Jonny the spud

You sure it's not his brother Colin ?? ( nice chap, met him a few times and he knows all about bikes )

looking forward to this !!!!!

After a career ending neck injury Phillipe Bergé moved back to France and Haida a hairdressing salon on the coast at lacanau. Then he moved on to the island of Mauritius where he opened a restaurant After two years there he came back to France and now has a pizza restaurant in the suburbs of Bordeaux. His son Dimitri is a world youth champion in both 125 & 250cc on Grasstrack. He beat my son Adam for the title in the 250cc French championships last year. He is 16 years old like Adam, weighs about 55lg and is bloody good on a speedway bike. We're hoping to get him some second halves this year

Maybe they buy them because they like the way they look. By using your analogy everyone should drive a ford fiesta because they do 70mph just as we'll as a Ferrari It can just be to personal taste. Not everything is there to go faster

I used to be a 500 sidecar passenger and heat from the exhausts was s big problem as they ran next to your left leg. I got burned several times on the 1000m track at herxheim. We tested a carbon end can from a Ducati super bike once. No discernible loss in power but you could still touch it after 4 laps ... As they are already homologated by the FIM Maybe worth testing ??

Maybe if a road silencer in carbon could be used there will be no need for a heat shield. If a race can from a super bike is homologated for road racing. Can it be used in speedway ?

The league itself, a team or just a rider ?

Unless you live next door

The "rich father" line doesn't always ring true. My son has two complete bikes and a third being built up. All secondhand, all built up over a few years of buying and selling equipment, taking loans, finding sponsors and with a lot of help from friends. We're just getting by the best we can. It is an expensive sport but is you're hoping to ride as a job, you need good tools.

Last year I made a return to several UK speedway tracks ofter a 23 year absence, same 4 guys racing round, Same noise, (roughly), same atmosphere . Down side....... Same stadium facilities, same music (really), same amateurish "promotion", no other interval entertainment. In short nothing new on offer. That's it basically, i may be missing something but i cant think of anything in the last nigh on quarter of a century that's a great improvement for the customer to make a night out more enjoyable or appealing to a new audience. Now look at other forms of motorcycle sport and see what's happened in the last 20 odd years. Quite sad really .

"Made a loss"= good accountant. Don't want a profit to we. The taxman would come sniffing.

I think this whole thread sums up why your average man in the street avoids speedway like a tarts toothbrush. If even die hard fans can't understand the rules, what chance does a newcomer have ?

Failing to move with the times, Supercross was unheard of 30 years ago, now with loud modern music and razzmatazz they pull in hundreds of thousands of young (and old) fans worldwide. Speedway spends too much time looking backwards then wonders why other forms of motorcycle sport are way ahead of them. I'm trying hard to think of another kind of motorcycle sport that has declined so much from its former glory and what do people moan about on here ??????? ehh in the old days we had 2 valve zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Not sure, but i know the first home meeting is on his 17th birthday.. hopefully a night to celebrate for more reasons than one

D'ya think they'll invest in some music from a decade later than the 70's ?

Any ideas on when a fixture list will be released ?

Any ideas on when a fixture list will be released ?

As I said in an earlier post. He's eligible , if he's good enough he may get an offer. If he's not good enough he won't. That's it.

If he's good enough and has a British passport let him try his luck. If he's that good he'll get an offer, from experience I know that just to come over here and drive up and down the country doing second halves,( and sometimes if the meeting overruns doing hundreds of miles for nothing!) if he isn't up to it he won't get an offer . Same as anyone else. There's lots of riders who no matter how hard they try will never make it. It's not favouratism, it's a level playing field.

But if that's where his parents lived. That's where he had to ride. Again it's no different from Ellis

Both Adams parent moved abroad in the late 80's. he was born, schooled and has lived in France all his life

So what does make a "proper" British rider. Is Adam Ellis British ?

Don't know about meaning nowt. I used to try to win EVERY race in my day. It's easier to defend a lead than make up a deficit

I think a lot of it can depend on if teams can get some pre season team days going. Some riders, Tom / Adam etc, are also racing premier league and will get a chance to " hit the ground running" but the team that gels early in the season is going to be hard to beat.

Seeing as there's a similar thread in the premier league forum, what's the prognosis for the national league next year ? Who do you think is going to be the team/riders to watch and why ?