pvm

Sadly the forecast is Hot & Dry, so expect to see Gate & Go on a dry, slick & dusty track. But then again, you might get a surprise

I would be interested to know what the long term plans are. If memory serves me right, the initial lease from the council was for 10 years, so an extension to that lease or a new lease will have to be negotiated by the end of 2015. The way the crowds are disappearing, would there be a willingness to negotiate a longer lease or would the present promotion "cut & run". I can see next season being fraught with uncertainty.

Why? What's been said now.

I'd be quite happy to keep Rafal, he's only going to get better, the signs are there.

Fans.........Sport Promoters.....Entertainment and that's the problem...

In light of the thread title, I thought the reference to " -Teams race 24 meetings (12 home, 12 away)." would be the more relevant part.

Well according to the B.S.P.A website:- PLAY-OFF PICTURE - HOW IT WORKS - Teams race 24 meetings (12 home, 12 away). The top six then go forward to the play-offs. - The play-offs are split into two groups of three teams. Teams finishing 1st and 2nd after the initial 24 meetings get to choose the two teams they wish to have in their play-off group. A total of a further 4 meetings are then raced in each group (2 home, 2 away). - The winner of each group then race off over two legs in the Grand Final. Winners of the Grand Final are crowned Premier League Champions.

For those who don't think facilities make a difference, I would refer back to Middlesbrough (Cleveland Park)in the mid 80's. The crowd levels in the seasons before and after the main stand burnt down(the stand burnt down mid 85)are a good example of the differences . The main stand provided cover, had a Bar, Café and toilet facilities that were of good(not great, just good) standard, The back straight had a stand that provided cover, there was a Bar, Café and toilets though not of the same standard as the Main stand. The team was relatively the same, and successful, top three each year, yet the crowd levels still dropped because of the poorer standard of facilities after the stand burnt down. Losing the main stand cost 1000-1500+ on the gate. To lose so many off the gate was down to the loss of facilities, not much else changed in that time. So I would say facilities do make a difference, experience tells me that.

I think it's a brilliant idea, but one thing I learnt about speedway over the years, promoters are reluctant to pay upfront costs that don't come will a guaranteed return on those cost's. The most obvious excuse would be that it would reduce crowds because people would just watch from home, I'm not sure that would be true, but that would be the argument.

I think Redcar need to win by 36 (eg 63-27), Somerset just need to lose by less than 19 (eg 55-36). (corrected a typo)

An hour or two late, but the rain has finally arrived....

How will that work? If it is announced "officially" that he has left, can he be replaced? (don't think he can), Can R/R be used?(not sure), or will he just remain "injured" until after the play-offs? and then the "official" announcement made? I'm guessing he will just remain injured till the end of the season. By making your un-official announcement you may well have opened up a can of worms.

And you haven't mentioned alphabetically as well......

Well so far today it's been sunny, But, it you believe this, it doesn't look good http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/forecast-video/21416748 Sorry I can't help, it's one of those things, if it was happening now, it would be T-shirt and sunglasses, at 7.30 tonight ?????

And that stupid comment is based on what exactly?? Since Redcar started, You've missed more home meetings than I have, I might be many things, but a part-timer I'm not. With stupid comments and opinions like that like the one above, I could be persuaded not only become a part-timer, but a non-go'er, and leave Redcar to the self proclaimed "hard-core".

And each person that doesn't bother to go, has voted 100% with their feet.

Looks like Redcar have decided to put admission prices up http://www.redcarbears.co/News.aspx?NewsID=508

well it's started already http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/sport/speedway/air-fence-threat-redcar-bears-4389906

The track was a disgrace, its been getting worse year on year since Glyn left. Whilst the weather yesterday wasn't great around lunch time, there was a heavy shower lasting around 20mins, and it might have limited the amount of work that could be done on the day. It still left 6hours+ to do some work. The work that was done was poor. Back in Glyn's day the bulk of the track prep used to be done in the hour or so after the previous meeting.Glyn used to blade the shale back to the kerb after every meeting, which gave the track a week to settle, meaning a minimal amount of work was needed on the day of the meeting. The way things are now, you get the feeling that once the last rider leaves the track, they turn off the lights and go home, only to return at 6.00pm on a race day, and do the minimum to get the track fit to ride. The track just doesn't seam to be top of the list of things to do. Last night was the first time, in a long time, that I've seen them bring the blade out AFTER the meeting. I didn't stay long enough to see just how much blading they did, hopefully they dragged some shale all the way back to the kerb, but the way the place is being run now it wouldn't come as a surprise to find that it was being bladed, not to improve the track, but to make some money by selling a bit more shale. If anybody here did stay a bit longer than I did, I would be interested to know just how much work was done after last nights meeting.

I went to Cleveland park from 1972 till it closed at the of 1996, so I understand just how much difference the facilities or lack of, can make. Before the stand burnt down the crowd level were quite good week on week leading upto 1985, after the stand burnt (and not replaced) ( ) the crowd levels went down significantly. The racing was just the same, the team was just the same, it was just the facilities that changed. I would guess that in the last few months of the season crowds dropped by 600-800. Now if not having decent facilities could make that much difference back in 1985, what chance has the sport with the facilities offered in 2013.

I was going to say "don't hold your breath" , But seeing how hot and dry it is today, you might just have to hold your breath as the clouds of dust pass by..

I was wondering the same thing. In order to ride in those events you didn't need a ACU licence, just a IOPD licence. http://www.shorttrac...egulations.html

Redcar fixtures: http://www.gazetteli...84229-32670065/

The 1961 world final was held at Malmo, and it just happens that Gote Nordin was 3rd. So is it possible that there has been some sort of typing error, or the person selling has mis-read the date on the programme?

Heavy Drizzle here, and set in for most of the day. It might get a little lighter as the day goes on, but I'm not holding out much hope. But you never know.