davidncohen

I think I may have even posted on this thread before, but how I arrived at it was by googling, when I had a few spare minutes, "whatever happened to speedway in the UK" or something similar. It's a great discussion, and I've checked out some of the more recent posts, but many of the comments are just focused on 'tinkering', and disappointingly, this has been going on for more years than I care to remember - how do you expect speedway to go _anywhere_ in the UK when there are millions of people in the UK who don't even know what it is / never heard of it? Post #81 stated "Doom ? its already doomed in the UK as a professional sport" - that's exactly how I have felt about speedway for several years now. Lots of people seem to have this idea that speedway can somehow become "bigtime" again. Never say never, and all that, but I just feel that speedway in the UK has had it's heyday (and it was _big_), and there are just too many factors involved to think "it will come again". I can't believe that people still come from the viewpoint "that if only we did this that or the other" it would be different. It's at a certain level now, and I just can't see it moving up the ladder again. Also, there's so much focus on the history of the sport in terms of DVDs, magazines,websites, that this surely provides less impetus etc. from the ground-up to make a big noise, and get new people interested. Other sports have survived and even thrived by attracting new audiences (e.g. football and the middle classes) and improving facilities - the time for speedway to attempt any of this and think it'll make a difference is long gone. David

Yes, he was known as the king of crash, but I recall one of his other nicknames was "the india rubber man" because he always "bounced back" from crashes.

BLRC at Hyde Road Speedway Express Open meetings that seemed to be worth watching and winning The WC qualifying rounds at British tracks The European Final Speedway on World of Sport Speedway being the 2nd largest spectator sport next to football The Swedes The year the Swedes were banned

Although 'never say never' this is something I've thought about a few times, and in the end I've also came to the same conclusion, and have to agree with you. There are people in the UK who've never even heard of speedway, so where are the new fans coming from? Unless we get 'our own Mark Cavendish' - someone very successful and who is a massive beacon for the sport, I can't see speedway in the UK going anywhere. This is back to the "If only we had this, that or the other..." line of argument, or "If only we changed this rule". It's all tinkering, and it gets you nowhere - it's the wrong focus. Going of on a further tangent -- Interesting that last years TV documentary 'Gears and tears' which featured stock car racing in 6-parts has done a lot for the sport - crowds were up, although I know one fan who thought it might water down what he described as an almost 'secret sport'. Stock car racing has never really tried to punch above it's weight that much, and although it has a much more domestic focus than speedway, I actually think it's much better value for money.

Very interesting and unusual point, although this thread is getting slightly off-topic, but still worthy. There are still plenty of people around who say "If only we had the one-off World Final again..."; "If only we had Wembley back again..."; "If only we had the qualifiers like we use to have...". Get my drift? These statements have been produced at various times since the GP started, at very regular intervals. When are these people going to move on? Speedway on the world scene has moved on, for better or for worse, and it isn't going back to how it was, so please get use to it. Most other motor sports are based on the GP type events (British F1 stock car racing still has a world final I'll grant you). The crowds that have come to many of the GPs in mainland Europe have really help bolster the sport in many of these countries. The GP is here to stay, it may not be perfect, but at least there has been some experimentation with the scoring system since inception... so get use to it. Too many UK based fans live in the past, and I'm sure this hasn't done the standing of speedway here any good - we were once the hotbed of the world scene - look where we are now. Interesting previous comment about whether a complete lack of British riders would impact crowds / media coverage at the British GP in Cardiff - I don't think so somehow, as many British fans follow "their man / favourite" who is / has certainly not always been a Brit. David

I don't know if this has come up much in the forum before but it's certainly something that has crossed my mind, i.e. the potential, for whatever reason, for there to be no British rider in a subsequent GP season. I suppose this brings up the wider context about British speedway's influence and British rider standings in the context of speedway's general progress / direction moving forward. Personally, I would prefer the best riders regardless of nationality, rather than the inclusion any British riders who by most people's reckoning don't really cut it. David

Just want to echo what many have already said. Well done to Tomasz Gollob, a great ride by Chris Harris, and Crump's record certainly puts him up there.

Just want to add that was a great clip from YouTube, and it brought a lump to my throat. ITV and Dave Lanning certainly brought some great coverage in the 70's... and what a great crowd, 20,000! I recall one of the quality newspapers of the time, who didn't normally do much speedway, publishing quite a big column on his retirement with the headline "White knight rides into the sunset"...

I was at the meeting and saw the Collins vs. Michanek run-off - some say it was the greatest match race ever, and certainly a great testament to a great track and two great riders. I saw quite a bit of Michanek in the 70's, and he was truly one of the most stylish riders of his era - even moving towards leg trailling quite often - wonderful. He was also featured on BBC's Superstars. I was truly pleased when he became world champ as a year (or was it two) before he was a world beater, but didn't really show in the World Final, where everyone expected him to do well (73 I think, the year Sczakiel won). Great man. David

I agree with above - it would certainly reward the riders who've really delivered the goods during their 5 rides, and with the top 6 instead of the top 8, going through, it would make it more cut and thrust. Good thread and posts. Formats will always be on the agenda, but at least there have been changes - you _must_ try new ways from time-to-time. Should there be some form of qualification to get into the GP series - I think on the whole it's fair (compare with football world cup, where all countries, bat the host) contest qualifying rounds. How this should be done I don't know. BSI probably like it now - they have the control which allows them to match riders, venues, host county popularity etc. They probably think this is the best way to try and get the sport more popular - it's hard to argue. David

TR will have to fail to make at least 2 semis from the rest of the meetings, together with his nearest rivals doing very well. There's still some way to go, but he does look in pretty good shape - 3 1sts and a 2nd ain't bad at all. If he equals Mauger's record that'll be amazing, although Ivan should've won more than 6, but we'll keep that discussion for another day :-) David

I sent an email up to C4 complaining that they'd moved the Speedway slot to early morning mid-week, about 10 days after each meeting. They took a while to reply, but said they'd pass the feedback on. I on;y have terrestrial TV. The C4 coverage of the British GP was good - some excellent racing too.

... which only goes to prove the old maxim that you can pleases some of the people some of the time etc. I certainly agree that the points scoring system could be looked at, as a few posts have pointed out. The old new format really mirrors the system of similar motor sports grand prix - everyone in it for mots of the event. Still, at least they're trying something new, err, old, err different :-) Oh yeh, nice to be back in this forum after a long absence. David