MajorMauger

I did say 400-1000 so was hinting that the highest figure would be exceptional, though I suspect if (again hopefully when!) Rye House reopen, the opening night would be a crowd in the 1000 range? Lets hope we get to find out what crowds a reopened Rye House speedway can attract sooner rather than later, EG, this season!

If (hopefully when) Rye House speedway reopen they should take the same route as they did in 2000 when they reopened at Hoddesdon by going in the 3rd tier. I haven't been back to Rye House since the mid season closure a couple of years back but surely theres enough room there to accommodate crowds of up to 2000? - Though I suspect crowds of 400-1000 would be the crowd figures in the 3rd tier on a Saturday night? In times of track closures which means less teams plus a surplus of riders who wish to ride and the BSPA hinting they want to drop the standard of the 3rd tier (something I totally disagree with cause theres already a level below the NL and if we are to produce World class British riders then they need to race at a decent level whilst learning) surely it makes sense to allow Rye House to compete in this seasons NL even if the stadium is not quite what it should be?

What like they did with Readings bid to race at Swindon, giving the NL another much needed team, exposure for a homeless club trying to increase interest with a view to finding a location for a new track while giving more NL opportunities for British youngsters??

Unique Character!

100% and add in the factor of another team in the 3rd tier in an area without a 3rd tier team presence would present more opportunities for up and coming British youngsters. BSPA = British speedway prevention association! Complete madness!

A very young age to pass. I remember the impact he made at Ipswich when he came in late season in 1986! Good servant to Coventry and Sheffield! 1989 World Final at Munich when he found a very fast line by sticking his front wheel over the inside line creating a tremendous amount of grip in a Scalextric rail like way! 1991 or 92 Fours final at Peterborough when 3 riders crashed down the back straight in front of him and he then tried to jump over them. The subsequent interview on Anglia TV when he was upset by fans who claimed he was an "idiot" and his "I think the riders are going a bit crazy today!" statement was classic stuff!

Mike Lanham had a chip shop in Ipswich which hes now passed onto his two sons one of whom is Leigh Lanham! Shrimp Davey works at a garage near Ipswich! Ted Howgego owns confectionary stores. Mel Taylor works for a housing developer. John Gibbons owns a plant hire/groundworks business. Mick Hines owns a forklift business. Robert Henry was driving a sweeper lorry!

Great servant to speedway particularly the Northern tracks. Was well into his 40's when he finally packed up in the mid to late 70's I believe? Like others said if it weren't for the downturn in speedway North of the Border during those fallow years of the late 50's and running the farm he and his brother could of gone further and maybe made a World final or two!

Very weak Newcastle Diamonds team but as other have alluded to its better than no racing at all and Newcastles got a stronger team than my original speedway team, Norwich Stars! Just hope the weak team doesn't reduce the crowd levels too much?

I believe the infamous Steve Ribbons made enquiries about speedway at Harlow a number of years ago. A bit ramshackle but taking Rye House out of the equation might be a viable concern at NL level with the right promotion in charge? That said Rye House is still used as a training track so more chance of League speedway there I reckon.

Yeah like the massively profit making but politically correct athletics events!

I see a couple of posters on the Oxford Mail website have suggested that its madness to contemplate spending a load of money on Oxford stadium to reopen dying sports like speedway and greyhound racing! While the slow demise of both sports is very true they aren't terminal and there are other agendas to consider as well like the stadium would be used for other activites and the overall social beneifits to the local community would be indeed very benefical!

I believe Ipswich speedway had a similar case a few years ago where a women complained about the speedway on a specific night when there wasn't any speedway that night! It beggars belief how pig ignorant some people are. I still remember the hugely successful Romford Bombers speedway (averaging 5000 crowds) shutting down in 1971 after losing a High court case brought against them by ONE guy who lived live by. Ironically this dreadful person moved soon after winning this case and cut of an avenue of pleasure for his son who was a Regular at Brooklands! Crazy! Think of the income 5000 average crowds was bringing to the area in terms of money spent in nearby outlets and jobs created on racenights. I'm still convinced that had Romford been allowed to continue, they'd of had a similar successful history to that of fellow early 70's Division 2 boom track Ipswich and would be a well established top flight track even now? Did Oxford ever have problems with NIMBY's? - If so it could be a problem if the speedways ever reinstated at the stadium?

Thought so! Would be nice to see Boston back in the NL as much as to bring the numbers up. Be even better if they found a site for a new track in Boston cause a Somerset like set up in the town would surely be viable at 3rd Division level! Hope your right and Rye House and Buxton will return to the NL cause the more tracks there is the better of the NL and British speedway in general will be!

Boston? Could they be contemplating a return to King's Lynn or do you mean Buxton?

The cynic in me suggests Plymouth were turned down to ensure the NL has enough teams in it to be viable?

Is this for real? Silly season has begun! Sheffield have always been in my opinion a top flight track and beings Sunday racedays weren't overly successful this season and things at Owlerton have got a bit stale of late, moving into the top flight on a Thursday makes sense! Kent have a decent stadium in an area that's got much interest for the sport so while I've got no doubt they could move in to the top flight on the right racenight, 6.30pm starts with a 2 hour time restriction makes things difficult? Berwick run sustainably at 2nd tier level on a Saturday night with a few local rivals in the same League. Surely Saturdays would be out of the question in the top flight and the loss of the meetings against local rivals would be financial suicide?

New Cross is the track on the once a jolly swagman film, doesn't look that big!

A great servant to speedway especially in the old 1970's National League where he was a top heatleader at times!

Very true Garry. I suspect there would of been a major rider shortage at the time if all riders taking recreational drugs were banned from riding! Feel sorry for Steve Payne if what Guglielmi says is true.

I subscribe and got my latest edition of Backtrack last week. Just read the Gary Gugliemi interview. Fascinating stuff cause while many people who followed speedway at that time knew about the drugs and Billy Sanders stuff, I'm not sure if Garys ever been interviewed about the story giving a more in depth look at things? Sounds crazy that he'd try to smuggle drugs in his engine and that the motorcycle authority repercussions in the aftermath were draconinan. I've never spoke to Gary Gugliemi but at the time my opinions of him were something of a wild, harum scareum racer who probably was the same of the track and not the most pleasant of people. The interview completely blows this personality analysis apart cause the guy sounds like a lovely thoughtful person who was probably naïve in his youth like we all are. A similar scenario I think exists with Michael Lee whereby people who've never met him will look at his life story and think he must be some really awful person. Like always Backtracks a great read!

Quite possibly as Barrow and Scunthorpe were really struggling at the time but the influx of 4 tracks who were in the BL in 1984 the year before led to a shortage of decent enough riders for all the teams, hence why these two small clubs with small budgets couldn't turn out a decent line up. Scunthorpe in fact weren't expelled like Barrow were, they pulled out due to low crowds turning them into a loss making venture. The present day NL suffered a similar fate a few years back when Eastbourne and Birmingham dropped down from the Elite League, combined with Cradleys presence which meant that these former big time clubs were a more attractive proporsition to riders which left the like of King's Lynn Young Stars and Buxton finding things very difficult. You say that Chris Roynon the Barrow promotor was told NL or nothing when he wanted to be open License only, which backs up my idea that a 3rd Division was needed at the time, which Barrow would of probably survived and maybe even thrived in? The previously mentioned Birmingham and Eastbourne would of been finished without the safety net of the 3rd tier in 2015. The 1995 to 96 one League amalgamation of the top 2 Divisions was a great idea apart from as you said the costing were done at the old 1st Division level rather than trying to reduce to somewhere closer to the old 2nd tier.

Yes your correct, but thrown out or closed down, end results the same! While a decent sized League is best in all sports, their is a limit and like I said in 1985 the NL was to big and two small clubs paid the price. Amazingly the '85 NL was all set to contain 22 teams but Boston Barracudas pulled out on the eve of the season. A Third Division would of probably helped to keep Scunny and Barrow going at the time. Unfortunately this lower Division didn't form until 1994. Another reminder that the current 3rd Division has to be retained!

The year the NL went to 21 teams was in 1985 but that soon reduced to 19 before the summer holidays after Scunthorpe Stags and Barrow Blackhawks closed. To many teams that season cause the likes of Eastbourne, Wimbledon, Poole and Exeter dropped down which made it harder for the lesser teams in the league to compete even more so with Barrow being out on a limb geographically. Other than that the post by Rob was spot on. The 80's in British speedway were much healthier times than present. I myself, much prefer a bigger League where you see a different team each week. Many people knock the large one League amalagamation of the top two Divisions in 1995- 96 but I enjoyed it for the variety, just a shame that the top riders weren't spread around more.

Agree totally Arch Stanton but from what I've seen the racing on the widened track is rarely any better than it was before 2010! That said in recent times Ipswich is now not inferior to King's Lynn in terms of the ability to overtake and produce good racing. It was for many years until the early 00's!