tyler42

Indeed Blodorn is only 20. Same age as Hagon and younger than Flint and Jenkins. Didn't have the luxury of being a reserve either. How many years has Flint been a RS!!

I've read Briggo kept crashing and that Ronnie Green ask Ronnie Moore to take him under his wing and show him what was what. I seem to remember Donkey wasn’t too shy of a crash or two when he 1st started out. Briggo as we know went on to win multiple world titles and Donkey a Stella career. I think Vinny has a bright future. What he lacks in experience and track craft he makes up for it with his never say die attitude. Quite a few of those young riders and not so young should take a leaf out of Vinny's book. You won’t see him 1/4 of a lap behind like we saw some riders at Poole the other night !!

The way he has rode the last half of the season, He has gone massively down hill. It all coincided with him moving up into the team at Poole and signing for Leicester. These last three big meetings for poole he has shown no appetite whatsoever. I really thought against Oxford last week he would get a hatful against the likes of Coles, Smith and Bourghen. He got lucky in heat 1 when miles behind, getting a point with Boughen's E/F Didn’t score or looked like scoring a point after. Even Smith beat him!!! As others have said his name has helped him get the chances he's had. Saying all that, depending what team Oxford put out Wednesday. He could score a hatful if it's Coles and Smith at reserve!! 👍

Ellis has shown promise on and off, but Howarth is what they called in the old days a journeyman. As for Coles, It just shows how poor the standards are now. Whereas the Polish equivalent is light years ahead of us. World Champion and some Ex GP riders!!

Having watched this meeting. Was the lack of GP stars and other top riders due to being an end of season meeting or was there a criteria to use lesser riders?

Very good post👍👍

Very nice photos

Thank you

Is the scoring system 3210 or 4320?

You are quite correct. The riders you mentioned have not gone on to be GP standard, but I would suggest all three ride in the hardest league in the world. Bar Bewley and Lambert, no other British rider is competing at that level. Of course you could say, " put them on a uk track and they would be pants" but the facts are they all ride in the main body of the team and don't if they are struggling get to drop back down to reserve. If they don’t perform they are then shipped off to the lower leagues. Out of interest, the Polish U24 league has a list of the top 100 riders. Young Aussie Keynan Rew is top. You have to go down to 35 Rowe, 38 Flint and 55 Giilkes https://ekstraliga.pl/en/se/classification-list/u24e/2024 So the above British riders should surely be a lot higher up that list, due to riding in our top league?

It's Different times I suppose. Throughout the 70s,80s and 90's we had young talent coming through by bucketloads, but that was because we had a great feeder program called grass track. Now we have kids starting out in the youth series under Neil Vatcher. They just progress through the ranks and ride against each and because of the lack of riders compared to yesteryear, they all get a team place in the NDL. They then progress into the CL and as we have witnessed this season, even in a very low standard CL they are not good enough. How many of the riders who made their debut over the last two season in the CL would you say have a bright future? Young Luke Harrison, Killeen, Dan Thompson Look the best contenders to me. Some of the others look so far out of their depth and wlll never make it. That is not their fault. It's the system.

Andy Smith was thrown in at the deep end when 16. Mark Loram, Joe Screen same age. Sink or swim. They all went on to be great riders. We had Peter Schroeck saying the other day how Jody Scott is only 17 and he must protect him!! The three above riding when the top league was a lot harder than today.

Do you honestly think, match ups between the likes of Connor Coles, Jack Smith and Hagon against the riders Lawson Cook and Masters in the same races is value for money. Yes its money for old rope for the heat leaders, but not for the supporters!. You only have to look at Hagon. Hardly scored a point when promoted into the team and what points he does score, are when someone falls or has an E/F. So if these boys go into the main body of the team and we have riders moving up from the NDL of the calibre of Sam Mcgurk. £10 would be too much!!!!

World Champions and world class riders 22/23 of age: Michael Lee Champion 22, Peter Collins Champion 22, Kelly Moran 4th in 79 world final 19, Tommy Knudsen 3rd 81 world final 20, Kelvin Tatum 3rd 86 world final 22, I could carry on all night! Take Connor Coles and Jack Smith last night, they looked a pair of complete novices. I don't know how long he's been riding but Connor is 30 years of age. Jack is 24. Do you think these two will eventually develop? They have rode most of their careers in the NDL. Now because the CL is so weak they find themselves riding in the CL outclassed on a regular basis, only beating riders who themselves are of NDL standard. The CL, we are getting told will most likely be weaker again next season !!! I bet the entrance fee won’t reflect on that though!

No get it right, the team have won trophies. Hagon's contribution has been woful in all three finals. To be fair to the lad he did win the u21 championship, but his form has dipped terrible in the latter part of the season.