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Stoke Speedway


colin

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Yes he was came over from New Zealand and rode for Newcastle Diamonds against the potters before he came world champion.My all time favorite speedway rider was Peter Craven of Belle vue who also became world champion but was tragically killed at Edinburgh Monarchs speedway track when he hit the wall that surrounded their track a great loss to british speedway at the time.

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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.

 

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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.

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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 !

Edited by RailwayRowdy
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13 minutes ago, RailwayRowdy said:

 

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 !

It's great, but I fear it is one of those sports that has dropped off the TV and most people here won't even know what it even is?

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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! 

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3 hours ago, colin said:

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! 

Colin, you obviously love speedway and have been going for a number of years !

Staechmann is the classiest rider I have seen in a Potters race jacket and I can go back to ex England international Mike Broadbanks In Stoke’s opening season at Loomer Rd in ‘73 !  But for sheer pace, Paul Thorp will take some beating ! Thorp’s fault (in my view)  was that if  he missed the gate he didn’t seem to have the heart to race. He would try for 2 laps and then have an “unexpected” engine failure. Unlike Nigel Crabtree who seemed to get a fair share of his points from the back.

Best gater I have seen live (although obviously not for Stoke) was Hans Niellson. Possibly the best rider (although there’s a hell of a lot to choose from) I’ve seen live would be Tony Rickarddson. He could gate, he could race, he could basically do everything !

But my favourite rider of all time has to be Phil Crump. He was my  introduction to speedway at Crewe in ‘72 as an impressionable early teenager and from that very first meeting I was hooked ! The smell, the speed, the danger, everything ! I loved it ! 

I just wish people would give the sport a chance. If they don’t like it, fine. But give it a chance !

 

 

 

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  • 3 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Love Speedway! I'm a regular at Sheffield. Looking forward to this season in the Premier League with triple World Champion Nicki Petersen leading the team! These guys are tough as hell, risking serious injury or worse every time they race, for a fraction of what a Premiership footballer gets paid. Makes you ashamed when you see a footballer rolling around in agony at the slightest touch and these guys just dust themselves down and get on with it. They are all really approachable and happy to spend time with the fans, even the top riders. Great family sport, real shame about Stoke closing down.

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On 14/09/2019 at 21:09, hamilboy said:

Very sad to see it closing down takes me back to my younger days when i used to go every saturday to sun street shelton to see Harris,Adams,Jarman ,and Colin Pratt riding for the potters against Ivan Mauger and the likes of Barry Briggs good times long gone.

Yes, I remember those days, great times at the Sun St. stadium. You missed off Reg Fearman by the way. When I lived near Sandbach in the 70s, Ken Adams had the local garage in Winterley. When I started chatting to him about some speedway bikes on the forecourt, not knowing it was Adams, he had plenty to tell me about his times racing for Stoke. So pleased to meet him.

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