Halifaxtiger

Personally, I think he's flattered to deceive too many times. Lets not forget that his contemporary in that Scunny team of 2006 has won the World Championship while Auty can't get a place in the top 5 of an EL side. Having said that, I would be very happy to be proved wrong. That ride in heat 13 on Monday was special, but its far from the first time I have seen something like that from the rider. One that was even better springs to mind in the play offs at EWR last year against Ipswich.

Good meeting Stead was imperious, Fisher showed he could be a bargain on that sub 8.00 point average, Sissis improves every week but the star for me was Holder. Never ridden Sheffield before, he led Stead for three laps in heat 1, went round Proctor like he wasn't there in heat 5 and passed both Compton and Sissis in Heat 8 for a double pointer. Blotted his copybook a bit in Heat 11 by hammering round bend 4 and running out of room but this was still a pretty impressive show. Laugh of the night: Squall Junior's reaction at catching sight of Spinny Junior.

STMP was one of the best racing tracks in the country - until Havelock took over, that is. If anything, in recent seasons it has improved on what it was but its still nowhere near as good as the early days.

Edinburgh is £17. When you pay for car parking (which you pretty much have to there) that's another £2, plus £2.50 for a programme. At £21.50, that's getting steep. Neither do I and I suspect that there are a few others who don't either. I don't think the PL will be any worse or better than it has been for the last few seasons. What I can say is that the gates I have seen at Sheffield, Edinburgh, Berwick, Glasgow and Scunthorpe had significantly increased on last season. That might well be due at least in part to the resurgence of Glasgow and Sheffield and the Easter holiday, but at least there is an increase rather than them staying the same or decreasing.

No idea, AF. That gentleman's name was mentioned at Ashfield, though.

'A million pound investment in Glasgow Tigers puts them on a level way above all the other second tier speedway teams. Perhaps its a good thing if the ultimate ambition is to join the EL - otherwise not'. It then goes on to have a pop at the Facenna's comments about Glasgow's situation in respect of their neighbours, point to Avtar Sandhu at Coventry and make remarks about Glasgow getting a televised meeting. As I have said before, there's not a single club in the land(or a fan of such a club) who wouldn't want such an investment. Comments like that are almost certainly - especially given that they come from a Monarchs fan - motivated by jealousy and spite, particularly given that in the same programme there was an insert with an appeal to Edinburgh fans to make a financial contribution to the club with an implicit threat of closure if they did not. Taken alongside the comments about Richard Lawson's absence from the match on Friday on the Edinburgh website, its clear that there are a few at Armadale with serious chips on their shoulders. Fortunately, that's not John Campbell's opinion: 'What has happened through at Ashfield this winter has been simply amazing and I congratulate the Facennas on their marvellous efforts. Of course I am envious of what has gone on over there but I am sure that we can benefit and that can only be good for the future of Scottish speedway'. I should say that the Edinburgh fans I stood with yesterday reflected Mr Campbell's comments - slightly envious, but very happy for the Tigers. Indeed, I suspect that that is the way that most fans across the country feel.

On entrance, I thought the changes to the stadium were amazing - the new pits, the new entrance, the new back straight terracing. When I got round to the back straight, I wasn't so sure - of that bit, anyway. I found that if I stood on in the middle of the the upper tier of the terracing I couldn't see the back straight (or most of it) because of people on the lower tier. Bearing in mind I am 6'4'', that's not good and it looked to me like it hadn't been particularly well designed. This led to me moving to the 4th bend, somewhere I have never stood before. When Ash Birks was badly injured at Plymouth at the back end of 2014, the racing stopped for the amount of time it took to repair the fence because the Devils have two paramedics and two ambulances. Had that been the case yesterday, those delays involving a member of the public would not have happened. Costs more, but what price the loss of fans from by far the biggest crowd I have ever seen at Ashfield because the meeting took over 3 hours ? Assurances over the tannoy that that isn't the norm probably won't cut much ice. All that said, it was brilliant to see the huge crowd and there's no doubt that every fan and club in the country would want to see that sort of investment in the team and stadium (whatever the pathetic comments in the Edinburgh programme on Friday might have said). The meeting wasn't bad, and there's no doubt that Ashfield now could become one of the best racing tracks in the PL - its come a very long way from the 'squaredome' days.

I am not so sure. Lawson wasn't missed - judging by the stats in the programme he's crap at Armadale and Hansen was probably actually better - and while Morris and Sarjeant would have scored more taking into account the double pointer from Summers I think Edinburgh would still have won on the night, although the aggregate would have been very close. There's no doubt that Glasgow have a very good side but Edinburgh won't be far behind, if at all. Cook and Masters are the best spearhead in the league, Sedgemen could easily be the best 3rd heat leader and Wolbert surely can't be as bad as he was last year. Throw in the very impressive Branford and I think Edinburgh will at least make the play offs.

Try reading 'Tapes Up' in the programme, George. Very good meeting Local derby, reasonably close result (it would have been closer still if Morris, Lawson and Sarjeant had ridden), good racing, no injuries, decent crowd and all over in 90 minutes. Masters (who might well take over from Cook as No 1 this season, no-one got near him), Branford & Palovaara all impressive.

Not just Sheffield fans, I suspect. I thought the misfortunes somewhat evened out - although Compton had a bad night and Bates was ruled out, Kus was a virtual passenger with bike problems. If I see another race as good as heat 13 this season I'll consider myself fortunate, because it was an absolute purler. Stead and Bjerre passing and repassing out in front and Bellago busting a gut to take Graversen. Great stuff

If you haven't you will have a real problem. Redcar last Thursday were rubbish. I think it will be a cricket score and that the Tigers will win on Friday, too.

In actual fact, its one of most sensible and reasonable I have ever read here. What he is saying is that providing a track is safe, it should be prepared to suit the needs of your paying customers, not your paid employees. No other business would do otherwise. Dead right I'd have been laughed off the pages of this forum a few years ago for this but the best EL track is Belle Vue. Have to say I have always rated Lakeside much higher than some - in my view, its been better than King's Lynn for a long time. To be fair to Buster Chapman, I think he did well just to get the meeting on given the weather conditions. In addition, Lakeside were awful. I think the thing is that in my experience some tracks consistently turn out better racing surfaces than others and consequently get a reputation for that. You don't need to know how they do it but you can ask the question if some can do it why can't others ? I bet his business is successful with an attitude of 'don't like the food ? Come and cook it yourself'.

Couple of cracking races late on warmed up a freezing cold night on Teesside. Workington were pretty impressive even allowing for how disappointing Redcar were and I don't think they had a weak link. Concerns for the Bears, though. They do have a long tail, with Morley trying hard but losing yards at the starts, Konopka no better than last season and Graversen out of his depth anywhere but reserve. Skiddy will be better than that, but the question is will those three ? Dreadful crash, with Robbo shedding a chain and falling and Konopka going straight over him. Good to hear no bones broken and hopefully the suspected concussion is not as bad as first thought.

You going, young man ? If so, I'll see you there. You can say that again. There will be updates on this match in the usual place.

Fingers crossed on the weather - XC says rain clearing up early morning at the moment. Weather and the enemy permitting (she might well fancy a trip to St Enoch's) I'll be coming.

Nonsense. Just because its small doesn't mean the home advantage is significant - indeed, I'd say Plymouth has no more than most and a lot less than some. What it most definitely is is one of the best racing tracks in the country, and one of the most exciting too. Some of those first bends have to be seen to be believed. On paper it doesn't look a strong team - I am particularly concerned at reserve, because Chapman simply isn't PL standard and I have never been that impressed by Morris. Having said that, Newman, Fisher and Simota should improve and Risager is very good at SBA. That leaves Holder, and I'll be surprised if he doesn't achieve his starting average.

This is the rule: .8 RIDERS MATCH AVERAGES (see SR 16.2 for Definitions) and GRADINGS 19.8.1 Riders new to National League racing will be given an assessed MA of 3.00 19.8.1.1 Riders qualifying by UK Patriality will be given an assessed MA of 5.00 19.8.1.2 Where a Rider has both a previous PL & NL MA, the highest will apply. 19.8.1.3 Where Riders transfer between Leagues, a conversion is necessary; from PL to NL = divide by 0.6 (subject to the minimum / maximum converted MA’s being 3.00 / 12.00. Can someone tell me how difficult it is to work out what average a rider with UK patriality will come in on ? It is genuinely frightening that a British speedway promoter either doesn't have a rule book, can't or hasn't read it or can make a 'mistake' about something so blindingly obvious.

Modern Speedway ? Why do think Ivan Mauger went to Exeter in 1973 ? It was, in those days, called rider control. Its been around for 40 years so I thought everyone would have got used to it - even if they don't like it - by now.

Apparently Johnson knew all along that his agreement was not a concrete one. Furthermore Wilson-Dean has patriality so, at least as far as speedway rules go, he isn't a foreigner. I think 25YF above is correct in his suggestion that Johnson is a journeyman who probably won't go beyond NL speedway. Some, indeed, would question his right to ride in a league that is about development. The point you are missing - which I have already made on this thread and many times before - is that the NL isn't just a training league. For the stand alone clubs at least, its a business that requires an attractive product to bring in paying customers. One person on here has already said that they are more likely to go given the switch - how many others might feel the same way ? Not in my experience. I thought he was very likeable indeed.

Edinburgh, Glasgow, Peterborough, Sheffield, Ipswich, Scunthorpe.

Alan Jones has already said it but: 19.8.1.1 Riders qualifying by UK Patriality will be given an assessed MA of 5.00 The question remains: Does he have patriality? If he doesn't, he can't ride in the NL. According to his website, Brendan Johnson is 22 and has ridden NL speedway for 8 seasons (albeit punctuated by serious injury). Last year, he averaged just over 6.00, so its not unreasonable to say that he is becoming (if he is not already) an NL journeyman. If they had dropped Kelsey Dugard, you'd have far more of a point. Fair point. What some still don't seem to grasp is that the stand alone NL teams are a business and rely upon gate receipts to survive. As such, they need to make their team as attractive as possible to paying customers. I met Brendan Johnson last year and he's a smashing lad but I suspect this New Zealander is likely to pull in more people, so its difficult to blame Eastbourne for the change. Ask Mildenhall what Cameron Heeps did for them. Yes, he is. I'd have dropped Warwick. He's 31, has been around for 13 seasons and has spent most of his riding career in the NL. Further to that, his average is only marginally higher than Johnson's, his been out for a year and, in my experience, Johnson is far more committed. Personally, I'd say its far worse that Eastbourne have dropped Johnson and retained Warwick than they have dropped Johnson nad brought in a New Zealander. Indeed, how many would have complained if Warwick had been dropped for the New Zealander ?

That's simply not true. There's no 'withholding' of fixture dates at all - as Jayne has explained, they have to be compiled after the EL & PL ones. In any case, they'll be available probably two months or so before the start of the season - how much notice do people need ? Half (Coventry run Fridays).

I am sure that this comment is but 'we got told it was OK' is part of the problem. I have little doubt that Plymouth got told Chapman was OK to double up (although why they needed to ask is anyone's guess) in exactly the same way that I have little doubt that Somerset were told that Holder was on a 5.00. One thing is certain: we'll never know precisely who told them that. You might well be right. It won't be the first time a bent decision has been made without explanation or clarification and it probably won't be the last.

I am wondering just how you have come to that ridiculous conclusion. Of course he has a PL average, as dictated by SCB Regulations: Cat 4: Riders who have ridden in the National Development League as an Amateur 18.6.2 The Assessed MA's for new Riders to the PL racing is: Cat 1 8.00 Cat 2 7.00 Cat 3 5.00 Cat 4 3.00 Not that that, as Islander has pointed out, has the slightest relevance. I suggest you try to make a reasonable argument that Chapman can double up in the face of this regulation: NL eligibility: 19.9.2.2 A current PL Rider under 25 years-old with a PL MA of 4.00 or below at the start of the Season. We'll see. I'll await an explanation as to how he can double up given the specific rules that say that a rider aged 25 or over can't do so. Then again, it won't be the first time the BSPA completely ignore their own rule book.

I can see your points here but I think in this situation there is a difference between the BSPA and the clubs. True, all clubs belong to the BSPA but not all of them have been found to be flouting the specific rules laid down by the UK V&I and, indeed, some that have been flouted are trivial. Blaming the BSPA as a whole is a bit like blaming Parliament for the expenses scandal, when in fact it was only certain MP's. Further to that, other sports have also been cited so I think it is a matter between employer and migrant. That's how I see it too. Cradley's team was packed full of young British riders. They just happened to be able to attract the best of them. Dead right. Even this seasons teams have a number of second hand foreigners who have been over here for years but done nothing. And when they do choose a British youngster it is sometimes the case that if he struggles for a few weeks he is booted out with all speed while foreigners doing the same are retained.