Workington 2026

[piston197]

7 minutes ago, Marksman said:

🏁 UPRIGHT SPEEDWAY WEEKEND... - Workington Comets Speedway | Facebook

Ah, more speedway racing with a sideshow of an autojumble of speedway/grass track stuff, might suit Dean, Allstar speedway and a few memorabilia stalls, but NOT and autojumble, should be a cracking weekend watching the uprights, and hopefully one or 2 stallholders will make their diesel and stall money back ?

Here is an autojumble in case there is any confusion ( the rusty Ariel is sold !)

Bing Videos

Edited 8 hours ago by piston197

[Neila]

Sad day for comets fans but to be honest not surprising, as I think only 1 meeting reached a break even crowd, others were a bit away from the level required.

Thanks to Andrew Bain and back room people for getting us this far, thanks to the many sponsors big and small, as without them we would not have got this far.🔵⚪🏁. Gonna put a lottery ticket on to try and help the comets out

[YeOldPitGate]

1 hour ago, noaksey said:

Alternatively the sport as a whole looks at resolutions that would stop clubs losing serious money every season, perhaps this is what Coleman was getting at as in an 8 team premiership with everyone else in a watered down championship with reduced costs 

Something needs to change regardless 

Don't disagree with any of that Noaksey I personally think 8 and 8 way to go with top league once home and away in the perfect world top league standard 30% better than currently so every team has a proper number 1.

Second division twice home and away made up of the bottom 4-5 riders in division one plus youngsters from UK and any unpolished under 24 gems we could get from abroad.

Two issues straight off the bat is more money would be needed to fund an 8 team better quality top league and doubling up would have to stay for a while so it could pay for the bottom 60-70% of riders in league 1 being able to top up earnings in league 2.

I would restrict top league to once home and away if nothing else this alone would stem losses as fewer meetings and if you only saw Kurtz, Bewley etc once a season you might get more inclined to turn out. The caveat would be home meetings at least every fortnight not months between one home meeting and the next.

[Bandit59]

1 hour ago, Neila said:

Sad day for comets fans but to be honest not surprising, as I think only 1 meeting reached a break even crowd, others were a bit away from the level required.

Thanks to Andrew Bain and back room people for getting us this far, thanks to the many sponsors big and small, as without them we would not have got this far.🔵⚪🏁. Gonna put a lottery ticket on to try and help the comets out

Yes, agreed brilliant race track, feel for everyone involved so sad 

[SteelShoe]

Don't know what to say about this. The timing seems strange to say the least and is coming from James Denham who states he is giving up the team manager role next season anyway ?.  Will keep my thoughts to myself at this time until the situation becomes clearer. 

[Midget]

2 minutes ago, SteelShoe said:

Don't know what to say about this. The timing seems strange to say the least and is coming from James Denham who states he is giving up the team manager role next season anyway ?.  Will keep my thoughts to myself at this time until the situation becomes clearer. 

James Denham should never ever of been appointed team manager. 

[YeOldPitGate]

How were the crowds when they originally reopened I think it was under another Denham but from memory that fella had quite a bit of money behind him, were they poor then or like most clubs have they just declined over time due to the speedway ills we discuss on here daily ?

[SteveLyric2]

37 minutes ago, Midget said:

James Denham should never ever of been appointed team manager. 

He does have that real 'motivational twang' in his voice!!!😇

Seriously though, I thought the Glasgow owners were assisting financially?

[Woke23]

3 minutes ago, SteveLyric2 said:

He does have that real 'motivational twang' in his voice!!!😇

Seriously though, I thought the Glasgow owners were assisting financially?

Glasgow owners may have helped out last season but that was to get them out the situation we were in then. They are there on a consulting role more than anything.

This isn't a "workington" issue. Speedway is in a sorry state in general and most clubs will be running at a loss. Just look at Edinburgh who are heavily reliant on supporters charitable donations to stay alive.

The more supported clubs will obviously run at a profit but that will mean nothing when they have no other teams to play.

Something needs to change and we've all knew that for years. Will it change? Absolutely not. 

Shame, Ive really fallen back in love with Speedway since comets came to tapes 

[Neila]

4 hours ago, YeOldPitGate said:

How were the crowds when they originally reopened I think it was under another Denham but from memory that fella had quite a bit of money behind him, were they poor then or like most clubs have they just declined over time due to the speedway ills we discuss on here daily ?

Comets were reborn in this era by Andrew Bain who transformed the old Northside training track into the fantastic arena and racetrack it is now, in 2023 ran NDL was going to be a 2nd season of NDL until Godfrey and co disbanded the set up as was. Comets went into the main league in 2024 crowds were ok ish, think the problem this year was the very  disjointed fixtures, weeks between meetings,

Edited 2 hours ago by Neila

[YeOldPitGate]

35 minutes ago, Neila said:

Comets were reborn in this era by Andrew Bain who transformed the old Northside training track into the fantastic arena and racetrack it is now, in 2023 ran NDL was going to be a 2nd season of NDL until Godfrey and co disbanded the set up as was. Comets went into the main league in 2024 crowds were ok ish, think the problem this year was the very distant jointed fixtures, weeks between meetings,

I'm thinking more how were the crowds when they came back after a really long break at the previous home possibly late 90's early noughties I was only loosely following the sport at this point having giving up going 94-95 when I discovered the joys of beer and nightclubs in my early 20's.

[Neila]

34 minutes ago, YeOldPitGate said:

I'm thinking more how were the crowds when they came back after a really long break at the previous home possibly late 90's early noughties I was only loosely following the sport at this point having giving up going 94-95 when I discovered the joys of beer and nightclubs in my early 20's.

Tony mole and Ian Thomas reopened the comets in 1999 opening nite crowd was over 5000 😲 the next few years crowds were very good with many away following stoney and co . Then the local guy Keith Denham after years of being main sponsor Thomas Armstrong bought the club,in 2007 crowds started to dwindle, then in  October 2012 local lady Laura Morgan took over running the comets, unfortunately crowds were not the best at times, the comets ended in 2018 as treble winners 😄 but apart from the finals the crowds weren't great ,

Edited 3 hours ago by Neila

[Marksman]

It's an interesting interview with JD, he's always been an honest guy. So has basically just told it how it is.

Might get missed but he said that the club is in no danger at this present time, but I can totally see why it wouldn't be sustainable long term to run next season and beyond. I heard an averaged figure that the club is losing per meeting and although not ideal is probably pitance compared to what loss Sheffield and some Premiership clubs are running at.

IMO it is more a problem with certain factors out of our hands. The UK cost of living, rising costs of running a meeting and compounded by the British Speedway logic as a whole, when I look around the Arena the crowd levels don't strike me as that bad, the number of sponsorship boards is remarkable, crowd levels are probably what I would expect given what we are and where we are, and the fact we don't live in a pre-90's (pre-digital) age anymore, which is often forgotten on here.

Big changes are needed, and promotors like Mark Lemon need to get their head out of their arses and stop believing that a Premiership model with GP riders is sustainable for the good of British Speedway, and think of the bigger picture for every speedway club to survive,  that in itself does more damage than anything I believe, it is proven time and time again that the 2nd tier racing is the most competitive and exciting league IMO.

5 man teams would be a must for me for starters, and for the Comets it's amazing how much of a diference the crowd is when we face Glasgow, Redcar, Edinburgh etc. so more localised speedway would help.

Fans still seem to travel in numbers to away meetings from what i've seen, and Comets fans certainely repay the favour, there was loads that travelled to Redcar recently for example.