Wolverhampton Speedway Bosses Pledge To Discover Brand-new Venue

25 April 2023
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Nick Clitheroe & Clare LissamanBBC News


Speedway club employers have actually promised to discover a brand-new place after news they can not stay at their home of 96 years.


Wolverhampton Speedway stated on 17 April they were ravaged their occupancy contract for Monmore Green would not be extended beyond this season.


About 17,000 people have now signed a for it to be conserved.


But Wolves promoter Chris Van Straaten stated the "incredible" assistance had caused talks with authorities about a brand-new website.


"The truth that this petition has actually been signed and got such a huge amount of support in simply a couple of days is quite impressive and I believe that's certainly been the impact and opened the door to these conferences for the club," he stated.


Site owner Entain has said it will concentrate on greyhound racing but understands fans and the club will be "disappointed".


Mr Van Straaten, who took control of running the club from his father in 1986, stated speedway was "a fundamental part of Wolverhampton folklore".


"My energy in the last couple of days has turned to providing a new site where we can develop a Wolverhampton Speedway club and we can be the main occupants," he stated.


"I wish to produce our own venue, I 'd like to be the primary holder of the occupancy and also produce something that is open 6 days a week to assist train motorcyclists; to train children to take them off the streets."


He stated he had handled to bring an arena to Redcar and had gained knowledge from that task.


"I 'd love to be in a position where I can bring a speedway arena to the city of Wolverhampton," he stated.


The response from individuals made him think this was possible.


"The amount of people that signed the petition has actually took my breath away. The support for this sport is quite remarkable," he stated.


Mr Van Straaten said it would be an "tremendous" blow if it didn't take place, but added he was going to be favorable and they had the rest of this year to attempt to find a site.


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