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Im sorry but the only mention of Poole on this Peterborough thread must be accompanied by the name Mick in front of it

Last season was a poor one for Jake for sure, however I think I have posted on this forum before that there could be reasons for it, I think it was 2019 the year before Covid where he averaged 5.56 in the prem and 7.33 in the championship 2020 was obviously lost to Covid, I believe Jake hang around the UK hoping the season would happen but ended up going home, 2021 he planned to miss the UK season as it was still not clear if the UK season was going to start or not, big decisions for an Aussie coming to the UK, he only has a racing VISA at present I believe so his income is from his Speedway he is not allowed to work, so he was back at home working and made a late decision to race in the UK in 2021 it wasn't because he is committed enough with any Aussie really you can't question a commitment they make to leave homes/family/jobs to compete in the UK Anyway Jake came to the UK, he hit the ground running riding at no.4 for Ipswich scoring 11+1, 6+1, 9+2, 7 & 8+1 at home from riding at the no.4 position, away from home early doors he scored 10 at Sheffield, 8+1 at Peterborough and 11 at Belle Vue which included an exclusion all riding at the no.4 position - only in 2021 remember! the latter half of the 2021 season his results didn't meet the start he made and in reality he could have done with dropping to reserve but I believe Ipswich had both Heeps & Rowe riding in the 1-6 and they swapped between themselves at the no.6 position Why? Well quite a few of the Aussie riders go home in the winter, they race of course but they also work, and that money is put towards their racing in the UK when they come over, once that money is gone its down to what they earn on track if their VISA doesn't allow them to work, there has been many a rider down the years from when Speedway began where supports would say "if they had some more financial backing they could have been World Champion" etc. its the same for any standard, harder if you can't work alongside riding of course. He had a good 2019 season I believe there is a video of him beating Doyle at Foxhall as a reserve, not many people have done that at Foxhall to Doyley, 2020 was a loss for every rider, 2021 he started well as presumably he had the finances in place, last winter he didn't go home I believe he stayed in the UK, this winter he has gone home so I am hopeful that maybe preparation for 2023 will be better for him with a bit more budget behind him. Not mentioning that he lost one of his sponsors to Covid as well so that didn't help, as for last season as I said I don't think he went home that winter and stayed in the UK, I know he was a bit underpower last season starting in the championship then got called up to the Belle Vue team which was only ever a short-term deal, he then got to Sheffield and was about that time his engines were being sorted (a lot of riders struggle early season with machinery), he then got injured which was a broken scaphoid I believe but was reported as a wrist injury, Sedgman then came in and hit the ground running so obviously he lost that ride - then going back to only having the income from Speedway as a Visa would not allow work, riders like this then find themselves back on a bike sooner than later and that does reflect in performance sometimes on track, some money is better than no money right? I wouldn't know never put myself in a position where I was in a foreign country and couldn't work to top up my racing income... That is why I would never really put the boot in to riders who are not performing maybe as they should, as there are usually lots of things behind the scenes going on, I just hope the fact that Jake has a prem place confirmed as early as now, the fact he will be earning some money back home, the fact he will be racing out in Oz this winter, and the fact that he is probably, well I know he is embarassed by his average in the prem being a 4.00 that he will come back and it will be to the benefit of not only himself but for Leicester & his championship club 2019 averaged 5.56 & 7.33 in the championship there is no reason really why if all things fall into place he cannot achieve such averages again or even kick-on, most of it as I have said above is down to budgets and every rider I believe deserves a budget As for his size, I don't think that is as big a deal as it could be, Hans Nielsen was quite a tall rider and there have been many successful tall riders in the sport in the past, but if the budget is not there due to circumstances the results are not likely to follow This is not to say Jake will achieve the success of 2019 to a certain extent, he may or may not but he has the ability to do so if everything falls into place, its just a matter of waiting and seeing what happens

Sedge signs for Leicester so Emil and Artem have now decided to stay put I hear

I have asked Steve W a few questions after a meeting and he has been very chatty and friendly and no way aloof. Perhaps before a meeting he has his serious head on and can come across as studious, but I have found him very approachable once the races are run.

If neither Hume or mountain have a ride in top flight this season from the start then the rising star scheme has completely failed, two young English riders given an opportunity to gain experience in the top flight, take it and both do very well in 2021, now they’re told sorry lads, you did well but now you’re kicked to the kerb because you’re not allowed to ride at no.7 anymore. how is that helping progress their careers in any way?

So anybody who doesn't buy a programme isn't a true fan? Give over. Speedway is expensive enough (too expensive) to get into nowadays without buying a programme, plus the cost of fuel makes it even more so, particularly in rural areas. British speedway is terrible at offering good VFM, it's about time that was addressed.

If that’s the case then apologies for the sarcasm. Quickly delete your post and I’ll do likewise before he sees it

BSPA just need to post everyones starting average for the year, including all rising stars, would cut a lot of this nonsense out.

It depends on the Programme though to be fair, some clubs go the extra mile while others just do the basics. I certainly don’t think a lot of them are particularly good value and most of them offer very little content.

It’s time for the sport to move into the future. That being an app with a scorecard that updates automatically. They could even charge a small nominal fee to use it across a season and might even turn a profit. Shock horror.

so the championship promotor is wrong and young Richard is correct, never thought i would type such a thing

I was once told by a promoter a couple of years ago that they sold between 3 and 4 hundred programmes a meeting, and their average gate was around the 1500 mark. With the price increases just to get in amongst everything else, I’d imagine that number will fall further and surely the programme will be one of the main things sacrificed for those feeling the pinch.

I made a decision to buy a programme at the first meeting I attended in 1976, I have purchased a programme at every meeting since. They are stored on boxes and every now and then get a viewing brining back memories that would otherwise disappear. I am definitely in the yes to a programme camp !!

If your club only has income from admissions, programme sales, advertising and sponsorship, then true fans would surely buy a programme to support their club?! Wouldn't they?

This should happen every winter but it does not, it’s like the BSPA wants to keep it a secret, just like those promoters who won’t publish starting line ups for matches because people might print off their own programmes. The fans will find out eventually what everyone’s average is, might as well just tell everyone now so at least fans can speculate and play team manager over the cold winter months.

Obviously he won't say anything against Poole as it's not in his interest to burn any bridges, King as been around long enough to know that but the fact is Poole decided on keeping Worrall and not him,all this stuff about getting an offer he couldn't refuse is just a way of justifying their decision, I'm sure Steve Worrall had plenty of offers also.

Totally disagree. I’d wager there’s more that don’t than do..

This is why the rising star scheme should be in place in the championship primarily ,to give British youngsters a start there. Maybe the premiership rs should be given the 25pc discount AND it be made compulsory for teams to fill the senior reserve slot with a rising star graduate for say 2 years after "graduation", or until they reach a determined average to allow them more opportunity to develop. After that they ought to be able to stand alone and warrant selection on merit

Would it? Would a young buck who could put 2 or 3 on his average not be better? Regards THJ

https://britishspeedway.co.uk/premiership/premiership-speedway-on-bsn/

We haven’t made an approach to the NDL as things stand. The main reason being that we were in negotiations with the Premiership until today. The NDL is part our our longer term plan if that’s something the NDL want, but we have to be sure that we don’t over-commit at this stage as we have now committed to 54 meetings on 2023. It is important that BSN grows at a rate that doesn’t compromise the product that we offer - we are a very small team and we have to be realistic with our immediate ambitions. Our NDL take up in 2022 was understandably short of the number of subscribers for Premiership and Championship, which is the biggest challenge we have to overcome as financially it has to work. Hopefully that explains our reasons for prioritising Premiership and Championship coverage to date, but please be assured that NDL is absolutely part of our long term plan as we are extremely passionate about the future stars of British Speedway - it’s essential to the future of our sort in the UK. To summarise - if it’s possibly for us, we will do everything we can!

Someone's got to like him....

Hes winding people up hes got as much idea as Basso Racing Fan, but at least BRF is funny

Hope not, a programme doubles as a shield to keep the muck off ya!

I think the delay has something to do with Emil and Artem. The BSPA should not stand in the way of two Polish citizens riding in the UK.

You cannot put an 'App' in the loft...

It is a shame the BSPL dont be more "open", as all it does, by not divulging information, is to give off the impression that they must be concerned about their own rationale used to set up the rules... Maybe a little fearful that the rationale would be "ripped to bits" on the various social media channels and the letters page of the Speedway Star? It does often appear that within a hour or so of some "rule or regulation" getting launched , the various overlooked obvious issues with it get brought up on here and other Speedway forums, so maybe there is a wariness to fully go public on their operating model given the feedback..? You do get the odd promoter at club functions be more transparent so not really sure why the collective dont do the same via press releases.. It would paint them in a much more professional light... Riders averages in particular are always something the "die hards" like to know and use the info to put together their own septets.. Not for me personally, but keeping your most loyal punters engaged is extremely important...

Aye he's just released a Christmas single with Ozzy Osbourne among others

Its not been scrapped. The only one that was a rising star in 2022 but has moved into the 1-6 is Brennan (for now) with a 25% reduction on his average. Belle Vue have Mulford as their rising star

I think it's just that. Allen is deemed a better rider than mountain..a for Allen scored 11 last season at Leicester riding at 3. That's a good return for someone up against a strong heat leader trio.

Well that clears that one up.

Batch is at Peterborough isn't he?

The idea behind Allen is obviously to get him back to his 2019 & 2021 form where he averaged around five and a half for Ipswich and over seven in the Championship, levels that Mountain hasn't reached and some might argue won't. Allen was poor last season but he COULD stick a point on his starting figure for Leicester if things work out.

They said you can only sign none assets on one year deals and if they’re your assets you can sign them for longer

By all accounts the racing at Leicester was vastly improved last season but folk seem to base their opinions on the years prior to that.

And what is the criteria for that? 4.5 average or over? Over 5? Or any other random figure they’re seemingly plucking out of their @rses? Oh apologies by the way for the “typical speedway reply”. I’ll try to do better in future.

Ace Pijper or Elliot Kelly

There’s absolutely no way they can give one rider who was in the RS scheme last year a 25% reduction but not others. The criteria for getting in the scheme in the first place is often a cause for debate, but it simply has to be all of them or none of them getting a reduction when they hop out of it.

Yep pretty sure you’ve got this one wrong Falcon.

I wouldn't ever base anything off one season in Speedway due to rider injuries etc. always look for me over 3 seasons if there is enough statistics for it, last season was not a great season for Jake but he did suffer from injury which one could argue made his average suffer, should be 7+ in the championship and 4.8+ in the prem at the very least, capable of 8+ and 5+ respectively if all things fall into place I guess in terms of prem Thomson needs that opportunity in the prem to see what he can do

There is a pool of willing talent available in the UK. The problem is the promoters are unwilling to turn on the conveyor belt for any length of time to get the talent sufficiently developed.

Jethro number one Cornishman of our era, left us a year ago today 14 December.

Are you referring to Justin Sejman?

I reckon he will be better than his uncle who was very entertaining and very funny and despite winning a medal and having the same broom for all his career only made it to road sweeper.

I understand that Mountain has had a good few seasons and do feel he deserves a place somewhere in the prem however I think people are forgetting Jake Allen’s quality. Not long ago he was averaging around 8 in the championship and after a tough last year still averages 6.30 and considering his prem average has been above 5 for a few years to catch him on a 4 points average could well be a steal

I wouldn't take Craig Cook on any average.

I can not believe they picked Allen over mountain. Absolute shocker that. sums up British speedway when a Brit improves but means they are penalised

It could also cause problems if one of them gate as the top riders generally leave a racing line Open for an opponent

Thought Lee worked on railways so hardly full time maybe they could go when he's on strike again