Wee Eck

My bad remembering!

Very good question. My opinion, probably valueless, is he’d struggle to qualify for either. He’s opted out of the top two leagues in Poland and, unless there are changes, looks unlikely to race in England so he’s unlikely to be as competitive as he once was. Places for the qualifiers will be limited - is it SCB that makes the nominations? - so I’d guess that nominations will be based on future prospects rather than past endeavours

The correct move. Otherwise, what’s the point of having a reserves list in order?

An opinion I can’t agree with. Jack Holder, Kurtz, Bewley and maybe even Fricke are probably better than Sayfutdinov and demonstrably better than Laguta….IMO

You mean the world under 21 champion who should have got the place ahead of Tai anyway?

Does having Parnitskyi not count as “another nationality)?

I suppose it all depends on the professionalism of the promotion. Poole are known to pay less in points money than most similar teams, that’s been the way for many years, but to use sponsors to top up riders’ income. But at the same time, they’ve promoted heavily in the local area (maybe less recently but that might change with Matt Ford moving back to England). Central marketing by BSPA/BSPL hasn’t worked so it’s down to each club to do their own. And my guess is that BV believe that having Dan and Brady gives them a better selling story. I don’t live anywhere near Manchester so have no idea how or even if they maximise this

Just to correct you - British speedway HAS used professional marketeers in the past but they’ve always gone for the cheapest then, when they inevitably fail say “see, we told you marketing was valueless” On the 2 versus 1 GP stars, my expectation is that large amounts of their costs are covered by sponsors, sponsors who probably wouldn’t contribute as much overall to the team (in addition to their “help” with wage costs) if there was only one

Some of the individuals involved are certainly solvent. I have no information on how well funded the operation will be.

That’s my understanding.

My understanding is he’s not

I think he might be the first person you think of. Then add a couple of likely - or perhaps unlikely - lads already involved in speedway and you’re getting there

I think you have 3 out of 7

All valid points. We had a long dry spell with no one, other than Tai, coming through to challenge Bomber and Scott Nicholls for a place in the GB Team. And even with only three decent riders, we had boycotts and fall outs over pay as well as a lack of professionalism in preparation. But, over the last 10-15 years, we’ve had several initiatives to help bring the next generation through. Neil Vatcher with the British Youth Championship deserves much of the credit for this but Phil Morris and the late Graham Reeve were also heavily involved. Bev and Marcus Williams in Australia set up the scholarship - some called it boot camp - in their house and Ian Sinderson of ATPI and Richard Cotton of Rentruck got the No Limits training programme going. When the efforts of Vicky Blackwell and Rob Painter are added to this, you can see how individuals are the ones that have created a set of circumstances that have moved us out of the doldrums when it came to developing riders. From a very lowly position, as well as the GP stars, we’ve now got several decent riders chasing for success. Like Tom Brennan, Dan Thompson, Drew Kemp, Joe Thompson, Dan Gilkes, Leon Flint and several more. Each and every person who has helped to create this, and, of course, Simon Stead is part of this, deserves recognition and thanks. BSPL and many individual promoters are the villains in this - taking but giving little in return. Turning the Development League from amateur to professional was a huge mistake, driven by vested interest. The bottom league should have been a ride for expenses league, but who remembers the year Adam Ellis - and no slight on Adam intended - turned down a championship role because the NDL was paying him too much? For him, it was the right thing to do but it should have been a wake up call for the promoters. Coming back to the original point, the GB Team has been more than the individuals involved, whether that’s those that operate in plain sight or those in the background. But its strength has been because it has operated as a team and Simon was part of the team. Of course GB will regroup without him, but that doesn’t mean his departure shouldn’t be regretted.

It’s easy to work out - Mayfield have bought Ipswich, Mayfield are the license holders for the GPs. There’s now only one temporary GP track so, until the World Cup, the GP air fence won’t be needed. And Ipswich wouldn’t have been running that week so they can return it to Poland