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I've just been catching up on your website after several months without looking at it and was interested by the debate over the cost of speedway and the value for money it provides. As someone who finds themselves watching fewer and fewer meetings each season (just four so far in 2008), I would say the following:

(a) The quality of the racing is everything. At far too many tracks, there simply isn't enough passing or any real possibility of seeing some;

(b) Speedway claims to be a family sport. I'm not married and I don't have any children, and even I regard it as too expensive considering what you get for your money. Goodness knows how families pay to watch the sport regularly;

(c) The (modern) lack of proper second halves is a rip-off;

(d) Programmes. These are, mostly, a joke. Lamentable content, poor design, high prices. Compared to issues produced for 'major' sports, speedway programmes are dire. A plea to promoters: stop using the A4 format for programmes. It renders them almost useless;

(e) I want to see seven pukka home riders taking on seven pukka away riders. So, let's have proper team squads and scrap guest riders and the rider replacement facility;

(f) Speedway's biggest Achilles heel has always been that too many clubs do not own their stadia and are at the mercy of the landlord. It explains why many of the facilities are embarrassingly scruffy and amateurish. Who wants to watch anything in a dump?;

(g) A way has to be found to make speedway cheaper for the riders. The bikes today contain too many 'faddy' and wholly unnecessary add-ons. We need to get back to mechanical basics. Simple machines for a simple sport;

(h) I fear the media, other than local outlets, will never give speedway a fair crack of the whip. It's not (and I speak from more than 20 years' professional experience) regarded as a serious sport by journalists.