THE DEAN MACHINE

im already spanner man for a pole this year speedway is all about heads , the head of the engine and the head that's on the shoulders are the things that win races with the one in the shoulders being the most important , if that bit isn't right everything else is pointless and that includes fitness

that's not what I'm saying , it's not about being fit , they all are it's about them banging on about being this highly tuned althlete and fans really couldn't care less

that's why I said I'm getting old on the end of the title , it is a young thing and maybe it is the future but it's not what made speedway popular and it turns me off the sport for one , I'm not saying it's the wrong way to go I'm just saying it's not what speedway was ,is and hopefully not what it's going to be I've had a few offers to help youngsters but it just doesn't work for me , it's the same as a mechanic , I'm proberly a better mechanic than I was a rider and I've had a few offers but I turn them down as it feels like I can't relate to the modern rider , feels a bit like they are doing a different sport and it's not the sport I love ,this season I'm mechanic for a pole and I have no problem because he is one of the last of the old school riders and that is in a round about type of way the point I'm trying to make

I'm not saying they shouldnt be fit in just saying all this fitness stuff is taking away the point of why the fans loved riders in the first place , I know a couple of riders who hate training and don't do it and they are no better or worse riders for it , personally if I had to train i would never of got on a bike in the first place , I wasn't a better rider than I was because I hit my talent level not because I wasn't any fitter ,you want to be a better rider go to peter John's and then go to a head shrink cause they are what you need to win

it hard to get the point across I am trying to make , they are trying to be this pro athlete and that's not what speedway riders were and fans loved them for it , do they now ? as I said im getting old and the sport isn't the animal it was and is starting distance me from it

I have touched on this subject before and this is just my opinion but this is how I am seeing modern day speedway .Current speedway seems to be pushing this fitness fuelled pro athlete sport as the way ,now im not saying being fit is a bad thing and you do need to be reasonably fit to race or at least race fit but the modern riders seem too be pushing the fit thing like its the be all and end all and that as far as I am concerned as a fan is not what speedway is , speedway is and always will be a common mans sport with real ordinary blokes that the fans feel like they can bond with, I overheard a conversation last week on the train about football and this guy was talking about how footballers were real hard men and they would take hard knocks and just get up and the fans loved them and I think this is the same as speedway .when I keep reading this fitness crap I just keep thinking this is not the sport I love, this is something else ,it feels like they are doing another sport ,a different sport that I raced and now watch , maybe this is the future of speedway and my view of it is dated but I don't like it and I don't want to become another one of the masses who have deserted the sport , I really do feel this is pushing apart the gap between rider and fans and the further it goes away the less the fans feel part of their sport , just think to yourself about your speedway hero from the past ,was he a real ordinary bloke with an amazing talent that you felt was just you , the more I think about this the more I feel like a fossil and that speedway has moved on and I haven't and right now we have the last few real riders left and the next generation of riders will just be lost to me. where are the Alan Grahame, Arthur price Jim tebby's of the sport? not sure I got across my view perfectly here but you get the point I am trying to make

it's about a valid excuse as the weather and Xmas

wolves signed a rider called torben hansen in the late 80s , he looked the part but what I remember he was miles off the pace ,he did 7 meetings and got an average of 0.40. in the 90s when I was riding at stoke we signed a dane called Fredrick Petersen I think his name was , he turned up at press and practice with no bikes and looked a bit bemused by it all , I think on a bit of a scout mission they had heard of a young dane called Fredrick Petersen that was worth a go but they got the wrong guy , he is on the press team photos but never turned a wheel for the potters

I can't believe this should even be allowed let alone considered ,people keep banging on about how much this league is for young riders etc so use them and ban r/r and guests in national league all together

i assume this messi and bale are footballers , if so there wages are paid for by sponsors and other incomes because there is not enough people who attend football match to pay the big wages they earn

and after all that you totally ignore the most important people , the fans , remember them ? , if the fans say it's too expensive for them then that's the bee all and end all , doesn't matter a jot what riders think they are not the important aspect in all this , we all know people who don't go to speedway because it's too expensive for them , not everyone in life has bags of disposable income , yes the sport has big issues and God knows it's got to promote itself and get more value but none of that matters if you don't make it tempting to people , I know how much this sport costs to ride and I know how much money riders make and I also know some folk who would love to attend every week but just can't afford the £18 so they don't go , the sport is too expensive for a lot of supporters and potential supporters and that's a fact , ignore it and we will disappear into the history books , the sport needs to finance itself differently , the bills need to be paid by sponsors so what comes through the turnstiles is a bonus , easier said than done but done it must be , the current model of costs go up so put that all on the fans is wrong and the fans has chose to desert us

a couple of points , it's winter what sort of weather were they expecting ?and I drive into the carpark last week and had a good look around and nothing is happening , they built a wall a few weeks ago but since then nothing , there is no workmen, no site office , nothing, perhaps they are hiding behind the houses and have a lookout so when someone turns up they all hide then start work when they have gone, when is the1st meeting on the new track supposed to be ?

For any of the hard work the bspa may have done to attract new fans to the sport the Coventry Liecester and belle vue saga has probably lost a 1000

The way Coventry speedway are treating their fans is a disgrace

it's not my favourite haunt i proberly only go in once every couple of months and she is definatly not my friend , can't stand the woman and she will do nothing for stoke speedway including sodding off which is what everybody wants , I don't attend stoke these days and if I do she makes me feel as welcome as a bacon sarni in a mosque

she is on reception as you go in , mainly on Saturdays , the casino is about 1000 yards away from old Sun street track

Unfortunately stoke has a person that has drove more people away with her attitude than anything else , that includes staff , riders and some of stokes longest following fans but if you want her to be civil to you go to genting casino in Hanley where she works on the desk as you go in , she has to be nice to you even though she is doing it through gritted teeth

I totally understand their way of thinking but I'm thinking about the future of the sport not individuals , if anybody has a better way of levelling the playing field and cutting the rising costs then let's hear them ,because riders are the first to moan that they are not making money but you give them a chance of change and nobody will take it . But contrary to a riders belief the sport has to carry on after they retire , they might not care but fans do . The fact is the sport can't afford the rising costs from riders and we have been given a lifeline without any downside to the fans and the sport , the only losers are the tuners and as I've said before we owe them nothing

there needs to be enough engines sold for it to work , on the subject of why would riders sell them on , well why do they now ? I've seen engines for sale from top riders that have 20 races from new , why ? But they do . I understand this idea is not without its questions or worries but it is our only chance of somewhere near a level playing field and it's.not like we are the only sport to do this , I have no financial gain from this idea although I think I should be on the payroll from GTR for the amount of smoke I'm blowing up his arse but I care passionately about speedway and I believe we are currently in a very unhealthy position regarding engines and I see it as a way forward

I said in an earlier post if I was riding this year at NL level 100% wouldn't buy but if mandatory would buy second hand , in other 2 leagues properly yes I would cause as I see it there is no argument against Freddie lindgren a service costs and if they mandatory there is no performance issue so yes, maybe the national league left open then and that's the place for current engines to be fazed out naturally

IMO the GTR should become mandatory next season for championship and premiership and a year later for the national league , the GP remains a free for all but I believe if one of the top stars like Doyle or Hancock started riding them it would happen naturally anyway so the only thing that would need to be mandatory would be to seal them

really not quite sure where you have seen that happen but anyway is not necessarily just what happens in the 15 heats , it's the whole experience from the time you enter a stadium to the time you leave that matters

if it is sealed they say they will gaurentee the parts against failure but not for bad maintaince

well think about it , if sealed engines were made mandatory and only certain people like Trevor hedge were allowed to service them , the tuners have no business so obviously they are going to rubbish the idea but tough , this is about the future of speedway not some individuals and some of those individuals don't care a stuff about the people on the teraces put aside the costs for a second and see what we would have if the GTR became mandatory , all the engines were identical from factory and then sealed , means every rider from the MDL to the premier league will be on the same engine , which in theory means a rider who was in the national league could ride in the premiership and if talent allowed would be competitive of which isn't the case now , the manufactuers (not Gerhard) are saying the engine should do 250 races which is a season without issue , that in my eyes is all you can ask from an engine really ,to me it levels the playing field out

well it's got 28 weeks to be up and running and apart from some obscure wall right in the corner not a thing is happening but amazingly houses are springing up like daffodils, I hope I'm wrong and it all comes to fruition but some actually sign of something going on would be a start