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Palin is a talent I don’t think many will argue with that, but as you say Bates and Bacon have a clear advantage over most of the other no 7,s.

Josh Bates final 2019 GSA is 5.20, bearing in mind he is likely to ride at no 7 how on earth can it be right to compare him with any of the other Rising stars riding at no 7 who have yet to ride in the Premiership. Its ludicrous.

Lads can't win. Take a leap at developing their career by riding in stronger leagues in Poland and they're turning their back on British Speedway. Ride two British leagues and they're milking the UK gravy train. I think Ellis and Bewley have made the right choice by picking PL and Poland. Hopefully scoring heavily and maintaining confidence in the UK and taking that confidence on to the continent for tougher challenges overseas. Should the opportunities in Poland be limited then consider a CL place. For which they'd no doubt get stick. Imagine having the freedom to do whatever is best for your own circumstances.......

It’s not my opinion, in fact I think it’s excellent value for money. But it’s been said before by fans of clubs that they’re being forced to pay extra for a meeting they have no interest in.

They’re not the kind of riders the scheme should have been for.

It does seem odd that whenever calls for the NL to be a £10 product have been shot down but running as part of a double header makes it a £3-4 product. I can only think that expenses of staging a double header are greatly lesser than two individual meetings along with lesser riders on probably lower points monies.

we could always run a meeting and when Nippy asks about it we can always say *They can’t recall the incident.. *Nothing happened to the best of their knowledge *They have no knowledge of the incident *We can’t answer that question * We don’t know * We were not aware * We don’t recall * we’d need to check the detail * We’re not 100% sure * We can’t recall any incident its got her out of a lot of trouble so far lol

Can you tell me one rider from any team named so far that hasn't had any form of ‘ competitive racing ‘ under his belt ?

These 3.00er kids have been racing in the junior leagues for years, which is arguably more dangerous, sharing the track with 3 other 'wobblers' then riders who know what they're doing in this league like Max Clegg and Nathan Greaves... Injuries are just unfortunately part of the sport, especially for the young kids who are pushing themselves harder and harder each meeting to improve... Everyone's got to start somewhere

I just hope none of these kids get hurt on these rocket ships. Riding and training on one is one thing but competitive racing I'm not sure

Exactly. £24 is a lot for speedway, let alone middle and bottom tiers. For a couple that’s nearly £50 just in entrance fees before food, petrol etc. The hard core fans won’t be bothered but it will make the take it or leave it fans think twice, or attend less regularly especially when Covid has hit lots of people’s finances.

It was mentioned in the SS by Jason Pipe that those who were making a living from riding NL would have to change that mindset.. You can only therefore think that part of the strategy of having so many 'novices' per team is simply done to keep the costs within what the clubs can afford to run their NL teams.. And £20 for 30 heats of Speedway is very good value for money I would say.. My only concern is if the whole 30 heats don't get completed, 'too regularly', would the fans then start to lose faith in the product..?

If ever anyone deserved a medal its jean , didnt know her but after reading wilko's book she came across as a god send.

Some might suggest there is a difference between a legitimate finders fee and blatantly lining your pocket at the expense of the organisation you are acting on behalf of.

I would say interesting, as you have qualified your decisions in a constructive way. I agree with practically every assessment.

It's a key point/risk. If someone charged you £3 more for your pint because they've given you a straw so it takes longer to drink you might go to another pub. I have my reservations about these double header arrangements. All for having a platform developing young riders but not sure the teams running double headers and charging extra have got the product right. Why 15 minutes of action takes 2 hours is a mystery to me so if 30 minutes takes 4 hours how can you sell that? Maybe the future for reserve teams is 5 rider teams over 10 heats. 5 before the main match and 5 after. Those interested can turn up earlier stay later those who aren't won't but no additional price either way. I'm guessing that would leave the stand alone clubs with nowhere to go but you can't imagine Mildenhall running in 2022 with 7 home fixtures anyway.

All have responsibility for it as well as those above Doesnt matter who made the decisions just that the wrong ones were made. We wont know the reasons and influences No matter how much deflection Sheffield fans attempt it wont make it right. What you should be doing us condemning it rather than trying to justify it...

And remember that some of these kids have had 18 months more practice since they obtained their last average. Across all of the leagues you could see some big improvements from young riders. I have to say that none of the 3.00 riders in the Northern teams are not worthy/capable of an opportunity at this level based on what I've seen in the Northern Junior League matches. Some really talented kids. I would agree that perhaps some of the higher averaged riders have out grown this league and should have been excluded (i.e. anyone with a CL average over 4.00) but for those complaining about the lower points limit if it had been higher where are all the higher averaged riders coming from? Genuine question, how many have missed out on a team place due to the lower limit?

Good point. I had a terrible dream last night. I had died and been reincarnated as an air fence. Woke up sweating and screaming when I saw Bates and Roynon rolling up to the tapes!

The Rising Star scheme is another of the BSPA s poorly organised b#lls up.

Have to agree 30 heats won’t need many ‘ incidents’ not to go the distance at places like Berwick with a curfew, given that 15 of them are less experienced riders learning their trade. Fine for die-hards but might not be attractive to new supporters.Hope things go well for the Clubs running these double - headers though.

This is true. Weekends do facilitate an earlier start time in terms of work but what about those people desperate to spend time with their families that they haven’t done for months. The bigger issue though is there will be a section of supporters who are unhappy to pay £3-£4 more for a double header entry when they have no intention to watch the NL meeting.

Yes agree....but I like the way he battles....and gives as good as he gets!

Great speedway! My understanding of Cameron Heeps, is that he's always had the potential, but he made a conscious effort to get physically fit before his last season and it certainly paid off!

if you thought gardening at NL level was annoying...........

Probably be brothers riding for the Colts at 6 & 7

So sorry to hear that. She dedicated her life to him, especially after his cruel accident. Wonderful woman who is back with the man she loves RIP Jean

I fully understand that the politics involved pushed the Island to resign from the NL. From a financial point of view, 7 league matches plus a couple of fillers and the odd shared event might have been enough post Covid. No one really knows what the crowd levels will be, when the season finally gets going.

I think this is a great move for Tom he can progress as a rider and come out of his comfort zone at Eastbourne which is a real homer track.This also applies to young Palin he too has moved elsewhere to progress fair play to both of them for that.

It's very hard to know how well Brennan will do for the Aces. He made a great start to 2019 with Eastbourne but that was from the easier number 7 spot. Riding for two very different sized tracks should certainly help him progress!

Just before the May Elections just as a coincidence I think not.

Well the worst idea would be joining the Polish or Russian leagues, so I stand by my statement!

Not sure the club would make enough money to cover all the costs of their championship team.

That decision maybe taken out her hands now. other minority sports are not even on her agenda. she has literally just threatened to extend lock down , her motives are to rejoin the EU as an independent state ,sport at any level is just irrelevant.

Could Scunny be waiting to see 8f the 2 Scottish teams can run due to covid restrictions cos Ricky Wells would be a great signing for you?

It is. Believe it or not , not everything is about the money.

And as others have pointed out, the permanent riders in the SGP aren't necessarily the best 15 in the Polish league. When talking about the standard of a rider in a Polish league team, it seems more reasonable to me to consider what they actually do in the Polish league rather than individual competitions. Averages say that Laguta did much better in the Polish League than the two highlighted. I take your point about his age, but there have been a few that have kept their stadard up beyond that age in recent years. Funnily enough, Mikkel Michelsen also finished with a higher average than Doyle and Lindgren last year...So maybe Lublin have better league riders than you give them credit for.

So sad to hear the news of the passing of Jean Wilkinson a devoted wife of the much loved Alan.Life is so unfair and cruel at times and now Jean is back reunited with Alan god bless both of them.