bringbackHalifax

Thursday 5th May

Ullrich is guesting at 1 for Lasse for Redcar. This is crazy and double standards by the BSPA. Godfrey was speaking about Cookie not going to Peterboro due to 4 fixture clashes over the season where Peterboro would need guests, not being in the best interests of british speedway. Newcastle are then forced to go to Redcar with 4 guests in one nght. Redcar need a guest due to Lasse prepping for a Danish meeting on Friday which Ullrich is in but missing practice. Where the hell is the staging of this meeting in the best interests of british speedway ? Redcar had a blank Thursday a few weeks ago and all riders were available, or is that the real issue ?

Good comeback from the guys and gotta say funny to see the sulking clown who drove the victory parade pick up truck as fast as he could round the track and back into the pits with our lads clinging on. Faster than some of the bandits

Anton is not riding in Uk this year. Has already been over in December and taken all his gear back to Sweden.

Well it's this weekend that the rubber stamping takes place. With the 3 point man at reserve this effectively strengthens the teams as most ended the year with no 7's with an higher average. My worry is there will be about 11 rider departures from the league on the green sheets latest issue, so I believe there are not enough riders left for every one to reach 42ish. The money clubs will cough big bucks for joe average to back up top 3, the lesser well off clubs will pick up the scraps, but will not reach 40 points. The riders two years ago got told must have new silencer, they still have them as cannot sell them on as worth nothing. No concern about finances there. How about every track should have a countdown clock, compulsory. After every race clock resets to 5 mins after last rider has left the track from previous heat., 2 min buzzer still goes on after 3 mins, race starts at zero or rider excluded. If rider has 2 on the bounce clock runs down to zero then 2 mins. Interval 15 mins on the clock, but race countdown (5 mins) starts after the 10th min so no dragging out or home team manipulation. Interval after heat 10 or not at all.

Why have Belle Vue done that to the track on a night like this ? First time in years they have made an effort and they forget to tell their riders what they planned. You couldn't make it up. Well done Poole on the treble. Gutted !

Think it will be £16 -£20. 16 or 20 heats straight 4 rides each or 4 and a nominated each. Think Somerset Ipswich Edinburgh Newcastle Whereas at Peterboro I think it would have finished Ipswich Newcastle Somerset Edinburgh

A 50% Cookie is enough at Edinburgh

a gentle reminder Kenni Larsen is still a Newcastle asset. Loan fee welcome.

Lambert is going to Sheffield at the start of September.

Your new Czech already belongs to Kings Lynn, so won't be your asset.

Ritchie Worrall on Sunday for Lewi

Raining at track now.

have I missed something is Darcy making a comeback ?

I believe this is the tip of the iceberg, but Richie has had a lot of clubs in his short career, chasing the £'s ? Highest bidder ? I don't think Richie would ride in the elite as a draft rider on draft rates after riding in an elite team for proper rates, and who would blame him. Those who have never had it will see it as a bonus, Richie would rightly see it as a 50 to 70% pay cut. As for riding abroad Poland and Sweden are on a downward spiral. They have less teams than our elite, crowds are falling and they have now got more riders wanting the team places so competition means they can play hard ball with contracts and have a few squad guys ( who never get to ride). Read somewhere of a prem rider who has a £400 per point contract in Poland but has ridden twice in two seasons. Our elite needs some rules that make it better to have a Richie, Auty, Kerr, Cook than a foreigner just like the Poles and the Swedes do in their leagues. Big, big year for the BSPA conference. Wonder how many of the current promoters are absent come March 2016.

Christian is struggling with confidence and hasn't returned from the crash at Scunny the same rider. Anton is playing catch up and has not got dialed in and is suffering from lack of racing, no Tuesday night in Sweden and only 3 Thursday's so far. Simon relies on his gating and isn't making enough starts and very rarely passes anyone. Lewis Kerr lacks consistency, not trapping as well as last year, and his average dropped whilst at no 1 but goes up at number 3, so expect it to pick up now. Ludvig suffering from inconsistent race track and lack of grip on outside. Never a gater so gate and go track for most of season not helping. Good team spirit and always around his team mates in the pits. I believe has found ignition problem with bike on Sunday, so hopefully more speed for next week. Lewis Rose is in the wrong place at the wrong time. He has blown his engines 2 in last week, bent bikes before Monday and was low in confidence. Batch has lent him an engine for big tracks which he is trying to raise money to buy it, difficult when not scoring points, and I believe on Sunday he was using Ludvigs engine which took him a couple of rides to get used to. He looked a different person after the meeting so Monday was a real downer in more ways than one. ( starke never even went over to see how he was by the way ). Stevie was always going to be the better of the twins and he will kick on from here. At number 1 his ave dipped a little , at number 3 it went back up and now I believe he is more ready to stay at one than he was at start of the season. Great trapper and quick when in front. Cannot find anyone who can fill our spare points but would consider 28 days of Hawkins till Rose is back rather than Konopka guesting as every one else is below Lew Rose average.

Official scorecard now on bspa website and clearly shows the score chart with Junes averages. New ones declared on 24th June for July meetings. Redcar gain from redcar mistake. Redcar must have known over the last 2weeks that Kus has gone above Robson especially as they were making changes and looking at averages. 6 point deduction is coming their way. Interesting that Robson having had the crash wouldn't have been ready for the ht8 double ride anyway

If Tommy gun had of been warned for the first excluded for the second he might not have done it the third time. Refs not being firm on starting cheats is the issue. The rules are already there.

Programme has to have correct averages in - redcar responsibility Team manager of your club should and will be aware of their riders averages each month even before they change. - redcar responsibility. Checking of programme - home team responsibility Putting right rider in race - team manager responsibility Giving ref programme with correct averages - redcar responsibility Who gained from mistake - redcar Who has innocently lost out - somerset What happens now 6 points off redcar total. Get over it, stop blaming the ref It was a good meeting to watch. Brady Kurtz is one hell of a rider.

But Poland and Sweden are following us. They are spending money on riders wages that isn't coming thought the gates. Sweden are down to 7 teams in each league, Poland are down on number of teams. They are in the same boat as us and it's coming their way. They have a stadium advantage but they still have too different a standard rider in a race and therefore it's not an ideal package to watch. Starting again will create a new level of stars, it can redevelop without the costly stars. You don' see Lewis Hamilton every week in a stock car and you won't see grand prix riders every week. The money is not there, yet the riders want as much as possible to fund the grand prix. Great so earn it in the grand prix not in the league. Not having a go at Matty Zagar but Belle Vue spending all their £100k tv money on 1 rider is not good business sense at all. They are not the only ones. A lot of the racing this year has been crap, all gate and go because the riders and bikes have taken all the cash and not enough is spent on the tracks. Give riders a great surface not a slick strip and you can have a great nights entertainment. Get it right now and we will lead the way as the cash dries up abroad.

There is lots of debate around elite v prem and who has it right and who has it wrong. In reality speedway globally is in the rubbish. many will say that it has been for a while, but never since 1970 when I first started watching as it reached this low. I don't blame the current BSPA members as the money makers took their cash and never invested in the future when the good times were happening. To back up its not just in Britain, the Swedes have got 7 teams in their top two leagues and race 12 meetings & then play offs. Poland is now throwing cash at the top riders and dropping the lesser ones as they try to buy success. This is the start of their downward spiral as they try to win at all costs. How do we move forward ? No easy answer but if people want the top guys in the world, then it will cost about £30 + for adult entrance fee. Still cheaper than prem football. Anything less and apart from Poole no one has the income from speedway alone to pay their bills. Premier league riders on £90 to £120 a point is crazy. Glasgow has reinvented itself and good luck to the guys but you have riders there for the money, not for the team or club, meaning no heart. Edinburgh, Berwick, Glasgow, Newcastle, Redcar, Workington, Scunthorpe,Plymouth, Somerset, Rye House, Ipswitch,Coventry, Wolves, BelleVue, Swindon, have all been visited by myself and not one of them have had a crowd that would get anywhere near paying the bills. the Swedes and the Poles are following that pattern very quickly. I would start again. At the end of the season I would have any rider over 6 point average ( to be agreed at end of the season ) in the prem has to move into the elite league. Have 6 man teams, no doubling up . Elite pay £125 point. Prem pay £45. Riders need to understand prem means balancing some work as in semi pro. Stop paying out 70 to 100k for GP riders at league meetings for the season. you cannot afford it. An average elite mtg would cost around 16k and an average prem meeting would cost about 8k. Elte need around 930 to break even and prem would need about 530 people to break even, not counting any sponsorship income. At least then we could have full 6 man teams, any guest for injured rider comes from league below top two or a number 5 or 6 in the same league. Would be tough at first but would settle down quickly, would have similar rider ability in each heat, hopefully 4 riders in a race unlike now where we have 2 races in one most of the time. Just some thoughts but it's tough out there and we need to wake up and smell the coffee quickly. I grew up watching Halifax so not used to winning and then we transferred to Odsal won the league with an expensive team and closed. I was always entertained when I was at Halifax but got a bit bored at Odsal. I just want to be entertained and happiness really was 40 : 38. Not winning the league.

Don't think the Redcar new signing is over from Denmark yet, so won't be him.

Totally unfair on Cookie. He had two bikes in the pits ( why do people who have nothing better to do create utter crap about a rider ). He drove 600 mile round trip ( with many road closures on way home as well ). He was pretty fed up after the meeting If your looking for excuses look at some of your regular riders.

Wherever he rides next season I hope he kicks on and doesn't waste his talent. As for next season he is fine depending on what the silencer changes bring .

Just to give some facts to correct the opinions of the "in the know people". Darren Bond does not sponsor Ludvig. Ludvig does live at his house. George Bond did Ludvigs bikes all season with Ludvig. George Stancl was with Anton till his injury and helped with Ludvig for a couple of mtgs only. George Bond and Ludvig work together and win or lose together. Ludvig is frustrated with himself when he doesn't ride well and will shout at mechanics or throw goggles but that's normal When they sorted out the confidence and stopped reading the forum,got over the shoulder injury, and clutch issues, Sean Wilson changed the engine set up and Ludde rode well in all mtgs except Edinburgh away. His average last yr was in the 1 or 5 spot all season. He rode for Newcastle last yr because it's where he wanted to be, his three main sponsors are not bothered who he rides for.