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Funny that Berwick fans are happy with this… we know what we’re getting…. We’ve had the misfortune of witnessing him play a part in away teams coming to Berwick and winning many times…. He’s awesome to watch at Shielfield… his signing for us has been a long time coming!

Bomber is fantastic to watch at Berwick seem to be one of the few riders who don't worry about gate and go

If anyone can pass at Berwick it’s Bomber

Huge welcome to our 1st signing whose just been announced on Facebook via the Bandits Facebook page Chris Bomber Harris Over the moon

Ricky Wells all is forgiven!!!

Why do you, or any other team for that matter, 'deserve' a title ?

Think it's more to do with at the stadium Lisa and staffing.

It's an interesting one, 52-38 at ashfield back in June. Schlein injured in heat 1, IRR got 5 including a last from king. Not always Rory's favourite track so don't know if see much more than that. Cook was class at reserve Hume really only beat Smith, different now both in main body. Basso I'd imagine have no issues as a racer on a racers track. Wells also in better form and stronger for Brennan, Bailey and nowak. Beaten fairly convincingly down at Poole running nl guest instead of Marcin, cookie not in form at the time, Sam and Connor improved as night went on, know the track now. Poole definitely favourites but could be closer than people think IF, we manage to get 35 at armadale tonight

This is why averages to build teams should be abolished and replaced with categorized riders A B C, D, E plus the rising stars

Depends how they organize their fixtures. It would make sense not to run on the day he is committed to a Grasstrack meeting. Easily done.

I doubt Berwick hum to that tune!

I can give you four by going abroad: Anton Jansson currently rides for Smederna youth team His father Jimmy is Smederna team manager, and a former Smederna rider Grand father Bo (and Great uncle Tommy) rode for Smederna in the 70s And Great Grandfather (and world finalist) Joel was a Smederna rider in the 50s.

Chris Harris first rider announced. Nice signing by the promotion fair play

Only rider i would definitely like to see return to Owlerton is Josh Pickering. Wouldn't say no to Zaine Kennedy being given another go either.

Eh? He mentioned it I suspect because if it happened it was a smart move on the part of the Tigers and it paid off as they looked up to speed from the get go.

might be worth a look at Kemp, reckon he'll be after a bigger track next year

Wonder if Glasgow 1st leg be Sunday. Seems decent forecast for Sunday afternoon with Poole in Edinburgh tomorrow anyway

They've been riding there home track all season hows one more night going to make such a difference

Don't think so heavy rain all evening that would have been a financial disaster for all concerned

Well, it shouldn't take much,,, apparently.

That's what the promoters are hoping for I would think,the diehards always go but his signing will put extra bums on seats all season hopefully.

Thank you very much.

dont think they can get enough of the regular staff to work the weekend . i am sure we will know after tonight with the meeting at edinburgh when we will ride it ?

I think its more a case of people having weekend jobs in clubs, bars, restaurants etc.

Always put a wee smiley after posting if it’s tongue in cheek. If not you have the self righteous Police on telling you this or that when in all likelihood they haven’t a clue themselves. Just ask Dick he’s always commenting on tongue in cheek post’s.

here i am, the forums resident team builder.... 1. Jack Holder 8.68 2. Ben Cook 4.00 3. Adam Ellis 8.12 4. Josh Pickering 7.12 5. Chris Holder 7.16 6. Danyon Hume R/S 7. Jordan Jenkins R/S

Thinking about it probably his 2 best meetings in his abysmal season with us were at shielfield. As I say hope it works out, wish nothing but good luck to Berwick fans and promotion

Beat me to it. A strange signing.

Ye8

I do understand that but I can't help but feel the Promoters have kinda caused their own problems. If you think back, each track had their 'base' crowd. The hardcore. The Mr Campbell's of this world could sit down each Nov / Dec and think, "right, we've x season ticket holders for next season. That's £y. Now, we can have a directors' meeting and decide who we want to sign and what contracts we should offer those riders." Back then, the base crowd was larger than it is today. Now, I'm aware there are several reasons for this but I can't help but think that one of those is that the integrity of the sport remained intact. Every League meeting meant something in the grand scheme of things and the table toppers were crowned Champions. Even sides at the bottom didn't race in front of empty terraces. Changing that mindset to allow a team below first to lift the trophy also changes the paying customers' philosophy towards the sport. Why buy a season ticket when only 2 or 3 fixtures truly matter? And instead of routinely turning up, some may now think, "hmm, Berwick this week. We usually beat them and we're almost certain of finishing in the top 6. I'll save my money and go to the important meeting next month instead." Now, when that fan then repeats their thought process to their mate(s), they in turn then think, "och, Mike's not going on Friday, I'll probably give it a miss as well" and, before you know it, your floating punter numbers have nosedived. Lower season ticket numbers also affects the thinking of Mr Campbell and his friends. "Our base budget is a lot lower for next season. I don't think we can afford Jock McTavish, which is probably just as well given the lower points limit. We can blame that if anyone asks." This then leads to the floating punter thinking, "look at the points limit. How low can you go? What are they doing to the sport? I'm not going to watch rubbish. I want Jock McTavish back. At least he was top quality." And so it goes on and on. Let's just hope it's not too late for some kind of salvage operation.

old news keep up min

Don't know if that's a wind up, but I thought it was obvious the 18 was because it happened in 2018! That would be ironic as Workington currently have a Tory MP

Poole have previously ridden on a Sunday

Spot on.. However.. To dilute the 2nd tier to make the top look stronger (the right thing to do for me as the sport needs a 'top tier' with a clear standard demarcation to 'sell it'), would mean a lot of riders not being allowed to 'double down'... Which may not be met too positively by both riders and 2nd tier promoters who, in the riders case, wont want to give up the chance to earn the money they did this year, and in the 2nd tier promoters case, they have become used to having "the best we have over here" riding for them, (maybe even doing so at a lower rate than the top tier pay them for the same thing)...

2018 Monarchs 59 Comets 31 return leg Comets 61 Monarchs 29......just saying

Maybe the strength of the top league is 'maxed out'?,,, so if it was like painting, you might water down the undercoats to make the top coat look better.

Totally wrong. The state of British speedway at this current time means they can’t afford to bring such riders in even if those riders wished to come. Those riders aren’t here because they chase the money and there’s none left in the UK. When Somerset signed Jason Doyle , world champion at the time, it added exactly zero to their gate receipts and created a massive hole in their wages budget. A recipe for disaster ? the club never recovered and where are they now !

I'd argue the two teams who pulled out should of not entered in the first place absolute folly in current climate

Don't know why people are complaining about paying £15 for the stream, you either pay or don't, 4 of us traveled up from Workington, probably at a cost of £50 each by the time you paid admission,program food and petrol thoroughly enjoyed the racing, we could have paid for the stream and sat at home, but watching speedway on the terraces is miles better

I feel the Championship needs to be weaker, 1) to encourage the likes of Poole / Glasgow / Leicester to step up 2) to shorten the difference between Champ & NDL for riders trying to step up! At the moment riders can score maximums at NDL level but not score a point in the Champ! Makes it tough to know if you are good enough to step up! 3) if it makes the Champ a cheaper league to run - bonus!

We don't all feel like that.

Their fans are tiresome and seem to think they’re down here doing us all a favour.

Still think give it to Crumpy if he doesnt ride but got a feeling he won't want to bow out how it planned out this year

One man has done this damage, not the club. Promoters come and go but the club is far bigger than just one man..

That’s not correct, had Keith Chapman not bought the Club after the 2018 season Ged and I would have continued running it, it would not have closed and was never in danger of closing under Ged’s stewardship.

The majority of supporters would like to see the Premiership expanded to 8 or 10 teams, but if this does happen, there would have to be a pretty drastic reduction of operating costs (or a big increase in admission prices - which nobody wants!) and there would also have to be a dramatic reduction in team strengths in order to make the new entrants competitive. People always jib at any suggestion of weakening teams, or "watering down" as it is usually described, but in reality, there isn't an alternative - we have to accept that team strengths can only be levelled downwards - not upwards! As far as doubling-up is concerned, it is my firm opinion that allowing this to happen in the first place, has been the damaging decision that the BSPA has ever made, and we are left in the situation of now finding it totally impossible to get rid of this, or even restrict it. The riders now consider themselves to have a God-given right to belong to more than one team, and any attempt to do away with doubling-up will be savagely opposed. I detest the rule myself, but I just don't see any way of getting shut of it.

OK for the folks watching at home but for the fans in attendance it was truly shocking.

Has COVID not made a difference this year?

Palin won't be back after the season he's had if teams have to track 2 rising stars. Belle Vue will want him back.

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