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I see that they have taken the decision to drop down from the Premiership down to the Championship

Anybody know why they would do this?

Certainly isn't to cut down on travel expenditure looking at where they will be racing Berwick, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leicester, Newcastle, Redcar, Scunthorpe, Sheffield, Workington, together with two clubs who are expected to make the move up from the National League (third tier).

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27 minutes ago, Med/MadHatter said:

I used to love going to Eastville Stadium every week.............to watch the speedway! :laugh:

Same. We even stood on the decaying steps of the Tote End sometimes. As I recall there were a lot more of us there on a Friday night to see Crump, Gresham and Langli, than on Saturdays watching Prince, Pulis and Parsons. 

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2 hours ago, City Rocker said:

Same. We even stood on the decaying steps of the Tote End sometimes. As I recall there were a lot more of us there on a Friday night to see Crump, Gresham and Langli, than on Saturdays watching Prince, Pulis and Parsons. 

Dick Bradley and Johy Hole anyone.

From Memories of Knowle Stadium

During that heyday the riders regularly attracted 8,000 or 9,000 fans to the track – more than an average gate at Bristol Rovers – and on the first day of the 1977 season legend has it that 14,000 spectators turned up to watch the Bulldogs.

 

 

 

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6 minutes ago, slartibartfast said:

Anyone remember Tom Leadbitter ?  He had a horrendous crash entering the Tote end corner, I thought he was going to be dead, but the crash ended his career (or at least hastened his retirement ).

Yes I remember that, horrendous crash, I think he did retire soon after that accident 

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6 minutes ago, slartibartfast said:

Anyone remember Tom Leadbitter ?  He had a horrendous crash entering the Tote end corner, I thought he was going to be dead, but the crash ended his career (or at least hastened his retirement ).

 I was there for that slarti spetacular action that he was a goner for sure speedway friday nights and city home and away saturday luvly jubly

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1 hour ago, Med/MadHatter said:

The 70s version, I was still at school so had to bicycle down there from Winterbourne :laugh:

Was it really the 70s I was there that first night it returned after god knows how long, what an atmosphere, reckon it must have been the largest crowd that had  been seen at Eastville for decades, remember him Phil Crump?

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37 minutes ago, pillred said:

Was it really the 70s I was there that first night it returned after god knows how long, what an atmosphere, reckon it must have been the largest crowd that had  been seen at Eastville for decades, remember him Phil Crump?

Great atmosphere at the speedway, and the sweet smell of 2 stroke! Yep remember Phil, also used to see him at Poole as he was Jason's mechanic, great admiration for those guy's, they had balls of steel! Once I had the pleasure(?!) of riding one of those bikes, accelerated like lightning :laugh:, scared the bejeezus out of me!

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1 hour ago, Med/MadHatter said:

Great atmosphere at the speedway, and the sweet smell of 2 stroke! Yep remember Phil, also used to see him at Poole as he was Jason's mechanic, great admiration for those guy's, they had balls of steel! Once I had the pleasure(?!) of riding one of those bikes, accelerated like lightning :laugh:, scared the bejeezus out of me!

Castrol R a smell never forgotten.....

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3 hours ago, Med/MadHatter said:

Great atmosphere at the speedway, and the sweet smell of 2 stroke! Yep remember Phil, also used to see him at Poole as he was Jason's mechanic, great admiration for those guy's, they had balls of steel! Once I had the pleasure(?!) of riding one of those bikes, accelerated like lightning :laugh:, scared the bejeezus out of me!

Loved it - used to go to Eastville and Swindon with my parents, then in later years to Poole with my husband, if we were on holiday in that area.  Great times.

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11 hours ago, Med/MadHatter said:

Phil Crump for me, used to watch his son Jason when he was at Poole ( sorry can't mention their last name on this forum!) 

Jason should have been back in the UK riding for Ipswich this season having been lured out of retirement. His dad was my favourite. First saw him ride for Newport before that team became Bristol Bulldogs.

Phil used to live in Nailsea. There's a ridge, Morgans Hill, that runs from the Grove Sports Centre (is it still called that? Should have been named the Adge Cutler Sports Centre). One morning all I could hear was that fantastic sound from a Weslake or Jawa engine. It turned out Steve Gresham and Phil were testing out bikes.

I went to the last ever Speedway final at Wembley in 1980. Steve Gresham was testing a bike in the nearby car park and he wasn't even racing that night! However, his fellow American Bruce Penhall did race and won the title.

BTW, the freebie satellite channel Eurosport has the contract to show live UK Speedway this season. BT Sport has the rights for the World Championships. For those that don't know, it is run like F1 these days with a number of Grand Prixs. Speedway is still thrilling to watch and an ambition of mine is to go and watch a GP in Poland plus see the Bulldogs race again with former 3 times World Champion Tai Woffinden being the captain!

The Poles love Speedway and have purpose built stadiums for it (check out Torun's). 

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36 minutes ago, Norn Iron said:

Jason should have been back in the UK riding for Ipswich this season having been lured out of retirement. His dad was my favourite. First saw him ride for Newport before that team became Bristol Bulldogs.

Phil used to live in Nailsea. There's a ridge, Morgans Hill, that runs from the Grove Sports Centre (is it still called that? Should have been named the Adge Cutler Sports Centre). One morning all I could hear was that fantastic sound from a Weslake or Jawa engine. It turned out Steve Gresham and Phil were testing out bikes.

I went to the last ever Speedway final at Wembley in 1980. Steve Gresham was testing a bike in the nearby car park and he wasn't even racing that night! However, his fellow American Bruce Penhall did race and won the title.

BTW, the freebie satellite channel Eurosport has the contract to show live UK Speedway this season. BT Sport has the rights for the World Championships. For those that don't know, it is run like F1 these days with a number of Grand Prixs. Speedway is still thrilling to watch and an ambition of mine is to go and watch a GP in Poland plus see the Bulldogs race again with former 3 times World Champion Tai Woffinden being the captain!

The Poles love Speedway and have purpose built stadiums for it (check out Torun's). 

Thanks for the info, I've not watched hardly any speedway since I emigrated to Canada in 2007 ( their tv sport hardly goes beyond ice hockey, baseball and NFL), but will look out for it on my IPTV when it returns later this year. Used to really enjoy the GP system too, built up the tension to the final all through the season, can't wait now!

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13 hours ago, Med/MadHatter said:

Great atmosphere at the speedway, and the sweet smell of 2 stroke! Yep remember Phil, also used to see him at Poole as he was Jason's mechanic, great admiration for those guy's, they had balls of steel! Once I had the pleasure(?!) of riding one of those bikes, accelerated like lightning :laugh:, scared the bejeezus out of me!

Happy days..

bulldogs.jpg

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3 hours ago, Norn Iron said:

Jason should have been back in the UK riding for Ipswich this season having been lured out of retirement. His dad was my favourite. First saw him ride for Newport before that team became Bristol Bulldogs.

Phil used to live in Nailsea. There's a ridge, Morgans Hill, that runs from the Grove Sports Centre (is it still called that? Should have been named the Adge Cutler Sports Centre). One morning all I could hear was that fantastic sound from a Weslake or Jawa engine. It turned out Steve Gresham and Phil were testing out bikes.

I went to the last ever Speedway final at Wembley in 1980. Steve Gresham was testing a bike in the nearby car park and he wasn't even racing that night! However, his fellow American Bruce Penhall did race and won the title.

BTW, the freebie satellite channel Eurosport has the contract to show live UK Speedway this season. BT Sport has the rights for the World Championships. For those that don't know, it is run like F1 these days with a number of Grand Prixs. Speedway is still thrilling to watch and an ambition of mine is to go and watch a GP in Poland plus see the Bulldogs race again with former 3 times World Champion Tai Woffinden being the captain!

The Poles love Speedway and have purpose built stadiums for it (check out Torun's). 

This will bring back memories..

Crumpy looking like an extra from 'planet of the apes,,

And is that Nigel Boocock (seated) with an afro?? ?

km wasps 1975.jpg

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14 hours ago, Med/MadHatter said:

Great atmosphere at the speedway, and the sweet smell of 2 stroke! Yep remember Phil, also used to see him at Poole as he was Jason's mechanic, great admiration for those guy's, they had balls of steel! Once I had the pleasure(?!) of riding one of those bikes, accelerated like lightning :laugh:, scared the bejeezus out of me!

 

Miss those days watching Swindon Ronins v Bristol Bulldogs, v Reading Racers, v Oxford Cheetahs either individually or in a four team tournament and many fans used to travel as we often raced on different evenings with no animosity just decent banter amonst the fans  

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17 minutes ago, Shaun Taylor said:

 

Miss those days watching Swindon Ronins v Bristol Bulldogs, v Reading Racers, v Oxford Cheetahs either individually or in a four team tournament and many fans used to travel as we often raced on different evenings with no animosity just decent banter amonst the fans  

The only time I went away with the Bulldogs (Swindon) it was rained off ! :grr:

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36 minutes ago, Shaun Taylor said:

That's the problem with speedway it always seemed to rain on race nights!! Shame Bristol can't create a new stadium and start again as I'm sure you have massive potential 

What sort of attendances do they get these days?

Whenever I stumble across it on Sky Sports, the UK events always seem to be coming live from a patch of waste land on the edge of some sort of housing estate.

 

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45 minutes ago, Bristol Rob said:

What sort of attendances do they get these days?

Whenever I stumble across it on Sky Sports, the UK events always seem to be coming live from a patch of waste land on the edge of some sort of housing estate.

 

I would say as an average Swindon get 1500-2000 which is good for speedway these days. The crowd for the last home meeting in 2019 when Swindon completed the treble there was 5000-6000 and completely packed to the rafters.

In general speedway is not well supported but a lot of that is due to not racing on a Friday or Saturday evening which basically stops young families from attending as it falls on a school night 

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4 minutes ago, Shaun Taylor said:

I would say as an average Swindon get 1500-2000 which is good for speedway these days. The crowd for the last home meeting in 2019 when Swindon completed the treble there was 5000-6000 and completely packed to the rafters.

In general speedway is not well supported but a lot of that is due to not racing on a Friday or Saturday evening which basically stops young families from attending as it falls on a school night 

I guess like most things, put a track in the right area and people will go and watch it.

Not a sport I have ever really seen much appeal in watching, but get that for a lot of people it provides exciting racing and a format that allows you to follow 'your' team.

I know it's popular in Europe, what sort of budgets do the teams operate with, there is something about how it is presented that makes it look low budget and amateur mechanic, but I am guessing it's a lot more monied and professional than that.

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2 minutes ago, Bristol Rob said:

I guess like most things, put a track in the right area and people will go and watch it.

Not a sport I have ever really seen much appeal in watching, but get that for a lot of people it provides exciting racing and a format that allows you to follow 'your' team.

I know it's popular in Europe, what sort of budgets do the teams operate with, there is something about how it is presented that makes it look low budget and amateur mechanic, but I am guessing it's a lot more monied and professional than that.

Good point that it always looks amateurish and budgets are always kept quiet with the top riders more relying on good sponsorshp to pay for their engines etc. I guess all riders would be on a flat starting rate plus bonuses on top rather than sole payment for the points scored as the lesser riders who score low wouldn't be able to make a living.

it an exciting sport when you watch it live and it makes you wonder why an earth anyone what want to do it considering the injuries they get.

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