Hawk127

Good read in this week’s Star that Kent are coming to the tapes this year under the Nora association. Good luck to all involved. It deserves to succeed after the grief dished out by the BSPL in 2023.

Without being privy to the contracts it is reasonable to assume that a few made a lot and those on the periphery suffered and hence a few clubs fell by the wayside. The sport is where it is because those in control at the time made hay while the sun shined and no one had the balls to say no to those who bled the sport dry namely the riders who screwed everyone. Sharing the spoils was beyond the comprehension of the governing body. It really does not matter now because speedway is on its knees and those in charge are delusional if they think what is on offer today is a viable proposition. Tinkering with the rules at league level and also having the GP’s think that by introducing some farcical race format for extra points brings added value really have not reached out to the supporters for an opinion. The promoters have contrived to bring a simple formula into something it was never meant to be and the fact that nothing other than league racing in this country is what the current followers want is a self inflicted failure. Give the public top talent racing competitively and you have a decent formula with the chance of decent sponsors. If it does not work at domestic level and those in charge thinks it is not viable then explain why the GPs work.

How about Jarek Hampel and Hans Anderson?

Looking at the fixture list, Witches seem to have just one home meeting in June and one in July. Sad really when it was once regular weekly racing. I guess that it is progress. Are they likely to use some of the free Thursdays for NDL meetings?

I agree with most of your comments except that some blame must rest with the BSPL who have effectively said no to Mildenhall running a few open meetings. Why anyone would want to work with a regime that tries to prevent you operating a business at any stadium and earning some income from the assets that they hold. It is largely the attitude that caused Kent so much grief and it was the last sort of pressure that Si Kellow needed given his poor state of health. You would hope that the governing body would have worked with Kent, but no not this bunch. You have to wonder who is really behind all this and then wonder whether they are proud of their actions. Two more tracks probably lost to the sport who join a long list and no one on the top table really cares as in each case they are sitting thinking i’m alright, why bother about anyone else. No wonder the IOW got out, it will not get any better. Still one positive for the BSPL, four less tracks to have to administer in 2024.

You can only hope that he learns some humility and does not treat his fellow team members in the same way as he has done in Poland in the season just gone. I doubt he has learnt any lessons but only time will tell if he is a team player and fits in with the ethics of Ipswich riders or he treads his own path which has historically been one of arrogance. No doubt the family will come on here to defend him but that is nothing new. Proof will be in next year’s showing on the track riding for a quality team.

They are well versed in getting over most things and are a very tolerant friendly bunch of followers of the sport but the even they may be dismayed by this cowboy who simply shows no respect, has ideas above his station and proves what a despicable individual he is. Let’s see what reception he gets next time he turns up at Foxhall. I know a few who would like words with him but I doubt he would face up to them. If he has any balls come on the forum and explain yourself and explain why you felt it was necessary to spout the rubbish that you did. You Tai are not man enough.

Absolutely. Is the sport in that poor a state that it needs the Worrall’s of this world to grace its tracks? It will be a better place without the likes of him who has no respect for other riders and the damage he could do if he got away riding under the influence. He needs to learn to take responsibility for his actions. I wonder if he drove home from the track the night he was tested? The boys in blue might be interested if he did.

If they need to make up the numbers for TV, How about allowing ghost teams to track share? Norwich could rise from the ashes and hold home meetings at KingsLynn and Ipswich. Peterborough could track share with Mildenhall and Kings Lynn, Eastbourne could ride at Iwade and Southampton ride at the Isle of Wight. Swindon could ride electric bikes at home an conventional machines at away meetings. Few more teams to solve the problem and create even more fixture chaos but what’s new, it cannot be any worse than the current model.

Any club that employs him runs the risk that they are tarnished. He is astute enough to know the risks and that night or leading up to that nights racing took risks and whether by design or otherwise hoped to get away with it. He should be punished accordingly but the cowboys who make decisions in this sport are as crooked and bent as any rider who thinks taking drugs and jeopardising colleagues lives on the track is OK. No excuse is acceptable given that they are riding 500cc machines and few who do, can claim to have full control of their machines these days. No hope for the sport when those in charge come up with these conclusions and leaves you finding so many chancers on both sides thinking it is OK to do what they like. Societies scumbags sums it up.

Just read the BSPL decision / statement. As a group in charge collectively you are the biggest bunch of no hopers to ever grace the sport. No wonder it is in the state it is in but the BSPL don’t give fig and the riders / fans can go screw themselves. If any of you in charge had any balls you would be honest and admit you cocked up but you will not. Where is that waster Vatcher and why is he not standing up for the riders and coming on here to admit it is a shambles. Roll on IOW in 2024 because the rest could not organise a p..s up in a brewery.

Yep and if you use the argument that it is a summer sport, you could stretch the point by starting in May and finishing in August, circa sixteen weeks ignoring the fact that you have three bank holidays to stage meetings and those in charge still cannot get the clubs to stick to a rigid schedule so that finals are in August and at the very least run into the first two weeks in September at the latest. It just goes to show the lack of respect everyone in charge of the sport has for those trying to climb the speedway ladder and then those further up the chain moan about the lack of talent. Every club outside the NDL is to blame for that and if they stopped propping up leagues with foreign riders and worked on local talent, then the sport rider wise might be in a better position. You have to feel for the NDL riders who have such an uphill struggle when it is not necessary, just those in charge seem to want to make it an endurance test.

Agree. What is the point of this body of people. No clout, ineffective and within the cesspit of controllers overseeing the sport a bunch of bullies who do not like it when you do not play by their restrictive rules and can stoop so low as they did with Kent. It really is time that those clubs who believe in the sport break away from the fat controllers and run a business that entertains the punter and does the right thing for speedway. At the moment it is endemic amongst those who jokingly run the sport insist that it is our way or no way. Look where that has got the sport over the last few years. Well done BSPA/BSPL.

Listening to BBC Wm, thanks to you guys and to all at Wolves, you leave a huge gap in speedway U.K. and hopefully a new home can be found. Having relished your visits to Ipswich, thanks to the promoters, managers, riders and all involved, you will be missed. A sad day but long live the Wolves. I look forward to seeing Wolves at Foxhall in2025. Until then, keep the faith all you supporters and followers of the mighty Wolves.

The independent tracks could probably run under Nora but the vindictive BSPL would never let any team racing in one or the other leagues have another team compete in Nora even though most of the teams only rent the track and if the owners of the track want to stage an event for extra income, the BSPL would pull the plug on the tenant racing under their term who shares the circuit. It really needs someone with balls to take on the cowboys in the BSPL/BSPA. On another note, could the Panthers track share at Mildenhall for one season or would the cowboys in charge object?

Well done to Scunthorpe the better team won over the two legs. What I do not get is the the responses from both sets of fans and the aggression. Poole always put out a competitive team and when they are doing well they like any team they put bums on seats when they travel away. The current state of the sport needs clubs like Poole and every other team to come to tapes in 2024 but if for any reason Poole lost out because of circumstances beyond their control such as the closure of the stadium, the sport overall would be poorer for it. Swindon have gone and now Wolves and Panthers are lost, Kent and Mildenhall may be kicked into touch, surely it is time to appreciate what teams are left because without those speedway in the U.K. is dead. Continually knocking clubs is counter productive and whilst a lot of what goes on is good natured banter, you cannot help but feel some of the vitriolic comments are counter productive. The Scorpions did what they needed to do and Poole came up short. So what. Just look forward to next season.

Or allow tracks to run on an open licence basis so that tracks can run individual meetings or for that matter any type of meeting except league matches. For many years Rye House ran on an open licence and I think this was before the Rockets took up residence in 1974.

A third level of the sport needs to exist to ensure a pipeline of new talent but the format of a meeting does not have to mirror the standard thirteen or fifteen heats. Make race days a festival with teams made up of say, 500 cc, 250 cc, and 125 cc with perhaps 80 c c or even electric powered bikes. Each category would race as a team with say four man teams and include both male and female riders. Set an upper age limit for each category. Set a fixed price for points and that is it. If the talent exists and it wants to compete then they have to understand that at the 3rd level it is equivalent to an apprenticeship. Clubs could band together to offer a season ticket to punters which gives them access to all tracks or a flat £7.50 entry on the day with kids under 16 free. Just thoughts and I am sure others on here can come up with more and better ideas, but most of all you have to create the demand and start somewhere. The sport cannot afford to lose the Kent’s and Mildenhall’s of this world.

That would work but how many clubs would run out of time and be up against a curfew so you get riders turning up but not getting an outing. If the powers that be really cared they would not allow the NDL to fall apart but do something constructive. Alternatively they could stop being total a..holes and allow any rider not attached to a club to ride in Nora arranged meetings without the threats that they have dished out in the past. As someone has already mentioned you have so many blank weeks during the summer months at many tracks when it is allegedly a summer sport so why not get clubs to fill those blanks with some form of meaningful competition for NDL riders.

Agree. Not totally sure how bad the track is but this is becoming a habit as far as Leicester are concerned and it is about time that the BSPL and management of clubs got together and stopped the farcical situation of finals taking place in October. Most clubs have enough blank dates in the summer months and it is about time that a crack down took place not least on the cancellation on a whim which seems to be catching. Years back riders raced notwithstanding and got on with it, now you have whimps and those in charge need to get real about the sport that they are involved in and do whatever it takes to get a meeting on.

No that would have knocked some sense into him, alas he is one of the many who have been brought up as a free spirit and think they have some god given right to be rude, unprofessional and believe that this sort of behaviour is acceptable. One day it will come back to bite him and hopefully he will pay one way or another. Until then and until speedway authorities have a decent code of conduct and recognise when someone brings the sport into disrepute nothing will happen and his ilk will continue to stick two fingers up at the fans and the authorities as long as you have clubs and sponsors willing to employ them, it is what it is. The sport comes down hard on promoters etc who over step the mark but not the riders. Ask the BSPL or one of the other fantasy groups who control speedway.

In few no one will remember Tai. He is neither a legend nor a great advertisement for the sport. The real legends are still remembered by many who have since long forgotten about speedway. Ivan Mauger , Ole Olsen, Tony R. Mr Gollob, Barry Briggs, etc. to name but a few. Woffinden is yesterday’s chip paper.

Can someone silence Ollie Allen. Whatever the rights and wrongs some biased little rubbishe like him needs to be put out to grass. The end of season competition is a joke and Eurosport having dragged it to its nadir and then giving air time to Allen sums up why the sport is where it is. If it were a decent broadcaster they would have pulled Allen off air for his comments thus far but this is speedway and something that is on the periphery of what might be called entertainment. Done with this now. Back to watching Bake Off, more excitement.

Missed who is the FCW commentating with Tatum. Is he Steady’s side kick? What a dip stick.

Now that the banter is over it is down to business. Good luck to both teams and let’s hope for an injury free meeting. Seems like a decent crowd as well. Two good teams of riders, let’s see how things pan out.