British Under 15 Championship on a slippery slope?

“Only the individual efforts of youth conscious promoters has natured young talent but now the BSPA have taken a major step in establishing the first British Under 15 Championship… It is hoped that it will be used as a platform to discover young talent…. More than two dozen riders applied to complete”

These were the words of the newly appointed British Under 21 team manager, Peter Oakes, in the Armadale programme on the 3rd May 2004 on the occasion of the first round of the 2004 British Under 15 championship. Some 4 years later is it time to examine if the high hopes expressed by Mr Oakes for the championship has borne fruit.

After the Armadale round a further 5 rounds were staged using the traditional 16 rider 20 heat individual meeting format with championship points being awarded depending on a riders finishing position, ending at Carmarthen on 19th September. The overall championship was based on a riders best 3 scores to take account of the fact that due to time and financial restraints not all riders would be able to take part in all the rounds. Josh Auty had the honour of becoming the first holder of the title but more importantly over 25 riders took part in the championship.

After this successful first staging of the championship in the following year it was extended to 7 rounds, which were staged from 1st May to 10th August, which once again used the traditional 16 rider 20 heat race format but now the best 4 scores decided the overall championship. Josh Auty retained his title but other riders who had their first public rides included Ben Taylor, Joe Haines and Ben Hopwood.

Rather than progressing from these two successful stagings the championship now begin its slow decline. In 2006 the number of rounds staged between 18th June and 7th October was reduced to 6 and more worrying the traditional 16 rider 20 heat race format was dropped in favour of a format involving 12 riders in 12 qualifying heats with the top 9 scorers progressing to quarter and semi finals and a grand final with points being awarded based on a riders finishing position. At some rounds up to 15 riders were programmed to ride and so on these occasions 11 riders were seeded direct to the qualifying heats and the other riders had a race off with the winner becoming the 12th seeded rider and the others becoming the meeting reserves. At other rounds there were only 12 riders with no reserves and so if a rider withdrew during the course of the meeting you had races with only 3 or sometimes 2 riders. At the end of the qualifying heats the 3 lowest scoring riders were eliminated with the riders finishing in 9th to 6th positions riding in the quarter final. The winner of this race joined the riders finishing in 5th to 3rd positions in the semi final. The first two finishers in this race joined the top two scorers in the grand final. Or in simple terms we had 12 heats to decide which 9 riders would progress to the final three heats.

Once again the best 4 scores decided the overall championship with Joe Haines, the runner up in 2005, became the champion with Ben Hopwood a close runner up.

It is not clear why the new race format was chosen. Was it just to a shortage of riders, a worrying sign in only the championships third staging and if so a worrying sign for the future of the sport, or because the powers that be had decided to go for quality rather than quantity.

Whatever the reason the format was retained in 2007 but the decline of the championship now when into overdrive. There was a deafening quiet throughout the winter and the first news of the championship appeared in the Speedway Star of 5th May when it was announced that a 250cc championship would be run along side the 500cc championship with the winner receiving a new 250cc bike from JRM (formerly Jawa) and more worryingly the comment “ the format of this year’s championship is still on the drawing board but hopefully full details will be announced within the next couple of weeks.”

In the good years the championship was up and running at this stage of the season but in 2007 riders and more importantly parents did not know when the championship would start, how many rounds would be involved, where and when the rounds would be staged. Remember speedway is a professional sport run by professional people.

From postings on the British Speedway Forum (BSF) it appeared that the first round of the 2007 championship was scheduled for Weymouth on 4th August but in late July it was moved to the day before due to a lack of medical cover. As you can imagine this late change didn’t go down too well with riders or more importantly parents and as one poster on BSF said “ Sorry this is ridiculous. I fully understand about the need for medical cover but to change the date at this stage it is not on – surely medical cover should have been confirmed before announcing the date…. parents have to balance out time off work etc” In fact common sense prevailed and the rearranged date was itself cancelled and in fact the first round of the championship was staged at Weymouth on 1st September.

The Northside training track at Workington staged the second round of the championship on 23rd September. Interestingly at the Northside round 12 riders were seeded to the qualifying heats and 4 riders were programmed to race off to decide who would be the meeting reserves, although only 3 turned up on the day. Two other races were programmed for the results so in fact 18 heats were programmed to feature the 12 seeded riders and the reserves so one is bound to ask why it was not possible to run the meeting on the more traditional 16 rider 20 heat format after the final round at Oxford on 26th October used this format? At the end of the Oxford round two riders Daniel Greenwood and James Sarjeant were equal on championship points and after a race off Daniel became the 2007 champion.

Why did the 2007 championship not start until 1st September after with a major slip up with the planned starting date which itself was very late compared to previous years and why only 3 rounds.

The Speedway Star dated 1st September claims to answer the first question by saying “ the competition has had a delayed opening because of the excessively wet summer which has seen tracks struggling to provide days.” Whilst I agree that the summer was wet at times postings on the BSF that whoever told the Star the reasons for the delayed start of the championship may at best have been “economical with the truth”

One posting claimed that the BSPA only send out an email to tracks asking them if they wished to stage an round of the championship on 12th July whilst another claimed that riders weren’t given details of the championship until 23rd July remember that the first round of the championship was scheduled for Weymouth on 4th August. If the postings are a true and accurate then the stated reason why the championship start was delayed doesn’t appear to hold water.

Another concern is the gradual decrease in the number of rounds each year and more worrying for the future of the sport the fact that rather than the number of riders wishing to take part increasing year on year as the championship becomes established the opposite seems to be happening. Could this fall in numbers be because parents who after all finance the riders and ferrying them around the country have become disillusioned with the way the championship is run. After all in 2007 they did not know until the very last minute when how many and when rounds would be held a situation that would have been a disgrace to a pub darts league never mind a championship associated with a so called professional sport and it is little wonder that some may see a brighter future in their kids taking part in motor sports, where they get regular rides, such as grasstrack and MotoX.

Judging by postings on the BSF I am not alone in my concerns, as one poster said “Is it not time for a change before speedway in this country becomes defunct through lack of youngsters coming into the sport and more importantly sticking at it please BSPA/SCB open your eyes to what is happening in the real world”

In 2008 will the number of rounds, their dates and venues be announced before the season starts or at the very least within the first month or will the mistakes of 2007 be repeated as the championship slides into oblivion.

If people are wondering what happen to the planned 250cc championship the Star dated 1st September claimed that it was cancelled due to a lack of entrants. Postings on the BSF appear to suggest otherwise. Rumours appeared that suggested that the powers that be were claiming that riders were boycotting the series a claim denied by some parents who saying that after spending over £3000 on engines and rolling chassis it would be crazy to not run in the championship and the problem laid in the fact that no one had been asked about the championship until the very last minute. In fact some parents so wanted their sons to get rides that they organised they own mini league meetings at various tracks as second half attractions. Hardly the actions of people boycotting a national championship.

Just being a speedway fan I doubt if any one at Wood Street Rugby will take any notice but may I suggest that in 2008 the BSPA ensure that whoever is in overall charge of the championship that this is their only job in the sport. Some of the problems in 2007 appeared to be due to the fact that the person in charge, no matter how good he was, had other responsibilities within the sport as well as normal paid employment and at times the championship appeared to be at the bottom of his list of priorities. Maybe if this suggestion was followed then the championship could return to the good days of 2004 and 2005 and become a major part of an organised and well-managed route into the sport for young riders. The BSPA can talk the talk about wanting to see more young British riders entering the sport and progressing through the leagues but when it comes to walking the walk they appeared to be handicapped.

S.Bear