ch958

we have to look at the riders available to GB.speedway as a whole and find a way forward, whether its 2 leagues or 1. The vital thing for next year, if they do nothing else is give NL boys a way into the second division. Yes, some will say weakening but some of those NL boys will thrive on the opportunity and put on a good show. One thing 1 league will do is give the boys twice the meetings, a chance to score well within those meetings and provide much needed variety to the crowds. Sure there'll be stragglers, 2/3 point averages but there always was. As I said in another post for every Briggs and Mauger there was a Roger Hill or a Ken Wakefield who probably only dreamed of beating the top boys.

hopefully, we can't go on like this. This was once a 1st division club with big crowds, tragic whats happening

lets hope they see the season out, they must be losing £££. I feel for them, its a canny stadium which, if it wasn't operating, people would be clamouring for it to open. TBH its time for the league to pull together and somehow make sure the talent is shared - Poole can't play Glasgow or Leicester every week

in my personal opinion 2 and maybe 3 teams have signed riders knowing full well they wouldn't hang around so they could use (misuse) the guest rule. Having said that I don't know what else they could do in circumstances as they are.

one big league. Count the number of available riders, divide by the number of clubs (plus Eastbourne and maybe Swindon) and thats how many riders per team you can have, probably 5. 16/18 team league, plenty variety, chance for the heat leaders to earn good money. People forget the reason some blokes had 10 plus averages was because the scarcity of meeting other top blokes during a season. There'd be plenty of 2/3 point averages but there always was AND they could still compete at NL level. I don't like the idea of 5 man teams but what else can you do?

apparently there are things in place to ensure it doesn't happen again - I'm guessing more volunteers have been sourced

not while we're a 6 and sometimes 5 man team, too reliant on our top 3.

seeing how important TV is they need to pick only tracks which will produce racing even if the crowd is miniscule, e.g in front of 6000 at Belle Vue

Christ almighty shut up

for the guys worried about their earnings - one big league would give them 2ce as many meetings and they wd meet the top guys fewer times. And before anyone says lesser riders will suffer, in the halcyon days - for every Ivan Mauger there was, e.g .a Ken Wakefield who could only dream of beating Ivan. Many riders never rose above 2nd string level but were liked by the fans if they put the effort in. Then we could kiss DU/DD goodbye

This is the hoary old chestnut. The product is close racing not big names (and lets face it they're not actually big names in the 2nd div just big fish in a small pond). The secondary issue is the route from div 3 to div 2 which is presently clogged with div 1 riders.

both teams and Plymouth have struggled because there weren't enough riders of the required calibre. Frankly I believe Plymouth and Newcastle have pulled a flanker by signing blokes who were never going to stick around so they could hire riders weekly. TBH I coudn't blame them, you can't just pull heat leaders out of your ar*e. Name someone who Newcastle or Plymouth could sign.

I agree with this - with the shortage of riders the points limit should have been severely slashed. It does the league absolutely no good this type of situation.

I've never heard of Zuzlowa, would anyone care to enlighten me?

narrow as in 20+ points by the looks of it

as long as the track is there fans would be ok with some shelter - doesn't need to be the palace it was a la Redcar, Somerset, Scunny, Worky, etc

shame someone can't take them on

I don't know why NDL wouldn't exist, its probablt the most vibrant and cost effective division

I think the idea would be for the land to be rented not purchased in a place where housing is not allowed/ viable and unlikely to be given planning permission.

someone on facebook saying there was about 100 people there - surely not??

I suppose Ingliston would be the dream - big stand in front of an oval field.

the question is do they bite the bullet or not re guests, my guess is they don't and it gets kicked down the road (a cul de sac)

same with nightclubs but they always get away with it

no we don't need them, we can organise a league structure without them; we have to in reality. I think you're spot on with your comments.

there's no rider shortage, the ridiculous strength of the 2nd tier is strangling their progress from the 3rd tier. Even if they're not world beaters they're competent and could make up team numbers. Yes, I'm saying the CL should be weakened. If Eastbourne and others come back next year it will be needed otherwise it won't work and we'll lose tracks.