singy13

Cheers for that excellent post....I'm puzzled re Greyhound racing because whenever I've watched it on SKY there seems to be more dogs than fans?

Obviously you're taking the p regarding a serious professional sport. Can you, or any other forum poster, remember when speedway was classed as the second most popular UK sport? (after football). I'm not taking the p but maybe my old memory bank is letting me down?

Brilliant post enjoyed reading that- don't forget we've lost Woolworths.☹️

The general opinion on here is that speedway is doomed unless a sugar daddy of some sort saves the day .. come on 'arry. Sadly Speedway is to lose TV coverage. But already lost ,down the years, are media outlets from where you could access speedway results, yes TV sports channels, Ceefax, Radio Two sports round up at 10pm.Local tv news, newspapers. All now ignore speedway as a much loved sport, well I love it!!.. But hang on there is a sister/brother track related sport who suffer the same total media ignorance but I don't see there promoters seeking urgent help. I'm talking about stock cars - stox invariably have bigger crowds than speedway don't they? But they are not on last knockings as some say about speedway, so why are the stox more popular UK wide? Do the 'drivers' earn as much as speedway riders? Can speedway somehow join forces with the stox i.e. shared meetings on shale surfaces, probably 5 man speedway.. Just my thoughts on getting speedway a cash flow to keep the flag flying.

Is Peter Adams still involved with speedway? Not seen his acerbic interviews on TV for a while - he was very entertaining.

Ian Thomas was a top promoter and a magician (He really was). There's the great Derwent Park story regarding when an official came to measure the track width prior to granting Comets a licence. Ian was worried about this and when they held the tape between them Ian had unknowingly wrapped a fair length around a covered wrist. The guy at the other send shouted "that's Ok Ian" and the magician had pulled off another of his many tricks.🤣...Top top promoter.

Attendance figures are never given to the public (apart from play off finals ?) so how do you know these secretive numbers? Obviously the sport is in a big decline!

Andrew.....Speedway returned to Workington in 1999........not 1990 !!!

Used to love the weekenders following the Comets to Canterbury and Eastbourne. Maybe Poole and Plymouth will be as enjoyable?

Yeah too many people barking up the wrong tree on here.............

Yes so the UK did have a big Empire then with plenty of possible riders.... just that bikes were harder to find.

Was anything revealed regarding the 2026 league set up, i.e. one or two divisions or was that subject taboo ?

Sounds like a name for most speedway promoters !!!!!

With Santa gonna be quite worried about the March 'rain dear'.......

mmmmm...errrrrrr!

Or nuts ????

And their jockeys of course !!!!!

If he's done 40 meetings during a season isn't that at least one per week? (of a speedway season) You say you like more- but speedway doesn't do 52 weeks of the year, there's always an off season - like such as now!!!!

Way back there was always a table near starting gate with a phone on it - a link to contact the referee. And on a regular basis, following something happening in a race, an upset rider (often plus promoter)would march angrily from the pits to use the phone to vent this anger. The crowds loved this and added to the call for a refs action - although a ref never changed his decision. But it made the crowd more involved in racing action. I presume though it was stopped because referees were given too much grief? So as you say nowadays everyone seems too nice, but it was fun while it lasted for sure.

I dread to think what attendances would have been like at Belle Vue if none of the efforts listed above had taken place?

Don't expect there's that many UK seasons left.

Correct !!!!!!!

But people don't go to the dogs - they bet online, or use their nearest bookies. And it's a bit different having a word in a dogs ear as to instructing a speedway rider how to win, or lose, a race isn't it?

Bringing gambling to speedway is another way to dilute Joe Publics interest in the sport. Currently it is in the main an honest and dedicated sport. Put bets on races and I see countless engine failures, or tape exclusions, 2 mins exclusions etc. etc. Please no gambling for speedway.

So for instance Belle Vue (with Bewley/Kurtz..) v Sparta Wroclaw on a Friday (away team with cover for guess who). Then on Sunday Sparta Wroclaw (with Bewley/Kurtz) v Belle Vue............just my thoughts sorry - lol.