DC2

So a 7 point average rider on £400 a point over 28 league matches makes £78,400 minus costs of £30,900, leaving £47,500 for seven months work provided he stays injury free. You can see why sub-7 pointers need doubling up and the better riders aspire to another £200k in Poland/Sweden.

Don’t worry, Poole fans are counting their over-hyped chickens as usual while Rosco counts his horses

Fabulous team, with Ellis Perks rather than Aarnio!

Yes, but it’s a huge disincentive for NL riders to see the CL dumping young Brits. CL clubs should be proud to show off the talents of Nielsen, Jacobs & Perks, setting examples for NL riders to aspire to, rather than ending their careers. Thankfully Stefan, at least, has got back.

Are they as good as Kasprzak who averaged 4.5?

Sundstrom’s priorities lie elsewhere and 3 wins and 10 last places from 32 starts in Poland don’t bode well.

OK, I can see your point that English riders may not want to travel all the way to Edinburgh, although Glasgow have signed six!

Because if the Brits don’t come first and we lose our British riders the national team with disappear, the profile of the sport will sink even lower, the sport won’t be able to afford the extra costs of flying in riders, our league will be at the beck and call of the foreign leagues, just like last season with Poland dictating where riders should ride, there will be less interaction between riders and potential local supporters because they will rarely be in the country, there will be less interest in a sport in which only foreigners participate, all us families who support NL riders and give our time to clubs for free will be lost to the sport ....

Think you’re gonna be disappointed with the seven pointer!

As much as I hate to admit it, I think you’re right. Davey will be given every chance and full support, but the time will come when Rosco has to reluctantly replace him with Chris Holder.

That’s not how it comes across to me. It’s just his perspective as a rider and that’s fair enough. We all know the asset system is rubbish and holds riders to ransom.

Yep, it’s a free market, but for me keeping British riders is every bit as important as attracting new fans. I believe any under 25 Brit declaring a desire to ride in the CL and with a minimum achieved average of say 2.5 and willing to accept a standard rate of pay should be drafted, up to say three per team. It would be disadvantageous to British speedway if the inclusion of the likes of Todd Kurtz and Jye Etheridge led to the retirement of Jacobs and Perks. It could become like Premier League football with fewer and fewer Brits replaced by more and more expensive foreigners (who have to be flown in) and a National team that suffers as a result.

Wrong. When teams are built to 42.5 you need only one or two riders to increase their average to make it a successful team. Even if Jacobs and Perks remained five pointers for three seasons there’s still every chance they would improve after. Howarth, Iversen and even Jason Doyle are good examples of riders who were stuck in a rut for three seasons and then kicked on.

On reflection, don’t you think it would be a better policy for clubs to do their utmost to foster British riders rather than to live by the mantra “we don’t owe them a living”?

Dan Bewley “all action”? I’ve only seen him on TV but he looked like a small, smooth Leigh Adams, rather than an erratic young Jason Doyle.

Your sentiment is wrong. Clubs should do everything they can to encourage and keep British riders for the long term good of the sport in this country. Jacobs and Perks have both shown they can be good enough and it’s a travesty that neither has been signed.

Can’t see this Poole team lasting to the first Blunsdon fixture but whichever assorted ragbag you bring the Champions will be waiting, with 5 club asset Champions medal winners and two Australians who are focused and motivated! Happy days!

Hmmmm scraping the bottom of the barrel. Poole couldn’t find any 7.5 riders and have had to persuade someone who doesn’t want to ride for them to come back. It’ll be another season on their downward spiral.

Oh yeah, Sundstrom’s really fast. 3, 8, 11, 10 his firsts, seconds, thirds and lasts in Poland! Only 3 race wins in 32 heats, and 10 lasts! Best get on the phone quick to Joe Jacobs!

Cook has got to the GPs very quickly. He was a new NL novice only about seven years ago. He’s late to the sport and older but he’s the equivalent of a 23 year old who started at 16! He’s got there faster that Brady Kurtz or Jack Holder will. Poole have cornered the win at all costs “brand”, based on mercenary opportunism every year, but it works only because no other club does that well or adopts real branding which is a longer term strategy of creating a club culture that fans and potential customers in the local community can identify with.

You are so stupid, Steve. Jacobs was superb for Belle Vue and with some effort on their part could have become a loyal servant for years. Sure, with the short-sighted Poole mentality of win every year at all costs, you wouldn’t be interested in investing in the future of a young British rider. Just look at how Kyle Newman has been treated.

I think you’re wrong on all three points: rider shortage is a myth; there are plenty to go around without doubling up - look at the new Scandinavians coming into the CL, the Brits who cannot get places and the 8 point PL riders/potential returners who have been frozen out - so we could easily have seventeen teams in one league, especially if two under 23 NL Brits at reserve were compulsory; guests come from the other teams, so there would be plenty as long as every team did not ride on the same night; Jason Doyle spent the whole of last season riding against 2 pointers (and the whole Poole team ) so wobblers aren’t impossible to overcome, in fact they should be behind by the first bend or easily overtaken with faster bikes and better track craft. His injuries come in the GPs when he over rides or takes bigger risks. Let’s have one league, the British League; much better than these Premiership and Championship delusions!

Joe Jacobs and Ellis Perks, both down the pan!

Total madness that no club in either league could offer a place to Joe Jacobs when every year they complain of a lack of riders, the lack of British riders and the cost of expensive foreigners. We even had the draft system, supposedly designed to bring on young Brits ..... only to be dumped a couple of years later. Joe was fantastic for Belle Vue, would have been a trump card at home and could have improved away with decent coaching. British promoters really are stupid. Unbelievably short-sighted.

Oh, brill, Swindon have four heatleaders then.