Another Season Looms

It doesn’t seem that long ago that we were looking forward to last season with all the expectation and promise that comes with it. For me at any rate it didn’t really happen. The alteration to the GP format didn’t really live up to expectations and the big GP in Germany wasn’t the best advert for the sport. However the money was good but it does seem a bit strange that the winner of that particular GP can win more cash in the closing minute of the series then the eventual champion who dominated the previous rounds – what’s that all about then ?

Of course the season also saw the demise of one or two tracks and the Elite looks sadly short of teams for the new season. There are horror stories regarding the financial state of some tracks, some riders it seems weren’t paid on time – some maybe not at all. Let’s hope no team arranged a sponsorship deal with Northern Wreck, I mean rock for the new season.

With the so called credit crunch fast approaching and stories suggesting that the shops have been unable to make as much money out of us this Xmas, the signs aren’t good that this year will bring in the bumper crowds required to keep the sport buoyant. The chances of thousands of new fans suddenly descending on tracks up and down the country looks about as likely as Bradford putting the first Yorkshireman on the moon. I know a potential candidate and he tells me he’s not been approached yet – although he does say he thinks there are one or two characters at the BSPA willing to buy him the ticket !

It looks like the only thing we can hope for is for the sport to not lose anymore ground, hopefully we will not lose any more tracks during the course of the new season; anything better would be a bonus of course. You have to say that generally speaking the Premier League “model” seems to be working – perhaps the Elite League can learn something from this – but you don’t need to be Einstein to realise that spending more than you earn doesn’t usually work.

Getting any kind of plug for speedway on the BBC definitely seems an uphill struggle. I couldn’t help noticing some weeks ago Phil Morris was on “Eggheads” just a couple of weeks or so before our team from work – he gave his occupation as “speedway racer” but was never asked about it – I suppose its more to do with the team’s background rather than individuals but somehow you would have thought that a job like that would have created some response. On the Midlands Today sports personality awards it was a full house for speedway with Chris Harris and Coventry. Even the unsung hero award went to a guy who runs a cycle speedway team in the Black Country. Well done to all those who voted, auntie couldn’t ignore that one ! Funny though none of this made it to the national award show. I don’t think speedway got mentioned at all – but I was only channel hopping and most of what I saw was overpaid footballers.

Well one positive thing that’s happened over the last few years is that teams now don’t wait until the last minute before signing riders. Some teams are complete as we speak and I dare say that by the end of January most teams will have taken shape – this is far better than how it used to be and I think the 3 points for an away win is a better idea. Home track advantage will not be quite as important as it used to be.

Anyway I’m off to Oz in the next few days with around 70 other speedway fans on Uncle James’s trip. We hope to see 3 or 4 meetings and West Maitland – where it all started.

I will let you know about speedway in Oz next time and in the new season we can maybe find the answers to burning questions such as why Sheffield didn’t think the air fence was a good idea and leathers or kevlars which one would you choose ?

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