THE DEAN MACHINE

Yes it is because the sport is run by the riders for the riders

If it’s still 2 leagues and I think it will be then who are the promoters pandering to?, if the majority of fans want 1 league and I am one of them then clearly they are pandering to themselves and the riders, I understand it’s not straight forward as just merging the 2 with riders, money and dates but quite frankly I was sick of seeing the same teams last season, we can’t keep doing the same thing and expect things to improve, but I’m told there is radical change planned but nobody will say what it is and the riders don’t know either

I do have one gripe, changing the name to the Buxton bulls, I get they want to stamp their name on the venture but fans can be fickle, remember Reading changing from racers to bulldogs, some fans refused to support it, there is no point changing a name and upsetting a few, get everyone onside from the outset

This is a little story from the year after I finished, Buxton had a home match and had 2 riders missing as I think 1 was injured and the other rider had a match for his championship team on the same day so Buxton booked a guest,and used RR for the number 1, this guest was no superstar but it was the only rider really available, he wanted £35 per point plus Tavel plus a tyre plus fuel and he wanted a hotel for him and his Mrs as he was riding somewhere else the next day so was not going home, he was booked to ride at number 4 but on the morning of the match the championship match was called off so the number 4 was able to ride,so Buxton told the guest he would ride at number1 to which he said he wanted an extra £5 per point, for what exactly? ,the meeting was rained off anyway but he still wanted his hotel paid as he was still riding the next day,that was the sort of thing which killed off Buxton, well that and some teams paying gaurentees of £500 for their stars, I’m blowing my own trumpet here but when they had the chance the bspl should of put me in charge of the national league the day I retired.

This is what he wants but this is either going to happen in 2026 or not at all or at least at its current location and the longer it drags on the less hopeful I am that it’s going to happen

The soul of British speedway is back, it’s a stain on the history of this British speedway that it was allowed to close in the first place but it’s back and we move forward, good luck to all involved up in them there hills

The reason Buxton closed was because the likes of cradley and Kent and others were paying stupid points money to riders to ride in the national league and Buxton simply couldn’t do that and it became impossible to field a competitive team, until the last couple of seasons Buxton were pretty much the only team sticking to the pay scales and even when they went over them to compete it was less than half what others were paying

It’s an ashtek GM

Well that lacked any real excitement, like last night it had the practice day feel about it, hope the final is better

The soul of British speedway is back, should never been allowed to close

Not my beans to spill

Laurence is already involved elsewhere next season,,all to be revealed soon, tolley wants to be somewhere that unfortunately has huge stumbling blocks to overcome and that’s looking unlikely for 2026 so he either has Sheffield or Leicester for 2026 or gives speedway a miss until his desired choice happens

Not me, I’ve spoke out about holta and even some polish riders were not happy about him riding as a pole, I even refused to go to a British final where Rory Schlien rode, in my book when you have represented your country in an official event you shouldn’t be allowed to race for another country, loram and woffinden have never tried to swap nations

and there it goes once again, speedways credibility riding off into the sunset

Does the reserve have to have a ride ?

Why are they putting so much water down, the track is already damp

Looking at the crowd and I use that term loosely, it seems the only nation to send some fans are us

What this crowd needs it a Mexican wave

I don’t think grim is the word, embarrassing covers it

The criticism wasn’t aimed at belle vue it was at discovery and the FIM who clearly haven't learnt any lessons

I think they have got some people out of the pits to sit in the stand to boost the numbers

There are more riders than fans

Record crowd of nobody

Here is the article from the speedway star

That may well be the case but until the sport sorts itself out those sponsors are few and far between and it’s not the fault of any one promotion, it’s the fault of the collective, the sport itself doesn’t know what it is or where it’s going, and if speedway doesn’t know how do you expect anyone else to ?