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I’ll say it again, it is beggars belief a good idea that should have been so simple to implement has turned into an absolute car crash already. Wait until 2022 when the grades are revised and promotors try and shoe horn in certain riders then. What a mess.

Track will suit bjarne, still a good gater and equipment second to none.

Suppose I really meant injury free, certainly Scott looks fitter than ever. Joe Screen was a legend at Eastie especially before his bad leg break, but his idea of being fit I think was eating 1 pie instead of 2.

I heard that . I didn't buy my first bike until the age off 44 and spent thousands trying to make it to NL standard in a short space of time which maybe was a bit crazy. Unlike Ledworth I hadn't ever ridden before so was at a huge disadvantage. I got so close with a no 7 offered for a meeting at Stoke only to be rained off ( surprise surprise ) and at the end of 2019 I decided to sell my laydowns and concentrate on upright racing. With the only competitive upright stuff at Scunny, I had a bit of a fall out over the social distancing aspect etc last season so ended up racing against the laydowns at Redcar which I was well on the pace with on a 30 year old JAWA. So over the winter Ive purchased another laydown rolling chasis and at the ripe old age of 49 Im looking forward to racing at a amateur level next season and see what happens. For me the National League in a minority sport like Speedway should be purely amateur league with riders only being paid travelling expenses and maybe £5 a point as pocket money. If you have the ambition to make it in to the paid sport then like other motor sports you have to have the money behind you to make that dream a reality. If it did go back to this I believe it would become a good mix of older lads enjoying the sport which in turn could bring on the new lads and catapult them on to the next level.

Some years ago, I drove a new rider around to the training sessions; nobody taught him how to lay it down (mind you, nobody taught anyone anything). However, when he was in about his last MDL match, a rider fell in front of him, and he laid it down in a flash. I don't know how he knew how to do this, though; probably having slid off onto his backside plenty of times!

Far too young.

How long until the begging bowl is out again? "Ive spent X thousand on new kit for this season and its blown to bits in weeks/ive put in loads of investment but i have no speed...." No Chris you have no idea on setups or how to get the engines/bikes to perform. The reason he is exciting to watch at times is that he has to wring the life out of the bike to get it to do what he wants and occasionally gets lucky. For someone who has been around the sport for so long knowing how to get the bike to work is what has badly held Bomber back.

That's exactly what I stated!!

Think the only barrier is keeping fit, their experience helps keep them out of trouble normally, but at their age the last thing you want is a wild more inexperienced rider clattering into you, bodies don't bounce aswell at 40 than at 18/20. Having said that still be good to see them at Arlington hopefully this year, Bjarne Pedersen and especially Scott have great race craft there.

That alone will pay for itself.. certainly planning on visiting again myself if we get the chance... love the place, nice scenery near the track too

The main thing is bjarne signing has been well received by the Plymouth public and is already creating a buzz around the city with alot of supporters rekindling an interest in speedway a returning to support it

Laurence Rogers has posted on the Brummies forum that the list issued is incomplete snd that there are several riders who are on the list but have not been included on the press release for some reason. Laurence had confirmed jack Thomas is on the list snd is the Brummies rising star rider

I think that's right. Poole 2016.

This was mandatory in Aussie

Am a big fan of Tom Bacon. Very professional and immaculate in the way he presents himself, his setup , and how he talks to people - definitely a CVS type of rider. That said, I would say his chance of kicking on to a higher level has probably passed now.

To be fair to the Peterborough promoters it isn't a bad idea... It means that their team will be the first one in the country whereby all their riders have received the vaccine...

Sounded at the time like he didn't want to be there. Heard speculation that when he signed with Leicester, he wasn't fixed up in Sweden or Poland so accepted the offer, but by the time the season got underway, he'd secured a team place in whichever of those leagues. So the story went that he wanted out of the Leicester deal before the season began, but the Lions management played hardball, and so he just underperformed to force them to give him the push. But I have no way of knowing how true that all was.

A different scenario but seeing the demise of a young Martin Hewlett in 1982 it was a huge shock totally out of the blue really shook me up.For me yes a dirty rider seemed a clear view but some of these posts have made me maybe think about things differently.

Maybe a situation the other way round? I saw Brett Alderton tragically killed at King's Lynn back in '82 and my memory of that was he had a very young and speedway wise inexperienced Jeremy Doncaster fall in front of him entering the third bend and Brett, though not miles behind but also not overly close just ploughed into the stricken machine , there appeared to be no attempt to lay the bike down, and ended up hitting the fence head first. I'm sure most of us have seen riders drop on a sixpence to avoid fallen riders, to me sometimes it happens so fast it must be an instant natural reaction as there'd be no time to think and then react.

Someone will be waking up with a horse's head for company soon...

I saw the Ivor Brown Ove Fundin incident at Wimbledon. 6 of one half a dozen of the other in my opinion. Brown had a reputation as a "hard rider" in the Provincial League but unfortunately came up against an even harder rider in Fundin. My memory is that Brown on the outside gate tried to move across onto Fundin, expecting Ove to give way .... Ove was never going to shut off ... and hit Ivor hard who was catapulted into the safety fence. Sadly, it effectively ended Ivor's career. Back to the present day .... my vote has to be firmly with Mr N. Pedersen who quite honestly, is lucky to be still riding , given the number of riders he has managed to knock off. Bad tempered , hot headed, lacking judgement or just plain dirty ..... to Mr N. Pedersen its always the other guy's fault. My lasting memory of Mr N. Pedersen is when one evening at Eastbourne he rode into Adam Shields and sent him flying on the the 3rd bend at Arlington. Pedersen just looked on and nonchalantly rode back into the pits adjusting his gloves as though nothing had happened. Only problem ...... Adam Shields was his Eastbourne race partner. I am not/never will be an Eastbourne supporter, but how Mr N Pedersen continued riding for Eastbourne after that dreadful incident amazes me. So many of these dirty riders listed are not "dirty" at all , just bad tempered and usually lacking machine control. e.g. Sean Wilson, Andre Compton.

Any names been mooted about on the South Bank . Really looking forward to the season after watching all the amateur / young guns speedway at the back end of last season at the EWR

Most teams seem to be announcing riders now for the new season but nothing much coming from Belle Vue. Anyone got any ideas/snippets of information?

Age shouldn't be a barrier should it? there have been some good riders still plying there trade into their late 30's and early 40's Scott Nichols is 43 in May and Chris Harris will be 40 next year... Certainly in the Championship Bjarne should be able to do a job and hold his own to return good figures... I would have certainly liked to have seen him in our team and will look forward to watching him (Covid permitting) on his return... Just saying like... Regards THJ

He won it in 2008

Yes crump rode in one of the early silver helmet meetings.

Oooh the burn... been storing that one up mind tyretrax.... good to get it off ya chest was it... you can go and knock a quick one out now to really round the day off... Regards THJ

Takes one to know one as you would say.

Indoor speedway meetings are rare but I attended one here in South Africa back in 1983

Yup and that counts for nothing as 4 star only counts for the Prem. So either Thomas has opted out and will feature in the team on his own merits and make his own deal but Brum will need another 1/2/3 star rider depending on team building or the list is wrong and the BSPL have made a fist of the press release.....both equally as likely but i hope for Jack its the former.

His commitment should never be questioned, but whilst he doesn't mind getting hurt, the other three riders in the race might have something to say about that! He will always be a risk until Dickson puts some glue on his a*se!

The difference being that Poland clubs take an interest in the development of the riders that will fill the junior positions much earlier. They help them along with team places in the lower divisions, make them feel part of the club and have an active role in their development. Barring the twins who else has received that level of assistance in the UK over the past 10 years? Many promotors won't know who half the riders are on the list and yet we will soon be reading all the press releases about how they cannot wait to help continue their development.

Plymouth are unfortunately in a position where despite the brilliant news that they are moving up, they have slim pickings with available riders given the amount of riders already signed up, so clearly the promotion are having to be creative and I just hope that whatever team we are able to put together, we can hopefully be competitive and sustainable. The Bjarne signing for me isn't a particularly good one if you look at his average and what he's likely to achieve (I reckon he'll average around 8), but he's always been good off the start that will help him massively at Plymouth and he should entice punters both at Plymouth and away to see a former world class rider and someone I've always thought of as a decent bloke. In addition Bjarne will, I'm sure, support any younger riders the team has. He's a 'name' and that's never a bad thing. I'd expect Plymouth to have a bottom end that includes 2 of the 3 heat leaders that would have lined up last season in the NL (Stoneman, Bowtell, Atkins), personally I'd go for the latter two. Yes that wouldn't be that strong on paper but they are improving and would be competitive at home for sure. If Crump turns up, well, I think every promoter in the CL should give the Plymouth promotion a massive thumbs up as it would surely swell crowd numbers whenever Plymouth are in town. Crump or no Crump, my worry is the middle of the team, there just doesn't seem much around in the 5-7 range so it might be a case of taking a punt or two and hoping someone can be unearthed.

You would also be bankrupt by the end of 1st season IMO

I have a progamme with the scorers, but the heat results are not entered. Birmingham George Major 1, Arthur Browning 10, Rob Homer 6, Derek Timms 4, Chris Harrison 9, Andy Hunt 3, Phil Corin 3 The Rest Arthur Price 9, Peter Jarman 5, James Bond 10, Alan Harvey 4, Howard Cole 9, Dave Harvey 1, Tony Darby 4

I agree that riders should obtain their place on merit and not handed a place on a plate. But remember in 2021 we're only talking about 12 places. Between the 3* and 1* grades there are easily 12 riders of capable of being competitive in the 2021 CL. If certain promoters decide to pick an uncompetitive RS then that's their choice. The old 2.00 reserve didn't always go to a rider on merit anyway. How often did the points limit dictate that 2.00 pointer was thrown in to get under the limit while a better rider on say 2.32 was left on the side lines. At least this removes that issue. I think the idea of creating a pathway for young British riders is a good one. Unfortunately the 2.00 assessed starting average isn't enough to do that. How many times has a promising youngster upped their 2.00 average only to be replaced by an old hand on a lower average but perceived to be an improvement. Seen this at Newcastle many times, Andersson, Schramm, Mills being brought in at #7 based on past reputation. With youngsters dropped. How many times did James Burkinshaw move away from Sheffield get a low average to return to the Tigers the following season to increase his average? As I've posted previously this attempt looks over engineered to get to the position of securing a development pathway for British youngsters. All that needed to be done was to remove those old hands from obtaining team places on low averages. Easily done. Just set a minimum assessed average based on rider experience. Just like new British riders start on a 2.00 over 60 matches have a minimum average of 3.00 over 90 matches have a minimum average of 4.00 over 120 matches have a minimum average of 5.00 any non UK riders have a minimum average of 6.00 For example if a rider with over 120 matches has an actual CMA of 3.33 they can still obtain a team place but on a 5.00 average for team building. Naturally creating team places for inexperienced British riders but also incentivising them to progress their performances to achieve the minimum average. It would mean that teams could build a side with strength in depth if they couldn't afford/find top heat leaders and still have a competitive side. As it stands the 15 heat format already favours teams with strong 1st and 2nd heat leaders. This new system compounds that by levelling out heats 2, 8, 12 and 14 which teams with strong reserves would normally have had an advantage in. That balance doesn't exist anymore so if you haven't got a strong top two (or a wonder kid at #7) you're going to struggle. In summary a good strategy poorly implemented.

With the amount of fixtures in the Premiership, he isn’t going to be riding Monday and Thursday every week for starters!

some riders have still to be added my son contacted them weeks ago but still not on the list so called today and girl said there’s still a few to he added and will be updated soon as there only in the office a couple of times a week

Hey you Makem clown do you not fully read the other posts on here and if these kids don't respond to the BSPL email by default they opt out FFS what a half witted clown you are... keep modelling those cherry lips you dickwad... Phil posted on the 2nd of Feb and I trust his information before owt you might say... if ya said it was raining I would go outside to check you buffoon... Regards THJ

There was an article in Speedway Star in the early 70s about Ivan running training schools in New Zealand during the UK winter. He said the first thing the novices were taught was how to lay it down safely.

I’m sure Bees fans will never forget the night at Blackbird Road when John Boulger somehow managed to lay his bike down behind a stricken Nigel Boocock. Booey suffered a hairline skull fracture from his mishap, what the outcome would have been without Boulger’s reaction doesn’t bear thinking about.

That's because they were Olle's bikes plus with two riders half a lap apart it shouldn't be necessary. Those schools of his must have been the start of many a Speedway career.

Speedway has been gone from Bradford for a few years now so is there still the appetite and support for speedway in the city. You can lay the track, select the team but all of that is pretty pointless if the people are not there to support it.

But when he looks round the pits at his team mates, he will feel like a teenager...

so with the 'Rising Stars' list, I assume Tom Bacon (aged 28) will be the rising star for the Panthers. How apt really, the oldest 'Rising Star' signing for 'Dads Army'.

With the greatest of respect its just a tombola of names ranging from those not old enough to retired riders and just about everything in between. My only hope is that PL is restricted to 3&4 star graded riders and once it kicks properly next season CL sides have to add up to 4 stars in total ( so 2+2 or 3+1) otherwise the gap in standard is going to be huge. Not knocking but some riders haven't even completed a decent season in the NDL yet (and some have had several seasons at trying to) so the fact that there is even a chance of them heading into the "professional" leagues is more than a bit concerning.

It’s still “ pie in the sky” whether there will be speedway at Osdal, never mind a FIM standard spec.

Looking forward to the next edition...great read!

Steve Boxall, sometimes he doesn't clean his kevlars or bikes between meetings.

Not really as it passes the Winter away and this one seems interesting enough. The only genuine intentional dirty move I can remember is Mick McKeon and Mike Lohmann at a Belle Vue v Halifax match back in the 80's (I think) when both riders ended up in hospital. I can't recall now which rider started it off on one bend but the other one retaliated on the next one.