cowboy cookie returns? Posted February 18 Report Share Posted February 18 1 hour ago, Neila said: Less than 4 weeks to the official season starts 6 weeks till Easter, normally prime speedway crowds. BUT yet still no fixtures 😲 people are wanting to plan their lives and family time 🤔 Maybe Easter is prime in some areas for crowds but Ipswich haven’t ridden at home for about 8 years on Good Friday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Jacobs Posted February 18 Report Share Posted February 18 On 2/17/2026 at 9:49 AM, piston197 said: Myself and 2 mates ( one of which went to Broadmoor, but enough of that) ran a mobile disco for a couple of years in my late teens with 2 Garrard SP25 MKIV decks running through a Marshall Valve amp and 2 Marshall cabinets, no sound to light in those days, lots of lights powered by rotary columns of microswitches on different dwell cams, all taken from old Xerox copier mechanical timing arrays. Is it you that’s representing UK at Eurovision?! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamonds85 Posted February 18 Report Share Posted February 18 9 hours ago, Aries said: Well, one week down of the latest two week turnaround! Will we get a sale confirmation by this time next week, or will we get another “update” of another delay? The suspenders are killing me! 😁 We'll get another '2 week delay' this time next week... But don't worry once that 2 week delay is done, there'll be another 2 week delay. Wonder how many 2 week delays into the season they can bulls hit us with until people start to realise... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piston197 Posted February 18 Report Share Posted February 18 (edited) 1 hour ago, Roger Jacobs said: Is it you that’s representing UK at Eurovision?! How is the trials bike going Roger ? I am Well qualified, being tone deaf and could not hold a tune in a bucket, yes have seen a brief clip of "Look mum no Computer" reminds me of the time I saw the band Mogwi, those sort of people must do it for their own entertainment as it does not seem to entertain a lot of others ! Edited February 18 by piston197 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonny the spud Posted February 18 Report Share Posted February 18 ….. and they wonder why riders sign elsewhere 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTT Posted February 18 Author Report Share Posted February 18 8 hours ago, Aries said: I dunno actually. We think along those lines because we’re part of a very very small pool of supporters that regularly frequent this forum. The vast majority of supporters that turn up at their tracks will have gotten on with their lives over the winter and been oblivious to the finer details of club sales and a new track. I’d bet there actually isn’t that many who are like kids at Christmas and want to know what they’re getting yesterday. A bigger number will be confused at there being no fixtures or season tickets on sale sure, but I’m not convinced it’ll be a dealbreaker! From a personal point of view, after a long winter I’m at the point now where I’ve missed the racing and I’m looking forward to getting up to Lynn in a few weeks to watch some Speedway. Same here. Light at the end of the tunnel after all of the frustration this winter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted February 18 Report Share Posted February 18 19 minutes ago, Jonny the spud said: ….. and they wonder why riders sign elsewhere 100%. Cannot blame them... And it will be the most die hard fans that get impacted the most too... These fans are truly the life blood of the sport given the low numbers of regulars at most tracks, and many of them will plan their whole summer around their Speedway fixtures, eg. booking holidays, and planning other leisure pursuits... Your very best customers, and you are not treating them well... Not a great idea... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevebrum Posted February 18 Report Share Posted February 18 Where on earth has the talk of Thorssell on a 4.5 average come from? he’s easily a heat leader in any team in the UK. Barmy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aries Posted February 18 Report Share Posted February 18 1 minute ago, stevebrum said: Where on earth has the talk of Thorssell on a 4.5 average come from? he’s easily a heat leader in any team in the UK. Barmy. Not sure I believe that one either to be honest. We’ll see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawk127 Posted February 18 Report Share Posted February 18 Those in charge of the sport have created their own self inflicted nadir. It is not just about Ipswich or Mayfield (assuming they are officially the new owners of the Witches) it is collectively where the sport goes from here. Club owners/promoters are treating loyal supporters with such contempt, riders think the punters owe them a living and the up and coming talent is squeezed out by the double uppers who selfishly could not care one iota about the pipe stream of potential talent that is trying to break into the sport. Promoters, management and double uppers are the ruinous tribe who are bringing the sport to its knees and for it to survive a radical shake up is needed. Ipswich have ignited an issue but in reality the sport is on its knees and things need to change. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teromaafan Posted February 18 Report Share Posted February 18 20 minutes ago, Hawk127 said: Those in charge of the sport have created their own self inflicted nadir. It is not just about Ipswich or Mayfield (assuming they are officially the new owners of the Witches) it is collectively where the sport goes from here. Club owners/promoters are treating loyal supporters with such contempt, riders think the punters owe them a living and the up and coming talent is squeezed out by the double uppers who selfishly could not care one iota about the pipe stream of potential talent that is trying to break into the sport. Promoters, management and double uppers are the ruinous tribe who are bringing the sport to its knees and for it to survive a radical shake up is needed. Ipswich have ignited an issue but in reality the sport is on its knees and things need to change. Doubling up is the sport’s biggest problem for me. Whilst you could accuse riders of being greedy, they are only going along with what the controlling body permits. For that reason, you cannot blame riders for wanting to maximise their earnings. We all know that Premier League footballers are paid obscene money…..but if someone is prepared to offer these amounts? The BSPA are afraid of the (short term) consequences of doing away with doubling up, but it is essential for the future of the sport if it is to move forward. As I’ve said previously, riders should only be allowed to double up if they’ve been kicked in the b*lls. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted February 19 Report Share Posted February 19 10 hours ago, Teromaafan said: Doubling up is the sport’s biggest problem for me. Whilst you could accuse riders of being greedy, they are only going along with what the controlling body permits. For that reason, you cannot blame riders for wanting to maximise their earnings. We all know that Premier League footballers are paid obscene money…..but if someone is prepared to offer these amounts? The BSPA are afraid of the (short term) consequences of doing away with doubling up, but it is essential for the future of the sport if it is to move forward. As I’ve said previously, riders should only be allowed to double up if they’ve been kicked in the b*lls. Doubling Up is cost effective for both leagues as they both can share the wages of the rider.. The top league certainly couldn't afford to pay third HL's and Second Strings what they earn collectively from their two jobs, given the GP riders will be high earners... And, if no doubling up, the second tier could only maybe afford one of these riders each in their teams, (rather than 3 which some have), resulting in them having to fill the bottom end of their teams with several NDL level riders... What started out as a laudable development tool has been allowed to become a farce.... Driven by the usual lack of any mid or long term plan to develop enough riders to compete (especially), in the 2nd tier... 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FAST GATER Posted February 20 Report Share Posted February 20 21 hours ago, mikebv said: Doubling Up is cost effective for both leagues as they both can share the wages of the rider.. The top league certainly couldn't afford to pay third HL's and Second Strings what they earn collectively from their two jobs, given the GP riders will be high earners... And, if no doubling up, the second tier could only maybe afford one of these riders each in their teams, (rather than 3 which some have), resulting in them having to fill the bottom end of their teams with several NDL level riders... What started out as a laudable development tool has been allowed to become a farce.... Driven by the usual lack of any mid or long term plan to develop enough riders to compete (especially), in the 2nd tier... Half the problem is riders trying to make a full time living out of the sport instead realising it's a paying hobby for the vast majority of them . 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Siggytastic Posted February 20 Report Share Posted February 20 (edited) 8 minutes ago, FAST GATER said: Half the problem is riders trying to make a full time living out of the sport instead realising it's a paying hobby for the vast majority of them . As it was in the halcyon days of the late 60's and 70's Edited February 20 by Siggytastic 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FAST GATER Posted February 20 Report Share Posted February 20 5 minutes ago, Siggytastic said: As it was in the halcyon days of the late 60's and 70's True but I don't remember there being doubling down then only up ,once a rider was past it in the old first division they dropped down to the old NL and had a couple years there before leaving the sport . 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted February 20 Report Share Posted February 20 (edited) 52 minutes ago, FAST GATER said: True but I don't remember there being doubling down then only up ,once a rider was past it in the old first division they dropped down to the old NL and had a couple years there before leaving the sport . It was used as a development tool so riders could move up to see if they could compete, but with a safety net of being able to still ride in the 2nd tier if they were not of top tier level... Now it is the most important fundamental part of the operating model and business plan, even including which nights clubs have to race on... Incredible how it has been allowed to happen.... Edited February 20 by mikebv 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeOldPitGate Posted February 20 Report Share Posted February 20 40 minutes ago, mikebv said: It was used as a development tool so riders could move up to see if they could compete, but with a safety net of being able to still ride in the 2nd tier if they were not of top tier level... Now it is the most important fundamental part of the operating model and business plan, even including which nights clubs have to race on... Incredible how it has been allowed to happen.... The difference when I started going in the early/mid 80's was vast Joe Owen was the king of the national league but really struggled even at reserve in the old british league. Jen's Rasmussen was a 5 point Oxford reserve he dropped down and was virtually unbeatable in the old second division. When Havelock & Silver moved up two very gifted young riders at the time it still took them 2-3 seasons to bed in to the top league before they started to kick on. Now days other than a handful of riders the bulk plying their trade in the UK can be seen in both divisions for different teams. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin bass Posted February 20 Report Share Posted February 20 (edited) 2 hours ago, Siggytastic said: As it was in the halcyon days of the late 60's and 70's And the majority of the riders rocked up in the pits with 1 bike or 2 if they were lucky strapped to the back of a car, and if they had bike problems they'd fall back on the track spare to use, not like now where they all expect sponsored sign written vans with 3 or 4 bikes in the back. Edited February 20 by kevin bass Correction 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FAST GATER Posted February 20 Report Share Posted February 20 (edited) 19 minutes ago, YeOldPitGate said: The difference when I started going in the early/mid 80's was vast Joe Owen was the king of the national league but really struggled even at reserve in the old british league. Jen's Rasmussen was a 5 point Oxford reserve he dropped down and was virtually unbeatable in the old second division. When Havelock & Silver moved up two very gifted young riders at the time it still took them 2-3 seasons to bed in to the top league before they started to kick on. Now days other than a handful of riders the bulk plying their trade in the UK can be seen in both divisions for different teams. I agree there was a vast differences between the two leagues now the lines are so blurred , Bomber would have been a number one in old NL at his age no disrespect but Scott Nicholls would be no where near the old Gulf league at almost 50 yrs old . Edited February 20 by FAST GATER Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted February 20 Report Share Posted February 20 23 minutes ago, kevin bass said: And the majority of the riders rocked up in the pits with 1 bike or 2 if they were lucky strapped to the back of a car, and if they had bike problems they'd fall back on the track spare to use, not like now where they all expect sponsored sign written vans with 3 or 4 bikes in the back. And all to try an win competitions with almost zero reward, and therefore, relevance... With their lack of jeopardy, consequence and authenticity, ensuring that the reward and relevance will always stay so small.... What a plan!!!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.