It's not Elite, but survival is more important

With only about four of next year’s 15 permanent World Championship riders likely to line up in Britain’s top flight in 2009, the Elite is clearly not going to be Elite any more.

But if that is the way the domestic shale sport has to go in the next 12 months, everyone connected with the sport on these shores is just going to have to bite the bullet and take it on the chin.

Because, with all except two of our Elite League clubs believed to have run at a loss in 2008, something drastic has got to be done if all nine are to line up at the tapes again come March.

With the credit crunch likely to plunge Britain into deeper recession in the coming months, most people are beginning to make financial sacrifices.

And speedway people are no different.

With less money available for families to watch live sport, speedway crowds are already down throughout the country as Eastbourne, Ipswich, Belle Vue and Peterborough will quickly testify.

Wolves, Coventry, Swindon and Poole will probably vouch for the same, with just London satellite club Lakeside reversing the trend and that only because of hard working and creative new management.

The simple message is, if crowds are down, track costs have to come down.

And with wages by far a club’s biggest financial outlay, it’s inevitable riders’ pay packets will have to drop as well if enough clubs are to survive at the top level.

Pirates’ co-promoter Giles Hartwell has gone on record to say the Elite League champions would have made a “hefty loss” in 2008 if it hadn’t been for the sponsorship they received from the likes of Castle Cover.

If a well run club like Poole – controlled by Matt Ford, one of the best speedway promoters in the world – can’t survive without that kind of support, what chance have the others got in the current financial climate?

Very little, I’d say.

As Wolves owner Chris Van Straaten, one of the sports longest serving promoters, said: “We cannot afford to jeopardise the future of the sport in this country by offering silly money for a small number of top riders.

“The Elite League could go bankrupt by going down that route.

“We had a meeting of Elite League clubs on Monday and that’s where I felt reality kicked in.

“It was very frank, very honest and very open and there is a general feeling among promoters that the money simply isn’t there to meet the demands of some of the top boys and we have to run a sensible budget to preserve the future of our clubs.

“I understand the disappointment of some people when it comes to missing out on some GP riders, but it’s a price we have to pay right now because of the current climate we operate in.

“Politicians were taken by surprise with the economic downturn, so what chance have us humble speedway promoters got?

“Every time you put the news on TV, read the papers or listen to the radio, there’s reports of doom and gloom and a recession.

“It means we have a responsibility as promoters to safeguard the future of our clubs by operating to a strict and affordable budget, but that inevitably means there are some riders who won’t want to ride here because we can’t meet their demands.”

So there you have it, a strict pay structure will surely be put in place when British speedway chiefs discuss the way ahead at their annual conference in Spain next week.

All the clubs are going to have to agree to it, including Pirates, and if the GP stars don’t feel it’s worth their while riding in Britain for a lower pay packet, the fans on the terraces are just going to have to go with it.

At the moment, it looks like only Leigh Adams, Chris Harris, Fredrik Lindgren and Kenneth Bjerre will ride in the British top flight next year.

It means current British absentees’ Nicki Pedersen, Tomasz Gollob, Greg Hancock, Rune Holta, Grzegorz Walasek, Sebastian Ulamek and Emil Sajfutdinov could be joined on the sidelines by Jason Crump, Hans Andersen, Andreas Jonsson and Scott Nicholls.

But if that means the survival of British speedway, it surely is the only way ahead.