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Ha-ha I can confirm I am not doing either Dave and neither is he... the other THJ will be doing Championship I believe and Long Track GP's this year if that tells you anything... ooooooh!!! the intrigue.... Look South but not as far South as Poole, in fact just over half way between Poole and Berwick and you would be nearer the mark... Best of it is the last time I was in Berwick (31/08/19) I spent £450 quid on a night out at the Speedway and in the town; probably doubling the towns GDP turnover in one day and the highlight (not) was going into Bedrocks then into Charlies and then back into Bedrocks!!! and the biggest mistake of the night was leaving the Black and Gold bar as the beer (and the craic) was far superior in there that's for sure... (plus am getting a bit long in the tooth for this nightclub malarkey; as was some of the old farts I was with who shall remain nameless to protect the innocent) Although I did have the pleasure of taking Big Flinty's under crackers off over his head... Ha-ha... apparently he still bares the scars both mental and physical... The irony is I sponsored the meeting that night at Berwick and the drink in the ground was free so how the hell I spent what I did in Berwick is beyond me... I had a weekend in London a few weeks back and didn't spend much more than that over 3 nights where using a £20 pound note you didn't get a note back in your change buying a G&T and a pint of larger... Berwick upon Vegas.... (unless they seen the fat Geordie coming mmmmmm lollollollol (oops sorry) I wonder?) (but like the Cumbrian crowd there are some canny folk up there) Regards THJ

Is that because his Dad will still be involved? Even if we have to include a low average reserve next season depending on points limits and make up of our team i wouldn't entertain Phillips. He's just not improving and has been around long enough now. He's at best a second string NL rider. Nothing against the lad but just my opinion and if he was my son I'd keep him to racing in the NL. Don't think anyone else in the Championship apart from Newcastle would include him anyway.

No, we have a league structure for a reason so that progression can occur. This could also stop riders progressing that far is suddenly they are lambert or bewley. Also it’s just watering down the premiership in another form.

A glorified best pairs competition is not really a World Cup though, is it? Would FIFA turn the Football World Cup into a Wembley Doubles tournament on the above basis? I think the SON format is far more a money saving exercise and to disguise the increasing lack of interest in hosting and participating it.

Castagna is really really bad for the sport. He is misleading it in a totally wrong direction. Speedway is such a special sport - a team Sport first adn foremost - and as such is absolutey different to any other from of motorsport. That's why I am a speedway fan and couldn't care less about road racing or motocross. They ususally only have one long distance race and have to award championship points for that. Speedway has 20+ heat races, plus semi and final, were the riders EARN their points. Perfectly easy to understand. And the winner of the last race in a Gradn Prix (the final heat 23) is the winner of that particular SGP, regardless of the points total scored in all of his races during this meeting. By the way, the winner of that final race DOES actually get the most points (in that race, that is) - three points , compared to two points for second and one for the third. So what, if the rider who wins the final, has not scored the most points on aggregate from all of the races he has ridden that night, nothing wrong with that. It's perfectly fair that he does not automatically get the most points, when he has got beaten more often than another rider/riders. There is absolutely no need to award artificial points in Speedway. I hate this stupid stupid decision by the FIM. Castagna has to go. First they abandoned the hugely popular SWC and gave us a "Speedway of Nations" to fall in line with the "Motocross of Nations", "Flat Track of Nations" and "Enduro of Nations", and now they spoil the SGP by changing from a perfectly fair points scoring system to a totally unfair and unwanted artificial one. I'm fed up. What's Your next idea, Mr Castagna? Do us all a favour and please, please resign from Your position !!!

I'd say that makes him a six

I hear you too. But as it is they have NOT made it a five point difference between first and second in the final which could really impact on outcomes; it is just 2 points. And then again ... Have any of us ever thought that the prestige etc of winning a GP has been lacking so much that it requires a rejigging of points to increase the incentive ? Leaving well alone seems just perfect to me.

Actually you're not quite right about the 1996 series. Back in 1996 the points were awarded 25-20-18-16 .... whilst we get 20-18-16-14 in 2020. In 1996 we did not have semi finals and finals; instead we had A B C and D finals. It is true that at the year end just two points separated Hamill and Nielsen at the top. And if you use the 2020 scoring it is also the case that Hamill would beat Nielsen by just two points. A close series either way. But ... Interestingly if one looks back to the scoring in 1996 over the six rounds Billy Hamill and Hans Nielsen actually tied on 65 race points each on their heats 1-20 scoring. And they both scored 9 points in the A finals they reached. TIED if the 2019 system was used back then. You cant get closer than that On countback Hamill reached 5 A finals and Nielsen just 4 so positions unchanged. Speedway at its best is about 3-2-1-0. Dont mess with it.

This looks very similar to what was tried with the ill-fated 18 heat 8 man team Format of the mid 90s. I still say the best every format I saw for league racing the the old National league 16 heat format followed by the 6 heat junior league match that followed. Oh happy days when the national league ran the sport as a successful professional sport for a few seasons

We don't have Leagues structured for progression.. We do have Leagues structured to give riders without overseas contracts loads of races to earn money...

You seemed quite happy to have Chris Holder at KL though. Actually one of the few KL fans positive about it! And if we are in a different league, average manipulation has no purpose!

A stupid idea coming from Castagna does seen a possibility I wonder if IMG are also changing the points system in the Rallycross World Championship. It's probably the closest to speedway of other motorsports (heats and then semi and final for top scorers in the heats) and it has a scoring system that can also see the winner of the round score less World Championship points than others. If that's staying the same we can probably assume that it's not IMG that had issue with the scoring system

If I had a £1 for every time some one has said “he’s a steal on that average”that goes t*ts up,I’d be a rich man

Maybe 4 hahahaha you trying to tell me there’s a chance Kevin Doolan might not ride for the Bandits... Unless he’s retiring

agreed. they would make zero difference to attendance in Auckland, and I suspect close to nil in Melbourne. tbh even as a speedway fan, Gundersen and Nielsen would be no bigger draw cards for me than Woffy and Zmarzlik. As for these changes, what a load of crap. Having got rid of the SWC, arguably the best event of the year, now seems they want to stuff up the GPs as well...

Why do we need the king of diamonds Danny king when we have the ace in the pack Danny Phillips...

So how many teams realistically can we expect. Kent,IOW,Mildenhall all definite I assume. Get the impression Leicester may be back to give the Thompsen twins another season. Dont see any reason for Colts not being in there, thier crowds are good enough to make it viable. CVS has kept quiet on Cradley with the other two promoters stating they arent carrying on, so potential for them to come to tapes. I think there 2 clear rumours about Rye house, one that they are coming back in the NL, (the other being it comes back as a buster track in the prem) so another possible. Think Lee Kilby indicated the Sprockets interest has cooled. Will any of the other higher league teams enter a side to bring on thier own riders. If buxton could viably come back it could boost the numbers, be nice if one of the Scottish clubs had a NL team to give young Scots a route through.

Swindon’s top 5 were fantastic but don’t under estimate the points both reserves got at the business end of the season.

If the rumours are true, & Ged is taking over at Newcastle, it will be good for the club, in my opinion. His enthusiasm & drive was sorely missed when he left Panthers.

Yes, he’s 3.22 PL, an absolute steal due to the mad 1.6 conversion rate.

Impressive knowledge my friend! However if the scoring system was different then so would the dynamics of the situation and the mindset of the riders. So we dont know exactly how it would have finished up. For example Billy sat and got a third in his last race as he'd already qualified for the final. He was unbeaten other than that and I'm sure he could and would have one that race had every point counted. Mighty impressive research you did there do and quite interesting to see.

If it’s the rumoured 40 point limit, Poole might as well sign the Sheffield team (39.61) and save money on unnecessary phone calls. King, Sedgmen, Todd Kurtz, Nicol, Howarth, Kennedy, MacDonald. Sorted.

Lasse needs to dump his dad as engine tuner. At least six, that I know of, engine blowups on the stand before the match even starts says a lot. Kenneth Bjerre took a different route this year and had one of his best seasons in years.

Leicester are a Saturday track. Ergo.........

So Birmingham or Leicester then!

Completely agree with you... But I can still see him riding for us next year... If I were him I wouldn't want to... Got to be embarrassing

In 2011 Nick Morris joined Glasgow on his 16th birthday on a 2 point average and ended the season on over 6, I am sure that Jordan will be able to hold his own in the championship

WE are on different wavelengths.

Are there enough riders between 16 and 18? And the difference in ability could be huge

These riders all compete at Champion (Owego) along with the top three East Coast riders of recent years: Casey Donholt, Mikey Buman and Adam Mittl. Donholt would be ok in the Championship, and the other two NL heatleaders (Buman has ridden in the UK on a dream team tour). Hollenbeck and Portararo would probably be NL second strings. PS How did Dave Oakden get in the final?

A few riders recently, have just won the sack, without potatoes or carrots.

Their remit was to ensure cash kept coming into the FIM to cover the prize money with a bit leftover, and to make a profit for themselves. That strategy relied on persuading enough promoters and tourist agencies to pay them for the privilege of holding a GP, whilst ensuring the sport got on television to attract sponsors. Perhaps in the early days there was some optimism that enough interest could be generated to take the SGP to bigger venues and new countries, but for various reasons the original incarnation of BSI seems to have out of capitalisation, whilst IMG(UK) made some poor investments in other areas and ended-up having to cut their cloth. I don't think the marketing of the SGP has been brilliant down the years, although I do think speedway is a hard sell to both television and sponsors nowadays. Too niche, too geographically restricted, and a difficult fan demographic.

If Rathbone is, as expected, the new Newcastle promoter then it would be a shock not to see Ostergaard back. i have always thought with him it’s more to do with machinery than lack of ability regarding his most recent poor seasons, on good gear he could be a right steal on that average.

With the quality of floodlights around at that time- i`m sure they were a great help.

Self employed is your own business, but running a business means you also means you employ people as well, in my opinion.

...and assuming Nico rides in Britain at all next year?

In a way a logical move as believe he lives in Midlands so less travelling in what will be a busy old 2020 for him if he is riding Prem & Champ plus his normal Longtrack meetings and anything else on the Continent he can sign up for on a qualifying or guest basis. Won't have to trek to Somerset every Wed.

Speedway Stop press, i remember it well. My dad used to buy them at West Ham and i used to colour in your illustrations. I have a full set of these fanzines from 1969 to 1972, minus my artwork. There can't be many sets that have survived.

Just the one point to argue with you"thj" yes the 1980 comets were poor but we had some great racing with boys against men esp one night against Newcastle and it came at great cost to " eddie" but he kept the sport going and for that we will always be gratefull.

Absolutely!

Will you please stop including Danny Phillips. Couldn't put up with him for another season.

a quadruple winning side . who can beat that ? belated congratulations on this great feat .. maybe more to come !

I heard someone say that they thought the chicken was not free range.

Any 2020 rumours kicking about at the dinner last night?

Yes. If the numpties that came up with the scheme for next year think it is such an improvement ... Then why not put it into practice when they had the chance by giving the SEC winner a wildcard for next year. I think it's a poor change but at least my picking Mikkel M it would have shown their integrity by being committed to the idea. Right now. As it is they look pretty shabby.

You are 100% right. The GP series, when it was introduced, had one feature which countered the "how can a rider who has one good meeting, be considered WC?" effect. Well, what better way to prove that the WC is the most consistent rider across the season that to make every race and every point count? A 3rd in your opening ride should not be considered a bit of a slip, to be caught up later. It's 2 lost points, lost for good. And what about "I've qualified for the semis, so why try hard to win further races" under the new system? We want riders making every race meaningful don't we? Pushing for every point, not making judgements about their likelihood about their qualification for the later stages of the meeting. This is a fundamental mistake and ignores simple psychology. Think on. At Torun this year, we were following the destiny of the championship from race 1 and throughout the meeting race by race.

I also concur (for what it's worth). The makings of a fine team there.

Sheffield United, not plain "Sheffield".

Tai became World Champion in 2013 when he was Wolves top man, so you are incorrect. This kind of thinking does annoy me a little. Wolves world champions also include Ole Olsen and Sam Ermolenko, it didn't do them any harm (and Hans Nielsen spent his first 4 years there). What you learn on a small track is throttle control and how to turn a bike quickly and easily. Both of these skills are handy on big tracks. Not having a go at you Hyderd, you are generally one of most reasonable posters.

Orion is spot on, your post is a brain dead one, to put it mildly ! I am no fan of the Poole promotion at all, but it looks like Mr. Ford is cutting his cloth, accordingly....Would you prefer it if Poole simply closed down ?! All teams can only beat what the opposition puts in front of them..... Swindon rode brilliantly over two legs, to trounce Ipswich, they won the final in some style....It certain wasnt boring on the terraces ! Of course, your opinion would have been different had Belle Vue won the title, and maybe there is more than a touch of Sauvignon Sour Grapes in your post, as Swindon beat Belle Vue in the cup final too. In every sport, in every season, there will be successful teams and not so successful teams, and you quite possibly dont understand the cyclical nature of sport.