spin king

No this Pete Smith was born in Barnsley, and also rode for Kings Lynn and Leicester in the British League,curiously he never rode for his local team Sheffield. I believe that he went on to sell speedway spares from a van, but I don't think that he still does that now.

Quite agree, I don't think Lewis can cut it at that level, and I think that Tai is one step above Lewis if not two or three, and is by far a more mature and more controlled and calmer rider.

Thanks Ian, waiting for my son to have look at the Email as it is his address.

Thanks for the info.

Again Rabbit I did not say that.

Rabbit, Pitstop said that not me.

Thanks for that info Tiger, I don't suppose you know the result of the 500cc class.

Keep training guys, I am sure you will do okay, my son used to ride at Sheffield with James Sargeant, Cameron Hoskins and Jason Garrity. Good Luck to you both.

What is Scott's surname I like to keep an eye on the Under 15's, you are right not everybody can be a Tai, tell him to keep on training hard.

I have started something now.

Sorry was not having a go, I think that you will find that he probably classes himself as Scottish now, I can tell you that Mark Loram was born in Malta and Benji Compton was born in Tenerife.

Andrew Tully was born on the Isle of Man, whether or not he classes himself as coming from there is another matter.

Does anybody know the final result on this one.

Sorry but I do think that Rabbit has a point, and the fact that it one of her clubs rider s they were talking about has nothing to do with it, Sub comes on here and is for ever name calling riders, he has some very valid points, but they get lost in the fact that he has this habit of calling riders, forum members and other names.

And I suppose been a Poole fan that is all that matters as long as you are happy with him.

Have to agree with you on the Pedersen and Gollob incident, Tomas had done nothing wrong, I can only assume that Pedersen was peed off that Gollob beat him.

Good Luck to James Sargeant.

I am certain Nicki does not mind especially as his team were winning.

HAve to agree with those comments about the Poles, their were certainly the surprise package of the meeting, and at one point I thought that they were going to runaway with the title, I think with the Aussies the stuffing was knocked out of them when Crumpie withdrew from the meeting, and I think if the Swedes could have start the meeting a bit better then they could have made a better challenge of it.

Sorry Rabbit, I know that Bjarnne is a good rider, but he does half remind me of a speedway equivalent of John Major.

Nicki would not have got away with it on here, we would have had 10 pages of Nicki is this and Nicki is that.

I like the guy, I think that he gives speedway a character to watch, much prefer Nicki to Bjarnne who to me appears very grey and dull.

You are absolutely right there Steve, I have friends who are friends of the Blackwells who looked after Nicki Pedersen's engines in GB, they went on holiday to Denmark, and Nicki picked them up from the airport, apparently Nicki was mobbed at the airport, and it took them ages to get out while he signed autographs for fans. While over there they stay in Nicki Pedersen's flat, and while they were there had to put up with people staring through the windows looking to see if Nicki was in, over in Denmark he is the next most famous face to the Royalty.

I think that Bomber and Tai could hold the heads up high and to a lesser extent Eddie Kennett, but two more experience riders Scott Nicholls and Lee Richardson need to look at there performances, and ask if they still have the desire, because personally I don't think it is there anymore, personally I don't think that Scott has been the same rider since his young daughter was born, so maybe his outlook on life has changed and his priorties having kids do that to you, and would never slag of Scott for doing that. As for Lee, I think it is a case of the body won't do what the mind tells it to do, he has been a fine Team GB rider in the past, and rode above expections on many occasions, and should be proud of his WTC record, but needs to bow out now before he becomes someone who has gone on to long. We now need to take the positives of the World Team Cup, build a team around Bomber and Tai, sure we are going to take some more knocks along the way, but I am certain that this country still has the talent to bring succes, we just need to be patient and nuture it.

This was a post that posted sometime ago about improving Britain chances of winning a World Team Cup, and giving a chance for us to nuture a home grown rider to win the World title, what does everybody else think do have a good idea or is it pants, is it practical or not. Come on lets have your views, I am interested to see what you all think. Elite League I think that now the Elite League we have to look at squads rather than teams, like Gary I think that we need to attract the top guys over here, there are too many riders at Grand Prix level who are not riding over here, and why okay Nicki Pedersen was squeezed out by the points limit, and some say his wages demands, if it is the latter then if he is riding on a part time basis then you are not having to pay him a full season's wages. The other reason why riders appear not wanting to commit to the Elite League is the demands and the amount of meetings, squads would reduce these problems. Also squad systems seem to work in Poland and Swedan, so for me if it is good enough for them then it should be good enough for us. On the issue of British riders in the Elite League I will say this, restricting the foreign riders needs to be a done slowly, so for 2009 I would say that all Elite Legue teams must include one British rider in the line up in a meeting, with a squad system they may use a doubling up rider, but ther must be a British rider in their line up. They can go with just one British rider until 2011 when they have to include two Britsh riders, and so on until ratio in the team is more Brits than foreign riders i.e. when there is a minimum of 4 British riders. Bringing back the doubling up rule, I would say that the criteria for doubling up riders should be that they must be British, and they must be no more than 25 years old before the start of the season. Another idea that I have is that no British rider should be allowed to ride full time in the Elite League until they have two seasons riding Premier League speedway. Much as I admire Lewis Bridger's ambition, I cannot help thinking that Lewis's progress is nothing like that of Tai Woffenden. For me Lewis missed a trick by going straight into the Elite League, two seasons in the Premier League would have done him the world of good, the more racing he would have got in, the differing types of tracks, and the fact that he would have probably gone out and won races, greater earning potential would have built up his confidence more. I f you disagree ask yourself this one question, has it harmed the likes of Holder, Batchelor and Woffenden. With the squad system attracting more top riders to Elite League clubs, I think that the points level should be made higher, and I would be looking for a points level of around the 41.5 mark. Premier League I agree with Gary that each team should include a Conference League rider, but I would have at the start of the season what they call in America a draft pick, it could be made into a big event at whch fans can attend to see which rider their team will get, the way it would work is that the team that finishes bottom gets to pick the first rider and so on until the team that finished top gets the last pick. Then for a week teams will be allow to trade Conference League riders, if a top team are wanting another teams Conference rider then it is up to them to offer incentives to swap riders. For the Premier League I would not have squad system, and I think that the points limit is okay as it is now, but I would say that we need to make teams include one British rider for 2009 for two seasons, then two for the next two seasons and again so on until we have the ratio of more British riders than foreign riders. Conference League I think that the Conference needs to get back to what it was set out to do, as a training ground for young speedway riders, anyone who has had more than two years riding in the Premier League should be banned from riding in this league unless they are under the age of 24. I am sorry but I don't see the benfits of having the likes of Semmond Stephens or Jon Armstrong riding in this League. I would also do away with the grading system, and teams should be built on averages, and teams should be squads rather than teams, and the only riders in the Premier League who would be allowed to ride in the Conference League would be those who have just moved up into the Premier League. And I would also make this league purely British, no Commonwealth riders, and those riders who qualify via parentage must commit themselves to British speedway. Academy League I would scrap, in its place I would place I would put in an under 15's matchs, in the monthof August I would have every club Elite, Premier, and Conference give on night of a second half to the under 15's match of say 9 races with two teams of 4, the emphasis would not be on winning teams, but to let youngsters try out different tracks. Riders would have to apply to compete, and the meetings would ber shared out accordingly, with each of them given a fair share of meetins, this along with the Under 15 championship would give the youngsters the track time they so need. The National Team I think that at this present moment we have to show more interest in how the under 21 team goes rather than the senior team, I think that we have the best crop of under 21 riders at the moment then we have had for sometime. Stories about the Under 21 squad not been provided with team kevelars is disgraceful, these boys are our future. As for this World Team Cup, I think that we need to look a side that introduces the youngsters, okay Nicholls, Harris and Richardson pick themselves, but after that we need Woffenden and Kennett in there, one riding and the other been reserve give them the chance to soak up the atmosphere of this kind of meeting and let them learn, but when there is a choice between old guard and new blood lets be bold and introduce youth. Meetings Lets do away with the tactical ride, and the golden double, and return back to the the tactical sub rides when 6 points behind, and which could be used as many times as you wanted. Also I think that the bonus point must be introduced back, but I also think that the three points for an away win should be kept as well. For me the bonus point keeps meeting alive, espcially where team riding at tracks that they don't ride very well at, there is nothing in those kind of meetings for them to compete for. Those are my ideas maybe some people will say that they are unworkable, some may agree with them, but I do think that now is time to change, but I think that it needs to change gradually.