Removed

[YeOldPitGate]

On 11/6/2025 at 10:03 AM, bellevueace said:

I agree with all your points but to attract a high profile sponsor speedway would have to offer something beneficial back in return, at the moment and the state the sport is in there is nothing it can offer. When Gulf Oil sponsored the league we had the top riders, bigger crowds and more public awareness thanks to being on World of Sport on national tv.

Halcyon days indeed Gulf, Daily Mirror and the amount of money poured in by Sunbrite in the 80's

[YeOldPitGate]

On 11/6/2025 at 11:28 AM, ouch said:

The regular media coverage keeps us in people’s heads week on week. Leaflets, posters and special offers have had an immediate but not long lasting effect. Phillips social media work has worked well in getting families through the door and like people have mentioned on here, I think this is the way to go. 

Good for you and your team i hope the powers that be at the Aces top table recognise the graft and effort being put in.

[YeOldPitGate]

On 11/7/2025 at 6:01 AM, Ben91 said:

I think there’s a place for the bang average rider from abroad too in fairness. One who isn’t a world beater but competent and helps to make meetings competitive. Brexit probably made it harder to bring riders over who aren’t “elite” competitors though. 

Some of our issues stem from letting the existing, ageing rider pool hog team spots (doubling up) forcing less talented and/or up and coming riders out on one hand, then chasing big name riders who don’t really want to ride here with wads of cash we don’t have on the other. 

In any walk of life spending beyond your means is idiotic. Seems a lot of speedway fans think otherwise when it comes to who races for their team. 

Agreed Ben there is indeed a place for them the trick is finding one's who will stay loyal to British Speedway over the years that why I think young Aussies and if they ever get going again young Americans are a better bet as they don't have a league structure to compete against in their home country so they should be in the UK for the majority of the time.

[ouch]

2 hours ago, mikebv said:

The thing is....

There is a "decent" following for it....

Much greater than the "average" attendance at each track...

As is proved each Bank Holiday and during the Play Offs...

(And the PCMM also at the NSS)..

If the sport could deliver those sizes of crowd levels each meeting during the season, the sport would be in considerably better health....

They just need to find a way of doing it...

Getting those who follow the sport closely, but attend infrequently, is a huge market and opportunity to capture and re-engage...

The Lakeside example didn't work because it was a one off grand gesture, and you don't win lifetime loyalty using such techniques...

Glasgow show that getting people to attend several times before having to pay is a mechanic that does work, as they will have started to buy into the sport, and maybe developed some emotional attachment to the team....

If you invest in a "loss leader" you need to have clear follow up plans to ensure those who have taken advantage of it, return often...

Getting the many who still follow the sport but don't attend often, to attend more frequently, would be a lot easier to do than attract the same number of "newbies"...

 

There’s the rub. Plenty of people know about the sport including many speedway fans and they cannot be bothered to come out and watch aside from BH or big ticket events. We need to change the racenight experience to increase interest. 

I’m a lapsed speedway nut with another track less than 30 miles away as the crow flies. I use to visit this track every meeting as they were my second division track. I stopped going as I got fed up with the entertainment on offer and the journey plus admission didn’t feel worth it. This thinking then gravitated over to Aces away meetings with my final one being mid 2022. The thing is if the sport cannot appeal to a speedway nut previously happy to take in 100plus meetings a season anymore, apart from a few at the NSS what chance has the current product got of attracting and KEEPING new customers?

[PersonalResponsibility]

22 hours ago, ouch said:

There’s the rub. Plenty of people know about the sport including many speedway fans and they cannot be bothered to come out and watch aside from BH or big ticket events. We need to change the racenight experience to increase interest. 

I’m a lapsed speedway nut with another track less than 30 miles away as the crow flies. I use to visit this track every meeting as they were my second division track. I stopped going as I got fed up with the entertainment on offer and the journey plus admission didn’t feel worth it. This thinking then gravitated over to Aces away meetings with my final one being mid 2022. The thing is if the sport cannot appeal to a speedway nut previously happy to take in 100plus meetings a season anymore, apart from a few at the NSS what chance has the current product got of attracting and KEEPING new customers?

Completely agree with you.

I followed my local club religiously from being a child to mid-20s, until I moved away with work. I'd never miss a home meeting and often get to 7/8 away meetings a season. We were often crap, and the racing wasn't great, but I'd never dream of missing it.

About a year after I moved back, they shut down completely, and I think I'd been to 1 meeting in that year. I just couldn't muster the enthusiasm for it, which I regret now but alas.

Fast forward to now, there are 2 regular tracks within an hour, and I still cannot get back to regularly attending. It's not a financial or logistical issue for me, more like there's always a reason not to go. I would still consider myself an absolute speedway nut, read about it on here, follow Polish speedway, etc., etc.

However, the thought of going to stand for 2.5 hours amongst a sparse crowd, with crap entertainment, and often average racing is just not appealing at all.

Maybe I'm just getting older, maybe the lack of a 'home' club doesn't help, but I'd have watched speedway 24/7 not long ago if I could, and now I think I'd close the curtains to most meetings if they were raced in the back garden.

Whatever the answers are, someone has a very big job on their hands to implement them.

[mikebv]

26 minutes ago, PersonalResponsibility said:

Completely agree with you.

I followed my local club religiously from being a child to mid-20s, until I moved away with work. I'd never miss a home meeting and often get to 7/8 away meetings a season. We were often crap, and the racing wasn't great, but I'd never dream of missing it.

About a year after I moved back, they shut down completely, and I think I'd been to 1 meeting in that year. I just couldn't muster the enthusiasm for it, which I regret now but alas.

Fast forward to now, there are 2 regular tracks within an hour, and I still cannot get back to regularly attending. It's not a financial or logistical issue for me, more like there's always a reason not to go. I would still consider myself an absolute speedway nut, read about it on here, follow Polish speedway, etc., etc.

However, the thought of going to stand for 2.5 hours amongst a sparse crowd, with crap entertainment, and often average racing is just not appealing at all.

Maybe I'm just getting older, maybe the lack of a 'home' club doesn't help, but I'd have watched speedway 24/7 not long ago if I could, and now I think I'd close the curtains to most meetings if they were raced in the back garden.

Whatever the answers are, someone has a very big job on their hands to implement them.

I would say there are quite possibly as many "passionate followers" of the sport who don't attend regularly in the UK, as there are who do...

"Don't moan if it closes then" is the oft used comment from those die hards who go to every meeting...

And, even some Promoters have been quoted uttering the same thing...

But, as you, (and many thousands of fans who have lost their tracks), show, you can very quickly just shrug your shoulders and get on with life...

When any business closes, it certainly isn't the customers' fault...

And if a business closes after receiving years of good, honest, constructive feedback from an ever more frustrated customer base, but does nothing with this feedback, then it probably deserves to go...

 

[The White Knight]

3 hours ago, mikebv said:

I would say there are quite possibly as many "passionate followers" of the sport who don't attend regularly in the UK, as there are who do...

"Don't moan if it closes then" is the oft used comment from those die hards who go to every meeting...

And, even some Promoters have been quoted uttering the same thing...

But, as you, (and many thousands of fans who have lost their tracks), show, you can very quickly just shrug your shoulders and get on with life...

When any business closes, it certainly isn't the customers' fault...

And if a business closes after receiving years of good, honest, constructive feedback from an ever more frustrated customer base, but does nothing with this feedback, then it probably deserves to go...

 

Mike - My Track closed closed 51 years ago. The two periods it was opened got me really hooked on the Sport. Finally, it all came to an end in 11974. I was frustrated and upset. The Promoters on BOTH occasion closed us down. One in 1964 after only 9 home meeting. Our Riders poached to strengthen two other Teams. Reasons given by Promoters as Bad Weather (we had NO postponements) and crowd levels - 6,000 at our penultimate meeting Source: (Sunderland Echo).

Regarding crowds, I never missed a meeting in 1964, so I know that both reasons were just so much bull.

1971 We opened again under Allied Presentations who were very supportive for 3 years. 1974 We were then sold to a Promoter who was not really up to the job. We staggered on winning very few matches, and losing many Supporters, until about 3/4 of a Season passed and he walked away. To her eternal credit, Mrs. Taylor (Promoter at  Berwick) took  over the reins and saw us through until the end of the Season, when we finally closed for good.

Speedway Promoters have never been very kind to Sunderland.

 

[chunky]

On 11/9/2025 at 11:54 AM, The White Knight said:

Speedway Promoters have never been very kind to Sunderland.

 

Sadly, speedway promoters haven't always been kind...

I certainly don't put all the blame on the promoters for the sport's demise, though. There have been so many social and economic issues that have played a much greater role, but promoters have always had a tendency - perfectly natural, I know - to look out for themselves, rather than looking at the big picture. However, it's hard to criticise those who have poured money into the sport with little reward.

I was born into speedway, with my parents having first met at Wimbledon. It was such a huge part of my life, and actually still is. I just wish that people still found speedway "cool"...

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

1 hour ago, chunky said:

Sadly, speedway promoters haven't always been kind...

I certainly don't put all the blame on the promoters for the sport's demise, though. There have been so many social and economic issues that have played a much greater role, but promoters have always had a tendency - perfectly natural, I know - to look out for themselves, rather than looking at the big picture. However, it's hard to criticise those who have poured money into the sport with little reward.

I was born into speedway, with my parents having first met at Wimbledon. It was such a huge part of my life, and actually still is. I just wish that people still found speedway "cool"...

I was talking to an old fan a couple of weeks back who is in his late 70s now and his local track wolves has now closed and he was saying how speedway wasn’t just a sport to him and his wife, it was their life, they met a speedway in the 60s got married and had travelled all of the world to watch speedway, they had foreign riders stay with them at their home and they feel like entain and the council and to a point British speedway have ripped the heart out of their lives, they can’t drive anymore and the nearest track is over 50 miles away and all I could think was this is me but an older version, I live for speedway it’s all I’ve ever known and done and when it comes to “cool” there is nothing I’ve ever come across that comes remotely close to it, I am that man who loves the smell of speedway and love going in riders workshops and tinkering with bikes and engines and imo there is nothing on earth that sounds as good as a speedway bike being warmed up and I feel like why the hell doesn’t anybody else share my passion for the sport 

[The White Knight]

57 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

I was talking to an old fan a couple of weeks back who is in his late 70s now and his local track wolves has now closed and he was saying how speedway wasn’t just a sport to him and his wife, it was their life, they met a speedway in the 60s got married and had travelled all of the world to watch speedway, they had foreign riders stay with them at their home and they feel like entain and the council and to a point British speedway have ripped the heart out of their lives, they can’t drive anymore and the nearest track is over 50 miles away and all I could think was this is me but an older version, I live for speedway it’s all I’ve ever known and done and when it comes to “cool” there is nothing I’ve ever come across that comes remotely close to it, I am that man who loves the smell of speedway and love going in riders workshops and tinkering with bikes and engines and imo theire is nothing on earth that sounds as good as a speedway bike being warmed up and I feel like why the hell doesn’t anybody else share my passion for the sport 

I would say that most of us do Dean. Speedway was a fair chunk of my life too. The trouble is the Sport has changed since the 60', 70's and 80's - it just isn't the same any more. I do have my memories though, and that is something.

[chunky]

22 minutes ago, The White Knight said:

I would say that most of us do Dean. Speedway was a fair chunk of my life too. The trouble is the Sport has changed since the 60', 70's and 80's - it just isn't the same any more. I do have my memories though, and that is something.

Mine too. As I said, my parents met at Plough Lane, and I first went when I was three weeks old. Many of my earliest memories of life are speedway memories, like Olle "White Boots", Mike "Zoomer" Coomber etc. Even though I followed the Dons around the country, I would regularly travel around taking in random meetings, particularly multiple ones on the bank holidays. I went to several foreign World Finals, and I have a big collection of memorabilia. I spent most of my life playing top-level competitive darts, with 25 years as a full-time professional - yet speedway remains far and away my favourite sport.

Nope, they can't take away our memories...