Kiwi -League format.
Stick to what you have run.
At the very least only alter it slightly.
You need to run your league matches up front and have a result in the first one and a half hours of the meeting.
Far too often competitors seem to dictate the rules, regulations and format for meetings and I believe this
is one of the reasons why speedway in NZ is struggles to grow and get a following at times.
I believe you will have more chance of increasing the support and following of the league if you continue with your first
up format.
You want and spectators need to go home satisfied that they have come and seen the main feature on the programme.
It is better to have spectators going home early of their own choice, than going home bored or fed up because the meeting
has gone on too long and often without seeing some of the final races.
These races always appear last on the programme in old traditional speedway meeting format.
To back this view I will use Moore Park to illustrate my point.
We have seen since the development of this permanent training and race facility, some exceptional good meetings.
Unfortunately they go on far too long and if you have a problematic day,( very dry or injury holdups), most of the public
that you want to attract to each meeting, have gone home before the final fields have been found or run. They often miss the
most exciting and closest racing.
The only way you can counter this is to hold fewer races to ensure your meeting is over in a maximum of two and a half
to three hours.
Now this means that everybody will have to have fewer rides or some classes like kids or vets need to be cut from the programme.
This is the totally the wrong way to go when you have good facilities which is attracting people to participate and ex
riders coming back to the sport.
For this reason alone I believe your current league format solves this problem.
The match is over and done with in the first half of the meeting.
The kids, vets, chairs and team riders can then come out and have some enjoyment.
Because any title or match challenge is secondary to the league, it does not matter if half your public take scratchy kids
home or need to go home early to other engagements. The purpose of the meeting has been run.
Depending on how it works out, you could run a chair race, or vets challenge after every 3rd or 4th league race but that
is all I would consider.
In relation to club or other meetings, I believe it is better for it to be a big day for competitors and officials than
spectators.
With big field numbers like we see at Moore Park, you need to start racing at 10.30 am with the aim of getting through
one to two full rounds.
Shut down for half an hour to an hour and have a lunch break.
You start again at 1.00 - 1.30pm with the advertised public programme.
Racing all over by 3.30 - 4.00pm socialize or travel home.
The public will respond to a short duration concise programme and they want to see the best match ups of the day.
The above format allows riders to be ranked by a grand prix style format and then have their finals in front of a good
public gallery.
Bit long winded Croz, but hope you can get the jist of why and where I see some public following can be gained.
Regards
Warrick Korstanje Speedway supporter.
