Bruiser McHuge

Riders just use the set up of the Elite League as an excuse not to ride here...whilst they continue to make money in the Polish and Swedish Leagues on top of the GP's they will not go out if their way to ride here.. A switch to one day a week won't suddenly mean extra hundreds or thousands through the gate...it won't mean loads of extra revenue for clubs to increase their budgets to pay for these missing top riders....let's face it , many are struggling to pay for the weak teams on offer now....where's the extra money coming from for the missing stars ? At the end of the day it's a ready made excuse for riders to miss the Elite League and even if one day a week did happen then a rider like Tai would still need to jet into England on a Monday and jet out again for Tuesday abroad...and let's face it , with the amount of teams in the Elite League he is not actually riding loads of away matches every day, every week is he.... It's all a good sound bite but if it ever happened the clubs wouldn't suddenly be flooded with missing stars , the terraces wouldn't suddenly be heaving and the riders would still find an excuse to not ride here.

I've seen plenty of meetings at Kings Lynn over the years, including one season where I saw every home match, and I would say it is one of the best tracks in the country for sure...if you're willing to have a go there are plenty of lines and chances to pass.... I have also seen some poor meetings there with strung out races but that's the nature of racing on bigger tracks , when the racing is good it can be fantastic , but when it's bad it can look very processional.....but from my experience Kings Lynn is generally one of the best..........I've never seen Leicester though, live or on TV. !

It's a myth that guest riders cause crowds to drop....i first went to speedway in the 70's and there have always been guests ...and if a top rider is absent then the crowds would no doubt be lower if he wasn't replaced by a guest to keep the match competitive.. The problem is that teams have lost their identity now...too many riders are unavailable so teams change too much week by week...fans have less affinity with the riders as they are just on hire for a season....teams change too much each season...it's rare for riders to complete a few seasons with the same team now....there are too many breaks with teams not racing a home match....fans can get out of the habit of going...there is so much more now competing for people's time.....even multi channel TV with non stop sport can stop people going out, especially when the speedway product on offer is not actually that good......basically it's just a completely different era out there and speedway with its present set up, team strengths, rider movement, rider availability and poor product in many cases is not going to compete

I think the fact that Hancock is still riding at this level and winning at 44 is quite remarkable....he is also a really nice bloke and fantastic for sponsors etc.....but he is never a rider that will add lots of fans to a gate...he is never a rider that fans would turn out specially to see or for fans to want to return to a track because that have seen him ride....he hasn't got that something extra, something that a lot of lesser riders have had over the years None of this is Hancock's fault....he just is not a very exciting rider or a particuarly exciting personality ...but he is a great ambassador for the sport but I don't think many people will have him in their all time lists in a few years because of the reasons I have said

John Cook and Lance King as a pairing were good in the USA test team..Cook blocking opponents with an outstretched leg....

Hans Nielsen and any partner took some beating.....from the Cradley glory team Phil Collins and Alan Grahame at 4 and 5 were great together...and Sam Ermolenko was the best team rider I've ever seen in my opinion. You don't seem to get top riders actively looking for their partners as much these days and being prepared to slow the race down to protect them or even bring them through to pass the opponents

If it came down to double uppers having to choose between one team or another , or even the Elite team having first choice all the time then I honestly think a lot of riders would choose the Premier League ahead of the Elite League, especially with no foreign leagues to fall back on They would have more meetings...they may not earn as much per point would would probably score a lot more to compensate that and they could definitely run cheaper bikes over a season Even a rider like Craig Cook would face a difficult decision as his guaranteed 14 or 15 a meeting would be a lot to give up for virtual part time riding in the Elite League I agree squads will never happen here...teams are struggling to pay their existing riders so to have a GP standard rider contracted on standby is going to be mega expensive...nobody will sign a deal for nothing just to be a squad member, they will want a signing on fee, a good retainer and probably bikes available if they are going to be available to ride at short notice.....teams aren't in a position to offer that these days

I think people forget that speedway tends not provide races and races full of passing and incident whatever the track so if you catch a particularly poor meeting then you tend to think that track is rubbish....the fact is that it isn't easy to pass at speedway whatever the track , but some give more chance than others obviously.. Hyde Road was obviously a great track but even there I saw some dire meetings with strung out racing and no passing ...it wasn't all thrill a minute racing even there, although Collins and Morton did their best to help in that regard ! Kirky Lane is actually a decent track and there were some fantastic races there and when prepared well it was as good as most places if you attacked the bends....it's problem at times was preparation ..I remember being on it and you could see it's base and kick all the uneven bricks on its base....things like that brought it down but when prepared well it was a pretty good track to be fair, although it would be great to get a purpose built track with good viewing all round...fingers crossed.

I don't believe that league attendances have gone down because of the Grand Prix....the GP is more likely to attract people to go and have a look at their local track and see what it's all about....the fact is that there isn't much at many league meetings that will keep on attracting newcomers to come back consistently....blaming the GP's for poor attendances is just the easy option for a basically poor product The growth of the foreign leagues is probably a bigger reason why many top riders don't ride here

Speedway isn't alone in having it's GP's owned by a private company as I think the commercial and TV rights for MotoGP are totally owned by a Spanish company called Dorna...I think they own the rights to World Superbikes as well now

I think the current GP system works perfectly...every point counts and the most points means you are world champion, but each meeting builds to the glory of actually winning the GP but somebody finishing 2nd or 3rd don't lose all the points they earned in the meeting, which they used to.....the system now is excellent , both for riders and fans in my opinion .....and the world champion is a deserved world champion at the end of it all

Before my time as a rider...but I remember him as track curator at Bradford !

Not seen that Compton one before...I've seen plenty of bikes take off for a bit after a fall but that is the most spectacular one I've seen....good viewing , as you know nobody was hurt Makes you think that when we were kids we used to watch speedway at some tracks actually leaning over the fence...Ellesmere Port springs to mind , and the bikes were so close....madness when you think back but thought nothing of it back then

For profile and the chance of more casual UK sports fans seeing the coverage then it has to be Sky all day long....seeing that the commentators and the picture feed is identical then it really makes no odds coverage wise...and Sky had Scott Nicholls as a pundit a lot anyway...he's not that good anyway in my opinion Eurosport is still a niche channel in many ways...More people will be aware of the sport if it was on sky

Cook scoring 1 just shows how little experience British riders have on the European circuits...it is virtually a different sport from a lot of British tracks and getting 14 or 15 at Edinburgh each week is no great preparation for meetings like these and certainly won't get a contract for the Polish and Swedish leagues I fear for Britain at world level over the years...the moment the young riders step outside of Britain on the European tracks they will continue to struggle and never have enough meetings on them to actually get better

One thing that is not wrong with speedway at top level is the Grand Prix and the racing in most of them......I think they do more to encourage the average fan to keep watching and bring the sport right up to date for the 21st century. The racing in them is better than most world finals ever were , bar the odd couple, and the line ups far better than most of the old world finals were....the GP' s are an excellent advert for the sport..the old world finals were superb in their day but by the 90's they were old tired affairs, well past their sell by date The downside is the impact they have on league racing in this country , but I don't think league racing offers enough to encourage fans to come anyway, and certainly not enough to keep them coming back for more outside of the old diehards....the growth of the foreign leagues has as much to do for the watering down of the Elite League than the Grand Prix's I think as well..but the fact top level speedway in Britain is virtually a weekday sport certainly hasn't helped. However I still think the best things about speedway these days are the Grand Prix's and the play offs...

Sam Ermolenko in his prime was a sensational team rider, by far the best I've seen...I remember a meeting at Wolves where he got a paid maximum without winning a race when he could have won them all at a canter...sensational team riding when riders were definitely more team orientated than these days for sure There is no affinity between riders and clubs anymore and supporters know it...riders are basically hired hands for a season .....and I do think having the big guns back would help as like any sport people want to see the elite they see on TV but that isn't ever going to happen now Meetings like Belle Vue using rider replacement for Zagar which produces 3 points shows what a farce it's all become..who in their right mind would travel to see that.

That is very true...when my brother in law rode you wouldn't believe the amount of changes and fiddling about we did between races..changing the jets and all the other little adjustments....it was hectic and it's no surprise some riders don't know the score of the meeting they are racing in ! It's certainly not all about getting a fine tuned engine , turning up and riding it

I don't think it's got worse...starts are much quicker now than probably ever before Look at 70's videos and the early part of the 80's...starts were ridiculous...I didn't think much of it at the time as it was the norm but gardening , riders pulling away and then coming back...riders pushing the tapes about 6 times before they went up, with often riders rolling or pulling back when they did...starts are tame these days in comparison... You will never stop gardening...it is vital for a rider to do it ....that will always happen and with uneven start gate conditions then it shouldn't be stopped....but starts on the whole are much quicker than in the past, although all the tape pushing used to add to the tension I must admit, but it's fairer now........Michael Lee was surely the worst tape pusher and roller....great rider though.

Pit access is always a plus for keeping a child's interest and adding to the experience One of my highlights when first going to Hyde Road was going in the pits after a meeting...and we waited outside the dressing room doors for riders to appear and then swarmed round them for autographs...most riders were great as well...the odd one wasn't....but it's all important to keep young fans.

There must have been more of this actually in the public domain than ever before this time because people at work were discussing it and they are not speedway fans....they have been unaware of the plans before Based on all the redevelopment around East Manchester, which is unrecognisable from a few years ago, and the council's previous record I would be confident that this will go ahead

There were less rain offs years ago...I remember sitting in school when a mid week match was scheduled and often it was hammering down early afternoon but if it cleared a bit the meeting was usually on....these days it would be called off there and then..no messing That is due to the tracks and the shale and preparation.....of course there were rain offs back in the day and you mustn't forget there were some awful meetings in rain that went ahead so poor value for spectators at times , but more meetings did go ahead I remember plenty of times pulling into services and ringing the track when on route to a meeting...no mobiles or internet then ! And getting through to the office who usually told you it was on anyway.....then it was off when you got there ...that was frustrating...but it took a lot more for a meeting to be off that's for sure

I always like to see the team averages in speedway star and I mean this season's averages..not green sheets or anything , just averages including bonus points for the season in progress to see how riders are actually performing this season....not much to ask.. And I agree I would like to see a G against a guest rider....I don't actively follow a club now and don't go to live meetings and I genuinely don't know which of these reserves are proper to a team or guesting half the time

What a shame...Simmons was a rider that was at the top of the tree when I started going to speedway as a kid in the 70's ...I don't think I ever saw him that often as he was with Poole and they only came to Hyde Road once a year, and I don't think he always came as well but I regarded him highly as a rider when I was a kid........the amazing thing is that about 15 years later he became a team mate of my brother in law for a few matches at god knows what age...remarkable...I know he has his critics and isn't universally popular but at his best he was a great rider and this is very sad news indeed

Eurosport will always cut off a recording via Sky + if it overruns because they never inform Sky of a change and so the Sky Planner will always show the next programme as already started, hence the Sky + box will think the programme has finished and stop recording. All Eurosport need to do is get the Sky planner to move the time of the following programme and the speedway will carry on taping...but they don't so it cuts off....I wouldn't ever rely on Sky + to tape on Eurosport as you are bound to miss the end. Watch the FA Cup Final yesterday on ITV...the planner kept on shifting Britains Got Talent onwards so if you were taping the cup final you didn't miss any of that or if you were taping Britains Got Talent then the planner knew it hadn't started so you didn't miss any of that either.