MajorMauger

First of all, very sad to see the epitomy of NL racing Buxton pull out. Understand the reasons, but sad that more couldn't have been done to keep the Hitmen in League racing from the BSPA cause afterall the place has much more scope for practice opportunities than most other tracks in the Country. I hope the lack of League racing there doesn't have a negative effect on its practice activities? As for lowering the points limit, its not natural for a League reducing in numbers to have a lower points limit. Indeed a smaller League should have a higher points to account for the riders left on the shelf by the reduction of teams. While one of the National Leagues main objectives is as a development League, you still need a certain standard to make it viable for teams to attract a paying crowd in. Yes there are journeymen, but these riders can help young riders and like I was touching on above, a team full of wobblers won't attract a crowd. The junior Leagues below the National League serve the purpose of "blooding" novice riders of whom the better ones will progress higher. Without the 3rd tier Birmingham, Eastbourne, Mildenhall, Stoke, Cradley and others in the past would of closed, and others wouldn't of contemplated opening up. So this aspect of an affordable League for tracks to come down to in hard times/new tracks to start up in shouldn't be overlooked.

I'm more concerned with Peterborough getting viable crowds on a Monday or a Thursday night. Something which has been an issue in the past.

Exactly what I've been saying in the last few weeks! While not the reason for every club, a lot of the problem is the cut of dates to finish your clubs League fixtures. This is cause many clubs including my local track Ipswich, hold back on staging to many meetings before the 6 week School summer holidays because this period is the time when they attract their biggest crowds, so not staging a home meeting during one of these 6 weeks is not a good financial move. This means that the cut of dates which are normally a week or two after the summer holidays makes things tight and you then get the financial suicide situation of clubs staging more than one home meeting in a week which many fans struggle with in terms of money and/or other commitments! Another reason is the riders unwillingness to ride on a surface that isn't 100%, the Craig Cook led, riders refusal to ride in the Ipswich V Glasgow fixture in August being a prime example. Chris Louis was right in saying that in his day that meeting would of taken place!

Simmo rode speedway from 1963-87 then in 89 and 93. He won the World pairs, was it 3 times in a row? World team cup winner multiple times and came 2nd in the individual World Championships. He was also a team manager, track curator, promotor, quality grasstrack rider, done other motorcycle racing disciplines and had very interesting/insightful opinions on the sport! His longevity, at his best, World class ability combined with his interesting character in my opinion makes him a legend!

Great entertainer and servant to speedway for a lot of years! Surely deserves a 25 year farewell meeting!

Two things that spring to mind when thinking of Simmo is, wonderfully talented rider, dodgy wideboy character!

Scotty Nicholls started junior grasstrack in the mid 80's and was riding after the meeting at Ipswich around 87/88! Jon Armstrong would of probably started around the same time I reckon! Paul Hurry the same again!

One of the greatest riders I've ever seen in my lengthy speedway watching time! Although he obviously done very well in speedway if Ronnie Moore would of had Ivan Maugers dedication and professionalism he'd of eclipsed Maugers achievements!

The 3rd Division in its many guises has survived since 1994, even in 1995 and 96 when it became the 2nd tier because the usual top 2 Leagues amalgamated and in 1998 when the League membership dropped to 5 tracks! The trouble in recent years has been the inclusion of ex top flight clubs that have had the extra clout to outcompete against the more grassroots clubs in the Division. But without the 3rd tier, these ex top flight clubs would have folded and indeed all of the others wouldn't be running. The ex top flight clubs, Birmingham, Eastbourne and Coventry need competitive teams in order to attract viable crowds. My local NL team Mildenhall are in the same boat as well cause you'd lose half the regular crowd at West Row with a poor team. Plymouth and IoW struggle to attract riders because of their locations and Buxton is run on a shoe string budget so lose potential riders to wealthier clubs. Kent are competitive and viable, Belle Vue are the only remaining "reserve team" from a higher League track left in the NL and seem to do OK. Stoke with its middle of the Country location, decent shaped track and Saturday race night should be in a good position to be highly competitive but the dreadfully poor way its run means that's not the case and that place has been in sharp decline ever since they left the 2nd tier which was before the above mentioned 3 ex top flight clubs dropped down. Another concern of mine is the lack of 2nd half's at many tracks which results in less opportunities for riders trying to make their way! Whilst we are in tricky times (when hasn't British speedway been in tricky times in the last 36 years?) I'm sure the bottom Division will continue to exist!

Bob Dugard made a massive contribution to speedway over the years like the Dugard family overall! Without him speedway would of finished at Eastbourne a long time ago!

I don't doubt for 1 second that Tony had immense pressure on him because of his fathers success and never said otherwise in my post! Still say he was given more chances than others would have been given!

Tony Briggs had ability and I think could of made a decent League rider but I feel he was a bit over rated and given opportunities others at the same level wouldn't have done cause of his father!

I think it may have been a grasstrack meeting on the old County Ground track, hence why it was called "speedtrack"? If it was the case then I'm sure theres guys/gals around that rode in it if it did take place?

The Groveway struggled on for 10 years until 1988. The Groveway lasted until the late 90's I think? Had Milton Keyenes speedway been viable there they'd of stayed on there after 1988. When you delve into it, it was amazing they lasted 10 years there given it struggled for most of them 10 years! Hopefully speedway will return to Brafield and it will hold its own, in the NL!

Yes your right the Brummies closed in 1984 cause they lost their home the old Perry Bar greyhound track and yes they were very viable there! I'm referring to their 2 season 2nd Division spell at Bordesley Green in 1985-86, a venue that would have been better suited to 3rd Division racing. Had Bordesley Green been viable they'd of lasted longer than 2 seasons there and in fact would likely still be there now cause the track and stadium still exists!

Mildenhalls small but rides like a big track cause you don't have turn the bike so hard. As an East Anglian I prefer watching speedway at Mildenhall than both Ipswich and King's Lynn! Eastbourne is a trick track cause you have to turn your bike hard and can't drift to wide cause you son run out of room. This gives a big advantage in the NL with inexperienced riders who find turning hard while trying to go fast often difficult!

Milton Keynes got a few decent crowds in 1978 when they first opened but from then until 1992 it was an uphill struggle with mainly below breakeven crowds. Had it not been for the old Eldfield Park training track being nearby, Milton Keynes speedway would of probably finished in 1988 when they left their original home at the Groveway stadium. The Exeter promotion were the last lot to try and make a go of Milton Keynes speedway and that resulted in the final closure in mid 1992 and caused Exeter problems like having to ofload No 1 Tony Olsson to Ipswich in order to balance the books! That said Milton Keynes is one of a handful of struggling early 80's teams (which also include Boston, Birmingham, Scunthorpe, Workington, Barrow, Ellesmere Port) who could of done with a 3rd Division being formed in the early 80's which could of prevented their demise much in the same way that mostof the current NL teams owe their continued existence to the 3rd tier. I'm sure training tracks like Iwade and Felton at the time could of also ran in a 3rd Division together with the above tracks, reserve teams from higher League outfits and other possible new tracks tempted by a lower cost League to make a decent sized 3rd Division. There certainly was enough riders about in them days. 1992's a long time ago now so I think a Northampton "Knights" National League team at Brafield could be viable. But I think for any new tracks coming into the NL, especially in areas where speedway struggled to create a foothold previously some of the current NL big guns like Birmingham (should be in the 2nd Division), Coventry, Cradley (both Coventry and Cradley wouldn't be in the NL if they had their own stadiums), Kent (I feel Kent have gone stale in the NL and would create more local interest by moving into the Championship)and Eastbourne (again like Kent would create more interest by moving up) would have to go into a more suitable higher Division.

I hope Stoke speedway sorts itself out cause it is on the slippery slope to oblivion how things are being run at the moment. No one wants to see Stoke speedway close as much as we don't want to see a rider getting seriously maimed for life or worse so changes are needed! A properly run Stoke speedway with money spent on improving the facilities could be viable at 2nd tier level cause many of the stay away fans would return! This will only happen when a different promotion to the current Dave Tattum set up is running the Potters!

Kelvin Mullarky was one of the great characters of British speedway of the 1970's and 80's! His confrontational, loud, aggressive personality which was a bit of a front cause Kelvin wasn't really like that, often overshadowed the fact he was a decent speedway rider! I always felt he could have established himself as a middle order top flight rider had he wanted to but Kelvin seemed happy to be a bigger fish in the National League where his antics would be more appreciated! Got to be one of Rye House Rockets greatest ever riders! I recall him coming out of retirement after initially finishing at Rye after the 1985 season, at Mildenhall then back at Rye House again in the late 80's and did he make a few appearances for Rye House in 1990? Kelvin had to of been one of the last riders in the top 2 Leagues that wore the old style 1970's grey monkey mask?

A shale track would surely increase the chances of speedway returning to Brafield?

Good luck Brett Saunders! An exciting, all action rider as I remember! One of the few riders I've seen hit the stock car fence at Ipswich on the 1st bend, back in 1989/90 in the Witches National League (1970's/-1990 2nd Division NL version!) days after going through the collapsible wooden fence on the inside speedway fence. I believe he hurt himself badly in that one and had to have an organ removed.

One, if not the greatest rider speedway has ever seen! Not the most naturally talented but his desire, commitment, work ethic and overall attitude was far, far superior to anyone elses! Todays ultra professionalism was started by Ivan Mauger!

Its a difficult question to answer! Last season I felt their were to many matches in the 2nd Division especially when riding teams twice at home and away. The novelty of seeing teams twice over wears of. It OK in a big League where you see most teams only once. Anyway most tracks don't run individual or challenge matches nowadays because people don't support them. At Ipswich which I suspect must be in the top 5-6 best supported tracks in the Country, they used to run the Star of Anglia and 16 lapper individuals as well as challenge matches but don't do any now. Look abroad, where in Sweden they run less meetings but get bigger crowds. In Poland again they have less meetings and much bigger crowds. Even in Poland which is the best attended speedway nation in the World, non League meetings aren't well attended! On the weather question, this spring so far has been horrendous weather wise and running substandard meetings in poor conditions aren't good for the sport because those attending get wet and fed up while many most don't bother attending at all!

Interesting photos! What became of the speedway track in Leningrad?

Great response thought not at all surprising! Trouble is we've been here before at Cradley where despite near total opposition to the redevelopment plans eventually the developers win the fight unfortunately! Not holding much hope but you never know!