HGould

He's allegedly if you put together all of his articles and comments on Speedway Star spent in the region of 200k. No stadium or land to show for it, no trophies, lost money almost every meeting he's staged and totally in the lap of landlords in terms of future. Not his fault sums up the sport. If he goes PL even with TV money probably need another 100k. Thought the gate, sponsorship or investment. He said he needed 1000 to break even in CL what would PL be.. 1500? Thats 1000 more than most weeks now.

You have to live in the West Midlands I guess to appreciate just how long, tedious and often impossible it would be for the majority of Wolves fans to get to Perry Barr on a mOnday night after work for 7.30pm. I'd guess that the majority of the Wolves support would come from parts of the Black Country that would require a tortuous drive down The Black Country Route or the old Birmingham New Road to get to the Great Barr Area and meaning that the slightest issue on the M5/M6 interchange there would create enough traffic chaos to put them completely off. I'd argu that if Brummies do want to pull in Wolves fans the best option would be on a weekend (which doesn't seem to tie in with PB being available). Its one thing for an Away fan to have a day or afternoon off and try to get to PB, completely different to face that torture week after week. I'd assess Wolves average is 2.5 - 3x that of Brummies so can't see how Brummies can be financually viable in the PL as a few have pointed out.

Monday night is logical If it suits the Dogs people on a few other counts. It was traditionally a Home night at the old PB before Wolves took it. It would possibly attract Wolves fans on a night they are used to going to Speedway and some Cradley fans too. Edited to reflect news re PL

At 10am they definitely said something about Wimborne Road (hence my ears pricked) Literally just they have mentioned Parkstone Road and a Roundabout and said its blocking major routes in and around Poole (obv I don't have local knowledge). It didn't clarify what had caused it either just said major incident.

According to Radio 2 Travel Wimborne Road specifically in Poole is closed due to a serious Police incident. Hopefully it's sorted by tonight for all involved

Fairly common knowledge around both Villa and Blues. Villa were awaiting planning approval and some funding to extend 2 Stands for when UK bids for World Cup Soccer. We're now worried on 2 counts (1) Ciry Council now under Government Commissioners (2) Blues new Owners plans would make that new Stadium the prime West Midlands site. The news also from Piotr about the RL Club moving from Athletics Training Track to main Alexander and Athletics second track possibly being used for Speedway also ties in with 2 things (1) The New City of Birmingham Stadium would have an Athletics Training Track (as I mentioned) and (2) it ties in with a comment from Phil Morris that "a completely new venue for Speedway could be opening" - although 2024 seems optimistic.

Hope they find somewhere but in over 25 years hard to think of anywhere that's not already been spotted and turned down Unless Councils keener to asset strip and sell than they were.

Thats the one I was referring to. Didn't realise it was so close to Newport and presumably within an hour of Cardiff

Wasn't there plans for Weston Super-Mare? - although seems that got ditched in the winter and again discussed last week? Some noise re Cradley but can't think of many current venues not explored in Dudley / Sandwell Boroughs...a few athletics stadia but all surrounded by houses Some noise from Brummies re Alexander Stadium site Some active afforts in Eastbourne Area with Arlington apparently no longer available Braefield as mentioned has been shaled and would cover Coventry / Peterborough corridor albeit not exactly accessible Dog Track has opened in South Wales (only one in Wales now but seems a bit remote and not sure about crowd pulling potential) Could he mean a possible SGP venue somewhere in a current Footy stadium? - a few have staged Super X type Events??...

Ablitt is a trojan horse

Oh that is sad news... Banter is banter but not under these circumstances. I'll remove post and commiserations to all family

I predict a controversy about an oversized Polish engine. They can't be cooking up the same scam 2 years running. Rob will be on the ball. No 600s at Scunny.

It's staggering really that a conurbation of the size of BCP can't sustain a soccer match at a ground whose capacity is lower than most 4th tier league grounds and at a second tier speedway venue on the same night? Clearly something going wrong

NATS at Bournemouth confirm Sunak and Braverman Helicopter due to land 1pm Tuesday. Coming to measure Centre Green and Track for suitability to Dry Dock Biffy Stockholm for the winter

Saturdays would surely bring in more kids, more families and more lapsed SW speedway fans from Cornwall and Somerset more often than Tuesdays or Fridays. I think the Polish argument is a red herring, MORE riders don't ride in Poland than those who do. I don't think clashes with SGP should affect Saturdays too much. You'd lose more on Tuesday than you wiujd on a Saturday clash with GP. The core support could record, the floating support wouldn't be watching SGP anyway Good crowds watch winning teams. Plymouth have been in CL for 3 seasons. It's a unique track an outlier. Employ or ask someone with a statistical mind to identify track specialists. Aim to win at home first and foremost. If you win by enough you pick up bonus point. Workington won CL in 2018 with 6 riders between 7.5 and 6 piin average. Track specialists in other words. The recipe is simple Saturdays, don't worry about GPs, identify track specialists, budget to have a solid home centric team and be firm with home fixture planning when it suits home team Focus on May to mid August to attract any footy fans. Big sponsors are hard to find, 10 medium ones less so. 50 small ones easier still Be great to see Plymouth back BTW. I'd be on the blower to Barker Pearson, Keleher for starters.

Sad to read news that Peter has passed away. Highly respected around the West Midlands Tracks over many years. A pioneer and long time Co Ordinator of the 3td Tier NDL which grew and produced many fine Riders under his period in Office. A lovely gentleman to talk to as well. Thoughts with his family and friends.

Aone way ticket to Togliatti may be appropriate. I'm sure they could use a track raker

If you study Ukrainian history it has deeply fascist undertones that are still there in the military The guy in charge is something of a puppet. He's not a politician. At any time he could vanish and be replaced by military hardliners. Putin is an utter thug but there are plenty of equally reprehensible thugs in the background in Ukraine and across that Region. What Ukraine now has is a huge amount of western hardware, god forbid some of the extremists currently in the shadows there get their hands on it. The cult of Boris and Zelensky may not be a laughing matter if it all goes ** up. Anyway back to speedway, if we welcomed the Russians under Stalin, Kruschev, Breshnev etc, which we did, I can't find any reason why we should not welcome them now with open arms.

Read some history you pillock and not the Daily Mail. The 3 Russians riding in UK have no affiliation to Putin, have taken Polish licences and deserve to be welcomed here. Not everyone in taken in by the puppet in Kyiv.

I'm appalled that the British Government, more factually the Conservative Party have received tens of millions in Russian bung money directly from Putin and his cronies. Worse still enobled an oligarch son of an ex KGB Official. As for Vlad, Emil and Artem, let us enjoy them while we can. They have done nothing wrong

Terrible news to wake up to. Last time I saw him was on his Harley leading the parade with about 50 Harley at Shield Final at Eastbourne v Leicester just before Covid break season. Stopped and had a chat after the meeting and looked like he'd never stopped racing. Don't think he ever got due credit for runner up in 78 World Final as everyone sympathised with Jessup. GK had beaten Olsen on the night from memory. His best League again didn't get due credit was White City 77,he bore brunt of RR rides all season and showed he could ride big tracks as well as small. Always scored big at the old PB remember him and Niemi scoring all the points between them almost in one Eastbourne win at PB when we just couldn't seem to get a race winner. Above all that though its clear he was a top man, humble and widely respected.

VT signing for Glasgow will really upset the applecart in its own right. Side benefit clearly will be Brennan riding at 2 (or 4 presumably) and clearing up a lot of pressure on the lad which he hasn't always handled well. One of those anomolies where he'll ride like a second string as a Heat Leader but ride like a Heat Leader as a second string - often its in the head but can be crucial.

No I wasn't there. Holidaying in Ireland.

Interesting news I've been told by an ex City Councillor about Wheels Site which may indirectly help Brummies in longer term possibly. He believes that the 40acre Wheels site has been given to the new American Owners of Birmingham City Fc in exchange for the much smaller St Andrews site. There are a number of caveats, not the least that the new owners will take over the decontamination of Wheels a massive task likely to take 12 months and cost tens of millions. The new Owners will then build a City of Birmingham Stadium owned by the football club holding 62000 in 3 tiers. The top tier of 17000 will be cleverly hidden behind marketing banners to be opened for major events and it will have a retractable roof and drop in football pitch The aim is for multi sports including athletics, American football, stadium motor sport and concerts etc Associated facilities will include full soccer training facilities and pitches and a 400 metre training athletic track needed for major events. All funded by American Venture Capital. It will link with a massive new Movie Film and TV studio being built on the East Side by Stephen Knight of Peaky Blinders Fame. Hollywood Style facilities. The arrival and investment of Tom Brady NFL legend suggests a serious rival for London for an NFL franchise. Definitely a possible speedway GP venue of the future adjacent to HS2. The existing St Andrews site will pass to Council to develop for housing raising much needed funds. Apparently already all agreed and rubber stamped as part of BCFC takeover and signed off by City Council and Mayor Street. Brummies wise it may give access to Alexander Stadium if and when Birch field Harriers locate to the new smaller state of the art Athletics track. They (BCFC) have also bought the very modern Wasps Rugby Union training facility and moved in there. Alexander Stadium may therefore be available ultimately for other sports but timescale is 3 to 5 years. One final interesting correlation is Gary Cook who orchestrated Man City move to Etihad after it was transformed and start of their massive rise has been installed as their CEO with Brady working as a global ambassador. Win for the Council who rid themselves of a contaminated eyesore that was Wheels. Glimmer of hope though for Speedway to move to Alexander Stadium