Aces51

You've alluded more than once that they were advised not to go ahead with the meeting. Can you tell us who by, what was said and when this took place?

I remember Chapman at the time of that shared meeting complaining that the BSPA had not openly criticised him and I think he referred himself to the SCB for an investigation. Mind you, my memory isn't what it used to be. Maybe I got that wrong and there's just a slight hint of hypocrisy in today's statement.

Any organisation like the BSPA should be supportive of it's members. What was needed was an apology for what happened and comments that they were going to offer Belle Vue whatever support they could to ensure that the problem is solved. You can just imagine what happened. Someone on the management committee said, hey lads this could have a knock on effect you know, it might affect us, we'd better distance ourselves from it and quickly. An interesting consideration for the SCB is that the Belle Vue track curator is one of their two track inspectors.

What a cringing statement from the BSPA and Chapman. It went wrong so we wash our hands completely and totally distance ourselves from it as much as we can, even from it being called the Natonal Stadium. Does anybody doubt that if it had gone well they wouldn't be saying it was nothing to do with us, it was a Belle Vue fixture and all of the credit goes to them. As for it damaging the sport nationally, how many fans are going to say I'm not going to my local track because of what happened at Belle Vue? If that were true then where were the similar comments from the BSPA after the fiasco on live TV at the Coventry, Poole and Belle Vue,Poole matches. The SCB are carrying out an investigation. I have no problem with that if it is impartial and fair but can't help but mention that it seems odd that when Belle Vue are involved action is immediate but other instances that cry out for investigation either result in deathly silence or are put off and never dealt with.

I've understood the current capacity to be 6,000,the first I heard of there being a sell out of 5,000 yesterday came from the Lord Mayor in his speech at the official opening. There will be additional temporary seating on the 3rd and 4th bends for the World Cup which increases the capacity to about 10,000.

Perhaps I didn't make myself clear. I assumed you were talking about riders who had first hand experience of, as you claim, massive problems, not simply relating to what unnamed people had said to them or rumours.

Yes.

Not sure how anyone could interpret my comments to be blaming the two riders. I was just pointing out that Tai seems to have misunderstood when the test was. However, Fricke's comments do tend to cast doubt on those who claim it should have been called off on Friday. You will also see if you read my post#918 that I said the promotion have to accept responsibility. As for their record over the last 10 years, keeping the club going and getting the new stadium built seems pretty good record to me. I understand what you're saying but surely the real point is that he didn't have to say anything publicly, as Worral didn't. I don't understand your point. I've never said that the track wasn't unfit or blamed the riders. I said it was known there were problems, which is why they were working on it on Saturday morning and I think, thought they had sorted it. I'm not sure who these riders were who thought there were massive problems days beforehand. Perhaps you can give me the details, it might change my opinion.

I didn't say you couldn't have an opinion but that I would pay no heed to it. You had to be there to see what went on, how the track looked, how the riders reacted to it during their track walk round and practice and how the promoters behaved. It's like deciding how much value you place on the opinion of someone who gives a view on a road accident based on what others have said as against the opinion of someone who witnessed it. I hope that helps you understand.

I'm not sure what Tai is referring to when he says it should have been called off on Thursday. The two riders who tested the track were Richie Worrall and Max Fricke and that was on Friday. Max Fricke said on Facebook Max Fricke Racing via Belle Vue Speedway Yesterday at 02:31 · Saturday night's meeting is going to be huge with some world class riders assembled to race at the new National Speedway Stadium's inaugural meeting. I managed to get a few laps in at the track yesterday and it feels like a great track so is bound to produce some very exciting racing. Can't wait.

I referred to the Good Friday meeting, that was a track curator problem. As for the the Poole match, I condemmed the promotion at the time but that wasn't incompetence it was cheating, trying to prevent a match taking place with a very understrength home team. It was doing what they mistakenly thought was in the best interests of the club. You could hardly describe last night as being to anyones benefit and wait until Monday to see what might be said about those who had tickets. If they knew, as you and others seem to be suggesting, that the track was bad, then they would have known that with the attitude of many riders today there would be no question of fudging any type of meeting that would avoid refunds. As for other comments about last night I pay little heed to those from people who weren't there, some of which are ludicrous comments but what I have said is my opinion, nothing more and I certainly understand the annoyance, anger and different opinions expressed in the comments of some of those who were there.

I have read the various comments and had time to consider the unfortunate events yesterday. Let me say straightaway that the stadium and facilities are magnificent, way beyond my expectations. The track is going to be brilliant, the practice laps gave us a taste of the how fast it is going to be and how many racing lines it will produce. The design of the stands gives excellent views and close up proximity to the racing. Anyone claiming we should have stayed at the dog track is talking from ignorance, as is anyone trying to make a point by referring to the Good Friday debacle or claiming the track there was never well prepared. The promotion tried a number of track curators and eventually appointed Colin Meredith who consistently prepared a good racing surface during the last couple of years or so. People are claiming that the promotion must have known that there were problems with the track and should have cancelled yesterdays meeting on Friday. I have no inside knowledge but do know there were concerns about the 3rd and 4th bends. Remedial work was being done on those bends on Saturday morning and my belief is that the promotion and Colin Meredith must have believed the problem had been solved. I think that for a number of reasons. If they didn't think that surely the work on the track would have continued right up until the last minute. The riders did their usual track walks and I didn't notice anyone paying particular attention to those bends,as usual most of their attention seemed to be at the starting gate. If the track problem was so obvious and serious I doubt they would have wasted their time checking out the starts. Likewise, if the promotion knew the meeting was in serious doubt I cannot believe they would not only have held the parade of riders walking round the complete circuit but then gone on to make speeches of the nature they did, it would have been very low key, saying as little as possible, not how much the new stadium meant to the club and the sport. The crowd applauded them for what they had achieved and David Gordon walked immediately in front of where I was sitting acknowledging the applause. He looked pleased and emotional and would have to be a very good actor to portray those emotions if he knew or believed that serious track problems were very soon going to be revealed. You had only to see them and hear what he and Chris Morton said when announcing the meeting was to be abandoned to realise they were genuinely shocked and upset. Having said all of that plainly a disastrous mistake was made. I feel sorry for all those who attended, the promotion and the riders. I do not know whether fault lies with delays by the contractors, the weather, the track curator or the promotion. I suspect a combination of those factors. To suggest the promotion are incompetent is way off the mark, their work over 9 years to achieve what many thought impossible is evidence enough to dispel completely that allegation. However, like the rest of us, they are human and like the rest of us, get things wrong. at the end of the day they have to take the responsibility for yesterday. What happened cannot be changed but talk of the final mail in the coffin of Belle Vue, the EL,or speedway in the UK is silly. We have a fantastic stadium, a track problem that can be solved and a track , which as many riders commented yesterday, is going to be brilliant. We shall recover and go on to reap the benefits of what David and Chris have provided.

So far as I know the bricks have been delivered and will be put up this week.

I've said before and now the stadium is a reality I am even more convinced that what David Gordon and Chris Morton have done is by far the biggest and most important speedway related achievement in the UK in the sports modern history. Many thought it impossible but they have created a flagship national stadium which can be a blueprint for dragging the sport into the 21st century. It now needs other promoters with the same vision, skill and determination, Belle Vue have shown what can be done. It is not only a magnificent showcase stadium but also gives the opportunity to put clubs on a firm financial footing with the various income streams that it creates. Belle Vue supporters have suffered many years of poor performance on track whilst the emphasis has been on getting this stadium built. I have also said before that it was a price well worth paying. Given a choice between say a handful of league championships over recent years and a stadium which can ensure the future of the club and the improve the profile of the sport in general it is no contest. The long term security of the club wins hands down. There are no guarantees but now we literally have all of the building blocks in place to return Belle Vue to the very top.

Swindon, Poole and now progressed to being an Aces supporter. Good on you Shovie. I assumed that's what you must have meant by looking forward to the 4 big fat juicy points.

Ok, I'll get the placards made now and organise the protest. How dare they reduce prices, we demand an increase. Maybe you should get hold of Matt and demand to know why he is charging the same minimum entrance fee as Belle Vue for such relatively poor facilities.

I think you'll find that last year some EL clubs were more expensive and a very few might have been cheaper. Most people expect to pay more for the quality of their surroundings and the facilities provided, yet amazingly at the new stadium you have the choice to pay less than at most EL tracks. What is there to moan about?

Nobody is forcing anybody to pay £23, it's a matter of choice. The view from anywhere in the stadium will be good. If you want to stand you can pay less than at many EL tracks and still get the benefits of a 21st century stadium with a track that looks like it's going to provide excellent racing. You can't compare it to Poole or any other old rented stadium. This is a brand new stadium purpose built for speedway, a flagship stadium that has to be paid for and it will be Belle Vue supporters who will have to provide the bulk of that income. I have bought my season ticket for the £20 seats and consider it good value compared to what I paid last year to watch speedway at Kirkmanshulme Lane.

In fact it was never installed. They discovered a much cheaper way of avoiding matches if riders are missing. You just call it off and the best thing about it is that the authorities don't take any action.

I don't know the official reason but perhaps because you should be looking where you're going. I saw many riders looking back but can't remember any exclusions. Maybe because it was discretionary "may be warned".

Obviously in the very early days of the sport riders must have got into teams with very little experience because nobody had much experience. I think it also happened in the immediate post war years. There was a shortage of riders and the sport was going through a boom time. However, I think even then some of those riders had in fact gained experience riding on make shift tracks in Germany, the Middle East and other countries whilst they were in the armed forces. From the mid fifties onward I certainly can't recall numerous riders getting into first division teams straight from a training track. Maybe into Southern Area League teams or third division sides, I could well have not been aware of that.

Even though Hyde Road was a brilliant race track and that we were spoilt by riders like Craven, Collins and Morton, there were still the inevitable races won from the gate with riders strung out. There will always be a share of those races whatever the track or era. These judgements are always subjective. Wolverhampton is now regarded as a track that produces good racing and yet I recall my first visit, I think in the 70's. My first impression was that I had found the cycle speedway by mistake and watching the racing it seemed slow, almost boring and certainly far less exciting than at Hyde Road. Maybe, we have just lowered our expectations and now accept that standard as good or maybe, modern bikes and better track preparation have improved the product at that particular venue. I am certain that the racing at Kirky Lane was nowhere near as good as Hyde Road but still good enough to keep me going every week. Perhaps, the new track will give me a better idea of how standards compare with those earlier times. I think that in those days in addition to bikes of a similar standard, many riders seemed of equal ability and it was those factors that helped the standard of racing. I think one of the pluses of the 2015 EL race format was that it increased the number of races between riders of similar standard and consequently improved the standard of racing.

I agree. Having followed the sport since the mid 50's I cannot recall a single instance of a rider being excluded for looking back. You're right about the bikes as well, equipment was much more standardised although top riders were always looking for something to give them an edge. All tracks had a bike as a track spare and riders usually performed as well on that as their own bike. As for riders being in a top team a few weeks after attending a training. I have very rarely seen it. In the 50's Belle Vue ran novice races in the second half and it usually took years rather than weeks or months before even the best novices got into the team. In the late 60's the advent of the second division saw riders progressing from novices to a team place at that level and then the best of them to the first division, mostly after a few years. I'm sure there are others but the only riders I can recall going straight into a top team are Andy Smith, Joe Screen and Robert Lambert. They had all been riding bikes from a young age.

And how many fans can afford two home meetings a week and will will be bothered to go to watch what they will consider to be their second team? The farce of pandering to the GP stars is that we all know that if Poland could no longer afford them they would be back here demanding more than 14 fixtures a year to bolster their earnings. Concentrate on those who want to ride here and producing British talent. In a relatively short time we shall have new stars, teams fans can watch develop and relate to and a strong future for the sport in the UK.

I don't know if there is a re-staging date. As you can imagine there must be a lot of things going on at the stadium at the moment, which perhaps explains a delay in dealing with emails. I would suggest you phone them at 0161 223 7720 during office hours Monday to Friday.