topsoil

My dad was a huge Kenny Carter fan. My mum, on the other hand, was a huge Bruce Penhall fan. It made the 1981 and 1982 world finals interesting! I was still in single digits around that time but I can remember their rivalry being huge for the sport. To answer the opening point to the debate, maybe there are a lot of fans of Kenny Carter the rider rather than Kenny Carter the person? Carter the rider had extraordinary levels of bravery coming back from the injuries he suffered, just look at the Youtube video of him having to be carried on to and off the bike because of his broken leg. Carter the person? The one word that springs to mind is tragic. I consider myself lucky to have seen him live, one of the great speedway riders of his generation. But unfortunately a deeply flawed individual.

I don't know for sure because I've never seen exact figures, but you hear stories that the TV deal isn't as lucrative as you think and also the riders pay rates are much higher in the Elite League. But if anybody has the definitive answer of how much say a TV appearance is worth to a club and if it leads to better sponsorship deals I would be interested to hear it.

There is no incentive for any Premier League team to move up. In every other credible sport each team aims to get into the top division because of the financial benefits from either a) increased media exposure and TV deals or huge increases in attendances. In each case the extra revenue would cover the additional costs incurred from paying higher wages. There is not much in the way of incentives to go to the Elite League. I don't know how much clubs get from a Sky TV apperance but I can't imagine it being that much. It might lead to the odd sponsorship deal from local companies but there's no way it will cover the huge leap in expenses from premier League to Elite League.

I can remember when England won the rugby world cup, the RFU took the world cup around all the clubs in the country, along with various players and officials, to promote the sport and inspire a new generation of players. Watching SPOTY Max Whitlock announces that since he became world champion, he is going round the country doing exactly likewise. It would be great if speedway could do something similar. I know Tai will want his time back in Australia with family and time away from the sport to relax, but maybe when the new season starts, it would do a lot for the sport to have him visit a few tracks, have his photo taken with the trophy and local kids. And even more, ask for a £1 donation a photo, split the proceeds between GOSH and the BEN Fund? Good publicity all round.

In an ideal world the club would be working hard at this time of year to get team sponsors, backing for individual riders, selling programme advertising and corporate hospitality, which unfortunately was empty most weeks last season. Obviously I don't know how much work the club are in fact doing in this regard, but it would be nice to think they are. I cam imagine it is very difficult to attract sponsorship in this climate and that's why the club has to work hard all year round.

Joking aside, I've only paid brief attention to the Jake Allen saga, is there a simple explanation why he is a 5 point rider this season but a 7 point rider last year? No doubt this has been explained elsewhere, but like I say I've not been on here much of late.

The incentive to invest in potential comes from each club in the country having a junior set up. Something I would really like to see brought in. Encourages clubs to bring more local riders to the teams in future. Fans will almost relate more to local riders.

I am probably reading too much into this but in the Speedway Star Rob Godfrey says the signing of Josh Bailey was in the "true spirit" of the rule. The cynic in me (it is speedway after all) thinks that he was having a pop at somebody with that comment. Any ideas who he was referring to? Or am I barking up the wrong tree?

The problem with having 'characters' in this era of social media and forums is that as soon as there is an incident, everybody has to have an opinion. Also, each sporting body is a lot more aware of image these days and any incident that they fear may damage the image of a sport is frowned upon. Take two incidents this year, the Greg Hancock / Nicki Pedersen clash and the Sam Masters / Nicki Pedersen clash. In years gone by these incidents would have been lapped up by the fans. Nowadays, look at the pages these incidents raised on here. And I bet if you trawled through the pages on the forum you would see each of the riders being abused or labelled. Had social media, camera phones, forums been around in days gone by, who knows what would have happened.

It's the usual story, anybody who pours a lot of money into a project, improving facilities, will want to see a return on their investment. Look at football, whenever all-seater stadiums came in, prices rocketed. It's exactly the same with cinema complexes. We will soon see the results, if people feel like they are getting value for money, they will return, if not, they wont. Not been to Ashfield since all the improvements have taken place. Hopefully in 2016 I will.

Agree with a lot of this post, but, as you say, there is very little possibility in promotion / relegation in speedway. When you look at other sports, such as football and rugby union, the one thing that strikes you is the massive incentive to get to the top league, in the revenue from TV deals. There is no such incentive in speedway, in fact, there is more incentive to stay in the Premier League, because of reduced costs. If there was a big TV deal in place, or if you could guarantee bigger attendances in the Elite League, then there would be a bigger possibility of promotion / relegation coming into place.

This is basically the hole which speedway has dug itself into. The sport has failed to move with the times, in terms of promoting the sport, in terms of providing spectators with improved facilities, in terms of shooting itself in the foot on numerous occasions and with very little thought to the public. Spectators / customers / public in general these days demand so much more, because there are so many more alternatives.

Isn't the reduction in meetings more to do with rider availability? I too would like to see more meetings each season with 4TT and test matches etc but we keep getting told that fans are not interested in these meetings and crowds go down.

I actually enjoyed the Swedish meetings. I got to see tracks I would otherwise never have seen, I got to see riders (Sayfutdinov, Woffinden, the Lagutas, Hancock, Lindback etc.) in league racing I would otherwise not see. The commentary was never an issue for me, I don't pay that close attention, but I never found it a problem. It'll be a miss to me in 2016 if it doesn't run. I know there was an issue with some weeks it was shown late, or not at all, but let's face it, speedway is a niche sport, Swedish speedway is a step further. We should be thankful for what we get.

Unfortunately, Berwick (and other teams in this part of the county) have found it difficult to persuade British riders to travel up here on a weekly basis, therefore it is often easier to sign a foreign rider (Michal Makovsky, Adrian Rymel, Josef Franc, Steen Jensen, Coty Garcia spring to mind straight away) to live in the area. It would be great to see Premier League teams with 1-7 British line ups, but for that to happen the sport must try and find a lot more young British riders. That is not going to happen overnight. Hopefully, the expanding National League will act as a stepping stone and new Youth initiatives being set up by Chris Louis will help. This needed to be done years ago and the sport is seeing the consequences of this now. By bringing in more young local riders, this will hopefully go some way towards cutting costs and the more riders a country produces, the more likelihood there is of becoming a leading nation in the sport again. Personally I would like to see some of the money invested being spent on a promotional push / advertising campaign, call it what you will. Hopefully the money will be used wisely to try and attract new fans and win back lapsed fans to the meetings. Hopefully by getting more fans in, this would stop the losses which got the club into financial trouble.

In an ideal world I would like to see six or seven man teams, with a two team meeting, rather than the current four team tournament style meetings, but I realise that isn't going to happen a) because of the disparity between the top five or six nations and everybody else because the tournament would cost too much to run c) would meetings between two teams not the host nation attract a crowd and d) it would be very unpopular with the domestic leagues if it lasted any longer than a week.

Matty Wethers, the chosen one?

You don't agree with my opinion so you want me to stop posting, priceless. Never have thought my opinion should be taken as written in stone, people will always disagree with opinions. But I've said my piece, so just for you, I will stop posting. Until I find another topic I have an opinion on>

if it is "bang average" then I must be happy with "bang average" because I can see scope for improvement in at least three of the riders, given that injury has affected previous averages (Melggren) and their obvious liking for the track (Pijper and Wethers).

The appointment of a proper team manager makes a lot of sense. Fans should be positive, given that only a month ago the club's future was in jeopardy. Now that is secure, a decent looking line up is in place, the thought of next season is a hell of a lot brighter.

Agree with a lot of this. I doubt very much if Tai would have been world champion this season had he rode in the Elite League. Let's face it, his earnings potential is far greater in Poland, he can test machinery almost every day, he picks up far better sponsorship deals in Poland. You only have to see that Sky Sports documentary to see he was absolutely knackered flying in and out of the country while riding in the Elite League. By missing out he is much fresher and can put in more physical training. And how many Grand Prix and World Cup meetings are held at tracks which are similar to Lakeside, Wolverhampton and (the old) Belle Vue? You need to ride regularly on continental tracks. Much as though I would like to see him and other top riders over here, I can certainly understand why they decide to give it a miss.

Okay, I will try to explain. By taking the "inanimate object" of the race jacket, you are representing the country. That was his choice. That, frankly, is all I am interested in. The debate about how you determine a person's nationality doesn't really interest me, because it is never ending, where you are born, parents place of birth, grandparents place of birth, how long you have lived in a country, every sport is different. Whether a sportsman is patriotic or not means nothing to me. If they are representing my country, I will support them, simply because they are playing for my team. Why would Greg Hancock race with a British race jacket? He's American, wouldn't qualify for any other country as far as I'm aware, he's already represented America. Fail to see the parallel with Tai Woffinden.

First things first, so glad Berwick are back in 2016 and now I've seen the line up, I'm happy with that. On a personal note, I would like to have seen Claus Vissing back, but there was always that fitness doubt. The 2016 line up shows potential for improvement, Mellgren, Wethers and Carr especially. Doolan and TJ deserved to be back after their 2015 performances carrying the team. Impressed with the signing of Pijper, as he always seems to score well at Shielfield. Alden is the big unknown. Will he be rusty? Will he pick up where he left off? Only time will tell. Had a great season in 2014 when we went for strength in depth, with the number 6 position being the key. Went for more top end strength last season and it didn't pay off. Will the return to a strength in depth team bring back the good times? Can't wait to find out! Bring on March!

I would imagine everybody is thankful and probably said so when the promotion announced they were running next season. I'll say thank you in my own little way by turning up to as many meetings as I can next season (as usual).

No, it means your bike is Japanese. Tai's race jacket says Britain, he is representing Britain, therefore he is British and as I am supporting the British team, that's all I need to know.