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If memory serves me correctly, the entrance to Derwent Park was no better. Nor, for that matter, are the car parking facilities at places like Edinburgh, Scunthorpe or Ipswich. Buxton was like a minefield, trying to avoid potholes and chunks of concrete. I do take your point, though. If the speedway club own the road - or at least have responsibility for it - then they could be liable. Isolated is a better word than remote, but I'd say the track is the best part of two miles from the centre of town along main roads or unlit paths. I really can't see many walking it, especially early or late season. I thought the track was, in no uncertain terms, superb. If people do have expectations higher than the basics to start with then they are being entirely unreasonable. Building a stadium from scratch in this manner takes years, as can be seen at Plymouth, Redcar and Scunthorpe.

I have no idea. But if allowing a young Commonwealth rider to ride in an NDL team affiliated to his parent CL club will mean an extra team in the NDL -- and therefore places for half a dozen aspiring British riders who wouldn't otherwise get a chance -- then bring it on!

To be fair to Arthur and his ilk . It's tough for them to understand how things are in the Championship . There are two types of rider in our league . Those who ride for Glasgow Tigers and those who wish they rode for Glasgow Tigers . Now the pressure of having such an accolade placed upon them has proved too heavy a burden on some of them in the past . But this septet assembled for 2023 look a terrifying prospect for the rest of the league . And you can only see the pride of Scotland steamrollering their way through the season .

Brilliant news that Armadale & Mildenhall are both running this season.

Armadale Devils will once again take their place in the NDL

Yes Lisa we were there drenched and ready to go home, and then the incredible comeback started, never seen anything like that to this day, means one thing, never right the pirates off

I suppose if that's what you've got to do .......

Just checked out the line ups for the new season. Your right Edinburgh don't look too bad.

Good to see a return of a home bank holiday fixture! May 1st against Lynn, 2.30pm start.

Having gone through several seasons regulations, if Ipswich are genuine regarding Emil his average could be very interesting. At Coventry 2011 he never achieved an average & was assessed an 8.00. Previous rules have said that the previous season GP, Ekstraliga, Elitserien rider's are assessed 8.00. The interesting part is (& I'm sure Ipswich will be arguing) that rider's that have no British established average & have international league experience but didn’t compete the previous season should be assessed 5.00. Can you imagine the meltdown if Ipswich pull off Emil on a 5.00 average

Looks like money isn't an issue this year,,, so it's gonna be a gp rider or ex. Cheque book speedway is back.

I said the pride of Scotland , not the noisy neighbours

Just to finish this football talk on a high.. Right back to speedway..

So you do support one dreadful team then Lisa .

Someone's probably trying to get him in on a 5 or a 6 point average

These are the exact riders that SHOULD be riding in the NDL... So many unused British riders who could pass on so much knowledge to younger riders... It's ridiculous they're frozen out for being too good and too experienced

I see it different to you mate even though I'm not opposed to this in principle if every club had a commonwealth rider that would be 8 British riders without a place . Should only be allowed after all British riders of a competitive level have a spot

Premiership only has 2 nights to arrange fixtures on whereas the Championship has 4, Tue, Wed, Fri & Sat with multiple teams racing on same night, also, taking into account the other European leagues on similar nights.

Emil is no longer a GP rider, didn't compete in European top leagues & doesn't have a British League established average in 2022. Thus, by the rules should qualify him for an average between 5.00-6.00. Obviously, all rules are at the discretion of the board so it's unlikely, but like Belle Vue, a lawyer can help the situation move along smoothly

May be it's just a case of the Team Manager's ethos.... Winning ruthlessly at all times...or winning with development in mind, as and when. I suppose it could be argued that the manager was more keen to develop Cook, as this would be more beneficial to the team when matches were closely run? As I said...it's just an observation and you can't knock Middlo's success ! I get frustrated with B'ham's manager when he 'doesnt' tactically use the reserves to B'ham's benefit. (but that's a whole different story...)

Probably not a horse,, so I'm gonna guess a plane and then a Mercedes sprinter

Everyone is entitled to opinions but as a Director and minority shareholder in Birmingham Speedway I'd just like to clear a few things up: Not a single season ticket was sold after Adam Ellis was signed!! The season tickets holders from 2022 have remained very loyal with a renewal rate of over 85% already. I don't recall anyone from the club saying that James Pearson was the new Darcy Ward! James is an emerging talent and was recommended by Leigh Adams, Craig Watson and Phil Morris amongst others, hopefully, he will build on his first season and prove a real asset in 2023. I don't think James is a Darcy Ward pretender, he's just a 17 year old lad with decent ability looking to develop a career in the sport! As all fans know, due to the new promotion having access to the rider market later than all other Championship teams, it was extremely tough to sign heat leader standard riders. Adam Ellis' signing was always a risk with his other commitments, when it became apparent he would miss matches and risk having a ban in the UK it made sense for him to be released with Justin Sedgman being available proving a solid replacement. As for Claus Vissing, he disappointed on and off track, trying to move goal posts several times on an agreed deal! In an ideal world he wouldn't have been first choice, but as other teams found out there weren't riders queuing up to ride in the UK on a midweek evening! Broken promises? Is that Nigel Tolley saying our aspirations were to get into the play-off's? The two main shareholders Nigel and Tracey Smith worked their butts off to keep Birmingham Speedway going in 2022 and are continuing to do that alongside a band of willing volunteers so that 2023 will be more successful. Finally, this is all coming from someone who closely associated himself with the Phillips promotion at Birmingham, whose legacy was to break more promises than the current ever will!

Whoever it ends up being, Doyle will have a quality rider as back up, unlike last year.

Only just over 2 weeks between British Final and Cardiff. Lesson not learned from this year it seems.

If you leave after H8 you are definitely not getting your money's worth. Almost paying double for amount of heats you see. I would stay for all 15 even if 20 down. I may need a drink to help though And cannot be bad as watching Southampton FC at the moment!

Even more interesting is Plymouth have 4.21 left and Birmingham 4 22. (Or is it the other way round!). They could be after the same rider!

Also... BRILLIANT news that Armadale are once again riding next season, alongside Mildenhall

Adam did co-commentary for BSN for some meetings last season - mainly Midlands/Southern ones if memory serves.

I would assume Morris only riding in Denmark on weeks when there is no Brum home fixture or away ones at Oxford or Poole.

Also, with us now only racing 1H 1A plus 3 or 4 other meetings, we have plenty of spare weeks. Plus the Danish league closes down for a month in July.

Exactly, Roynon isn't on his current average for no reason, naturally we all think he can improve his average ad he should beat all the two pointers but so will Newman, those two should be the best reserve pairing in the league.

I was there too Lisa, incredible meeting. What do you mean one of the best!!

Was it the second leg at Coventry? I went to that and was one of the best comebacks I have seen but I am probably a bit biased with my opinion!

dont forget eck its also probably the worse league since 2009,this season is a frightening indication of how far poole speedway has fallen, thinking back to all those wonderful riders we used to see (home and away teams) every week,also shows the continuing and steady decline of british speedway,having said that im already looking forward to the start of the season

If we get Emil on a 5 we could still fit in Chris holder as well hahahahahahahah

It always used to be assessed at 8 points for GP riders and those that had ride in Poland/Sweden and alike but im sure it was posted on here ages ago that that was changed to 9 points after Ipi got Gollob signed on a low average yrs ago, mind you it could be argued that Emil isn't currently a GP rider nor ride in other international leagues

I can't buy that one Lisa....Ablitt could've taken an extra ride in Heat 12/14 respectively once the meeting had been won. But in light of your comment...I don't think it mattered if the meeting was still up for grabs...see e.g below ? Ht 8: B.Cook, Z.Cook, T.Brennan, C.Bailey 5-1 34-14 [59.41] 16 points up and Ablitt still replaced ? It's just an observation...

I think the average is 5.5 and wouldn't put it past Hawkins to be the first to pull him off

Oh I like what you did there,,, ruff but subtle

Gotta love the algorithms on the forum - now getting averts for 'babbel' - learn Russian in 6 weeks

Think he would be doing extremely well to get out of a reserve berth. Can’t see that happening at all. Newman is more than likely to outscore Adam. If Newman got into the top five, then we would be even stronger at reserve with Zack Cook or Jack Thomas.

Masters over tungate anyday ...

Surely the discussion is the UK? He’s talking absolute bollocks by stating Masters isn’t a genuine number 1 in this league when he blatantly is. This is similar to “Holder Fricke and Kurtz are now better riders than Doyle” that we heard last winter when the fact is those riders aren’t in the same stratosphere as Doyle in this Country. There isn’t a single fan of a UK club that would pick Tungate in their side over Sam Masters.

Hes just a dangerous little throttle jockey on smaller tracks

I started in 1980, so might have been after McCormick. Certainly early 1980's.

...especially Frank Ebden whose desire was to complete a meeting before I had had a chance to down a cup of tea!

Fen Tigers to Roar again in '23 The news that all Speedway fans in Suffolk and indeed further afield have been waiting for is out - the Mildenhall DJS Fen Tigers, proudly sponsored by Manchetts Rescue and Recovery, will race in the 2023 National Development League [NDL]. The West Row-based club’s future had looked in doubt after a significant drop in their crowds during a difficult 2022 campaign and increased running costs in the context of the Cost of Living crisis. But the club, formed back in 1975 has always attracted fantastic, devoted support and none so more so then the incredible efforts of a Group of its most loyal fans, led by Emma & Jeremy Reader and Carol & Tim Darling stepping forward to create a GoFundMe page and running a range of money-raising events that have succeeded in bringing in considerable financial support for the club. Then with two private sponsors (remaining unnamed at their request) coming forward over the Christmas / New Year period, the cash needed target to run this coming season was all but reached. All that was then required was to reach a successful agreement with the stadium owners to run Speedway there in 2023. This has now thankfully been achieved and the club can again move forward. The owners of the Speedway club released the following joint statement - " We are overwhelmed by the support received both financially from supporters and that provided by Emma, Jeremy, Carol and Tim. Their efforts and their support of us and the club have relit our fuse to push forward with Mildenhall Speedway and we are extremely grateful to them. “Speedway is secured for 2023 but this can only be the start, we will be working closely with the supporters group during the coming year on events, raising the profile of the club and fund raising initiatives to ensure we can continue into 2024 and get closer to the 50th anniversary of this great family club (2025).Our biggest challenge is to increase the support at meetings back to pre-COVID figures of over 400 a meeting, This will take a big effort and we hope supporters will back us in this and spread a positive word about Mildenhall Speedway. “We will share financial information with the supporters group as the season progresses and hopefully if we can achieve a profit that money will go directly towards the 2024 season.” Next on the agenda for the 2021 NDL champions, who finished runners up last season, coming close to defending their title is again to gather together a successful on-track group of riders, as the club owners went on: “Our next job is to get the best possible team together to represent Mildenhall Speedway in 2023 in the NDL; and we will let you know rider news as we have it. We would like to thank you for your patience over what has been a difficult time for everyone connected to the club and once again say thank you to everyone who has stepped forward to help the club".

I thought the idea was to encourage the youngsters to come and try it, most with a parent. So if the kid likes it his parent might take him more often. A quick look at the Zoo prices... Little old Banham Zoo in Norfolk is £57 and Colchester is £80, both for a family of four. Add to that once they have been once it's not somewhere you would want to go every week or 2.. I know speedway is expensive, but your not looking at the same Baboons arse every week at speedway.

Like you I miss not having these excellent magazines dropping through my letterbox each month. As a contributor to both, I'm hoping to fill this void by putting a free online "magazine" up each month. The first "issue" can be found at https://classicspeedwaymemories.webador.co.uk/ Hope you like it. And a Guid New Year to you all. Best regards Doug Nicolson

Plus you have got a fair bit wrong already so no need to further embarrass yourself