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Really - perhaps its Dayle Wood?

I would honestly be massively surprised if they weren't both at Poole next year.

That area has been looked at and an approach made to the BCM but the BCM are not interested in leasing/selling any of the land that they own for Speedway, as for the old Freightliner Depot it was earmarked by the late Nigel Pearson for a joint project with Gornal FC but Dudley MBC in there wisdom had earmarked it for other developments, to my way of thinking that land was/is ideal and would have brought more visiters to both the BCM and Dudley Zoo but again Speedway seems to be frowned upon and placed at the bottom when it comes to locating a new Track for Speedway, basically despite the public protestations that Speedway is wanted in Dudley neither major political party has made the slightest effort to help or encourage the return of the Heathens, in fact at the present time we can't even get a reply to emails/letters sent to various Councillors of Dudley MBC and I include the Council leader and Deputy leader in those comments.

Weren't you told it would affect your eye sight?

Josh would ride on his Polish Licence so would probably come in as a second string on an assessed 5.00!!

It's really up to Connor.

Team Manager??

When I go to watch at my home track at scunthorpe always watch as a neutral. I like to see them win but couldn't careless as long as I'm entertained the result doesn't matter

Can't disagree it's early for luke he did a decent job at Redcar but did find it tough going at times. Thing is for a group of about 12 riders it's probably going to be a choice of step up or fade away after the imminent demise of the Ndl

…….or conversely, the Premiership contains too many Championship riders…..which is why IT got watered down making the two leagues too close. Doubling up made it the farce that it is.

Thanks to Mark Sawbridge for this article. Chris Quigley who rode at Berwick and Coatbridge is the sixth Q. ...... unless you know differently! https://classicspeedwaymemories.webador.co.uk/october-2023/speedways-great-coincidence

That is better than earlier, it seems very changeable at the moment.

Crowds still very good and fairly decent for most Chargers matches as well. Not a fan of moving up at this stage, much bigger outlay in wages, won't really get bigger crowds and sponsorship levels already decent. Tv money? Whilst welcome, surely it won't cover the extra expenditure. Monday or Thursday racing? Impossible to tell if that would have any effect either way, one off matches are ok but not a true reflection if using that day every week. All in all, not for me.

Borke is on 4.00 and Fredriksen is on 4.57. Borke's away average was 4.12, whereas Fredriksen's was 6.36. It's all very well saying Borke went great at Ashfield, but if we want to have a shot at retaining our title, we need to focus on away form. Borke was not a good away scorer. We don't want to be taking riders whose real average is below their actual average IMO. And for all that Bastian scored 8 at Ashfield in the Championship match, Lasse scored 9, including beating Marcin Nowak in heat 8. That didn't happen often. Lasse's under-rated, for me.

Plenty frustrated Teams over the years on that one.

Hope it’s not Oxford

If no ndl surely need to have more competitive second halves? Every team needs a 5 team junior side for example. Maybe somewhere between NDL and njl/ MDL or whatever. Can't have kids going from 2nd halves to even a weakened championship

Great track. Has bedded in remarkably well this season. Testament to Steve Lawson’s hard work. Interesting to see how CL heat leaders ride it. A good few lines.

I definitely think there'll be a gap between them but let's be real here, Zach Cook has already surpassed Todd Kurtz quite comfortably. I could see him being closer to someone like Steve Worrall/Richard Lawson maybe.

Not think we'd have already thought of that to bring him home

Zach is a decent enough rider but i cant see him improving much past where he is Averaging 6.22 isnt pulling up any trees He does his job scoring 7 or 8 at home and often beating his opposing number second string and the other teams reserve. He did very well at Scunthorpe and did out score Duggy but had one extra ride and yes he won the Olympique but that throws up odd results because of the format Ben is the one going places out of the two. That said i would take either at Ipswich next season as a number 6

He won the recent Darcy Ward meeting, so you never know

Everyone declaring shoe-ins. Are we talking the steel type here? Anyways, Brennan away is an interesting one. You’d have to assume Bomber is a shoo-in in that case.

Can he be discounted any more though? Borke looked great at Ashfield, but not anywhere else. Lasse Fredriksen is a much better prospect if you’re looking at Edinburgh riders (albeit injury is a concern).

He wouldn't even be a shoe-in on a 0.01 average.

Borke has been mentioned, but we definitely know Dayle Wood has been discounted.

Agree when the pressure is on.You can’t argue with his average though,it’s always been decent.

What's Flint going to Redcar got to do with Oxford? Or have I missed something? Not complaining - just confused! Edit: I've got it, I think. You mean Flint would be a good signing for Oxford, if he doesn't go to Redcar? If so, I'm not sure, Flint as always struggled a bit at Sandy Lane.

Is he taking up TV Gameshows again and promising to donate his winnings, or something?

What? Like last year when 42 points was agreed then changed to 40 (to stop the 'stronger' clubs!)

Flint. Loads of rumours he will replace Riss/King

It appears Glasgow have only one spot to fill.

I'd always be wary of the 'word on the terraces'.

It's a shame the Refs box and old domed Pits weren't taken to BCM when Dudley Wood closed. They were Black Country folklaw after all.

The problem we have every year and it has been the same for the last 10-15 years, is that promoters will always look after themselves. Not saying they should or shouldn’t but that’s the reality. So they will always do what suits them best regardless of what we as fans think or what is logical. The BSPA is run by promoters for promoters so nothing will change because if they are surviving that appears good enough. I can’t see TV money continuing to come in where it’s the same teams week in, week out and I just don’t see the attraction to new supporters to see the same teams and riders over and over, and that’s not counting guests. It has to be one league, one standard where it’s competitive with variety. 14 teams would be great for the product and for supporters. Reality is it will be as many have said; two leagues, six and eight teams with Mickey Mouse cup competitions to fill blank race nights.

On Connors average if you go two heat leaders at 1 and 5, he has to go at 3, I personally would rather take Claus and a new Dane at 3/4 then a 4 pointer at 2.

not followed the forum regularly since comets closed last time but remember you and always found your posts fairly unbiassed and you come across well as a speedway fan who knows the crack not just post towards your own track

Good read as usual. Thanks!

There are to many 2nd string riders who class themselves as Professional Speedway Riders on their CV.

Exactly,is the points limit really a big thing.Just don’t pay outrageous points money to 2nd string riders.

It has been announced that Vargarna have been approved. https://speedwayfans.se/bekraftat-vargarna-tillbaka-i-bauhausligan-haft-en-bra-dialog

some days in december are fine, should we hold speedway then? Speedway is a summer sport, no one (especially the aging speedway fans) wants to stand around on cold and windy nights at the end of October (and even November last year). On the whole the summer are generally dryer and lighter and better conditions. Just because this summer was wet doesnt negate that.

For me the core product is very good, it is just the nonsense rules that prevent the actual leagues from ever being taken seriously... How the hell can anyone take seriously Peterborough's Bomber helping Ipswich to beat Belle Vue in the Semi, and then helping Sheffield beat Ipswich in the Final? You simply cannot market that.... Less riders per team would mean more riders to replace injured ones, so guests could be eradicated if the will was there .. A fit for purpose RR facility would also mean no need for guests... Development should be the 2nd Divs priority not Div 1, and clear demarcation within the leagues should always exist so the top league can be marketed as "Elite"... Every sport needs a "flagship" league that sells the sport with the other leagues feeding off it.. National generic marketing has to be the biggest opportunity. Huge amounts are spent on riders, very few of which bring a big crowd in, yet very, very little is spent on marketeers who may be able to put some bums on seats... Being able to take league racing seriously first though is needed before any money is spent hiring any marketing companies...

20 heats and a rostrum run off, the way individual meetings should be run...

I discussed this with an SCB referee after giving a 15 year old alcohol as a 'man of the match' award. It is clearly against the rules.

I'm sure the bspl will look at the way this season has gone with the erratic fixture list,poor timing of cup competitions and the late play off fixtures in unfavourable weather conditions..............and make absolutely no change, more of the same i expect!

People have knocked him for his outrageous and quite often petulant behaviour both on and off the track. Like it or not the more your profile rises the more attention you inevitably get and if you regularly let yourself down like he has then people will knock you.

Cook is very good rider, but he has been his own worst enemy over the years with his comments on social media.That hasn’t helped his cause.IMO.

If, as has been suggested, Cook is suffering from mental health problems then he absolutely needs to get those sorted before he considers resuming his speedway career. That can be a long and winding road, mental health problems are for life, not just something that will go away. Sadly he may have burned a lot of bridges over the years even if unintentionally. Cook has probably overachieved in his Speedway career given how late he came to the sport. We’re talking a former Grand Prix rider here, yet people have seemingly knocked him more than built him up during his time in the sport. Whatever happens I hope he is in a good place. If he can come back to racing, be safe and enjoy it then even better for everyone involved.