Skid Sprocket

Christmas nearly here again and an ideal time to help the SRBF (Ben fund) and get that little something extra for your special speedway fan at Christmas! Smythe's Speedway World is on sale for £7-70 inc p&p with £5 from every sale going to the Ben fund, for more info. e-mail skidsprocket@gmail.com

That's great news, if he is school age lets hope his enthusiasm rubs off on to his school mates (and you soon need a minibus )

If ever there was a ready made promotion for speedway this is it, The female presenter does a brilliant job at her first time at speedway and her day with Nicki Pedersen http://www.questtv.co.uk/video/#4570666950001 Scroll down to find "Fifth Gear 21 Episode 8" on page 2 (or 3). After first adverts watch first 7+ mins then around 30 mins to end.

I was speaking to an off road biker the other day and asked him if he went to the speedway and his reply was "It used to be near the A19 didn't it?" It closed down "near the A19" in 1996 and opened again at a new location in 2006, almost 10 years ago, he had no idea it was back even though he lives less than 10 miles from the new track. Communication is the main problem causing the lack of support from the younger generation if someone from the biking scene gives that kind of answer. All this talk about rules, track preparation etc. etc. has its part to play but we must get the message out there that speedway does exist. The newcomers I have introduced to the sport have all had one initial reaction "Wow we didn't know about this" or words to that effect. All a newcomer needs to know about rules on their first night is that "their team" wear red and blue helmets, the rest of the complications will come later. I made a suggestion to get youngsters interested by trying to get schools involved on a Saturday using the track for cycle speedway (might work, might not) it was only a suggestion to do something practical but it only got one negative reply and then the subject went back track and rule book problems. We need to spread the word and get on to the local media and pester the hell out of them until they take note, after all we are the readers, viewers and listeners. All this doesn't mean the promoters don't need pushing to get their side of the deal right.

I totally agree, one big downside with attracting the younger generation is participation unlike football where a kick-about can be started at a seconds notice. One way to get some younger participation and publicity would be to open tracks on Saturdays to cycle speedway and have teams from local schools competing against each other, with a couple of speedway riders to demonstrate the real thing (I assume that mountain bikes etc could cope with the track)

Even if that was the case where are the figures the Taxman are given?

If I was joking I would have posted under jokes.

I agree and it should be possible, if attendances were published every week it could be an incentive for us all to help numbers creep up. Come on promotions give us some numbers to work with and we'll try to better them.

What was the cost of entry ticket in,say, 1965? After a quick google £15 today equates to 16shillings in 1965 (80p)

Agree with every word 100%

It is the BBC's remit is to serve its audience and with local BBC radio that should really mean the local audience. This being a speedway forum the bias is always going to be towards furthering the interests of speedway but I for one would never object to the featuring any other local sport in an evenly balanced way. In the case of my local BBC station it is at least two and often three reporters that are sent round the country to report on the local football club and they never use colleagues from sister stations to do the commentaries. I don't know the finer details how the industry works but I do know what comes out of the speaker of my radio and it is far from 100% local. I'll repeat again the BBC should not be crowd chasers, that is for the independent commercial stations. Part of the BBC's remit should be to educate (that dirty word) its audience to what other sport is available in its local area. It seems to come down to the individual reporters preferences as to what gets reported as you seem to have done well with at the station you volunteered.

Local BBC stations may be run on a shoestring budget but it doesn't stop our local sending reporters the length and breadth of the country to cover football matches. Our local is literally five minutes from our track but even with the offer of complimentary tickets they never come near the place. Not sure how football has a divine right to coverage, the BBC are meant to be unbiased and not crowd chasers as the commercial stations (understandably) are, I always thought that was the reason for licence funding. The word "local" in local radio should mean just that, for example, Lewis Hamilton winning the latest GP is great news but that is national news and should not take precedence over local stories.

Very true but as supporters that is one (small) part we can play.

I agree with the brand poster but the problem is in distributing them, there seems to be too much "why aren't so and so doing this or why aren't they doing that" to get most supporters into action is near impossible, it costs nothing to ask the local shop or pub to display a poster for example but it needs volunteers and they are few and far between. i have found it a very satisfying job handing out posters round shops and pubs with some very interesting conversations talking to people who have never heard of speedway.

Where do you find these attendance figures? I have tried many times to obtain official figures but always draw a blank, or are they just a rough guess?

Cheque for £250 sent to SRBF (Ben) fund from sales of Smythe's Speedway World, thanks to all who contributed by purchasing a booklet. New batch of the booklet arrived today so if you haven't got yours yet please contact; skidsprocket@gmail.com for more info. or see advert in Speedway Star and on www.srbf.co.uk/

I can never understand why, when it is a young participation sport, speedway seems to be known for its "older" supporters.

From comments it would seem that there are about four BBC local radio stations that have reasonable to good coverage of speedway but with 39 stations that is a very poor showing.

Local to me is BBC Tees. The latest non reporting issue is that the South Tees Motor Sports Park (Redcar Bears) hosted the final of the Premier League 4 Team Tournament last Thursday 1st October and I have not heard one word of reporting from BBC Tees despite their studios being 6 minutes from the track (Google maps data). Its good to hear of at least two stations doing their bit but I think they will be in the minority.

For many years I have been disgusted by the lack of speedway coverage we get from our local BBC radio station. Are all local BBC stations up and down the country the same or are some worthy of praise? Has anyone tried to complain to the BBC? I am at the point of complaining, any tips from successful complainants?

Any chance of a nationwide tour? I'm sure he could fill theatres the length of the country!!

2015 SLOVENIAN G.P. http://www.holsted-s.../SGP09-2015.pdf

Thanks for the link.

Anyone got a link to this style racecard for the Slovenian gp? http://www.holsted-speedway.dk/media/2015/Heatskemaer/SGP06-2015.pdf

Thanks for that NYB, contact has now been made.