mikebv

The very best riders are gone from British Speedway permanently from next year if/when Poland decide "their league plus one" as the rule. Sweden will be the "plus one" for so many I would imagine given the money on offer v Britain... Poland also are now moving out of their traditional Sunday racing day more and more for TV and re-arranged meetings, which means at any given moment their 'lesser' non GP riders who ride over here will invariably miss an increasing number of scheduled Premiership meetings due to their Polish teams adhoc demands. (Already seen this with Jack Holder).. And whats not to say the Second Div in Poland will start soon to do the same.? Looking at the level of riders currently in that League, many are Heat Leaders over here and I can only presume the money on offer is more than acceptable in relation to their British earnings so when faced with "either/or", which way will they jump? Time for Britain to plan for a future of a top league at a "Championship Lite" level I reckon.. Five man teams as per the Danish model, made up of a No1 rider currently in a top two Heat Leader slot in a Championship team. Two riders currently at a "third heat leader/second string" Championship level. And Two riders of "Championship Reserve/NL Heat Leader" level... Dilutes the standard? Certainly, but will be affordable, and may result in lower admission fees due to much less outlay. As many of the foreign riders currently riding over here will be effected by Polands rule, it will result in predominantly British riders who take the team places, with the vast majority riding in this Country only. . British riders who just ride over here will mean importantly that they are available each week, meaning (even more importantly) regular weekly meetings for the fans as FIM/Other Leagues meetings won't have any bearing on fixture planning... And more track time for British lads which can never be a bad thing for their development, earnings potential and the National Teams chances of future success!!! Twelve teams, sixty riders needed, two home and two away against each team means 22 home matches, nearly six months of continuous racing.. Ten riders per match, all averaging £1k each, (two reserves £750, two middle order riders £1000, and the No1 £1500), one home and one away match per week, meaning 800 fans per match at £15 to pay for it (and the tax man).. Got to be achievable surely..?

A normal meeting must cost in total around £20 - £25k for both teams' wages... A better idea would be to have an individual with a £25k prize fund... Run six or so of them a year, properly marketed and build up momentum to a 'big' end of season finale... Either run the sport in this country as a team sport properly meaning no guests, doubling up etc or not do it at all.. Follow the USA and Aussie and make it individual only if it's the only way to run it with integrity and credibility.. In its current guise it is 100% truly 'Donald Ducked'...

For me 100%.... Ten riders per match... Each averaging £1000... Best averaged riders get more than £1k, lesser riders get less.. Total outlay therefore is £10k per team for the home and away legs... Meaning £15 admission per adult would need 800 fans per match to pay for the two match outlay and the VAT... Take it or leave it is the deal for the riders, sign up 100% for every meeting... Any extra made from personal or club sponsorship is theirs to share... Or don't agree with the terms and ride overseas.. Won't bring any World Class GP riders on that money but will deliver plenty of riders who would love to earn that money three or four times a week.. Get the team strengths compatible, four riders per race of similar standard, and the racing will justify the £15 outlay... You don't need World Class riders to make great Speedway, you do though need riders of a similar level, regardless of how that level sits in the grand scheme of things.. 'Heroes' will be lost, but more 'Heroes' will be made... 99.9% of the population of Britain have no idea who Jason Doyle, Freddie Lindgren and Chris Holder are anyway... A huge 60 million+ potential fans are out there if the sport is run correctly. . Imagine that?

Dan Bewley - almost 40% of Kings Lynn points... Well done Dan... A Belle Vue Reserve... Well done British Speedway... A total shambles of a sport....

Presume being a shared event that the BSPA MC would have been consulted by Peterborough? They couldn't make this decision to devalue one of British Speedway's 'Showpiece' events unilaterally surely? I believe British Speedway has a 'few' problems?.... I Wonder why...😲

British Speedway... "Proudly putting Poland First"... Nice strapline that... Presume Holder will rightly get a 28 day ban...? Anything less will make a mockery of the Sport in this Country... (If riders can't be arsed attending a meeting then why should the fans?)... Cannot having the tail wagging the dog..!

Hope the foot pump they use for the Bouncy Castle is an official FIM/BSPA homologated one... Maybe even one designed by an ex World Champion Bouncy Castler....😂

Isn't it 24 hours before that line ups need to be announced? Both Managers then have time to scrutinise the other's team to see if legitimate or not... Maybe 24 seconds before for this one!!☺ Should sell a few pens at the track shop as many will run out of ink...😁

What the promoters don't seem to consider is that most of their fans get paid monthly so running say six meetings within that month effectively will rule out some visits due to a lack of disposable income. .. Expecting fans to 'put away Speedway money' in the fallow months with no meetings is expecting a lot I would suggest.... Last year at BV the last month of the regular season's six meetings would have cost me around £300 for me and the lad.... Thats £300 to watch my team and their opponents parade guests and RR galore due to fixture clashes home and abroad. In meetings which invariably had little impact to the play off situation given the Aces position in the League... Crazy way to run a Business never mind a Sport...

Same every year it now appears.... Weeks of no meetings for some and then cram lots into the last month of the season.. Last year BV had 6 home matches in 21 days... The result? Teams full of Guests and RR as Poland, Sweden and FIM meetings took precedent for so many riders.. Fans then pick and choose which meetings to go to resulting in low crowds... Add in the play off factor whereby some of these meetings are effectively 'dead rubbers' and it's not a great business plan is it?

Only guest allowed for a No1 I think. . Which for us is Bjerre... RR is the only facilty for Fricke... (Unless of course it's a Wednesday night with a less than a 43% chance of rain, and (or) snow, in the immediate 3 mile radius of whatever track the meeting that night is taking place at and several spiders have been spotted during that day building webs anti clockwise in the lead up to the meeting)... Probably....

But still four teams with which to cherry pick from on a horses for courses basis? Got to be more credible for a team to make some signings than run with a "guest riddled" team in a Final surely?

So potentially the Aces (or anyone else) could end up with a team of three Guests and RR in the Play off Final if say four riders got injured...? If so, could they then cherry pick their riders based on which other team they race against in the Final? ie run with one RR and three guests who are track specialists at the Final opponents track for the away leg, and RR and three different guests who ride well around the NSS for the home leg? Wouldnt be allowed to happen surely? If so, it must be better for the team to sign some bona fide replacements for the credibilty purposes of the Sport...?

Get that, but what if two (or even three) more of our riders get injured? Do we run with a three man team and RR for the other four?😁 Injuries happen often in Speedway so it would be no surprise to see more riders sitting out the season. No signings allowed appears to be somewhat of a daft rule in a Sport so impacted by the high risk of injury... Understand why the rule was brought in, but it's really using a 'sledgehammer to crack a walnut'.. Everyone could see Tai last year was several levels up from the rider he replaced but Speedways slavish 'average following' suggested otherwise.. Some common sense decision making then, by 'whoever' makes these astonishing decisions, would have meant no need for an equally unsuitable ruling this year...

So what happens if Steve Worrall, Craig Cook or Rohan Tungate get injured? Presume if Bjerre gets hurt a Guest can be used but what about the other main team riders? Would BV (and any team) have to promote reserves and bring in juniors to replace their promotion into the main body of the team or will there be an 'in the interest of Speedway' rule..?

Sign the No1 rider average wise and every rider in the League can ride for you... Not a great starting point if you expect loyalty is it? Every season is just a merry go round of riders moving around on a weekly basis when their average and capability at certain tracks deem them an advantage to any team on that particular night.. Where is the loyalty ever going to be when you can effectively destroy your own teams aspirations by top scoring whilst Guesting for a rival? Riders also have zero loyalty to each other as as '28 day ban' for one rider can mean rich pickings in Guest wages for others... A Professional Sport?...

Many things that transpire in British Speedway don't appear in any rulebook... The unwritten "Arr, but this is Speedway" rule comes into play and supercedes every other...

Add in Fricke, Thorsell, Jack Holder who are currently riding over there and possibly the likes of maybe Bjerre, Lambert and Cook who could all be considered by the 'Top League' teams...

The top riders must hold the BSPA in complete disdain if not outright contempt.. No wonder so many give it a swerve.. Next year's rumoured Polish rules will complete the cull of top riders riding over here I would suggest...

A decent 'one big League' team I would suggest... A lot cheaper to pay for than one containing Messrs Holder and Batch too... Is it 2018 already?.. (I would ask when is the deadline for announcing 2018 teams but 2020 would probably be the British Speedway answer)..😀

Have we got a deadline day to tell everyone about all the deadline days that have happened or going to happen?

What was all that transfer deadline stuff about then? Presume it's still a 'free for all' then when it comes to transfers...? Or is the transfer deadline still in place and the "arr, but this is Speedway" rule superceded everything else again..?

I reckon we'd have 'em at Cricket... (Well maybe)...😀

Let's hope not... Due to the 'monsoon season' that Norfolk (or a specific part of it anyway) seems to be experiencing, the season won't finish till December....!

"The track was deceptively smooth".....