I could understand if dropping to the national league was about helping youngsters but having Shaun Tedham, Tony Atkin, Lee Dicken, David Speight and Luke Priest in the same team doesn't seem to be very youthful. The decision to drop was down to the money of paying for better riders in the league above. I started going to Wolverhampton when they dropped due to better racing for a similar price. I think Stoke could always have been run better, the length of the meetings were always longer than other clubs due to generators packing up e.t.c, slow trackwork in between races and I think the club could have been advertised better but Dave always tried his best and absolutely worked his socks off. I really do feel sorry for them, they had break ins e.t.c and damages to the already poor equipment and never really had the money to invest heavily. There has been some great racing and memories at Loomer Road over the years but like you say it's impossible that speedway will return to Stoke in the near future if ever. The sport really doesn't have the money and is declining year by year. The better GP riders are frequently pulling out of league racing and the top two British league will have to merge to one at this rate.
