neil

I'd be more than happy with between 6 and 7 with the potential to build on once he gets settled in, could be a solid heat leader for us next season. Nice to have someone at the top end of the team who is a berwick asset.

absolutely incredible, the club sign a potentially very good replacement and all that can be commented is a typing error, shouldn't really be surprised though

Ben & Claus are difficult to replace anyway on their averages so making the top 6 is now harder than ever, Watching Garcia and a new 7.00 (or 2 depending how long claus is out) for the rest of the season will add much more interest than watching guests. I agree that we could be weaker but would rather have 7 bandits than guests every week.

Given the lack of available proven 7-8 point riders out there would now be the time to take a chance on a new 7.00? would probably weaken us slightly but a chance of a new asset and someone a bit different to watch every week.

Happy with this signing, good to see a new face in the team and not knowing what to expect. Will be a learning curve to begin with but if he is capable of beating jamrog & covatti then he looks a talent at 20 years old.

could do alot worse as a permanent signing, would mean either Alex or Richard at number 2 with Ashley at reserve leaving plenty points to replace Claus. Although finding an 8-9 point man is nigh on impossible as other clubs are finding.

They were indeed, as was Thierry Hillaire albeit for different reasons. Mark Courtney in his first season was also as good as anyone at that time and arguably as good as anyone since then too

Good result and performance from the whole team, Some people saying that Newcastle are not that strong and not to read too much into last night, not so for me, you can only beat whats put in front of you and their poor team management / building should not take away from the decisive action that Berwick have now taken to put together a solid 1-7. A lot of teams would have benifitted from Richard Hall at number 7, thankfully we got in first. Optimistic for the rest of the season and it will take a good team to beat us at home now.

Good signing in Richard Hall, Should score about 7-8 points most weeks at home from the number 7 spot. Very similar to when we brought back scud smith a few seasons ago and the season turned round, heres hoping...

The new averages for May are out today on the BSPA site Ben 8.04, Hynek 4.56, Claus 7.24, Thomas 7.35, Kevin 6.89, Alex 3.96, Luke 3.00 Team total 41.04 which is 1.46 under the limit. Room for manouvere should the right man come along in May. Is Richard Hall fit/riding this year? could be handy on 4.28

not at all, just saying he is available. I hope it is a new 5.00 Bunyan is probaly worth a gamble for a club which suits his style, and yes Berwick probably is one of those tracks, but with 5.66 available Compton is no worse a signing than Bunyan, they would both proably average about 5 riding at number 2 for Berwick. I just hope we get someone new on a 5 who is starting out their career rather than someone near the end of their career.

i hope it is just nothing has been announced yet

Any thoughts on the last rider, 5.66 available, possible options Tero 5.54 Andre Compton 5.59 new 5.00 and er, Jason Bunyan Shame Anders thompson is 5.68 and Pepe 5.67 or they would have done a good job.

Given the tone of some of the recent postings i would question wether some "fans" ultimate ambition in life is to see the club die

But what if he does hit 7 in 2 years? The benifit of an asset is no loan fees and first call on them like Redcar had this year with Matej Kus

Still a definate yes from me on jake, he is indeed the best of the rest. He will only be a 7.00 for 12 meetings then the team can strengthen and kick on with a much needed new asset.

Benny Johansen?

Andy Campbell?

I hope we still take Jake on a 7, definate talent for the long term.

i dont think the crowd has gone anywhere imo its mostly down to financial restraints the general public find themselves in and people simply struggle to justify the costs of going every week. Whenever there is a big meeting at Berwick there is always a good turnout which shows the support is still there. Berwick was one of the cheapest in the PL and still struggled to get enough people in. Speedway for me should be £10 -£12 at PL level but to make this happen the costs for riders / bikes would have to be slashed but thats a different arguement altogether

ok maybe a tad optimistic with that one but there will be other assessed riders looking for a PL place

i dont know if it would, as long as the racing is good most people will be happy. For me the thought of having 2 new riders to British speedway and watching their progress as well as having Ben Barker leading the team is good enough reason to go. For a few meetings with indifferent results with the prospect of an exciting young team for the remaining 20 odd home meetings is a price well worth paying. Signing the likes of Harrison, Pjiper etc who to be fair would all do a job does not get me excited.

1. do they not get 2 years? even so i would still take a chance with Jake, the other 7 could be an EU rider 2. A 3.00 youngster could be happy to get 12 meetings PL experience, as long as he knows the deal then not an issue 3. Agree there will be potential heavy defeats away, but should still have 6 close home meetings, 3 of them league cup so imo meaningless anyway. The key would be getting the right rider(s) in after 12 meetings

Absolutely, and bring another 5 or 7 assessed with him, we will only be weak for 12 meetings. Sign the right riders after 12 meetings then we could really push on and finish strong. The time has come to take matters into our own hands re having first call on a few assets.

The ways things are heading i would go with 2 new assessed riders on 7.00 and give them both 12 meetings to get real averages then strengthen for the league starting. It would mean sacrificing the league cup but a price worth paying to get 2 new riders as assets and build from that. Sometimes you have to take a step back to take 2 steps forward. Peter Waite was initially not popular with alot of fans when he declared a team with 3 assessed czech riders in 2001 but it proved to be one of the best things he ever did, time for something similar so we aren't looking around at the start of every season for riders their parent clubs dont want.