ouch Posted 10 hours ago Report Share Posted 10 hours ago On 1/23/2026 at 11:25 AM, secsy1 said: From parents and competitors competing in the BYC it is the only venue that charges the competitors to ride, unlike other venues. Is this correct? No, it’s not correct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ouch Posted 10 hours ago Report Share Posted 10 hours ago 2 hours ago, secsy1 said: British Youth Championships at Belle Vue are not stand alone meetings and follow Colts matches. Where you get 20 people watching shows how little you follow the events. Watching the new stars learning and honing their skills is essential to British Speedway and I can assure you I have never seen as few as 20 spectators at any event. If the clubs do not want to cough up for the future stars then shame on them and sod them when they come calling for the next hot prospect. Can you name one rider who actually started in the begining at Belle Vue recently and made an impact on the sport? Most of the junior championships have been stand alone events at Belle Vue. It’s only since Covid that they have followed our junior team meetings. Unfortunately, speedway fans talk the talk when it comes to supporting junior development and just don’t come out in any numbers. It’s someone else’s problem. With regards the last question then no recent rider has made an impact from any track that supports youth development - yet. It doesn’t happen that quickly. The current one that has made an impact is our Dan but unfortunately Peter Collins, Andy Smith, Joe Screen, Carl Stonehewer, Dan Bewley types don’t come along that often. https://speedwayupdates.proboards.com/thread/16008/round-belle-vue-13-2016 https://speedwayupdates.proboards.com/thread/17086/round-belle-vue-05-2017 https://speedwayupdates.proboards.com/thread/18095/round-belle-vue-28-2018 https://speedwayupdates.proboards.com/thread/19002/round-belle-vue-22-2019 https://www.speedwaygbarchive.co.uk/britishyouth20 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fortythirtyeight Posted 10 hours ago Report Share Posted 10 hours ago 2 hours ago, secsy1 said: British Youth Championships at Belle Vue are not stand alone meetings and follow Colts matches. Where you get 20 people watching shows how little you follow the events. Watching the new stars learning and honing their skills is essential to British Speedway and I can assure you I have never seen as few as 20 spectators at any event. If the clubs do not want to cough up for the future stars then shame on them and sod them when they come calling for the next hot prospect. Can you name one rider who actually started in the begining at Belle Vue recently and made an impact on the sport? As a previous volunteer at two tracks I can assure you I have probably attended my fare share of BYC rounds at a number of tracks over the last 10 years so I do actually know what I’m talking about. Saturday daytime meetings attracted family and friends plus around twenty fans and neither track charged an entry fee for spectators. As for riders ‘ making an impact ‘ I wouldn’t have a clue about Belle Vue but the two tracks I have attended have supplied dozens of riders into the NDL and several into the championship. In Redcars heyday , when they did fortnightly practices and had hire bikes , they had to run two junior teams due to the amount of youngsters taking part, but that has all died away . Workington are bucking this trend and are improving season by season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben91 Posted 1 hour ago Report Share Posted 1 hour ago Last season between the NDL/NDT there were 50 "league" meetings. This year with only the NDL there will be 30. That drop off is alarming. Particularly when we should be trying harder than ever to establish some strong foundations for the sport here. The following quote from the press release looks to me like no more than lip service too. Quote As part of the British Development regulations, all clubs not competing in the National Development League must participate in at least one of the following alternatives during the season: National League Riders Development Individual, Midland Development League, Northern Junior League, Second Half Open Invitation or a standalone British Youth Championship Round. So we have some tracks running a full third tier campaign and others who can just get away with the ambiguous "Second Half Open Invitation". Of course there are differing restrictions at certain tracks but there has to be more than the odd second half. It should be mandatory for professional tracks to run at least two NDL level meetings during the season. The benefit of doing this over a second half would be the riders and their team (generally parents at this level) would know they're guaranteed a ride weather permitting rather than the always in the balance chances they have to take by turning up for a second half. If the tracks lose money on these meetings it's not ideal but it is an investment in their riders of the future, without whom there won't be anyone to help them make money in the long run. Furthermore I'd like to think when the riders coming through reach "professional" standard they'd choose to race for a club that actually put some effort in to the third tier rather than one that did the bare minimum but can throw more money at them. We all know that's wishful thinking though. As with everything in British Speedway there is too much ambiguity. There should be hard and fast rules in place with consequences for those who don't toe the line. The top riders don't want to be here. We need to focus on developing more riders domestically, instead we've almost halved the meetings available to them. Pretty pathetic really. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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