G the Bee

Looks like we disagree on two points then! Scott might do well in a watered down league but Larsen is simply a better rider now (although he is coming back from a nasty injury so that has associated risks). If Nicholls is to do well in a watered down league, I would argue Larsen should do even better. King is 0.2 higher than Larsen which means neither Szczepaniak or Auty would fit as the last place in the 1-5 if we signed Danny King. The loan fee for Larsen would be off-set by a loan fee for Nicholls. Can't believe he wouldn't be snapped up somewhere. Still it's all good fun speculating. I suspect the actual 1-5 has already been sorted out.

Larsen over Nicholls is a no-brainer for me. Larsen is still improving. Nicholls is sliding.

But they haven't done anything other than introduce NL riders into the league (a questionable move at best) and dropped the points limit. The (supposed) expensive riders (in other words the GP stars) who want to be here will still be. Ward and Holder will still line up for Poole. Iversen for Kings Lynn etc. So where's the cost cutting?

So the draft system allows teams to have pre-allocated riders they have already signed? What sort of draft is that?

Will be fun seeing how that works. Who is to say a Bees team of, say, Sundstrom, Harris, Hansen, Larsen and Szczepaniak (which comes in at 31.99) is better than a Poole team of Holder, Ward, Tungate, Grajczonek and A.N. Other up to 4.61)? At least it looks like if Poole go with that top 4 they will not be able to fit Bech in as his PL converted average is 5.05.

My prediction. Not commenting on how good it will be, just that this is who I think we'll end up with. Larsen - 7.26 Sundstrom - 7.22 Harris - 6.82 Hansen - 5.83 Szczepaniak - 4.86 Total 31.99 Branford and Jacobs at reserve.

As far as I can see, they had a real chance (yet again) to do something positive. Instead we've got some sort of halfway house designed to try to cut costs by lowering the points limit yet retaining the GP stars. SCB has just predicted Poole's top 4. I suspect, if averages allow, they'll stick Mikkel Bech in there with Holder, Ward, Josh G and Kyle N. All they'll have to do is make sure they have a couple of half-decent NL reserves (who do not even seem to have averages) and they will stroll to the title again! Kings Lynn, if they can keep Robert Lambert will have one of the top heat leaders in Iversen and the top NL rider. If there is no NL points limit ascribed to the reserve positions, essentially these rules mean you can build the strongest 1-5 possible and also have the best reserves in the league. The usual team-building scenario of a weaker 1-5 being off set by a stronger reserve pairing (Bham this year for example) has gone out of the window.

The beginnings of a statement on BSPA site. But click on it and nothing happens. It is not January 1st 1970!

Let's face it, the sport has been on borrowed time for years now. A direct result of having no strategic vision for the last ten years and stumbling on from agm to agm with self-interest dominating. If the sport had been managed properly we could still have the top riders over here and a healthy Elite League too. But it hasn't been and we can't have. Unfortunately, the league can't keep going on the way it is. This year, as I see it, the sport had two options: 1) To adopt a single race night model and bring back the top riders and form the kind of genuine Elite League that this country has not seen for ten years. 8 teams racing once a week. This would have been dependent on a long-term tv deal and a lot of good will amongst the promotions. It would also have meant that home meetings would only be once every two weeks (but, lets face it, we have been not far away from that this season anyway). 2) Plan for a league without the tv money. Get rid of the high earning riders who are streets ahead of the opposition, bring back weekly racing to each track and cut the cloth accordingly. My only concern is that Tai becoming World Champion may have thrown a huge spanner in the works. We don't want to have the new British World Champion not riding over here but if Wolves field Woffinden on a nine point average with a total points limit of 38, they are going to have to make some astute signings further down the order to be remotely competitive.

The problem being of course, that Coventry wanted to use Ben Barker in 2013. So by your own reasoning Barker was not free to talk to Birmingham at all. Makes me wonder how he ever ended up riding for them at all last season!

I think the hastily proposed 'Only one rider with a surname beginning with Ha' rule that's just been put on the agenda for the agm might put a spanner in the works.

Apparently Nigel and Kelvin were seen on a grassy knoll in Dallas, Texas on November 22nd 1963.

You couldn't make it up could you? Even a made up Bees side gets a right stuffing! A big well done to Krzysztof Kasprzak on a classy 15 point maximum. I hope he feels really pleased with himself for putting in the kind of performance against Coventry that the Coventry fans wanted him to produce for them all season.

On what grounds? Because he is a Swindon asset? The events of the close season of 2012 and 2013 show us that this means nothing. The rider will ride where he wants to ride. And if Zengi doesn't want to return to Swindon, surely all he (or any rider who doesn't want to ride for his parent club) has to do is hold fire until March 1st. Then he can ride for whatever team he likes can't he? Of course, Zengi may decide he'd rather ride for Swindon (the team that didn't want him this year and has had documented financial issues this season) than Coventry anyway. Who knows, with the points limit being what it is mooted to be, there may not be a place for him at either club! Anyway, this could all be irrelevant as we don't know if Poole want Zengi to ride for them. If they do then no doubt he will be a Pirate in 2014 as no rider would surely want to ride for any other team!

Put simply, we must be the only sport who has had a decade and a half's investment from Sky and come out the other end in a significantly worse position than when we entered it. A damning indictment of how the sport in this country has been run. Clueless promotion, no long-term plan, stumbling along from agm to agm making rule changes on a whim... Need I go on. As far as I'm concerned the management team of the BSPA as a collective (and I know it's membership has changed over this period) has blood on its hands and owes each and every speedway supporter in the country an apology for the shambolic and ineffective way the sport has been governed over this period.

What an excellent article. And certainly food for thought for some of the posters on here who continually trot out the "They put their lives on the line for our entertainment" nonsense. Excellent quotes from Batchelor: "Rosco was always saying to us ‘come on, we’ve got to win we’ve got to win’ but we just said ‘why, what for because we’re not getting anything out of it?’ “We would have had a better season if that hadn’t happened, for sure, and there were times where we couldn’t be bothered with it all." or “We turned up and did half a job, and the first time we lost at Belle Vue in the last race we didn’t care, nobody cared, and we just laughed and said ‘ oh well we’re not being paid anyway so who cares.’" He does acknowledge that he felt sorry for the fans who were still paying their entrance monies to see the meetings but, lets face it, his concern for the fans was not enough to make him go out on the track and give 100%. And I can't say I blame him either. Fair play to him for speaking out.

OK I'll bite. Got a bit of time on my hands this afternoon. Justify your statement please. How could the actions of the Coventry promotion - ie attempting to stick to their guns over proposed rule changes (all of which were voted in despite Coventry's protestations) and wanting an independent body to govern the sport (which has not happened anyway) be responsible for the current mess the league is in?

That's a fair point, and one the constant snipers of Mick Horton would be wise to remember. They should be careful what they wish for. Of course we have no idea if, should Mick decide enough is enough, another buyer for Coventry could be found. However, all I can say on the matter is that if I had the money I for one would not invest it in speedway. The sport in this country is on its backside and an absolute shambles at the moment. That's not just at Elite League level either. If Mick did walk away I would not be surprised if there was no other knight in shining armour available to take his place.

The pricing policy for this meeting (it's been £25 for a while now) just shows how far from reality the powers that be at the BSPA are. If they have any genuine belief that the field that will ultimately ride in this meeting, at a venue which (to be kind) has seen better days, is worth anyone shelling out £25 per person of their hard-earned cash then they are deluded. It's a second rate line-up, of riders from a second rate league, in a second rate venue and the price on the door should reflect that.

And that is precisely why I will be staying at home! What a rip off! Only £4 cheaper than the GP in Cardiff.

I'm sorry,I don't accept this argument at all. Ole Olsen has covered the track at Vojens plenty of times and he manages to do the job despite the manpower involved. If we are going to moan about the manpower needed to lay and remove the track covers what was the point of investigating in them at all? Surely, when they were purchased, the powers that be did not think they would lay themselves! Sure it's a big job. But it can be justified by the importance of the meeting. In terms of manpower, I suspect that if Brummies had put a note on their website earlier in the week requesting help to lay the covers on Thursday evening (for example) and remove them on Monday afternoon, they would have got a healthy band of helpers (especially they offered to feed the helpers and give them free entry to the meeting). Surely all it takes is a bit of forward planning.

To be honest, if ever there was a case of needing the covers to be put on it was for this meeting. The covers should have been down from Thursday. I know that this in itself would cause issues with the track, but surely any issues with covering a track for 4 days would be nowhere near as significant as the damage three days of constant rain would cause. If you can't use them for the most important meeting in the league calendar when weather forecasts have given plenty of warning about the poor weather, then when can they be used?

That comes in at around 41.85 using BSPA averages. I can't see the points limit being that high myself. I also agree with Had about Nicholls and Harris. I don't think they work well together either and think it's time to move on and look elsewhere. However, you can't deny on an average of 6.82 Harris looks a steal in a weaker league. That said, there is no doubt his average has been sliding since 2010 and there is nothing to say that will not be the case in 2014. Certainly, if Harris returned I would let Nicholls go. In the same vein, I would not have Harris back if Nicholls was retained. I have a feeling if Sundstrom comes to Brandon it might be with Harris going the other way. Either way, and despite his attractive average, I can't see Harris back at Birmingham next year. They have a massive amount of points to shed and irrespective of the success of the Brummies on the track, Harris's form has been a disappointment for them this year. Personally, I still think every team needs a solid number 1. We were hoping to get this from KK this year but it did not happen. Assuming rules regarding GP riders are not changed, then if the likes of Lindgren, Holder or Ward were to be released from their clubs under a lower points limit, I would like us to move for one of them. Otherwise, perhaps, on the back of his dire season this year, Jonsson might be tempted to return. Of course, it's so hard to make any kind of predictions until we know what the rules are going to be!

When you see a ride like that by Kasprzak in heat 13, it makes you realise why Coventry fans were so frustrated by him this season. It's also why I believe Havelock was a failure as team manager for the Bees. When he is on form, Kasprzak is one of the top riders in the world but he is a confidence rider. Middlo and Rosco seemed able to get the best out of him but often this season I was left wondering whether Havelock had any kind of approach or strategy to managing Kasprzak to get the best out of him. I know it's not a truly relevant thread for a comment like this, but it's a discussion forum and I certainly believe if Kasprzak had been able to turn out performances like the one I have witnessed this afternoon, the season could have turned out very differently for Coventry.

Perfect team riding by Jonsson and Hancock.