paulnolan

Well I thoroughly enjoyed my first night at the new track, even if my Foxes couldn't get the win! Let's get that out of the way first: it's not a great team and will absolutely need surgery sooner rather than later, but there were positives in the shape of Thompson and Harrison going great. But that can be sorted. What can't be sorted is if your opening night goes wrong. And it didn't. Not by a long shot. A massive crowd - probably about 3,000 if I guesstimate right - and some good racing, with times all within a second of each other. I said good, not great, because the track will need time to bed in and neither side had anything resembling an out and out racer to test it. But the shape is good and there's some banking on three and four that can be worked with, so it's all there. The facilities are good, even if the queue for the men's toilets at the interval was an issue, and there's room for improvement if needed. And it was a brilliant night for it, too! All in all, a success! Whether I'll be back next week is to be decided - it's £25 a go and that's not great value, even if it is the "going rate."

We're on, then! It's hard to predict anything with a brand new track but a home victory would (of course) be nice! Teams as per Ipswich social media:

Feels odd to be chipping in here before my club has even raced a meeting but it strikes me that, leaving aside the quality of the racing, regularity is one of the key things to attract and keep a crowd. Let's take Northampton as an example. The beginning of April to the end of September is 6 full months. Let's say they want 12 home meetings, as this season. It would make all the sense in the world to divide the league into 3 Monday tracks and 3 Thursday tracks. If Northampton is a Thursday track, they should run the first and third Thursday of every month. That leaves the second and fourth Thursdays for away at the 2 other Thursday tracks - let's say Ipswich and Sheffield - and rain-offs, with Mondays free to go away to the 3 other tracks. That way the local fans know exactly when there will be speedway at Brafield, and the casuals will know it's the first and third Thursday of the month. The season can extend into October for play-offs if needed, and begin in March for pre-season action if desired.

D-day today, then! I hope they have a few thousand flyers ready to go because the Cobblers have their penultimate home match tonight and can expect 5,000 sports fans at Sixfields.

Anyone know why he's not riding in the UK this year? (and if he fancies Thursday nights in Northampton..?)

Again, I'd have taken that result beforehand. Lidsey looks like he's stepping up the responsibility of being a number one. There's an obvious weak link but he may turn out to be a Brafield specialist!

I've seen nothing.

I am a patient man but there's still nothing about tickets on the Foxes website, a week out from the first meeting. I've also seen zero local publicity. Concerning but not fatal.

I'd have taken that beforehand and it might have been different if Harris hadn't been on fire and Klindt a damp squib! Onto Ipswich, which will be tougher, but looking forward to next week now!

Will be keeping a close eye on Speedway Updates tonight! Drove past the other day just to get the feel of the drive - ten days to go!

It's not the best start, only having 6 men, but it's still a bit surreal seeing Northampton listed as a club!

The call has gone out for racenight volunteers but still no sign of ticket prices or anything like that. What can we expect?

Not thrilled with the team but it's decent enough considering they were fishing for scraps. I'd have liked a new name to UK speedway in there but it'll do. Just happy to have speedway 5 miles away!

The name doesn't really matter, does it? Northampton Foxes sounds good. That's it. (Although the town crest has lions on it so maybe Leicester could swap if they're that bothered...) Both Cobblers and Saints are protected commercial properties, and as someone from Northampton, I'm sick of shoes.

I'm from Northampton but my expectations are low. As long as they get the bikes in front of a crowd at both Franklin's Gardens and Sixfields, and have something in the Market Square a couple of Saturdays before, they should be alright. There's something to be said for THIS IS HAPPENING VERY SOON! rather than THIS IS HAPPENING WEEKS AWAY, PLEASE MAINTAIN YOUR EXCITEMENT! However, people often make choices about where to spend their money in advance. I'm just happy to have a local track again.

There's a brilliant local YouTuber getting all sorts of publicity lately by just highlighting things in and around the town: Jamie Benkert - YouTube

It's actually six weeks until the first meeting, six weeks tonight. Still, a club name wouldn't hurt!

Hello, first post so be kind! Looking at the Speedway Star this week, Nicolai Klindt says he will race in the UK this year so surely he's going to be at Northampton? And maybe Lewis Kerr and Adam Ellis? Shame Dan Gilkes is signed up elsewhere because he's local, I think.