MajorMauger

My team Norwich closed at the end of 1964 and haven't been back since. When you've experienced that at your track and at a track that was well supported you'd understand more! If we followed Mikes theory then when Eastbourne, Birmingham and Lakeside dropped out of the EL they were instantly banished to closure! IoW, Stoke, Mildenhall and Plymouth all dropped out of the 2nd Division in the last 10 years, they too would be banished to closure as well! I've long maintained that the more tracks the better as more interest is manipulated and from many who otherwise wouldn't be interested in speedway. I suspect that a sizeable % of a tracks hardcore support would stop going if the track ceased operations! Whilst King's Lynn's Young Stars demise isn't good news, at least they weren't a standalone team which would mean that speedway would lose a track. In present times the current NL has to many teams caused by the often unsustainable nature of the top 2 Divisions, combined with less riders available meaning that lower end NL teams are struggling big time. Buxtons big win yesterday proves that their is possibly light at the end of the tunnel!?

The bottom line is that without the 3rd tier, recent Elite League clubs, Birmingham, Eastbourne and Lakeside would all probably be defunct! The same goes for the likes of Mildenhall, IoW, Stoke and Plymouth. Buxton would of never even seen speedway! Cradley would be a name from the past! Unfortunately in these times of less riders competing in League speedway, this means that the present day National League has probably become to big in terms of team numbers which means that the poorer, less attractive teams struggle to put together a competitive line up! There has long been a conflict of interests in the 3rd tier going back to the early years in the mid 90's with the standalones needing competitive, trophy competing line ups in order to sustain viable interest with terms of crowd levels and sponsorship while the 2nd teams of higher League tracks won't be under as much pressure be viable cause the main team would subsidise the reserve whose main agenda would be to develop future higher League riders. The influx of teams that in an ideal world would be in higher League combined with less riders riding in League speedway has made this conflict more extreme and tougher for the poorer 3rd Division clubs cause riders naturally will go to clubs who can offer better financial rewards and more chance of winning. But the top 2 Leagues in present times only survive through riders doubling up so wheres the solution? It'd be good to see a couple of the stronger standalones move up next season but where are the extra riders coming from and why do they want to go from a viable League to one where they will likely lose money, struggle to get a competitive team and ultimately end up in the same situation that forced to them to take refuse in the 3rd tier in the 1st place? The solutions? - Top 15-16 higher League tracks combine and form a big top tier while the rest combine with the stronger 3rd tier teams and form a 2nd Division slightly stronger than the current National League while a new less competitive 3rd tier is created featuring the likes of Buxton, Iwade?, Northside?, reserve teams and ultilising many of the riders competing in the current 4th tier Junior Leagues? 6 person teams?

Brafield was looked at by wily multi track promoter and saviour Tony Mole a decade or so ago. For some reason(s) things never developed which I suspect would be good reasons as Tony Moles a shrewd operator! I've always said that National League (3rd tier) racing at Brafield under the Northampton banner could be viable, even as an alternative to the attempts to get a track in Milton Keynes again. Northampton Knights? Spedeworth have been landlords to Ipswich speedway for many years. In the past they have been against running stock cars on shale tracks (in my opinion the best stock car racing is on shale tracks!) but last year purchased West Row Stadium home of the Fen Tigers and want the speedway to continue there! I think there is room inside the big stock car track at Brafield for a smallish Lakeside like track which at 3rd tier level would be a good track to enhance raw skills!

Fingers crossed for a positive outcome Brian! A profit making leisure facility should be cherished! It would also be more profit making if the Cradley Heathens were allowed to race there!

Cracking stuff Brian! I've long said that Hall Green Stadium could be the answer to Cradley Heathens long search for a new track of their own! It's only 13 miles from Cradley and is served by a train station! Lets hope it survives!

Castagna looked very ordinary today at Mildenhall against mainly National League riders, and indeed was beaten by a few of them as well! A guy with serious aspirations of holding onto his Premier League place this season should have been dominant at Mildenhall today! I didn't think Castagna was a good signing at the start of the season and from what I've seen of him so far, hes even poorer than I'd envisaged!

Only one meeting but Ipswich already look very weak and the blow of losing one of the better riders in Risager is massive! Ritchings at number 7 is what he is so anything above 2-3 points a meeting will be a bonus but Castagna was nothing more than a tyre packer! Going on his British results last year and overall career results in a lesser speedway Country, I didn't expect much from Castagna but I did expect him to be a major force in heat2 and have the beating of the oppositions number 7 NL standard rider! My only worry with Castagna is because of who his father is he will get longer in the team to prove than he actually will deserve? Having two weak reserves is a major handicap which requires the top 5 to be solid and consistant! As for the track, yes it was to slick but this was the 1st meeting on a bitterly cold night!

I agree that had Tim Stone still been alive today then Newport speedway would still be running! That said as I've argued with Vince on here in the past about, Tim Stones rude abrupt non delegating nature with fans, sponsors and track staff played a massive part in Newport speedways decline because he drove hundreds of people away from the club! I'm aware that after a club opens or reopens, the novelty factor means that interest is high and this eventually wanes over the years but in Newports case this was accelerated much faster than it should have been! The Mallets indeed tryed but so much damage had been done by that stage. But in their case, in the end didn't want their egos damaged by selling much of the stadium for scrap instead of letting Phil Morris have a go at it, a guy in my opinion could have made a go of it! Newport speedway at Queensway Meadows to me is a very frustrating tale cause it was purpose built for speedway with little restrictions in an area that had a decent hardcore support. What has become of the land the stadium once stood on?

From what I've seen of Niall Strudwick hes someone who likes walking round the pits in his kevlars pretending to be a speedway rider, can ride around reasonably on his own but as soon as you put him in a race with other riders doesn't want to know which means hes never going to do anything in speedway! Most Californian speedway tracks are tiny which means that the racing is quite often ferocious with a lot of argy bargy and very close contact something Strudwick shys away from on the much bigger English tracks! Fair play to him just being out there, but if hes realistic, hes never going to be make it as a speedway rider!

For a start, I'm glad Louis has drew the line with messrs Tungate and Heeps as their inconsistency and treading water progress has hindered the team! The new top 5 looks to me potentially strong, albeit very much dependant on Kerr recovering his pre crash form which obviously is a big if. Yes Risager is old hat, favoured because of Louis family links and isn't going to get much better now but he had a solid season at Plymouth where I reckon he didn't particularly want to go to and if he gets a similar average next season will serve the team well cause messrs King, Covatti and Kerr are well capable of all being 8 point men with King capable of 9+. Sargeant looks like he has more improvement in him, has experience the PL and riding the tight Foxhall circuit every week should bring him on? The reserves look very weak to me! Ritchings has been about a while now, had a massive crash in his career and wasn't a stand out rider last season in a National League that was of a standard way below the PL. Riding at a much tougher, faster standard on a home track that is notoriously difficult for those who've never been there before to master will be very, very difficult for the lad. His saving grace maybe is that there will be other weak looking No 7's in the PL next season? Castagna struggled for Sheffield last season on a track that would be more similar to the European tracks hes rode on than Ipswich. He didn't look good in the 16 lapper which yes was just one meeting at the end of the season. Seems like he got the chance because of who his father is. Can't see the team pulling up any trees with the weak looking reserve pairing and if 1-2 of the top 5 have below par seasons then the Witches could seriously struggle!

King's Lynn Knights was an awful nickname and was dropped after a number of years! Like I said before - Islanders was a brilliant original nickname linked with only the IOW speedway team. These are the best nicknames that stand the test of time! I wasn't suggesting that the promotion were lazy physically but Warriors nickname is very lazy cause its not original and the logo looks very poor! IOW speedway lost a sizeable amount of money nearly every season they ran before finally folding a couple of years ago. Apart from the 1st couple of years, average crowds have been low with decentish crowds only coming during the holiday season! As a speedway supporter I welcome the return of IOW speedway and hope it does well but being a realist looking at the clubs previous history in speedway, I can see that the new promotion have their work cut out and will likely need big wallets to cope with the losses!

While I hope the proposed return of the IOW speedway happens and is a success, the stated losses sustained over a number of years the last time they ran suggests that will be difficult and a very expensive ego trip for the proposed promotion! The new nickname is awful and very lazy! Their have been Warriors teams before so its not original and very dull. The Islanders nickname was superb because it was totally original in speedway and synonomous to the Isle of Wight speedway!

Does this mean that his boy Andrew might just return to run the Raiders? Len Silver deserves huge credit for what he done at Rye House from 2000 onwards. Without Len its likely that the return to Hoddesdon wouldn't have happened. Like others have said the 1st 10 years at the modern era Rye House was very successful and progressive but the last 5 years have seen a steady stale decline much similar to Lens 1st spell at Rye House from 82 till he left at the end of 85 and his last few years at Hackney till he got out in 1983. While Len has more speedway experience and knowhow than all of us put together it doesn't mean he's always right and this lack of delegation and refusal to take in other peoples ideas has led to the staleness and decline of Rye House speedway in recent years! Probably a good move but lets hope that Rye House doesn't go the same way it went in the 1986-93 Ronnie Russell era which followed the Len Silvers 1st Rye House era.

Not surprised at the results at Eastbourne last night! Eastbourne have been a powerhouse on their tricky Arlington track all season while Mildenhall have struggled and having 2 tyre packers at reserve was not going to help one bit!

I'll be disappointed if Heeps, Manzares and Tungate are back next season as they have not improved enough! Nielsen at reserve maybe deserves another run!

Oh well, 2015 has ended like all the previous PL campaigns for the Witches in failure when the team on paper looked capable! I'm afraid that messrs Heeps, Manzares and Tungate have had long enough to improve sufficiently but have only treaded water and now need to find other teams! Hopefully their will be big team changes at Foxhall next season with only King, Covatti and maybe the two reserves returning for 2016! Although I will say their has been some cracking racing this season at times at Foxhall!

I don't particularly care about the website but I think the new nickname and racejacket logo are dreadful! The Islanders was a great nickname and logo cause it was totally original and synonomous with IOW speedway! The original Wizards nickname was nicked from the old Weymouth team of the 1970's and was quickly ditched after a couple of years. The Warriors has been used a few times in the past so isn't appealing whatsoever! As for the logo - well that's painful, very unwarrior like and very uninspiring! That said I hope speedway returns to one of its more unlikely locations and that its a success but I can't help but think the new nickname and logo design are not a step in the right direction!

And 1974! Congratulations Birmingham Brummies! Lets hope Birmingham speedway is functional for many years to come! Oh actually wasn't 1974 the last year the old 2nd tier was called the 2nd Division?

No need whatsoever! That said I'll share my memories of John Louis one of Englands finest and Ipswich speedways greatest rider! I think Ipswich speedways rise from oblivion in the late 60's to one of Britains boom centres had a lot to do with the amazing impact of John Louis. His brilliance in 1971 meant the Witches had to move up into the 1st Division or go very stale in the 2nd Division without him! I've seen no rider move up the ranks as quickly as John did. It seemed he went from unknown 2nd halfer to star rider in a matter of weeks! I remember going to the 1972 World Final were only 3 years after his 1st 2nd halfs rides, John Louis came 4th and half the crowd seemed from Ipswich. Indeed at quite a few away meetings at near rivals King's Lynn and Hackney there seemed to be more Ipswich fans than away fans! I remember going to pub in Suffolk just of the A140 {Norwich/Ipswich road) where they had a local singer who was singing a song about John Louis! That shows how popular John was in Suffolk in the heady years of the 1970's! I became a regular at King's Lynn on Saturdays in the summers of 1983/84 when the by now 40 plus John Louis was King's Lynns best rider when the top flight of British speedway had virtually all of the Worlds top riders in it! One memory which stands out for me regarding John Louis was from his final 1984 season when in the Ipswich 16 lapper he gated in front of the other 7 riders and a couple of laps later dropped it on the 1st bend causing major carnage!

£100,000 will pay for a track in a field with no facilities! Considering an air fence is now compulsory and they cost £20,000+ and you begin to get some idea of the costs! Good luck to those trying to resurrect Exeter speedway cause I'm pretty sure that a properly run track in the City would be well supported especially after 10 years without a track!

John Louis and Chris Louis were both terrific riders and great servants of Ipswich speedway, definitely in my all time greatest Witches team ever! I'd say that in the history of speedway no father and son racers were ever so evenly matched in terms of ability and success!

Putting the moral conscious thing on by heavily criticising fans for not attending won't bring the fans back to the next meeting in their droves The reality is that most fans, especially those with dependant children struggle to afford one home meeting a week, let alone 2 and fans will normally always pick the meeting that has the clubs 1st team involved. Another factor with King's Lynn speedway is that many of their fans come from over 20 miles away from the track. If running NL at King's Lynn was that successful Boston would still be going there and them and King's Lynn speedway would be making a profit out of it! In the history of speedway the examples of two teams at one track both being well supported are extremely rare indeed. I suppose Cradley running at Wolves and Birmingham are probably two of the only examples in recent years. This is why there isn't more 2nd teams of higher League tracks in the NL. I applaud King's Lynn speedway for biting the bullet and running a NL team cause it can't be a profit making exercise! Yes 13 years since the World lost David Nix. Thankfully that was the last fatality on a British speedway track and lets hope its the last!

A great entertainer on track and hopefully his record of winning the last ever official speedway meeting at Norwich will be broken one day!

I've been to quite a few stock car events over the last 50+ years going back to the Firs, and to be honest I've never found it that interesting, only going once in a blue moon out of curiosity and its certainly poor in comparison to speedway although obviously other people think differently! The reality of modern times is that stock cars and bangers are more popular than speedway. Without stock car racing, I suspect my 3 local speedway teams, King's Lynn, Mildenhall and Ipswich wouldn't be running, so while stock cars can have a negative effect on speedway (U21 qualifier at Mildenhall yesterday being a prime example!) they are a necessity. Multi use is the way forward, most professional football stadiums in this Country are multi use being used for many things as well as football! With the news in the last year that Mr Sandhu is looking to sell Brandon Stadium for housing development, (something I suspect the planning process will contest!) let hope this Stock cars V speedway at Coventry discussion will still be going on for many years to come!

I bet the fast food outlets on the one stop shopping centre do well on speedway nights!