25yearfan

As I've mentioned on other threads on this forum - Are the former promotors of Wimbledon speedway really that serious about opening a speedway track up at Central Park Sittingbourne? And trying to recreate the Wimbledon Dons theme at Sittingbourne wouldn't work cause it isn't Wimbledon, it would alienate the locals and it didn't work when tryed in 1991 at Eastbourne. Yes Wimbledon first shut in 1991. - BUT they did reopen in 2002 in the CL at Plough Lane and after the problems of the first year were overcome the operation was a successfull one at the level Wimbledon speedway competed at. - Its total rubbish to suggest that this 4 season spell of CL racing at Plough Lane in your opinion didn't (as good as) happen or wasn't a proper speedway set up! Milton Keynes could sustain a CL speedway team. A greyhound track cannot stage greyhounds 7 days a week. The Council have already suggested they wouldn't be against speedway taking place at a new Greyhound stadium. If this new Greyhound stadium facility does become reality then possibly speedway racing would stand a chance of reopening there.

No chance of speedway taking place at the new MK Dons (Franchise FC) stadium. The proposed new greyhound stadium would be the ideal place to reopen Milton Keynes Knights speedway team. The CL would be the best league to do it in because when they operated before it couldn't really afford Division 2 (PL) level speedway. Wishful thinking on my part what with my love of speedway and absolute hatred and total disagreement about how MK Dons came into existence. - Hopefully the MK Dons wil continue their slide down the football pyrimid and into eventual extinction. Then their will be a vacant state of the art 21,000 seater stadium in the middle of England that could host speedway amongst other events!

I thought Norwich did ride a match or two at neutral Ipswich in the first season after Foxhall stadium was built. But then again it was a long time ago and my memories not that good! When Ipswich first opened in 51 I believe, the majority of the team was made up of Norwich juniors. I believe the Norwich management played a big part in the development and very early years of Ipswich speedway. While it may not of been official, Ipswich was in effect a nursery outfit to Norwich due to these factors and racing in a lower league than the Stars.

The Rye House 'home' leg of the 1992 Division 2 Ko cup final against Peterborough was staged at Arena Essex cause it couldn't be fitted in at Hoddesdon. In 1999 when Rye Houuse reopened they ran most of their 'home' meetings at Mildenhall and one at Eastbourne and King's Lynn. I remember a 2001 Mildenhall V's Boston CL meeting being staged at Rye House right late in the season cause Mildenhall wasn't thought to of been a viable proporsition on any day other than a weekend. Wembley often used other venues during thei time in League racing caue of the tight schedule the gret stadium had. They used Wimbledon alot in 1948 when Wembley staged the Olympics. I remember in 1951-52 the great Norwich Stars raced one or two 'home' matches at the new Ipswich circuit which was then a 'nursery' track to Norwich. Their has been more 'neutral' matches in the past I'm sure but my memories not that good! Its normally happened late in October when teams have been fully stretched to complete their fixtures in time.

Emmo races in banger events under the trackstar banner. Kevin Teager has done some racing at Ipswich and some other spedeworth tracks. My knowledge of stock cars/hot rods though I've been quite a few times is limited cxaue I'm not a fan of the sport. I can never work out why in East Anglia stock cars is hugely popular cause I don't think its a patch on speedway. Maybe the fact that its easier to get into and local drivers are in the majority are probable reasons.

Yes remember both of them riding. Seem to remember that Thompson had some potential but then just disapeared of the scene like so many do. Other ex East Anglian speedway riders now doing some racing in stock cars are Kevin Teager and Emmerson Fairweather.

Had a look on the Ellesmere Port speedway website last night after reading your mssage. Its very basic and they haven't update it for a while but its good to see it around! They state they are ongoing in a search/effort to reopen speedway in the area. How genuine they are regarding this I don't know but its helkp to know their interest of some level to do this. Theirs an E mail address on the site as well to contact them. Yes its a massive shame Ellesmere Port aren't running when the old home for speedway Thornton Road still remains and is underused. The reasons the Council turned down Tony Moles application in 2001 was cause of parking issues for big crowds and the usual noise issus! - While I think EP speedway could of attracted viable crowds in modern times of 500-1000, these levels wouldn't of been near levels that watched at Thornton Rd in the 1970's, so in fact the claims were a complete cop out. Locals were all in favour as the popular public meetings at the time suggested. While the stadium is still there and no plans to demolish are known then in the future it could be worth another try if the Council could be persuaded?

I don't know the address for the Ellemere Port speedway website but i can tell you how to get to it! I rather stumbled across it one day while on the Cradleyspeedway.co.uk website when looking through the 'links' section. Just go to the Cradley speedway website, go into links. There you will find Ellesmere Port speedway which if you click onto will take you onto their website! Seems crazy that when the stadium is still there, the atitude of some probably misinformed Councillors has prevented the Gunners returning to speedway! But stranger things happen, so who knows in the future?

Great club that enjoyed a good spell in the sport from 1972-1982, then the last season in 1985. I feel the Council were very short sighted in turning down Tony Moles 2001 application to reopen Ellesmere Port at their old Thornton Road home. With Mr Mole at the helm I feel the Gunners could of held their own at PL level and been viable. With the Stadium still being in place, the possibility of speedway returning remains. Has their been any changes at Council level since 2001? What sort of interest is their in speedway in the area? An Ellesmere Port speedway website has recently been created so their is some interest in it and they have stated they are looking into whether speedway could run in the area again! It would great to see Ellesmere Port Gunners speedway team back in the Leagues. Good luck!

Ditto! I have long thought that Brafield stock car stadium would make a good venue for a CL team. It would already have permission for motorsports and isn't near houses so the old noise thing shouldn't crop up. It is within easy reach of most parts not being far from the M1 in the centre of the Country near Northampton. Tony Mole investigated the situation at Brafield a while back. I think a Northampton 'Brafield Badgers' speedway team running at Brafield stadium could work in the CL. It would act as a nursery track to Midland/East Anglian tracks.

Yes the company proposing to build a new greyhound stadium in Milton Keynes and their is no mention of speedway. But the Council have already stated they wouldn't be against a speedway track being built inside the dog track if there is anyone out there prepared to do it and of course if the stadium owners could be persuaded. - Afterall can't run greyhounds 7 days a week and the extra income from one nights speedway would help improve the viability of the stadium.

Agree totally Deano! Birmingham is big enough to have a Brummies team at Perry Bar (if the dreaded P/P can be overcome) in the senior leagues and another one in the CL elsewhere in the city. While it was still standing Norton Canes dog track was often looked at as late on as the mid 90's where it was considered a good potential venue for CL. Hall Green staged speedway up until the late 30's when local residents complaining about the noise helped to shut it down. This very plush greyhound stadium could be made into a very good speedway stadium but the harsh reality is that if the nimbys helped to shut it down in 1938 in times of much more tolerance towards our sport then the chances of speedway racing at Hall Green now are remote to say the least! I've always thought Hall Green would be a more than acceptable venue for Cradley to move to cause its not to far from Dudley and far enough away from Perry Bar to not effect the Brummies if they come back. - As I remember the vast majoriy of Brummie fans came from the Perry Bar/Great Bar/ Aston areas of Brum. One of the reasons I think that the 'wheels' project failed being in another part of the city. Only chance of Hall Green staging speedway is if some method of noise reduction, such as acoustic covers, new silencers etc came in that helped speedway to gain P/P at stadiums where noise would of been deemed unacceptble. Finding a universal method of noise reduction at speedway tracks that was proven to work, greatly reducing noise leaving stadiums, that was statisically proven to work is neccessary if British speedway is to keep a lot of present tracks and get new venues. - Look at the problem encountered by Tony Moles recent attempts to relaunch the Brummies at Perry Bar.

Yes Iam very well aware of the fact that reopening or opening new tracks is a very difficult process indeed. I was just going through the areas where IF(and it is indeed a very big IF!) a new track could be found a location then I think the areas would have the possibility to do well. Good luck ROG with you and your associates attempts to get Hull back on track. A well run Hull outfit could do well but don't give up to soon cause it may take time for things to materialise. - Could the Boulevard be a possibility? Yes I know their is a 30 mile agreement in place that can effect new tracks. But I think in high population areas this policy is rather irrelevent. Particularly in the case of Birmingham where it would be under 30 miles from both Wolves and Coventry but if things were worked out properly the Brummies return wouldn't effect either. I feel this could be the case as well with Cardiff and Newport if done right. In fact I'd say that like a Birmingham reopening a Cardiff revival would create tremendous rivalry between them and Newport as well as doing much to give speedway more exposure and therefore more fans in the area. In the case of the attempts to establish speedway at Swaffham raceway about 3-4 years ago King's Lynn were right to protest about Swaffham. Swaffham raceways about 14 miles from King's Lynn in an area of sparse population who in the majority wouldn't be as wealthy as those in other areas. The plan was to call Swaffham, Norwich but I don't think enough fans from Norwich would of went to Swaffham regularly enough so the crowds wouldn't of been good enough. To the ex Sunderland fan - I only mentioned areas that I feel could sustain a top 2 League speedway team. I think their is many other areas that sustain CL speedway if done right. These would be: Great Yarmouth, Romford, Brighton, Matchams Park, Yeovil, in or around London area, another South West team, Portsmouth, Long Eaton or Nottingham, Birmingham area, Bradford or Halifax, Cumbria area, Crewe, one or two Scottish teams and last but not least Sunderland! I think the now very plush Boldon Stadium in Sunderland former home of the Stars speedway team there could sustain Conference League racing but is to near to Newcastle and Redcar to attract top 2 Division crowds. When all 3 teams last ran together (for Redcar count Middlesbrough, same thing as far as I'm concerned!) in 1964 Sunderland Saints as they were then known shut mid season. When Sunderland had their last period in speedway 1971-74, Newcastle were dormant. Ironically Newcastle had shut in 1970 then reopened in 1975. - Really don't think it was that ironic that Newcastle and Sunderland closed and reopened without ever running at the same time during this period! I do know that the owners of Sunderland, Boldon stadium would be willing to accomodate a speedway return but would want an excessive rent from it. Also the Newcastle promotion are known to be totally against attempts to reopen Sunderland cause they are worried about the effects on their attendances. But how many of the Brough Park regulars come from Sunderland? - Not many I'd suggest and CL speedway at Sunderland would act as a nursery track to Newcastle and Redcar (maybe more profitable than running the Cleveland Bays out of Redcar?). As Newcastles brief period of running a reserve team in the CL ended cause it was to costly I don't see the Diamonds managements problem. Reopening Sunderland has been looked into on more than one occasion in recent years and I think it could do well. The Sunderland reunions have been very popular even though speedway hasn't been staged there for nearly 32 years!

More teams and tracks are essential for speedway to keep going and improve. Those who say "The present days tracks are struggling to attract crowds without extra teams opening up." - When a track closes the large majority of that tracks support stop going to speedway altogether. I've seen it with my old team the Norwich Stars. So those who think that the possible reopening of Birmingham next year would have a detrimental effect on Coventry and Wolves crowds, I don't think that would be the case. Thats csuse Perry Bar would attract mainly old Brummies fans and new fans from the Birmingham area. For instance Plymouth have said they don't get that many fans from Exeter even though the Falcons are dormant this year (hopefully this year only!). Those who say that the riders aren't about - Riders come out of the woodwork and in the CL there are many frozen out riders. What would happen is that if extra teams came into the EL then the next league down the PL would become watered down slightly in terms of rider strength. The same would hapen if more PL teams were in operation, then the CL would get slightly watered down. I can think of quite a few big population areas that could accomodate top 2 League speedway that currently don't. 2 in London - Wimbledon Dons and one in North London - Hackney or Walthamstow Hawks. Southampton Saints One in Kent - Crusaders Hull Vikings Bristol Bulldogs One in Cornwall though not a big population area always got good crowds. Gulls. Cardiff Dragons Birmingham Brummies (keep fingers crossed for next year!) Cradley Heathens Nottingham/Long Eaton Outlaws or Invaders Leicester Lions Norwich Stars (I just about live in hope!) Bradford/Halifax/Leeds Dukes or Northern or Tykes. Ellesmere Port/Liverpool Gunners or Chads Exeter Falcons (hopefully next year!) Nothing better than seeing new and/or old tracks coming back into the sport!

I thought it was the Council who didn't want it citing parking problems and the noise issues rather than complaints from residents. In fact the public meetings held at the time by Tony Mole were very well attended. Yes I know that Ellesmere Port didn't get huge crowds but looking at how successfull the (at the time seemingly never to return) Workington set up has been since Mr Mole reopened beck in 1999 one wonders if he could of made a good 'fist' of things down Ellesmere Port as well? An Ellesmere Port speedway website has been created in recent months. I believe those involved are trying to gauge the level of interest in speedway in the area and to see if theres anywhere locally that could stage speedway. I think Thornton Road could still be ideal for speedway .

I think your quite correct Rog. But theirs no doubt that a track within walking distance from urban population areas stands a much better chance than a track in the middle of nowhere. King's Lynn you mention, but I know that quite a few KL regulars walk to the stadium from King's Lynn which is only the other side of the Saddlebow roundabout. King's Lynns near neighbouurs Mildenhall I feel suffer from being stuck out in the middle of nowhere. If Mildenhall was right against Bury St Edmunds, Cambridge or even Norwich then crowds would be quite higher I suspect. On the same point I was in Edinburgh the other week and paid a visit to their former home the old but still quite good facility Meadowbank stadium which is right in the City. Now I think that if Edinburgh could get back in at Meadowbank (pleny of room inside athletics track now that no football is played there!) which is in Edinburgh with decent stands rather their present home at Armadale which offers basic facilities 20 miles away from Edinburgh then the Monarchs would get much bigger crowds. Though I'm sure the Monarchs promotion have looked into doing this in the past? With Hull I thought that Craven Park was ideal as it was a very nice place to watch speedway, with only the narrow nature of the track the only down side. But am I right in saying that if the previous promotion would of had the neccessary clout then speedway could of remained at Craven Park because the greyhounds have now gone and the speedway track could have been installed over the old dog track? If you and associates are looking at out of town/City locations then Hulls old track from the late 40's Haldon would be ideal? Yes I think that inner City tracks are going to be nearly extinct in future years. Out of town area maybe the only way for speedway tracks to exist? If Exeter get P/P at the ironicaly called Haldon racecourse then this could lead to othr racecourses looking at installing speedway tracks. Redcar speedway is situated within a designated moto sports park so this is another avenue that could be fruitful for potential new tracks. Hulls near neigbours Scunthorpe have their speedway set up situated in an industrial estate which every town and City has. I think a well run Hull Vikings speedway outfit would be viable. Good luck!

The Southampton outfit of a few years back that ran challenge matches at CL level was run by Dave # Name Removed # who later went onto be part of the Wimbledon promotion and is now team manager of the IoW Islanders. I believe Mr # Name Removed # looked into finding a site in the Southampton area without any joy. I think someone even asked Southampton FC when they were building the St Marys Stadium if speedway could be accommodated. Southampton remains to this day since the closure of Bannister Court in the early 60's an untapped potential hotbed for speedway.

Yes I'd agree that its no an ideal situation but we live in a far from perfect world! Rye House wouldn't be where they are now if it wern't for the efforts of fans who revived the Rockets in 1999 who then rode most of their matches at Mildenhall with a couple at Eastbourne and King's Lynn. - Len Silver probably wouldn't of reopened Hoddesdon to speedway racing but for the efforts of fans in 1999. I'd hazard at a guess and say that the efforts of Steve Harland and associates in running a Middlesbrough Bears outfit at 6 heat 2nd half level helped to maintain a level of interest in Teeside that could of helped Chris Van Stratton and Gareth Rogers to make up their minds and seriously consider reopening a track in the area. Boston nearly managed the same but for the anti speedway atitude of the local council. The very suceessful 'Club Cradley' outfit of a few years back that ran challenge matches at CL level has no doubt at the time helped to keep the Cradley Heathens name alive with some good publicity. Why not call the Newport Mavericks the Cardiff Dragons? - Afterall the team is just run as something of an after thought (Though credit must be given to Newport for running a CL outfit at all). I bet the Mavericks riders struggle to get sponsorship from the Newport area cause any what is there would go to the Wasps team. Calling the team Cardiff would ignite interest in Cardiff and sponsorship and support from the Welsh capital could arise out it. Also I think Cardiff would make a good venue for a League team so the Council could be persuaded to make provisions for a stadium if anyone was about to run a track in Cardiff? - Rather than take away from Newport I think a track in Cardiff would help Newport to become more suceesful.

Couldn't agree more. If a tracks CL or reserve League team was called the name of a nearby defunct track or even a place thats never staged speedway before then it would benefit speedway so much more. This is cause spectators from the places represented by the teams would be enticed to pay entrance money to support them and sponsorship could also come as well. We need more tracks and British speedway would be far more healthy as a result. So in the long term if new tracks were opened due to teams initially running out of other tracks then all the better. I find it so shortsighted and restrictive that 2nd teams share the ame name as the 1st team cause the 1st team get al the benefits while the 2nd team get drips.

A new greyhound stadium is meant to be built near to the site of the old Eldfield Park track cause the Groveway has now been closed and will be developed. I believe this new greyhound stadium will have Council approval for speedway should any promotor wish to reopen the Milton Keynes Knights. While I don't think Milton Keynes speedway would be viable in the top 2 leagues I'm sure that CL racing could be sustainable.

Like a lot of tracks in them days you could stand right against the fence at Romford and almost touch the riders as they went past! Nowadays Romfords fence would of been condemed as solid concrete walls aren't allowed and spectators would of had to stand further away from the fence. Though still to this day tracks in New Zealand and Australia use solid concrete walls that don't move even if cars hit them! Romford were sucessful during their 3 season spell at the now defunct Brooklands stadium. The anti speedway campaign and subsequent closure of Romford was disgusting. I believe that Ipswich Witches legends John 'Tiger' Louis and Tony 'Shrimp' Davey are the joint track record holders, a record that will never be broken! I think Romford Greyhound stadium would be an ideal place to reopen the Romford Bombers speedway team. Though I'm sure obtaining P/P would be difficult I wonder if any promotor has looked into it?

Yes agree totally and utterly! Anyone whos been to grasstrack or 'sandbahns' (we know them as longtracks) in Germany would be amazed at how much better they are than the British at running and supporting events. In Germany people support sports events and turn them into festivals that bring thousands into attend. Football grounds in Germany are also much bigger and crowds are much larger than most in Britain. Trouble with this country is that we've have so much red tape just to do anything these days as well as got to many NIMBY'S and do gooders who don't see the 'big picture', don't undertand what they are complaining about and don't want anything to happen. - The same people then complain about the British yob culture in towns and Cities and wonder why we lag behind in so many different sports! The ignorance and shotsightedness that is rife in all walks of society in this Country is appalling to say the least. For instance look at the ongoing attempts to reopen Birmingham Brummies speedway team at their spiritual home at Perry Bar stadium that got turned down by the local Council planning committee recently who cited noise nuisance. - For christ sakes the sport ran their years ago when the bikes were much more noisier with no problems, over 90% of Brummie residents polled want the speedway back there as do local Perry Bar residents who were asked and only 14 letters of complaint against hundreds in support were handed into Council offices. Anyone whos been to the area where the stadium is would be absolutely bewildered at the claims that 24-28 2 hour speedway meetings a year speedway would be a noise nuisance when their is 2 main roads either side of the stadium and the motorway hums away in the distance! White City was a wonderful venue that would of been suitable for big speedway meetings but league speedway wasn't viable there. Ironically near neighours Queens Park Rangers FC have complained their 19,000 CAP Loftus Road ground is to small for the club to ever progress in and are looking to move to a new bigger venue. If White City would of still been standing today it could of been converted into at least a 40,000 all seater and QPR would of been provided with their bigger arena. It could of also hosted events in the 2012 Olympic games. Leicesters Blackbird Road was similar to my old 'haunt' Norwichs Firs stadium in that they were atmospheric large stadiums which gave pleasure to many thouands, with big following for the speedwy teams, with fabulous tracks that should of never been allowed to of been demolished. Subsequently both Councils in Norwich and Leicester' poor atitude towards speedway has hampered any revival bids for new speedway set ups in the respective areas. Blackbird Road was sold by the Ochiltrees in order to make a quick buck and with the hope that Lions fans would convert to Coventry. They certainly made a quick buck but when a speedway track goes then a large majority of its support stops going to speedway as well. I know that a Leicester speedway supporters club still hold get togethers in the Leicester area quite regularly, so if anyone knows how to find out about these meetings then post on here to inform others that might be interested in going. I'm also led to believe that moves are afoot to relaunch a speedway set up in the area. I've heard this from a source recently and it has been mentioned in the speedway star recently. I'll believe it when it happens not a moment before but wouldn't it be great to not have to talk about Leicester speedway in this 'years gone by' section, instead talk about the Lions on track progress in one of the League sections! I'm sure a reopened Leicester speedway would pull in good crowds!

I'm sure their would be huge interest if Bristol reopened. I'd say probably a reborn Bristol speedway operation ran well would comfortably get the biggest crowds in British speedway just like they did in the late 70's. Apart from seeing a former 'boom' centre reopen which would be a huge boost for speedway a reopened Bristol Bulldogs speedway set up would put more pressure on the Reading promotion to drop their ridiculous renaming of Reading to the Bulldogs and revert them back to their proper name of the Racers! A multi sports venue featuring speedway, greyhounds and others would do well and would ensure the viability of the venture. I think this thread would get more publicity (EG more people would look at it!) ifit was in the general discussion section rather than this section!

Hope you are correct! Bradford and the splendid Odsal stadium would be welcome aditions to the speedway scene! Unfortunately the old 1985-97 pits area is now underneath executive boxes so an alternative area would have tro be found. But didn't the 1970-75 Odsal era have a different pits area? I think the track could be made almost identical to the 1997 version as the area hasn't been developed. Though that last year in 1997 proved that Bradford would have to be promoted right for the venture to be viable. Bradford won the very 1st EL in 97 with a very strong and expensive side but some of the crowds that year were very poor due to running quite a few Odsal meetings on a Tuesday night. Regular Saturday meetings would be the best bet to get good crowds at Odsal!

Odsal stadium featured heavily on yesterdays (Sat April 2nd) edition of grandstand. As I thought the boxes were only built over the splendid 1985-1997 pits area and not over the old 3rd and 4th bend. In fact you could clearly see where the old track used to be as the area has not been utilised and built on as yet. Only the shale and fence were missing from what would of been the 1997 track set up at Odsal. I know the possiblity of staging PL racing at Odsal was investigated 2 years ago. Just a shame the council gave/sold? the right to the grand old stadium to the Bradford Bulls Rugby team who don't want the sport back, even though they would make money fom speedway and stock cars returning. Bradford Northern and Halifax Dukes are 2 old West Yorkshire teams I'd love to see back in the sport though Halifax through the efforts of a supporters club and prospective promotor Mr Hayes seems the only one likely to.