old bob at herne bay

Who's the "bums on seats" rider to get the 1000 crowd to break even at Perry Barr ? Thought that was the problem last season - not enough people wanted to watch the Brummies ?

If he's hungry .... plenty of good curry houses in Manchester from my memory...... sounds an ideal choice........

Always assuming your club will not decide to have a sabbatical halfway through the season due to a new variant.

One of the MANY reasons that the racing is so crap now is that there are fixed gate positions for every race. We have riders that are useless using the best gate positions, and he top riders stuck on the rubbish gate positions. Team pairs should be able to choose gate positions to suit their style of riding and the needs of their team. Humphrey remembers correctly that teams 6 points in arrears could choose 1and 3 OR 2 and 4. This should be re introduced. These rules would put an end to any advantage being gained by flooding of the away team starting grids by track officials, as used this season at Eastbourne.

Good to hear Iwade could be lining up in the NDL . No lights at the old gun site so assume it will be Sunday afternoon racing. This might be problematic for some of the NDL riders who do grass track ?

I always struggle with this concept of any speedway club "assets" Virtually all clubs rent their stadiums. So the only tangible assets seem to be one tractor and associated grading accessories water bowser and assorted hose for track watering one air fence and safety fence one starting gate and set of flags telephone at starting gate set of coloured exclusion lights , couple of green lights plus a string of red lights referees box control panel. guess they own the shale on the track ? but transport costs negate its value. Rider assets are difficult. Bunch of self employed contractors, who may ride wherever they like for whoever they like and may decide not to ride at all for you despite you having their "signature" . (e.g. your asset may be a SGP rider but he has zero value because he no longer chooses to ride in the UK) So any club has very little in the way of assets, and those assets have a very limited market.

With all these riders allegedly owed money by the company running Speedway at Arlington in 2021, they surely have reason to seek legal advice to attempt to recover the monies allegedly owed. Or is it the case that none of these riders have anything that will stand up in court to prove that they are owed money ? The Douglas/Cook promotion at Lakeside and recently the Jordan/ Cook/ Fineing promotion at Eastbourne must be held to account.

The vast majority of the losses of speedway venues in London and the South East have been due to loss of land and the huge profits to be made selling land for housing. £1000 a week rent for speedway 5 months of the year - bah why bother ? When the carrot of millions of pounds for housing developments is dangled , not much will get in the way..... eventually. There is also a change in the demographic of the supporters - who used to live close to city centre stadia. Local support was strong - local shops and businesses would advertise the speedway with some pride and receive complimentary tickets for doing so. Now these places house a different crowd, with no interest in outdoor sports, cocooned in the million pouind apartments and watching the latest online film offerings on their 60 inch TV's. Speedway tracks in the South East it seems have to attract crowds from far afield ..... with the associated costs of travel and in some cases even car parking charges. However, Grass Track racing in the South East continues to attract large crowds to one off events scattered around the countryside. Folks seen happy to travel a distance for an afternoon's entertainment, with a beer tent , and an option for overnight camping on the field. Getting up close and personal with the riders who are often more relaxed and seem to be enjoying themselves .... taking the family out for a jaunt into the countryside having a picnic and maybe even getting splattered with mud watching... all adds to the atmosphere seems to be the "product" (to use the latest buzz word) that people like.

Why? The people in charge of the NDL haven’t changed …..they still have to approve these NDL membership applications…. who knows whether they will support stand alone NDL clubs who wish to sign riders that the BSPL big boys don’t like ? If IoW had a successful season - good luck to them ….. maybe the route to profitable speedway is for new clubs to adopt the IoW model instead of accepting the constraints of racing in an NDL with the big boys of the BSPL calling the shots ?

Sounds like Central Park has truly gone to the dogs.

Only "person of colour" in speedway (I think that is the preferred term now) I remember, was the late Paul Muchene who rode at Arena Essex.

It’s a matter of public record that Roger Cearns gave up his interests at Kent . It’s also a matter of public record that Kent speedway operated under very restrictive planning approval , despite appeals to Swale Council ( supported by me ) to relax the planning restrictions. Ergo, a new landlord who might be looking to develop their core business ( dog racing) would be keen to curry favour with Swale council local residents and Swale councillors by dropping the speedway racing tenants. Sittingbourne Stadium is in need of investment to maintain it’s facilities. The backstraight stand is in need of either refurbishment or demolition. The main stand requires floor panel anti corrosion treatment or replacement . Maybe the landlord is looking for a realistic rent to cover future maintenance costs from its tenants.

Well we can only see if Iwade do lodge an application to join the NDL in 2022. One hopes that the attitude of the BSPL will be supportive to allowing another stand alone club to run in the NDL in 2022. Good old Rob McCaffery ploughs onward with resurrecting Rye House and I wished him success with his venture. Despite his personal abuse, I still wish him well, although this “fool”, “self appointed windbag” and keyboard warrior is mindful that Len Silver severed his interests in Rye some years ago ….. I wonder why?

Due diligence from the Mason’s figures should show attendances, and income from sponsors. wonder what the business plan is to attract greater numbers to Perry Barr …. Or is this another promotion “winging it” One things certain, they can rely on the BSPL to provide advice ……..NOT

IF there is a suitable CL race night available at Monmore, suggest that it’s a business decision between the stadium landlord and the new promoters of Birmingham.

“Belong in the top flight “ LMAO. That ship has sailed for Poole along with your promoter and all the top riders on the pirate ship off to plunder riches across the seas.

Mr N Pedersen Sean Wilson Andre Compton Mr F Lindgren Chris Pusey Ivor Brown Chris Julian

Still think Oxford, if successful in the CL in 2022, will be de facto replacements for Swindon in PL 2023 ( if the PL still exists)

No more confused than the Poole supporters who still believe Matt Ford will return his club to the Premiership - or is it Dan nowadays?

1.No local derbies vs Poole on a Wednesday .... Oxford will have to ride on their alternative night . 2. No chance of Poole supporters visiting Oxford. Oh yes Poole didn’t last long riding on a Thursday in the Prem ... Seems another self interest decision from Rob Godfrey and his beloved Scunthorpe.

Thanks - sharing with neighbours Poole ;-)

What race night are they planning to use ?

Could he double up in both PL and CL ? What’s his current CMA?

If ARC don’t/can’t guarantee use of the stadium for speedway … it’s a dead duck. IMO, don’t think Len would have retired if he thought there was a realistic chance of an amicable agreement with ARC. This must have been going on for a while now behind the scenes.

Expect Mullford to concentrate on Grastrack … seems to be where his interests lie ….. Everyone mentions Eastbourne as an option but not racing in league until 2023 according to Trev Gear. ….and Oxford still haven’t achieved membership of the secret society .