Leaderboard

And that is where speedway has been going wrong for years - people want value for money and if not Speedway, they will get it elsewhere.

Now that no 'out and out' No1's are out there, and the heat leader to reserve differential has been as narrow as it has ever been (ex RS).. Is it now the perfect time to dispense with that credibility and integrity destroying guest system? I personally wont follow a team anymore, and therefore treat the sport as a proper team sport, when, for example, Brady Kurtz can top score for any other team in the league on an adhoc basis and, as a result, prevent his own team from reaching the play offs.. What is the point of following the Aces, and investing that so important emotional attachment that all team sports should inspire, when your 'talisman' can be the 'talisman' for any other team too whenever it suits? So.. Maybe use a fit for purpose rider replacement facility instead? No Number 1? Then the next two riders can take all his rides up to seven apiece per night. Meaning all his rides covered between them (if that is what the manager wants to do), and they can still do Ht 15 together.. No 2nd heat leader? Then the No1 rider can take two rides and the third heat leader the same. Again if the managers wants to do it, he may want to give a rider from lower in the team who is doing well that night more rides.. Utilise the same system going down the team for riders 3 to 6, ie the riders above and below can take two rides each to cover the gap.. If a 'Seven' is missing then another unattached U21 NL rider can come in, (a list of these riders could be circulated and if used, that rider then must only ride for that team going forward).. If a 'Seven' is missing then the replacement must have a minimum of two rides with the 'No6' taking the two others... It would mean a credible League taking place, and create 'proper teams', as well as providing riders from that team more earning potential when one of their own is missing.. Could it work?

who cares what its called or what the team makeup is, surely it's got be like this for the team sport to continue in GB?

I think when live spectator sport does return , with the length of time it has been away there will be a huge demand. Premier League football, top level rugby, International cricket, Wimbledon, Silverstone to name a few. Sadly I don't think speedway will be one of those sports. With an alarming reliance on admission money to stay afloat, the group of people who may be more nervous to return to the fold are the over 50's, predominately speedway's demographic core fan base. Add to that another watered down league when you think it could't get watered down anymore, I dare say this will be reflected by admission prices, yes I doubt that too. I feel for Eurosport, they have jumped in with both feet and ended up with not much to work with. A 7 team top division was painful enough, try explaining to new fans a top division with only 6 teams, good luck with that. As usual after the BSPA conference, optimism is high from everybody in the sport, even at Swindon after their late withdrawal, A brand new stadium to look forward to which ironically should have been built 3 years ago while houses shoot up ten a penny around it. It beggars belief why it was not built last year when there was definitely no speedway or spectators to disrupt its build. As usual the proof of the pudding will be in the eating and for all the yearly eternal optimism nothing much will change, modern rocket ships on unsuitable, outdated British tracks. Covid and the Polish juggernaut League hasn't helped but I just can't see how the good times are ever going to roll again in this country. no matter what the promoters try to do.

Signed for Sheffield

The last British final i ever attended, saw forty year old Tiger Louis mixing it with the young guns...

Was notified the other day that I can get an ATA boomerang carnet for £175. As for the checks considering the number of stolen bikes leaving the UK I'm all for it. Way more than half the people I know with off road bikes have had one or more stolen. Its a massive international business and anything that makes it more difficult can only be good. The past few years driving a van full of bikes across Europe has been easy. Unfortunately just as easy for criminals as racers.

If 2 riders are missing then simply dont run the meeting... Give the side time to sign someone else or when they get one rider back.. Dont "contrive" League Speedway anymore.. As for using away averages for away meetings? There will always be track specialists who perform well at a certain track and run a much lower overall away average than the rider getting replaced.. I remember Matej Zagar at Lakeside always seeming to be 'elsewhere' when the Aces rode against them, (an 'oversight' in fixture planning from both teams that I am sure), and he ran a strong average home and away.. He got replaced by a rider of lesser ability but invariably one much better than him at Lakeside.. I seem also to remember having three inferior 'ringers' one night with RR, and "winning".... Maybe using the average at that individual track only could work, however not having guests at all would work so much better for me..

In covid world we can never be certain. What if it is announced that the season is starting, and there is then a further problem with covid and crowd restrictions are reintroduced? It happened to professional football and it happened to the British Final at Ipswich.

And it's not just this is it? Next time you want to go abroad for any reason, the charges made by credit card companies for European transactions will have increased FIVEfold. So when you book with a European airline (including Ryanair, Wizzair etc) or when you book a hotel online, or book a train fare, or even buy the SGP ticket online, YOU will be hit with these increased charges. But hey, at least we've got our country back, eh? Next time you talk to a Brexit voter, don't forget to thank them very much. Their vote is what's led to this.

Simple answer...... No

I don’t know what his Swedish league situation is but I wonder if Hans Andersen is a possibility?

No offence to anyone concerned but that is a lot of tantrum based riders in that team. Poor Simon!

You need to get them there in the first place. As an example (and no disrespect to anyone) imagine that you are used to watching Jason Doyle, Troy Batchelor and Rasmus Jensen and then your top 3 riders become Chris Harris, Scott Nicholls and Edward Kennet and you have to pay the same admission. Apart from the die hards, how do you get fans to attend? Remember - value for money.

Back to speedway. Welcome to Troy Batchelor. Sorry Richard Lawson won't be back.

My thoughts are also Ben Cook out if his younger bro also not coming with Somerset not riding. Some on here said no way Schlien coming when I mentioned on here recently (seemed obvious move with Somerset closing). You could have had Schlien/King/Worral/Nielsen/Kelleher/Josh Mac plus a 2 or 3 rising star. Problem is the top six only at 36.92 which is a full 1.08 or 2.08 below the 39 point top 6 limit. Depending on a 3 or 2 point rising star). I suppose that's where the Bjarne Pedersen idea might come into play IF they were able to get a reduction. on his last 6.55 (Elite or now Prem) GSA from his last UK season in 2015. Could be way out of course but cant think of any really good H/L out there and available riding UK in 2021 not already tied up. My only doubt on Pedersen is if he is keeping DK which is normally a Wednesday (same night as Poole) and even if DK is reduced meetings in 2021 would it still clash plenty with Poole ?? Assuming of course Poole were riding at Poole in 2021 and not perhaps having a plan B in place to race down at Plymouth for a season if the stadium discussions go ** up. Some think that would be highly unlikely but can't help thinking that after all this time why the delay in adding Plymouth when they expressed even last year they wanted to join Champ. Hope I am wrong but nothing would surprise me.

Where there is a will there is always a way to be found. The question is do British speedway promoters have the “will” to find the answer? sadly, it looks like they prefer to continue to adopt a short term solution as the easy route around the issue. Unfortunately this choice is at the expense of a continued accumulation of a long term loss of support for the sport.

Have Poole got their stadium rent/tenancy agreement sorted?

A wise old store manager about 35 years ago walked his new night manager around the store early in the morning.. The new night manager was 'quite pleased with himself' at what he had achieved that night, only leaving 5 cages of stock out of 120 he and his team received... The wise old store manager asked me (I mean 'him' obviously!), why hadn't the other five been done? The answer of "no time boss" was met with a simple question.. Which was. "If I had said last evening that I will walk in this morning and give you 1000 pounds in your hand if you had completed 120 cages, would you have completed them?" The answer was an obvious "Yes", therefore he quite rightly answered.. "So it was just down to a lack of will, self pride and desire then?".. No answer did that young man have, but it did focus his mind for the rest of his career.. Now... If every promoter was guaranteed £10,000 in their hand for every meeting they ran without guests, I am pretty sure they would find the 'will and desire' to find a way to do it, and subsequently have the 'self pride' of running the sport properly.. Poland dont use guests in the UK sense but do D/U and call them guests, however the D/U riders only ride for that team, and it has only been allowed for Covid.. Betard would never plough the hundreds of thousands of euro they do into the sport if Woffy or Majic were allowed to help out their opponents to ultimately see Wroclaw fail through their actions, and the teams they help out then be successful.. If the UK wants "big sponsors" for teams then you cant really have guest riders, so why not try and find a way to do it now.. Next year should be a 'free hit' given the uncertainty going on, so when better to see what could work?

Falling crowds won't change. No chance.

I am not sure when it was but didn't Jake say he was going to stop over here for the winter( unsure whether '18-19 or '19-20) so to stop over here, without pay, must be difficult. It, also, surprised me why he had not done many meetings in Australia this last few months, more so, after winning the Darcy Ward meeting in late November. Will welcome him back with open arms in 2022.

Of course yes flexibility is paramount. I think the whole ‘rising star’ ethos is false advertising. We have plenty of suitable ‘youngsters’ (U21 or little experience) that should be able to satisfy all teams. I have a sneaking suspicion that some clubs would try include someone like Hurry at number 7 but I hope I’m wrong.

I’ve not done the maths. If that’s the case then it’s best if crump is released immediately!!!

And if 2 riders are missing? For me guests are a necessary evil, what I would like reintroduced is the rule where you only get a guest up to a riders home average for home meetings and away average for away meetings that way there is no benefit to a team when a home track specialist is missing when they ride away.

Good job its not called the Elite league anymore then...

It's got everything to do with the government. The EU imposed the CC limits, and now that we are no longer a member of the EU, the UK government CAN set the same limit.

Any football

But how many grand would they have to lend / give him? Jake stated that he made a loss in 2020 so he would be looking for a guaranteed of a full season and/or a guaranteed amount plus the $3500 for the quarantine on the way home. That would set a precedent for every Aussie coming over that clubs and British speedway just can't sustain. I feel for Jake and others in the same boat but just giving away money like you suggested would close British clubs for good.

Good one chunky-can't top that!!!!

Shame Ipswich and Scunny can't lend him a few grand so he could prove he could get back to Australia. After all none of Australian riders will fly in until they are sure the season is on.

The blunt instrument that is called the "points limit" doesn't necessarily reduce costs ..... the lower average riders who " fit the points limit" just ask for more money.

Having listened to another clubs latest promoter interviews it was interesting to hear that Somerset’s riders were mostly signed up by other clubs before the AGM took place suggesting the usual back scratching going on around the top table mafia. Gutted we’ve ended up with the bad apple and he’s already hit the social media headlines for all the wrong reasons!

You don't get a reduction for not riding in the UK. You get one for not riding at all. However if the average is more than 3 years old you can apply to have it re-assessed.

Keyboard warriors

Even if the carnet does last a year it’s still a ball ache, I know riders have ridden abroad before... I was one of them. Every bike frame / engine number had to be on the corner with long waits at the border etc.... I’ve also been the organizer when you get a call on Friday morning saying ‘can you race on Sunday in Germany’ , just organizing ferry’s/ tunnels, time off work, bike prep etc is hard enough with having to add the “fun” of customs to it all. still... blue passports eh?

I am sure I have read somewhere that the Carnet lasts for 12months ? Could be wrong, but if true that wouldn't be so bad a cost for a rider over a season { Tax deductable as well ? } Riders from UK have been doing Continental meetings since the 1950s { before EU was invented } so I am sure they can find a way , if they want to I am an optimist, I think when cross-channel traffic get back to normal { after Covid } , a lot of things will be smoothed out , compromises made etc. { it is in both sides interest } Plus some people will find loopholes & ways of bending rules if necessary

Somerset signed Jason Doyle, a world champion , and their wage bill increased massively but the crowd level went up exactly zero percent. Good financial sense ?

There's been a power shift, the good rising stars can now name their price so will probably cost more now than they would have before the system was put in place.

Just use a debit card instead , never had to pay any charges when iv gone to Asia which aint part of EU..

Don't think the points limit is in a riders consideration, it's all about the money money money

On the contrary, I think given the standard of riders available this year it'd probably be one of the stronger teams. On par with the others at the very least.

I should hope not ... he was too good for the NL about six years ago!

I agree, but John Louis was in his late twenties before he even sat on a bike, so you have to be a tad flexible sometimes.

Who did Livingston ride for? Glasgow I presume (but not White City)!

We should be OK, Terry Betts and Tomas Topinka are now on standby.

Agreed, NO chance but the product clubs are putting out is a £10 max. If any other business, supermarket etc put forward a drastically reduced product at the same price you clearly wouldn’t buy it and that’s what will happen with speedway, if it ever gets going 2021! Which is debatable!

Speedway Year Bars for the 2021 are now available. They are priced at £2.50 each and are available in red, yellow, blue, black, white and orange. Available at: SPEEDWAY BADGES & YEAR BARS 2021 – Jaybea Designs

Lets go back to Speedway which the casual watcher can understand (and also some supporters) LETS HAVE ONLY 3 POINTS For a win 2 for 2nd 1 for third No B/W or TAC subs in ALL meetings THE GRAND PRIX only the 5 rides to count to the total at the end. WORLD TEAM CUP Only the total points scored for each team after the lasft meeting No 4 3 2 points CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS only then top scorer only run-off if 2nd or 3rd needed. THE LEAGUE CHAMPIONS who ever finishing top. FALSE STARTS ALL BACK TO START No stopping at pits (unless an injury etc) CONCRETE OR TARMAC STARTING AREA To cut out "gardening" This will never happen `mores the pity.

Karma for what? Producing a product that both the public and large companies want to be involved in & then protecting that product?

It is possible to find enough riders for just one Division but it would certainly be of a much lower standard. National League riders would have to be brought in and lesser known available Europeans would have to be sought. Another issue would be by restricting riders to be only allowed to have one source of income which could result in some not being willing to ride for less money. Even so I would like to see just the one league with perhaps more competitions being brought back to allow riders to replace some of their reduced earnings.