Broadsider

Steady!

We travel the 120 mile trek to Scunny every week! It’s even further still to Redcar and both Sheffield/ Belle Vue involve a 70 mile round trip! All of these are stretching it, from a cost point of view, for most fans in the North/ West/ East Yorks belt. The supporter interest generated both old and new in those regions would comfortably sustain the Odsal investment in my opinion. The problem with British Speedway is that promoting nous and ambition has been at virtual zero for decades. Supposed promoters have focused inwardly and even their ability to do that is questionable. I’m certain that financial investment in the sport has never been higher than currently brought by Discovery Sports. With British Speedway withering to the point of extinction before our very eyes, l see it as a great opportunity to utilise some of that funding to collectively reinvest in a proper stadia/ track to help sustain/ grow the sport. If you think back when we had real entrepreneurial promoters, then if one door closed they just moved on and opened up in another Town/ City. The sport kept moving forward and expanding. As it stands we have a total of 14 tracks left and potentially more in that number on the brink due to potential land development. If we don’t counter this by getting out there, promoting and opening up new venues then Speedway is dead and buried in this country for sure.

Some really underwhelming suggestions on here. I mean Weston Super Mare?, Brafield? Good lord, the BSPL are really hell bent on shoving British Speedway into the backwaters! How about making a serious statement about the sports future in this country by making a collectively ambitious move to reinstantiate racing at Odsal, Bradford? After 26 years in the Speedway wilderness, the interest generated at the return of such an iconic venue would be tremendous. A track is already in place and it’s surely not beyond the wit of man to relocate pits and perhaps utilise otherwise now defunct starting gate/ air fence facilities from sadly demised Wolves/ Panthers? Think about what an attraction it would be to have the Dukes/ Tigers/ Aces northern rivalry back in full swing! Get Discovery Sports in there with their sponsorship to take a look and visualise what could be done in a proper larger stadium to truly reenergise the British Speedway product! Come on BSPL grasp the nettle, make a genuinely progressive statement and start actually promoting the sport for once!

Awesome stuff from our top 3 last night & great engine room with Connor in there now. JT is a developing young British Talent & will only grow in this team. Just need to be sensible with how we replace the unlucky ZK & we’re in business for sure this season! Brilliant stuff lads!

According to this weeks Star, Danny Ayres is still open to offers and waiting for phone to ring!

Oh heck what's up??

Just reading my copy of this weeks Star and the Joe Jacobs piece. Averages- people- delusions. Mmmm...

That's the problem with averages and points limits!

As everyone says this has been done to death and whatever my thoughts will make no jot of difference. But to take your example and rounding then 2.24 is sensibly a 2 and 2.76 essentially a 3. Yes a 2pt average may fit nicely (say Alfie Bowtell) but a rider rounded up to 3 (say Josh Bailey) could quite possibly have achieved that on the back of a decent season and with Club's still keen to accommodate a developing talent. Agree that under the present 42.50 points limit the 3ptr might find a team slot harder to come by but if we're working to 46pts required to win a meeting then there's a little more scope for all. The same reasoning of course applies to any riders average whether rounding up or down.

Apologies for raising and thanks for taking time to re-clarify this old chestnut. As suggested it's not difficult to grasp but still not as simple in team building terms as: how many points does it take to win a speedway meeting over the prescribed 15 heats? 46 points makes sense to me and agree questions the relevance of still applying 4 ride averages. Also grading or not would allow just a little more leeway to keep riders like Alfie Bowtell etc.. on track!

Go on, l'm intrigued, how does that work. I may be missing something but 46 points to win a meeting simply equates to 6.57 per rider. Whereas 42.50 reduces to 6.07 per rider.

I dont know on what basis the current 42.50 figure is actually set. But why not give scope by increasing the points limit to say 46 as being realistically the minimum required to win a meeting. Trying to achieve parity in team building is pretty much impossible in any sport and Speedway appears unique in this respect. There will always be goliaths but it gives the rest something to aim at. It's an extreme example but back in the 70's no way were the Saints sides built anywhere near the likes of Crewe or Boston. But the sport worked and the crowds were watching. Obviously the demands of today's Championship are much higher but my point is that figures don't have to match exactly to achieve a workable and exciting competiton. In my opinion gradings would simplify and keep riders on track.

Averages are totally ridiculous and anti speedway when putting sides together. What is the difference between rider on 2.13 and another on 2.11? Absolutely nothing, so why not simply GRADE the riders and keep them on track! Lets be honest, Alfie Bowtell( who I consider a really good prospect by the way) would have a practically rounded average of 2 points and which could equate to say a C grading for team building purposes. Makes sense to me.

"Robert Stanley Godfrey, you have pleaded guilty to the charges brought by this court and it is now my duty to pass sentence. You are an habitual speedway promoter who accepts having no recognised no 1 as an occupational hazard and presumably accepts punishment in the same casual manner. We therefore feel constrained to commit you to the maximum term allowed for these offences you will go to Stalg Odsal where there is not a cat in hells chance of you ever getting near speedway for five years."

I'd always like to think riders know their own limits so given the deluge perhaps there was an element of being psyched out and also to a certain degree whether it was actually worth taking a chance out there at all given the pretty sparse attendance. But still considering the sheer amount of time and unbelievable effort that went into attempting to rescue something from the wash then the riders surely owed it to the promotion and the handful of patient supporters to at least give it a go. In fairness and thanks to the firm insistence of referee Griffin they eventually did albeit in some instances clearly reluctantly and others perhaps quite rightly with some trepidation. But with track work done, Rob was sure it was a decent enough surface and so it proved with eventually both Allen and Sargent taking chances and passing in style. All the more surprising to see events curtailed after 10 heats and with track conditions seemingly much improved. Regrettably, there were no real winners on Sunday night and least of all Speedway. It's probably fortunate therefore that this one was left to the tolerant few hardcore fans to witness. Although even one or two of those were tested to the limit and had eventually made for the exit well before time was called. One things for certain it would have been almost impossible to convince any potential newcomers that our sport is nothing other than an unfathomable damp squib!

Thanks Paul, just picked this up. I have mailed them to see what's involved.

Or...if Fritz fits a 4 then maybe we stick?

Major team announcement Thurs! Have we gone for a big hitter inStead??

Not sure about that but would be mighty handy if he was and we had an extra point to play with? Can you enlighten us Rob?

Right l'll say it now, if Alex is fully fit to comeback & ride then whoever takes him on that average will win the league!

Been saying for ages we really do need a big hitter who can reliably take on the the opposition no 1's around their own patch. Still in the absence of same then l don't see too much wrong with: Ryan, Josh A, MPT, Lewis K, Alex (fully fit), Fritz and Josh B. I think that just fits in under 40pts and taking Lewis at a revised 5.98.

Hallelujah!!

Good read but you know how l see things. We simply must have a big hitter on board from the get go. A rider who can dominate at the EWR and then also seriously take on the oppo big guns around their home patch on a consistent basis. l fully understand the loyalty to Josh but unfortunately,each season,he has fallen short of being that essential number one. For sure Josh is certainly capable and Who knows, given a clear run then 2017 just might be the year when he steps it up? It would be really great to think so. I do agree though that there is also a fair shout for either Ryan, Lewis or MPT emerging as our number one and who knows perhaps we could have a situation where all four are piling up the points and battling it out to be number one? We would definitely be serious title contenders in that situation! Still and keeping it real that is more than likely not to be the case and therefore in my opinion the securing of a true number one rider is absolutely crucial to the Scorpions 2017 fortunes. This time our head really must rule our heart!

Fair comment SS. Ok so lets look at the Pirates and their current Sky Elite League line up: Holder, Anderson, Kurtz, Buczkowski, Pedersen, Newman and Ellis. Using their "squad" this could possibly translate into the following more than capable Premier League outfit: Kurtz, Buzkowski (or Pedersen), Jack Holder, Newman, Ellis, 3 pointer & ANO. I therefore have to question what exactly is so unsupportable about that Premier side to cause dyed in the wool Pirates fans to simply abandon their club and precipitate financial disaster? Clearly the Sky Elite League is already shored up by Premier League riders who constantly demonstrate themselves as being hardly inferior around a Speedway circuit. Remember the idea is to still retain the Sky Elite League but to operate a condensed fixture list and run alongside an expanded Premier League completion. In fact it's not to preclude Chris Holder or Hans Anderson or indeed both forming part of a Pirates Premier League septet, if they so wish, subject to complying with any agreed points limit. In no way would I question supporters commitment but surely there's more to following Poole Speedway than Chris Holder & Hans Anderson?

Appreciate your thoughts MB. But with current Sky Elite League sides being shored up by Premier League riders aren't Elite fans effectively being served B sides in any case? Actually I'd argue that Belle Vue fans are more likely to turn out to watch their squad riders contest a Premier League match rather then see their Elite side minus say Zagar but with Harris in as a guest? In all honestly, I can't imagine the Elite promoters will be too keen to run entirely without their main draw card, e.g. Poole without Holder. So by retaining a condensed Sky Elite League with say 7 home and 7 away fixtures plus play offs, then Poole fans still get to see Holder but also the remainder of their squad contesting the expanded Premier League.That's two titles to race for and the best of both worlds for all Elite fans. I keep harping on about Belle Vue ( I'm a Scunthorpe supporter for goodness sake!) but we must always strive to make the maximum of what we have. The new Belle Vue is an absolutely superb track and stadia which represents precisely where 21st Century British Speedway needs to be. Of course it's not conceivable for all current tracks to be at this level but everyone must strive to get as near as possible to the latest Belle Vue model. In the meantime, we must use the National Speedway Stadium to collectively project British Speedway at every available opportunity. I ask you, which supporter wouldn't like to see their team race there? I can definitely say that Scunthorpe would take a fair old following and likewise many other Premier League sides. Ultimately 21st Century British Speedway needs to be aiming for more tracks and stadia on the lines of Belle Vue. The sport had a fantastic track and facility at Odsal, Bradford and it's a source of real frustration that the BSPA has never done more to secure the future of Speedway there. Still that's another story and incredibly after 20 years, we still wait forlornly in hope of a West Yorkshire revival. We need positive change and like everything else in life we have to risk something. Having heard Rob Godfrey's words about more fixtures in 2017 and with a proposed new race format being trialled "successfully" in the summer then I genuinely believe that this time change is going to come. By the way I'm right on the page with those ideas too CI.