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One has to be impressed with the team the Panthers have assembled. They have 3 top experienced heat leaders, all able to compete for that No 1 spot. Each are of proven pedigree who have experience on each of the tracks. The remaining 4 riders will all be of similar quality, who no doubt will be swapping places within the team. Just imagine 2 reserves of the quality Lasse Bjerre and Charles Wright . they would make a mockery of the other teams. No, they probably haven't got a Robert Lambert, but they have every other base covered. I admire people who show initiative and activity in moving forward, No doubt every speedway fan will wish their team was as good as this ... Give the management a pat on the back... Impressive......

Dinosaur by name Dinosaur by nature give the lad a chance , i would quite happily pay to watch you try and complete a lap before he does four

Don’t have a problem with other people’s views, just find all the negativity pointed towards the witches potential team next season frustrating when we’ve only now named 2 riders, one of whom has been one of our most loyal servants and is rarely beaten at Foxhall and another who has been named on the wishlists of fans on every page of the forum! I, like many fans am apprenhensive for what the new season brings, but also optimistic Chris is putting together the most competitive team he can - I find it difficult when only 2 riders have been announced and many other teams are yet to be completed, the witches side can be described as cannon fodder. not looking for war mate just think it’s a harsh judgement on 5 unnamed riders that you don’t know the identity of as yet

I remember him guesting for Lakeside. He fell and dislocated his shoulder . He still went out I his next race, in a lot of pain to crawl round at about 20m.p.h. To collect third place in a three rider race to collect the single point that gave Lakeside the narrow win. Considering the amount of pain he was in, and the fact that he wasn't even a Lakeside rider, just a guest, it was one of the most courageous rides I have ever seen. He would have been quite justified in withdrawing from the meeting. If ever a rider deserved more success, Adam did. Best wishes for the future Adam.

it is on the official workington speedway site . it was put on approx 3 hrs ago and shazza 13 (the better witch ? ) has put hers on 2 hours ago . so dont blame the bigger witch for doing her bit with the free advertising on a forum . where as taylorj is more thoughtful of her posts and careful of her words . .. sometimes ........... as Mr Thomas used to say , free advertising , you just cant buy it ! all we need now is for Glasgow to offers woofy better terms and be gazcumped again by kings of cash lol .

Both - that would be an interesting pits!

WHAT , has that been leaked already ? you never can tell who is going to finish where . it has been mentioned many times before that workington done the treble with an un fancied team that the pundits gave no hope . but with a rookie @ reserve and a team of 6 point men cleaned up the major team silverware . sheff were tipped last year to do well and finished bottom and ended up spoon whittlers !

Could argue there’s a question mark next to at least 6 out of 7 in BV team. Hope the question marks go in your favour.....might end up cannon fodder otherwise. Just offering an opinion.

You keep saying it Ace, you might even convince yourself at some point.

Lunna, Palovaara, Jorgensen, Clegg and Matty W will entertain, I am sure of that. They give 100% every race. Just because they've cut the team averages down, it doesn't mean that the entertainment factor will be reduced. That is just a silly, sweeping comment, in my opinion.

Allen is a cracking signing. There’s clearly a lack of top end big hitters around these days and it’s clear to see the way some teams are shaping their teams. Both Poole and Peterborough look to have very strong reserves, now Ipswich have signed another. Allen will be a match for any of them.

Thanks. I waited until it was announced on the website and twitter and facebook. Could have said something long before now but waited till official just like date and venue. Beats arguing over who offered who more money etc which got v boring in the end!

This Peterborough Panthers 2019 thread has become inundated with fans of other teams arguing the toss about the rules, and whether or not they are correct or fair. They try hard to mask it with what they hope comes across as reasoned argument and logic - but, sadly for them, it's pretty obvious that there's a lot of sour grapes around! Some people might well feel that certain riders are on a 'wrong' average - but hasn't that always happened in speedway? ForeverBlue hit the nail on the head in his post (qv) when he said: "That is the art of good team building to get a rider that is improving or on what is deemed a false average, the conversion rate system has always thrown up anomalies." Funny thing is though, most of them are never quite so outraged and indignant when it's their own club that has been as shrewd as Ged has this winter. Whatever, this really isn't the correct thread for it. Anyway, back on topic: does anybody know of a single Panthers fan who isn't pleased with the team so far? Or who isn't really looking forward to next season? It's too early to start getting over-confident - not that anybody is - and we just need to keep our fingers crossed that we don't have another injury ravaged season. That's going to be a key factor.

Give me half hour - I'll think about it

Not sure where you are going with this, so the team is pretty much settled.... So Lets see.... Allen at 6? King at 4? So who else is nailed on? Lawson at 2? one from Nicholls or Proctor at 3? Jensen, Heeps or Hartel at 7? So now we get down to the one or two riders part.... which will literally make or break this team I believe at no 5 we are going to see the return of Rohan Tungate but lets see what combo's could happen just out of curiostity Jonsson / Nilsson? Smolinski / Jepsen Jensen? Hampel . Przedpelski? Milik / Michelsen? Zagar? Vaculik? People are writing off the Witches, some riders have said no to the UK but that is at the time, perhaps an offer was not there or they got a poorer deal elsewhere so need to look at the UK? Things change so those riders writing off the UK may well be having a rethink.... can't see why Jonsson, Nilsson, Smolinski, Jepsen Jensen, Przedpelski, Hampel, Milik, Michelsen, Milik, Zagar would 100% turn down the UK Only one I can understand would be Holder due to Visa issues or any rider that has qualified for the Speedway Grand Prix such as Vaculik. The Witches last season were getting crowds that some Premiership clubs would love to see on a regular basis, financially it has a great sponsor and other associate sponsors, nobody knows if the sponsorship revenues have increased in order to go out and grab a fantastic 1 & 5 that other clubs either can't afford or other clubs thought they would not ride in the UK? As I said I think Tungate will be at 5 and Smolinski will be at 1 but who knows its definately not enough information to write the witches off as wooden spoonists right here right now

Yes, Tim could upset everyone at any time. He needed exclusive control and virtually ran a one man show. In saying that, you have to admire the total commitment and his forward planning like buying up the Somerton Park seats and storing them for years, knowing he was planning to build a stadium/track one day. I believe he had been Phil Crumps mechanic, which presumably would explain the unique relationship he had with Neil Street, who always made a point to speak to me on my visit with the Diamonds even though I usually only saw him once a year. Lovely man. As adonis has said, the track could be very problematic even for big meetings like the Premier Pairs/Welsh Open. It always had a double hollow going into the third bend, one was bad enough but a second hollow was always there as riders jumping out of the first hollow landed and created the second hole. The track material was very unique, sometime being like oatmeal in colour and packed hard, but soft only inches below the surface. I remember James Birkenshaw once tyre warming on the home straight and he dropped into a hole having gone through the top crust. Of course Tim was furious at it, and he made sure it never happened again. I personally had a lot of respect for him, talking with him for hours at the stadium, and him sharing his thoughts on setting up our original Gems team in 2002. On his advice we combined the Diamonds and Gems meetings and added a £1 on the entrance with good results. His team and the our Gems were about the only teams to stay with the original concept of why we had the Conference League, and that showed in the league positions we were in by giving new youngsters their first rides and persevering with them. We never tried to take on the moneybags teams like Mildenhall by hoovering up the top junior riders for the promoters personal glory. Tim will be remember by many for both good and bad reasons.

Don’t worry we’ll have 7 riders like everyone come the start of the season, I appreciate currently 2 riders against 7 looks very difficult for us, thanks for your concern

If Tim Stone had not tragically died, Then I think Newport Speedway would still be operating. At the time if his death Tim had in place several projects to generate extra income for the stadium other than through speedway alone. What then happened with the Mallets, well that would be a good Speedway Star winter tale!

Steve I think will be fine. I thought he came back too early last season but that will likely help him going into this one. Dan is a risk. A big risk. Lidsey is unknown but certainly not a risk on 4 points. He will easily increase that from reserve. I’ve seen enough of him to believe that he will be in the main body at the first set of averages, allowing Dan to drop down. I can see that happening. I think it’s the strongest team announced so far and I say that with no bias at all.

Absolutely not Belle Vue look very weak.

With his record of not turning up and moving clubs, I think it will only be a temporary wall.... You won't see this Wall linger.

Ben Hopwood 2.40 is the best choice imo Also, just because the league is weaker, doesn't mean it'll be less entertaining... You could get 4 wobblers and the still have an entertaining 50 pass race, but a race against the top 4 in the world could just be gate and go...

As in heatleaders most definitely. But Allen is a “big” signing IMO. He was on many people’s wish lists on here and will be a very handy rider at reserve.

And Jake Allen joins him. Very pleased with that one.

Am I not entitled to an opinion? I have stated mine, and, even if it doesn’t concur with yours, it is surely valid. I was a huge Andy Smith fan from the 1980s and was gutted when he went elsewhere towards the end of that decade. It was great when he return to BV around the end of the millennium but I thought it was a step too far when he raced at Kirky Lane in 2005. But this isn’t about Andy, it’s about Jack. Andy rode for one British team from when he was 18 until he was 24. Jack is 20 tomorrow and has already ridden for at least 6 teams. To me, the “connection” was broken when Andy arranged for Glasgow rather than BV to buy Jack’s registration from Birmingham. But, as I said, that’s just my opinion. It may be, indeed, probably is, different to that of others, but that doesn’t automatically make it drivel.

i get sick of this 'watering down' comment from all and sundry on here. The 'product' is the racing, not names. Well matched teams on a good racing surface is the 'product'.

Did he still qualify for tea and cake Badge?

Dont think its likely that Tungate will be back - as far as Im aware he is not popular with any section of the Witches set up (promoter, fans or sponsors) Scott Im hearing hasnt even had a call at all yet let alone an offer So we need to hope that Euro trip went well

Opinion seems divided on Panthers 2019 line up ......? 99% believe its a strong looking line up , the others dont

No doubt the advertising spots in the programme more than makes up for the outlay. Forward thinking is imperative when promoting a top entertainment. You cant knock Polish speedway for holding all the aces... Probably, when the UK ruled the world, we should have been more proactive in keeping our lead, instead of taking it for granted...

Cant yet see how anyone can mock the Ipswich side as of yet as we dont know the riders. By all means have concerns over the availability of what is out there. So far we have signed a potential top second string certainly at home. We have signed a young rider that most teams would have loved to have seen in their team It could look awful with the next few signings but at the moment nothing wrong with the two we have signed.

I think acef has been at the Christmas sherry early

my opinion is the peterborough team is far superior to the belle vue team. You seem to be in the minority im afraid.

I liked Woffy when he started out then went off him when he turned into a brat but thought he'd really matured the last few years but went to see his talk few weeks ago. No problem with his views,most made sense but his language was disgusting. There were woman and youngsters present but a room full of dockers wouldn't have been impressed

No i dont think the BSPA will put in an active promoter I also dont believe Matt Ford would walk away without making sure the club was in safe hands............he may have screwed British Speedway over the years but he is Poole through and through and i couldnt see him leaving without making sure the club was going to be ok

Or the ones on the south coast that fall off in April and are replaced by plastic ones in May and again in July?

The most boring races you will see all year are the first heats in the GP's.

A few Aces fans seem to be more concerned with the Panthers team than their own average line up, it's a funny old world

Really? I disagree!

They stood by and let other “bigger” clubs like Cradley and Coventry close!

There are no wrong answers, only opinions. I make my point, others make theirs. If I don’t agree, surely I’m allowed to argue my case, I’m the same ways others can argue against me. I’d never call someone else’s opinion “drivel”. That’s not only uncalled for, but just rude. Of course, that also is only an opinion

It will just be a repeat of his foul mouthed rant about what is wrong with the sport and how wealthy he now is ,and when he will retire.Except you have to pay to hear it.

Very happy to have some news A decent start to our team building naming the reserves first (only kidding Danny) Jake Allen is a bit of a coup for the Witches given fans of almost every team had him on their wish list Now we just have to wait and see what Chris can conjur up to complete the side!

I agree, one heck of a shame and one hell of an amazing achievement by Tim. You could probably make a short play/drama about one man's dream and what he achieved, when you consider the challenges and adversity. Remember the film 'Field of Dreams'?

Possible more information re: Newport Queensway Meadows; think the late Tim Stone (real achievement building the new stadium BTW, I was well impressed) bought the orange seats & also the floodlights from Somerton Park when it closed and stored them for possible future use. Well, we know he did find a use for them (!), but potentially a bit more of Newport Speedway's history was lost along with the recent stadium, one heck of a shame that....

Others sharper than Rosco surely not!!

Of the 32 meetings Lakeside rode in 2018 including Championship, Championship Shield & KO Cup, Ben Morley rode at reserve in 15 of those matches ( 9 away & 6 at home ). Of those 6 at home 4 were at Lakeside, due to lack of meetings in June, July & August ( Thanks to Mr Godfrey ) & 2 at Rye House. So for Hunters to say that Ben's average was arrived as being at reserve is incorrect, as he rode at No 2 for 17 matches. He started the season well acheiving scores of 4 at Peterborough, 8+1 at Berwick & 7+3 at Ipswich. He then suffered a fractured wrist at Redcar at the end of May when being taken out & hitting the 2nd bend safety fence. He then returned to the reserve berth for 11 fixtures in the aforementioned June, Juy & August scoring 5&1 at Scunthorpe, 6 at Sheffield, 5+1 at Ipswich & 4 at Newcastle. before moving up to No2 again for 8 meetings in September. Ben then went back down to reserve for the play-offs & Shield final in October and as a result Ben achieved an average of 5.93 Inc bonus over the whole season. Also it shows that winning the National League riders Championship makes Ben a good choice to be able to ride in Championship 2nd string position. By the way congratulations should be given to the Eastbourne management & promotion for selecting 7 British riders to represent them if the 3 remaining riders are those mentioned in previous threads.

Alex Brady what a breath of fresh air you are. All I can say is that is the Kings Lynn thread post of the year

Its a cracking side for the Showground and whilst there will no doubt be a few flaky away performances (Foxhall please ) it will be a shock if this 7 didnt not only make the play offs but mount a serious challenge