orderly

I think that a lot of riders had a bad year in 2011 and a lot of it was caused by the introduction of the new silencers and their inability to tune the engine to the silencer to maximum performance, this happened in both the elite and the premier leagues and on the grand prix circuit. With Justin Sedgeman I believe that the root cause was the fact that he rode full time in the elite at the start of the season when he was not up to their standard and I blame Ronnie Russell for keeping him in the Swindon team when he should have realized that his head was dropping and pulled him out. I feel that Justin made the mistake of trying to “dig himself out of a hole” which never works, in hind sight he should have pulled the plug and gone home but he is a speedway rider and like most riders they have a never say die attitude. I hope that the break that Justin took has made him better and stronger rider

And I suppose your opinion is correct. As I said IMO why should they come over here with an aussie passport and ride as a brit then when they think that they are good enough they want to ride for Australia, why should we train them to ride against us

Roynon need a spell in the National League to regain his confidence after all the injuries he has sustained over the last 2 years, he is British and needs a little help to get things together again and how can you have the audacity to accuse him of keeping a brit out of a team place, I you will find that it is mostly the Australians doing that IMO if they do not hold a UK passport then they can’t have a team place in the national league and if they claim English partiality then they should choose which flag they are going race under before they sign a contract. There are too many young hopefuls this season that can’t get a team place and to name one is the British 500cc under 16 Champion Nathan Stoneman who, according to the Speedway Star last week, is desperate to get a team place to advance his career

Ricky Ashworth has signed for Berwick according to the Berwick web site they were looking for a new rider but with little joy of a signing. To quote their web site. “Several riders were considered, even talked to, to fill the role.” admitted team boss Ian Rae. “But we weren’t really getting the right results from these discussions. Some riders wanted too much money or warned us they would miss some of our meetings. Or both! We were facing a brick wall. “However, out of the blue on Sunday we took a call from (his parent club) Sheffield’s promoter David Hoggart to say that Ricky Ashworth -- who everyone thought would be joining Plymouth -- hadn’t been able to come to terms with the Devils. Would we be interested? “Yes we were! “I obviously questioned the validity but was assured it was true. A rider of Ricky's ability is too good to overlook bearing in mind our current circumstances and we commenced negotiations on Monday to bring him to Shielfield Park. “With Sheffield’s full permission we touched base with Ricky, our director George Hepburn and I met him at Wetherby Services on the A1 and today we are holding the signed contracts. “Job done! “Whatever the problem was in Devon – and that would be none of our business – I can state that Ricky was very understanding of our situation and of our budgets, and we had no trouble in coming to terms.

Good write up about Nathan Stoneman in this weeks Speedway Star, hope it helps him to get a team place Even on EBay 1 ltr of Castrol R40 starts at £10.80 Wheres your oil coming from is off the back of the lorry that has just gone up the hill

I think that you have jumped the gun Simmo I believe that Newport are still awaiting their team to be confirmed by the Gods that reside at Rugby

I still believe that all tracks could run a season long competition as used to be run at Exeter many years ago Back then it was called “The Mercury Motor Inn Trophy” named after the sponsor where by the two reserves and the lowest scorer from the main team event where pitted against the top three junior’s. It sounds like the main team riders had it easy but I can assure you they did not and the beauty of this competition was that the junior’s got the track time and race experience that they needed, the reserves also had additional race training and the lowest score would have the opportunity to sort out any problems that he might have experienced in the main match

The Hancocks own Somerset Speedway they also own the land By comparision the SBA makes the Rye House track look like a long track venue

He may be telling porkys to the Inland Revenue

Could this be Mr Bowden in drag or is it somone who works in the bar at the SBA

I have known the Stoneman family for many, many years and they have never asked for charity. Since Nathans dad lost his leg as a result of a grass track incident he has done his utmost to help Nathan progress first through the grass track scene and now through speedway and it is un fair for anybody to suggest that there are only three alternatives: sponsorship, increase earnings or give up. Let’s get a few facts straight Nathans Mum works her fingers to the bone to provide for the family and help to support Nathans Speedway Nathans Dad will do anything to help Nathan in his quest to proceed in the world of speedway Nathans Granddad helps out as and when he can They drive a Renault race van but it’s not the age of any vehicle that counts but the weight of the equipment that needs to be carried to meetings. Nathans Dad dose all the sign work on the van and his bikes to cut costs They live in the south west which means that a lot of the requirements for racing e.g. fuel, oil and fuel for the van is a good bit more expensive than it is if you live in the midlands or the north The closest National League track for Nathan would be the Isle of Wight and for a home meeting they would travel just under 300 miles which would take 50 litres of fuel @ £144.9 per litre cost £79, + 8 hours travelling (all are return figures) and then they have to eat and all the would get back is 10p per mile =£30 When these lads win championships there should be a sponsorship deal as part of the prize they should also be offered outings with a National League team to allow them to gain valuable experience. What is going to happen to the current 125cc Champion Henry Atkins when he is old enough to ride a 500cc bike will he be told to get an Australian Passport if he wants to ride in his own country

Somerset own their stadium and the ground it stands on

Nathan is a super rider he is fast but he is in control of his machine, as a lad of just 15 he has a very mature head on those young shoulders. Maybe he won’t set the national league alight in his first year or two but I have seen too many young riders over the years go from zero to hero in a season then burn themselves out and we never see them again. In my opinion we are giving far too many chances to foreign riders, like with the Australians why should they get special dispensation just because they can prove that one of their ancestors was deported to Australia on the last convict ship, if they were born in Australia then they are Australian not British. How can Chris Louis hold his head high when he “sacked” two British riders to make way for more foreigners and how Matt Ford can be proud of winning the British Elite League Title when he will not contemplate engaging a British rider? May be we should re name the Elite League as “The International Elite League”

Now there’s a surprise

WE DO NOT WANT HIM CONNECTED WITH EXETER IN ANY SHAPE OR FORM, EXETER HAS A GOOD REPUTATION LETS KEEP IT THAT WAY. Here endeth the rant

Known Mike Bowden for well over 30 years and still would not trust him any further than I could see him without my specs, and thats not more than a few inches

It looks as though Mr Bowden has had a few diodes attached to his wallet so that money can flow in but nothing can come out. Building a team on a shoe string budget is fine until the shoe string breaks then watch the $*it hit the fan

I agree with you James Holder is one of the nicest guys around, and he knows he will never set the speedway world alight, but he is second to none as a team man. Even last year when he was injured he was always there to help his team mates and try to encourage them to do better but if you could have seen the colour of his chest he looked more like an aborigine than anything else. The one thing that goes against Jimmy is the fact that he is Chris Holders elder brother and everybody expects him to perform like Chris, even on the Plymouth web site Mike Bowden said that signing James was great because he is Chris Holders brother, even when he was interviewed at Somerset last season the first words where how Chris was doing at Poole or in the GP just forget who his brother is and allow James to be his own man this may take a little pressure off him and allow him to develop his own game. Many years ago I spoke to Kym Mauger son of Ivan Mauger and he said that it was a mistake to try to do well in speedway as he was always riding in the shadow of his father and the pressure put on his shoulders was immense. So please treat Jimmy as an individual not as Chris Holders big bro

I wouldn't believe a word that came out of Mike Bowden’s mouth he wouldn’t know the truth even if it bit his arse bum

There where some pritty nasty comments made against Mark by some of your forum members, admitted most made the comment that they where miffed with Mark, but some got personal and that is not needed I do not joke and in some ways Newport & Berwick are very much alike

Bit of a blinkered view and all this because Mark did not score many points when riding for Newport then came back with Newcastle and beat the pants off you and you have held a grudge ever since. Yet when Charlie Gjedde did the same you praised him as if he was a saint. Stop using double standards, “What is good for the Wasp is also good for the Diamond” I suppose you will now start a hate campaign against Alex Davies who is now a Somerset asset and scoring freely.

I agree that Brent Werner is a very weak signing but let’s face it he was forced to retire for family reasons which meant that until these issues are resolved he could not commit 100% of his attention to his racing, hopefully all these issues have now been resolved then Brent could surprise a lot of us if he returns to his previous form. James Holder is a true team man, he will never be a top scorer but he gets the points when his team need him to perform as he did on several occasions during his spell at Somerset he was an excellent captain and was always there to help if required. In my opinion both Brent and James could be match winners

there are OFFICAL TRACK PHOTOGROPHERS that supply the official web site. no disrespect to MM but it could affect their earning potential,

Many people did not see eye to eye with Tim, me included, but I believe that Tim was a very ill man and that it was trying to keep Newport alive finally resulted in his fatal heart attack. So rarther than disrespect him name it after him. Lets face it that if it was'nt for Tim there would not be Queensway Meadow Stadium and no Newport Speedway

I think that the subject of who owns who is open to a lot of misinterpretation, as far as I can see each rider agrees a contract with a promotion provided that the promotion have received permission from the promotion who has that rider on their retained list (2011 speedway rule book 7.4.8). This could be viewed as a contract of employment that will terminate on a pre decided date i.e. 31st October each year. At the end of the loan period the rider reverts back to the promotion on who’s retained list he appears which means that the rider is not a free agent. As for Nick Morris he is on the Glasgow retained list and rode his first Premier league match for Glasgow in June 2010, therefore any other promotion seeking his services in 2012 must first of all talk to the Glasgow management first