topsoil

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My own personal opinion is that national anthems are a waste of time and I don't see what purpose they serve at sporting events. Tai is British, it says so on his race jacket. That's all that matters to me. You can debate the technicalities of his qualifications all you like. Looking forward to see him trying to become BRITAIN's first three time world champion next year and leading the World Cup campaign. And I would also like to see him and a GB team in the Pairs events as well.

I was disappointed in Richard Hall last season. When he was signed I really thought he could be a good signing at reserve. I always thought he would be suited to Shielfield. But as with most of the Berwick riders last season he suffered badly from machinery issues and injury and you are right, while Alex Edberg seemed to get most of the blame, there were times when Richard Hall was equally culpable.

Only time will tell if he makes the grade, but I'm just glad to see another British rider gaining experience of riding abroad, as it can only benefit the national team come World Cup time. So few of our riders have experience of riding abroad or in big events.

Would really like to see Emil, the Lagutas or Vaculik given a shot, but given the history of the Russians in World Cups you can't blame the SGP selectors for not selecting them. And Emil has turned the SGP down before as well, really frustrating. If Vaculik continues his form however he could be hard to ignore.

Meeting (not meetings). And that was because of a bad injury.

Speedway hasn't moved with the times, the sport, after from mechanically, is stuck in the previous century. Very basic stadiums, very basic levels of entertainment apart from the actual races, very little, if any promotion. Look at the way promoters tried to ban updates. Every other sport embraces developments such as social media and the internet. Some promoters even wanted to ban live TV meetings. The sport has shot itself in the foot too many times to recall, with meetings postponed, abandoned, run in terrible conditions, without any thought given to fans. The sport isn't dying, Glasgow have proved that put on a show and fans will come. The sport will die out, however, if the status quo remains and heads are buried in the sand.

Has anybody heard how Claus Vissing is getting on in his recovery? Any idea if he intends to ride again 2016? Wonder if he figures somewhere?

Was waiting for a question like this. One year is a short term view, name a team who is in a better position than Glasgow going forward. They are growing the whole time, fan base, media exposure, own their own stadium. Nearly every other team has had doubts about its future. And I'm not even close to being a Glasgow fan. But I can see a successful club there.

Glasgow didn't win any silverware this year, but certainly "won" if you consider other things like increased attendances, increased media awareness, they have set the standard for providing entertainment during meetings, the stadium facilities, several new streams of income, stadium ownership. Probably the biggest "winners" in speedway right now.

Unless you are looking for a montage of pulled faces into the camera. He's an expert at that.

Good luck to them if they can make a living from speedway, but unless they can get themselves a lot of sponsorship, speedway in this country just cannot support professional riders, unless they can supplement it by doubling up or riding abroad. Part of the reason that the sport is in such a bad state financially is that there are too many riders who try to make a living from the sport only. Don't like to live in the past, but when you look back to previous decades, nearly all of the riders had part time jobs to supplement riding. I know standards have risen considerably due to the "professionalism" but the sport just cannot afford it and a happy medium has to be found.

Theo Pijper scored well guesting for Berwick at the back end of the season. From memory always puts in a decent performance at Berwick. Would be a good signing IMO. Suppose it all depends where he wants to go. Longtrack commitments could be a problem, look at the number of times Richard Hall was missing this year. What would the facility be if he was missing? Guests? R/R? NL replacement?

Matty Wethers rode really well for Workington at the end of the season. Back on a decent average?

1. You are spot on that speedway needs to move into the 21st century in terms of entertaining the fans and you are right Glasgow have shown the example to follow. I only hope that more promoters heed this, but I can imagine a lot of response will be along the lines of "but Glasgow have money to spend". You reap what you sow. 2. Again, like you I think it would be a great idea for Edinburgh / Glasgow to run a junior outfit, but I would go one further and like every team, Elite and Premier, to run a "junior" team of some level, then run a sort of regional competition, to cut down on travelling. It floods the sport with young riders and second half meetings gives fans more racing. 3. On a personal note, I don't really care if the very top riders want to ride in this country. What we need to concentrate on is producing a steady supply of a decent standard of rider, so that if these top riders don't want to ride here, then there is always somebody else to fill their shoes. Look at rugby, The domestic competitions over here are continuing despite the World Cup being on and top internationals being away there, that is because they have enough replacements of a decent standard that they won't be missed.

Can't see why he would be a problem for 2016 if he puts a point and a half on his average. The average for the 2017 season is a whole different argument.

If Anders Mellgren gets up to a 7 point average Berwick will be ecstatic and will have pulled off a great signing. But speedway is a numbers game. Who knows what the circumstances for the rider / club will be in 18 months time.

You may have unearthed an unknown gem on Crag Coot. You're right it's time to get behind the lads for 2015.

Rather than just listing teams I am far more interested in how promoters go about building teams. I suppose you have signings in mind, but then you have to approach the riders' parent club, always assuming the rider doesn't want to sign with his parent club. Then you need to agree terms. But all the time you need to consider things like does the rider double up with an Elite league club, ride abroad, will there be fixtures clashes, official FIM meetings. Then there are the actual negotiations. Do you pay a rider a set rate £x per point and leave him to meet all his costs, or do you pay less per point and meet certain costs like the travelling, equipment and so on. Are there any riders who make strange demands? Do different teams have different pay scales?

That's why I've never really liked greyhound stadiums for speedway tracks. Most of them, like Monmore, Brough Park, Belle Vue are totally empty apart from the home straight. I never think it looks good for TV either and does nothing for atmosphere. Don't know if it's my memory playing tricks with me but was there a stand on the back straight at Brough? Sure I can remember watching a meeting from the back straight when I was young. Anyway, none of them compare to Powderhall. Great stadium, have a lot of good memories coming up there to watch Berwick.

I probably am, as I have no first hand experience of the relationship between promoters / riders regarding pay and expenses. But I was basing it on what I was told a few year ago by somebody close to another Premier League promoter. I was told that he (the promoter) used to save a lot of money by setting riders up with sponsorship deals to cover their costs, thus pushing down their pay rates.

Which in its own way is helping out the promotion, as in theory the more help riders are getting to help fund their equipment, travelling etc, then the less demands made to promotion in pay rates. So it should be a win win situation. The promotion needs the supporters club, the supporters club need the promotion, so the more they work together the better the situation will become.

Maybe I am being totally naive here, but I always thought a rider supplied his own machinery. I know promoters will try and get sponsorship to help riders fund machinery, but should it be up to promoters to buy the riders their machinery?

Never want to be part of colon tuesday

Amen to that, I think every team, Elite and Premier, should have some form of junior team. Every league match should be followed by a junior meeting. Gives the fans more racing in the evening and brigs on young talent.