1 valve

Insufficient number of riders at a similar capable (safe) level for this to be possible. Currently average is circa 3 double ups per team.

Interesting to see the venue is titled Manchester Belle Vue Sports Village and Belle Vue Leisure Centre . Guess only speedway folk know the place by its sub title NSS which is not good for attracting new customers.

For that to have been a possibility then Tigers will need to have finished 2nd (at least) in the regular season whereas there is a favorable chance they will finish third behind Leicester. whatever the case, I presume you are thinking play offs should be scrapped in favour of the team who finished top of the league at the end of the regular season, risk being declared champions by losing in a one off tie (over two legs) v the team who finished second?

To be clear. Doyle doesn’t have a choice where he rides as he is contracted to a Swedish team who have race night priority.

This is all good stuff and basically correct re riders/skill & availability. However, trying to make one league with sufficient number of teams to race over six nights simply won’t work on a number of levels the most notable being a disparity in skill level unquestionably creating an unacceptable level of dangerous racing - & frankly not particularly entertaining. To get nearer to what one Super League could look like, re run your model based on fixed race nights “as is” and there should be sufficient riders to have 8 teams competing which would include current GP level riders. With no doubling up, the remaining tracks could run semi-pro leagues and individual meetings to include riders from the Super League. But let’s be honest about this. Unfortunately the vast majority of the current promotions have too much self interest at the very root of their thinking which negates any possibility of significant change in the way UK speedway is structured. This unfortunately means we can have as many thoughts & Ideas on what would be best for the sport, but sadly they will remain just “thoughts & ideas.

To be accurate. As it stands today, no Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) has been placed on Brandon Stadium, but campaigners have urged Rugby Borough Council to pursue one or adopt similar supporting actions to regain control of the site from the owner, Brandon Estates

Very much depends on how the final league positions turn out, but looks likely to be Witches & aces finishing first and fourth with Lions & Tigers finishing 2nd & 3rd although in which order is harder to call. Given the above, for the semi final, I'll go with Witches beating Aces simply because the aces have proven to be vulnerable on the road with the worst away record of the top four teams whilst the Witches have clearly the best away record so far. The second semi final is more difficult to call, but I am going for a Tigers win on the basis that the two late changes to the tigers line up appear to have worked in making the team stronger whilst the Lions (unbeaten by Tigers this year) have the big question of Luke Becker's availability or RR/guest affecting their choice of line up...this tie much closer to call. So a Tigers v Witches final, with Ipswich coming out on top.

Very reasonable and understanding. According to the fixtures (if I have read them correctly) Beckers Polish team do not have a match until the 24th, so there’s no chance of him competing again prior to the next Leicester fixture. Of course, in the meantime, Luke could fail to recover his fitness adequately in time for the Lions v Witches fixture meaning appropriate medical paperwork is issued making him unavailable for the Lions on Monday.

It may well be a great race track. But is the business that owns it making a profit from running meetings on it? This is a genuine question that I don’t know the answer to. if it is making a profit then that shuts up R87. if not, then that brings into question if having “ the second best track in the UK” actually matters along with what is required to make such a venue viable.

Good point. Hopefully the Physio works and has he is based in Poland he gets some useful practice prior to his next meeting.

There should be no real surprise that he suffered a negative reaction physically to his first meeting back Consider that after the plates/posts and screws had been put in place to repair and hold his neck back together, his muscles & ligaments had completely siezed requiring massive amounts of very uncomfortable physio in order to regain a reasonable of movement. Now we know Polish speedway tracks are large and smooth and some claim, much easier to ride that the tight technical tracks of the UK. But in reality, riding around polish tracks at 60+ mph with the weight of an helmet and the bumps and turns involved will have put some considerable strain on Beckers recovering neck - hence more physio to try and get the movement back into the injured area. Also worth noting that although he won his first two races he failed to do likewise in any of the other four rides.

I think his Polish team have finished their regular season and are out of a play-off position. Hopefully, if the Physio works then Becker will be able to continue his rehabilitation with a few practice sessions at Leicester and thus establish his fitness to race “as and when”

You’re absolutely correct. The only occasion a superheat could be worth considering would be to decide the aggregate point if/when the scores are level after the two matches. Or maybe not award one in the event of a tied aggregate?

Actually there was quite a detailed lighting plan for the King Power which resulted in none of the pitch floodlights being higher than the internal dimensions of the stadium. This reduced the volume of light pollution to an acceptable level thus conforming with laws applicable to the protection of wildlife including the local Bat population.

As has been said previously elsewhere, under investigation it is highly possible that planning officials will recognise that parking capacity will be insufficient for the likely attendance numbers. This will see the planning application rejected leaving the site ripe for development of commercial office & industrial units.

If the number one of a team gets to ride in heat eight that means the missing rider is the second highest scorer for his team. So no real issue there although a bit of a waste to put a number one in such a relatively (for him) easy race. A much better rule would be that a team must use RR before a guest can be used and where a guest is required (i.e. because two riders are missing) then the guest is used as a substitute for the lower average rider. The RR rule should be adjusted to allow any rider whose average is higher than the missing rider to be used once and twice if the RR is lower than the missing rider. However, RR facility should only be allowed for the same rider for 5 consecutive meetings after which the facility is withdrawn in favour of a guest with an average two points below that of the missing rider which will continue until the rider returns or the team sign a replacement rider. The above may need some tweaking, but the essence is to force teams to use RR and reduce/remove the use of guests.

Well last time around Leicester a few weeks ago riding at 6 he managed 7 points from 7 rides. Guess that’s an off meeting - Stars fans pinning a lot on a greatly improved performance this time around.

Nick Morris becoming available if Brum can be bothered to try something to improve results. Dare say he’ll be putting in plenty of practice at Leicester to get up to some sort of reliable pace.

No problem agreeing that limited race nights are not ideal. However with Poland holding most of the cards (& best riders contracts) there’s no point at this moment in challenging/changing that particular situation as too many riders would be lost to the UK. But it could happen over time should UK begin to gain support from sponsors/tv/riders & fans alike. One of the issues effecting crowd levels is the situation where a team can go weeks without a home fixture thus failing to create traction with fans by having regular weekly meetings. This issue would be addressed by at least having a meeting once a week. and of course not everybody could race on Saturdays Change has got to start somewhere and evolution rather than revolution would be the preferred way forward and much better than the current stagnation. Plus the right promoters having the right reasons (& desire) to bring about the change.

No not at all. Change is required and that change has to be with both short term (i.e. what can be done now) and longer term (i.e where we want to finish up) objectives. To start with. 1. Do away with doubling up. We know this is in place so that the current number of promotions can field teams. Problem is, this undermines the credibility of the sport. So clearly less number of teams will be required. 2. Recognise that fixed race nights are for now a necessary evil. This may be expanded if and when the "super League" creates traction with media, fans and riders alike as something going in the right direction. 3. Currently there is the availability of credible riders to form eight/nine teams. Make this the number of full time professional clubs for the "Super League". Each of these teams to meet 2H&2A in a season. Two meetings per week 1H&1A Subject to weather etc. This should provide for a 16/18 week season. 4. The promotions of the "Super League" should meet strict criteria such as track availability and long term viability for starters. 5. Those promotions not in the Super League allowed to run NDL type meetings, semi pro at the most and or Individual meetings featuring riders from "Super League". Note, no alternative league should be run which purports to be close to the "Super League2 as a clear demarcation would be required. But, as I have said on many occasions, the biggest challenge facing the sport is in fact the promoters themselves, where a few (at least) continue to act first and foremost for themselves to the detriment of the good of the sport here in the UK. These folk have indeed at times kept the sport going and almost certainly believe the sport "owes them" something. So until they recognise that the sport owes them nothing (they've had their day) and begin to help rather than hinder the transition of the sport from what it is today to something more convincing and believable, we supporters are stuck with what we have - Business as usual.

The concept is good and very much alongside the numbers back in the day, when UK had pick of race nights and plenty of riders available to make up the teams which is now sadly far from the case.

If clubs elect to choose a race night say other than Monday or Tuesday, they might well be able to make up a team of riders willing to forgo commitments abroad. However, the issue would be other teams would not have the same type of availability, especially for riders contracted to Polish leagues. Not sure how you come up with 28 matches. is that a league of 14 clubs (13 opponents) home and away plus some sort of cup competition or a league of 8 (7 opponents) home and away x two? The latter would/could work (fixed race nights) but the first is a none starter simply because of the removal of doubling up.

You're right - 14 tracks with Oxford running one team. No rider would be excluded, just not available through either choice or contract restrictions elsewhere. But when UK clubs choose their desired desired race nights and their riders, they would need to consider, Tuesdays - No riders with Swedish contracts Wednesdays - No riders with Danish contracts Friday/Saturday/Sunday No riders with Polish contracts Also no doubling up Using Leicester as an example, From Mondays meeting lineup with the Tigers, should one league have run this year only one main body rider and the two reserves would have been able to commit to ride throughout the season for the Lions. I'm not against one league at all, just that if it does go ahead restricted race nights would still be required which by and large would remain as Monday & Thursday and that there will be a finite number of capable riders available to fill line ups of a much smaller number of teams (five, six or seven riders) in total than the combined Premier & Championship clubs. Its not an opinion, its just the math of the situation.

Thanks for the correction.

Currently there are 17 teams across the Premier & Championship leagues. This will be reduced to 16 next year with the loss of Birmingham. So on the basis that all other clubs will run next year, for team of five 80 riders will be required Remove doubling up, riders contracted to Ekstraliga and Danish/Swedish nationals with contracts to race in their domestic leagues that clash with UK "race nights" simply means there will be insufficient availability of riders for sixteen teams - not counting loss of riders through injury. Given the above considerations and as well as ensuring "Juniors not good enough" are not unmercifully thrown into the deep end, there would be an available pool of riders next year to make up no more than 10 teams but more likely nine. So rather than just discuss the merits of one league, maybe the discussion should consider which eight or nine team would take part - and what admission price would be considered appropriate.