Wolverhampton Speedway Bosses Pledge To Discover New Venue
25 April 2023
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Nick Clitheroe & Clare LissamanBBC News
Speedway club employers have actually pledged to discover a brand-new location after news they can not stay at their home of 96 years.
Wolverhampton Speedway said on 17 April they were devastated their tenancy contract for Monmore Green would not be beyond this season.
About 17,000 people have actually now signed a petition requiring it to be conserved.
But Wolves promoter Chris Van Straaten stated the "amazing" assistance had caused talks with authorities about a brand-new website.
"The fact that this petition has actually been signed and got such a huge amount of support in simply a couple of days is rather remarkable and I believe that's definitely been the influence and opened the door to these conferences for the club," he stated.
Site owner Entain has said it will focus on greyhound racing but comprehends fans and the club will be "disappointed".
Mr Van Straaten, who took control of running the club from his daddy in 1986, said speedway was "a fundamental part of Wolverhampton folklore".
"My energy in the last few days has turned to offering a new website where we can develop a Wolverhampton Speedway club and we can be the main renters," he said.
"I want to develop our own venue, I 'd like to be the main holder of the tenancy and also create 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 managed to bring an arena to Redcar and had gained knowledge from that project.
"I 'd like to be in a position where I can bring a speedway stadium to the city of Wolverhampton," he stated.
The response from individuals made him think this was possible.
"The quantity of people that signed the petition has took my breath away. The support for this sport is rather incredible," he stated.
Mr Van Straaten said it would be an "enormous" blow if it didn't happen, but added he was going to be positive and they had the rest of this year to attempt to discover a site.
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