undoubtedly your efforts to tell everybody so will have stopped a few people going to Leicester so you are not helping the situation in any way. I think your attitude is far more personal vendetta than constructive criticism. I saw the same with Newport on this forum, people who thought they were doing the right thing and making suggestions about how the club would definitely succeeed. They even got their wish in a roundabout way with a new promotion that took all their ideas on board, where are they now? You don't like the way Leicester Speedway is run, fine you told everybody now let the people who put the money up get on with it for good or bad.

If Speedway is a £10 sport and the price is what will attract new spectators why are NL meetings run in front of one man and his dog? They are often at least as entertaining as EL or PL meetings, have the same facilities and despite the wobblers tag given by some on here (presumably those who haven't been!) the standard is high enough for times to only be a second or so a lap off the pace of the higher leagues. Is anybody else having problems with this forum where the return key isn't starting a new line? Anyway I think costs have to be reduced, preferably by increasing the number of home grown riders but to ensure survival rather than decrease admission costs.

Pah! he would be in the youth class at some of the amateur meetings I've been to

You are, entirely reasonably, thinking climate controlled facility equals a large warehouse with the ability to control the temperature and moisture content of the product store there. This is Speedway so a tarp keeping the rain off is controlling the climate by not letting the rain get to the shale

I personally would have excluded Tai but don't think for one minute that it was a clear cut decision and in reality neither of them done much wrong and the track was largely to blame imo. Perhaps its time that there is the option to not exclude anybody in such an incident.

I would say that generally the last 3 or 4 years have been good but before that it was very hit and miss and some have been worse than last night. I suspect that I, and many others thought they had got to grips with it and would now be able to serve up a decent track every year. However as soon as something goes wrong it seems it's back to guesswork. That's why you need somebody who has expertise in all sorts of groundwork and not just Speedway tracks to advise on all aspects, including storing the shale. There would be other people who could do the job I am sure but Ian is the one that I know of and am certain he could provide a good surface every time if they followed his advice.

More luck than judgement that there was only one broken bone during that GP, could have easily been far worse. There has been enough time to learn how to put down a temporary track by now and if not give Ian Barclay a ring and get him in to do the job properly. He won't be expensive, his methods might but it would be worth it to have a good track every year at what is supposed to be Speedways premier event.

Well I think both are unfair and Speedway should be about the 4 blokes in the program racing bikes and not a management game!

I managed about 10 laps of Leicester last April before setting myself up for a few weeks in plaster! Admittedly on a flattrack bike and not especially fast. My thoughts at the time were initially the same as most at first look, long straights and really tight bends and it just looked wrong. However it didn't ride exactly as it looked and the problem for me was the surface more than the shape. These days without the oil going into the track it seems to take a lot longer to get a good surface and I felt that a couple of years down the line it could be a decent track that allowed overtaking by riders running in deep and cutting back. For that to happen I would think you need consistent grip rather than ripping up certain areas of the track and that is going to take time. The shape might not be ideal but I think things can improve and Glyn knows a lot more about tracks than most of the people complaining. Huge track changes by bringing the inside of the bends in 10 yards or whatever might produce the desired results but then again they might not and the money spent be the end for the club.

I thought the most shocking thing was that Holder and Batchelor were out partying together, for some reason I had it in my head that they hated each other although not sure why I thought that.

For all we know it could have happened at 3am with no witnesses and he was traced in other ways when the Police weren't called until hours later. You can't run from what is not there no matter how you try to paint it! There is a difference between what is known - fact - and what you think - conjecture.

Leaving the scene of an accident and running from the Police are two different offences. Nothing theoretical about it, he was convicted of one but not the other.

As you say we don't know the details but given there is no mention of drugs or running from the police I would hazard a guess that it's not 'slightly worse'