martinmauger

At Hull, Boulevard we had the Yorkshire Television Trophy individ meet from 1974 (or 75) - 1981. It drew big crowds with World Final-class line ups but as with many of these events half way through most riders were out of the top placings, had lost interest and so the racing wasn't great. But it looked great, better, on TV & was an almost unmissable annual event, much like the old British League Riders Champs (Div 1) at Belle Vue, Hyde Rd which was defo one not to be missed. Seem to recall one promoter saying such 'indivds' petered out due there being so many each season, at least one per track....

Pushing boundries somewhat but Tai Woffenden rode for Hull (allows time for new revelation to sink in) in a challenge match at Sheffield in 2008....

Nope, me neither, apart from GPs, more into team matches....

I was at Scunny one nite last year (not sure who won) and the away team did the same to their travelling fans; about a dozen all singing, shouting, clapping, cheering & waving flags, so hard not to notice, but their riders - nothing, not a wave or even a glance. Disgraceful....

Stil digesting the GM info, not hugely excited but least all clubs appear to be running in 2018. Must mention though, no more TR - "oh baby, my life begins today!" . Pleased about that....

Was only talking with him not that long ago at Scunny, reminiscing about the days he ran the track shop at Hull, Craven Park. A very interesting guy for sure, RIP Dave....

Pretty much this ^^. Think the criteria should be ridden for the club for 5 years, or leave it up to individual clubs. I don't buy the 'ex-employee allowed back to collect freebies' argument though, a meeting will go ahead whether ex-riders turn up or not, so the club isn't actually 'losing' anything. They may even 'gain' if more fans couild turn up to see or speak to the rider and a maybe ex-rider buys drinks, food, etc, though I'm aware that bar & catering monies mostly go to stadium owners.... Not stirring the plot but adding my 2p's worth. Morton, Gordon & co did oustandingly well in delivering the stadium in the first place but I wonder if there have been any noise complaints for nearby residents. I sincerely hope not & only ask out of interest in regard to the accoustic barriers incorporated in the new stands which were heralded as a major (no pun intended) feature allowing the stadium being built on this location. If noise isn't an issue then maybe the design of the Belle Vue stands could help with other potential city-centre sites.....

True, do seem to recall the motorcycle gang depicted were 'bad boy yobboes' somewhat so creating 'goodie v baddies' drama. Least non-speedway kids were talking about the programme, going on to acquire mopeds: Honda SS50's, Suzuki AP50's, Yamaha Fizzies, the odd Garelli Rekord, etc. I didn't acquire an AP50 the then bike of my dreams til I was 18. As far as generating interest in speedway, well that is the $64,000 question. By the way: don't you hate it these days when everything on TV is called 'a show' these days....

I loved King Cinder, used to get home from school, even bunking off the odd detention (!) then getting more, the nights it was on TV, Tuesdays or Thursdays if memory serves. Thought Colin Richardson would make good riding double for Peter Duncan. Also many non-speedway fan kids would watch then discuss it the next day, much more than pukka Saturday Afternoon Speedway on World Of Sport....

This ^^....

Speaking as I find, and for myself, 'a little bird' told me that is pretty much how these things are run. And in addition, it wouldn't be the first time an idea has been put forward as delegates are getting ready to leave and agreed when they are standing up and putting on their coats. From time to time & 19 years on I still wonder how the Honda project might have panned out...

I'd go along with that, JD / Mavies looked well cool rocking his distinctive silver & black look. My own jury is out re; team suits / body colours arguement. One the one hand body colours seem more team thing somehow and do match, on the other very few team suits match. It's true; many have differring trims & placement of logos, even different shade of colour, heck I'm partially colour blind and even I can tell the difference. And I don't mean following a 'too hot wash' either, some don't even match on press day, I know often different manufacturers are used within the same team but no excuse with modern technology available. Either match 'em up or don't bother. Or wear body colours as well. Back on topic though, I also thinned out much of my 'speedway stuff', culling stuff that is less relevant or of interest to me. Once saw a local news story about an old boy that had passed away and his family were off-loading the guy's train collection, he was a railway buff. Railway buff is putting it mildly - the collection was professionally catalogued and the guy had every single item produced by Hornby (of his chosen gauge) incorporated in his layouts + 2 of everything still boxed and mint. Now that is collecting....

Nutshell: I worked in sales once and was told very early on if folk are pleased with whatever they buy, (from baked beans to cars to sport) they will tell 5 others how great it is. If they are in any way unhappy, they will tell at least 15 how rubbish it is.....

Someone told me about this earlier in the season, but I don't recall the details or where they saw it and had forgottten all about it til reading about the winners. Good idea though and good luck to them...

I think such figures should be taken wih a wee pinch of salt. I mean how many times have we visited folk, or had folk pop round to see us, and the TV is on in the background beacuse no-one has turned over or choose to watch something else whilst folk catch up with gossip, make plans to go out, or choose watch something else like a DVD or a film? So the TV was tuned to a particular channel for, say, the evening news but no-one is actually watching anymore....

Cripes ! A simiar thing happened to me once, thanks to an ex-girlfriend, s'why I was so keen to keep many of the S Mails & Stars I mentioned earlier. Still can't believe I didn't arrange a Sweeney Todd-style ending for her - I didn't folks ok, weird sense of humour time . My mum had a rule tied in with tidiness where anything found on the floor would was binned: if in doubt, throw it out. We reached a compromise after some her stuff was thrown out....

This ^^....

Hancock, Pedersen, Lebedevs / Milik would be my picks. We'll soon know who guessed right...

This ^^. As with Crump in 2003, Doyle's huge misfortune in 2016 certainly tested whether he still had the desire. We all saw the answer to that one. Very well done to him....

Think Rob Godfrey is still considering his options, waiting til after the BSPA AGM. In the meantime he's apparently done a lot of stadium improvements though....

Long ago I was told by someone older and wiser than myself "when collecting, one must specialise and focus on one area of interest, otherwise the collection will only grow until one finds oneself snowed under with a housefull of stuff". There are seveal TV prgrammes which cover this sort of thing. A couple of years ao I de-cluttered a tad and sold some 2,500 or so LP records, but kept the aritsts I was most into and also records that mean a lot to me. No real biggie as most, if not all, are easily replaceable should I feel the need to hear 'that certain sound', though online music channels and websites also play a part. A few years before that I bought several boxes of speedway memorabilia off someone who was about to bin it all (!). It was mostly proggies and though I kept most of it, I was more than happy to pass on FOC various 'swaps' of mags & books + Hull 'swaps', Glasgow homes & aways and Scunny homes & aways to Matt, Jimmy 'Topcat' & Derek 'Diggler' my esteemed colleagues in speedway (fellow fanatics). They have done the same for me, before and since; it's good to give and swap....

True and good luck to them. Neither praising nor criticising, just sayin'....

Riding speedway sounds like beer & skittles basically, but being a motorsport it can go wrong very quickly. One bad spill and bike can be written off, along with a month or so of earnings. Then when repaired or replaced the rider may not score as well due to resulting niggling injuries (often the worst to get over) and / or the 'new' bike may not rerform as well as the previous one. Spoke end of season to one rider (name witheld but a Premier League 2nd string) who admitted his scoring had tailed off somewhat, team doing zip so no real biggie. His only bike needed a tune / service and he had a buyer lined up who was aware of the impending service, but if he crashed or blew the bike up the sale would fall through and with it his chance to break even over the season. He was reluctant to tune his existing bike or replace it without a firm team offer for the next season. This wasn't forthcoming and so the rider sold his bike and all other speedway equipment and retired and does a more conventional job, though is still seen at tracks from time to time. Probably happens more than one might otherwise think....

Prob already mentioned, but no one forces anyone else to ride speedway all riders have their reasons for doing so. Reckon it costs £100+ just to turn up with one bike and put it on the track: vehicle fuel + new rear tyre + racing fuel & oil + chain oil + tear offs / goggle lenses + cleaning of bike & riding gear + servicing (cost divided by races), etc. Multiply by no. of bikes and add more vehicle fuel for greater distance travelled. Then factor in time spent 'prepping' the bike + time spent travelling. This assuming the bike hasn't required attention beforehand i.e crash damage, parts replacing, etc. As stated it's human nature not to divulge payments and also to aquiere as much payment as possible. Won't comment on possible greedy riders, but any who make a profit from riding speedway, good luck to them.