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Bearing in mind that laydowns have been used for about 30 years then they should sort the damned tracks out then.

Great sentiments but... 1. To get Coventry, Oxford & Bradford up & running. - Have you seen the state of those stadiums? Who's got the millions needed to bring them back, fit for human habitation? 2. To standardise bikes for the 2 lower leagues therefore lower (overall) cost. - Didn't they try to reduce riders costs with the bulk purchase of those Gerhard engines? What a failure that was. 3. Cap pay rates in all leagues that are affordable via tracks income, - Dumbing down to the lowest common denominator? National pay rates governed by what Mildenhall and IoW can afford? Less pay will mean less spent by riders on bike maintenance, leading to more engine failures, leading to lower quality of racing leading to crowds seeping away. No, I don't think that's the answer either. 4. Stage creditable regular home fixtures @ all tracks.- someone needs a definition of "creditable". How do you guarantee a creditable meeting before the first race is run? 5. Stop double up/down & guest other than injury cover. - Have you done the mathematics? 24 current teams, plus Swindon plus Somerset plus the three Phoenix's out of the rubble piles that you refer to... you could need 168 - 203 riders, who you say have to be British based. I challenge you to name them all. If you haven't got the riders, you won't have the teams. Something has to give. 6. Introduce the use of smartphones as part of the live meeting experience (to get the young involved). - How exactly? I see kids on smart phones trying to cross the roads and nearly getting killed. What's the point of being at a meeting if you are staring at your phone all the time? 7. Getting promoters heads out of the sand, take a step back & look again. Mission Impossible...I can just see that lit fuse burning away at the bottom of my screen now

Although given the number that run at a loss some will have had a more financially successful year in 2020 than previous seasons.

If we get any speedway to watch, I wonder if the stadiums will be allowed to open the bars. Would consider going to away matches & stopping over if they can give me the option of a good pi$$ up.

I think they chose that meeting because there wasnt any guest riders in it... So it linked in nicely with the name of the programme...

Forcing him to watch Speedway, is that her idea of torture?!!

It's by being a "snobby southerner" that by re-locating to York I've managed to introduce to them a bit of class and sophistication!

Surely what is most important is the quality of the racing rather than the reputation of the riders. In the past there have been teams stacked with top riders who won each week and their crowds went down. With a track like ours, the racing is at it's best when the level of the riders is similar. Who remembers the initial PC season opener? The riders were of a similar standard, no top guys, but the meeting was superb. Also, some of the Colts meetings have produced wonderful racing. This obvious leveling down could actually produce a much better product. I can't wait and given it's been so long I'd probably go and watch anything at the moment.

It's the fourth item on the list - International Speedway Calendar

Smart phones could be used to stream live video from the pits and interviews during delays and or the interval. Smart phones can be used for keeping tabs on the scores instead of filling in a programme with a pen. There are free apps already out on the 'net for these.

Yes agree that rider costs would go up but not much as most riders would have new engines etc already in the workshop from 2019 and yes I would also be happy to pay 2019 admission prices, I don’t think I should but it won’t stop me going if we are lucky enough to get some speedway this year.

Mildenhall track is a good example of a tiny track but it’s shape produces fast full throttle action. Majority of U.K. tracks were long straights and sharp bends reflecting the stadia like a dog track. The new tracks like Somerset Redcar Scunthorpe built without that restriction are much better shape. Unfortunately the plan didn’t quite include Leicester for some reason.

Lot more to worry about than the fixture list.IMO.

Someone might want to point out to them that Somerset have pulled out of racing for this season.

Its more that if a mistake is made, the bike will launch forward and with a narrow track there is no room to recover, so your in the fence.. The NSS was designed for modern speedway, wide and fast unlike a lot of UK tracks built and designed to fit inside the stadia they had to work with..

Best of luck for Luke this season and future,have watch him at Berwick over the last couple of year ,what an entertainer he is.

This one is the worst. When the first one ended, i had non league football and a few speedway meetings to go to. The second one was short and football continued. This time it's going to be much longer. Despite my second jab being due in April, I'm still not hopeful of a May start.

There may be a different kind of NDL in 2021. The most important thing is to continue to give plenty of riding experience for our developing youth It would be good to give THE BYC riders more rides.... possibly second half rides or even places in teams if there is a rider shortage.

Its more the shape of them, most tracks are to small and narrow

I could be wrong and am happy to be corrected as I might be out of date on how things work, but I think that Gleb COULD race for Russia if he wanted to as he still holds a Russian passport and that is what counts for FIM team events. However, he also holds a Polish passport so can race for them as well...and he has been included in the Polish national squad for 2021, so seems to have decided that he's going with Poland. Assuming I am right with who he is elligible to represent, I have no idea what would happen if both Russia and Poland selected him for their team in the SoN....but it's probably a moot point as it seems unlikely either nation would select him now that he is over 21. Both nations have far better options for senior riders in the SoN.

Grow up you pleb. Speedway was borderline value for money when the stars were riding UK, now their not , charging the same if not more is daylight robbery. speedway is a ten pound sport.

You are correct my error!!!

Someone should run a free training school for Deliveroo moped riders. If they ride in the rest of the country like they do in Oxford there's a fair few entertaining fence scrapers out there I daresay there could be a chance of a young rider possibly getting some Sponsorship from them. A nice photoshopped picture of a rider going full tilt around a bend photoshopped so his racesuit and bike covers had Deliveroo branding and colourscheme with a topbox on the rear mudguard. Throw in a nice snappy slogan about fast food delivered faster, the countries the rider could potentially be visible in. They can only say No but they might say yes. Even if it was only a couple of grand its better than a kick in the proverbials.

In fairness mate I'm protective over scunthorpe because I was born and bred there. It's the team I followed in the 70s and 80s and again since 2005. The club and its owner have been a major part in the development of my lad as a rider and for which we shall be eternally grateful. I make no secret of who I am and have said on many occasions that Luke Harrison the current 250cc champion is my son

All very valid points, but the No1 priority has to be getting the National Team to consistently be seen as the No1 in the World.. That will get the wider sporting media involved and have a big positive impact on the domestic teams too.. Rugby League is a great example of how a 'minority' sport suddenly started to get excellent coverage for its domestic game when "Great Britain" started beating the Aussies in the late 80's/90's... Players like Martin Offiah, Ellery Hanley, Jason Robinson et al, became known nationally through their international success being beamed into homes via the BBC and Sky, yet not many of the population could probably name which club sides they played for, nor had any interest in the game until that national success came along.. However, those who did know which clubs these players represented domestically, started to go and watch these 'stars' in much greater numbers than before... Cricket and Rugby Union also made national success their overiding objective many years ago and even have central contracts to protect the top players from "burn out"... They knew, quite correctly, that national success would bring far more fans to the sport than any individual teams winning their various competitions could ever do.. Let's hope the penny has finally dropped at the BSPL that this should be far and aware their major objective to try and make the sport successful in the UK...

Swindon v ipswich 1974. Only Bernie Leigh has passed from the home team. For Ipswich, just Billy Sanders is no longer with us. Norbold mentions Leo McAuliffe still being around. Sadly, he passed away in 2018.

It's not a secret riders and parents are being informed first , and no promoters have divulged the info it was sent directly from the scb at acu house. no lies been old so unfortunately there is no conspiracy and no investigation needed. Would suggest from your post you aren't a rider, parent of a rider or official of a club or the bspl so why would you need to know just yet

The prices have to be slashed hugely for it to work now , cant imagine anyone in their right mind would be happy forking out 18 quid with the dropped standard.

Be good to hear of some rider signings soon Sure Peter David and Laurence are working hard. I assume Jack will be the Rising Star? Hopefully a solid 1 to 6 to give us some entertainment. Jab done waiting for 2nd one. Speedway would be best tonic though.

I would disagree with that.Batchelor is always at his best behind a strong No1 and when hes not sulking.If you want a star attraction to put bums on seats, love or loath him you would be hard pushed to top Nicki P. Still riding in Polish Elitserien whereas batch is in div1 and will never be the same class .(in my opinion)

Are we? The lowly scum general public gonna be allowed to see the lists of star ratings? Or are we gonna be kept in the dark by this exciting new rule... Kinda takes off the excitement if we are...

MY VIEW.... The best we can hope for is a 4 month season July to September, the whole of U.K. should be revamped NOW but only for 2021. Teams to be made-up of U.K. based riders. Meanwhile every effort should be made for a complete relaunch of our once great sport for 2022, this to include: 1. To get Coventry, Oxford & Bradford up & running. 2. To standardise bikes for the 2 lower leagues therefore lower (overall) cost. 3. Cap pay rates in all leagues that are affordable via tracks income, 4. Stage creditable regular home fixtures @ all tracks. 5. Stop double up/down & guest other than injury cover. 6. Introduce the use of smartphones as part of the live meeting experience (to get the young involved). 7. Getting promoters heads out of the sand, take a step back & look again.

It doesn't really matter how speedway compares to other sports, or whether 20 quid is really value for money or not if people aren't coming through the turnstiles. With football you'll generally also know that the matches will be held regardless of the weather, and you're not standing around for most of the 90 minutes watching the pitch being mown...

Josh Bates?

Agree with this. We have to build again from a realistic base. We can't ignore three important facts. The centre of the speedway world is in Poland. Geographically we are an island off the mainland of Europe. Politically no longer being in the EU makes travelling to and working in the UK a whole lot more difficult. We should build our leagues predominantly around UK riders and those from Australia and New Zealand who might feel the UK is a better place to be based in when Europe. RE. growth; incremental growth is always more sustainable and easier to adjust to. Much more desirable than boom and bust.

The inclusion, or exclusion, of Plymouth, has no bearing on Premiership fixtures.

Yep and it's brilliant. I do wonder though why other club owners don't vote for change if there unhappy or is it just whining fans

Thought Edinburgh, as the senior club, had first dabs on Friday nights?