salty

I understand it may well be happening now, but the lack of meaningful action at the last 2 AGM's suggests a lack of foresight as to the seriousness of the situation. Too many seemed to blame the poor 2012 season on the shocking weather (with some justification). Edit. Re your earlier point about promoters not wanting to talk doom and gloom about the sport for fear of turning off sponsors and wanting to "talk the product up". You must have missed the countless doom and gloom warnings from promoters telling us that things were "unsustainable" over the years. In fact within a couple of weeks of Dave Hoggart telling us everything was fine, his co-promoter was giving us dire warnings of the future of the sport at Owlerton.

Can see your point, but have to disagree. Len Silver "There isn't anything dramatically wrong with the way Speedway is run at the moment. There may be some minor changes that may be needed to the way things work, but, as far as I'm concerned, I think it is still a good sport that is generally well run" Dave Hoggart " What we are dealing with is public perception and misapprehension that the sport is in serious trouble. There are a lot of people who think we have to make changes but I don't. Yes, it can survive without major surgery" Allowing some leeway to talk up the product is understandable, but lets not forget this was a feature where other promoters felt able to be more forthright and realistic about the sports future. It was also almost exclusively going to be read by supporters of the sport. Sorry mate but I've had enough of the - "head in the sand" everything's OK, we only need to do a bit of fine tuning - mentality. I reckon the domestic product hit an all time low the other Friday when in 3 Elite fixtures we had countless guests and 5 of the 6 teams running RR. Time for some root and branch surgery.

Thinking back to the Speedway Star special last Autumn, when they interviewed a promoter from each club prior to the AGM, it was astounding how many were complacent about the sports future. Two who stood out as particularly content with the product were Len Silver and Dave Hoggart (who comically felt the main thing wrong was the negativity of supporters). I felt at the time the attitude of these guardians of the sport smacked of playing the fiddle whilst smoke filled the air and it seems the 2013 season is confirming my view that the sport domestically is floating down a creek of poo without a paddle. The chance to bring in a much needed independent body and a simplified rule book was snubbed following the winter of discontent 2 years ago and the culture of promoters who have an over-riding ethos of self interest has continued to make the sport a laughing stock. Poole is supposedly one of the best run clubs, but how many times this season have they missed out on their Wednesday evening fixture? The promotion seem keener on hunting out loopholes in the average rules the better to track a ttle winning outfit rather than provide regular action on a decent race track. With Sky possibly slipping over the horizon, now is the time to grasp the nettle and chuck out the bathwater. The baby of the essential thrill of 4 riders, 4 laps needs to be kept, but get back to weekly, affordable Speedway. If the GP riders can't accomodate a full season, then so be it, costs will be lower. An independent body in charge of a simplified rulebook. Less abuse of facilities for "injured" riders and instead of the "win at all costs" mentality attributed to Neil Middleditch in last weeks Star a final realisation that the sport is only as strong as its weaker member and that working and existing together is the only way for the sport to survive professionally in the UK.

Not as daft as Poole and Swindon tracking teams full of guests last night and the Czechs being seeded into the WTC Final. Hopefully Kennett can qualify as of right.

You mention Eastbourne and Lynn wanting 14 meetings, but that is with the current cost base of overseas riders and fitting in meetings around international fixtures. You offer Buster, Dugard or whoever a league comprised of domestically domiciled individuals available every Saturday and Sunday and then Eastbourne and Lynn would probably be quite happy holding weekly (probably weekend) Speedway again.

Interesting topic. I echo Flagrag's comments about the new Greyhound coverage on Sky this year. Whilst I am delighted to see the dogs on the telly, the difference in quality between the productions (compared to last years Sky coverage) is marked. I can't see Speedway having the resources to produce their own televised product to sell to the TV companies and I reckon the sport will be hoping that Sky are feeling benevolent when contract time comes around.

Super meeting. Lots of good racing. Very impressed by the way the Monarchs fought back to win. Particular praise for Cookie, Fricke and Tabaka - who was in the thick of the action all night.

4-3-2-0 scoring was introduced to encourage team riding, far better for a best pairs event than 3-2-1-0.

Interesting analogy Phil. Unfortunately, the 35,000 odd diners who had the "inedible meals" might not return to your "restaurant". Hope everything gets sorted for tonight, I baled out of my trip on Thursday (for unrelated reasons), and am now glad I did.

Kennett on the receiving end of three 5-1's... Good to see such a good turn out at Shielfield, pity about the result for the home team.

Thats rotten news. Thoughts with Emil and his family tonight.

Delighted to see Emil winning again. Very much deserved, 3 best rides of the night.

No problem, been with you since issue 1.

Promised you feedback, so after the welcome sight of that A4 envelope on the mat when I got home from work - here it is. Don't doubt your diligence in constructing the article, but I'm still not a fan of the "list" format type of article. Whilst trying to cover so much in 6 pages is commendable it results in everything been spread so thinly. Nothing new to read for most Cradley fans and I suspect non-Cradley fans wouldn't be that interested. Much prefer to read an in-depth interview, though I appreciate these are harder to organise and write. The Peter York one in the current issue is superb and as Humph says very entertaining. And you missed out the Garry Middleton incident in 1969 when the place was in uproar and he had to be smuggled out of the stadium in the boot of Len Silver's car. Has to be one of the great Dudley Wood memories. Glad you mentioned the drubbing of Coventry in 1981, was a great night, though Dave Shields was also unbeaten by an opponent that night if memory serves.

One of the better innovations in recent years has been using the British Final as a means of deciding the Cardiff Wild Card. That and the move to Wolves had seemed to give the declining interest in the event a bit of a shot in the arm. So what do they do - scrap the idea. Surprised Phil Rising hasn't been able to divulge the reason for this change of policy.

I thought Rosco got better as the meeting went on. Was dreading the Tai love-in, but actually I really enjoyed the chat when he joined the other two, I thought the discussion between the three of them was interesting. Good advert for the sport, despite the bias in favour of Gate 4 there were some great moves on the first bend. Glad that Worky got a draw out of it after the dodgy ref's call in the decider.

Rob, I was only teasing!!! Hope you included the Garry Middleton incident though. Haven't got my copy yet (I've a horrible feeling my sub has run out)but promise I will give constructive feedback when I do. Have to say in advance that I am not a fan of the "list" type articles that have started to appear more regularly in Backtrack. Not just the Peasley penned ones about Oxford and the British Finals, but previous ones listing the best English, Scandanavians etc. Personally I much prefer more in-depth articles about ex-riders and promoters. I know it is hard to keep the magazine fresh and unearth new angles, not to mention the fact so many riders have already been covered, but to counter-balance my criticisms I really enjoy the recent Scottish features (by Doug Nicholson?) and would like to hear more from Rod Haynes. Edit: Just remembered the Garry Middleton "incident" happened in 1969 so not strictly of Backtrack's time.

Can't wait to hear Rob Peasley's 50 greatest Cradley memories. I wonder how many will mention Oxford.

Much improved coverage I reckon. Like the Chris Louis input and was good to hear the reports from Monmore and Belle Vue. I'm sure Ryan will improve with practice.

Same at Skybet. edit (-10) that is.

I had SSN on sporadically over the weekend. Don't recall any mention of the GP. As you say it will now cease to exist for Sky.

Good to see some Speedway again. Spoilt by the massive gate bias, but delighted to see Hampel win. Thought the commentary was refreshing.

A snow day from work, so just getting stuck into it. Just noticed that the second para of the Lakeside review in the Havvy section has a 71 word sentence. Top effort! Having said that I'm enjoying reading Havvy's comments about the tracks.

I was hoping the BBC might make a late swoop....

Used to have the Star on subscription, but generally bought the Mail during the season from the track. Liked both formats, but obviously the magazine lasted a bit better than the newspaper version.