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The fixed night's of Monday's and Wednesday's will be a complete disaster. For years Belle Vue have tried to get away from racing on a Monday night which is the worst day of the week for getting people out. then they are back there again. With live TV on a Monday night this will effect attendances at the other Monday meetings on that night, resulting in even less people at the tracks. Much better to have the old system of racing on different nights which has been in operation since the beginning of Speedway in the 1930's. I will be very surprised if this new system lasts for even one season

My 1st season last year following Plymouth after moving from Essex. Laurence and Mark Phillips received nothing but praise from the Devils fans as were very open and honest with the fans on the Devils forum and everyone seemed to find their attitude refreshing. From what i saw last season Laurence was a very approachable top bloke and certainly will be a loss to Plymouth this year.

Its January , team announcement in limbo , obviously no fixtures or other goings on - thats as real as news gets at this time....

Fans are so fickle, on one hand they say, we don't want teams to change year on year, on another, we want new riders .... promoters can't win!

The Thorssell be ate started as it was a comparison of what a number one is and how he obtained his average where as Cook and Morris were scoring with heat 13 included. However when you look at the Belle Vue and Wolves teams, they are pretty similar in many ways. Both have a number one loved by his own fans but both possibly not given the credit by other fans. Wolves a a bit stronger in the next two with Masters and Schlein over Fricke and Worrall and both Sam and Max under achieved last season but both will challenge for the number one slots while Steve and Rory give plenty of support. Tungate and Howarth both don't get the credit they deserve and Rohan was a different rider once he joined Aces and is now Aussie Champion while Kyle was out most times with Lindgren and including bonus points actually had a better average than Fricke. Damian Drozdz could be a decent signing while Wolves have Heaps who has had injuries holding him back and both come in as a bit of a gamble. Aces do have the advantage of Bewley at reserve to start with but both teams aren't too far away from each other and don't think there will be much between them at the end of the season too. At at least the clashes with the two teams will be on Mondays and likely to be Bank Holidays as these are now local derbies with Bees, Brummies and Heathans now gone and there certainly seems to have a bigger rivalry now than they did years ago.

COVENTRY Bees are delighted to announce that Chris Simpson will be back on board in 2018 as the Centre Green Presenter. Chris was hugely popular with the fans for many seasons but he and Bees owner Mick Horton parted company quite publicly in 2015. But now both parties are keen to bury the hatchet for the good of the club. Chris said: "The past is the past and neither me nor Mick can change that. The future is what’s important now, and ensuring that the historic name of the Coventry Bees lives on. The Bees are in my blood and I hope this reunion will go some way to restoring any wavering fans' faith." This announcement will also see Chris’s son who many may remember from previous stories joining the 2018 Bees presentation team. Tommy Knudsen Simpson (a name many will recognise) will be supplying all the music and jingles for 2018 and bringing back the quality presentation that Brandon was always famous for. Additionally Chris will be hosting a Facebook Live Q&A with Mick Horton on a date to be confirmed - full details to follow in due course.

Fricke has yet to show his foreign form in the UK but is more than capable of challenging Cook for the number one jacket. (Assuming he is an Ace of course). As for Bewley, what a talent. Can see him adding 1-2 points on his average.

add a comma after "I have".....then it makes more sense

Last night was the night of our 100 club Burns Supper and a good, profitable night was had by all who attended We had a superb guest in Alun Rossiter who arrived resplendent in full highland dress and will be welcome back anytime Many thanks to Alun and all who worked hard to make the night such a success

John Davis?

Laurence is one of the best men in the sport at NL level and worked with many top riders too, good luck to him

They sure can...but haven't poole already got riders lined up if that happens. The last team I would want to see win anything is poole...everything about poole sucks.

Yeah, Max is obviously rubbish. Sundstrom on the other hand won three of his thirty-two Extraliga rides and is clearly the Messiah! Ah, Poole fans.

To be fair, Brady is better in every way ........ apart from points scoring. But on that basis I would have Carl Wilkinson over both, all action leg trailer, but mainly at the back.

Belle Vue had a very potent spearhead lined up in Bjerre and Cook but the rules were re written to block it. We turned to Zagar on his low average but again the rules were re written. Are you getting it yet? You have Holder coming back on a low average achieved with another club, all within the rules. A few years back we had the same thing with Jason Lyons, ironically he achieved his low average at Poole. Guess what, we couldn’t use him on that average as the rules were re written only to be re written again when it suited another club.

Well its certainly not fake news

The only thing that would be considered cheating or unfair would be if Buster decided to take action against Poole. THAT would be the only injustice. The rules are written and agreed to by all clubs. You cannot start changing the rules because Poole made a good fist of them. Matt isn't even using loopholes! The clubs agreed on how averages need to be calculated and Matt Ford responded by investing the hours and working out the riders that are on the very best value averages. If anything it shows how lazy some other promoters are not to do the very same thing. If Poole hadn't have signed Wornya or Szczepaniak I'd doubt anybody else would even have considered them. Getting the most out of the rules is one of the most important parts of a sport. Understanding the rules and working out how to maximise your potential within them is almost as important as the racing that goes down on the track. It's impossible to think through every scenario when putting the rules together. The rules are put together on general consensus and then it is down to the teams to go away and make the rules work for them. Some promoters like Matt Ford appreciate this and get to work, whereas other promoters like Buster seem to have this "that'll save us a few quid, job done" attitude.

Obviously you make a valid point. But the league needs to stay credible for people to want to watch and Kemp and others riding for most teams in the league last season made fans disillusioned with this being a team sport.

Of course they should. To me, its a case of damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Whilst I admire the ruthlessness of Matt Ford, I cant help but think he has some form of leverage over the other promoters. They must be so gullible to allow him to use so many loop holes in the rules and do nothing about it. When Ford signed Woryna, I immediately thought this was a good buy, but thought he would never be allowed to use him on an average so out of date, but it appears Matt Ford can do whatever he wants. I wait with laughter, at the average he will acquire Sundstrom on. Bearing in mind he hasn't rode here for 5yrs, he'll probably get him on something ridiculous like a 5 It's always been my belief the disparity of team strength has been the biggest turnoff in our sport for years. Talking with many old supporters who packed up going, this was the reason most used when asked about their dwindling interest. I'm sure the BSPA will acknowledge this, but appear nonchalant to do anything about it... I'm alright Jack !!!!!!

Hardly real fans then, if they don't support your promotion just because of 1 rider. Most fans have a rider or two in their side not of their choice but still go to see the speedway. Exactly the same with your football team, when it is rare for a real fan to want every player on the field representing their team.

Especially with the new starting regs, we used to call him yo yo ....

Ford doesn’t write the rules, he convinces everyone else to do it for him

Can't someone just make up a rumour about what's going on with RH's last rider?

I read it different as poorly punctuated. Read it that they have seen Bewley and then what the scores were. If you follow the reply back.

I think its a brilliant 1-7 given the points limit and restrictions. Should muller some teams and pick up wins on the road.

Not as boring as when a post neither adds anything to the ongoing discussion nor offers a new dimension or direction

Definitely not Jorgensen

Some Poole supporters thinking we will win everything by a country mile are deluded

Punt at the final three signings, to be announced on Thursday. Thomas Jorgensen, Bradley Wilson Dean and Jordan Stewart.

Remember you doing that once a few years ago and getting a few tough Russian ice riders called 'Basil'

Thanks bruv, looks like a 4 point newcomer then. Be gutted if Nathan doesn't get a team, he is better than Grondal & quite a few other foreign riders that have secured team places for next season in my opinion.

I am not blinded at all. The fact of the matter is Poole does not decide the rules. The rules are decided by the promoters. Matt Ford has been arguing for certain rule changes for years and has never made it past the vote. This year GSI had difficulty at the AGM because some promoters actually voted in favour of no TV coverage and unanimous decision was required. There are lots of initiatives and rule changes that not on Poole, but many other parties never get past the AGM. I know some people on here want to believe that Matt Ford has got some sort of leverage but the facts speak for themselves. Changes to the rules are not made without everybody being in agreement. This year the teams are very close. There are a couple of teams that look unlikely to do particularly well, but generally they are close. Poole has put all it's eggs in one basket. A couple of weeks ago everybody was saying that signing these Poles was a big risk and likely to backfire. Now everybody is acting like we've just signed 2 heat leaders at reserve. Poole has taken a huge risk and it may or may not pay off. If it doesn't pay off, I doubt they'll even make the play offs.

You do realise that he was 30th in the Polish averages. Above riders like Milik, Thorsell, Kildemand and Sundstrom, who was 46th.

I suspect that if this were agreed, the same thing would happen: plenty of promises, but no stadium. Or, if by some oversight, a track were built, some of the house buyers would complain about noise and have the track closed down!

That is why Buster is one of the "richest" promoters, although "least poor" sounds more appropriate. The Stars team so far, fails to re-ignite my interest even with the likelihood of NKI returning. I would rather have seen Doyle signed or Lindgren for some "freshness".

"It's always been my belief the disparity of team strength has been the biggest turnoff in our sport for years. Talking with many old supporters who packed up going, this was the reason most used when asked about their dwindling interest." I agree with g13webb that this has very often been the case, that's why they introduced the Rider Control back in the old British League. But with the points limit system that is in operation for a long time now, every promoter has the opportunity to build up to the limit in force at the given time. I don't think that you can really moan about the more astute promoters who seek out riders that are likely to improve their averages during the season. I've no doubt that Matt Ford knew that Woryna would come in on the average he has, likewise with Spanner. According to Middlo it's Matt's only form of business now, so he runs it as such, being astute, finding new riders to improve on decent averages, finding sponsorship to enable to afford some riders, like Somerset have done to be able to sign Jason Doyle. It's about time a lot of the promoters treated speedway as a business and actually promoted, maybe then the crowds would improve and speedway might be on a better footing. By the way, I don't support Poole or any other club, just speedway in general.

Think it's obviously a team built to a budget.It has positives, riders who have history with Lynn, continuity, Iversen coming back at number 1 is what most Lynn fans want which looks very likely now. As a neutral the signing 4 riders of similar ability makes the mid order look really weak. Individually none of them are bad signings, but collectively it doesn't look great on paper compared to other teams. Should have a strong reserve though, and also i think will be solid at home and after last year that is going to be important. However away from home will be tough again, as it's hard to see improvement from any of the main body. Overall though given some of the riders that Lynn have had or been linked with in the last 5-6 years, the statements made by the promotion, i think i'd be disappointed with the team, i don't really think it looks to be an exciting line up. It's important to give the team a chance and they could surprise most people.

Why couldn't other teams sign them as assets?

It's an age thing.For me Neilsen and Rickardsson where the men.I watched M.Lee from 14 and if you look up his ave's you'll see how good he was at a young age before he went off the rails.

God that last sentence was so predictable, have a look back at some of Gollob's moves unbelievable he did stuff that Rickrdsson could only dream of doing.

To be fair, State titles are the only form basis to judge the ability of any Aussie. Usually new comers ride again established UK based Aussies so it is easy to se how they could fare in the UK. to call them all wobblers shows your lack of credibility. There are only a small percentage that actually fail in this country, but most are a welcome addition to our leagues.

I agree.. Could be a cracking first meeting.. Two decent looking sides.. Local derby.. Hopefully a nice spring day... On a fab race track.. What more could speedway supporters want really?

Majority did not want you, unprofessional spouting off, amateurish, wind your neck in!!!! But you have my full backing. Very confusing and contradicting post. Everyone should be free to respond directly to personal damning accusations.

Because it is British Team Speedway... Ran in an amateur, no doubt well meaning, self policing way... As you say, a simple matrix of performances around the globe would deliver a figure which could be used by all to determine the vast majority of riders position in the 'grand scheme of things'.. Amazing that a Sport which (over here) slavishly uses averages doesn't then use even more information that's available to more accurately assess each individuals overall level... No Sport ran with professional, clear, independent leadership, would allow such contrived and subjective nonsense to take place each year like Speedway in this country does..... Speedway sadly, unlike properly ran (and ergo often successful) Sports in Britain, doesnt have that leadership frame work in place...... And unfortunately it appears, never will.... It's more of the same old, same old, year on year nonsense I am afraid.. We should be used to it by now though...

COVENTRY Speedway are delighted to welcome Martyn Macdonald as their new team manager for the 2018 season. Martyn will take charge of the Bees for their National League campaign with home matches taking place at Leicester’s Beaumont Park Stadium. Although this is his first appointment as a manager, Martyn will be a familiar face to many, as he has been involved in the sport for nearly 30 years – several of them spent at Coventry. He was a regular in the Brandon pits working with a number of riders – including former World Champion Greg Hancock, Stuart and Scott Robson, Martin Smolinski and more recently Kacper Woryna. Martyn was also a member of Steve Worrall’s pit crew when the Belle Vue rider appeared as a track reserve in the 2016 British Grand Prix at Cardiff. His active involvement dates back to 1991 when he was a member of the track staff at Middlesbrough’s former Cleveland Park venue, leading to him helping riders such as Jonathan Swales, Stuart Swales and Shane Parker. Martyn, who lists Martin Dixon and Kenny Carter as his favourite riders of all-time, is qualified in general and aeronautical engineering and has been working in NHS mental health since 1999. And he says he’s keen to establish a strong rapport between the riders as they look to make a success of the season. He said: “It will be different from my point of view because I’ll have to get to know people a lot more, rather than in the past it just being the ones I helped. “But quite often team management is something that people in the pits area decide they want to progress to. “That was what I thought myself, I felt I’d really like to do it, and the opportunity is there to see what I can do. “I’m looking forward to trying to bond the seven riders together to make a successful team out of it, and being more in charge of an overall outcome than an individual one. “We’re going to have a pre-season get-together to get to know people, and also hopefully have a few practice sessions at Leicester to get the winter cobwebs out of the system. “I’m also looking forward to working with Jon (Armstrong) as captain, and he’s been really helpful to both myself and Mick (Horton) with building the team, because he knows these lads first-hand. “The aim is for everyone to help each other, and there will be a briefing before and after each meeting, because if you have any issues the worst thing that can happen is you drive home with them - so hopefully we can get things resolved on the night, and all push on together for a good season.” ENDS

Can never understand how simple maths seems to pass over the heads of some fans, things like rider averages, team strengths limits, actual race averages, grades, etc.

WHY DO WE HAVE TWO LEAGUES ? We go into the 2018 season still with two leagues which is fine if both leagues were vastly different but now the only difference really is one rider and some Championship teams look almost just as strong as some Premiership teams. Yes having two leagues creates more meetings for riders doubling up which years ago was just the odd rider but now most riders operate in both. But to create more meetings means seeing the same teams twice and sometimes the same team visits just weeks after their first visit. However the real reason we have a Premiership League is to give places for the few top riders that still ride here for one reason or another. In 2018 the only riders that come into this category is Jason Doyle, Jacob Thorssell and Martin Vaculik as the other number ones that have been named already have Championship places and both Vaculik and Thorssell start with averages lower than Nick Morris who is signed up in both leagues so having one league should mean those two could get places in one big league. Morris, Masters, Harris, Cook and Schlein all have Premiership averages higher than that of Nicholls and Kennett yet these two Brits are having to fight for the right to ride in the second tier in their own country wile riders like Ellis Perks, Tom Perry and others are looking to sell their bikes as they can' get team places while riders from other countries can get places on averages they achieved that is short of the average they first came in on and fill up the lower berths in the second tier while National League riders await the chance to ride. If there was one big league featuring the 8 Premiership and 11 Championship tracks it would generate 18 home and 18 away (36 matches) which is just 12 less than running two leagues (28/20) and if the season started with the forgotten Craven Shield or Young Trophy meetings using regional groups then it would be about the same.number.of meetings overall. So basically the only real reason we are still operating a Premiership is to accommodate JASON DOYLE and to satisfy the few clubs that can afford such riders and keep the prices at £18 a meeting for a product that has got weaker and weaker each season and this season doesn't even have a rule in place to ensure tracks use British riders. SO SHOULD WE HAVE GONE ONE LEAGUE ? Well one league would have created a more varied fixture list bringing back the days when you.only had.once chance to see that visiting team and didn' want to miss it. It also creates local derbies such as Belle Vue v Sheffield or Lakeside v Rue House but most.importantly it creates spaces so plenty of places for.not only new riders but.reserve places for National League riders that need track time and revenue to make it pay. So in my opinion we have again missed the chance to rebuild British Speedway at an affordable level and getting teams to be your team once more just to accommodate the World Champion VIEWS

it could be done really cheaply as well , to upgrade the toilets on the 3rd bend would just need a bar of soap .

This implication of specific race nights was required years back, when most top the riders riding here, they were all chanting the advantages that would have been gained. but as like everything else it fell on deaf ears..... Now when most of these top riders have turned their backs on us the BSPA have the wisdom to now include it. But this wasn't done to encourage some of those top riders back , it was arranged for the total benefit of the remaining riders getting 2 pay-packets... I now question the need of fixed race nights, I'm sure, had we had one league, where 6man teams competed against each other , on a night that suited each team best , we would have far firmer footing than we have at present. As much as the thought of Niels returning to Lynn thrills me , our sport at present cant afford these mega stars. The sooner everybody realise it, we will be able to change the structure to substantiate our existence. Until then the sport will continually being govern by certain clubs and their own agendas..... and look where that has got us.....