Wolverhampton Speedway Bosses Pledge To Find Brand-new Venue

25 April 2023
ShareSave


& Clare LissamanBBC News


Speedway club bosses have actually pledged to discover a new location after news they can not remain at their home of 96 years.


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


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


But Wolves promoter Chris Van Straaten stated the "incredible" support had actually led to talks with authorities about a new site.


"The truth that this petition has been signed and got such a big amount of assistance in just a couple of days is rather exceptional and I believe that's certainly been the impact and opened the door to these meetings for the club," he stated.


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


Mr Van Straaten, who took control of running the club from his dad in 1986, stated speedway was "an essential part of Wolverhampton folklore".


"My energy in the last couple of days has actually turned to offering a brand-new site where we can develop a Wolverhampton Speedway club and we can be the primary tenants," he stated.


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


He stated he had actually managed to bring a stadium to Redcar and had actually gotten knowledge from that project.


"I 'd enjoy 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 think this was possible.


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


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


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