enotian

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?