enotian

Part of my idea would be to run the euroleague in a four team tournament format meaning the minimum number of riders required would be 64. (16 teams 4 riders per team). These would be the feature riders anyway. Obviously there'd have to be squads to cover at reserve and the inevitable injuries to avoid having the dreaded guest facility. Say 3 more per squad although I wouldn't put a limit on it but based on average you'd be unlucky to have more than two riders injured at one time. It's hard to say but if we do say another 3*16 riders that takes you up to 112. The current Elite league has possibly 90 riders in comparison so on that basis yes there might be a wider range of abilities and the euroleague might even have a lower standard but remember you'd be picking from a larger pool of riders. The likes of Gollob, Hampel & Holta would be involved not sure about Rickardsson. Plus some riders like Walaszek are genuine star men in there home countries despite never hitting the heights in Britain. And I'm sure the Polish teams at least would make up there squads with young talents like Kolodeij who haven't yet arrived in British speedway (except a spell at Reading I think?). Perhaps you could have a bit of fun allocating actual riders to euroleague teams just to illustrate the standard of the lower ends. I do feel that smaller leagues do lack a degree of variety but yes it is a trade off between the two. I also feel the 4 team format for the euroleague would allow a greater chance of blanket TV coverage. A total of 80 matches across say 8 countries. I'm sure Sky could cover all 20 matches held on British soil while other TV companies would hold the rights in the other countries meaning each match could be covered or at least recorded if not shown live. There'd be an archieve of all matches so in the event of a live match being abandoned a recently recorded fixture which hadn't been shown live in this country but may feature a British team could be shown in its place. And you could also package together a highlights show to keep the viewers right up to date with the league positions which I believe is being discussed on another thread.

The last time there was one big league it contained all the top (now known as gp) riders and matched them against young 16 year only novices. With a domestic league pitched at Premier League level I'd imagine the top riders would be the likes of Joe Screen, Gary Havelock who although still great riders are no longer at the level of the big gp stars and you couldn't fit them all into one team. Plus an amalgamated promoting company would see no merit in tracking sides which couldn't compete. Yes but there is a football team in every town around the world more or less. It's a bit extreme in the North East but the Diamonds would find it very difficult to attract non speedway fans from Sunderland (it's only 10 miles away) as they just wouldn't want to support a Newcastle team. That's the limitation of domestic leagues in terms of attracting a new audience. Even in football there are maybe less than 10 clubs which have global brands meaning they attract supporters from different geographical areas. I see markets such as Italy and Spain and Asia as key development areas. They all seem to have a healthy interest in motorsports so why not speedway. As I keep saying it's the best one! But with all the will in the world how are you going to sell Eastbourne vs Peterborough the Japanese public? You'd even struggle with Wroclaw v Luxo Stars it just doesn't mean as much to a wider audience. Sure an expanded gp series wouldn't feature a Malaysian or even Spanish rider but whose to say it wouldn't in the future. Speedway does not appear to be as expensive to get into compared to many other motorsports and it's something the gp organisers should try to develop. I'm sure they'd love to focus alot more on Antonio Lindback's Brazilian heritage to give the sport a higher profile in South America. An important point is that we all now live in a global market place like it or not. All the big companies have to expand globally to grow otherwise they get chewed up by overseas competitors. It's this global market place that the majority the big sponsorship deals go to events shown around the world. At the moment speedway will find it hard to find attract global companies because it only reaches Poland, Scandanavia and Britain. Anyway don't worry cos it'll never happen. There's nobody with the vision or expertise to market the sport to the level it deserves. I suppose well just carry on conceeding that whoever makes the gate wins and be happy to be the poor relations of motorsport because the others have better PR and image rights to obscure their failings. e

Kevin, Firstly thanks for indulging me but can I just say just because something doesn't work right at the moment or might be hard to acheive doesn't mean that it is worthwhile doing or doing better. I'm guessing Bill Gates' first crack at an operating system wasn't too hot..... Would you agree that most of your reasons for disagreeing with my proposals are because it hasn't worked in the past due to a lack of expertise or application. I don't find that acceptable. Why can't you arrange a fixture list within a couple of days? Sure there'll always be some excuse for someone not wanting to ride at someplace for some reason or another. It's all rubbish. There is no valid reason why a fixture list can't be drawn up within a day or two. let's try to have some sort of professionalism. Ditto with the ability to finish matches. If a team can't arrange a meeting by the cut off they forfeit the match and it just doesn't get run. Now you'll say the supporters lose out by losing a match. Hopefully the penalty will act as a deterent. The whole point of the new structure is that there won't be any reason other than bad weather to not run a meeting. With a more structured and concise international calender all riders at the domestic level should be available and if they're not you ride without them. Again this deterent might make promoters turn to riders who are going to be available. Seems to me that British speedway is the maker of many of it's own problems. You can't please all of the people all of the time. Sure riders would ride in every league going to earn more money but why should british speedway bend over backwards to help them out? Seems to me that British domestic speedway offers more meetings than any of the other leagues so let's start flexing some muscle and if riders decide to concentrate on Sweden and Poland then so be it. See your point about people arranging holidays around away tours but again this is a minority element. As I say you can't please all the people all the time and I feel the added excitment of two pinnacles to the season would overide it. Don't get your point about costs. Without the top 20 riders from the elite league there can't be many left to drop down and those that do would generally be No.1's in the domestic league and paid as such but the points limit would mean they'd be spread across the teams. Essentially the domestic league would be pitched at Premier League level. Yeah you might have one or two more expensive riders but I can't see it being significant and also I think there'd be more meetings (say if there are 26 teams operating split in two thats 24 matches in the 1st half of the season and 24 in the 2nd half and the better riders would also ride euroleague matches for another 20 meetings) which could be factored in to reduce pay rates. Plus by running the first half of the season on a regional basis travel costs will have been reduced. Essentially once you're in the 2nd half of the season you'd only have travel outside your region 6 times. That's all relative to location I suppose. The point of keeping up with the Jones' doesn't ring true either. The points limit would prohibit that to a large extent plus my suggestion of all the promoters amalgamating all of their assets into one promoting company would mean there'd be no transfer fees as essentially each rider would be contracted to the league centrally and be allowed to move without a fee. Again the one big promoting company would be responsible for ensuring each franchise lived within it's means. You could even go to the point of pooling all revenues and distributing equally whatever was best for the company as a whole as it would be the returns of the company as a whole which would be shared out amongst the shareholders. Some tracks might not be as profitable as others but without them the whole company would be worse off. If a particular franchise was unprofitable and couldn't be turned around then it would be disposed of and perhaps a different venue sought. You say the gp can't afford more riders and doesn't attract many more fans than the old one off finals. My point is make the product something a wider audience will want to see. Let's have better marketing let's try and get all those motorsports fans who follow other series aware of sgp. I'm confident you see more action in a 3 hour speedway meeting than you do in a season of formula one! And it's more spectator friendly by which I mean you can see all the action in one field of view. If you're saying speedway can't attract more supporters because it isn't as good as other sports well end of discussion? The idea of expanding the elite league has a major problem! Where are the riders going to come from? The 10 teams in there at the moment struggle to find good enough riders as it is. Yes the points limit/standard can be lowered but that means you get a wider spectrum of ability which isn't condusive to close racing. You'll have Leigh Adams up against James Burkinshaw for instance with no disrespect to James. I'm not talking about implementing these plans for the start of 2006. I'm viewing this as the way ahead a strategy as to how speedway can grow to survive and the measures that may have to be made to make this possible. My proposals are based on the following assumptions, let me know which ones and why you don't agree. Speedway is improved when there is a close proximiting between the standard of riders competing. Therefore any structure must seek to maximise competition levels whilst also allowing for development of new talent. A properly organised well run bona fide gp series has the potential to reach the largest possible market meaning if marketed correctly and the product is good there is greater chance of attracting new supporters and sponsors into the sport. All interested parties must work in harmony. By continually making life difficult for each other nothing will ever be achieved. Therefore any structure must seek to minimise any conflicts. And yes the gp series should contribute towards rider development as without new talent coming through it could never prosper. I assume domestic speedway will benefit from a higher profile gp series but at the same time realise that this is not a given and therefore feel any domestic structure must be able to exist within it's means.

Just a couple of points to pick up on if you don't mind? Under what I'm proposing no team would ever have 2 members missing every other week because gp riders wouldn't ride in domestic speedway just gp's, internationals and euroleague matches. Part of the reasoning behind my ideas are so that such conflicts of interest are reduced. I know I know domestic speedway is only good because it has the top riders in it.......... I don't agree with that I think speedway works best when all the riders competing are of a similar standard making it just a little more unpredictable. Can someone point out why it's so important to have the big stars riding week in week out from a spectator point of view? Remember you shouldn't view this from your own personal perspective. Just because you might like to see Greg Hancock or whoever ride every week doesn't mean it's for the best for the sport as a whole. Next, the Ashes test matches are scheduled to last 5 days each so effectively the sponsors were getting 25 days of exposure. And I think the Ashes can guarantee slightly higher media coverage than speedway. My suggestion to improve the gp series was to add a qualifier the day/afternoon before each gp. Would being able to see two meetings per weekend make more people willing to attend? Would this be enough to cover the marginal additional cost? I don't know but with a wider variety of riders/nationalities it would be less repetitive (repetition doesn't seem to bother fans of other gp series) for you and would give TV the possibility of more live action for not much more cost. I sense that you just don't want a gp series but surely you must agree that it is more likely to attract the attention of a wider market for both spectators and sponsors? Remember there was no Elite league on Sky Sports until the gp had made the breakthrough. You seem to reminise of a time before the gp when everything was a bed of roses! That's not my recollection. Certainly not of the last 25 years anyway. You might be right that the swc is badly promoted but i'm talking about improving it making it something people will look forward to seeing. Just because it's not done properly at the present doesn't mean it can't be done. Yes I am an optimist. I just think top class international speedway is something which would attract a wider audience. The examples of Rugby Union & Cricket point to the general public responding to the national teams rather than seeking out their local club. My idea for a 4tt euroleague would mean only 5 home matches per season. Obviously you wouldn't operate a track for just 5 home matches. What I had in mind was that the euroleague would merely share a track with a domestic team on 5 occasions. Say Belle Vue, Coventry, Poole & Wolves for arguments sake were Britains entrants. All 4 tracks would have teams in the domestic British league with a full programme of matches at that level. But on 5 occasions during the season there would be a seperate euroleague match against 3 opponents. The Belle Vue euroleague team would essentially be nothing to do with domestic team. Much like Boston riding at Kings Lynn. 2 different promotions operating from the same track but in different leagues. You don't say why you think domestic speedway should be run at two levels? Anyway my domestic structure wouldn't be one big league it would be two regional divisions (must help lower costs?) which also act as qualifiers for a 1st and 2nd division. It's a quasi form of promotion/relegation but I just think it would give more teams a chance of winning a trophy. There'd be 4 league titles up for grabs and even if you'd struggled early season and not qualified for division one you get the chance to start from scratch to win the 2nd division against other teams who'd also struggled. It must at least offer more variety than a 10 team Elite league? As I've stated previously I wouldn't mind speedway continuing as it is but the trouble is I just can't see that happening. The sport as a whole needs to see more revenue flooding in via supporters and sponsors. The costs just aren't going to decrease. Stadium rents will go up, riders pay rates will go up that's just economics. The only other alternative would be to downgrade. But I just can't see watching speedway in a farmers field with limited facilities being the way forward. I myself prefer league racing to the grand prix but from a growth point of view you need a product that you can sell to as wide an audience as possible. Domestic league racing just doesn't have that potential. Sorry but it's true.

Yes I'm a Diamonds supporter have been since too long ago to mention. All I can remember of my first meeting was Joe Owen vrs Martin Yeates but I've been a regular since 1986. And yes I love my league racing especially as it's normally a close match at Brough, even when we won the Premier League, I don't really recall the Ian Thomas all conquering Lada Diamonds, although my only experience of top flight speedway (apart from on Sky) was seeing Denis Sigalos' Wolves hammer the 84 Diamonds. My only problem with league racing is that I can't see how it'll attract new supporters to speedway? Any ideas yourself? It's a bit clouded up here in Newcastle as everyone is obssessed with the barcodes so everything else plays 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc fiddle but to my mind you've got to get in the media and with all the will in the world you'll be lucky if your tabloids would even print the result of the play off final, the biggest domestic meeting. Apologies if that's wrong as I don't read them myself. As I've stated I think you need big events to attract the type of media coverage which will attract new supporters and sponsors. I'm basing this on the increase in public interest in cricket after the Ashes and Rugby Union after the World Cup win and I seem to recall football was in not to great a position until Italia 90 and a certain bloke crying brought it back to a wider audience. So that's my rationale. Personally i wouldn't mind speedway remaining a marginal sport as it's cheap and I never have to worry about getting a ticket so that suits me fine. The only trouble is that I can't see how long it will survive at the current level and of course I think the riders deserve better for what they risk just to keep me entertained for 2 hours a week. A 6 round GP series just won't attract a major sponsor. They'll only get there exposure 6 times for a start. Why bother. You might have a point to less meetings making them more special by why not apply that to league racing. My idea would be to have a genuine European League to give the gp riders another 20 meetings per season to fill their calenders. The Euroleague would consist of 16 teams (4 from Britain, Poland & Sweden and say one each from Denmark, Czech Republic, Germany and Italy) on a four team tournament basis. Each team would have only 5 home meetings and would ride at each of the opposing 15 tracks. Ideally I'd see the teams being an extension of the grand prix teams essentially using the Euroleague as further exposure for their sponsors and for development in terms of machinery and future riding talent. Under these proposals you'd only be able to see gp riders on British soil at roughly 21 meetings per season which would make them special events. The Euroleague teams would be made up of gp riders plus the best of the rest from the domestic leagues. I'd hope that the link to gp teams would self regulate the team strengths but some form of points limit might need to apply. I think the 4 team tournament style meetings usually lead to closer finishes and the double point tactical ride or whatever it's called pans much better in that format. You'll all doubtless moan about there being no team riding in this format but personally i think that's a redundant argument as you don't see proper team riding in league matches except for maybe a couple of times per meeting max! I also think the format is geared more to a play off final. I'd like to see the top eight teams in the league qualify for the play offs with 2 semi finals a last chance run off and a grand final all being run over a week just like the current world cup. As I keep saying you've got to make these things into events which will attract more than just the supporters of the two/four teams involved. No sponsor is just going to want to sell their products in only Manchester and Coventry. You've got to move with the market forces. Of course these proposals would mean domestic speedway would be greatly changed. Ideally, I'd hope that the exposure gained by the expanded higher profile gp series and euroleague would help domestic speedway by bringing speedway to a wider audience and making more sponsors wanting to be involved at the lower level also. Realistically, experience shows that the money usually stays at the top so any domestic set up would have to live within it's means. For a start running a league with different promoting factions just isn't working. It's a radical approach but I'd like to see all the promoters form one promoting company. Each promoter gaining shares in proportion to the assets they contribute at inception. The biggest plus being that all riders are centrally contracted hence removing the possibly illegal transfer system currently in place which only seems to prohibite new tracks from opening due to the cost of aquiring a team. The promoting company would then decide on which venues they'd want to utilise there assets at. Some will be owned by the company some won't. Once the operating tracks have been finalised the promoting company would appoint a "supremo" at each venue to represent that track. Essentially it would be a status quo as the promoters of Newcastle would want to be involved in running Newcastle rather than another track. The benefit of the situation would be that each promoter would now have to act in the best interests of the whole company rather than just their own track. It's a subtle one I admit. I'd say that without any gp standard riders taking part the domestic league would be run at Premier League level so young riders like Simon Stead and Chris Harris would be the star names whilst gaining experience in the euroleague at the same time. Former gp riders like Havelock and Louis would also be No1 heat leaders and also allowed to ride in the euroleague to add to the number of meetings they'd have per season. If say the promoting company decided to operate 26 tracks (I think there were 25 Elite + Premier tracks last season) that would be too many for one big league. So i would split the season in half. The first half would be a split into 2 regional leagues. Northern & Southern would make sense in terms of cutting costs and attracting away supporters. The first half of the season would be spent trying to become regional champions or to finish in the top half of the regional table. Because the 2nd half of the season would consist of the top halfs of each regional division forming the first division whilst the two bottom half finishers would end the season battling it out to become 2nd division champions. You could easily change the names so as not to make one sound inferior to the other if that's your want! The beauty is if you haven't had a great first half of the season you start again from scratch at the halfway stage with the chance of winning some silverware by defination against a lower standard of opposition (ie they also finished in the bottom half). It effectively would give you two seasons in one. Obviously in sport there always has to be someone who finishes last but at least under this system you'd spend the 2nd half of the season riding against teams at a similar standard. Obviously there'd still have to be a points limit but i'd make it simpler to make team changes by rounding up/down averages to either .0 or .5 i.e if a rider averages 4.37 and is british and under 21 he's rounded down to 4.0 if he's foreign or over 21 it's rounded up to 4.5. That means there will be alot more riders on the same averages making team changes easier which would hopefully reduce the need for guest riders a pet hate of mine. The promoting company should also take control of the conference league standard racing as that would effectively be building their rider assets and should be run accordingly ie without so many old hands a genuine under 21 league with maybe 1 old hand per team. Remember under 21 gives you 6 seasons of action to make the grade at the higher level. These are basically my ideas as to how domestic speedway could fit in harmoniously with a higher profile gp series which I feel is the only way to take the sport to a higher level. Hopefully if anything it's raised some debate as to whether both domestic speedway and gp speedway can co-exist. e

Although the sgp should be the speedway flagship there should also still be room in the calender for international events. I'd like to see the world cup remain as a week long speedway festival (preferably held in one country) but would also like to see the format rotate over a 4/5 year cycle. One of the great things in speedway is the different formats. So one year have a proper 4 team tournament. The next year have the world cup decided over a pairs format allowing more countries to take part. I think a formula similar to the knock out grand prix format of 2004 would be ideal to run a pairs meeting over. The country represented by the rider finishing last is out or have to avoid finishing last in their next heat etc leading to a grand final between the two best pairs. The following year have a world cup on an individual 20 heat traditional format. In the space of a week have 4 qualifiers with the top 3 going direct to the final and the next 4 going into the last chance race off for the final 4 places in the grand final. The winner of the grand final, over 20 heats, is the world cup champion. Finally I'd look to have a genuine 7 or 8 rider team world cup tournament played out over a test match format with the top two countries meeting in a grand final. Variety is the spice of life and using the different formats should allow a greater array of countries to be involved at some stage aiding the development of the sport into new markets whilst keeping the annual world cup fresh. The Under 21 world cup and individual championship should also be retained to assist in the development of future gp talent but surely sending young riders making their way in the sport to all corners of the continent to qualify is counter productive. Why not base both events in a single country each season? As I say the way to attract sponsors, TV coverage and spectators is to promote large scale events. And speedway is probably the only motorsport to have genuine international team competition in its various formats which must be a unique selling point!

One of the major problems in speedway at the moment is that not all the relevant powers pull in the same direction. Surely for the good of the sport everyone should pull together and do what is best to increase the profile of the sport. However, there are so many conflicting interests the administration of the sport seems more like a war than a cohesive unit seeking to better the sports standing and future. In my opinion we need a set structure in which all the interested parties can gain what they require out of the sport but obviously there will have to be some compromise. As I believe the way to increase the sports profile is through holding large events with the highest standards (both racing & presentation) I'll start with the grand prix. BSI or whoever has the rights for the series must seek to increase the number of rounds preferably to 16. This should include reaching destinations outside of Europe (America, Asia, Australia). It's not feasible to do this for one off events but these are big places with big populations. Why not have an Australian and Commonwealth GP in different Australia cities on consequtive weekends. An American and Inter-Continental GP in the USA etc etc. Attracting crowds in these non european events might be a problem at first so to establish the series why not seek a tie in with other motorsports series. i.e. Hold the GP on the Saturday night before the Japanese Moto GP on a custom built track within part of the road racing circuit. It's a loss leader but if you can price them to attract 10k supporters who are primarily there for the Moto GP you've still got an event which enhances the sgp series. To do this kind of overseas tour and to return to the modern stadia (not neccesarily as big as the Millenium stadium but all seater with the facilities expected of a professional sport) developing custom built tracks is important. Yes at the moment they are not ideal but surely it is not impossible to develop!? Rock concerts assemble and disassemble stages in these arenas within a day. I appreciate a speedway track is more involved but that should be the aim. Something you can pack away and move to the next venue. The only problem I have with the current GP format is there isn't enough riders in it. How is speedway supposed to attract a worldwide audience if there are only ever 5 or 6 countries represented? But you have to balance that with having the best riders in the series. The solution? Have a qualifying event either the night or afternoon before the gp. If you finish in the botton 4 of the previous gp you have to do the qualifier along with 4 home nation (where possible) wildcards and 8 invitational riders. Effectively meaning you'd be back to 24 regulars. If you're running two meetings in two days you might attract more overseas visiting supporters and it's potentially two gate receipts to cover costs. A qualifier would also be allow for track problems to be addressed before the big event. I'd also like to see spg teams develop. This seems to happen now but are referred to by the individual rider. Surely sponsors would prefer to be in the team name like Rothmans Honda or Marlboro McLaren. Afterall no sport like it or not can operate at the top level without attracting substancial sponsorship and if the series has to be known at the "Thingmebob SGP" then so be it.

Adding different attractions could be a way of sourcing new supporters but not large scale. The thing with team speedway is that a meeting has to flow! Hopefully towards a last heat decider. Some of the closer meetings can have you on the edge of your sea.... well cold terracing. That's another beauty of speedway! Like all the best sports it works on more than one level. You could be interested from a technical point of view which currently there isn't alot made of. You might just like seeing close on track action but you can also enjoy a meeting on the closeness of the score even if passing is at a premium. Sure the best meetings are last heat deciders full of passing with the Diamonds winning of course but that's not always possible for one reason or another. Personally, I don't think the Sky presentation make nearly enough of either the technical aspect or the actual match position so matches with limited passing appear dull despite the result being in the balance until near the end. Of course there is nothing you can do with one sided massacres won from the tapes but that's a whole other argument. My point is by adding other attractions in between heats a meeting can lose momentum. Part of the appeal of team sports is watching the story unfold not just for that particular meeting but over the whole season with all its twists and turns. I'm not sure adding sidecars would add to that. And if you put them on at the end most people will have left once the novelty value has worn off.

Part of the trouble seems to be that speedway doesn't know what it's target market is. We keep hearing family sport and yes the atmosphere at most matches is acceptable to attract families even if the facilities often aren't. It certainly costs less to take a family to speedway than top level football but not other minority sports such as ice hokey or basketball, which have the advantage on facilities in general. In general there is plenty of competition for your family pound, sporting or otherwise. What about marketing the sport towards people already interested in motorsports. Sure speedway is at a disadvantage in that you can't really go out and buy the equipment or a "road version" for everyday use like say a superbike or world rally car but in it's favour:- It's far more exciting at its best than all other motorsports which seem long drawn out affairs to me. That also means it's more TV friendly with natural breaks meaning none of the action is missed. Spectator friendly. If you go to see a rally you only see one car pass at a time or if you go to Donnington you only see the action at the part of the track you are at. With speedway you can see the lot. Far more chance of winner being decided late in the meeting. I find with other motorsports it's usually done and dusted well before the finish bar the odd fall/mechanical problem. Geographically representative. They have teams in other motorsports who are roughly based at a set location but they certainly aren't marketed as representing this country or that region. Spectator facilities aren't that great at many of the motorsport events. Motorsports fans are used to roughing it i.e standing on a hill in Wales in the snow. Speedway is cheaper. Sure you get a full days "entertainment" at other motorsports but mostly that's filler with the main attraction lasting about the same time as a speedway match. But most importantly speedway runs midweek every week. I can't think of another motorsport that does, certainly on a regular basis. Most of the big motorsports championships have huge followings so the interest is there but the opportunity to attend on a regular basis isn't. It just seems to me that speedway has never been marketed (perhaps full stop) as a motorsport to a market who are essentially starved of regular accesible action. And it's an international market aswell. Asian and Central Europe even South America seem to attract large crowds albeit once or twice a season. Speedway just seems content to pander to Poland Scandanavia and Britain. There's a huge market of motorsport fans out there but to my mind those who run speedway have done nothing to attract them.

To my mind to keep TV on board and attract good sponsorship you have to have substantial viewing figures both in terms of actual attendees and those watching on the box. To do that like it or not the GP's must take presidence. It stands to reason that the GP's attract a wider viewing audience as more countries are involved. Look at the new A1 series. It's contrived specifically to attract viewers from each of the competing nations. From a sponsors point of view they want to be associated with big events watched by large crowds that meet their target demographic. With all due respect potential new sponsors or TV viewers are more likely to be attracted to an event like Cardiff's GP than seeing 1000 people watching Peterborough beat Eastbourne at the East of England Showground. Doesn't really matter if Peterborough v Eastbourne had the better speedway we're in an age of style over content. Yes, essentially if the action is not entertaining you're in trouble but equally nowadays image is all important. Speedway could learn more from MotoGP than anyone else. It seems we always tend to view speedway against football but should the real blueprint not be that of MotoGP. Big crowds massive viewing figures big sponsors. Why can't speedway have proper GP teams like the Hamill Hancock Team Excide? In MotoGP the teams work together off track but on track it's individual against individual more or less and any team riding incidents add a touch of controversy. However as a consequence of growing the stature of the GP to attract more money and viewers into the sport it does mean that seeing GP riders every week would have to be a thing of the past. I know this will be universally unpopular but that's why international GP type series are well attended. With one or two chances only a year to see the top stars riding in your country you have to attend a GP if you want to see them. It's an occassion an event! It's important for any succesful sport to have big name stars to catch the publics imagination. Rossi, Flintoff, Wilkinson (Johnny not Carl). These type of stars can only be generated on a big stage. All this doesn't mean to say I'd like to see the demise of domestic league speedway. Far from it. Indeed by excluding the top GP stars from league racing the costs of domestic speedway would reduce. Standardisation of machinery would be more feasible and the domestic scene could be used as a breeding ground for young British riders to reach the GP series.

Could never see why teams aren't allowed to practice on track pre meeting. As stated previously riders seem to always talk about the track getting better after a few heats and it must give the away team a better chance to get to grips with an unfamiliar track rather than working it out during their first couple of rides by which time a meeting could already have been lost. All other sports, including motor sports in particular, seem to allow both teams/individuals sufficient practice as clearly improves the entertainment if all the participants are fully prepared. However, Premier League promoters in particular seem desperate for home wins so anything offering the away team a greater chance of success would surely be frowned upon. How about to kerb home track advantage team strengths are decided on a riders home average? Increase the points limit to 50 but based on home averages only. This would hopefully have the long term effect of forcing promoters to abandon producing tracks to heavily favour the home team, which is encouraged by the aggregate bonus point, as it would result in them having to track a lower overall strength team. It might also inspire a growing number of riders who appear to rely on their high home scores to put more emphasis on how they perform away from home. Hopefully the end result would be closer more exciting matches throughout the league?