Wolverhampton Speedway Bosses Pledge To Find Brand-new Venue

25 April 2023
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Nick Clitheroe & Clare LissamanBBC News


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


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


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


But Wolves promoter Chris Van Straaten said the "fantastic" support had actually caused talks with authorities about a brand-new site.


"The fact that this petition has been signed and got such a substantial quantity of assistance in simply a couple of days is quite amazing and I believe that's definitely been the influence and unlocked to these conferences for the club," he said.


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


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


"My energy in the last few days has actually turned to providing a new site where we can develop a Wolverhampton Speedway club and we can be the main tenants," he said.


"I wish to develop our own place, I wish to be the main holder of the tenancy and likewise develop something that is open 6 days a week to assist train motorcyclists; to train children to take them off the streets."


He said he had actually managed to bring an arena to Redcar and had acquired understanding 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 from people made him believe this was possible.


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


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


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