A Radical Change is Required
By Ivor Craine

Since the advent of laydown engines which makes bikes far easier to control and the disappearance of contrasting riding styles, i.e. Foot forward or leg trail, passing or change of position in a race has become a very rare event.

Consequently you can now write the results of a heat in your program after the first corner and watching the rest of the race is little different from watching the grader go around.

To increase the interest and introduce some unpredictability, why not trial having six starting positions evenly spread around the track and start simultaneously on a green light with an official at each point who fires a firework rocket when his rider completes four laps and the sequence of rockets decides the allocation of points?

As well as rockets you could have a digital scoreboard which lit up the sequence of finish positions by riders colour.

Having six riders in a heat each starting from a position a sixth of the track apart with Team A starting from positions 1, 3 & 5 and Team B from 2, 4 & 6.

The one sixth of the track apart increases the possibility that a rider could catch up to the opposition rider starting from the position in front of him and if he does so and passes the opposition rider he would be paid a bonus point.

This format certainly adds plenty of interest and excitement to watching the whole 4 laps of a heat as compared to usually just watching a procession after the first corner which is the situation now.

My suggestion is serious watching speedway today lacks interest and by having the different start positions spectators would not be sure of finishing positions until the race was over.

Something has to be done to prevent speedway disappearing into the history books. It has declined from its heights when there were six tracks in London alone to only having six tracks in the first division.

This article was first published on 21st June 2026