martinmauger

Also 2 factors stock cars have in their favour are: don't think events are rained off (happy to be proven wrong) & almost guarranteed on-track entertainment, esp 'demolition derby'-style races. Never been to watch stox either, keep meaning to pop along to Scunny one time I'm told by those in the know I'd love it, but like with speedway much of this year, the trick is / was finding the time. Life does tend to get in the way of such things a wee bit....

I also noticed people I knew from Hull who I'd never seen at Scunny, or any track, before Friday, hope they enjoyed what they saw. Some good racing, one or two incedents to talk about and - pretty sure I've never seen a 5-0 to each side in the one match. You can ever really tell with speedway, not 100%, keeps the sport interesting....

Shame Bimingham have closed at Perry Barr & I feel for Brummies fans who had their last 'farewell' Monday nite, but it could be worse. At Hull we had no such 'farewell' as the track(s) closed without any warning - twice. At the Boulevard there were rumours the speedway promoters weren't on the greatest terms with landlords Hull FC (who were on the up at that time) but there was no indication that speedway would end at the venue. Fans only discovered this news in the Hull Daily Mail - on the Thursday nite after the final meeting in October 1981. Similar at Craven Park, though there probably were clues, again the rugby landlords, this time Hull KR, were on the up, wanted to increase he size of the pitch with talk of enlarging the speedway track to Workington, Derwent Park size. Sadly again, the speedway club closed & were evicted with no warning with 2 home fixtures outstanding, the previous treble-winning season of 2004 with a huge wage bill due to slamming teams home & away all season impacted hugely. This time finances were the main factor, as coincedentally occured at Workington in later years. In fact I shared a few conversations with Comets team manager Tony Jackson about speedway requiring a 'wage cap' of some kind, but there would be the situation of telling your no.1 who maybe scored a full maximum, he is needed once again in heat 15, or perhaps again in a 'super heat'. Anyhoo, hopefully speedway could return to Hull (came very, very close on a couple of occasions in recent years I'm not allowed to discuss), in Exeter, Newcastle, Wolves, etc & now Birmingham. The sport in the UK can't affod to lose any more tracks: in 1981 there were 2 divisions each of 18-ish teams, so 36 in total. In 2025 there are approx 16 in the entire country, not including the non-league venues such as Duns & Lydd. I still watch speedway on TV & live at Scunny when I can make it, but it isn't the same as having a team of your own, and as the song goes "you don't know wat you've got, til it's gone". Sigh. Still, things aren't all 'doom & gloom' as proved by Scunny, Redcar, Leicester & now Workington tracks can & do return, interestingly in more rural than urban settings.....

I did, they didn't: informed them all (3 diff organisations) I'd therefore see them in court. Suddenly none of them 'wished to play ball' for some reason. I can't imagine why😉....

Speaking as someone who unfortunately has some experience with parking issues, I was recently hit for 3x £60 'illegal parking excesses" - when I was parked in areas / spaces I visit regularly - and / or had correctly registered to park there, I challenged the 'notices' & the fines were correctly cancelled (tip for the day: keep / print / save such permission replies). Stating the obvious: if there is a fone no. or website on such notices, & there should be, call it or msg them for info advice / info, or ask in the shop, staff & customers, could save a lot of possible hassle later, can't be too sure. Hope this helps....

Speaking for myself I look in several times everyday often whilst supposed to be working, don't post much as without a team of my own I have a somewhat helicopter view of the sport. I do keep in touch with occurances with who is doing what & have TV fixtures & the meets I hope to make it to written up on my wallplanner, I'm very much looking forward to the new season. Still a great sport, Star was on time this week too so all is well😀.....

Speaking for self, I much prefer physical copies of magazines as I spend most of my working day staring into monitors, online stuff is great when it works. When it works. The Star is a great, tho not perfect magazine, there is more foreign news by necessity as with quite a few clubs sadly closed in the UK it follows there is less UK news to report. The biggest problem area with Speedway Star is the distribution which can be pretty random, after weeks of being on time so far in 2025 my copy has been late the last 3 weeks, regular post arrived, still not received this week's 13 March issue, tho was on sale in Asda....

Speaking as I find (as always) my Star has been on time at least the last 2 weeks, poss even 3 but I was away one Thursday, so YAY !😀. Post in Hull is also pretty random, stuff arrives when it arrives....

Been told the same, also the wrapping itself my brother who works in motor industry says parts deliveries in such packaging is often lost & delayed, no probs with letter size, A5 & A4 envelopes, boxes or jiffy bags / padded envelopes. No Star for me as yet, ish W/E 11-1-25, wanted something to read so tried Asda, Tesco, WH Smith & 2 wee papershops; no joy....

Recall reading at least one other team, coulda bin Poole ?, were rewarded with a holiday by their promotion. The late Len Silver often took his riders on skiing holidays. Getting to the (prob intended) point: give the team finishing top a trophy: League Winners, then play off winners a trophy also: League Champions = everyone happy.😀 "Simples", as a certain meerkat would say😉....

Spreaking as I find: to be fair it was printed in the week afore's ish that current mag, w/e 28-12-24, would be on sale from Friday onwards, 'subbed' issues delivered 24 hours later. Sadly I've had the odd 'Star go missing myself, but whenever I've phoned Dave Fairbrother (a man of few words who gets things done) at Pinegen, 'Star Distibution dept., he has always posted me a replacement asap. During one 'Dude, where's my Star ?' (see what I did) chat he was also frustrated over copies going missing, and revealed the problem is much less prevelant than at one time. Speedway Star remains a top quality publication covering our great sport and, as I've alluded to before, it's important we support the magazine, and our teams / tracks, as without drawing pictures, speedway needs all the support it can get. And, no, Dave didn't ask me to say that, though I promised I would....

Also prob some posters, like me, who read the forum everyday but don't necessarily have time to chime in or new info to contribute....

Joe Owen, early in his career had the nickname 'Tazmanian Devil' the way he twisted all over his bike with plenty of elbows out. His style calmed down quite a bit & he became a well capable rider in 1978 raising his match ave. to above 9pts before his first terrible action at Hull riding in a meaningless 2nd half race....

Indeed, All The Very Best To All In Speedway For 2025. And (don't wanna preach to ya people, no, no, no) but if at all possible: attend your local track, and also others, or subscribe to the BSN or club feed, buy a programme & maybe club merch & also buy the Speedway Star. Discuss, criticise & complain, and also praise, (as we all love to do) by all means but try to support speedway in general. 'East Yorkshire based nutshell': when Hull closed at the Boulevard end of 1981 there were 2 divisions each of 18 teams (36 in total) with prob a few 'inactive but possible to re-open' tracks. End of 2024 we have a total of 16 +/- in the entire country, allbeit with a few 'inactive but possible to re-open', Bradford, Buxton, Coventry (hopefully) & Mildenhall immediately spring to mind. Don't think I need to draw pictures, but try to Support Speedway in 2025....

Similar situation in Hull; plenty of land inside and just outside city boundries, but literally ACRES of it just a couple of miles to the the North and to the West, but it's all owned by someone, just sitting on and it biding their time....

Can reccomend this, when I was way younger my Dad took me fishing to Filey, North Yorkshire, this woulda bin late 1970's / early 1980's ?, & I was delighted to discover sand racing was taking place - who knew ? I had just got into speedway a few previous years ago & recall there were different classes: grass / sand track bikes, Moto-X, sidecars, diff engine capacities, etc. Recall one guy seemed to be in almost every race, we watched him & he just re-fuelled & went straight again. Speaking to him afterwards he told us he rode a 250 so could compete in many more classes (250, 350, 500, unlimited, etc) so more skids for his buck. One last thing: we know how a speedway track changes so rides different as a meet progresses (dries out, dirt moves, etc) well the Filey track actually changed shape as the tide came in, from a big 'Belle Vue shape', towards to the end was a long 'sausage-shaped track', imagine, say, IOW's straights with Lakeside's bends. But, yeh, a good day out, reccomended. FOC too....

(Tis the weekend so I'm in a funny mood) My favourite shovel is the Spear & Jackson no.3, there have been reports of handles breaking off but I still believe it to be a fine shovel. ... Courtesy Ripping Yarns Series 1 Ep2: The Testing Of Eric Olthwaite 😀 https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=Awr.nrDQ2kFnAwIA2t5LBQx.;_ylu=Y29sbwNpcjIEcG9zAzEEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3Nj/RV=2/RE=1733578705/RO=10/RU=https%3a%2f%2fwww.youtube.com%2fwatch%3fv%3dHlWbcQ0iQiQ/RK=2/RS=YSEvzjteue_6uWW0w.xol098d6w-

Good stuff for Matej, happy to stand corrected, as we need our info to be right. Right ?...

Jumping in quick re: Zagar, think I read in the 'Star a few weeks that Zagar is either 'no longer an active rider' or 'is semi-retired', not been able to find the article again but think that's pretty much what was said, so he's poss out of the picture anyhoo....

Yeah very smart bike, good that it gets ridden too....

Good stuff....

Thanks for that Deano, makes sense now, 'mystery' solved, as with many things in speedway: all just to do 4 laps in (still) 60 secs or so.....

Are the Monarchs & Academy teams both defo good to go for 2025 & beyond ? Not being 'a negative ninny' but seem to recall there was some doubt over the future availability of Armadale & the Edinburgh management were reported to be looking for a new site elsewhere & a new ideal location fell through at the 11th hour recently, speedway can ill afford to lose anymore clubs....

Also I've noticed what appears to be a new design of wheel rim & hub used by Martin Vaculik & a few others: the spokes hook in 'lugs' mounted on the rim and the adjustment of spokes for tension & trueness of the wheel is at the hub, as opposed to being the other way around as has always been the case. Literally don't understand this; same design but different method of assembly there doesn't seem to be any less spokes, tho the spokes themselves do look a little thicker, so can't see any benefit i.e. lightness or strength....

Sad news, the sport has lost another old-school promoter & more importantly a true showman. In the mid-1980's, when the Boulevard had closed & before Craven Park opened for speedway, in between coach trips the Hull Speedway Supporters Club held regular get-togethers & often invited guest speakers; promoters, riders, team managers, etc. Len Silver was one such guest and very entertaining & interesting he was too. All were offered travel expenses most didn't accept anything, Len flatly refused to take a penny saying "save your money, put it towards a bus trip to a speedway meeting". He likely had business in the area anyway, I don't know, but it struck me that there was a guy from all the way from down south come to chat with us northerners brought together by the sport of speedway. RIP Len....