crescent girl

As John Campbell has been a promoter for an unbroken run of 35 seasons and was a trophy-winning third-tier promoter at Linlithgow and Armadale as well as settingup all the Monarchs' many successes, l'd be backing him to send out a useful - - albeit young and at first inexperienced - - team of Devils. Without breaking any banks.

The Devils are aiming to employ, and produce new, young Northern-based talents, rather than win the League, to judge by some very encouraging words from John Campbell: "The Devils will embrace this fully with an exciting line up of young riders, many of whom are just setting out on their speedway journey and have been searching for their big break. They may take some time to find their feet but the opportunity is there for them to progress to become professional speedway riders." "I am very excited by the prospect of watching our young Devils progress over the course of the season. The early matches may prove challenging but I find it is one of the greatest joys in speedway to watch a rider improve and develop. I am sure this is a view shared by many Monarchs supporters and I am certain they will fully and enthusiastically support the ethos of the Devils."

I think you'll find that Stewart Dickson knows plenty about every league, everywhere. Can't speak about any others at the club, about whom I know very little.

Mike Hope of Wooler announced today as again backing the Bandits in 2020. Commercial department doing very well so far with getting sponsors on board. (IMO)

Sadly, this wouldn't happen. How many Kent fans would travel to Somerset, or Scunthorpe fans to Birmingham, on a Wednesday night for such a meeting? Even in the glory days of the 1980's, the southern tracks ran these meetings at a big loss. Nowadays, with far fewer travelling fans -- even at weekends -- the costs, especially for the southern and midland sectors, would be absolutely prohibitive. As sporting contests, such rounds would be entertaining, as business propositions (especially in the south and midlands) totally unviable.

Wrong! Only Simon in charge tomorrow and Saturday.

No visa required, either -- born in Bristol!

Fraser (son of Shane) Bowes is also in Aussie line-up for these matches.

Leon Flint going up against no less than Jason Crump in the international matches in Perth on Friday and Saturday.

Zane Keleher is definately the best unsigned Aussie (a) with visa qualification and (B) ready to come over.

Another backer/sponsor announced, this being Fabvent of Spittal. Keep 'em a-coming, Bandits!

Given that their first matches probably won't be until May, I'd think they've got enough time -- and enough spare riders about -- to build a team.

News from Bandits' HQ tonight: POWERED BY!... We are delighted to announce your new ‘Powered by’ sponsor for the 2020 season! Please welcome onboard Keenwood Karpets of South Road Wooler. Keenwood Karpets have backed the Bandits for a couple of seasons, and company directors Paul Wood and Gary Flint (your FTS Bandits team manager) have pledged their backing to the club for the upcoming season! Paul adds, ‘We have backed the Bandits over the last few seasons and when the opportunity became available to take the ‘Powered by’ package, myself and Gary were very keen to commit. From a business perspective, the Bandits are the biggest professional sports team between Edinburgh and Newcastle and it makes great sense to us to associate our company with the club. The Bandits social media presence and website generate lots of traffic and is always professionally maintained and the awareness of the club in the local area is only going from strength to strength.’ Keenwood Karpets supply all types of flooring for your home and also your commercial environments. Pop along to the showroom at South Road in Wooler and check out a wide range of Carpets, Vinyls, LVT, Beds and Furniture all at the right prices. Stay tuned this week for even more sponsorship news and all of the latest from Bandit country as we look forward to an exciting 2020 season!

No, his second place in the NSW title is sufficient to support a visa application.

Chris Holder wasn’t blocked from riding. Poole said Somerset had to buy him. Somerset said no. Had Somerset really wanted him (and he had been granted a visa) they could have appealed to SCB and used him while the appeal was being held and a fee was set.

Not so. See Gordon Pairman's very clear explanation of this, and other situations, in the parallel 'Loan Riders' thread running on here.

Neither rider was stopped riding. They went to their chosen club, and the arbitration procedure decided the fee.

OK, Ray - can you cite an example of a rider being stopped riding for another club?

The biggest and most-important things to be put on any poster is WHAT, WHERE and WHEN. Anything else is superfluous.

Media Briefing issued tonight: The Management of Berwick Bandits have had great pleasure in the first hours of the new decade to announce that Cramlington-based, Fire Training Services (North-East) Ltd are proud to be title sponsors of the Bandits for 2020. Trevor and James Fenwick of FTS have been closely associated with the club for a number of years and welcome the opportunity to step in to support the team this coming season. FTS provide a fire consultancy service, focusing on the provision of safety training to industry and commerce. Bandits' co-owner Jamie Courtney was delighted and said: "It’s a massive step forward to welcome FTS on board at this relatively early stage and we will be very proud to be carrying the title of the ‘FTS Bandits’ in 2020. "We will be doing our very best to represent all our sponsors in the most professional way -- as we always do -- and we are very excited to bring a very cool brand of the FTS Bandits to the tapes for the new season. "Team race suits are back and we have got some exciting new additions to add to the merchandise range for the new season too. "The Bandits promotion would like to say a big thanks to Mike, Yvette, Jamie and all of the team at Mike Hope of Wooler Ltd for their tremendous support throughout the 2019 as title sponsor." Club co-owner Scott Courtney went on and added: "Title sponsorship is always a season long commitment and it’s never a given that anyone will commit to more than a season at a time. I’d like to say a massive thanks to the Hope family for backing what we do at Berwick Speedway and in many ways we are just continuing to carry forward a vision they had a massive part in creating. "I’m very happy to confirm Mike Hope Of Wooler Ltd will continue to back the Bandits in 2020 in the associate sponsorship area of the club. "We have a few more troops on the ground this year in helping the club generate sponsorship and we will be announcing our sponsors thick and fast as we approach the beginning of a new decade of professional speedway in Berwick upon Tweed. "It’s a real pleasure to be working with FTS in 2020 and we are very fortunate to have the backing of a company that share our passion and vision for Berwick Speedway." The Bandits are planning the announcement of the club's ‘Powered By’ sponsor as well within the coming days.

FTS Banditos?

Zane Keleher a much-better bet than Zaine Kennedy.

Those who have seen them, taking everything on and off track into consideration, recommend Zane Keleher over Matthew Gilmore.

He couldn't ride in the Championship, even if he wanted to. No Poles in the good league!

In 2016, Berwick raced at Somerset on the night of the World Team Cup race-off at Belle Vue, and Edinburgh also ran a meeting that night. As the BSPA no longer receive any major revenue (to share out among clubs)from SON or GP events staged in the UK, it is no longer mandatory not to run on the same nights -- but probably sensible not to do in terms of a possibly-reduced attendance. But I don't think the big announcement will be about that, anyway.