Diamonds85

Hope Ben Barker gets a run out, seems close to the club and has basically signed for them next season already... Nice to see a Diamond riding in an actually competitive team too...

Sounds like someone needs to be having a little whisper in Grantys ear I dunno whether hed be interested or whether hes just totally sick now... but sounds like the south shields council would be prepared to help out a lot? Just need to basics of a speedway track built now... are there already toilets etc on the site? Put it this way... I'm looking at a house in south shields... if the diamonds moves there, thered be no question at all I'd be moving there Come on Granty, this is your breakthrough!! All of these entertainments that Rob was saying hed put in place would surely prove popular for the council?

Newcastle is decent for viewing? Or at least where I stand... Birmingham is awful and Leicester isn't the worst but wasnt the best yesterday, I didn't manage to get a spot at the front so had to view through peoples heads on the first bend and was getting shaled quite a lot, which doesn't happen at newcastle

Haha really? Yous need to get yourselves to Redcar or Plymouth then Honestly the racing wasn't terrible, but it wasn't brilliant either, one of my favourite stadiums though for sure

I don't mind getting covered haha, just like to know before hand what to expect... All part of the fun, I did once at Redcar get a bit of shale under one of my eyelids, which kinda freaked me out Was very busy today, not the best track for viewing, but the racing looked decent as far as I could tell

Never heard of the place before (I'm not really that local to Newcastle area) but that site looks like a great little site, by the sea, massive car park nearby, obviously A LOT of work would need to be done to the place, pits built, track constructed properly, some kind of stands, toilets other facilities etc... But the basic layout is there, I have no idea how big the track would be as I've just seen pictures online, hard to judge the size from pictures... Wonder how much money/how likely the council are to allow a potential promoter move in and rejuvenate the stadium? Could still keep the football pitch like Berwick... Why not? Ask the question someone!!

First time visitor at Ipswich on Thursday night and I was greatly impressed with the facility, I sat right at the very top of the big stand down the back straight and the almost bird's eye view of the track was brilliant, although I couldn't hear the announcer very well (which may have been a good thing, depends on how annoying he is haha) Brilliant night in the end and well done on Peterborough who looked the much better team... Just wish the racing was slightly better, but you can't have everything I suppose

First time visit to Leicester today, where's the best areas to stand? Does it get very crowded and am I gonna get covered in shale? Thanks

One other thing I want to mention that I've noticed about other tracks is that the average age seems to be a lot older at Newcastle (and Birmingham) both tracks who seem to be struggling for crowd numbers, seems to be a lot older than some other tracks, such as Poole, Ipswich etc... Something to look at perhaps? There's an awful lot of young people seems to go to them tracks, which are the types who need to be attracted... What's so attractive about Ipswich and Poole that isn't about Newcastle?

Table cloth Probably was spotted, hence why the tractor was extensively working there?

Thank you John for this answer... When I think of building a stadium (even a basic one like Redcar or Scunthorpe) I think of it as a VERY expensive investment, maybe not multi million, but close to if not above a million is what I would have expected for something like that... 150k don't seem like a lot tbh to start a bog standard stadium... And as you say, it would be fun to watch its development over the decades as Rob (or whoever) invested more and more each winter... Unfortunately, that looks like it ain't happening Also to answer another question, I have never been to Berrington Lough, maybe before my time? I am only 21 years old haha THJ, what options do you think Newcastle speedway has? Will Rob stay? Or has he completely made his mind up now... What about a fan run club?? How much money would need to be generated for that to happen... One thing I've noticed, is that at a lot of other tracks, EVERYTHING seems to be sponsored, they announce the sponsors for each and every race, give a description of what the sponsor does etc, every airfence panel is filled with sponsors... But at Newcastle, they just seem to get a little logo on the back page, could we do more for sponsors to maybe encourage them to sponsor us a bit more? Or maybe ever get new sponsors in...? I'm sure Rob, even if he ain't the owner would like a 'Grant's Butchers Heat 6' or something along those lines in 2022...

Never been to Ipswich before, where's the best areas to stand? And am I gonna get covered in shale!!

Yes, it did look a lot better after they took an hour and fixed it, what I'm concerned about is how the hole was allowed for the start of the meeting? It was CLEARLY visible before the meeting and the tractor was working extensively on it before the meeting even began, so there was clearly some concern prior to tapes up... Rider safety is MOST important, so if there's any issues or concerns, they should be sorted before any rider is expected to ride on it... A 'kitchen table sized hole' doesn't just appear after a few laps (and it didn't it was there all along) Obviously I don't know what the track is like normally as it was a one off visit for me. If Poole had a nice track, it would be the best place in the country for speedway by a mile

How did Rob go from being able to afford to build a whole new stadium (multi million pound investment) to not being able to continue... Has he really lost that much money over the year? Genuine question, not trying to be awkward

In the main stand near bend 4 Honestly, the stadium itself and the atmosphere of the crowd were brilliant, but the track looked terrible...

Can I still park in the shopping centre car park? Thanks

Thanks for letting us know Sounds promising and all under control... More than I can say about my club...

Shame as I was really looking forward to my trip down, decided to get this meeting in on the way down to Plymouth to watch the Diamonds on Tuesday, make a weekend of it... I expected a lot more from the supposed biggest club in the country, but I guess every club has their bad days... I've heard a lot about the track at Poole but was astonished about how bad it looked when I first came in... Looks like something desperately needs done... Would have been interesting to hear what Matt Ford was saying about the future of the club but the loud mouthed drunk woman in front of me clearly doesn't like him and shouted over everything he said... Hope the club survives

I'm guessing the racing at Poole isn't that bad every week, judging by the size of the crowd? And I don't mean the problems with the 3d and 4th bend which were obviously going to arise looking at the state of it before the meeting even started... Wasn't the most entertaining meeting ever...

I'm likely to be in Leicester on 4th September, there's a reserved spot for a fixture, is there any chance of a fixture, or not???

Aye, I thought it would just be that, the way I read it on the email though, it made it sound like I needed to print it out. Is there a parking charge there? And is it still that field just outside the turnstiles? Not been for a very long time cheers

I didn't get a text, just an email which I can easily pull up, it has the QR code, the reference number and the meeting date on it, as long as that's sufficient. Thanks

Hello. I'm planning on visiting Berwick this Saturday for the meeting Vs Glasgow. The email I have received about the etickets seem to suggest I need to print them off to show at the gate? Which I cannot do right now as I am away on holiday in the middle of nowhere Scotland. Is this the case? And have I just wasted £18 on tickets I won't be able to print out? OR can I just quote my reference number on the ticket and get in that way? OR use a QR code like a normal 21st century system speedway seems to have forgotten about? Thanks, Jack

Lodz look like definite winners to me

Got a bunch of Newcastle programmes if you're interested? Couple Scunthorpe, Berwick and Redcar ones lying about somewhere too... Just have to find them