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Good read in this week’s Star that Kent are coming to the tapes this year under the Nora association. Good luck to all involved. It deserves to succeed after the grief dished out by the BSPL in 2023.

As non of you have tried to arrange fixtures based around kids getting time off from school, having to travel , in some individual cases, hundreds of miles, clashes with youth rounds, grass tracks, flat tracks, family holidays, parents time off , getting permission of your host promoter to run on a particular night , and then having four clubs all running on the same race night ! …..then maybe you would understand the difficulty of running an NJL team. Give them a break !

Col has been predicting the demise of Doyle for the last 5 years. A couple of seasons ago he said Jack holder, Fricke and Kurtz would all overtake him that year and he’d be demoted to “4th best Aussie” in the League. LOL. It didn’t happen then and it still hasn’t happened despite him predicting it every winter. Oh and it won’t happen this coming season either.

Pretty bizarre playoff situation in this league this year. See this direct quote from Przegladsportowy website: "So, according to the new rules, six teams out of seven registered teams will enter the play-offs (the quarterfinals will feature teams ranked 1-6, 2-5 and 3-4, and in addition to the winners, the best loser will advance to the semifinals). As we know, no team will be relegated because there is no lower league. Therefore, it can be commented that for most of the season, teams will compete only for one team to be eliminated from the competition for promotion, and then they will start from scratch in a lottery system. I wonder how GKSŻ will react if Speedway Kraków does not join the league? Then the regular round will be downright bizarre, because everyone will advance to the play-offs anyway."

Full Krajowa Liga fixtures here: 1 round Saturday, March 30, 2024 / Sunday, March 31, 2024 Landshut – Daugavpils Gniezno – Tarnów Piła – Opole Kraków – pauses * 2nd round Saturday, April 6, 2024 / Sunday, April 7, 2024 Tarnów – Piła Opole – Landshut Kraków – Gniezno * Daugavpils – pauses 3rd round Saturday, April 13, 2024 / Sunday, April 14, 2024 Landshut – Tarnów Daugavpils – Opole Piła – Krakow * Gniezno – pauses 4th round Saturday, April 20, 2024 / Sunday, April 21, 2024 Tarnów – Daugavpils Gniezno – Piła Krakow – Landshut * Opole – pauses 5th round Saturday, April 27, 2024 / Sunday, April 28, 2024 Landshut – Gniezno Opole – Tarnów Piła – pauses Sunday, May 5, 2024 Landshut – Krakow * Reserve date Saturday, May 4, 2024 / Sunday, May 5, 2024 Saturday, May 11, 2024 / Sunday, May 12, 2024 6th round Saturday, May 18, 2024 / Sunday, May 19, 2024 Gniezno – Daugavpils Piła – Landshut Krakow – Opole * Tarnów – pauses 7th round Saturday, May 25, 2024 / Sunday, May 26, 2024 Daugavpils – Piła Opole – Gniezno Tarnów – Kraków * Landshut – pauses 8th round Saturday, June 1, 2024 / Sunday, June 2, 2024 Gniezno – Opole Piła – Daugavpils Kraków – Tarnów * Landshut – pauses 9th round Saturday, June 8, 2024 / Sunday, June 9, 2024 Daugavpils – Gniezno Landshut – Piła Opole – Krakow * Tarnów – pauses 10th round Saturday, June 15, 2024 / Sunday, June 16, 2024 Tarnów – Opole Gniezno-Landshut Krakow – Daugavpils * Piła – pauses Reserve date Saturday, June 22, 2024 / Sunday, June 23, 2024 11th round Saturday, June 29, 2024 / Sunday, June 30, 2024 Daugavpils – Tarnów Piła – Gniezno Opole – pauses Saturday, May 11, 2024 Daugavpils – Krakow * 12th round Saturday, July 6, 2024 / Sunday, July 7, 2024 Opole – Daugavpils Tarnów – Landshut Krakow – Piła * Gniezno – pauses Reserve date Sunday, July 14, 2024 13th round Saturday, July 20, 2024 / Sunday, July 21, 2024 Piła – Tarnów Landshut – Opole Gniezno – Kraków * Daugavpils – pauses Reserve date Saturday, July 27, 2024 / Sunday, July 28, 2024 14th round Saturday, August 3, 2024 / Sunday, August 4, 2024 Opole – Piła Tarnów – Gniezno Daugavpils-Landshut Kraków – pauses * Reserve date Saturday, August 10, 2024 / Sunday, August 11, 2024 Final part – Quarter-finals 15th round Saturday, August 17, 2024 / Sunday, August 18, 2024 16th round Saturday, August 24, 2024 / Sunday, August 25, 2024 Reserve date Saturday, August 31, 2024 / Sunday, September 1, 2024 Final part – Semi-finals 17th round Saturday, September 7, 2024 / Sunday, September 8, 2024 18th round Saturday, September 14, 2024 / Sunday, September 15, 2024 Reserve date Saturday, September 21, 2024 / Sunday, September 22, 2024 Final part – Final – Match for 1st place 19th round Saturday, September 28, 2024 / Sunday, September 29, 2024 20th round Saturday, October 5, 2024 / Sunday, October 6, 2024 Reserve date Friday, October 11, 2024 / Saturday, October 12, 2024 / Sunday, October 13, 2024 * condition for obtaining a license by a club from Krakow

Great piece of work, Robbie. Such an important addition to speedway history. And thank you for your acknowledgement.

Thankfully I’m hearing he’s ’stood down’, not 100% sure who will end up running it , maybe a previous co-ordinator is coming back…..possibly.

Krakow return to the Polish National league !!!! ( still awaiting final confirmation) Round 1 fixtures Saturday/Sunday 30th/31st March Landshut v Daugavpils Gniezno v Tarnow Pila v Opole Krakow bye Round 2 Saturday/Sunday 6th/7th April Tarnow v Pila Opole v Landshut Krakow v Gniezno Daugavpils bye

Didn't you once confuse the town of rugby with the sport of rugby? Cant really comment on someones intelligence...

so the fans cant talk about averages at all? what a strange point of view

In February 1961 Wimbledon was mooted as the most likely venue for the final of the new competition. Harringay then began to be talked about as a better choice for two reasons, firstly that it was neutral and secondly that it could accommodate a much larger crowd than Plough Lane. The decision to stage the meeting at Harringay was announced at the end of the first week in March. It was considered unlikely that a sufficiently large crowd would be attracted to Wembley to make hosting the final there a viable proposition.

Missed that! Yes, 1961.

Except that it wasn't in 1981...

Had a brief look at the sparse NDL fixtures for 2024 and was disappointed to see there is a fixture scheduled for the 11th October! Obviously there are likely to be rain offs etc but just two fixtures currently in September and the rest knocked out by the end of August makes sense. I can understand why any side would want to delay hosting Edinburgh for a s long as possible but October feels extreme...

You can’t dismiss Ipswich on the basis of them having just the best top two and little else. Having the best top two (and they’re comfortably the best top two in the league) is huge, but they have no mugs lower down either. King and Ellis in the engine room at 3 and 4 is also strong, they’ve swapped Hume for Jenkins at reserve which is an upgrade, and they also have one of the best rising stars in the league in Dan Thompson. They’ll be the bookies favourites for a reason and tipping them to finish second bottom shows a lack of Speedway knowledge quite frankly as much as everyone is entitled to an opinion.

Everyone is of course entitled to their opinion, but predicting Ipswich to finish second bottom is a bit of a bonkers take. In the words of Les Dennis, if Ipswich finish second bottom I’ll give you the money meself

The obvious standout team is the Tigers from Owlerton, two former World Champions and a rider who would have made the podium in the GP series this year but for injuries. However they are surely the oldest top 5 in the league, with Pickering being the spring chicken of the top 5 at 27. Not sure there is much room for improvement from any of them and the reserve pairing could well struggle. Ipswich have a great top 2 but can they maintain the standards they set last season? Rew should improve but is unlikely to get anytime at reserve this season and the sophomore slump condition could hamper him. Two inexperienced reserves again. Can Ellis get back to where he was a few years ago is the question. I think the Witches will struggle to finish in the top 4 of the league but if they do they're dangerous in the play-offs, like last year they came from nowhere to deny Belle Vue a spot in the final. Considering his progress in the GP's in my opinion Bewley had a fairly poor season for the Aces so should improve his starting figure and must surely be better away from home in 2024. No more can realistically be expected from Kurtz following a solid season last year. I'm not sure on Lidsey, he had Wright backing him up all last year but won't have that next season, you'd think he should improve further with more experience of British racing. I didn't realise Cook is as old as he is. Blodorn won't be swapping between reserve at top 5 this year but is good at the NSS and is getting better away. Mountain has more experience than those in the same position as him at Foxhall & Owlerton but lacks their potential. I like the Leicester septet, Fricke is as good as anyone except Sayfutdinov on the GB tracks and the 4 others in the top 5 should all average over 7. Kemp seemed to have a new lease of life at Beaumont Park having missed out on a spot in GB at the start of last season and maybe he will finally start to reach his potential. The Stars are another team that don't really appear to have a weak link in their septet. Basso seemed to suffer from second season syndrome in a struggling Panthers team last year, Tarasenko & Wojdylo also rejuvenated the Alwalton team mid season last year but how well will they adapt to a different home circuit? Musielak has been excellent for Sheffield in the last two years, but as a Tiger with Jack Holder also in the line-up the expectation of being the #1 wasn't completely on his shoulders where as it is at Saddlebow Rd. Rowe like Kemp needs to start realising his potential. The Oxford team has too many question marks for my liking to be considered as potential table toppers but will be in the mix for the play-offs, Janowski is a great addition to the league but hasn't been at his best in recent GP series, it is probably a year (or two) too early for Boughen but fair play to Oxford for giving him the opportunity I hope it doesn't hamper his progress. Klindt & Tungate always blow hot & cold. Sadly Birmingham seem a fair way off the other teams in terms of strength, it is a big ask for Pawlicki & Milik to come in as a top two when both haven't ridden in the UK for many years and there is no obvious third heat leader to back them up, Brennan may grow into that role or Lampart could hit the ground flying. One thing is for sure the Brummies will have strength at reserve all year, it should be Flint's final year as a RS. Table prediction: Leicester Belle Vue Kings Lynn Sheffield Oxford Ipswich Birmingham

Belle Vue have a huge home advantage. Doyle for example struggled for pace there last year by his own admission and even when he made the gate, he was soon swallowed up by the likes of Kurtz and Lidsey. Set up is just as important at big fast tracks as it is for small technical ones. The Belle Vue boys are very very quick around their home track and if you’re a visiting rider there and struggling for pace, you’ll very quickly get found out. There are some tracks where you can pop out of the gate and keep faster riders behind you by being clever with the lines you take and acting as a roadblock. You have absolutely zero chance of doing that at the NSS.

Leicester look the pick here for me. Someone earlier in the thread made a good point, Leicester have the Wolves top 3 from last year, a Wolves team that finished second in the table. And they have added Max Fricke and Richard Lawson on top of that! That’s potent. They’ve also been smart and used all the points gained from Kemp’s 25% reduction, something Ipswich haven’t done with Jenkins 25% reduction. Ipswich will still join them in the top 4 though and pretty comfortably this time. They’ve fixed the Riss issue with Ellis and they’ve also got one of the better rising stars fit in Dan Thompson. Finally having a rising star that could contribute in meetings turned their season around last year. Oxford will also comfortably make the top four IMO. The only question mark with them is the fitness of a few returning injured riders. They could be slow burners if it takes them a while to get up to speed but if they do, I expect them to be strong. Solid all through the top 5 and the best reserve in the league in Kerr. The last spot isn’t quite as clear cut. Of the remaining sides I think Lynn look the best. Big fan of Musielak and he’ll do a good job for them at #1. Look to have Wotsit on a bargain average going by his performances for Peterborough last year and I’d expect him to swap with Palm Toft after the first change in averages meaning Lynn also will have a strong reserve all year. Not convinced with either Sheffield or Belle Vue this time. Belle Vue will need Bewley to be the 9+ rider we know he’s capable of being, rather than the 8 point rider we saw last year. If he steps it up a gear, Belle Vue have a potent top 3 with Kurtz and Lidsey that could see them challenge for a play off spot. Bewley the key here. Sheffield have the weakest reserve pairing in the league, which is a problem when you have a rider or two in the top 5 who are a bit flakey. Chris Holder isn’t the rider he once was, far from it, and neither is Woffinden. I think both will be hit and miss this year especially away from home and when they’re having one of those nights where they don’t want to know, that’s when you need your reserves to chip in to cover and this is where Sheffield will struggle. Good luck Birmingham..