Chris116

One of the biggest problems is that the last few seasons we have suffered a mad dash at the end of the season to complete fixtures before the cut off. The cut off also can mean that teams finish their season far too early (witness Sheffield this season). To get around the problem I sould suggest running the league until the middle of September which then leaves six weeks to stage the playoffs. The League Cup would only be open to those teams not in the Playoffs and would ensure that all teams have meaningful meetings to at least the middle of October. This can happen as part of one big PL/CL or with the two leagues run much as they have this last season. If we do have one big league then I would think that it should be run with North and South divisions and if 18 teams are involved them 2 Home and Away meetings between those teams in the same division and 1 Home and Away for those in the other division. That gives 16 Home meetings within your division and 9 Home meetings against those of the other division. Mid March to Mid September is 25 weeks so teams could run weekly. All fixtures would be fixed at the start of the season and a Rain-off would be 1 point for each team with no rearranged dates. If the league is run on this basis then I would drop the KO Cup as it would make for too many meetings in the season.

I enjoy car and bike racing but having been to both on circuits and ovals would always choose Stock Cars and Speedway over anything the places like Brands Hatch and Silverstone can dish up. The fact that on an Oval you can see all of the race but on a circuit the race flashes past every however long they take to do a lap is a big factor for me.

It is interesting that Lakeside are giving the Peterborough fans a chance to pay for only one meeting but not accepting the Newcastle fans rain-off tickets. The simple thing would have been to run the meetings in the other order but that would have meant a late finish before a long journey for Newcastle fans and left the Peterborough fans forced to watch a meeting they probably have no interest in. Of course, better fixture planning that stops double headers being needed would solve the problem!

I think the cut off is two weeks before the KO Cup date so looks like they need to get a move on.

Lakeside are advertising the KO Cup against Peterborough on Saturday 29th September and Rolling Thunder Show are also advertising a meeting on the same evening. One of them will have to be either moved to another track or the date changed.

The Rolling Thunder Show, car racing, has a fixture for Ninja Sprints Southern Championship, Stock Rods, Superstox, Junior Hot Rods, RTS Hot Rods, Euro Rods and Thunder Cars which could be interesting or could point to the speedway not being at Arena Essex!

Wimbledon had an electric scoreboard in the 60's and 70's until the GRA started to destroy everything in the stadium so they could close it. The scoreboard was used for dog meetings for the tote betting and for speedway and stock car meetings for results.

At least one season in the early 1960s had handicap racing in the league. The sight of Ronnie Moore going from 30 yards and still being in the lead at Plough Lane is forever etched on my brain. Second half races were often five rider, handicap events and great fun for the spectators although the riders may have been less keen about the idea.

Sadly one factor in the decline of Speedway is that the younger generation think an evenings entertainment consists of watching TV, playing video games or chatting on social media. Many people only "go out" when they go to work or for weddings and funerals. Many have stopped going to the pub because it is a ten minute walk and they can't take the car. It is that sort of mentality that many sports like Speedway are fighting. Added to that is the very short attention span of many younger people and sport in general has a problem.

I was lucky enough that my parents moved to near Wimbledon Stadium in 1957 and immediately started going there for Speedway. Ronnie was very soon my hero and I saw him win the World Final at Wembley in 1959. As many have already said he could team ride superbly and from a 30 yard handicap was regularly in the lead by the back straight in five rider handicap races. After Peter Craven, my mother's favourite rider, was killed and Ronnie broke his leg and retired my family lost our love of Speedway and only went Stock Car racing for a time but we're soon back watching the bikes and when Ronnie returned I was in seventh heaven, even though he was never quite as dominant as he had been before his time away. I got to know him and he was as nice a person as he was a great rider. It is a very sad reflection on the sport in this country that both the BSPA and SCB websites have ignored this news. (Good to see that the BSPA and SCB caught up with the sad news on Monday.) RIP Ronnie, you will not be forgotten.

I believe football fixtures are dictated by the authorities, not by clubs making agreements between each other. If the SGB Premiership continues with fixed race nights then the simple way to solve future fixture problems would be for teams to have to declare any dates they are not available at the start of the season. Clubs would then be given the dates of their fixtures. Two home meetings a month with a third date each month for any rain offs. If a meeting is rained off then it is automatically moved to the next rain off date at the track that the away team are not racing on. Two teams my by mutual agreement move a fixture by a maximum of three weeks either before or after the planned date but this must be announced at least six weeks before the original date so that fans can plan their travel arrangements without the worry of last minute changes except those caused by the weather. Plan all fixtures to be completed by the end of August with the first two weeks in September kept clear to run any rained off fixtures. The Play offs could then be run over the following four weeks. If we have Monday and Wednesday as fixed race nights then all play off matches would be on Wednesday with the following Monday as the rain off date. All the BSPA need to do is to ask the Football League if they can use the computer program which football use to generate their fixture list.

I note they could still have an interval to up the bar takings but then one race later call it off. That sort of antic is why I stopped travelling from Wimbledon to Poole by train and will take a lot of convincing to ever go back.

Most speedway fans are probably not aware that Arena Essex is the home of TWO stock car/hot rod/banger promotions. Having been a lifelong follower of both sports and having worked for Chick Woodroffe please let me explain. Chick opened the track under his Promotasport banner as part of the then thriving P. R. I. organisation. He then started the Speedway. The Promotasport racing is held on Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday afternoons. For the last few years there has also been the Rolling Thunder Show events run by Vincent O'Connor on Saturday evenings. RTS do not run Bangers but Vince is a former Promotasport driver in both Stock Cars and Hot Rods and I think still races in Sprint Cars. Promotasport may be finished and the Woodroffe family moving out but I suspect RTS would be as keen as Lakeside Hammers to continue and they might want to move to Sunday afternoons although I have no way of knowing if that is true.

I fully understand that the stadium is owned by BMR, who may not be happy with another promotion running the Speedway, but at least they would then be getting some rental income. Is anything taking place at present? If not BMR have an expensive white elephant on their hand so rental income or selling up may be attractive to them.

So here we are on August 7th. Rye House were removed from the Premiership over a month ago on July 4th and made a statement on July 5th which read as follows "Firstly, we would like to thank all our supporters, dedicated staff and volunteers for their hard work and continued support throughout the season.It is with great regret that the Rye House Rockets have been forced from the Premiership league following the cancellation of the meeting at home against Swindon on 27th June 2018 by the BSPA.Our proposal to the BSPA securing the future of the Rye House Rockets was categorically rejected.We would like to clarify that BMR Speedway Limited continues to operate and remains committed to seeing Speedway as a major part of the future at Rye House Stadium.The future sees Speedway continuing at Rye House for the remainder of the season and forward into 2019. Updates will be provided on our website: www.ryehouserockets.co. " Since that statement all there has been is total silence from the promotion. Does anyone else think we have seen the last of BMR Rockets and IF there is racing next season it will be a new promotion?

Many of the ideas that have appeared above are workable and would improve the meeting for the new customers as well as those of us who have been watching for over 60 years (in my case 64 years in September). I do not like the idea of three lap races although I understand why the idea was put forward. In fact I think all races should be over a similar distance so small tracks like Mildenhall would run five laps. Four laps on a 400 metre track is a 1600 metre race and for small tracks you run the race over the number of laps that gets as close but not over that distance. 300 metre track would be 5 x 300 = 1500, 230 metre track would be 6 x 230 = 1380. The idea may need working on but I hope you get the idea. Tarmac or concrete start areas worked well in the 1960's as I remember it so I think they should make a swift comeback. Running two matches in an evening was something I had not thought of but with 13 heat matches and running alternate heats from the two matches would guarantee that a rider never had two races on the trot. I would suggest that the second match should be of National League/Development League standard. Get referees to use the 2 minute warning like Frank Ebdon used to when a storm was threatened. I can remember one meeting at Arena Essex where storms were all around the track but Frank had the two minute warning for the next race sounding as the last rider left the track for every race. Meeting started at 8pm and by 9.15pm I was in my car on my way home in a massive thunderstorm. 15 races done in under 75 minutes and as I left I heard lots of fans saying that they wished a storm was threatened every week!

Interesting that the Lakeside website and the BSPA website both say Nick Morris is riding but the Ipswich website says he is R/R. Be interesting to see who is correct.

Excitement does not pass the Risk Assessment these days so they can't allow any of that! So glad that I am 64 and have seen some wonderful Speedway and Stock Car meetings at Arena Essex, Wimbledon, West Ham, New Cross, Crayford, Wembley and a host of other tracks.

Eleven teams in the Championship but only ten in the Pairs. How did they decide which team was left out?

Are all stadia now fitted with revolving doors on the pits? The way things are going they should be.

Can we please have a rule that says the rules can only be changed at the AGM? Or would that be too difficult for the BSPA to understand?

When the Rye House v Leicester meeting was called off after eight races had been completed due to rain Adults and Seniors were given £4 off and we were told by Rye House that the tickets would get the £4 off at any meeting this season. It was explained on the Rye House website and I paste that below:- The “BP Mitchell” Rockets have confirmed details of the re-admission discounts for supporters following the abandonment of last night’s home fixture against Leicester.Because the match was abandoned prior to the completion of Heat 10, fans are entitled to reduced admission at any one future meeting this season (or next) at Rye House. The reduction is based on a combination of the admission price paid at last night’s match and the heat at which the match was abandoned. Given that eight of the minimum ten races were completed, there will be a minimum 20% discount available - with all discount values rounded up to the nearest pound. The applicable discounts are therefore: Adults £4.00, Seniors £4.00, Disabled £3.00, Students £2.00 and Children (12-16) £2.00.Discount for the meeting of a supporter’s choice will only apply on the production of the admission ticket from last night’s meeting. Please note that this offer excludes any “shared events”, where Rye House is a neutral staging club, that may take place over this period.

I have been to every Rye House home meeting this year except the last one. The sign outside the stadium has space for the date and time of the next meeting but it has only been correct on one occasion. It may not add many to the crowd by having it right but it could mean some who planned to go would see it and then miss a meeting. It is little things like this that can be the last straw and if a promotion cannot do the little things then you have to worry at the bigger things. A very sad situation which with the lack of any news leaves me with a problem! I have turned down going to other events on nights when Rye House are racing. Do I now change that and then risk missing the planned meetings if they run or do I wait, only to find that there never was much chance of racing again this year but I have left it too late for the other events.

I have been at every meeting except last Wednesday and sadly apart from the first Bank Holiday Monday the crowds have been poor. The first Bank Holiday Monday was a good crowd but due to the high afternoon temperatures the track needed watering which meant the meeting dragged a little, which is not a criticism of the promotion, as they did the best possible job. The biggest problem is that it appears to be a one line track which is as close to the fence as a rider dares to go which limits overtaking chances. Although we have seen some very good races we had too many which are over by the end of the first lap.

Providing you did not try to use the toilets! I never saw speedway at Long Eaton but it was an excellent stock car track.