Chris116

I agree that Rye House is outside the M25 and TfL Travelcard areas but it was under £5 on the train for me from the boundary of Zone 6 and was an easy journey (District Line from Southfields to Edgware Road then Circle or H&C to Liverpool Street where I changed to Greater Anglia). I think the thing is that the loss of Rye House to bikes has made the recent loss of Wimbledon to cars even worse for me. I have followed both sports all my life although in the case of a clash the cars normally were my first choice (I missed the visit of Belle Vue to Rye House for what turned out to be the last meeting due to the Superstox being at Arlington that evening). The loss of Wimbledon gave me an added reason to go to Rye House as I just love oval racing, now I have neither and it looks like Perry Barr is going to be the easiest track to watch speedway at but will mean arriving home at 3am!

Opps, I had forgotten that. Means it is bikes or cars every Sunday which will work well for track preparation but rain offs could cause problems as the cars fixtures have been planned and advertised from February. The two sports will have to work together to ensure both sides are happy.

Perry Barr is a possibility although the 21.53 from Perry Barr with a change at B'ham New Street gets me back into Euston after 1am which with night buses being what they are will mean a 3am arrival home! Monmore Green would be more expensive and would also get me home around the same time. Going to have to do some careful thinking. Maybe have to be happy with one or two trips to each track during the year and hope I can get a lift to tracks like Kent and Arlington for a few meetings. Eight meetings at four different tracks would make for an interesting season and I could always add a trip to Isle of Wight for the Steam Railway and Speedway in one day for even more variety. Thanks for your suggestions. I have been spoilt for choice most of my life in London but that has ended and I have to get used to a new reality.

If I was a Sheffield Speedway fan I would be very concerned at running on Sundays as that will mean most meetings follow a Saturday evening Stock Car meeting and while I am a fan of both sports I do not think it good to have the bikes on a track that the cars have raced on under 24 hours earlier! Look at the problems they have had at both Mildenhall and Stoke in that respect. I suppose it is possible that the cars will only run on weekends that the bikes are not running a home meeting but that will take a fair amount of give and take by both sides which I can see being a potenial problem. The reason why both sports were so good at Coventry was that they always had plenty of time to prepare the track and in any case Brandon was a tarmac track with a few grains of shale on top for most car meetings.

Things may have changed but Arlington and Ipswich are around a mile away from a bus stop, that when I checked, did not have buses when the meetings finished! The only time I went to Foxhall Heath by train I landed up walking from the station to the track which took over an hour. When I did that I was about 25 and now I am 64 and have more sense (around the same time I walked from Ringwood to Matchams Park for a Stock Car meeting and vowed never to get caught out like that again, although these days I have to walk from Aldershot station to the Rushmore Arena which is nearly a half hour walk). A friend went to Kent last season and had to get a taxi to the track and then could not get a mobile phone signal to call for a taxi at the end of the meeting and had to walk which is nearly as bad as Foxhall Heath. I will have to check Perry Barr and Monmore Green out. Thanks for your comments, I may yet see some racing in 2019.

Yes, I know that but so depressed that I am getting upset about everything. Speedway and Stock Car racing have been my life and having retired they are no longer very easy to get to. Speedway due to a lack of tracks near London and Stock Cars due to being infested by Bangers that I hate. I really am going to have to consider getting a car but having not driven for fifteen years I am not sure it is a good idea. Totally depressed.

Thanks, I am depressed enough without being told it is my fault!

Arlington is at least 7 miles from Eastbourne and nowhere near a bus service that would be running at the time that the meeting finishes! Kent is the same problem and Sheffield is definitely too far to go due to cost although at least there would be a bus after the meeting but not sure what time the last train to London is. Rye House was my last chance so I can only pray for them to be running a National League team.

Very sad. If there is no racing at Rye House then my last speedway meeting was the penultimate meeting this year as I live in South London and use public transport. Poole would be the only other track I could do but it is very expensive now First have the rail franchise and they love their interval so much I always am worried I will have to miss the last race to catch the last train home to Wimbledon. When I brought up the problem of missing the train with their office they laughed at me and said that no-one with any sense would use the train so they went off my list of tracks two years ago.

Dear BSPA, I have watch speedway regularly since 1958 at Wimbledon, West Ham, New Cross, Hackney, Crayford, Romford, Rye House, Arena Essex and Skegness. I am now back living in London which maybe you have not noticed is the CAPITAL of both England and the UK. Without a car how do I support this wonderful sport? Yours One very upset former supporter, who would still be a supporter if there was a track in London.

Is this a leak of what really has been discussed or a vivid imagination?

Trouble is that even if you did buy the clubs you would not have a vote for three years and by that time your investment would be worth very little!

Huge congratulations on the award. If most clubs were run the way that you run on the Isle of Wight I am sure the sport would be in a much better state than it currently is. Keep up the good work and all the best for the future.

I would suggest a slick, well run meeting (Frank Ebdon as referee always used to help with the slick running of meetings!) in the league between April and August with September for Play-off meetings for the top teams in the league and a Trophy/Shield event for the teams not involved in the Play-offs. That way even teams who have a bad year can get some silverwear!

Over the years I have watched Wimbledon with Ronnie Moore when the locals thought it was a bad meeting if the visitors go within 10 points of the Dons! Provincial League racing at Hackney, plus racing in all three leagues over the last 30 years whatever they were called at the time. After 60 years of watching racing, in my opinion, it is not how good the riders are that in fact matters, it is that the teams are of similar standard. I would much prefer to watch a National League match that ends 46-44 than a Premiership match featuring the World Champion and another GP rider which ends 60-30. The advantage of lower division racing is that they make mistakes so there is often more overtaking and fewer from the gate processions. If the BSPA can get racing that is close with passing then whether the races take 55 seconds or 59 seconds will not matter as people will be enjoying the close racing and not be worried about who the riders are.

The above post in this thread gives a list of costs for entertainment. It misss out the cost of Stock Car, Banger and Hot Rod meetings which range from around £10 to £20 for normal meetings depending on which classes are racing and which stadium/promoter is involved. When I started watching both bikes and cars on stadium ovals in the late 50s and 60s the cost of going to cars and bikes was between 4/- and 7/6d (20p to 38p for those who don't remember proper money). The cost of top league football was also in a similar range but football admission prices have gone up more than oval racing due to the massive wage increases in football. I have purchased tickets to two matches at Fulham for myself and my wife this season. One game cost £55 for the two of us and the other £85. At Rye House this season it cost £18 for adults and £16 for over 60s so for two meetings for the two of us it would have totalled £64 while football has cost £140 which, for what I have seen so far this year makes speedway admission prices reasonable. I would love it to be cheaper but the costs of running or hiring a stadium plus insurance and staff make that unlikely. The riders are often blamed for wanting too much money for racing but how many of us would be prepared to take the risks they take in pursuit of making a living? From the end of World War Two until the mid 60s there was very little entertainment at home (two TV channels, four radio channels plus Luxembourg and the pirates), now we have goodness knows how many TV channels, a massive number of radio stations, videos, DVDs and internet. People have reduced how often they go out and become couch potatoes who except for football and firework displays very rarely go out and that has hit speedway and a number of other sports badly. I don't see how the promoters can beat the change in habits of most families but a little real promoting would help. Rye House had a large advertising board at the entrance with the date and time of the next meeting. When I arrived for meetings it normally showed the date of the previous meeting or was blank! I know there was limited passing traffic but what traffic there was did not get the message about the racing and would have thought that it had maybe closed months before it actually it. A bad case of not helping your own promotion! Those of us who the BSPA have not alienated need to start taking friends and do our best to encourage them to keep coming back, I know the BSPA make it hard to justify the sport being professional but we need to do our best if we are to be able to continue enjoying the racing we love.

Sadly the lack of Polish spectators is probably more to do with lack of publicity rather than lack of interest. That probably goes for potential spectators of all nationalities. The one track I visited this year regularly failed to have the right date of the next meeting on the sign outside the stadium!

Do we have to bring a torch to use for any floodlighting problems? So far both tracks involved have had a lighting failure and I have zero confidence for Wednesday to be any different.

With all the meetings that might need a coin tossed I fear the BSPA could need sponsorship for the cost of the coins!

I suspect they have come up with three options! Trouble is they can't agree on which excuse explanation to use. OPTION ONE - Lakeside were ahead so they should move forward to the final. PROBLEM is that rewards the team who failed to have a track that could stage the meeting fully! OPTION TWO - Peterborough go through as Lakeside have failed to provide a track that the meeting could be finished on. PROBLEM is that this means the side that was being beaten qualifies for the final! OPTION THREE - Rye House are awarded the win as they stopped both Peterborough and Lakeside from qualifying! PROBLEM is that Rye House were kicked out of one league and are not in the league they have now qualified for! The other alternative is to ask Workington who they would like to race against! Now that could be interesting.

This is a very unhappy situation but I do not understand why the rerun cannot be on a midweek date. The stadium was rented for a speedway meeting that could not be finished due to the stadium lighting failing so the owners should allow the rerun to take place rent free or the Lakeside promotion should sue them for a full refund of the rent plus the loss of income for the final. I supported Rye House but it appears that they not only cannot run a team, they also cannot provide a stadium for others to race at. BMR should not be allowed within a million miles of the sport ever again.

Run the KO Cups during April to July. The Leagues from April to August with Play Offs in September. Those teams not in the Play Offs race for a secondary trophy/shield. The leagues need to have at least 8 teams for it to work but this means even the bottom teams have something to race for in September and October would only be used by clubs who want to run events like the Ipswich 16 lapper and Wolverhampton Olympique.

Ronnie Moore with his red scarf flying behind him much to the annoyance of some of the referees, Peter Craven and Soran Sujostian (I know, the spelling is wrong!) with their balance style were the most easily recognised in the days of black leathers.

Sadly the weather could mean this meeting is postponed. The start time has been moved to 5pm in the hope that the weather improves during the day. Good luck to both teams with a safe, exciting meeting.

As a youngster I was by the pits at Wimbledon one evening when Teo was racing and at the end of the meeting he came over to a small group of kids and gave each of us one of his flick off visors. Tragically he had his accident a month or so later and I treasured that visor until it vanished in a house move in the mid 90's. I still very much regret that I lost it as and have never forgotten Teo and his kind and friendly nature.