I read on another forum that Steve is trying to re-open Stoke in 2010. I believe that this is taken from a news item in Stoxworld. Sadly due to me not having attended a meeting since the last Coventry I have not got access to this. Can Steve fill in anymore details and is the idea to run Brisca F1 or just bangers/domestic formulas. Heres hoping its F1 as I live in Stoke and the prospect of having the stadium back is fantastic, a much needed 10 minutes drive from home which has sadly been lacking since the demise of first Crewe and then Chesterton (Stoke).

We have had initial discussions with Dave Tattum and progressed to applying for/ gaining approval for F1/F2 licneses for 2010.

We have put together a provisional list for 2010 to include one F1 date and approx 7 others - Dave and I should meet in the near future when the speedway season calms down [ and our own ] to hopefully agree and conclude commercial terms which of course without the necessary permissions, was a little pointless. We have also forwarded our suggested dates for 2010 to DT to see how they align with Speedway.

I would hope to add more flesh to the bone later in September as things for both parties are hectic until then.

There are a few things to resolve, not insurmountable however it is important that time is spent examining the commercial entities to ensure it works for all parties.
We are keen to progress and have already begun some planning - on the principle that it satisifies Stoke Speedway's objectives and of course, our own.

On the basis that a five figure sum will be required to re-open the venue as far as four wheeled sport is concerned - and the current economic backdrop, there is a lot to consider!

Thanks for the prompt reply. Sounds like great news, something that I thought would never happen after the falling out at the start of the millennium. Hopefully everything works out and you manage to get all the dates for next year, especially the F1 date and this can be built on in the years to come.

It was a fantastic track and one that did not need a lot of cars to produce some superb racing.

This is the best news I've heard for a long time!

I really hope it comes off.

We were distinctly unhappy at the turn of events when the lease expired - the biggest issue I think at the time for Stoke [ and Dave in particular] was simply too many meetings and the resultant workload.
25 Stox/Bangers is a lot on shale although that was stipulated in the lease requirements with landlords Corbett bookmakers and probably over double what we would have chosen to run, however the lease was inherited from the Higgins, Stuart Smith and DP who all had the same terms, the Higgins and I think Stuart sublet the non F1 meetings to Jim Wilkinson and Martyn Clarke I believe.

Dave & Caroline took on the lease for speedway full time and have introduced training schools and had a dabble in conference league for a period.
To be fair to the Tattums and ourselves, at the time and now a few years on - we both suffered at the hands of politics and excessive demands from the then stadium management 'playing off' one sport against the other.

Plans are for one Saturday night F1 event - other events will be built around Bangers and will include F2 / V8 / Saloons and Ministox as part of the back up content



Several years have elapsed and there is no profit in an impasse and we seek to move on to see if we can finalise an arrangement that is beneficial to Dave and ourselves.

At the risk of repeating myself.....

BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!

I share your sentiments Carl, my reaction when first told of this great news (although I was at work, I still punched the air ). I think your intial assesment of Stoke as a 'proper stock car track' is spot on. Another shale venue
I'm keeping all ten fingers and toes crossed on this. It will be great addition to the BriSCA fold again.

Whilst it's brilliant having another venue on board, and a shale one at that, I hope the fixture planning for 2010 gives both Stoke and Scunthorpe a chance, and dosn't restrict them like Sheffield has been in recent times.
The fixture list for 2009 is at times overloaded and inbalanced and both new ventures need "nursing" to ensure their profitability and long term sucess.
The distribution of N/S and Qual dates needs to be spread evenly and not have one meeting both a N/S round and a qualifier, whilst the next or previous day a meeting is neither. I have to ask why are both semis are a N/S round when, say, the last Sheffield was a so called nothing meeting ?
More venues open up more avenues for support and sponsership, but only if they are given the chance.
Anyway, best of luck Steve, Startrax has got a Saturday night at last.

Tim

Don't get me started on having meetings run as two consecutive championship rounds in one

The whole argument has always been that it puts an undue pressure on the drivers if they had to attend every meeting, up and down the country, to compete in the various championship events.

I don't agree however, and concur with Jeremy Heavers assesment that by having 'stand alone' NS and WQR meetings, what you'd see is a greater spread of winners of our top awards, if those who currently win them could not or were unwilling to attend all events.

Who knows you may see top drivers picking and choosing which championships they wished to compete in leading to Jeremy's theory of a greater spread of drivers winning the various titles.

As for Sheffield, I think A&S Leisure restrict racing to Sunday's as Saturday nights is for the doggies.

Anyhoo, I'll get off me soapbox.

Steve - has there been any changes to the stadium infastructure since Startrax last operated there?

Nothing material has changed

It's remarkable how much my enthusiasm has increased in the last month... So far this year I've been limited to Belle Vue and Sheffield, but I pulled the stops out and got to Scunthorpe. Perhaps partly because it was my first meeting for about 2 months, but I was totally blown away. And then there's the news that Stoke may be back next year.

I've just doubled my must-do-every meeting list of tracks.

The news that Stoke could be back would give the sport in the Crewe / Stoke area a much needed boost, Stoke is an excellent saturday night track, great racing, trackside parking - brilliant.

Perhaps a few emails to Dave Tatum expressing thanks for his change of attitude wouldnt go a miss, i can resume visits to the speedway again not wanting to support someone that treated stox so badly ive not visited since!