THE DEAN MACHINE

We stood on first bend at zielona gora tonight, what a night, amazing experience, when the fans started bouncing you could feel the stadium moving

Doesn’t suprise me, my mum used to work at monmore green and she told me one of the stadium managers hated speedway and it’s fans and would tell anyone who would listen to him but he left years before the speedway was kicked out, having read a lot of comments about greyhounds lately it sounds like their fans don’t care for our sport at all

I’m not sure it was different way back when it’s just the perception of it felt different but nowadays with social media we see a lot more of riders lives

Matt ford was/is a damn good promoter who knows how to exploit the rules but that’s not the problem,the problem is he is part of the group who make and enforce the rules, marking you’re own homework comes to mind

Actually it’s not rare, the rider circle is a very close community, yes there is the exceptions but on the whole they do respect each other and on the whole are all mates, you always want to beat each other especially your own fellow countrymen but it’s just racing, away from the track you find some even socialise together or train together and airports tend to be a bit of a gathering place for the international riders, at the end of the day they all share the same mechanics, tuners, flight organisers, sponsors and ultimately are all in the same game so yes respect is definitely there, I always respected everyone I was on a track with even the ones I didn’t like and it’s pretty much the same for all riders

I firmly believe that Birmingham’s track has been poor this year because every Monday it has been baked by the hot weather, last Monday the racing was better and the outside line worked a bit better, why ? Because it rained half way through the meeting, not a lot but enough to keep the moisture in the surface, last night it was baked again and racing was poor, nothing wrong with the shape either but it does have an adverse camber from half way out on corners

Obviously time has moved on a few years and things are more expensive but I was told yesterday a rider was asking for a substantial guarantee and nearly 3 times the point money I was getting in the premier league to race in the amateur meetings on the Isle of Wight this year but this is nothing new, I just didn’t think it had decended down to amateur level, they didn’t pay it by the way

But you haven’t offered examples of how to reduce the costs for riders promoters and fans, saying standardising engines isn’t really a workable solution which is a common theme and what does that even mean ? there are things that can be done to reduce costs to engines but there is no will to do it, I (blowing my own trumpet here ) have suggested more than most in the sport about ways to reduce bike costs but nobody listens and I also get stick for it from the current clique in the sport which is fine,I speak to tuners, riders,ex riders and put my thoughts to them, some agree some don’t but nothing changes, bigger ex riders than me know you face a brick wall to get change and don’t bother .promoters just cutting the wages again isn’t going to wash,there has to be a trade off, we have all been saying it for years but nobody ever really comes up with a workable solution, me included

While all your points are valid, they are under the current system of running the sport, which doesn’t work anymore,if things were to change within the current financial structure of the sport and from what I believe they are changing (I hope they are )then the changes needed may work, I understand it’s not going to be popular and I can see some kicking and screaming but what’s the alternative? The alternative is the end and that suits nobody, I had a long chat with someone at Birmingham last night (not connected to Bham)about finances and although I sort of already knew but it was quite staggering to hear just how far from the point which imo we should be operating at we have gone as a sport and it goes right from top to bottom and it’s unsustainable

As I always remember Buxton on a Sunday afternoon 😂 https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1Drx3Jhkod/?mibextid=wwXIfr

next year it has to be one big league and teams run on what ever day they want, reduced admission to less than £20,maybe 6 man teams, I don’t know how we make all the above work as I understand all the complications that come with it but this has to be the starting point, the sport is at an all time low and on the point of extinction, there is an appetite for speedway but the sport and its potential fan base seem to be worlds apart at the moment

To be honest I don’t understand why stoke never run out of Buxton, most of the Buxton fans were stoke ones

It did happen back in the day, I can remember Neil Evitts doing it at wolves in the latter stages of his career and it really annoys me and last night even though musielak is a friend he annoyed me too, it’s unacceptable imo, it doesn’t happen in Poland because the 3rd place rider will only get paid a bonus point if he finished behind his partner and ahead a finished 4th place rider so it’s respect from the 4th place rider to finish, there was an race a few weeks back where Nicki Pedersen pulled up on last lap while 4th and didn’t cross the finish line and went back to pits so the rider who finished 3rd didn't get paid a bonus point and it was not popular with other riders and fans alike

I’m told it’s not the same guy

No excuse for that performance tonight, it was woeful but it kind of didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things,the council again proving they are tossers, shutting the doors and turning people away after 1500 fans, saw lots of old faces there tonight, where have you been all year ? Really felt like where do we go from here as a sport ? And at this point I don’t know and I don’t have the faith in the people running it either, it really felt like a funeral tonight and not just for Birmingham speedway

I’m not sure but think so

Anyone know if thst polish guy riding for mildenhall is the same guy who sued Scunthorpe ?

They have their moments,not helped by that dickhead fan power,Nora no longer do bike scrutineering because of an incident where someone tried to sue them, up till now HSE seem to understand motorsport is dangerous and everyone does it of their own free will so don’t really get involved too much

No bewley in nominated races, janowski in ? Really

To be fair if all the riders projected themselves like woffinden does then maybe speedway might have more of a media presence

Wrocław are taking a beating here

A lot of these rules are expected by outside bodies like health and safety

Let’s hope 2nd meeting is just as eventful and entertaining

I raced in a Dudley-wolves trophy meeting and it was war, i think it was 93 I scored 1 point beating Scott smith,as a fan I disliked everything cradley and in particular had a disliking for Scott Smith , 7 or so years later I rode in the same team as Scott at Berwick and he is actually a great guy and we got on really well and we often talked about the wolves cradley matches, my good friend Jan staechmann nearly signed for cradley when he first came over and I joke with him that if he had I wouldn’t be his friend 😂

Maybe but he should of been told that if he isn’t infront and if Doyle is going for the big first corner and long straight to be aware and let him have the run