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Maybe they prefer the track at Boro...

It’s an old team I don’t think anyone can dispute that, as to whether that will affect its ability to do well remains to be seen. Things will become clearer in May but as long as the track is set up to suit our team of racers I don’t see too much of a problem and look forward to a return of the racing.

Justin Sedgemen final signing.

For 2021, National league riders have now been asked to supply and pay for their own rear tyres which are £42 each per meeting, whereas, last year they were commonly supplied by the club. Simultaneously, i've heard price money rates have been slashed in half to £10 a point for a reserve. Additionally all tyres are only to be ANLAS, even in the amateur ‘national league’, despite there being stockpiles of MITAS tyres already in the country not used from 2020, many in the hands of small privately owned and operated spares vans who now do not have a market for them. Presumably, BSPL Ltd. receive a healthy incentive from the monopoly of ANLAS tyres in the British leagues (as I have heard the MITAS deal was generous). These new rules will hit the young riders who are trying to make a start in the sport in revised Conference League, by prize money going directly to pay for tyres. Following Rob Godfrey's article in the Speedway Star, if he is truly ‘subsidising’ the national league and wants more upcoming riders, surely he should allow other tyre brands or only used tyres (like in the youth rounds used to) so the National League riders do not lose a fortune racing NL speedway?

Barry Bishop confirms that the Isle of Wight have staged preliminary talks with the French League!

Only had one which I have just replied to - but, if the geography on your profile is up to date, I suspect it isn't you. Please contact us again via club@berwickspeedway.com or pm me via this site if you have not had a reply. Same goes for anyone else who paid for a pass last season and hasn't heard from the club.

Will the home team come out on track to the theme tune of the antiques roadshow ?

when they changed from red banded mitas to yellow and band the red ones most nl riders had loads of really good 2nd hand red band ones and turned up with them on there bikes so they ended letting them use the reds ones in the nl hope they see sence and let the lower league use any legal tyre ,i know loads of nl riders with a stack of mitas tyres in there workshop

I know CL/NL has been done at other tracks but I really don't believe that the NL side will get much support. I hope I'm wrong

Wouldn't surprise me if he and others face a choice to go and stay therefore giving up the UK or foregoing Poland and sticking with the UK....

1. Belle Vue 2. Sheffield 3. Wolverhampton 4. Ipswich 5. Peterborough 6. King's Lynn Obviously injuries will be a massive factor, bigger than ever before with the lack of rider's. On paper now, is thos about right??

Quite right tickets will be in high demand also the club has had a good response for season tickets which of course will guarantee you entry.

Joe screen possibly ????

Both sedgeman and Morris have ridden for Ipswich. I’d choose ash every time. Sedgeman was a absolute disgrace with a terrible attitude.

Got it at 4pm thank you very much all good.

Entrance is by online ticket purchased in advance on a first come, first served basis. Get in early if you plan to travel would be my advice.

Thing is it's a training league whether people like it or not and taking time off work for midweek matches is how speedway runs. If it can't be done at NDL level unfortunately you won't manage at championship level either .agreed some will fall by the wayside and others will progress for a multitude of reasons . Those who can fund the development won't leave because of this it will be other influences

Never gonna happen with Buster bankrolling two clubs.

Well if Richard Lawson is not the last rider to sign for Kings Lynn I will eat my hat.

I think you're going to see in the next few seasons if it will be the case, and unfortunately I think you'll be right, potentially good riders won't give it a go.I can't see the continuation of the conveyor belt we've started over the last 5 years with the lads who are making it to the premiership and championship , Kemp, Brennan, Palin plus about 20 others on the way to that point and instead of trying to bring more youngsters in will have the opposite effect unless they've substantial backing.

I think the bank holiday fixtures will probably sustain the season and should bring bumper crowds as usual but a fixture list with one home match a month for the Royals will struggle to gain any momentum before packing 3 fixtures into 4 weeks in September. If things have gone well for either side the numbers could be ok but if there is little to play for on the final matches it could be futurama level crowds.

Age is just a number. The top 5 have years of experience and track knowledge to get around any circuit well. Fans will laugh at the side but in a watered down SGB Premiership this team could easily roll back the years riding against bang average riders who will never reach the heights some of the Panthers have in their career.

This Rising Star thing is a joke; its just wrong... If they wanted to strengthen the top league all they had to say was that any rider must have attained an average of 6 or above in the Championship before they would be considered in the Premiership which would have resulted in a minimum average of 4 for a reserve in the Premiership keeping the conversion rate at 1.5... That would still leave scope to bring new foreign riders straight into the team on their 4's or 5's or whatever... Also that they had to maintain that 6 or 4 average in that respective league to be considered the following year for the Premiership and then set the build level for Premiership teams to 45 points rather than trying to drag young kids into a league that they may no be ready for... I would much rather see these young riders learning their apprenticeship with track time at a level where they will be competitive at and scoring points rather than the possibility of relying on points coming from other riders falling off or having engine failures... The same could done between the Championship and NDL where the rider must have achieved an average of 6 in the NDL before they could be considered for a Championship team with a conversion rate of 3.0 meaning the NDL rider would come in on a 2.00 to the Championship team and again that they must maintain those averages in either league before they can be considered for selection. Let Championship teams build to 40 points and NDL teams to 35... Newcastle have Barker and Vissing in their team and these two have been known in the past to be able to lets say "ride with some aggression and be rather physical in races" some may even use the phrase "dirty riders" but lets just stick with "Physical" and they also have Joe Alcock as their rising star and I hate to say it but he may be at more risk of getting injured off one of his own riders than one of the opposition. I don't want to see anyone get hurt but IMHO I think it could be a challenge to far for some of these younger more inexperienced riders who don't have the track craft or skill with the associated required track time to learn the skills to get themselves out of trouble... Hope I am proved wrong... However Regards THJ

WE are using NewsTeam, who distribute national newspapers and are now including magazines, and deliver by hand. As stated above, for starters around 60 per cent of subs will be delivered this way with more coming on stream in the weeks and months ahead.

It has been mentioned on many other threads that the conversion factor is still 1.5

No. The main thing isn’t just getting back on track. I expect the Stars to aim at winning the league by getting the best team possible. I will be pissed off if they start the season way under the points limit.

As I've said on the Panthers thread the team is old yes bit could go either way. It could prove past it and injury prone or click and beat everyone in sight

If that's Sedgmen's "true" average it'll be rounded up to 4.00!

I imagine Bewley and Kurtz will not be options as they will be riding in the Polish league. Anyway, their averages would be too high.

Tonight (Thursday 18th March) @ 7pm we Premiere the 2019 Warriors vs Mildenhall 'Fen Tigers' National League meeting from the Isle of Wight.

I think it’s actually a very strong team. You honestly have to bear in mind how weak the league is this year! Lots of teams have 3 or 4 3pt riders but the Cubs only have 2 and they’re both at reserve. The second strings should beat all the other 3pt riders and hold their own in general at home, especially Halder who must’ve done hundreds of laps around Beaumont Park by now. Then there’s a proper heat leader trio. Lawlor looks as good as most in the league, maybe not upto a Clegg or Greaves standard, but he will regularly win races home and away. Then the Thompson twins are riders who should definitely put good points on their average. I imagine they’ll ride like genuine heat leaders at home and do pretty well away. Also remember they’re two of the few riders who can argue that they had a near normal season last year, so that should put them ahead in terms of development. If the play-offs existed, I’d have this team in my top 4.

You’ll probably get Bradley Wilson dean, he’s confirmed he’s defiantly racing in England this year and I doubt he would come all the way here for just championship

Prize money rates may have been cut but i strongly suspect that there will be deals for some to top up earnings whilst others should be quite grateful of the opportunity at £10 a point. The sport and pay levels haven't been fair for a long time and i don't see that changing any time soon. The tyre enforcement is poor though and it would be far better if the league was allowed to run any legal tyres, winding down the stocks of Mitas whilst offering the chance for Anlas to be experimented with. Tyres have long been sponsored by initiatives outside of just the pay scheme so i don't see why that should stop and why clubs won't find a way around it.

STARTED this week ...

Good signing that. Easily the team to beat

I’d be very surprised if they don’t impose the same restrictions as they did last year aswell, where they expect riders to base themselves in the country for the year. Could be wrong but just have a hunch!

Nick Porsing?

C Holder.............I'll get me coat.

tried that , am not interested in female genital mutilation !!!!!

2007 at Swindon?

The reality is that the standalone clubs were invariably running Speedway at the level that is both affordable for customers and delivered VFM, whilst also being profitable for them... How very dare they.... That's not the way to run a business.... Well not in UK Speedway anyway...

I thought Mr Godfrey's comments about Plymouth and Kent were particularly disingenuous, short sighted and stupid. Without a third tier that works for stand-alone clubs there would have been no Kent or Plymouth available to supplement the crumbling ranks of the senior leagues. Somerset, Trelawny, Mildenhall, Rye House, Berwick, Eastbourne, Stoke, Isle of Wight and SCUNTHORPE all moved up to/ returned to the professional leagues after running as stand alone clubs in the third tier. (In addition it provided a place for Birmingham and Oxford to carry on when they went bust mid season) There are now fewer 'professional' clubs running than at any time since 1959. Next time Godfrey wants re-inforcements for his crumbling edifice where will he find them?

All sing along to the well known tune..... Who do you think you are kidding Mr Chapman if think that...........

Who cares who wins or gets the wooden spoon. As long as we get a season and we see the back of this rotten virus ,we are all winners.

Fair play you did say you would speaking Chris Louis, and it would be interesting to see what he says on the matter. To be fair I think if I say shocked and surprised I would have thought most people would have guessed that I would not have had either Josh Bates or Tom Bacon on the scheme. Maybe they looked at how little riding that both riders have done for the last 3 seasons, both have had a couple of serious injuries,. Did Sheffield put threaten to pull out of the league, well this is British speedway so anything is possible, but to be honest I very much doubt it there will have been sponsorship money given, season tickets and riders already signed. For me I think that the scheme in the Premiership is flawed. If you include riders like Josh Bates and Tom Bacon then rather than 4 categories make 5 categories . I also don't understand how Teams all have to build to 35.5 for their top 6 regardless to whatever category your Rising Star comes from. For me I would have allowed the following; 5 Star (Josh Bates and Tom Bacon) top 6 limit of 35.5 4 Star; Top 6 limit of 36.5 3 Star; Top 6 limit of 37.5 2 and 1 Star Top 6 limit of 38.5 And I would also question why the job of setting up and controlling the scheme was not left to Neil Vatcher, he is after in charge of the British Youth Speedway and has no allegiance to any of the clubs in the Premiership, rather than a group of Promoters.

A new league for Poole here goes,having a quick look at the teams I'm going for 1 Leicester-Such a strong top 5 can't see past them. 2.Eastbourne-A very experienced top 5 in this league only newer rider is Brennan and he is going to be a class rider and solid reserves. 3.Poole-Probably the best top 3 in league but question marks over cook and keleher,Hume and Nielsen all for very different reasons if Nielsen can get back to his sunny form and both Aussies can hit 5.00 averages then will be a test for Leicester and the budgies. 4.Redcar-very good top end middle order and reserves just need a good signing to fill last spot and should comfortably make play offs imo. 5.Glasgow- solid side with plenty of scoring power at top end and a decent reserve don't think itl be enough in the end though. 6.Edinburgh-very good heatleaders but not quite enough in the lower end of team. 7.Berwick-solid team again experienced at this level but will lack heat winners. 8.Scunthorpe- again a solid team but lacking heat winners away especially 9.Kent-not a great team in any department tbh a season of struggle. 10.Birmingham- lack heat winners apart from bomber,only saving grace is they probably have one of the better reserves in Castagna which could save them in some meetings. 11.Plymouth- As much as they have arguably the best top 2 in the league the rest of the team will struggle especially away with tracks they've never seen before. 12.Newcastle - just can't see much hope for them,all hinges on roynon and Wright kicking on to 6.00averages to give them a chance of getting up the table.

Its a nailed on prediction that someone predicts that its to early for predictors to predict what their predictions are...

It most certainly is much much dirtier round the back. Certainly don't want any mud at the front

Eastbourne have IMO priced the NDL 2021 at what it’s worth, with teams consisting of 4 novices and 3 recognised experienced riders. £10 for a stand-alone meeting. Kent cannot run double headers within their planning permission, and with running an attractive looking Championship side might struggle to attract fans to the 2021 NDL league fixtures.?

I have never fully understood why speedway moved to laydown engines. I believe the argument is lower centre of gravity, so a rider can go faster around corners. But there are people who say the bikes are too fast. I wonder if the sport changed to laydown for the sake of it being novel and gave engine manufacturers and tuners an opportunity to make money, as the riders switched.