Used too watch em (speedway) in the 80's before they media loved sport largely collapsed, because a lot were using the bikes to smuggle things inside them AFAIK, oh, and kick start too.
I haven't seen speedway much in the last 10 years, still have yet to go to an actual one. Mind Id' still love to give riding a speedway bike a go, pure counter steering, no gears. no brakes, methanol fuelled and 0 - 70 in a few seconds - if you can balance the throttle, grip and shale correctly..