Workington 2025

[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

 

[Hawk127]

One of the main problems in this country is you do have enough money coming into the sport in sponsorship etc. to make it a viable proposition for the number of clubs and with riders wanting to be full time employees using kit which is far too expensive it is impossible to square the financial circle. Stadia want the rent, riders demand top dollar to earn a living and maintain equipment and pay mechanics etc and fewer pundits have disposal income to take a family of four week in week out. As Dean has already said, the bikes are not a lot faster than years back but a good deal more expensive to run and maintain. Do spectators really care if the race is a few seconds slower. As long as you are being entertained I do not see race times an issue. The British public are simply not in love with speedway like they use to be and it is a brave person who would invest in the current business model in the UK.

[singy13]

4 hours ago, singy13 said:

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

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

So then the 'guru' has responded - hope you don't mind me labelling that THJ - but welcome back marra.

Hope more have seen your response John.

Edited June 28 by singy13
updated

[H20]

Good points in that reply.

I remember when Workington first came back to the sport and it was only the top heat leaders that had two bikes and even half of them never used the 2nd bike it was just there. 2nd string riders and definitely reserves had one bike each. Most riders had another full time job.

Fast forward to now and every rider has 2 bikes and not many work during the season which then makes there income from speedway there sole income so needs to be at a level to pay for tuning cover spares and a van. I'm not knocking any rider for getting out of the sport what they can financial wise.

What I am saying is it's clear the sport as a whole is not viable going forward at this level. There is not enough money coming into the sport through sponsorship and gate money to cover the costs of the stadiums and riders.

Meaning in the not to distant future the sport at this level and costs will simply not be there, no clubs for riders to ride for. 

Speedway jumped ahead of motocross and most other motorcycle sports in the pay structure for riders but it's going to bankrupt itself as a sport because promoters have pushed rules to help there own ambitions not the sport as a whole to the point we have a handful of clubs who are sort of financially viable the rest loose money every year.

 

[Christine Hawes]

1 hour ago, IainB said:

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. 

Oxford have stopped the coach this season - it's a 10 minute walk from Unipart and if you have mobility problems like me that's a no-go.

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

22 minutes ago, H20 said:

Good points in that reply.

I remember when Workington first came back to the sport and it was only the top heat leaders that had two bikes and even half of them never used the 2nd bike it was just there. 2nd string riders and definitely reserves had one bike each. Most riders had another full time job.

Fast forward to now and every rider has 2 bikes and not many work during the season which then makes there income from speedway there sole income so needs to be at a level to pay for tuning cover spares and a van. I'm not knocking any rider for getting out of the sport what they can financial wise.future the sport at this level and costs will simply not be there, no clubs for riders to ride for. 

 

Be careful saying things like this will have Richie worral getting his head out of his bag of coke to slate you and inform you how wrong you are while being cheered on by the likes of Mike lemon 

[singy13]

1 hour ago, IainB said:

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 

Ian and Geoff Brownhutt did all those stuntmen, fire eaters, caravan chaos, circus performers etc, on a non speedway Sunday. There was a reported 8,000 crowd, including myself. The only speedway action that afternoon was between Comets Bob Valentine and Rochdale's Taffy Owen....Taffy won the best of three races 2-1. And then signed for the Comets.

He, Ian,  did bring such as Jim Bowen and Ken Dodd as guests at Friday night speedway meetings in the 1970's. 

Ian also was an expert at winding the crowd up to vent anger at bad referee decisions - the centre green phone took some hammer in those days lol.(banned nowadays)..

Ian also did bring the rally car duel v Richard Lawson at Derwent Park in the 2000 era......they started at half a lap apart, think Richard won?...

[Roger Jacobs]

2 hours 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  

Can't imagine the fire eaters broke the track record 😉

At Foxhall, Paul Johnson brought in a few acts to try to jazz it up, but I thought they detracted from the speedway.  One was a guy who could jump from a height into a paddling pool (not quite, but you get my drift), and they set it up on the centre green, so that wherever you were a bit of your view of the track was blocked.

These days, I'm not convinced that sort of stuff would get enough additional punters in to offset the cost of hiring them. Don't forget that when Ian Thomas was promoting there were still music hall acts, TVs were something of a luxury and definitely no computers.

[StevePark]

8 minutes ago, Roger Jacobs said:

Can't imagine the fire eaters broke the track record 😉

At Foxhall, Paul Johnson brought in a few acts to try to jazz it up, but I thought they detracted from the speedway.  One was a guy who could jump from a height into a paddling pool (not quite, but you get my drift), and they set it up on the centre green, so that wherever you were a bit of your view of the track was blocked.

These days, I'm not convinced that sort of stuff would get enough additional punters in to offset the cost of hiring them. Don't forget that when Ian Thomas was promoting there were still music hall acts, TVs were something of a luxury and definitely no computers.

Don Lindbergh.... Ian Thomas had him at Newcastle in 1977 too.

Edited June 28 by StevePark

[singy13]

11 minutes ago, Roger Jacobs said:

Can't imagine the fire eaters broke the track record 😉

At Foxhall, Paul Johnson brought in a few acts to try to jazz it up, but I thought they detracted from the speedway.  One was a guy who could jump from a height into a paddling pool (not quite, but you get my drift), and they set it up on the centre green, so that wherever you were a bit of your view of the track was blocked.

These days, I'm not convinced that sort of stuff would get enough additional punters in to offset the cost of hiring them. Don't forget that when Ian Thomas was promoting there were still music hall acts, TVs were something of a luxury and definitely no computers.

Ian Thomas and Geoff Brownhutt used those guys, including the guy jumping into a paddling pool, as seperate events from speedway meetings. All to make them a fortune, but enjoyable fun nevertheless.

[scaramanga]

1 hour ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

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 

agree 

its catch 22 need the income to put a good event on 

and need to put a entertaining event on to get the crowds in

[M.D]

1 hour ago, H20 said:

I remember when Workington first came back to the sport and it was only the top heat leaders that had two bikes and even half of them never used the 2nd bike it was just there. 2nd string riders and definitely reserves had one bike each. Most riders had another full time job.

Fast forward to now and every rider has 2 bikes and not many work during the season which then makes there income from speedway there sole income so needs to be at a level to pay for tuning cover spares and a van. I'm not knocking any rider for getting out of the sport what they can financial wise.

What I am saying is it's clear the sport as a whole is not viable going forward at this level. There is not enough money coming into the sport through sponsorship and gate money to cover the costs of the stadiums and riders.

Meaning in the not to distant future the sport at this level and costs will simply not be there, no clubs for riders to ride for. 

Speedway jumped ahead of motocross and most other motorcycle sports in the pay structure for riders but it's going to bankrupt itself as a sport because promoters have pushed rules to help there own ambitions not the sport as a whole to the point we have a handful of clubs who are sort of financially viable the rest loose money every year.

 

You make some good and valid points.

This is a major problem in the sport, there are kids coming into the sport now who have really good backing and are sitting on rocket ships. the only way young talented kids will make the grade is to match this and then if and when they do move up a level, they find the established older riders are also on well maintained top quality bikes.

So, in essence, every rider is after more money from the promotors to keep up equipment to a level to compete, thus teams are paying more money out to riders that they can't afford and in turn, riders need this money to compete on a level playing platform. Spiralling costs for a rider is a vicious circle that is bringing the sport to its knees.

[Fromafar]

1 minute ago, M.D said:

You make some good and valid points.

This is a major problem in the sport, there are kids coming into the sport now who have really good backing and are sitting on rocket ships. the only way young talented kids will make the grade is to match this and then if and when they do move up a level, they find the established older riders are also on well maintained top quality bikes.

So, in essence, every rider is after more money from the promotors to keep up equipment to a level to compete, thus teams are paying more money out to riders that they can't afford and in turn, riders need this money to compete on a level playing platform. Spiralling costs for a rider is a vicious circle that is bringing the sport to its knees.

Until Promoters stop paying riders more money than is coming into the Clubs the problem will never end.Just the sport.

[Normski]

Just now, Fromafar said:

Until Promoters stop paying riders more money than is coming into the Clubs the problem will never end.Just the sport.

To many clubs have a Champagne lifestyle on a Irn Bru budget

[M.D]

1 minute ago, Fromafar said:

Until Promoters stop paying riders more money than is coming into the Clubs the problem will never end.Just the sport.

Agree, but the riders need more and more money to be able to compete, its a no win situation, we can't just change the sport back to the times when you can run an upright and be competitive on it.

[SteelShoe]

2 hours ago, IainB said:

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. 

Apparently over 120 expressed an interest in coming from Worky town centre on a bus in the first season. Andrew duly organised a bus running at set times and only 20 or so used this over the first 2 meetings. As Geoff100 stated it was deemed unsustainable.

[mikebv]

3 hours ago, IainB said:

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. 

On Phil The Aces FB page, Phillip Lanning goes into great detail about what the Aces are doing, (at some cost), to attract new fans...

Sadly, they are missing the point..

Getting the "lapsed ones" back is what should be being focused on..

Dean says cost of living is an issue, and I agree..

I say Mickey Mouse WWE rules keep people away in 2025, (you could get away with it in 1975 to 1995, now you cannot)...

(Four guests and RR anyone? Lovely, form an orderly queue, no pushing in)...

Some say the overall entertainment package is poor, and they are correct.. 

The sport is trying to attract a younger demographic. And it is not the right target market..

These kids are either at Uni dreaming about a zero hours contract somewhere at the end of it...

Or, already working on a zero hours contract, with a maximum 16 hours a week guaranteed...

Those of us, of "ahem" a "certain age" had full time jobs, and pensions which had full time earnings feeding in to them...

"We" (the many thousands of us), who used to go regularly, and still passionately follow the sport, but attend "now and again", are the ones to target...

We have the disposable income to spend, the Under 30's often don't...

First though, instead of reading and listening to "conjecture and theory" as to why crowds are down...

EFFING FIND OUT!!!

Get the facts!!!

Dont waste marketing money on attracting a cash strapped younger singles and family demographic, who they expect to go once, spend £25 and upwards on something they have little knowledge of, and be immediately hooked, (again folly but that's for another time)..

And instead, spend the money on market research to find out why more passionate Speedway fans WONT attend meetings this week than the numbers that will...

Find out the collective generic 3 biggest barriers to attending...

And fix the b*stards...

Edited June 28 by mikebv

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

7 minutes ago, M.D said:

Agree, but the riders need more and more money to be able to compete, its a no win situation, we can't just change the sport back to the times when you can run an upright and be competitive on it.

Well yes we can and it’s not difficult or expensive but and here is the problem, how do you police it, a classic example is the GT140 grasstrack which has become very popular, a standard engine costs around £450 and was seen as a bit of fun and entry level to bigger things but now as it’s popularity has grown riders are buying heads for these engines that cost more than double the cost of the engine, all for that little edge, one tuner has been banned because he was putting all sorts of trick stuff in the engines, it can be policed but it is hard 

[szkocjasid]

12 minutes ago, Fromafar said:

Until Promoters stop paying riders more money than is coming into the Clubs the problem will never end.Just the sport.

Totally agree, riders say you have you pay X amount because that's what bikes cost. But really it should be riders get paid based on how much income clubs get from the gates & sponsors. Clubs willing to run at a loss is bizarre to me.

Riders won't like it, but as other have said they used to have to work & ride. Maybe it's best the Champ goes back to what it was like when Workington returned?

You could say ideally the Champ is for riders who live & work over here. Prem riders can chase Poland etc.

[Fromafar]

19 minutes ago, M.D said:

Agree, but the riders need more and more money to be able to compete, its a no win situation, we can't just change the sport back to the times when you can run an upright and be competitive on it.

You  could stop paying equivalent of Annual Salary for a 5 month season in UK. Majority of Top Earners also ride in Europe too,would like to see the Average P60 for riders. Time to call their bluff .IMO.