Workington 2025

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

29 minutes ago, singy13 said:

So we've got lots of theories re the Workington problem - some good reading for sure.

Obviously the answer will appear in time - be it visa or money orientated we'll find out eventually.

But re cash flow one thing that struck me, as a bit scary, was the comment in the Comets first programme this season from Team Manager James Denham : I quote ....."We are extremely grateful to everyone who supports the Comets-sponsors and fans-but last year we did struggle with crowds and without the help of the sponsors we would not have been back this year". 

 Like I said to me it was perhaps a scary statement to make. I thought last years crowds seemed fine, but obviously I can't count lol.

Whatever the current situation is the fact remains crowd numbers are not enough, there are of course other incomes like track hiring, flat track, even talk of car boot sales there and things like the comets lager which all generate income and the previous mentioned sponsorship but ultimately the club should be able to support itself from gate money, Workington for me is the role model for all tracks/set up for our sport especially any potential new one and if cradley ever get planning this will be their model too but the sport seems to be letting it down

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

12 minutes ago, IainB said:

When did having your name written on your wheel rim make anybody go faster? It all costs and it's totally absurd!

When I started out in 1991 you went to a training school and the bikes were literally nailed together,1 bike, frames were as bent as Graham Norton and if you had a matching set of mudgaurds you were seen as flash, race suits were hand me downs with holes in the arse cheeks but it all had an innocence about it, go to one today and even riders who can’t get a skid on have new equipment, I have a guy by where I live, can barely skid the bike but has 3 GMs in Jawa chassis, never going to make a rider just does it for fun but has top equipment, remember in motox in the 80s/90s there were kids that we called all the gear no idea well from about 2010 onwards speedway has them now 

[Mr Blobby]

From what I’ve been told Seems Mr Bain hasn’t produced any accounts for the last 2 years they’ve had several warnings from HMRC and been chased about it and have ignored the lot, hence the HMRC  dissolving northside speedway on the 17th.

This effecting the visas of Hook and Bowes. They also ran the match last week against Plymouth with no licences or insurance as was ran after the 17th. Feel this is going to take a lot longer than a week to resolve, as not going to get licences, insurance and visas all sorted in that space of time. 
 

Hopefully they can get back on their feet soon as there is a lot of individuals who have worked hard to get the place to where it is now.

Edited June 29 by Mr Blobby

[MattB]

12 hours ago, mikebv said:

Since the GP riders effed off to Poland when the Sky money ended, this has been the only outcome...

However. Steadfastly, season after season,  it's been voided by the promoters...

Even COVID saw zero change and it was a free hit to be radical..

Why?

No idea, the reality must have stared them in the face, yet they spent the best part of a decade fudging each week and pretending what they delivered had some relevance. (With the collusion of a compliant fanbase)...

When Speedway was successful, the top 3 or so in each team were fully professional, with good sponsorship off setting the cost to the clubs.. 

The other four members of each team usually had jobs but were happy to earn a weeks money worth from  their main job, each night, several times a week, by riding Speedway..

Now we have professional NDL riders....

And punters pay for this with ridiculous admission fees given the miniscule size of the sport, year on year..

Utterly effing crackers...

 

 

 

I remember several years ago Ole Olsen saying something along the lines of "British Speedway should shut down for a year and have a good long think about its product".

Well the perfect opportunity landed in its lap 5 years ago with the Speedway-less year of 2020.  A perfect opportunity to look at itself and have a proper reset.

Instead,  it just sat on its hands and waited for the green light, then picked up where it left off in 2019.

[M.D]

1 hour ago, macky said:

I have said this before but will repeat what I see as one of the main issues. I started going to speedway in 1967, Wimbledon v Swindon and would travel from Canterbury to Wimbledon and Hackney weekly. When Canterbury started I went to every home match and the majority of away matches. When Canterbury closed I would go to Coventry, Oxford,Eastbourne or Reading at least one meeting a week just to get my speedway fix.

When Lakeside moved up a league I went there every week also most of their away matches. (Didn't go before as I did not like a track with no fence)

This all finished when Poole started their win at all costs regardless of the harm it caused speedway. Sign GP riders and drop regular riders when they reached the play offs each year. The final straw came when they called off a meeting against Lakeside who they had lost against three weeks earlier because Chris Holder was injured. I had booked a day off work for this meeting upsetting my work mate who also wanted the day off. Then the farce at Belle Vue when they needed to win by six points, this they managed as the meeting was called off the moment they went six in front.

I stopped going to Speedway from that moment, not even going to Sittingbourne when they started.  Speedway is a brilliant sport when the teams are equal and riders only ride for one team apart from the juniors.

I suspect the answer is two leagues. Division one and up and comers league with these riders being able to ride as reserves or replacements in division one. NO guest riders in either league. Pay riders what the promotion can afford and if that means less foreign/GP riders so be it.

I would rather see a match with six or seven equal riders rather than one or two top riders winning every race.

 

 

 

If you want to go and see a speedway meeting again in its purest form, come and watch a meeting with the Kent Eagles at Iwade. If you do, message me on here and I will get you 2 free tickets, you never know, it may rekindle your love for the sport once more.

[IainB]

17 hours ago, Roger Jacobs said:

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.

I think the point is there is not really anybody of the Ian Thomas type in the current era knowing what makes the 20 to 30 something tick

16 hours ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

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 

Wasn't this the idea of buying all of those GTR engines? Instead of saying if you want to ride BL you ride a GTR the powers that be just caved to the riders who wanted there own personalised engine heads on their super tuned GM motors.

13 hours ago, Fromafar said:

Definitely think a Saturday Afternoon is not good day to run a meeting.But don’t know the main decision for this .Know the don’t have floodlights. accommodating rider demands is killing the sport fixtures are too sporadic.Fans could probably accept once a Fortnight better.

I think it's to allow riders to fly out to Poland and earn a fortune on a Sunday afternoon.

[MattB]

1 hour ago, bellevueace said:

I totally agree the team aspect has disappeared, i dont know if its because nowadays riders are team mates one night and opponents the next there does feel more familiarity in the pits than there used to be. That edge of real rivalry between teams doesnt exist today. Ive never forgot the scenes in the early 70,s during the heat 13 fracas against Leicester, that passion is nowhere to be found today. Riders were loyal to their clubs as you said it was their club, i could never imagine Wilkie, PC, Mort at another club similar Lee was always associated with Kings Lynn along with Betts, Louis and Sanders at Ipswich etc, but they wernt riding for 3 or 4 clubs every other night. I dont know if it makes a difference but riding against someone on a Monday and then with them as team mates on Tuesday there must be more familiarity. Just a thought you are better qualified to judge if this does have an effect. Teams also used to ride as teams good team riding was common place, nowadays in the main its gate and go and leave your team mate to it, team meetings are now individual with the odd rare exception.

That's because British Speedway has become so woke and doesn't want anything controversial because "we don't want to see that".

[IainB]

9 minutes ago, MattB said:

That's because British Speedway has become so woke and doesn't want anything controversial because "we don't want to see that".

You only had to watch Sedgy stuffing Drew Kemp over the finishing line at Sheffield on Thursday night on BSN (or actually being there, as I was)... instead of Kemp showing Sedgmen his back wheel after the race, and I'm pretty sure most of us were looking for some reaction, all we got was a barely noticeable shake of the head from Kemp as he pulled up back at the pits. 

Even though I've singled this out, I'm not particularly singling out this incident as Kemp may not be that type of person, but it's symptomatic of the perceived lack of passion of riders riding for teams/clubs. If they don't really give a toss why should we? Again, I stress this is not having a go at either Kemp or Sedgeman. 

You watch a Football match and players are busting a blood vessel because a throw in hasn't gone their way, Speedway... it's all kisses and cuddles after a race. We perhaps don't want to go down the Football route as that attracts a very different kind of fan but there maybe room for a little more passion in Speedway.

Edited June 29 by IainB

[mikebv]

12 minutes ago, MattB said:

I remember several years ago Ole Olsen saying something along the lines of "British Speedway should shut down for a year and have a good long think about its product".

Well the perfect opportunity landed in its lap 5 years ago with the Speedway-less year of 2020.  A perfect opportunity to look at itself and have a proper reset.

Instead,  it just sat on its hands and waited for the green light, then picked up where it left off in 2019.

100℅...

Dean has mentioned (without quite correctly breaking any confidences), that next season some "radical" changes hav e already been decided upon which "may upset a few die hards" of the sport...

This means that the actual promoters who have led the sport to its current position (by avoiding all the clear and obvious changes that needed to be made), have now put together the plan to sort the mess out..

But have done it, once again, without actually finding out from the fans why the mess is there in the first place...

The company I worked for spent millions on  designing the largest loyalty card database in the world and have reaped many, many more thousand's of millions in return through it.

With the biggest opportunity being those who go several weeks without using it, "the goneaways" being sent money off vouchers for their next several visits...

We also ensured literally thousands of customers fed back to us each week as to their concerns or issues.

We then used this feedback to sort the issues out at both local level, or national level as part of the overall strategy if it was a generic national issue..

I genuinely hope their plan is a great one, however, history suggests they are not the best at running a team sport with clear strategy and fit for purpose regulations..

And they definitely haven't been great at listening to the myriad of unsolicited constructive feedback they have been given through social media,letters in the Speedway Star, and, probably biggest of all, they havent "listened" to all the ever growing gaps in their stadia, and found out why "the goneaways" went. 

[Ajr]

14 minutes ago, mikebv said:

100℅...

Dean has mentioned (without quite correctly breaking any confidences), that next season some "radical" changes hav e already been decided upon which "may upset a few die hards" of the sport...

I hope they remove the play offs to decide league WINNERS

IMO it makes all the previous matches and results irrelevant. 

what's the point of following your team home and away all season? You could win every meeting home and away ,suffer injury to riders prior to semi final or final and potentially end up with nothing. one of the biggest reasons I don't travel away

Edited June 29 by Ajr

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

24 minutes ago, mikebv said:

100℅...

Dean has mentioned (without quite correctly breaking any confidences), that next season some "radical" changes hav e already been decided upon which "may upset a few die hards" of the sport...

Don’t know if they are actually going ahead yet but they are certainly floating whatever it is they have around their members and that’s where it becomes a closed door, I have good friends within the sport and even those are not being told,I only know something is afoot and it is supposed to be drastic,the bit I posted about upsetting a few was a chat with a promoter about a way he thought was a way forward and he as going to put it to the bspl,the 2 may not be connected 

Edited June 29 by THE DEAN MACHINE

[Mumsie]

I fear nothing can save British speedway now.

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

Just now, Mumsie said:

I fear nothing can save British speedway now.

Something can, what or who is the question 

[Youhave2minutes]

8 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

Something can, what or who is the question 

It’s doomed.

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

What worries me about any plan that may be a foot is the people it’s being left to do it, it’s nothing personal, I’m sure they are great people but when it comes to sorting out something so big as the mess that we are in we need someone independent with a background in modern day sports promotion and the corporate world,someone who could sell oil to the Arabs,of the current bspl/scb not singling out anyone but you can’t even get them to return your calls or emails, I know these people care about the sport and have the sport at heart but when it comes to dealing with real big wigs from the corporate world the difference in the room is huge,you may aswel have an English man trying to deal with a china man and neither speak the other’s language, we are at the crossroads, we either find this person’s or we go the amatuer way and try to rebuild the sport from the bottom which is fine to point with me but maybe not with others 

Edited June 29 by THE DEAN MACHINE

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

32 minutes ago, Ajr said:

I hope they remove the play offs to decide league WINNERS

IMO it makes all the previous matches and results irrelevant. 

what's the point of following your team home and away all season? You could win every meeting home and away ,suffer injury to riders prior to semi final or final and potentially end up with nothing. one of the biggest reasons I don't travel away

Because it’s the only commercial success in British speedway but i get your point 

Edited June 29 by THE DEAN MACHINE

[piston197]

These minority sports got sorted out 

 Through Matchroom, Hearn is also involved in many sports including boxing, snooker, darts, pool, tenpin bowling, golf, table tennis and fishing.

Providing the product to mainstream TV means the public watch and follow and be prepared to attend these previously ignored minor sports, selling a poor product via a pay to view stream or a TV franchise which needs subscription will never promote the product successfully as you are only looking at an existing/shrinking fan base .

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

1 hour ago, IainB said:

Wasn't this the idea of buying all of those GTR engines? Instead of saying if you want to ride BL you ride a GTR the powers that be just caved to the riders who wanted there own personalised engine heads on their super tuned GM motors.

Interesting to read posts recently by GM engines themselves, they seem to want standardised engines with harder tyres and less revs, they make a Standard GM witch costs less but say there is no call for it 

[piston197]

12 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

Interesting to read posts recently by GM engines themselves, they seem to want standardised engines with harder tyres and less revs, they make a Standard GM witch costs less but say there is no call for it 

Here is how the Karting world do it with the club 100 Junior Britain class

perhaps the promoters should look at this model, all riders on the same kit,? but maybe mechanics allowed to alter sprockets, timing carburettor settings only, on the day, each rider given a standard bike at the start of the event and allowed a couple of laps to see how the track behaves, before making the basic changes to timing/gearing/jetting prior to racing

 

CLUB100 Junior/Senior Karts

All the karts are race prepared before each day’s events by a top team of mechanics and test drivers, no expense is spared to ensure the equipment performs to it’s full potential, leaving it down to the driver to make the difference!

The Karts

All the karts are race prepared before each day’s events by a top team of mechanics and test drivers, no expense is spared to ensure the equipment performs to its full potential, leaving it down to the driver to

The Karts

All the karts are race prepared before each day’s events by a top team of mechanics and test drivers, no expense is spared to ensure the equipment performs to its full potential, leaving it down to the driver to

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

32 minutes ago, piston197 said:

Here is how the Karting world do it with the club 100 Junior Britain class

perhaps the promoters should look at this model, all riders on the same kit,? but maybe mechanics allowed to alter sprockets, timing carburettor settings only, on the day, each rider given a standard bike at the start of the event and allowed a couple of laps to see how the track behaves, before making the basic changes to timing/gearing/jetting prior to racing

 

CLUB100 Junior/Senior Karts

All the karts are race prepared before each day’s events by a top team of mechanics and test drivers, no expense is spared to ensure the equipment performs to it’s full potential, leaving it down to the driver to make the difference!

The Karts

All the karts are race prepared before each day’s events by a top team of mechanics and test drivers, no expense is spared to ensure the equipment performs to its full potential, leaving it down to the driver to

The Karts

All the karts are race prepared before each day’s events by a top team of mechanics and test drivers, no expense is spared to ensure the equipment performs to its full potential, leaving it down to the driver to

Standardise engines is more problematic in speedway because unlike other motorsports it has 100% wheel spin where all other sports are 100% direct drive, engines can be made the same but if you have a rider like zagar over 6ft and a rider like Ben cook at around 5 foot they clearly require different engine characteristics to work for them, it is possible to get some form of standardisation but there isn’t the will to do it, a classic example of the ridiculous nature of speedway is the rev limiter, it got mooted that they wanted to limit the revs so they asked the tuners and not wanting to hurt their business set the limit at a higher rev than is actually used during a race, so every rider was made to buy a coil per bike with a limiter which in reality does absolutely nothing during a race, you may here it cut in with some riders on the start line but under load it’s not used but if you had a limiter at say 10,000 revs riders and tuners would have kittens 

Edited June 29 by THE DEAN MACHINE