YeOldPitGate

Remember poor old Terry Chainey trying to make Milton Keynes work in the 80's

Thats whats needed for the Witches in 2026 some new youngster who can ride a bike like the Cowboy in his prime how I miss all those brilliant american riders from back in the day.

They won't be that good I'm thinking Lynn Stars 1985.

When are we due an update from Harry on the progress thats been made since he came on board ?

For most tracks the above would put the crowd at negative 200

Rambo Lambo ?

Agreed you would think it would be a quick easy win get matches on in June, July and August when people can be outside to 9pm ish in jeans and t shirts but nope not happening.

imagine the scenes if the volunteers turn up tonight to be greeted by Buster handing out track rakes.

Tobi seems another Batchelor if he's at number one he seems to crumble but put him as the number two heat leader as he was at Sheffield and he can look unbeatable.

Yep sadly that meeting killed Cardiff all be it the venue had been declining attendance wise every year since covid possibly with the large number of poles no longer traveling.

That was the year Bewley won when it was more like a super cross track, I went to Odsal in 85 and 1990 brilliant atmospheres both times with the tribal nature needed and some superb racing but the days of getting 45-50k in for World finals in the UK also seem gone forever.

Spot on its getting harder and harder for the sport to survive when I used to go mid 80's to early 90's if a track was in trouble there were normally 4-5 interested parties in taking over. They would then survive 2-5 years on average loose a bundle then rinse and repeat, but these days there's maybe one-two interested parties or none. It also frustrates me that when the Sky money came in the top riders seem to have hoovered up 90% of it then left for Poland as soon as the trough was empty, now I get they could suffer horrible injuries tin any race and need to maximise earnings but part of me also thinks you were fed well when the big money was sloshing around maybe a bit of loyalty to the UK was warranted. As you say the only way I see out is someone with tens of millions coming in buying up 15-20 tracks/stadiums then franchising out to promoters with the big dog making the rules , two leagues of eight with promotion and relegation. I don't think there's any speedway haters on here just fans who love the sport and are heart broken how its now on life support I bang on about it but the last four heats of the last world team cup show how good it can be when every team was in contention down to the last four heats and Magic took Rob Lambert from the back on the last lap to win it for Poland. We were also spoilt back in the day for riders who were magicians on bikes like Kelly Moran, Henka, Jan O Pederson, Loram, John Cook , T Rick etc there just don't seem as many of that type of rider around today or maybe its just down to rocket ship bikes.

But Sam played a blinder at Reading back in the day when he wasn't even team manager he was paid a fortune in a consultant like role and that was twenty plus years ago.

I think the reality is most have other businesses that make money that they can offset the speedway losses against the other business profits , its still not ideal as it doesn't eliminate the loss merely reduces it from a tax perspective. I think 99% of us on here would agree from the current bunch of promoters other than Louis and the Fords probably nobody else makes money out of the sport. The promoters take plenty of stick and a lot of time rightly so but equally they are subsidising the sport we all desperately want to succeed like it did in the 70's and early 80's sadly I'm coming round to the idea there is no saving it the sport is just a bygone of another age like nightclubs where the young of today just have no interest in either of them.

He would want more bags than Rew.

Possible but I would have thought they will have their hands full with making sure Ipswich keeps washing its face, two huge crowd pleasers have left and its not clear at the moment if even one rider of similar standing is coming in let alone two. So it would take a brave team to also take on Northampton at the same time with all the issues 99% of us on here see with making that track sustainable long term.

plus JD's probably got 3-4 years left at the near top so his need to maximise his remaining income opportunities is more pressing than Tom who has got a couple of decades of racing left in him yet.

Someone had to say it

Spot on its a huge financial risk in an untried area for Speedway support I agree maybe do a few open meetings in 2026 to gauge level of support but as you say its probably going to end being the weakest team out of the six which won't help things and if the supports not there and they get stuffed every week it will just close down at the end of the year with some poor sod 100k lighter.

Not a bad looking side in the watered down league you would hope Lambert and Tungate could put a point on each the other bar King should maintain current averages, I suppose the other question is can Brennan kick onto the next level which will be a harder step to make.

Phil normally on the money eight times out of ten.

I wonder what Northampton are going to look like if they run ?

I thought someone said the rates had dropped I'm assuming the bottom chart is 2026 so the rates have actually gone up ?

That doesn't sound to bad for an afternoons work if in the UK guess not so good if having to fly all the equipment out abroad assuming GP organizer doesn't cover that cost.

I think they will make last years Brum and Oxford look like Cradley 1984 and Ipswich 1998 hopefully a half decent side can be put together for both as not doing anyone any favours if they get destroyed every week but does make you wonder where a couple of top level riders for both will come from assuming Kurtz is staying at Belle Vue.