More big crashes

[rearingtogo]

On 5/18/2026 at 6:10 PM, IainB said:

If you look at races from the late 70's riders seemed to be reaching the maximum speed of their machines towards the end of the straight if you look at them today they look as though they'd just keep on accelerating way beyond that. 

 

On 5/18/2026 at 6:10 PM, IainB said:

If you look at races from the late 70's riders seemed to be reaching the maximum speed of their machines towards the end of the straight if you look at them today they look as though they'd just keep on accelerating way beyond that. 

Yes and that’s why they go through the fence

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv]

Sadly another example tonight with Bewley

Fingers crossed for Dan 

[Hackett]

2 hours ago, dontforgetthefueltapsbruv said:

Sadly another example tonight with Bewley

Fingers crossed for Dan 

Looked like a mechanical issue but terrible crash. Hit the airfence and broke the support post. Get well soon Dan - Speedy recovery.

[gjcone44]

again we see a rider getting thrown back into the track, if that happened on lap 2 and he was leading another rider could have hit him !

[rearingtogo]

More big crashes
 

How many more do you want then.

[IainB]

I'll just throw this into the mix, could it be... throttle jockeys?

I just watched the 2007 Cardiff GP Final on the Speedway360 show and the throttle control that all the riders showed on a 5h1t show of a track was quite unbelievable to watch.

With the prominence of Polish Speedway could it be that the latest generation of riders are being brought up on tracks that require the throttle to be pinned to the stopper rather than days gone by where riders were brought up on British tracks that require a bit of technique and throttle control? 🤔

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

27 minutes ago, IainB said:

I'll just throw this into the mix, could it be... throttle jockeys?

I just watched the 2007 Cardiff GP Final on the Speedway360 show and the throttle control that all the riders showed on a 5h1t show of a track was quite unbelievable to watch.

With the prominence of Polish Speedway could it be that the latest generation of riders are being brought up on tracks that require the throttle to be pinned to the stopper rather than days gone by where riders were brought up on British tracks that require a bit of technique and throttle control? 🤔

This is why I suggest limiting the revs to 10,000 but don’t do it by means of a rev limiter, make it so as the engine itself will not reach 10,000 revs and chuck more dirt on the track, it will encourage more torque mid range engines and do away with pinned throttle racing which in itself is fine but when it goes wrong is catastrophic 

[Technik]

In the 90's we were trying to get engines to rev over 10,000rpm. There were still crashes then but not as many serious ones that we are experiencing now. Todays engine can achieve 18000RPM but is restricted to 13500RPM. I'd have to ask the question why would an engine tuner build a motor that cannot be used to its full potential.

For me the bore size should be limited which would mean a longer stroke to get to 500cc & in turn this would reduce the RPM to a usable level.

The short stroke engine has not made the sport any faster as the list of track records will support only a fraction of a second each time it is reset in most cases & less than a second over a 25 year spread.

The short stroke motor has made the sport more about who can hold on the longest & who is prepared to take the biggest risk rather than the best control & skill set

[BangerBoy]

One theory could be that now we have airfences riders taking more risks than without them

[YeOldPitGate]

There's also the fact most riders are simply riding more and more when I went in the mid 80's early 90's most rode one league in Britain, international and continental meetings, now some riders are in four leagues plus doubling up in UK, loads of under 21 events, European competitions, grand prix of 10-12 rounds against one off finals.

The increase in bike speed most likely hasn't helped but the simple maths is the more time your on a bike the more chances sadly of bad crashes.

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

1 hour ago, YeOldPitGate said:

There's also the fact most riders are simply riding more and more when I went in the mid 80's early 90's most rode one league in Britain, international and continental meetings, now some riders are in four leagues plus doubling up in UK, loads of under 21 events, European competitions, grand prix of 10-12 rounds against one off finals.

The increase in bike speed most likely hasn't helped but the simple maths is the more time your on a bike the more chances sadly of bad crashes.

The first one is not actually true although it feels that way, riders will do around 80-100 meetings a year which they have done since the late 80s they just do more abroad these days and the second is not really true either,bike speed is pretty much the same as the 80s it’s back wheel speed that has increased which I believe is the biggest contributor to the high speed crashes