mikegum

Not much tp disagree with here; I would certainly like to see the re-introduction of a proper tac sub facility giving team managers more to think about & I'm not sure I would restrict the Premier Laegue to second strings and below. If a rider would prefer to remain in the UK rather than chase the money on the continent and race for both his clubs sides then I can only see that as a benefit, especially as he is likley to be quite a drawcard in the division below.

Spot on Najjer, for Gods sake its a World Cup Final...what do people think their watching...cricket? Its fantastic for the sport to have true characters involved, in the days when we had proper promoters in the UK, they would actively cultivate the bad boy image to create more interest, the Carter/Penhall clashes were great for the sport for example. I'm sure Nicki didnlt want to see Hampel hurt but I'm not going to nail him to the wall for celebrating the fact his opponent hadn't finished an imprtant race, I'd like to see more characters like Nicki in the league not less.

Track: Hyde Road or Blackbird Road Weather: Warm Summers Evening Announcer: Dave Lanning Promoters: Uncle Len & John Berry Teams: England- PC, Mort, Michael Lee, Kenny Carter, Mark Loram, Wiggy, Barry Allaway Rest of the World- Bobby Schwartz, Bruce Penhall, Leigh Adams, Hans Anderson, Erik Gundersen, Scott Autrey, Denny Pyeatt Team Managers: Eric Boocock & John Scott Start Time: 7.30 Music: Carnival De Paris, EL&P & Vertigo by U2 at the start line & the American countdown 'you have 2 minutes'. Wouldn't mind the same meeting on a cool, grey night at the Shay; as a kid living in the south, only ever got there once every 2/3 years but thought it was amazing with that black surface.

I'd pay a lot of money to watch this, we must be of a certain age TNT. Can we have Michael Lee in ROTW team though?

All this talk about about PL v EL is irrelevant. We all know the that the EL is actually far from being Elite especially at the bottom end of teams where the majority of riders would struggle against the top PL boys. Just look at the perfomances of most of the PL league 'guests'.

Because its a world cup final, because it means we retain a place in the worlds top 4, because it would give our young riders more experience at the very top level & most of all because I'm British!

Swindon wasn't a foot deep in quality opposition either!

This is a really interesting post Neil, I tried my hand at speedway in the early 80s & judging by your comments little has changed, in fact things may actually be worse, at least we had Lew Coffin down at Weymouth or Bob Humphreys at Milton Keynes who ran regular training schools. All the major speedway leagues now have proper schoolboy/girl facilities, professional coaches & transition and practice schemes with equipment funds to help the lads along. And as regards the 'sign written van' argument, I lost track of the number of times that young riders were dumped from second half rides because XYX rider from abroad had turned up with 2 bikes and a van...when our lads have good kit its flashy, when they are from abroad its professional? Don't get me wrong, I love watching many of the overseas riders & most are good blokes but we have to stop being a finishing school for other countries & do more to focus on our own talent before we waste another group of riders. We cannot just rely on the goodwill of parents and hope to remain a topline speedway nation. Neil- best of luck to you and your lad!

Spot on & the thing is that this hasn't sudenly happened, we should have taken note in the early 80s when we became a fininshing school for young Danish talent & helped create the super power they are today.

Have to agree with every word, if the BSPA is interested in British success then we need a proper integrated coaching and mentoring process, the involvement of previous top line riders, a team GBR sponsorship fund to assist with equipment, league structures that give preference to our homegrown talent etc. etc. but who has the vision in the BSPA to drive this sort of thing forward. As you say Peter Oakes resigned because the BSPA wouldn't support even his very basic attempts to put a structure in place for the youngsters, meanwhile the DMU appoint Erik Gundersen to oversee 80cc development across Denmark...compare and contrast!

Fair comment but for gods sake...3 of the riders ride there evry week & Scott was last years number 1, surely they can set a bike for when a track they should know like the back of their hand is a bit slick. Rymel, Joonas and Nermark seemed to manage.

Depends who you are 'speedy', certainly the DMU & SVEMO have schemes to help younger riders with equipment, tuning etc. For the Grand Prix I understand some riders actualy 'rent' engines from their tuners. The problem seemed to be in the set up as much as anything else, I noticed Lindgren had Graham Jones with him to help but quite frankly there is no excuse to be underpowered/wrong set up at a track you ride as often as Cov....it looked like Joonas had his Lakeside bikes with him & he seemed to go OK, albeit he may have stuck a different engine in.

Absolutely Subedei, his number of British titles is a testament to the lack of competition; it wasn't that long ago that riders with 8 point plus league averages were finishing way down the order in British finals, now we're lucky if anyone with an 8 point plus average is actually in the meeting!

No I think there is definatley a place for role models to inspire the youngsters, however these countries also put in place good support and training structures, involved the retired senior riders. In addition as soon asthey showed any promise, they got the opportunity to ride elsewhere with British promoters especially falling over themselves to get them in the team.

The thing is though we are already seeing a lesser standard of racing, almost every reserve in the Elite league makes a mockery of the word...at Swindon for example, we've seen a popular British rider in Andy Moore replaced by a Dutchman who couldn't hold down a Premier league last season who is then replaced by....an Austrian! The premier league doesn't appear to be in much better shape either & everyone I speak to tells me the conference league is on the verge of collapse? There is no instant solution but we need a medium term blueprint that includes things like...a National 'coach', a team 'GBR' similar to the Danes and Swedes backed by a major fund raising/sponsorhip effort that leverages the Sky contract & provides support to fast-track our youngsters, a focus on more junior tracks, all tracks above conference level running junior teams, some careful deliberation on team structures to prioritise home based riders etc, etc.

The last time speedway really boomed in the UK, we had a highly successful national team, strong enough to put out 2 competative WTC teams but I'm not convinced the current promoters understand or care about the impact of team GBR. Unlike almost every other country we have no integrated structure for up and coming riders while we continue to be a training ground for youngsters from abroad providing sponsors accomodation etc to supplement the already excellent support many receive from their own federations and clubs, such as 'Team Sweden' and Gundersen's junior Danish programme. What did our wonderful promoters come up with at their conference....a virtual ban on doubling up & a points limit that fills the bottom end of most Elite teams with more second rate or young foreign riders. We simply rely on the odd individual making it to the top on their own endevour, often with structures that actively work against them and then wonder why we continue to fall further and further behind.

Paying the price of years of stupid league structures, lack of investment in juniors, obsession with foreign riders and inability to keep quality people involved with our up and coming riders from PC to Havvy/Loram etc.

Spot on Nazza, its great for the sport to have a pantomime villain, of course fans should be allowed to boo riders. I remember Dave Lanning sticking ads on the back of programmes at Reading weeks in advance of the appearance of the then current 'villain', for example Steve Gresham. Len Silver and Dave Lanning were always having a pop at each other and each others riders but I happen to know they got along really well, JD revelled in being booed; its called promoting and some of todays so called 'promoters' would do well to learn from it . As long as it isn't abusive, offensive or violent then great, controversy always helps to bring in a crowd.....doesn't mean I'm not seething about Leigh's exclusion though!

I thought the presentation was excellent, well constructed and highly, appropriate as well as very amusing at times. One thing that struck me in a quieter moment during the evening was how well 'promoted' the whole event was, in contrast to much of the domestic speedway now on offer in the UK. I understand that we have significant constraints with Ssadia etc. but John Cook's recent diatribe makes no sense at all, the GPs are the jewel in the speedway crown & Cardiff is the jewel in GPs crown and yet the sport continues to struggle in the UK......? I have long thought that the sport is much the poorer for the loss of the big name promoters of the past & those that have shown initiative such as Mr Sandhu see their efforts blocked by continual downsizing of the sport in this country. Saturday night proved yet again that speedway is a wonderful product, it's time for a root and branch review of every aspect of speedway in the UK & some radical changes as happened with the old world championship before we become a speedway backwater, famous for 'watching' speedway in the same way we are famous for staging Wimbledon and 'watching' tennis.

No I'm sorry, the first time Nicki was clearly desperate and tried to drop it on Adams but was nowhere near far enough in front, the best he could have hoped for was a re-run with all four. The Bjarne incident was even worse, Nicki was even further behind & Bjarne was tighter to the line....the first decision was a disgrace, the second beyond belief.......refs fault though not Nicki's, made a rod for his own back.

I have no doubt Nicki knew exactly what he was doing, like all sportsman at the very top of their profession he is adept at putting the maximum pressure on the referee to get the decision he needs. Nicki always rides like this when he is in trouble, some times it comes off for him sometimes it doesn't. I don't blame Nicki he is just proving why he is the world number one; I do though think the authorities have got to have a look at the refereeing and consider whether this guy is given any more meetings of this stature. Have to agree with Grachan regarding the 'bad boy' image, these things are great for speedway, the more intense the rivalry the better....as the old adage say.....'love him or hate him, you can't ignore him' & its these kinds of things that put bums on seats.

Great idea Nazza, Mads could ride for GB in the World Cup too! I know it would make a mockery of the sport but so do decisions like this.

Although not my home track, Leicester was my favourite track in the country always thought it was a fabulous racing circuit with so many different lines. Never had the opportunity to see DJ there but Les Collins was awesome to watch around Blackbird Road.