tyler42

Yes I forgot about Tom, but other than Thompson, anyone else?

I have to admit, looking at the riders who are not RS's at the moment. There is not many riders from the lower league who would be any better than Sam Hagon. Young Luke Harrison and Nathan Abelitt are the only two who imo would be better, but the RS system has not worked. Only Dan Thompson has got out of the reserve berth and progressed. Flint is coming up for his 5th season as a RS. Edwards 4th season, Jenkins the same!!

Having watched him in the Phil Crump classic. He shouldn't be anywhere near the top league. He only managed 1 point and that was against a local guy who didn't scored a point!. The name has got him this far, but It won't last unless he starts scoring points. It was a very strange decision of Dickinson to keep him after last season. One good meeting at Belle Vue other than that, he only scored points when riders fell or broke down!!

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.