DESIGNED to make speedway bikes quieter, there is a lot of noise being made about the introduction of new silencers this season.

Scunthorpe Scorpion Carl Wilkinson admits he may be forced to quit the sport if their negative impact affects his points tally this year.

Adding extra weight to the bike, the silencers have been blamed for dramatically slower times at the Eddie Wright Raceway, as well as some 'erratic' racing.

Wilkinson believes a spill he suffered in last Friday's challenge meeting with Sheffield was a direct result of the new addition to his machine.

And, with four points to his name from Scunthorpe's season opener, it was an incident which left him questioning his future.

"I'm here to make some money, not just for myself but to pay for the bikes," said the 29-year-old.

"If I can't get the points and the money to pay to maintain the bikes, there's not a lot of point in me being here.

"I'll continue as long as I financially can do.

"But if it comes to a point where I'm not scoring the regular points I have been doing for the last six or seven years to fund the racing....

"Everyone has got bills to pay, so something has to give. And if racing has sucked (the money) away, it's got to go."

It is not just the riders who will suffer with the new rules, Wilkinson believes speedway is also becoming less spectator-friendly.

"I don't think they are very beneficial to the sport," he said.

"It takes a lot of talk out of the engine, what you would normally use for riding different lines and set-ups.

"Obviously, if you put something heavy on an engine, it slows it down, so the times have been slower.

"I think it is going to affect the season.

"The riders that are renowned for gating skills, who are not necessarily racers but rely heavily on getting out the gate, they're going to fare well.

"But I think the racing is going to be poorer for it.

"It even comes down to weight of the rider – the smaller riders seemed to cope with it better.

"They just make the bike a lot more erratic to ride."

Case in point came against Sheffield, with Wilkinson chasing down Josh Auty in heat 14, before his bike ran away from him.

It led to an angry protest under the referee's box from the former Newcastle rider.

"The incident I had in my last race on Friday, where the bike took off, a lot of people have said to me, if that was a younger rider, that would have been a nasty crash," said Wilkinson.

"It's a line that I've used hundreds of times round the track and I choose to ride there, and the bike I had last year was the one I was riding.

"But basically, with these exhausts, your power just totally disappears and stalls the engine. When you do that on a speedway bike, it tends to just take off on the back wheel.

"Due to me being experienced and being a good physical size, I kind of got away scott-free with it.

"A 16-year-old, who hasn't got the physical strength or the expertise behind him yet, it could have been quite nasty.

"The consensus from a lot of people over here, and even more so abroad, is silencers hinder the sport more.

"And they're more dangerous due to the nature of what the bike does with them on – I can't see there is a plus side to it really."