E I Addio

According to Philip Risings post in the International section it's not being changed to Wednesday, but some are changing to a Friday. It's not about recognising we are third in the pecking order it's about EL clubs signing riders who confirmed their availability based on a particular Polish fixture list which is now being changed at the whim of a TV company. This could potentially be devasting for Coventry Lakeside and Belle Vue. I don't think we should jump until we have more information about how serious this is . It might be capable of being sorted but IF the worst case scenario arises and top riders go AWOL resulting in guests or r/r it's bound to severely hit attendances and could well be the final nail in the coffin. Let's wait for more information before we get carried away, but potentially it is very serious.

p Fair comment Starman but every club loses fans when teams regularly perform badly but the bottom line is that if Leicester go under the Sky deal goes out the window . That is the gravity of the situation. In a way I feel sorry for DH. People say he has brought it all on himself, and that may or may not be so, but I don't want to see any promoter losing so much money he has to pull out of the sport.

There is a Sky payment to offset the low attendance which I presume the PL clubs must also get when televised. However the EL clubs are the ones that have the higher overheads in terms of riders costs, ,and are the greater attraction for TV so it's reasonable they get the bulk of the money. PL clubs can get a full share of the Sky money if they apply to come up.

We all "hear " things but whether they are true is a different matter. And "asking" is not the same as getting. He obviously doesnt have a job yet otherwise he wouldn't still be asking.

Jon Cook hasn't muddied the waters. Speedwáy Star muddied the waters by uplifting a comment that was on the Lakeside website a week ago and re-issuing it as if it's a new comment. At the moment Cooks comment is the only announcement of any kind on the topic. At the time the comment was made he also said there would be an announcement of the full Hammers squad shortly which seems to imply there might be more names to come. There has been no further announcement so far but it may well be that the promotion are saving it for the fans forum in 3weeks time.

I knew MX had diminished but I didn't know it had gone that far down. I am quite shocked. Grass track is much the same. At one time there was something on in Kent almost every weekend in the season, but now they are very hard to come by. It certainly puts speedways problems into perspective. You are right about the cost of equipment. On Malcolm Simmons DVD he says that when he first went to ride for Hackney he was using the second hand engine from his grass track bike. That would be completely impossible for anyone starting out today. While still an apprentice at Chatham Dockyard he was earning 10 times more grass tracking at weekends than he earnt in his week day job. That is the sort of money clubs could pay with crowds the sport pulled in those days. As we know, those humble beginnings eventually produced a world class rider so how many other potential Simmos are being ruled out by cost today?

I must say I never thought of any connotations with racism until this thread blew up. The Confed flag was originally the symbol of a group of states claim for independence. It was only about 80 years later that the Ku Klux Klan tried to adopt it as their own but their power or influence is tiny in today's terms. Personally I don't see it as any different to dropping the Union Jack as the GB teams emblem because the EDF use it. It's not really a big deal one way or the other because it's only a Speedwáy club emblem but it seems to me that if people make these changes the racists have won. I suppose it's sensible for Somerset to change though. These days a tiny number of nutters either racists or PC people can cause a lot of agro that hard pressed clubs don't need, even though the average Speedwáy fan has better things to think about. A sad reflection on modern life.

We have civilised people at ours.

Very true. People come on this forum with their quick fix solutions for Speedwáy but they conveniently ignore the fact that the world has changed. People don't support motor sport in general in the way that they used to, and broadly speaking don't support stadium based entertainment in the way that they used to on a regular basis. My take on it is twofold. Firstly , we now live in an electronic world where people don't have the same interest in mechanical things. Secondly people are increasingly non-sport minded. I keep hearing about increasing obesity among young children because they are being brought up on computer games instead of doing sports, and this is IMO translating into a nation consisting of a big percentage of couch potatoes. This is not to say there is not a lot that Speedwáy can do. Of course there is but it is one of many sports, like moto-cross , and others where the potential crowd base has diminished and we will never go back to the days of huge crowds whatever is done. If every club could put a 100 on its average attendance it would be a realistic target as a first step and would at least move away from the danger of bankruptcy.

No formal announcement. I think some people are getting ahead of themselves with the word squad. It may well be something similar to the sharing of one berth by two d/u riders that we had a few years ago. Not the sort of squad system we see in Poland. Interesting though, that Dennis Jonsson is being given a try out. Will we eventually see a second Jonsson in the side?

Actually the name Somerset Rebels does have a closer link to a historic event than most Speedwáy team names. One of the most historic events in the county was the Pitchfork Rebellion which was brought to an end in 1685 at the Battle of Sedgemoor, not far from the site of the present track. So Rebels is an appropriate name for the team . I suppose technically they could wear a pitchfork on their Kevlars but that's a bit of a symbol of working class farm workers and peasants being anihilated by the Kings forces so personally I think the confederate flag is ideal as is synonymous with the spirit of rebellion. So it seems to me that the Confederate flag is an ideal emblem . It is appropriate for a team suitably called the rebels, it sums up the spirit of defiance that a Speedwáy team seems to embody, and it upsets the terminally upset-able who would be happier with an ISIS flag. Somehow I don't think the Kings Lynn Cheryl's or the Wolverhamton Adeles would work. The Poole Prostitutes sounds about right though.

I just love these old films on youtube. There are some terrific gems to be found. It's a bit before my time of going to grass tracks but I can't remember any near Gravesend. Having said that, there are, or at least have been some very strong motorcycle clubs in the general area so could possibly be a few miles from Gravesend. I loved watching the whole film though. Shame about the poor quality of the film, which made it difficult to identify the bikes. They don't seem to have been power sliding very much so I would say it was maybe a smallish club event without any particularly outstanding riders, back in the days when it wasn't taken too seriously and the idea was simply to have fun. Great piece of memorabilia.

That's Speedwáy fans for you. Woofy gives British Speedwáy a miss and the fans moan about it. Kenny Bjerre stays loyal to British Speedwáy and the fans moan about that as well.

One reason is that he can't be much worse than the variety of guests that turned up at Lakeside last season. Secondly, although he is perhaps not the man he once was he has always been a track specialist at Lakeside, with a long record of good service for the club, so will have the crowd behind him which makes all the difference to a rider, and thirdly he was brought in at 5 at Leicester which is a bit above him but as a second string, he should have the experience to get him through. I agree he probably won't pull up any trees away from home but Lakeside's immediate problem after last year is to start winning a few home matches, and Swid has proved himself capable of winning heat 15. In fact if my memory is not playing tricks on me he best AJ when he came with Leicester last year.

It depends on what is meant by "squad" . We have yet to find out but it COULD be something as simple as Ed Kennett and Rich Lawson sharing the same berth. That is nothing new . In the past we have seen D/u riders sharing a job, for example Phil Morris and Stuart Robson have shared a role at Lakeside as have Robbo and Kauko Neiminen. Jon Cook is not the most accurate person in the world when it comes to making quotes and it may be that he his referring to job sharing rather than squads in the normal sense of word. I suspect that is the case but I don't know. We'll have to see what else leaks out. It's not the sort of thing the BSPA normally make a formal announcement about.

Interesting that Swidders is said to be on a "bargain" average of 3.87 . Well, it's only a bargain if it means he squeezes in just under the points limit. If they have two or three points to spare anyway it's not a bargain. Does this mean the points limit has been reduced ? We shall have to wait and see but it will be interesting to see if Kenny Bjerre squeezes in anywhere now.

He said speedway is the only sport you get penalised for doing well. Thats not the case and it has been well canvassed on this forum that other sports have to adjust team strengths when they are successful particularly in the USA Secondly to say they are "torn apart" is typical of the exagerration that is now common place on thsi forum. Belle Vue have managed to keep pretty much the same line up as last year particularly in their top three, plus they have kept Fricke and added their own asset , Worral. Poole have lost Darcy thorugh injury, nothing to do with the points limit, they have kept Holder and Watt and added Hans who is arguably the best second heatleader in the country and would fit in plenty of teams as No1. They have lost North and added Buckowski. They have lost Magic who has apparently chosen not to ride in the UK for reasons unconnected with the points limit. That hardly adds up to being penalised. They are already favourites on paper in many peoples estimation.and without the points limit they would be even further ahead. Both Poole and Belle Vue have shown that by careful and astute planning the nucleus of a good team can be retained. The teams that have been most "torn apart" are Kings Lynn and Leicester. They lost Neils who chose to leave, apparently Posing who they seemingly don't want back, Bjerre who for whatever reason seems not to be going back, and Kerr because of changing their race night. None of that was anything to do with the points limit. Leicester have a massive hole where Doyle was but his departure has absolutely nothing to do with the points limit. Coventry lost Anderson who chose to leave for reasons of his own, nothing to do with the points limit, and they lost Kylmakorpi who also left of his own choice. When you stand back and look at the merry-go-round of riders the teams that are "penalised" and "torn apart" are those that punish themselves, the successful ones are those who are astute at managing team strength. In most professional team sports it is accepted that there has to be a balancing of team strengths to some degree in order to provide reasonably close competition. In many sports that balancing is done by leagues in which the weak teams go down and the strong ones come up.. Speedway unfortunately doesn't have that luxury so we have a points limit. Years ago we had the rider control committee but whatever method you use it means having some sort of leveller to retain spectator interest. No system is perfect but to talk in terms of teams being "penalised" and "torn apart" is a rampant exaggeration.

Yep, that's why poor old Poole get torn apart every year and , why Belle Vue are nailed in for the wooden spoon after last years successful team have been "torn apart" What a load of old tosh.

Not necessarily. Lewis Blackbird was announced on 3rd Nov . At the time of the announcement it was also stated that it was dependent on Blackbird returning to racing, and Jon Cook also said there was a back up plan if Blackbird did not come back. We will probably never know if the back up plan involved Kerr or someone else but Lakeside had first pick so if their was any doubt about it they coukd have had someone like Howarth. We will never know all the ins and outs of what went on but the bottom line is that Chapman changed his race night without a back up plan, knowing that Kerr was going to Ippo, and gambled on NKI without a plan B when he knew the rider was very lukewarm about returning.

e One presumes that at the time the points limit was set, promoters with a reasonable degree of business acumen woukd have a pretty good idea of who was prepared to sign for them. It's obvious that Poole and Belle Vue had their ducks more or less in a row before the season ended. Wolves clearly had a good idea of who there spearhead would be well before the AGM leaving only minor placings to be filled. We have known since last July that AJ was coming back to Lakeside and at Lakeside's last meeting of the season certain riders were told there would be jobs for them in 2016 and they agreed to them. Swindon and Coventry seem to have had a fair idea of the basis of their sides. All of those clubs seem to be more or less in striking distance of the points limit. There are only two teams struggling at the moment and one wonders why they agreed to the points limit if they didn't have some idea who they wanted. Both were gambling on the return of riders who were known to be uncertain, but neither had a plan B. Neither seems to have put any serious feelers out before the AGM. Yes it would be wrong to go back and change it all now but like any organisation the BSPA is only as strong as its weakest links and if changing it all now is what it takes to stop the dithering promotions going under that , or something like it is what will happen. Doesn't bode well for Chapmans chairmanship of the BSPA.

The Stars have also signed the South Korean long track champion. When Rob Lyon was asked how negotiations for a second heatleader were going it's admitted " Oh it's Phu Kin-Ell"

It was previously agreed that both sides could use there D/u riders hence Lakeside also had both their d/u riders who should have shared the same berth and would not normally have been riding in the same match . Therefore Poole also "rolled over" in your words and agreed to that. To a normal person was a trade off to get a decent match on in unusual circumstances. Read what people were saying at the time about the match being a fitting tribute.

Only you could me so insensitive and dredge up something that happened in a highly charged emotional meeting three days after the Lakeside captain was fatally injured. It a very emotional meeting for obvious reasons . Both sides had various problems with their teams. The promotions for both sides agreed the important thing was to,put on a show for the crowd without bickering. Lakeside also fielded a technically illegal team that night using two riders who shared a d/u berth. Poole agreed to that, so by your terms of reference they rolled over and accepted it as well. The referee approved both line ups. The rider who took Masters rides failed to score in those rides as I recall so a protest would have made no difference anyway.Given the sensitivity of the occasion I would say practically every fan with a grain of decency would say the trade off between the two teams to put a decent match on was reasonable and sensible in the circumstances. Pity you don't see it that way.

The report also says there will be a rider announcement after the BSPA meeting on Tuesday. If you go on the website and click on 2016 Hammers there are photos of 7 riders, 6 have their names under the pictures but the other one doesn't . But he does have Richard Lawsons name on his bike ! It looks like they are sorting out fixtures with Glasgow before final confirmation. I think the fixture list is due out in a week or so time, which seems to tie in with the BSPA meeting, so that appears to be the hold up. If Rich is the final rider it should bring them to less than a point short of the points limit which is about as close as its realistically possible to get.