Coventry Speedway

Bleak outlook for British speedway, sad to report Apart from the uncertainty regarding the future of Coventry Stadium and the Buildbase Bees, Birmingham speedway is on the verge of closure, due to mounting debts, and the triumvirate promoting at Eastbourne, including Bob Dugard, whose family have run the Arlington speedway since 1929, are pulling out at the end of this season Falling attendances, lack of top class riders in the UK, poor and selfish management of the sport by the British Speedway Promoters Association, and much more have all contributed to the decline, as has the televising of regular live speedway (UK and Swedish leagues, GPs and European Championships are all screened live over here), leading to increased armchair supporters and less attendees at meetings - matches are even broadcast on Bet365 in addition to the Sky and Eurosport TV programmes I fear for the future of this wonderful sport in the UK

An example of the shambles which is UK speedway is tonight's meeting at Kings Lynn, where the Bees had to track two Premier League riders with averages up to 6 points in place of two heat-leaders who were riding for their Danish League teams Naturally the Bees went down heavily whilst many fans stayed away in protest at the reduction in quality of the riders on view

I think at least part of the problem for British Speedway is the complete lack of coordination with other European Leagues. Can you imagine Wayne Rooney being allowed to play for Barcelona and Inter Milan - as well as Man U? What this means is that the very best riders are stealing the places of other, lesser riders, and this cascades right down the system. The top riders, including those in the GP, should be shunted off to a sort of European Super League, with one or two teams from each of the speedway countries. Personally, the next time I get to Coventry I'll be going to watch the Storm - local (ish) blokes having a go because they hope one day to make the grade, just like Johnnie Reason, Pete Brough, Jim Lightfoot, etc etc etc and all those other local blokes who DID make the grade. I can watch the "Bees" every week (some of whom actually speak English!) without leaving my armchair here in Australia. Continuing the football analogy, could the Bees eventually be moving to Northampton too? Is the old Brafield track still there?

Brafield track was still there a few years ago, but unfortunately it has been tarmac rather than shale for many years now. I went to see banger racing there in the early 70's and it was tarmac that long ago!

The last Brafield speedway track was set inside the tarmac stock car track and was in use in the early 1970's. The original stock car track was shale and then concrete before getting a tarmac surface some time in the 1960's. I don't know if there was speedway on the original surface because that is well before my time. The 1970's speedway track is probably still there but is buried under a few tons of tarmac because like Brandon the infield grass has been covered in tarmac. The track still operates at PR1MO International Raceway, prior to that it was Northampton International Raceway, and originally just Brafield Stadium. The current promoters are the Spedeworth organisation. You can still see stock car racing and banger racing, but you can't sit in the old grandstand because it blew away in a strong wind more than 30 years ago - probably a good thing because subsequent legislation after the Bradford football stadium fire would have made it obsolete anyway. If both Coventry and Birmingham lose their speedway teams then the nearest alternative tracks are Leicester and Wolverhampton.

If Coventry lose their speedway team there is no alternative track.

Speedway does seem to be struggling. Further to what MR said yesterday, I drove past the Perry Barr track yesterday evening and there is a huge sign next to the road where they display the date and opponents of the next meeting. This was ominously blank. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it's the first time I've seen it like that. I do fear for the future of the sport in the area.

Hi all I am fearful that our big cinema style televisions, along with the comfort of our personal styled home-styles, has taken its toll on many of our out of home activities.

You're quite right, Philip, and the sport has never really "caught on" with the new generations who have all the alternatives for leisure and pleasure A look around the sparse crowds attending UK speedway meetings will reveal that the average age is relatively high, and new supporters and fans are just not appearing in any sort of numbers

From the BSPA : THE British Speedway Promoters' Association can confirm the annulment of Birmingham Brummies Ltd, the Birmingham Speedway promotion. This is a decision made in accordance with the speedway regulations. However, the BSPA would also like to stress great efforts will continue to be made to see the continuation of the sport at Perry Barr Stadium. Chairman Alex Harkess said: "The Speedway Control Bureau, at the recommendation of the BSPA, has informed the current Birmingham management of the decision to annul. "However, there are great efforts being made on a private and confidential basis to give the club every chance of concluding the season."

This is all super-sad news. How can playing Call of Duty or Battlefield 1942 possibly compare to a night of Speedway. The week was never complete unless you came away from a meeting with a small piece of shale in the corner of an eye and lungs fighting back the negative effects of burnt Nitro-Methanol. Everything is going to the dogs.. oops, no, they've gone too..

or Castrol-R!! Oh no they haven't! Coventry Dogs

I'm amazed at the dog track news. Warwick Greyhound Stadium, said to have been the oldest in the country (and it looked like it was too. The hare was thought to be steam powered, a Mamod traction engine disguised to look like a rabbit) is only used for training now, apparently. I didn't know that Coventry had a dog track even. I thought that it was just the 'proles' of Leamington and Warwick doing it because they had no Speedway track..

Thanks for the information, MR. It seems that my concerns were correct. I had thought they were doing OK at Perry Barr. It is, of course, primarily a greyhound venue, and a thriving one as far as I know. So it would be sad to see another speedway venue disappear. I used to go to the old Perry Barr Stadium across the Walsall Road in the 70s when some of the Bees junior riders were on loan at the Brummies, then in the second division. That is now just a shopping centre.