old bob at herne bay

What surprises me is that it has taken so long for the Dugard family to make this decision to drop speedway once and for all at Arlington. If we are to believe the current bunch of “promoters”, none make an operating profit … they just throw their money in as some sort of hobby, and then whinge at the lack of support from fans. Why would the Dugard family ( who are very successful businessmen) want to be involved in such a poor and high risk investment as renting out their stadium for speedway ? Never blessed with good crowds in recent years…. I would guess that the late Bob Dugard personally kept the speedway going with his £££.. That era is now over. Reading the SS this week Len Silver reckons 250k will be needed to revive Sittingbourne Central Park … a figure which must apply to restarting Eastbourne ( and any other hopeful venues) so DREAM ON folks ……..

Poole to win everything again is my prediction. How many clubs will complete season 2023 ?

As the closest PL club track to me in Herne Bay suppose I should take more interest in Ippo . IF ever I could be bovvered guess its my obvious place to visit. Sadly the racing at Foxhall has never inspired me in my 40+ years of following speedway, and the team line ups in recent years always seem to have a same old, same old, stale look about them. 2023 looks like the same. Back comes Danny King, Rohan Tungate, again. Must be cheap deals. Always pleading poverty to be able to build a top side like the Belle Vue Aces, yet pin a large part of their allegedly small budget on THE top number 1 in the league. Never been a fan of Chris Louis as speedway promoter, but in his day a superb Speedway Rider. Seem to be a club " just happy to be taking part " without ever really threatening to win much .

What at Foxhole ? Didnt know Foxhole had an "outside" ?? He'll be in the burger van on the first bend. Hope the lad's injuries aren't as serious as first feared.

Has anyone seen any sign of redevelopment at the Lakeside bowl ? could it not re open as a training track ?

Nothing to stop Bomber being sponsored by a local distillery for a bottle a point, a local butcher for one haggis a point ?? No limit on “sponsorship” afaik.

Interesting business decision. Sign Rory Schlein and slap on a 50% increase on admission charges for the majority of your spectators. Likely to lose some attendees completely, some will only turn up occasionally, and some may continue to attend. Net increase in gate receipts is doubtful…… A modest increase may have been more effective ?

No guarantees allowed in CL 2023, so inventive accounting will be required if Poole are to recruit yet another Australian. Any ideas on that one Poole fans ?

Doesn’t need a marketing manager to pen a weekly article about something or other……use some journalistic license to invent some potential stories… sure the Kings Lynn echo would be happy to print some “scandal” to attract readers interest.

The Electric bikes TT on the Isle of man was a dead flop as far as spectating was concerned. Strange whooshing noise as the bikes came past ...... with the ones with the biggest battery just about coasting over the finish line at Glencrutchery Road after just one lap. Electric speedway - NO THANKS .

Chunky suggests :- But... 21 - The racing is just the same, so items 1-20 aren't important! I don't think so. 21st century speedway on laydown engined rev rockets with tyres that barely last 4 laps. Get out of the gate - head down and hang on and fill your boots.

Let’s step back a moment and look at the carbon footprint of a speedway meeting. Track prep using very old diesel tractors for hours on end during the day of the meeting 14 riders all turning up in very large diesel 2vans, having travelled hundreds of miles. Some riders flown in from Europe. 14 methanol burning bikes each running for say 10 minutes per meeting. Seems to me the bikes are the last things to worry about if you want to achieve net zero carbon.

Good publicity in the Manchester area :-) Also pleased the Manchester Council I would guess.

Speedway (albeit on a much lesser scale) is no different to football. The clubs withe richest owners, biggest sponsors and profitable businesses to subsidise them are the clubs who do all the winning and own a large rider asset base. Gate receipts at those clubs will never cover the costs of riders "pay packages" and all the other associated operating costs. When these owners lose interest or they wish to concentrate on running their businesses , the club folds often with large debts. Belle Vue bought the Premier League p.off title by affording a large fee for a guest. Poole have always been able to offer their overseas riders an accommodation package and other benefits courtesy of their promoters hotel. There cannot be a single PL or CL club running today that is honestly a viable business, without being propped up by sponsorship and subsidy every season. Unless there is a sudden resurgence in crowd levels to that of 20 years ago - nothing will change.

Thanks for posting that photo. sad to hear about Gentleman George Barclay. He used to join a group of us in the crowd on the backstraight at Lakeside, after his ride and slide schools. One shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, so I won’t mention the late Mr Jon Cook.

Excellent read this week - Godfrey's interview enlightening. Agree fully with him (and have posted on here) that I agree semi pro riders must be the way forward in a sport in the UK that cannot support so many full time riders. My star is delivered by courier - every Thursday at 5 or 6 am ! No wrapper just the magazine pushed through the letter box. How the Royal Mail is still allowed to keep the "Royal" title escapes me ... if it was the King would surely be rounding up the Union leaders and throwing them in the Tower for the Treasonable offence of interfering with His Majesty's mail.

Well it hasnt happened ........we still have defunct tracks on here (and some that have declared will not be in the Prem 2023 so if you can't beat 'em join 'em I say. Admin really needs to get a grip on this forurm.

With the track still in place , wonder whether we might see Lakeside return to th Premier League in 2023. Lots of speculation from other defunct clubs returning to the Premier League. We could have Lawson Ellis and Morley for starters — I am sure all the old track equipment will still be in the rusting portakabin next to a pile of old shale at the back of the riders car park.

If spectators don’t turn up in sufficient numbers at Leicester on an “off night “ doesn’t matter whether they have experience running in the prem at other tracks. Wonder what persuaded them to risk their money as a very successful outfit in the CL to join the failing “Premier” league . Ego?

Probably the most recent example of how a change of race night causes a club to fold was Rye House. Highly successful in the premier league racing on Saturdays, crowds plummeted when they were forced to race midweek in the premier league. That was the beginning of the end for the “Rockets”

Praising just the robust business model that the Fords operate. Stick to Wednesday night racing has been their aim, and full marks to them for not being “persuaded” to move.

Until such time as we get riders coming into championship who aspire and are happy to ride as semi professional/ part time riders attached to just one club in the Championship then there will continue to be a rider shortage. Every rider interviewed in the Speedway Star from the raw rookie of 15 years old is now looking to be an SGP champion. if they cont make it in 3 years they retire from speedway and go grasstracking. Seem everyone now has to aspire to be a future SGP rider with a massive sponsored van, a team of mechanics, a stable of several bikes and unsurprisingly demand a pay packet to support all these overheads. Maybe this is a product of the drive to see every rider in the team to increase their CMA. having a steady second string in your team just isn't good enough anymore.

IS CVS continuing promoting on his own at Monmore ? I read in the programme at the end of lat season strong hints about him looking for support on the promotional side of the business.

How much longer have P'boro got at the Alwalton Showground? Read that they are OK for 2023.

Could be Leicester's last season. Seen too many clubs succumb to the lure of the "Premier" league and fail after having to change race night. Leicester should have taken advice from their arch enemies down on the south coast who remain operating successfully on the night that their paying spectators want to see speedway.