Workington 2025

[H20]

Workingtons page on here has certainly brought in some good legal experts in the last 24hrs. Let's wait to hear whats gone on instead of just guessing.

The one thing I do agree with is the crowd levels, the speedway at Northside is brilliant and has the best views of any track in this country but why fans have not returned since it re-started is a mystery really. I understoood some fans staying away from the NDL league if not waanting to watch that standard even though I thought it was very good. Cost has to be a big factor espesially anyone wanting to attend with kids even worse if you have teenagers as that is an expensive hit. A fixture list that is simply crazy with all the gaps start stop start stop and that's without adding in the inevitable rain off's. I think that the start time is a big factor to low crowds because anyone working on a Saturday afternoon simply can not attend meetings and I know a few in that predicament, add in people doing things with there family on a Saturday plus other sporting events it's a big challenge to get a crowd on a Saturday afternoon.

[singy13]

Where is the 'guru'....the once forum mine of information?

Come back THJ you're needed asap!!!!!

[screm]

33 minutes ago, scaramanga said:

Cost is a factor 

20 quid don't sound much 

But a family can be 50 quid plus extras burgers ice cream 

Not many family's can afford that on regular basis 

Need to make kids as cheap as possible they are future paying fans 

Has anyone thought or found if there's 2 company's 

Training track and speedway as separate im sure it's not uncommon to run as 2 separate  

But id be more inclined that it is something more like this paperwork as non payment as non payment in speedway is more common than some like to admit 

or to be a bit more fair payment on time 

I`ve said for many seasons that nobody should be paying more than £15 at Championship level, £1 per race seems about right to me. You get the feeling with some promotions know that they have a hard chore of customers who they know will turn up pretty much every week and are quite happy to screw them every season with ever increasing admission prices.

Cost is an issue, as is irregular racing, its very easy to find other things to do on a race night.

[SteelShoe]

2 hours ago, geoff100 said:

I think 250 is a bit off the mark,but 3pm on a sat is not ideal for alot of fans .

It was more than 250 and I believe the figure excludes season ticket holders.

[mikebv]

1 hour ago, IainB said:

Cost is certainly a factor, there are many factors though. Speedway's pricing structure is a bit archaic, I linked to crickets T20 pricing a few weeks back and they have many pricing options. It's okay having kids for a quid or kids go free but what happens when they hit 16, 17 or 18 and they're faced with a 2000% price increase and they're earning minimum wage? They're probably lost to the sport until they're over 40 and have carved a decent living out for themselves. 

I am having less customers that last year...

So...

Should I?

a) Do some research to find out the truth as to why and fix the issues?

Or..

b) Increase my prices to those who still visit me to cover the shortfall? 

It must be such a tricky one to answer, hence so many promoters seem to opt for b)....

[SteelShoe]

12 minutes ago, SteelShoe said:

It was more than 250 and I believe the figure excludes season ticket holders.

The fact still remains that for alot of clubs expenditure is exceeding income.

[scaramanga]

2 minutes ago, mikebv said:

I am having less customers that last year...

So...

Should I?

a) Do some research to find out the truth as to why and fix the issues?

Or..

b) Increase my prices to those who still visit me to cover the shortfall? 

It must be such a tricky one to answer, hence so many promoters seem to opt for b)....

the problem partly is there are no promoters anymore   

just people who run speedway tracks   

glasgow do the kids race like it or loath it but how many others do anything before or during the meeting 

 

in the ian thomas days  he would get stunt riders ,fire eaters  circus performers   even rally cars trying to beat lap record amongst other things 

most tracks now just long periods between heats with nothing not even a rider interview  

[SteelShoe]

5 minutes ago, mikebv said:

I am having less customers that last year...

So...

Should I?

a) Do some research to find out the truth as to why and fix the issues?

Or..

b) Increase my prices to those who still visit me to cover the shortfall? 

It must be such a tricky one to answer, hence so many promoters seem to opt for b)....

It is a tricky one, for £20 plus do fans need a bit more than the racing for them to think it is good value for money and a right good day out ?. I will go whatever but still think it could offer more in the way of ancilliary entertainment especially for kids.

[scaramanga]

long walk for any without transport aswell at northside 

[geoff100]

1 hour ago, screm said:

I`ve said for many seasons that nobody should be paying more than £15 at Championship level, £1 per race seems about right to me. You get the feeling with some promotions know that they have a hard chore of customers who they know will turn up pretty much every week and are quite happy to screw them every season with ever increasing admission prices.

Cost is an issue, as is irregular racing, its very easy to find other things to do on a race night.

Dont think promotions screw the fans riders deserve every penny they can get but their has to be a cut off point,standard engines no big payouts to engine tuners do they really 4 helmets might be little things but costs need to match imcome !

[IainB]

36 minutes ago, scaramanga said:

the problem partly is there are no promoters anymore   

just people who run speedway tracks   

glasgow do the kids race like it or loath it but how many others do anything before or during the meeting 

 

in the ian thomas days  he would get stunt riders ,fire eaters  circus performers   even rally cars trying to beat lap record amongst other things 

most tracks now just long periods between heats with nothing not even a rider interview  

Bang on! There seems to very much be a "if you build it they will come" style of promoting that purvades the sport these days, with probably only Glasgow the exception. 

[gjcone44]

Plymouth do it

[Fromafar]

34 minutes ago, scaramanga said:

long walk for any without transport aswell at northside 

Think that is also an issue.Its a fair distance from Public Transport.Its a sign of the trouble the sport is in when such an entertaining track can’t get a decent level of support. most of the issues raised are valid though.

[IainB]

40 minutes ago, scaramanga said:

long walk for any without transport aswell at northside 

Where's @geoff100 with his coach when you need him 🤔😉😜

Seriously though, Oxford do it to and from their car park and to a much lesser extent Leicester with their golf cart to get the infirm up and down the hill on the approach to the stadium. 

Edited 4 hours ago by IainB

[geoff100]

Just now, IainB said:

Where's @geoff100 with his coach when you need him 🤔😉😜

Lol it was tried in the first season was hardly used so soon stopped .

[IainB]

4 minutes ago, geoff100 said:

Lol it was tried in the first season was hardly used so soon stopped .

That's fair enough, good on the promotion for doing it, maybe not the issue @scaramanga thinks it is then?

[screm]

In their Berrington Lough days, Berwick had a double decker every Saturday night, it was virtually empty on virtually every occasion.

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

1 hour ago, SteelShoe said:

It was more than 250 and I believe the figure excludes season ticket holders.

I’m told it was 250 but yes that could of excluded season ticket holders 

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

1 hour ago, scaramanga said:

the problem partly is there are no promoters anymore   

just people who run speedway tracks   

glasgow do the kids race like it or loath it but how many others do anything before or during the meeting 

 

in the ian thomas days  he would get stunt riders ,fire eaters  circus performers   even rally cars trying to beat lap record amongst other things 

most tracks now just long periods between heats with nothing not even a rider interview  

While I agree with this post, even Ian Thomas would struggle today, the financial world is collapsing, businesses are going to the wall at an alarming rate and even the multinational companies are seeing a downturn in business, people are starting to really feel it and questioning their free time expenditure, speedway is easy pickings because that’s where your post comes into play,up to this point speedway itself is 90% to blame for the state it is in but this year the crowds have plummeted at quite a few tracks, with a few doing ok and some doing ok when it’s an attractive fixture,there is no easy fix for this and it’s easy to blame the promoters but this time it’s not them 

[Normski]

45 minutes ago, screm said:

In their Berrington Lough days, Berwick had a double decker every Saturday night, it was virtually empty on virtually every occasion.

But the crowds were still decent