I have been an avid speedway supporter for as long as I can remember. It began with regular Friday night trips to the now defunct Oxford Cheetahs (briefly the Oxford Silver Machine); interspersed with seeing Premier League Reading Racers and occasionally the revived Wimbledon Dons in the National League. Now that all the clubs have closed down I have taken to making trips to the Hoddesdon Raceway to watch the Rye House Rockets as well as being glued to the television screen every Monday at 7:30 and alternate Saturdays to watch the excellent Sky Sports coverage. From this it is certainly clear that I love my speedway; but even for me there are ways to make this sport even better.
Purpose-Built Stadiums
It is absolutely fantastic that around the country there are stadiums that have been especially commissioned for speedway racing. Tracks that I have already mentioned lost out to greyhound racing and housing/office developments and could simply not compete. If this sport is going to survive for many years to come, these purpose-built tracks will become the cornerstone of the sport. Despite being brilliant they have one major flaw: speedway is an outdoors sport that is often affected by the good old British weather; by being purpose built, surely during the development people must have deliberated putting a roof on it. The British Grand Prix at the Millennium Stadium is so successful partly because people know that it will never have to be re-staged. I would hate to travel hundreds of miles to be told that it is called off. The roof is a great safety net for people to invest their time and money.
It took the All England Club far too long to put a roof over centre court, let’s not let that happen to speedway if we have the finances. In saying this, a roof is a magnificent investment on its own. For example if Somerset Speedway built a roof, and on a rainy Good Friday people wanted to see speedway they would get a huge crowd of hungry speedway fans, starving for some full throttle action. With a roof a club could provide that which would only serve to increase gate receipts, eventually paying for the roof and then turning over profit.
Alternatively all tracks could invest in track covers such as the ones that were superbly showcased in Vojens for Event 1 of the Speedway World Cup. Notorious for its bad weather they have found a solution to the problem. Of course, this won’t always work, because if rain comes during the meeting it will probably still have to be called off; however, it could work in many cases and produce meetings that would otherwise have to be re-arranged, making a more hectic schedule for already packed riders’ diaries.
Squad Systems
As well as being a fanatic about speedway, my second sport is football. I can’t help but think that speedway could take a leaf out of the football club squad system. All of us that follow speedway know how dangerous the sport is and how easily and frequently injuries occur. As I am writing this multiple examples come to mind, the best being Hans Andersen who broke his foot whilst training in the woods; a freak accident that forced the Coventry Bees into bringing Russian sensation Emil Sayfutdinov to the Elite League. Although this was brilliant news for British speedway, he has been unavailable for numerous meetings, meaning that Coventry have had to use the guest facility. With a squad system introduced the guest facility would have to be used less frequently, meaning that teams would be able to field a full team of their own more often and save other riders from burn-out. Indeed, Poole Pirates riders have suggested that last season they were riding so well that they were in great demand, fulfilling guest placements that by the end of the season they were drained.
At the moment there is already a sort-of squad system in place with the doubling-up ruling that has been a complete success. It has allowed Elite and Premier league promoters to give riding births to youngsters that they want to test and strengthen their team with experienced riders that don’t want to ride full-time Elite league. I am proposing that a similar system should be implemented for higher profile riders. It has been incredible to welcome Nicki Perdersen back and introduce Emil Sayfutdinov to British racing. I’m sure that all speedway fans would agree that we would love to see the likes of Jason Crump and Greg Hancock back racing over here. Previously they have stated that the demands have been too much for them; however with a squad system they would only be doing half the meetings, so a far smaller commitment. This would have a knock-on effect to gate receipts, drawing in bigger crowds to see the big stars. Squads may even be enough to coax Tomasz Gollob and Rune Holta over to race over in the UK.
This is not a purely selfish idea for a greater speedway spectacle. Having squad systems would also encourage promoters to introduce young British talents into their teams rather than opting for the Polish or Australian option. Poole have done that this year by including young Kyle Newman in their team. Despite struggling, he has a fantastic attitude to learn and they have kept faith with him. In addition, with the biggest stars back in the Elite League the future stars of speedway would learn a lot from current Grand Prix regulars. It appears to be a win-win situation for fans, riders and promoters.
Grand Prix’s
A Grand Prix is the cornerstone of Saturday night entertainment whenever they are all. All other plans are postponed until the final four laps are completed. They have undoubtedly become much fairer and more exciting since the implementation of the Grand Prix series; furthermore, the recent change of scoring systems has lead to an even better spectacle. However, there are still a couple of problems in my eyes. Once eight riders have qualified through to the semi-finals they race once more to get into the final itself, subsequently accumulating more points towards their series totals. The winner of the heat gets three points, second two and third one, but if you finish last you don’t receive anything. I feel that this is a gross injustice. If a rider has qualified through to the semi finals then they should be rewarded, even if it is only with a single point. Thus, I propose semi finals that would see the winner receive 4 points, second 3, third 2 and fourth 1.
Similarly, by reaching the final, the loser fails to get a podium place or any extra points. To rectify this, the winner of the Grand Prix should receive 6 points, second 4, third 2 and fourth 1. This would make the series even better and more rewarding than it already is.
Speedway is close to my heart and I only want to see it survive and if possible improve to new heights of brilliance.
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