The Rise of British Speedway on Twitter

Here’s an article on speedway and Twitter that appeared in the Newcastle v Somerset magazine dated 30th September 2012

Twitter didn’t exist seven years ago and now has 500 million users posting 350 million tweets a day. Understandably, there has seen an explosion of riders taking to Twitter to share their thoughts, opinions, photos (see some of these here) and feelings with the world. Twitter is easy to use plus it’s a medium well suited to on the hoof, off the top of your head comment with any single posting limited to only 140 characters.

It’s also a delight for speedway fans since it gives instant access to the immediate spontaneous thoughts of the riders (promoters, media & other fans) rather than the usual pre-prepared statements that often tell you nothing. Styled by the founders as “connection with very low expectation”, you can dip in and out of Twitter as you please.

So what are the riders tweeting? It’s very noticeable that riders don’t talk about their racing as much as you might expect (though, obviously and somewhat boringly, there is some mention). During their season their lives involve extensive travel between tracks (often in different countries) and the tweets reflect this itinerant lifestyle. You won’t be shocked to learn early morning flights are a pain, the M25 experiences bad traffic, bikes suffer mechanical failures and that queues at airports get longer. That said, I really enjoy the insights into the everyday activities of speedway folk, so much so I collected a season of tweets into a book (#speedwaylife) with £5 for each copy sold going to the SRBF.

But what can we learn from a season of tweets? Well, you can follow the drama in real time as it unfolded plus, although each message has a restricted length and the user can choose its actual content, it is fair to say that the character of individual riders, promoters, fans or media types using Twitter quickly shines through! Some are witty or modest and others are hypersensitive moaning minnies with a heightened sense of entitlement. Though there are exceptions to every rule, it’s very noticeable that some Scandinavian and Nordic riders are more articulate – with English as their second (or third language) – than some of their native counterparts notionally more adept in their native tongue. They’re often funnier too. Last season Mads Korneliussen, Fredrik and Ludvig Lindgren as well as Nicolai Klindt really entertained and also provided much insight. Strangely, this season as Mads struggles on the track his tweets have suffered too! For unexplained reasons, sadly Freddie has abandoned the medium altogether and, as his form improved, Niels Kristian Iversen got duller. The first rider to really embrace Twitter was Greg Hancock and, arguably, with nearly 15,000 tweets to his name he, arguably, tweets too much! Some riders laugh off injuries with an insouciant shrug, while others moan like billio about altogether minor matters. There are a lot of obsessions – tattoos, sex, sleeping, real or perceived slights –  and a love of gadgets on the track, in the workshop and at the airport. For example, David Watt has a suitcase on a skateboard to ease his airport transits. It’s best to go online to see the full glory of thing. Read for yourself the riders delight in significant achievement or small improvements, argue and take the mickey. Contrast the speedway reporters who provide real insight (while others persistently exaggerate or lie), the fans who troll or provide insight, how riders respond to misfortune or mild criticism, the joy and heartache of novices starting out, riders in love or despair. It’s all there as it happens in real time. Here’s a random selection of tweets from last season:

Chris Holder “On way to Polska for SGP…idiots at Luton were not goin to take my engine because they think it smelt like diesel :-S WTF!”

Fredrik Lindgren “Don’t understand the taste of you Brits, at IKEA you choose Meatballs with chips?!? It don’t go together should be with boiled potatoes!”

Fredrik Lindgren “Saw Nicolai Klindt at the priority queue at my flight to Sweden. Guess Swindon pay him to much money”

Nicolai Klindt “thanks for the support dad. really nice to have someone like you that’s telling you how shit you are and how good others are. thanks again!”

Scott Nicholls “Sitting close to Lewis bridger. It’s like bike diagnoses n story time at school all rolled in to one! Bless him. He’s value for money”

Ludvig Lindgren  “ein, zwei, drei polizei! hate german and polish controls they are always such hard asses. i bet they aren’t that cool without the badge”

Nicolai Klindt “a one hour walk from the hotel to the track in flip-flops is not the best thing to do!”

Paul Burbidge “Just had a ride in the new space pods between Heathrow T5 Business parking and departures. The days of buses here are numbered”

Fredrik Lindgren “Don’t matter what time a day it is, at Airports you always see people drinking beer!”

Lewis Bridger “Rain tonight !!! Why %%%%ing scunthorpe & I swear if Tai gets a Wildcard pick for the British Final they can get %%%%ed !!!… its %%%%ed!! He didn’t quallify last year because he %%%%ed up in semi so he crashes his bmx gets injured & gets in!!”

Nicolai Klindt “its always good to watch discovery channel on a sunday. wish i could have me self a full english, just to be fat”

Fredrik Lindgren “SINGLE is NOT a status. It’s a word that best describes a person who is strong enough to live and enjoy life without depending on others”

Scott Nicholls “I love the snug seating arrangement budget airlines have! Just like being back in the womb!”

Nicolai Klindt “just been at my acupuncture specialist who said i was low on energy. so is eating a big salat with a banana/strawberry smoothie”

Fredrik Lindgren “This is awesome relaxing in the sun almost nude with shades on!”

Martin Neal “sheffield 34 bears 16 after 8. On the plus side, we got a free salad with our pizzas at pizza hut”

Chris Holder “Jus swapping all the “do not disturb” signs on peoples rooms to “please clean” hahaha cracks me up everytime!”

Linus Sundstrom “Just saw a kid about 12 yrs old with 4 cheeseburgers, 4 packs with chips and 2 big macs. My mechanic asked him and he says he will eat it all”

Linus Sundstrom “Just landed, poor old guy on the plane smoked a cigarette. They fined him €1000 and two polices took him straight when he walked out”

Fredrik Lindgren “I drove by myself, of course I came on some strange way back home. Terrible sense of direction! Lucky for me speedway just go round & round.”

Nicolai Klindt “funniest thing just happened. geezer had the same bag as me and obviously took mine. had to sprint and force through to get him! and he was gonna complain cuz he bag didn’t look that shit when he put it on the plane.”

Linus Sundstrom “Time to go back and spend some time on the sleepshelf! About 500km left to our destination”

Chris Holder “Good to see the BSPA knockin down the Money for the pairs!! Wat happened to winning 5k…? useless %%€s”

Olly Allen “Just seen a dude at the gym drying his chest hair with a hair dryer!! Never seen that before”

Lewis Bridger

“I went for Hypnotherapy today & it is pritty Heavy stuff trying to connect with your sub concience or watever let’s see if it works”

Fredrik Lindgren “No joke got hit by a big stone where it’s very very awkward for a male person to get hit in the last heat. Still suffering, no joke not fun”

Nicolai Klindt “I love tesco!… all those cheap things you can buy in tesco is unbelievable”

Fredrik Lindgren [07.00 on day of Cardiff SGP] “Upset with my brother now, my phone rang and woke me up! I answered Hello, with a scrubby voice. No one there he must’ve rang in his pocket!”

Niels Kristian Iversen “Met Kenni Larsen in the Airport. He asked me if i had been on the lash all night ?? Told him its just how i looks”

Niels Kristian Iversen “Steaming inside cause of %%%% ryanairs useless website. Its almost everytime i am booking flights the bastard thing does error..”

Scott Nicholls “What a %%%%head I am!Land at stansted,go to get bus to carpark only to remember I don’t actually have a car here!Hitchhike it is! Away 2long”

Fredrik Lindgren “Love is floating, me & PK alone in the car listening to Heart FM! Think we might be clicking!”

Chris Holder “I’m officially darcy wards spell check…. Has asked me over 100 times on the way home so far! #Neveradullmoment”

Scott Nicholls “Not been on for a bit. Lewis Bridger still going on about the bloody swc!If his results were good as his Twitter effort he’d be world champion!”

Scott Nicholls “Some %%%%head just moaned that there’s not a wardrobe on the plane. It’s Wizz air!! Funny times”

Lewis Bridger “To all you %%%%s slating me blow me.. %%% u all got no idea the passion & hardwork i put into speedway.. Most GB fans r 2faced %%%%s !!”

Lewis Bridger “Deffo time for a Tattoo in desperate need to get some pain & express my feelings ! #lifeshardattimes”

Fredrik Lindgren “Checked in at this hotel by the airport and did I get astonished when I realised they have same bed & bedside table as me at home! Haha even the bedside table lamps are the same just a different colour here, but the bed is in the same colour! Home sweet home”

Nigel Pearson “I’m not going to name names but I know too much about what goes on behind the scenes in this sport and we need more discipline amongst many of the boys.”

Mads Korneliussen “When I stop racing in 15 years time. I want to be that man driveing the bus at stansted longstay carpark #cooljob”

Ludvig Lindgren “just chillin at home! and iam Naked atm! Sweet u cant see it but some how u already got a picture in ur head! SimSalaBim”

Fredrik Lindgren “PK pulls a shocker with a Lady Gaga CD in his van then claim it’s his daughters. ‘This is PK’ he says and bring forth Take That!”

Fredrik Lindgren “My bro Ludvig is so rotten! When he let out me & PK are very close to faint!”

Nigel Pearson “I’m sick of being accused of sitting on the fence mate. I’m entitled to my opinion and will stick to it. makes me laugh when people say Kelvin is biased with some clubs. This is a man who has no feelings either way for any club!”

Scott Nicholls “Love to see peoples sense of achievement as they RAM their bag into the Ryan Air measure tool…only to discover they can’t get it out!#Funny”

Dakota North “Why do all young men in uk hang out at mcdonalds car park with there Volkswagens”

Ludvig Lindgren “u all suckers in poland should know how cold it is in the uk and in Freddie Lindgren’s house cuz u cant have any heating on!”

Olly Allen “Woh! Impressed by the toilets at the services in Germany, the toilet seats wipe themselves!! Need one of those at home!!”

Kevin Long “Ermolenkos commentary like Eric Morecombe quote ‘all the right words, not necessarily in the right order!’”

Paul Burbidge “Just had a tour of Ole Olsen’s beautiful house. Trophy cabinet was huge. Don’t think Cash my Gold have an envelope big enough for that lot. And if the people of Vojens are wondering where the local deer population has gone, they’re all on the wall in Ole’s hunting room”

Nicolai Klindt “how do you work this red bottom thing? can’t find the gp when i press it”

Brian Owen “SGP needs to have riders who qualify on merit more than it needs any substandard Brits.”

Lewis Bridger “Shocked so many lakeside fans on the back straight swearing & shouting abuse every time I went in or out on track :-/ #whathappenedtotheuk?”

Mads Korneliussen “The man at passport control said, where have i seen you before??? I said maybe here???? #famous”

Mads Korneliussen “In the plane I was sitting next to a girl with a FAKE hand. WTF”

Dakota North “When the sun comes out here you see some shit tattoos on people”

Nigel Pearson “had a gentle reminder today about the industry I’m in – be very careful! Just when you think you know certain people….#knifeinback”

Fredrik Lindgren “If I’d won the Golden Helmet today I’d sat down naked with a beer only wearing the helmet and put a picture on twitter your loss!”

Why not follow your favourite Diamonds on Twitter? @pgwnorth @LindgrenRacing @diamondspeedway @steven_worrall_ @richieworrall @robsonracing @SkidMark73

#speedwaylife: sideways quotes, tweets & comments is £15 (with £5 for every copy sold going to the SRBF) and available here

The lastest book with more hilarious, poignant, banal & some sad speedway tweets from the 2012 season is out at the start of November