adonis Posted Monday at 11:47 AM Report Share Posted Monday at 11:47 AM (edited) Since the british leagues are pandering to Poland , exactly how many riders are there riding here ,who wouldn't be if we went back to 7 days a week speedway . and and not being dictated to who can and cannot ride on any given date ? Edited Monday at 11:48 AM by adonis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowboy cookie returns? Posted Monday at 12:01 PM Report Share Posted Monday at 12:01 PM Possibly 18 to 22 depending one way or another. The British league really has no option but to go along with what Poland wants. We have run our league structure into the ground while the Poles have made theirs something that people want to invest in. I am hopeful that Mayfield might be the ones to stop the rot & turn the fortunes of uk speedway around but it’s a long road. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE DEAN MACHINE Posted Monday at 12:47 PM Report Share Posted Monday at 12:47 PM The ultimate answer is stop complaining about what other countries/businesses are doing and focus on what you are doing wrong and strive be the best at the job and then that problem goes away 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted Monday at 01:32 PM Report Share Posted Monday at 01:32 PM (edited) 23 hours ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said: The ultimate answer is stop complaining about what other countries/businesses are doing and focus on what you are doing wrong and strive be the best at the job and then that problem goes away Should have gone it alone at least a decade ago... I was bored the other day, (retirement can do this to you), and found myself looking at the British U21 Final Results from around a decade ago, as I was curious to see how many riders are left in the sport... As "there are not enough riders to have one league".... Very, very few from around 2014 - 2018 (I didn't check any further), are still riding.. Some of the names, quite high up in the scoring, were unknown to me, and had beaten some of the riders still riding, and doing "OK" today... These lads would now be 28 - 33 ... Surely a fair % of them would have developed to the required level (they definitely weren't " wobblers"), if they had been given team places, rather than giving those places to journeyman foreigner after journeyman foreigner, who have ridden over here using a "revolving door" system... The GP lads are great to watch, but even that can get boring, and certainly are not cost neutral over a season when you measure the revenue they bring in.. UK Speedway should simply have cut its cloth accordingly and opened their businesses on days that their potential highest amount of punters would come through the doors.. Probably too late to sort it now, ssdly... Edited Tuesday at 11:49 AM by mikebv 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enotian Posted Monday at 07:44 PM Report Share Posted Monday at 07:44 PM Interesting bit of research. of course there's lots of variables like injuries but I reckon a fair few will just not have been able to make it pay and so you get into this ever decreasing circle where a small pool of riders can only make it pay only by taking all of the opportunities to make it pay. i.e. riding in multiple leagues. I reckon you could do a similar analysis on the Polish U21 riders and lots of them will have disappeared from the sport. Probably more to do with how competitive it is over there though, in terms of how many U21 riders they have. I've said on here before if you want to get rid of doubling up in Britain there seems to be a load of Polish kids who are left without Polish clubs each season. Short term fix and probably not possible after Brexit? whilst I don't disagree about British speedway sorting itself out I do think the world governing body need to do more to both protect the existing territories and expand into new territories. ultimately if everything becomes focussed on Poland that's what the sport will become... a Polish sport that nobody else is bothered about. easier said than done of course but I do think FIM need to look at how they assist the current pyramid and develop new ones. for a start stop dragging all sorts of riders all over Europe for all sorts of qualifiers that conflict with domestic leagues and appear to be costly for the riders. look at the cricket franchise system where those competitors often play of a number of franchises because the competitions are staggered to allow it. Have a month long event with 8 franchises with the top international riders supplemented by local riders. Have the UK one in June after the GP's. Have a Scandinavian one in July and a Polish one in August. Take it to the USA and Australia over the winter. Like a travelling circus just without the clowns.... ....hopefully. Then eventually look to expand it into new territories. Spain, Asia, South America. There's loads of kids into motorbikes in those regions. They can't all make it to MotoGP but some could make a decent career as Speedway rider if the infrastructure and opportunity is there. The raw materials are out there but at the minute the flagship SGP series is reliant on the Poles developing talent which is more and more likely to be Polish... ....and so the ever decreasing circle continues. It's basically a business with zero product development. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IainB Posted Monday at 07:53 PM Report Share Posted Monday at 07:53 PM 8 minutes ago, enotian said: Interesting bit of research. of course there's lots of variables like injuries but I reckon a fair few will just not have been able to make it pay and so you get into this ever decreasing circle where a small pool of riders can only make it pay only by taking all of the opportunities to make it pay. i.e. riding in multiple leagues. I reckon you could do a similar analysis on the Polish U21 riders and lots of them will have disappeared from the sport. Probably more to do with how competitive it is over there though, in terms of how many U21 riders they have. I've said on here before if you want to get rid of doubling up in Britain there seems to be a load of Polish kids who are left without Polish clubs each season. Short term fix and probably not possible after Brexit? whilst I don't disagree about British speedway sorting itself out I do think the world governing body need to do more to both protect the existing territories and expand into new territories. ultimately if everything becomes focussed on Poland that's what the sport will become... a Polish sport that nobody else is bothered about. easier said than done of course but I do think FIM need to look at how they assist the current pyramid and develop new ones. for a start stop dragging all sorts of riders all over Europe for all sorts of qualifiers that conflict with domestic leagues and appear to be costly for the riders. look at the cricket franchise system where those competitors often play of a number of franchises because the competitions are staggered to allow it. Have a month long event with 8 franchises with the top international riders supplemented by local riders. Have the UK one in June after the GP's. Have a Scandinavian one in July and a Polish one in August. Take it to the USA and Australia over the winter. Like a travelling circus just without the clowns.... ....hopefully. Then eventually look to expand it into new territories. Spain, Asia, South America. There's loads of kids into motorbikes in those regions. They can't all make it to MotoGP but some could make a decent career as Speedway rider if the infrastructure and opportunity is there. The raw materials are out there but at the minute the flagship SGP series is reliant on the Poles developing talent which is more and more likely to be Polish... ....and so the ever decreasing circle continues. It's basically a business with zero product development. ... or carry on as we are 👉🙄👈 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted Tuesday at 08:44 AM Report Share Posted Tuesday at 08:44 AM (edited) 16 hours ago, enotian said: Interesting bit of research. of course there's lots of variables like injuries but I reckon a fair few will just not have been able to make it pay and so you get into this ever decreasing circle where a small pool of riders can only make it pay only by taking all of the opportunities to make it pay. i.e. riding in multiple leagues. I reckon you could do a similar analysis on the Polish U21 riders and lots of them will have disappeared from the sport. Probably more to do with how competitive it is over there though, in terms of how many U21 riders they have. I've said on here before if you want to get rid of doubling up in Britain there seems to be a load of Polish kids who are left without Polish clubs each season. Short term fix and probably not possible after Brexit? whilst I don't disagree about British speedway sorting itself out I do think the world governing body need to do more to both protect the existing territories and expand into new territories. ultimately if everything becomes focussed on Poland that's what the sport will become... a Polish sport that nobody else is bothered about. easier said than done of course but I do think FIM need to look at how they assist the current pyramid and develop new ones. for a start stop dragging all sorts of riders all over Europe for all sorts of qualifiers that conflict with domestic leagues and appear to be costly for the riders. look at the cricket franchise system where those competitors often play of a number of franchises because the competitions are staggered to allow it. Have a month long event with 8 franchises with the top international riders supplemented by local riders. Have the UK one in June after the GP's. Have a Scandinavian one in July and a Polish one in August. Take it to the USA and Australia over the winter. Like a travelling circus just without the clowns.... ....hopefully. Then eventually look to expand it into new territories. Spain, Asia, South America. There's loads of kids into motorbikes in those regions. They can't all make it to MotoGP but some could make a decent career as Speedway rider if the infrastructure and opportunity is there. The raw materials are out there but at the minute the flagship SGP series is reliant on the Poles developing talent which is more and more likely to be Polish... ....and so the ever decreasing circle continues. It's basically a business with zero product development. Good post... EVERY meeting should have at least four races of "development" racing, featuring four riders.... You only need to watch 150cc and 250cc coverage on YT, from five years or so ago, of riders who are now holding down HL positions in the Championship, straight legging into the bends before bringing the arse end round into a skid... Now these lads hit the bends full on sideways and never switch the throttle off.. Lap, after lap, after lap, after lap, after lap, of practice is the only reason they are now where they are... Like anything that anyone has an aptitude for, the more you do it, the more you improve... The practice though will have been driven by them, and their parents, with no clear development structure ran by the BSP... Criminal how many riders have been lost to the sport given the opportunities provided for overseas riders... Who are either no better, not much better, or, when they get good, clear off... Edited Tuesday at 11:51 AM by mikebv 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeOldPitGate Posted Tuesday at 09:02 AM Report Share Posted Tuesday at 09:02 AM 19 hours ago, mikebv said: Should have gone it alone at least a decade ago... I was bored the other day, (retirement can do this to you), and found myself looking at the British U21 Final Results from around a decade ago, as I was curious to see how many riders are left in the sport... As "there not enough riders to have one league", obviously... Very, very few from around 2014 - 2018 (I didn't check any further), are still riding.. Some of the names, quite high up in the scoring, were unknown to me, and had beaten some of the riders still riding, and doing "OK" today... These lads would now be 28 - 33 ... Surely a fair % of them would have developed to the required level (they definitely weren't " wobblers"), if they had been given team places, rather than giving those places to journeyman foreigner after journeyman foreigner, who have ridden over here using a "revolving door" system... The GP lads are great to watch, but even that can get boring, and certainly are not cost neutral over a season when you measure the revenue they bring in.. UK Speedway should simply have cut its cloth accordingly and opened their businesses on days that their potential highest amount of punters would come through the doors.. Probably too late to sort it now, ssdly... 19 hours ago, mikebv said: Should have gone it alone at least a decade ago... I was bored the other day, (retirement can do this to you), and found myself looking at the British U21 Final Results from around a decade ago, as I was curious to see how many riders are left in the sport... As "there not enough riders to have one league", obviously... Very, very few from around 2014 - 2018 (I didn't check any further), are still riding.. Some of the names, quite high up in the scoring, were unknown to me, and had beaten some of the riders still riding, and doing "OK" today... These lads would now be 28 - 33 ... Surely a fair % of them would have developed to the required level (they definitely weren't " wobblers"), if they had been given team places, rather than giving those places to journeyman foreigner after journeyman foreigner, who have ridden over here using a "revolving door" system... The GP lads are great to watch, but even that can get boring, and certainly are not cost neutral over a season when you measure the revenue they bring in.. UK Speedway should simply have cut its cloth accordingly and opened their businesses on days that their potential highest amount of punters would come through the doors.. Probably too late to sort it now, ssdly... Interesting Mike if you have time post a few of the names who are no longer riding . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arnieg Posted Tuesday at 11:17 AM Report Share Posted Tuesday at 11:17 AM 2 hours ago, YeOldPitGate said: Interesting Mike if you have time post a few of the names who are no longer riding . Funnily enough this was in the last Oxford programme [26/4 Chargers v Middlesbrough] Go back a decade and a list of the top British teens would have been headed by Robert Lambert and Adam Ellis. While they are making their mark in the international speedway world, others, notably Josh Bates, Max Clegg, Zach Wajtknecht, Liam Carr and James Shanes – have faded from view. [Wajtknecht is World Long Track Champion and Shanes still appears on NORA tracks.] No matter how well structured youth progression is (and it could be better), there will always be a high attrition rate. Let’s hope many of today’s talented teens are still in action in a decade’s time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adonis Posted 9 hours ago Author Report Share Posted 9 hours ago On 5/4/2026 at 8:44 PM, enotian said: Interesting bit of research. of course there's lots of variables like injuries but I reckon a fair few will just not have been able to make it pay and so you get into this ever decreasing circle where a small pool of riders can only make it pay only by taking all of the opportunities to make it pay. i.e. riding in multiple leagues. I reckon you could do a similar analysis on the Polish U21 riders and lots of them will have disappeared from the sport. Probably more to do with how competitive it is over there though, in terms of how many U21 riders they have. I've said on here before if you want to get rid of doubling up in Britain there seems to be a load of Polish kids who are left without Polish clubs each season. Short term fix and probably not possible after Brexit? whilst I don't disagree about British speedway sorting itself out I do think the world governing body need to do more to both protect the existing territories and expand into new territories. ultimately if everything becomes focussed on Poland that's what the sport will become... a Polish sport that nobody else is bothered about. easier said than done of course but I do think FIM need to look at how they assist the current pyramid and develop new ones. for a start stop dragging all sorts of riders all over Europe for all sorts of qualifiers that conflict with domestic leagues and appear to be costly for the riders. look at the cricket franchise system where those competitors often play of a number of franchises because the competitions are staggered to allow it. Have a month long event with 8 franchises with the top international riders supplemented by local riders. Have the UK one in June after the GP's. Have a Scandinavian one in July and a Polish one in August. Take it to the USA and Australia over the winter. Like a travelling circus just without the clowns.... ....hopefully. Then eventually look to expand it into new territories. Spain, Asia, South America. There's loads of kids into motorbikes in those regions. They can't all make it to MotoGP but some could make a decent career as Speedway rider if the infrastructure and opportunity is there. The raw materials are out there but at the minute the flagship SGP series is reliant on the Poles developing talent which is more and more likely to be Polish... ....and so the ever decreasing circle continues. It's basically a business with zero product development. I dont think the FIM give a toss about speedway .except the money they can take from licensing and FIM event promoters , they certainly don't care enough to to make any effort to promote speedway across the world , they actually do very little on behalf of speedway. and apart from the loss of money wouldn't care if speedway no longer existed 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adonis Posted 9 hours ago Author Report Share Posted 9 hours ago On 5/5/2026 at 12:17 PM, arnieg said: Funnily enough this was in the last Oxford programme [26/4 Chargers v Middlesbrough] Go back a decade and a list of the top British teens would have been headed by Robert Lambert and Adam Ellis. While they are making their mark in the international speedway world, others, notably Josh Bates, Max Clegg, Zach Wajtknecht, Liam Carr and James Shanes – have faded from view. [Wajtknecht is World Long Track Champion and Shanes still appears on NORA tracks.] No matter how well structured youth progression is (and it could be better), there will always be a high attrition rate. Let’s hope many of today’s talented teens are still in action in a decade’s time. go back five years before the BSPA killed the midland and southern leagues . a cost free gravy train of young british riders . a good few who went on to make the grade . but stupidity and greed put an end to what was the best training ground for young riders .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted 9 hours ago Report Share Posted 9 hours ago 12 minutes ago, adonis said: I dont think the FIM give a toss about speedway .except the money they can take from licensing and FIM event promoters , they certainly don't care enough to to make any effort to promote speedway across the world , they actually do very little on behalf of speedway. and apart from the loss of money wouldn't care if speedway no longer existed The FIM pretty much let all disciplines market themselves, and don't have much involvement in the day to day running of each discipline... The FIA do a similar job in car racing... Give the event their official licence, then sit back, and count the money paid in to them... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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