Wolverhampton Speedway managers promise to discover brand-new location

ByNick Clitheroe & Clare Lissaman
BBC News

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

Wolverhampton Speedway said on 17 April they were ravaged their occupancy contract for Monmore Green would not be extended 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 actually led to talks with authorities about a new website.

"The fact that this petition has been signed and got such a big quantity of support in simply a few days is rather impressive and I believe that's certainly been the influence and opened the door to these meetings for the club," he stated.

Site owner Entain has stated 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 father in 1986, stated speedway was "a vital part of Wolverhampton folklore".

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

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

He stated he had handled to bring an arena to Redcar and had actually gotten knowledge from that job.

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

The reaction from people made him believe this was possible.

"The amount of people that signed the petition has actually took my breath away. The support for this sport is rather incredible," he stated.

Mr Van Straaten said it would be an "tremendous" blow if it didn't take place, but added he was going to be favorable and they had the rest of this promotion code year to try to find a website.

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