Wolverhampton Speedway Bosses Pledge To Find Brand-new Venue

25 April 2023
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Nick Clitheroe & Clare LissamanBBC News


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


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


About 17,000 individuals have now signed a petition calling for it to be conserved.


But Wolves promoter Chris Van Straaten said the "remarkable" assistance had resulted in talks with authorities about a brand-new website.


"The fact that this petition has been signed and got such a big amount of assistance in just a few days is rather 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 stated it will focus on greyhound racing however understands fans and the club will be "disappointed".


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


"My energy in the last few days has turned to offering a new website where we can establish a Wolverhampton Speedway club and we can be the main renters," he stated.


"I want to produce our own location, I want to be the main holder of the occupancy and likewise create something that is open six days a week to assist train motorcyclists; to train youngsters to take them off the streets."


He said he had handled to bring an arena to Redcar and had actually gotten understanding from that task.


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


The response from people made him believe this was possible.


"The quantity of individuals that signed the petition has actually took my breath away. The support for this sport is quite amazing," he said.


Mr Van Straaten said it would be an "tremendous" blow if it didn't occur, but included he was going to be positive and they had the rest of this year to look for a site.


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