[Stoke Speedway]

2 hours ago, RailwayRowdy said:

Colin, you’re point about admission prices at third tier Stoke being similar to top league Wolverhampton is a valid point. 

When Stoke introduced the additional Spitfires team around 15 years ago to compete in the third tier as basically a training team admission was £5 only ! At the time admission prices for Potters matches was around the £12 mark. But when Tattum took the decision to drop a league, admission prices stayed about the same for a far inferior product.

At the time of the Spitfires I would go every Wednesday (whatever happened to Jack Hargreaves by the way ?) to watch the youngsters  and then the main team on Saturday. I didn’t mind the lack of racing quality in the Spitfires team as it was basically a training camp for up and coming talent. But as the Potters became a “stand alone” team in the third tier, the prices became to high for a far inferior product.

Just a personal view but, as you rightly point out,  it is difficult to see how Stoke could compete with Wolverhampton on a similar pricing scale.

One last point from me on the match day experience. When Cradley lost Dudley Wood Road In ‘96 and rode for that one glorious season at Loomer Road, the entire operation at Stoke was taken over by Cradley staff. The difference between The Heathens slick operation and the Stoke version was as different as chalk & cheese. And you could watch Billy Hamill, Greg Hancock etc etc !

Speedway is a wonderful, exciting (did I mention fast ?)sport and it’s a pity more people don’t give it a chance at close quarters and judge for themselves, rather than simply quoting ill informed anecdotes about it being a “first to the bend” sport.

For any fan of any sport, I strongly urge people to go the British Speedway Grand Prix round of the World Championship which takes place inside Cardiff’s Millennium stadium. It is a fantastic experience.

just try it. Who knows, you may fall in love with the sport as I did all those now decades ago !

Whatever happened to Jack Hargreaves and Barrie Evans at reserve...

Wolverhampton is run very efficiently too with no delays. At Stoke there was unnecessary delays which put a lot of people off. Cracking memories none the less. Heat 13 and 15 combo of Jan Staechmann and Paul Pickering. Speedway is a great sport with riders risking their lives and it's a shame the way league racing is going (Poland aside).

Cardiff is this weekend and a really good day out! 

[Stoke Speedway]

1 hour ago, RailwayRowdy said:

The promotion at Loomer Rd has been poor in recent years. 

The decision to race at the third level (which is basically youngsters trying to make a way in the sport) a number of years ago was IMO the wrong one as the overall standard of racing was not good enough to encourage spectators to part with their hard earned cash.

Once the venue goes (as in this case) it is nigh on impossible to replace it. Even if someone is prepared to invest heavily in a new  venue, the likelihood of getting planning permission in a desirable site is limited to say the least.

Although football is my No 1 sport, Speedway would be a close second. I was first introduced to speedway in 1972 at the “Wall Of Death” Earle St track in Crewe. Gosh, that was a fast track ! Ex world championship runner up Phil Crump (father of to be world champ, Jason) was riding for the Kings at the time and he was virtually unbeatable ! 

Yes, a sad day for speedway and Stoke in particular, as I suspect that the last chequered flag has been waved in the city for a considerable time.

 

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.

[Stoke Speedway]

It's very sad to see it's the last ever speedway meeting at Loomer Road tonight with the land being sold at the end of the season. The sport is really on the decline in the UK.