Ben91

Shame more people aren’t concerned about the fit of the mask.

Ok, thanks for that.

Perhaps they hadn’t factored in Speedway’s delusions of grandeur...

Someone should direct Chris Whitty to this post considering all the corona virus experts we have here...

The sport has been in terminal decline here for many years now. Here we are with a chance to rip it up and start again but instead there seems to just be a wait and see attitude. We could hope for some individual meetings in 2020 and take the time to put a proper plan in place to help the sport try and flourish once more but why bother when we can just try use the same incredibly flawed system next year again.

Perhaps that will be a good thing and they’ll just race alongside their proper jobs as a hobby in future, as should have been the case for a long time now.

To the best of my knowledge it’s a tactical position. He can be used at any time. While the team’s reserves have to be Polish Under-21s, a number 8 can be a rider of any nationality under the age of 23. So it makes more sense for Rybnik to use him as their number 8 as he is one of their best riders.

Speedway in Britain doesn’t need any external help on that score.

The site content hasn’t been updated since Lakeside finished racing at Rye. Would be a shame to lose all that content of course but it will all fall by the wayside when the domain name expires I expect.

The website is www.ryehouse-speedway.com - sometimes it doesn’t hurt to do a google search.

There is room for a dog track but the old dog track was taken up and it would only be more expense to reinstate it. I believe the raised banks on the bends are on top of where the old track once was too. There’s a dog track in Harlow ten minutes away anyway, too close to make greyhounds viable at Rye.

Top flight Speedway at Rye was always going to fail. The Saturday crowds would have tailed off once the novelty wore off, the fixed race nights were the death knell that accelerated things. Could BMR have stepped back to the second tier once fixed race nights were floated? Maybe. Did they know what they were doing? I doubt it. The way they built their teams was testament to what I always saw as their naivety when it came to running a speedway team. It appeared to me they wanted to run at the highest level even though it wasn’t sustainable. Speedway at Rye House was a big part of my life, I would never have met my best friend if it wasn’t for Rye House and I’d be sad if the door to Speedway was shut forever, however it looks increasingly likely. Someone could run the track and make it a sustainable enterprise in the second or third tier I’m sure but it would take deep pockets in the short term to do so and you’d be stupid to walk into speedway these days.

Could be argued that Ward’s subsequent maturing was a result of his ban. Fate then stepped in with regard to his injury. Never liked the bloke personally but his talent on a bike was undeniable. We all make mistakes and do stupid things when we’re young too.

Speedway isn’t a proper professional sport. I don’t recall a time it ever has been. It masquerades as one but the reality is it should be run on a semi-professional level. Glasgow have made a sensible decision. If sitting out 2020 means they have a long term future then that is the right move. I hope other clubs will do the same rather than blindly follow whatever the BSPA’s plan may be if it hurts them long term. The party line seems to be that there will be a form of curtailed season. I’m off on a tangent here I know... But there doesn’t seem to be any concrete plan of how that will be completed. To me the sensible thing would be to plan to a worst case scenario in which speedway can take place and hope for better. There are no guarantees that we will get any form of speedway this season full stop. The worst case where we could still go racing is that riders from overseas can’t get into the country. We either water things down considerably team strength wise (not a good idea) or we expand the British championship to include any British riders who want to compete. Depending on how many months of the season we fit in that can take the shape of qualifiers and a GP style series at tracks who wish to/can host or qualifiers leading to a one off final. Cramming a half season into three months is a silly idea especially when one of those months is notoriously bad weather wise, getting sillier as the days go on where no progress is made. If any speedway is run this year in Britain it will be a miracle in my eyes, that speedway doesn’t have to be team speedway however.

There really is no debate to be had here. Speedway is barely profitable with paying fans, it won’t happen behind closed doors here. If it does it is financial suicide.

Enjoyed watching this back, travelled up for this as part of the Rockets’ northern tour as a kid. This is one of my favourite meetings strangely enough, the racing was decent, the scoreline was tight throughout and most memorably in heat three Karl White’s helmet came off when he fell on the first bend and I thought it was his head. Luckily it wasn’t and he wasn’t badly hurt because it could have been much worse. He was at Berwick that evening watching the Rockets.

The refs box had to be moved in line with the start to get FIM accreditation to run international events. This was done and then the old refs box became the home of T2TV when filming meetings I believe. Something tells me that the ref’s box was once again repositioned after the BMR takeover but my interest had waned by that time so I didn’t attend much and I can’t be 100% sure.

Yep, filmed at Rye House a few years back, know Luke Bowen was one of the riders and possibly Marc Owen too.

British Speedway is not popular enough for running behind closed doors to be viable. The top two divisions of German football are running behind closed doors (no fans whatsoever) but there is a demand for them to play and to complete their season. There is also the little matter of them having more money coming in from sources other than paying fans on the gate that make it more viable, sponsorship and TV rights etc. Riders aren’t going to ride for free and although I don’t know what the financial element of the new TV deal with Eurosport is I’d be shocked if it was enough to fund even half a season of top flight Speedway here.

There is no need to stretch things out until the end of next season. If the plan is to have six home and six away in 2020 then draw a line under it after that. Season complete albeit a short one. What is being proposed is a season in which we have three home and away fixtures between each club. That sounds incredibly boring and repetitive. Not to mention clubs may not survive the winter and some may want to start racing in 2021. There is a simple solution and yet people are not happy unless they add needless complications.

Trust British Speedway to take something that could be simple and complicate it. If, and it’s a big if, we get any meetings this season make them individuals etc. and start making a plan now to improve the sport starting from the 2021 season.

Remember at Rye we had Andrew Aldridge ride for the Raiders (or Cobras as they may have been called then). Scored a max in his first meeting if I recall correctly, looked like a real talent. There were calls for him to be given a spot in the Rockets side straight away but it never happened, ended the season on about a six point third tier average and was shipped out to Bournemouth the next season.

Speedway is dangerous. News flash. Riders get hurt falling off on their own sometimes. Unless the green light for normal life to resume only comes next March then riders will still have a winter to practise. The sport was so much more dangerous in the 40s than it is now.

The common thread between everyone reading and posting on this thread is that we are all Speedway fans. Even if our opinions on the whys and wherefores differ, the majority of us, I think it is safe to say, agree that something in British Speedway needs to change. This isn’t a viewpoint driven by the current situation regarding Covid-19 either but a long standing belief held by many of the most important people in the sport. The fans. Each of us have an opinion of what the main problem is with the sport - that one thing we would like to see fixed personally. But in reality the issues are deep rooted and multi-faceted. There is not one quick fix for British Speedway and I don’t think there has been for as long as I have been a fan. I began to make a list of things that could be seen as issues within the sport here by fans. It is not exhaustive, I'm sure we could add to it, but it is very long. These issues are not necessarily my opinion either. Some of the issues overlap of course but that just proves that the troubles within the sport are not black and white: Racing isn’t good enough. British riders aren’t good enough. Too many foreign riders taking spots Brits could fill. Riders want to be paid more money. The sport is too expensive for the fan (no value for money). Meetings take too long. No additional entertainment at meetings. Race night issues, clashes with foreign leagues. Doubling up. Competition and race formats. Guests, R/R etc. Averages and average manipulation. No big names in the top league. Facilities aren’t good enough. The reality of the situation is simple. We must rip it up and start again. Now is as good a time as any to do so. With correct planning we could reboot British Speedway in time for the 2021 season with a model built for the long term success of the sport in this country and aspirations for it to thrive once again long term. 2020 could still be salvaged depending on how much of a summer we are left with, however this could be focussed less around the team aspect of the sport and more around an individual element, with a focus on the British Championship, perhaps being run over a series of qualifying rounds culminating in a small GP style competition.

Anyone can have an Audi, BMW, Mercedes etc. these days if they’re willing to pay monthly and never own the vehicle. Doesn’t mean the fans are affluent, just that they might not have their priorities in the right place. Speedway fans, Speedway mindset.