E I Addio

Fair comment,my bad example, but the point still remains that the benefit of the draft system is the experience that the FTDR riders gain from being with senior riders who should hopefully be passing on experience but the degree of help they get does seem to vary from club to club. Figure of speech. See Alan Jones post 189 for the context . You'll have to read the whole of Jon Cook's article in SS to get the drift.

But what is that going to cost ? If a rider like Garritty is no in the draft and open to the highest bidder on a lowish average whose cheque-book will secure his services will get him , Poole or Eastbourne ? The thing that we mustn't loose sight of is that the whole thing was brought in primarily to save money because some clubs were suffering eye -watering losses and more would have gone the way of Peterborough if drastic measures weren't taken. Costs are going to be the watch-word for the short-term future and whatever is done is going to have to be within strict financial limits, but I don't think we will get a better bloke to be driving it than Phil Morris.

The way it improves riders is that the majority of NL riders are very naïve and inexperienced on things like racing lines and especially bike set-up's and a large number of PL riders are not much better , but if the senior EL riders bother with the FTDR riders (which many of them do ) it is a terrific learning curve for them, and many have said they have gained experience and knowledge they wouldn't get elsewhere. Take Ben Morley for example .At an early season meeting he had set-up similar the Dave Watt's but it wasn't working for him so they changed to a set-up similar to Lewis Bridger's and he was flying so Ben is learning what he wouldn't have got from the NL, he was learning from top riders the intricacies of set-ups, that what works for one rider doesn't work for, and learning how different combinations of things work differently. he now takes that back to Kent Kings where he is regularly banging in good scores as one of their best heat-leader, so that in turn marks him as a man to beat in that league , so over time as the FTDR riders take their experience back to the NL the standard of that league will improve. The FTDR is not going to change anything overnight but its difficult to fault it in the long term if the various shortcomings can be ironed out, which with Phil Morris driving it, they probably will. Most people seem to be happy with it though. Of course, it depends to some extent on senior riders bothering with the FTDR riders. When fans complain about their clubs FTDR riders they also have to ask how much the senior riders and the TM are bothering with them . Taking Poole as an example I was pretty obvious that Lee Smart was never going to get much help because its the sort of club where it easier to get rid of a rider rather than work with him, but a lot of FTDR riders have been quoted as saying the experience has been beneficial.

As much as I like Matej Zagar and enjoy watching him I can't help feeling he was only going at eight-tenths tonight and has one eye on the GP's . He certainly didn't look like the rider that used to come down with Swindon a few years ago . Jason Attwood himself said that with Belle Vues line up they should have had an away win by now, and when you look at the side on paper, he is probably right. Up to him now as T.M. To start reading the Riot Act and get them going otherwise it should be his job on the line. Talking of team mangers has Niel Vatcher had a Dr Who type transformation because he looks remarkably like Phil Morris now.

Ah yes, that famous oracle of speedway expertise and unadulterated verbal diarrhoea Nigel "Woffy Woffy Woffy" Pearson. I guess if he says so it must be right.

To be fair, Briggo did win one of his four World Titles in the worst conditions it's ever been run , if you look at the film of it, tipping it down with rain and sawdust everywhere. Far worse than any conditions we have seen an EL meeting run for many a year.. And he did it on an 15 point max when nobody else scored more tan about 11. One of the great performances of speedway history. Wish I had been there to see it.

Really? Have you got any links to show we are "constantly" told that ? All I seem to read on here are comments about over-paid foreigners wobbling round at the back not that they are highly skilled. We get your general point but exaggerations devalue the point being made. I am not sure riders are always keen to have a meeting off. It's more that these days people a quick to complain but when meetings go ahead under dodgy conditions nobody really mentions the point. I don't know what the track was like at Poole as I wasn't there but I don't think you can generalise. Bottom line is that rain-offs are always a difficult call, sometimes they get it right and sometimes they get it wrong.

My understanding is that it was indeed the third point mentioned in the above post that was seen as the major obstacle in the PL coming on board with the scheme. The unfortunate fact is that the majority of FTDR riders are located more towards the southern end of the country and since many of them have jobs as well that creates major problems in travelling to the Northern clubs on a regular basis for home meetings. Those who are quick to criticise the PL's stance need to consider the logistics.

The trouble is its a situation where promoters are damned if they do and damned if they don't.. Calling they meeting off after 3 heats has probably cost Matt Ford the best part of £10,000 and he still has to find room in the fixture list to re-stage the match. One or two more rain-offs and his problems really start mounting up, as with any other promoter. On the other hand if matches are called off early in the day before people start travelling you get situations where the rain moves away and people start moaning because it was cancelled too early and the promoter is kicking himself because even an early cancellation costs some money with riders flights etc already booked. I remember a couple of years ago Jon Cook cancelled a meeting about two hours before the start based on forecasts of heavy rain moving in but at the last minute the rain passed by then up turns Smolinski with his camera putting pictures on facebook of a lovely summer evening. Its a pity that those who are quick to criticise with hindsight after the call off don't say before the meeting whether they would call it off or go ahead and we can then see how often they get it right over the course of the season..

On paper it looks a tough one. I can't remember Bay City Cook ever riding at Lakeside so the Aces are probably better off relying on r/r as all except Zagar can take his rides. Zagar in his Swindon days was probably one of the best riders we have seen at Lakeside and if he produces that from it will easily be 14 or 15 points from him possibly as much as 18 with the dreaded t/r and when a rider performs like that it is always hard for the opposing team. Scott on his present form should be good for around 12//13 from six rides so there probably won't be much left for the others to do to get something out of it. A lot depends on the Hammers wildly erratic form. You just never know what you are going to get from them these days. Looking forward to seeing how Stefan Nielson goes against the Lakeside reserves. A return to form by PK is desperately needed.

Seems like Shov is the one only without a sense of humour that's why he's got annoyed and stormed off.

More like the Ed Kennett. Hot exhaust pouring from an enlarged orifice.

Stupid generalisation. The vast majority of fans don't cheer when a rider crashes and the vast majority applaud when a rider gets to his feet.

Maybe we could have the Pearson-Tatum system. The first side to work out the most stupid comment of the evening get all the points.

Is this the same GRW123 that only 3 months ago was telling us all that the FTDR system was so poorly thought out it would have to be abandoned before the season was finished ?

You can improve the side . You can get the senior riders to work with the draft riders. A lot of these NL riders a re very naïve on things like set ups and how to ride certain tracks. Its not always going to make a massive improvement but most of the time there will be usually isbe a measurable improvement . The trouble is a lot of top riders are so obsessed with their own career and their next GP they have no interest in helping the young ones a long., but a fair number of the FTDR reserves are saying how much they have benefitted from riding with EL riders.

18 paid 19 from his last 8 races at Poole. Will Matt have his eye on him now ?

A great rider and a thoroughly nice bloke. Simmo always seemed to be able to combine a strong desire to win with a great sense of fun. We shall not see the like of him again.

Yeah, so wouldn't it just be the greatest wind-up ever if he didn't post for the rest of the year, and neither did KKS

Perhaps not a moron but when one considers the injudicious way he has expressed himself on twitter and in the Echo over a long period of time he doesn't exactly come acrossas the most articulate or intelligent of people either . Sort of more in the John Prescott class. Maybe he should take the advice of Abraham Lincoln:- "It's better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt"

What rubbish ! Lakeside have a about three Saturday meetings every year. The bottom line is that nobody forced Poole to take the fixture. They could have done what Wolves have done and pencilled in a Saturday in a few weeks time subject to confirmation but Poole agreed it as a firm booking. As others have said if you sign foreign riders you take the risk of their unavailability for sometimes not very good reasons.

If you want to throw a little tantrum and stay away do it, but Jon Cook will be damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. He will lose money if he cancels and hardly show much if any profit if he goes ahead. We saw at last years Wolves meeting the track was completely under water 2 hours before the start but the track staff still got it ready and it turned out to be a good meeting, so there is no point in cancelling until Gerald considers the track irretrievable This is not the only Saturday meeting this year. We have all seen how congested Dartford Bridge gets on a Bank Holliday Friday and start times having to be delayed as a result. Coventry were able to cope with a Saturday meeting a few weeks ago so whats wrong with Poole ? The fact is that Muddlo thought he could play fast and loose with the rules as usual and it come back and bit him on the bum, but Lakeside will be the loser financially. Quite honestly I can't think of any other TM apart from Muddlo who would behave like this. Disgraceful individual.

I have never thought the tacticals were particularly good idea, but in the old days before play- offs and before the present system of league poinjts the effect was limited. It was a race for the league title and that was it. For teams finishing third or belie in the league it really didn't matter too much if things went a against them and they finished say seventh instead lofty fourth. These days it is far more intense because with the play offs, finishing fourth in the league is as important as finishing to and frequently there are only a few points separating the contenders for fourth place. All this is compounded by the present system of league points which means that a visiting team finishing within six points of the home team still get a point. Personally I quite like the play-offs and I am very much in favour of the league scoring system but my take on it is that these developments mean the T/R has had its day, and I would rather see it consigned to history..

A t/r can at best bring scores closer on a single match basis but if the league is to be regarded as a serious and fair competition then it is incongruous that team A should scrape into the play offs by reason of a point or two achieved by the TR rule while team B misses out because they have generally kept scores closer and not had the opportunity of the bonus points that the T/R offers. As I said, you either have a serious competition or you have a circus designed to entertain come what may. Maybe you just like circuses. Nothing wrong with that if that's what you want but my preference is for a level playing field over the season.