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Hey,you've got to support your team whatever is brought to the table.i will admit,I'm a Tigers fan through and through and have been for the best part of 44 years but I love the racing,track,food and set up at scunny and get as often as I can but I would never desert the team I have supported for years.you have had success in the last few years and blimey,it was a long time before we had any at Sheffield but I would support them whatever team they put out.never desert your home town team because you never know how long they will be here.

Ah yes! A "rising star" who was perfectly placed to take the next step onwards in his career until............the "rising Star" program was introduced resulting in him being forced out of his team place by an ill conceived idea. Which means a bright British prospect is out of a job with little chance of a place in any league as he has too high a rising star rating for the championship. Too high an average for the NDL (i. e. Conference league) thanks to the absolutely ludicrous 35 point limit the powers that be have introduced there.

Therein lies the problem - the inept, incompetent and utterly selfish (Rob Godfrey has stated in this weeks Speedy Star that the Premiership and Championship clubs decided that the NDL had to change - quite extraordinary when you think that over half of them don't even have NDL clubs and that Mildenhall and Isle of Wight had no say at all) way this has been handled. I think it is entirely possible that the new entrants might have wanted a lower points limit but we'll simply never know. Islander says that wasn't the case, and certainly Mildenhall's Phil Kirk has said that they did not want a reduction. Its therefore equally entirely possible that had it gone to a vote 39 would have been retained (which maybe why there was no vote). What is certain is that Isle of Wight would not be attracting the support from speedway fans if this had been dealt with with any degree of intelligence and there had been a vote for 35 and they had still pulled out. I wouldn't for a second have questioned such a decision - that it is for an individual promotion and we are talking about by far and away the best in the country - but they would not have been able to point fingers at the BSPL at all.

Just want to keep the tradition going and our reputation up Think there are a few males on this forum who could pass as females by that logic

If GM had a winnable case that they would not be sending out pointless letters or issuing unenforceable threats. Pretty pathetic.

Why would the club let Allen go,pay his flights and expenses,what he brings through the gates will far exceed the disappointment of them away meeting flogging, can see also a lot of home defeats , between witches and scorpions they could of come up with a better deal for a rider that was about to blossom in uk

Somebody had to go, otherwise we would have been comfortably under the NDL 35 point limit!!!!!! (in the championship). Don't see why 4* rising stars can't ride in the championship as part of the program. just knock another point off the rest of the team building. Be interesting to see how many are lost when they lose confidence after finding they are out of their depth, like the last time they tried something like this.

Yes, at one point three of the ‘ elite ‘ promoters owned over 90 riders between them, nice little loan fee earner without getting your hands dirty.

In my view its so outdated and would not stand up legally. Self employed workers, not paid a retainer (as far as i know) kept on a companies books with inflated values, in the hope that the contract owner can get a "loan fee" or of course add value to their overall company value... And of course... once you leave guess who owns any assets..... you got it BSPL

Definitely a strange one?

Every team will end up under the points limit

The way I see it, if the league is all about development and not competition it doesn't matter if the points limit is 35 or 39. If that is the case, results don't matter - just experience and track time.

or going sledging or punching walls ?

People keep mentioning what other teams would’ve come to the tapes with a higher points limit. But it’s been documented elsewhere that Mildenhall, Kent, Belle Vue, Plymouth (if they remained) and Eastbourne were all were happy with the usual points limit. I am not aware of Armadale or Newcastle’s opinion but they were both in the division for 2020. Only Leicester and Berwick definitely wanted it lowered who are actually racing. All the other teams who wanted it peered aren’t even NL clubs!

surely this is the sort of league that people would benefit having a GTR?

Ultimately the BSPL have shafted Isle of Wight speedway for all that it is worth, in the manner in which the NDL for 2021 was constituted. I suspect they also hoped to shaft Mildenhall out of the league too, to turn the competition into a reserve team league. The BSPL need to wake up and realise that speedway in this country is on borrowed time. They can't afford to lose teams and tracks, as once gone, it is far harder to bring them back. Regardless of the current mantra of 'promoting youth,' speedway in Britain is rapidly heading towards the state it is in other European countries e.g. Norway and Finland with a handful of spectators watching largely amateur riders take part in what for most of them is an expensive hobby, unless those who claim to 'promote' the sport go out and actively promote it, rather than finding methods to shaft one another for minor gain.

Personally, even though Rob's honouring his commitments, I'd personally go for Batchelor for Allen Connor Mountain for Pijper Ryan Kinsley for Lambert but thats not gonna happen, sadly.... If the team isn't going to be competitive, I shall be going to support Sheffield in the premiership most weeks, as much as I have time and respect for rob, is it too much to ask as a loyal supporter of 15 years for a successful season

Have a look at Kents website.... Under the riders info Nicholls is already listed as a Panther for 2021

Having just had a catch up on the National league goings on and signings the teams look so unbalanced its not going to make much of a sceptical . Basically every team has 2 or some 3 number ones then the rest of the team is made up of reserve quality riders . Heats 13 and 15 look like they could be tasty most meetings . But come on nearly getting lapped by Max Clegg or Nathan Greaves isn't going to help these kids . Clearly the points limit is far too low to enable teams to swap a couple of 3 pointers with 4.5-6.5 averaged riders who can fill the void . Far too many races/heats will just be processional and very strung out . It would/will surely be hard for stand alone clubs to charge for such entertainment other than the bare minimum . This is only my opinion guys if you think i am wrong fair enough tell me why in your opinion i am . Maybe i can be convinced to change my mind . Most important thing i suppose is speedway is returning so that i suppose is all that counts .

We have one lovely smooth engine delivers the power to the back wheel really well. It's an excellent stepping stone from the 250 as the power is more predictable than the gm. strange how so many were eager to criticise this opportunity when so many think that the iow 2valve challenge was the way forward

Saved 'losing' money last year, you mean.

Not really sure how he was forced out of his team place because of that, maybe there's more to it?

Remember in 2017, Sheffield only had 4 senior riders, away to a strong Glasgow team. Sheffield still won by 5 points.

If it’s not about the winning why be so strict about the points limit anyway? Never understood that in sport ! A bit like the football clubs. Just because you can’t attract the support to pay higher wages. Maybe the promoters could put more effort into attracting larger crowds than spending all their time trying to work out how to stifle the other clubs which in itself just drives down standards and affects crowds even more !! Instead of a use it or lose it culture why not give supporters a reason to go. It’s not just about getting the 15 heats over and done with (not nowadays anyway) it’s about the whole experience. It may not suit a lot of the old Skool as they like it over and done with and get home but if they want their sport to survive then it’s a trade off

Perhaps for once the chairman could make a good example of himself by showing that nobody is outside the rules rather than the current view that the godfather and other mafia members are above the law but happy to impose the rules onto others.

Polish media reporting that POLADA are unhappy about the 1 year ban and have appealed and want it doubled to 2 years.

From my point of view ( a scunthorpe fan ) i want this to happen because it demoralizing should we field a team that weak however feel that it is unlikely given that Rob is the BSPA chairman.

a female being awkward and pedantic.....thats a new one

Must have since I quoted him... I'm just being awkward and pedantic

Plymouth was too far to travel on a weekday I am told

Likewise. For Connor i hope he has 2-3 clubs involved in a bidding war for his services and is working out just how many new bikes he needs

Fees and assistance given by some clubs over the years would make your eyes water.....

I'm baffled as to why Conor Mountain hasn't been signed up in the CL ?

Thats correct...but if you recall the BSPL, well you may not know... but when Peter Morrish stopped being the NDL C there were several applications but the current one somehow got it, he then left and went to Newcastle, left Newcastle and somehow got back in after leaving the league... we of course had no say in who the coordinator should have been....

There is/ was one, and a club can be fined for fielding an under strength team. I remember Redcar turning up at our place without two riders who had missed a flight and had to use two of our juniors, they were fined for it .

Just slow to update. May 3rd fixture has been deleted on the Boro list... http://www.peterborough-speedway.com/fixtures21

Actually, he is there to coordinate the league, not implement change of his own accord or that of the Directors. It has, and should have been in 2021, always been a vote based system of discussion, approval and implementation of changes by vote at NL AGMs. Unless his duties and responsibilities have changed - ie fixture setting, shared event date setting and so on, he must not, certainly not in my view anyway, get involved in any way with team selections, point limits, rule changes, nothing - he just observes the rules are adhered to and coordinates fixtures.

I also agree up to a point . You certainly wouldn't use your 'come and pay £15...' as a means of promoting the meetings If the limit is 39, you don't have to build to that but instead include riders who you believe deserve a place regardless of their average (although I might suggest (ironically as it happens)that there would be a lower points limit). That means that results could be uneven (some may have a noticeable advantage in terms of team strength) and thus that the competition (ie the NDL) would not be as balanced as if all built to the same limit. If its about development, that doesn't matter. It would not, however, prevent young riders busting a gut to beat other young riders and thus they would have the on track competition that they need, there would be a sense of achievement after winning races and, hopefully, they would improve.

100% We've had no luck at all and just coming to tapes in 2021 will be a win! If we can stabilise and build a team for 2022 the future will look a lot brighter and Birmingham and Brummies are going to be right at the heart of all of the Commonwealth Games news and lots of positive press attention. We need to find a No 1 who is affordable and not a huge risk financially and hopefully not 40 plus. With their close links to the South East, I do wonder if Lewis Bridger will find his way to Perry Barr at some point. He has said in several articles he doesn't want to commit to CL yet, he seems to be keeping options open though and if he starts well at Kings Lynn, who knows. Peter and David deserve the 100% of all of us.

Chris Harris doesn't come cheap Col? I think the 'Masons' are doing a great job....we are lucky to be in existence.

I would think most riders will improve a there previous avarage, as the league is weaker.

Signing on fees in the NDL it’s meant to be an amateur League

It's just the old, old situation - put a 10 point man and a 2 point man out in a race against two 6 point men and the result will be a 3-3. Do this all evening and you will certainly get a close result - but you will never get close racing. And as far as the fans are concerned, it's close racing that really matters for speedway isn't a results-based sport. If the racing isn't competitive then the spectators will stop coming. The 10 pointer and 2 pointer against two 6 pointers looks set to become more prevalent in the coming season, which isn't good news.

It’s the PREMIERSHIP that is not working the way it should be. The problem starts at the top and works its way down. As it’s mostly championship riders ( on bigger wages ) it is not what it claims to be. It either should be done away with or revamped to be just that, a ‘ Premiership ‘ without championship riders and ‘ rising stars’ .

Don't see the problem, in terms of engineering isn't this what Japanese, Chinese; Koreans and others have done for decades. Take a Car / Engine / Engineering over to their people, strip it down, re-component and re-build pretty much identically. GM seems to have become complacent.

I don’t know who to suggest to sign but surely Rob can’t track that team! It’s hopeless. It’s miles below the limit and will struggle at home and get thrashed away. There’s no number 1 and barely a heat leader compared to some of the top heavy sides. The suggestion of Kennedy, McDonald etc disrupts the balance of the team too as one of the plus points was Lambert at reserve. But then he’s stuck at second string along with Pijper, who I personally think is a woeful signing anyway and will average around 4-4.5 even when he drops to number 7. Rob’s tried strength in depth before with Auty at number 1 and it just doesn’t work. The Scunny faithful respect that they have an entertaining track but they still want to see their team win and when they aren’t doing that regularly they vote with their feet.

There seem to be a lot of unanswered dealings by the BSPL, and it's hard to do anything other than agree with your statement and feelings. It was so important to keep speedway alive on the Isle of Wight, as there are very few attractions for locals or holiday makers to do of an evening. In 2019 when I visited the island and stayed in Shanklin, there was absolutely no entertainment other than to go to the local theatre in the evening, and they don't provide for the holidaymaker like they have in years gone by. Consequently, people were attempted to go along and see what this thing called speedway was all about, might just have decided to start going to their local tracks when their holidays were over, and returned to the mainland. You guys have put so much work into that place, and I feel so sorry for you.

What I can’t understand is we are told you can get red shale no more as the quarry has closed, and we have to put up with the soil now instead of shale which is not good for racing. and then magically Bradford have done some research and found the best shale for racing which is red shale and have laid it at Osdal. So it make me think the soil we have to have must be a lot cheaper than the red shale that’s why we have it. especially when the red shale is still available which produces better racing as we all know.

Has to be 2021 only. Too rider of the year. I’d forgotten about Ryan Douglas tbh. Strong showing in Aussie over the winter so could be a good outside bet

A total non-starter. What riders would have made up those ‘ ghost ‘ teams ? The same southern based riders every other week ? And just who would IOW track ? No, not a good idea.