Four of us on three bikes met at Woolley Edge Services on Thursday 14th July for our annual trip to the Speedway racing at Owlerton Stadium in Sheffield. We arrived in plenty of time and met up with 3 others who had come in the car.
We need not have set off quite so early as the racing start was delayed by 50 minutes whilst they tried to fix the starting tape mechanism which wasn't in sync with the lights. The on-site electrician couldn't fix it so they had to consult the international speedway rule book which did permit starts using lights only, which was just as well as otherwise the meeting would have been cancelled.
You would think they would have rattled through the races given the late start but they took their time and seemed in no rush to speed things along. The races once they started though were fast enough.
It has to be said, Speedway Racing is pretty exciting stuff - Each race of 4 laps of the track lasts just over 60 seconds ... YES that's 15 seconds a lap!!! All this on fixed gear, 500cc single cylinder bikes which run on methanol and can accelerate from 0-60mph in under 2 seconds (faster than an F1 car) .... oh yes I nearly forgot .... they don't have ANY BRAKES!!!!! Four riders participate in each race (two from each team) with the winner taking 3 points, 2 for second, 1 for third and 0 for last, this is a team sport with the team accumulating most points over 15 races being declared the overall winners.
Sheffield were comfortably in front throughout and beat Peterborough 51-39, maintaining their 100 per cent home league record. The Tigers defeated the reigning Champions for the second time this year and by the exact same scoreline at the Owlerton Stadium.
Great evening out and the only people who lost out were Peterborough (and those who couldn't make it .... LOL).
And will we return again ..... I would jolly well say so !!!!
Check the Sheffield Speedway website: www.sheffield-speedway.com