THE DEAN MACHINE

While I agree that the cost is a major factor in people going or not going it is not the difference between it being a Woking class sport or not, there is an unwritten bond between riders/teams that has been severed over the last 25 years, this is why I believe stocks have retained their fan base because they still see their hero’s as one of them

It is and will always be a working class sport but unfortunately those running the sport or taking part in it think it’s something else and the public are not buying into it

I despair 😞

No blame on fricke, looks like Doyle catches the dirt delflector (again) and it straightens him up, first bend fair decision but no blame on fricke

Couldn’t pinpoint what it was last night but it just seemed flat, like the whole event lacked importance and it felt like riders were just going through the motions, I know they weren’t and I’m sure being there it would of been amazing but as usual discovery couldn’t catch an atmosphere if they tried, the racing wasn’t great but even wasn’t what was missing, well done holder and Kurtz and get well soon Doyle. On a odd note when they interviewed Eric (the pole)in the stands, my first thought was he isn’t a speedway fan, he came across very well spoken with his American accent which a lot of young poles do have because a lot learn there English from tv show friends,then they dragged him out to carry the trophy up to the rostrum, again looking out of place as he trundled across the track, could of been a randem person picked out of the 50,000 but seemed like a bit of virtue signaling to me, watch this space

He was due to tell the fans in his programme notes v belle vue but it got rained off

Kurtz does lay that down but the slight contact says lindgren out

Under the previous system zmarzlik would be feeling the pressure now but under this system he can afford to drop another couple of points and still get through

It’s not a sell out then ?

Translated, Eric doesn’t want anyone to crash but he hopes they will

When there is no clubs left in the West Midlands the sport is official in the clink, I banged on about this 15-20 years ago about changes that need to be made both inside and outside the track, I don’t have all the answers or indeed may have non but the writing was on the wall from the late 90s but who am I ? It’s not your money yada yada yada and I took stick from some real tossers from both sides of the fence who are still running the sport into the ground today, angry ? damn right I am, I have lived speedway all my life and it’s really starting to hurt badly now and if I’m honest I think the sport is finished as a professional sport in the uk and I don’t know where we go from here 😢

Yes that is his thinking, glass half empty and all that

I don’t understand putting this statement out now, even though we all knew it was coming the whole Birmingham set up is on a downer because of results and that statement is only going to add to that.

Should be a close meeting, will Birmingham triumph ? Not going to get a better shot at it but I’m going 43-47 to Ipswich

As I don’t follow stock car I wouldn’t know the difference between stock car or bangers and I was just generalising and when I said run of the mill I just meant it wasnt a championship event like the British final was but it sounds like a great social event to attend and this leads into my gripe about the GP being at belle vue, it’s a great track etc but as a social event it’s a non starter, it’s just a meeting, Cardiff was a social event if if the track was dodgy at times

Last night I bumped into a couple of polish friends that I haven’t seen since wolves last meeting, I asked them if they had been to Birmingham this year , they said no they hasn’t been to any speedway since wolves closed, still watched the polish extraleague on tv but said they were thinking about going to Cardiff this year, they didn’t even know the British GP had been moved to belle vue, I think that pretty much tells you how much British speedway is removed from the public conscience and until discovery and the bspl come up with a plan the fantastic spectacle that was Monday night will remain a closely guarded secret

I’ve just seen a post where mildenhall stock cars apologised to local residents for the traffic congestion caused by the crowd that turned up to their stock car meeting, apparently a lot bigger than they were expecting and they were expecting a big crowd,2 sports relatively similar and often sharing venues and in some cases fans so my question is what are they doing right and we are doing wrong ? Is it pricing ? Is it stockcars understand what they are and understand their fan demographic ? For some time I felt like we are trying to be something we are not, like a F1 without the money and that’s not what speedway is or will ever be, last night was the perfect package watched by nobody in relative terms, the stocks run a run of the mill meeting and get 1000s

Gutted for bomber

After this they should all be locked in a room and ask each other the questions of why a poor crowd, pricing? Promoting? Race night ? Tv ? Combination of all, something different but for the future of the sport do something

Breaks my heart that the sport can be so good but just not reaching the general public

To be fair both the pawlicki’s were great value for money over the weekend and they were really good meetings too infront of really good noisey crowds on really well prepared tracks but I’m sure there is a point to your post somewhere

I don’t consider the line up poor, it’s a representation of the current level of British speedway, the problem is he pond of riders is so small that if you have a bike, a licence and can string 4 laps together you have a good chance of being in it,,the further the decade you go back the bigger the pond the less chance of being in the BF

As mad as that sounds a share of some events would of generated money that could of kept tracks like Buxton alive but there is no collective thinking when it comes to British speedway and just as a side note I consider it a stain on British speedway that Buxton was allowed to close

Only problem I see holding it over multiple rounds is I don’t think the fans would support it enough to make it viable which is a shame, as strange as this may sound, we should do what Poland does and stage it at lower league tracks, I see someone mentioned iwade, ridiculous yes but crowd wise I can’t see why that it couldnt pull in well over 1500 folks, there still is a big fan base in Kent/essex/sussex so why not ? But maybe not lol

I just don’t understand the riders attitude like Lawson of not wanting to ride, firstly it’s the British championship, then you have the carrot of a GP outing of which 95% of riders will never get that opportunity again and they may not think it or even care but they are contributing to the downfall of speedway in this country, I would of jumped at the chance to ride even if that chance was no chance of getting anywhere, I honestly believe some of the modern riders are just oblivious to the privilege of earning a living from something they are supposed to love doing and are showing absolute disrespect and contempt to the fans of our great sport