Wolverhampton Speedway Bosses Pledge To Find Brand-new Venue

25 April 2023
ShareSave


Nick Clitheroe & Clare LissamanBBC News


Speedway club employers have promised to find a new place after news they can not remain at their home of 96 years.


Wolverhampton Speedway said on 17 April they were devastated their tenancy contract for Monmore Green would not be extended beyond this season.


About 17,000 individuals have actually now signed a petition requiring it to be saved.


But Wolves promoter Chris Van Straaten stated the "remarkable" support had led to talks with authorities about a brand-new website.


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


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


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


"My energy in the last few days has turned to offering a brand-new site where we can establish a Wolverhampton Speedway club and we can be the primary occupants," he said.


"I want to create our own venue, I want to be the primary holder of the occupancy and likewise create something that is open six days a week to help train motorcyclists; to train children to take them off the streets."


He stated he had managed to bring an arena to Redcar and had actually 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 people made him believe this was possible.


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


Mr Van Straaten said it would be an "enormous" blow if it didn't happen, however added he was going to be positive and they had the rest of this year to attempt to discover a site.


Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk!.?.!