moxey63

Two extra races means added costs.. not forgetting the so-called superstars who are in heat 15. How many fans does it need in the stadium to pay for this race alone? Saving this outlay may even persuade some promoters to reduce admission prices a squidge or hold them back for the next few years. If I was trying to save my outlay, this would be one avenue I'd explore. People say it's two less races, but nobody complains when matches are called at heat 12. Reducing the heats by even two may be a way of giving the fans something more attune to £10 speedway than the wad they pay now. The sport needs to cut corners. Next would be engine tuning for domestic speedway, which I question that it needs or can afford. Needless money going out of the sport, It isn't formula one, and there must be a way to halt money swilling out of the sport that it can barely afford.

Knew it wouldn't take long, so again I'm proved right. Least I know somebody reads my posts. Thank you to the resident know-it-all, MrBWitcher (the curtain-twitcher). Only joking mate, before you tell me they're blinds actually.

I too would like sensible rules. It is what any sport thrives on. I churn when I see riders slowing down near the flag to allow an opponent passed because they don't want their side to use double points farce. It happened as recent as in the World Cup last week. If a supporter of 40 years doesn't like it, why do you expect the media to suddenly cotton on that this speedway lark is the real deal. Speedway will only be saved by 13 heats and tac-sub for being six in arrears. We all know it... Another thing to help it move towards being taken more seriously by this man of sense, is ban bloody riders from multi-tasking and riding all over the place. It is team speedway that the sport thrives on, and that importance has evaporated over the past 10 years or so. I saw it start in the mid-90s, when a four-team meet at Belle Vue had to be delayed while some riders got delayed on their way back from the Swedish League or something. Nothing like staring at your programme for upto an hour while the boys booked to appear manage to drop by. I knew then we were just a day-in-the-week for many. They spread themselves much to fine, some of them do. Like somebody else mentioned, I couldn't give two doodles if riders decide to take their greed elsewhere. The main thing is that a fan, like me, can believe the blokes in their side are doing their best for his club. I mean, how many believe that superstar singer who greets his audience with the line "the best audience I've had." I'm amazed he knows where he even is... as I am about today's riders. When you ply your trade here, there and everywhere, it is just a job. When a rider in your team has a bad meeting, you want to know it's because he isn't saving himself or perhaps arranged with his boss to drop his average and allow for another signing for the Play-Offs. It makes me cringe, it does... when that Nige Pearson constantly tells the audience "he (whoever he may be) races here, in Sweden, Denmark, sometimes Poland and Russia, over here, over there.... Speedway riders have become agency workers and clubs are being used like company rep cars. Now... let's all have a go at moxey... Then again, I know whiteknight will give me a "like."

Probably asking the obvious question, compost.. but do you own the excellent Homes of British Speedway books by Jarvis and Bamford?

Yeah, perhaps... but I'd say anything to your face... but which one of the two,i don't know.

Longtrack used to leave me feeling cold. But out of the continuous winter... there's that PC v Muller race. Still remember it... it brings the coalfire glow into my heart.

Ooooh! What's up... missus got the remote? Pull your neck in man... the serious sports' fans are mocking you.

What crowd? Exactly! For some, it takes a few seconds to realise the sport is a circus act; others, it takes 50 years. I was quite quick... took me nearly 40 years!

How we can remember 40 years back, but have trouble naming this year's one-to-seven..

I am not saying that it hasn't happend in the past, but this was in the space of 24 hours. If you want a credible sport, this is one of the things that needs addressing. As I have felt for ages, the sport is all about getting the next match out of the way.

What... about the guest rider farce?

Yet another fan has realised the silliness of one of speedway long-established rules - the guest system - and it throwing up the case of Scott Nicholls. One night he's battling for his second-placed Belle Vue team against Wolves, who are top. The next thing, he drops in to the Wolves line-up as a guest, in the process battling to keep Wolves ahead in the table of his Belle Vue team! Dum-de-dum-de-dum...

Always thought there were too many spongers in the pits.

Sadly his behaviour says a lot about society in general. Hopefully, like those tattoos, he'll live to regret his four letter slip.

How come he looked such a fine prospect when immediately landing on these shores? The plane must have had a mighty fine speedway track on it or even Australia can produce some fine speedway riders. It has been known.

The debate regarding Tai being British or Australian continues.... If he were a four point rider, no one would give a jot. But as he's a prize for English gloryseeking, let's say he's from our country. But he let us down badly tonight... and so our merry band of glory seekers in sandals travels to Wimbledon tomorrow,with its flags and hats, this time praying that the young Brit Murray can satisfy our thirst for some sort of glory.... please, for god's sake. We just wanna be successful... anything, just anything.

Do you think speedway's so-called superstars are slightly immature? Barely 8 o' clock, and we have the World Champion needlessly using a four-letter word, and a press-conference like a school-room in which the young boys witness that first naked drawing in a text book.

Legends, not just legends, but club icons... like Peter Collins, whose old set of 1982 leathers just sold for nearly seven-hundred smackers! Couldn't quite see a pair of rumpled kevlars getting the same.

Never mind the rattle... I looked at the stadium last night and... where was this woman? The place looked empty...

You are so right. Speedway matches lost a lot of interest when the old tac subs were replaced. The spoils of a match are more predictable with the double bubble thingy. Speedway is more than racing, four blokes.. just my opinion - and grachan's.

Speedway's problem isn't fans wanting to get away early... it's getting them there in the first place!

Thought It as just me getting cynical, as I used to look away when the riders came on the lap of honour. There were more on the truck than on the terraces. At Belle Vue (Kirky Lane) as well, where half the stadium was closed. By the time the truck reached where the small crowd was, most of the gathering had either died or left for the last bus home.

Waiting nearly a week to find out the full scorers from meetings courtesy of the Speedway Star... Studying rider scores and the heats, the surprise when an underdog had beaten a big star... Arriving at the old Hyde Road, tannoy blaring, funfare in the background. Thumbling the freshly-purchased programme and looking down the line-up and heats... and the anticipation of what was in store that night. Feeling sick with nerves when the Aces went into the last heat needing something, relying on Peter Collins and Chris Morton to pull it off...

Here we go again. Speedway people together trying to have a nice conversation... and then come the insults. We have differing views, but are here because of speedway, which we are fond of. Now, come on... you wouldn't insult one another if stood side-be-side at the track. Now would you? No... thought not....

I was just thinking, how far team speedway has been harmed, especially since the GPs and their extension from six rounds to the 12 (or whatever) now. It got me thinking again... to 1990, and Shawn Moran and Richard Knight actually riding at Belle Vue just 24 hours before the World Final at Bradford.Another was Peter Collins riding for Belle Vue at Hackney on the eve of Wembley's big night in 1975. Individual importance had its place then, but the team (and club speedway) was what the sport was existing for. There was many, so many individual meetings, each track had two every season, but they were just a side dish. They worked alongside the club... Like Test matches have been shelved, it is more important that team speedway isn't regarded by those chasing individual glory as not worth unloading the bikes for. It's like the fella begging his missus not to leave, promising the earth to keep her. There is only so much begging your knees can take, for god's sake, so grow a pair speedway... and stop worrying about squad systems, not being able to race this day or that. Grow a blinking pair. There is room for GPs and domestic speedway, but perhaps not in all riders' minds. By bowing over backward to meet the needs of a few, it ain't doing the future prospects of team speedway much good.