Ben91

Probably bad business for Oxford speedway to let someone else run a team named Oxford out of their track. Could split the fan base.

I think right now with the sport in turmoil it’s more important than ever that those running the sport are transparent. Let fans know when they can expect to find out the rules for next season. It isn’t hurting anyone, stops a lot of speculation too.

In theory a good idea. In practice it’s a hard sell. Unless things have changed drastically since my student days the night out starts with the cheapest shop bought booze possible at home (halls or uni house) then out once nicely leathered to spend as little on booze as possible and try cop off with someone. Would be an uphill battle to try convince a Uni crowd that they should trade that in to start off at the speedway.

People are more likely to go out and do something at the weekend. Friday evening and Saturday in particular. If we could find a way to get teams racing at the weekend (or on a race night that suits their audience) we’d be laughing. But. There would be riders lost to Poland and the current domestic rider pool isn’t up to the standard a lot of fans deem acceptable apparently. Weekend racing isn’t a bad idea. It’s probably unrealistic given the place the sport has been navigated into over the last few decades however. We need solutions, not pointing out of obvious problems of course. The first couple of steps for me are safeguarding the current tracks (we really can’t afford to lose any more) and repopulating the domestic rider pool. That means doubling up must be curbed (over time, we can’t go cold turkey due to the lack of good enough riders now) and a strong focus on getting youngsters into the sport, developing their talents and then keeping them on their bikes. Tackle one issue at a time, build a solid, sustainable foundation and then move forward from there.

To quote the Chuckle Brothers, “oh dear oh dear.” Incidentally, maybe the surviving Chuckle could do some PR about how he watched speedway once in the 80s. Or even have a go at running the sport.

Points scored divided by rides taken (all rides) times by four. Hence the maximum average being 12.

Remember that evening well. Conditions were horrible, would have been called off had it not been a world level meeting I’m sure. Outclassed the field which included Tai Woffinden on his home track. Only one rider that evening looked as if he’d go on to be a world champion and it wasn’t Tai.

I think there’s a place for the bang average rider from abroad too in fairness. One who isn’t a world beater but competent and helps to make meetings competitive. Brexit probably made it harder to bring riders over who aren’t “elite” competitors though. Some of our issues stem from letting the existing, ageing rider pool hog team spots (doubling up) forcing less talented and/or up and coming riders out on one hand, then chasing big name riders who don’t really want to ride here with wads of cash we don’t have on the other. In any walk of life spending beyond your means is idiotic. Seems a lot of speedway fans think otherwise when it comes to who races for their team.

Less can be more. The issue with the British calendar isn’t that there aren’t enough meetings it’s that there is no consistency and often there are huge fixture gaps during the height of summer. If a team was at home once a fortnight and away once a fortnight (alternate weeks) it would encourage more fans to attend away meetings potentially.

Something like this would be great and overdue but think getting licensing could be a huge stumbling block sadly. Wish you luck.

The funny thing is we don’t have 14 Simon Lamberts. The career second division man has been killed off by the short sighted rule changes of the last decade. They’re the bumblebees of British speedway. Nobody really cared about them but their demise brings down the whole shebang.

Are there any facts behind this supposed cancellation/massively reduced GP calendar or is it all speculation? If the latter then there’s not much point worrying about what impact it would have on British speedway.

Radical plans for change have been written down on some very dry parchment. Let’s hope there are no strong gusts of wind that blow it into the fire. Otherwise the back up plan is to carry on as we were.

I’m not sure. I think their ambition drove them to solely wanting top league racing, but that’s only my opinion. I’m sure others will know more than I do, I’m really piecing together what I saw myself and was told (lots of rumour and innuendo) at the time and coming up with what seemed to be the most likely scenario. Scott Nicholls says in his book he is still owed money from his time at Rye House. Whether the well dried up or not is another matter I guess.

My understanding was more along the lines of the promotion wanting to operate at the top of the top table. The first season was a reasonable success with a Saturday race night. Season two with the fixed race night was a big problem and the money ran out (I believe). Second tier speedway with a Saturday race night was ideal for Rye House. It was almost an unsinkable ship if managed correctly. For one reason or another it wasn’t, but the sport’s governing body should have seen it for what it was, a rare example of a club that owned its site and had no restrictions. That was worth saving for the benefit of the entire sport at almost any cost.

Those free Conference League meetings tended to coincide with the Premier League team racing away somewhere on the same evening…

Barely did this year did he?

People need to stop seeing TV coverage as a tool to promote the sport. If that’s the aim then the promoters should take out some prime time advertising on television. The days of flicking through the channels and stumbling upon something are long gone. There are too many channels and streaming options. Television companies aren’t going to give out a deal to help push speedway to the masses. They want something that is established and will bring eyes to their channel. The promoters need to make the sport an attractive proposition for a broadcaster to take an interest not expect a TV deal and for that TV deal to suddenly attract fans through the gates of tracks.

Appreciate that I’m biased as it’s the club I support(ed) but allowing Rye House to die was a real travesty. A track that owned the stadium and had no restrictions over when it could operate. Somewhere that could have been a real asset to the sport in this country. Around the same time I’m pretty sure other tracks were bailed out too. Ones with bigger names but less solid foundations.

They are. Football (one of the biggest of them all) is phasing gambling sponsorship out because it can cause serious addiction. The number of bookmakers who offer speedway markets has also decreased. They aren’t interested. The only people who want to bet on speedway are the existing diminishing fan base or those with serious gambling addiction who would happily bet on Romanian under-12s netball. Companies sponsor things that will help them improve or promote their business generally. Speedway won’t. Greyhounds is a dying sport too and one that has always been synonymous with gambling. It isn’t a partnership that has just sprung up. Don’t get me wrong I wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth but let’s not assume bookmakers are the saviour. It’s straw clutching.

Bookmakers already offer speedway markets. Bet Victor (or any bookmaker) has nothing to gain by sponsoring a sport with such a small profile and potentially no TV coverage. It would have to be a huge favour to Harry Redknapp to get something like that to happen. Things are pretty dire if that’s our great white hope.

What bookmakers are queuing up to sponsor speedway?

Absolutely. That’s where we have to back ourselves to eventually match and even surpass what the Polish league can offer. Won’t happen overnight but that isn’t to say it can’t happen given time. It needs a long term plan however and well, we all know how rare those are in speedway here…

While it may be a sweeping generalisation I feel like Eastern Europeans in generally are a little more stoic than people in the west too. There’s some motorbike racing going on at the end of their street for a couple of hours a week, they just get on with it as part of life. Live and let live. Here on the other hand if someone starts a moped in the next town someone will raise a noise complaint.

Professional sports are generally moving away from gambling sponsorship. It’s not a good look. There are outliers such as darts but that is a sport with a profile to put the bookmaker in front of millions of people on television. Speedway can’t do that. Nobody knows the odds like a bookmaker and Speedway would be a losing bet for them.