Newcastle Diamonds Speedway

Newcastle Stadium has a rich history dating back to the first speedway league in 1929, and they are the Diamonds in the rough. Join me as I let Brough Park take you through the speedway ages, the core speedway experience!

Date Visited
Sunday 17th April 2022
Fixture
Newcastle v Edinburgh

Today was day 2 of my mad dash around the country to capture five speedway matches in four days! I woke fresh from a good night's sleep in the quiet town of Coldstream on the Scottish border, ironically, in a hotel room of a pub called the Newcastle Arms. The B&B provided me with a proper English breakfast, although I was in Scotland, so I guess it was a Scottish breakfast! Although I only had 70 miles to cover, check out was 10 am, so it was time to hit the road! I had a bit of time to burn as the action didn't get underway at Brough Park until 5 pm! Before travelling south, I stopped in Berwick to look around the famous fortifications (see my Berwick post!). Once I finished in Berwick, I journeyed south to Newcastle but still had time to spare. I thought I would check out St James Park, home to Newcastle's Premier League football team. The Magpies were hosting Leicester that afternoon in a televised match by sheer coincidence. The area was bustling, so I made sure to get out of there before the football finished! After snooping around, I made the short trip east of the town centre to an area called Byker, where Newcastle Stadium is situated.

Newcastle Stadium hosts greyhound racing and speedway, similar to tracks like Wolverhampton and Birmingham. The area feels tucked away from Newcastle proper, but the site is the suburban part of east Newcastle upon tyne. When you approach the stadium, the area has an industrial feeling. The difference in the crowd and atmosphere is instantly noticeable compared to their northeastern rivals. I imagine it's hard to create a communal feel at a club like Newcastle when the city's population is over 800'000, compared to Berwick's 50'000.

When you enter the stadium, you are greeted by the track shop on a few trestle tables and the smell of the Diamonds owner Rob Grant's burger van. The viewing is restricted to the home straight, similarly to Wolverhampton's Monmore green. The viewing is slightly below the track level at the front, the incline of the stand is very gradual, so if you want a view of the track from higher up, you'll be quite far back. The pits are tucked away on the first bend, you can just about see inside but it's limited, which is a shame.

There is a bar just under the grandstand, and as previously mentioned, there are two catering vans near the first bend. The restaurant area above the stand is OK, but it does look a little dated, although the view of the track is decent, albeit behind glass. The programme at Newcastle is undoubtedly different. It's in the style of an A4 paper magazine with the racecard found on the back.

Newcastle Speedway is your typical British greyhound stadium track, the track is quite long, but the bends are a little sharp, sometimes limiting natural overtaking opportunities. The track has housing along the back and some warehouses to the left of the grandstand, at first glance it looks like an older version of Perry Bar. Newcastle is the largest speedway track to be situated inside a greyhound track, at 300 metres.

The Advance Fire & Security Diamonds (In Association with Securicop) have struggled to put a good team together this season. Their number 1 Bradley Wilson-Dean was injured early in the season, and they've been unable to replace him. The UK rider shortage has taken a front-row seat this season, with Birmingham and Plymouth having similar issues.

Today's match marked the beginning of the Championship KO Cup, and the visitors were Edinburgh. We didn't get off to a great start. The scheduled start time of 5 pm got delayed; the congregation could see the apparent sign of discontent of riders on the first and second bends. 5.30 pm came and went, and Heat 1 didn't kick off until nearly 6 pm. I can understand delays due to track conditions, but the supporter's frustrations were justifiable on this occasion as there was no sign of any track work going on before the start time.

The visitors took control from Heat 1, scoring a 5-1 over the Diamonds guest Number 1, Chris Harris. The Monarchs got torn apart at Berwick, but there were no such issues this time. The score remained close until Heat 10, but the Monarchs eventually pulled away and never looked in danger of surrendering the lead, taking a healthy 8-point advantage back to Armadale.

The racing was pretty good despite the track being in a questionable condition. Wethers and Masters had a good battle in Heat 1, Max Clegg did well to Pass Paco Castagna in Heat 3. Matthew Wethers and Josh Pickering exchanged passes in Heat 6 and Wethers was again at the centre of a terrific Race 8. Josh Pickering passed both Diamonds in Heat 9 and had good battles in Heat 13 and 15,. Wethers slipped from second to last in Heat 10, and Paul Starke rounded Lasse Fredrikson in Heat 11. Overall I couldn't argue with the standard of racing on display. There were some fantastic passes from both teams. The rider of the day for me was Monarchs number 5, Josh Pickering. The guy is just insane on a bike! He is fully committed to every bend and doesn't know when he is beaten! Josh reminded me of Robert Lambert when he was riding in the UK.

After Heat 15 The Monarchs fan celebrated on the home straight after the match with their team and got a smashing photo celebrating with the riders! Although the second leg was still to come, I don't think anyone would be betting on the Diamonds repaying the favour at Armadale.

Fortunately, I didn't have far to go to my next hotel just south of Newcastle. I rode past the Angel of the North in the twilight to a little place called Chester-Le-Street, where my accommodation was waiting, a pub called the Red Lion, how British! This time, I remembered to get a Pot Noddle at the petrol garage for the hotel. Good thing too because the pub stopped selling food at 8 pm! I had time to face-time my wife and kids and then get a good night's sleep before making the early morning trip across the breadth of the UK to Manchester for the early morning clash between the Aces and Wolverhampton.

Parking
Plenty of Parking in the stadium.

Admission
£18 for Adults, £15 Concessions and Students, Children 5 to 16 are £3, Under 5 enter for free.

Programme
Newcastle's programme was £3 and is like a magazine, printed A4 with the racecard on the back. Not quite as polished as other programmes and is not my cup of tea, but I can see the appeal, and the supporters seemed to like it.

Viewing Facilities
Brough Park's set-up is similar to Monmore Green in that you are limited to the home straight to watch the racing. The terracing starts below the racetrack and inclines slowly to the grandstand. Personally, I would choose a spot at the back to get above the racing, although you are quite a distance from the track.

Catering
Grants catering van has all the usual offerings you find at Speedway Venues, near the pits of the first turn.

Escaping!
The car park does funnel as you exit, but the road out of the stadium turns into an industrial estate which isn't busy, so the traffic flows out steadily without a long wait.

Unfortunately, with immediate effect, Newcastle Speedway closed its doors on Tuesday 21st June 2022. Hopefully, if new ownership can be arranged the club will return in 2023.

Check back on their website for the latest news -
https://newcastle-speedway.co.uk/

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