F IVE days in and Phil Morris had already had a Zoom call with all the Premiership promoters, talked to each of the six team managers, been in lengthy touch with the Speedway Control Bureau, he’s chatted to Eurosport, and

agreed to have his first face-to-face meeting with fans at Sunday’s Celebration of Speedway.

Also on his agenda is to meet with riders to discuss what they feel is right – or wrong – about British speedway…

He doesn’t let the grass grow under his feet, admitting: “I’m not just doing this because I have got a job, it’s not nine to five and I’ve already put in crazy hours because I want to make changes.

“Speedway is in my blood, I want to make it better for everyone, the fans, the riders, the promoters, the TV companies, the staff at tracks, the media.

“From my own personal thing, I’d like to think I have built a reasonable reputation and I want to keep that. I don’t want to fail.

“I know it’s a challenge and it’s very important because if this fails, it means I have failed. It’s a challenge for me that I want to take with both hands and make a difference to the sport I love.

“My parents were Newport fans and took me there when I must have been in a pram, although I can’t remember that. But I can remember going to Swindon with my parents, I’ve got some pictures of when I was 10 or 11. I was named after Phil Crump who was riding for them.

M ORRIS honestly believes (as do most of us who go regularly) that the basic, very basic, package, the racing on track, is as good as any other sport, and better than most other motorsports because of the very nature of the beast. Fifteen or more short, sharp,

minute-long races. All the advertising slogans – ‘faster than a F1 car from 1-60’, ‘no brakes...’ – are not simply figments of the imagination of the brand maker, they are actually true of a sport that is played out in the full, uninterrupted view of every single spectator.

I’M PH