1 valve

Sponsorship for riders increases if they are a GP rider over and above the actual meetings. that is to say, by being a GP rider your level of sponsorship throughout the season in all of the countries you ride is improved. As opposed to looking at the return/earnings from one GP meeting the more accurate way is to say "how much would my total net earnings drop if I was not a GP rider?

what "not really in the GP"?

Maybe, but we can be pretty sure no site would be purchased unless outline planning permission had been agreed as this is not a land bank scenario, i.e. cant wait for time to pass aka housing sites. And I thought a site has been found just that folk in the know are remaining tight lipped for now. I agree 18 months would appear tight and that's why a ground share maybe needed, but I don't think anybody should assume just yet that it will be needed. Just good to have backup plans in place.

Yes but pre GP's although every rider could wake up on January 1st. and say "I could be World Champion this year" in reality only five or six riders stood any real chance of doing so. Now on January 1st every rider can wake up and say "I could become a GP rider this year" which are better odds than being world champion old style and also gives them more meetings to earn a living from.

I think we are talking about ground share for 2017 not next season, so the JD situation re him possibly not riding on Saturday in the UK still exists. Also re ground share, Surely Coventry will be able to build a stadium within a year i.e. work starts next March then it would be ready for the start of the 2017 season.

Bomber's not the best gater ( yes I know its an understatement) but he has made some great passes including a mugging of JD so not just the slow guys. Problem is such occurrences keep DH happy in his beliefs. And yes I agree with you sometimes the racing is very good at Leicester, if only DH would reduce the length of the straights by 20m then with banking and the depth of the bends available the riders would have more lines to play with and not have to spend time scrubbing off speed..Drat!, I've been drawn into talking about the Leicester track...sorry.

Don't see a problem running meetings on Friday & Saturday - bad weather aside the track would hold up well and time required for preparation would not be an issue. who knows extra revenue from hiring out the stadium may give DH the fund to make the desired changes to the race track...well I can dream and live in hope

Good chance. The physical injuries he has should be ok within 12 weeks due to normal recovery and physio. This should leave him time to get his strength and stamina up to scratch. I guess the incident couldn't have occurred at a better time for JD though big pity it happened in the first place thanks to Greg (unintentionally) laying his bike down into JD's back wheel!

Of course not ideal as a seamless transition to a new (cost effective) stadium would be the preferred option. But if a temporary move to Leicester does enable the Bees to continue then we should all support the notion and travel time stadium to stadium is 30 mins. There is no point going on about the track (BTW Bomber passes there regularly) because it is what it is - Unless DH does a complete U-turn. However, I wonder if there will be a chance that Bees get Saturday night and Lions move to Friday...or at least it will be interesting to see what if any difference there is in attendance between the two race nights.

At this moment even Doyley would not claim he is as good as Jason C was...That said, Doyley has finished top of the elite league averages this year in a race meeting format which for a No. 1 is far tougher than when Crumpy reigned supreme so lets give credit where credit is due. Also I think we can agree Doyley is the most improved top rider for some years and has destroyed the myth raised by some folk just a couple of season's ago that he would never be a "true no. 1" Lets hope we get to see him and a few other GP riders in UK next year.

There is no reasonable circumstance why Poland should change their Sunday race days. UK elite needs to work around the situation. Gps are not the problem, but Leicester choosing to race on a Saturday is, hence why I suggest Friday but do wonder if this is not possible because DH is not allowed too by BSPA. If this is the case then we need to face the likelihood that the Lions will really struggle to attract appropriate riders to mount a serious challenge to Elite League success, and by this I mean play offs. In turn this will result in dwindling crowds because many fans will only support a team with a chance of success leaving the faithful which will be far less than DH fears a midweek race night will bring. and if anybody needs any further convincing, Poole race right in the middle of the week, have a much smaller catchment than Leicester, yet attract far larger crowds. DH, ditch Saturday and get the riders in who will make up a team worth supporting!

I understand it is ok for the stadium to be used on most days and reasonable times, but I am wondering if the BSPA have placed a restriction on what night Leicester can use as their main race night. Clearly Saturday night racing is not compatible for running a winning Elite League team as it is almost impossible to attract top riders to the club due to the combination of GP's and Poland. This is why I have often said that Friday night racing appears to be a suitable alternative where GP's can be accommodated by not running that weekend and totally avoids the Poland issue. However DH appears not to consider this as an alternative which is why I wonder if there is a block by the BSPA or whoever as it clashes with Coventry who of course used to run on a Saturday.

Are the race suits being auctioned? if so where and when?

Does anyone know if DH does indeed have a choice or was it a precondition of being allowed into the Elite league that the Lions had to have Saturday as their regular race night. I recognise they raced on Saturday in the Premier League, but that would have been less challenging rider wise as fewer rode in Poland the next day both in terms of Leicester and the visiting team.

Poole and by association Matt Ford are indeed the benchmark by dint of being league champions for the past three years. competition is healthy and the other clubs should have ambitions to not only emulate but topple the Pirates from their lofty perch. However as I see it, many of the other promoters are occupied with surviving rather than growing and consistently fail to grasp the competitive concept that, the better/appealing you make your product the more of it you will sell. There is no doubt that Matt Ford has made his product appealing hence the success achieved, but he would benefit even more if other clubs adopted likewise approaches and all promoters worked together to make speedway more appealing across the UK starting with a "we" attitude rather than an "I" attitude. To draw a comparison, A car dealer is more than happy if he has no competition, the market is his, but any sporting club needs good competition to make their product appealing - the better the competition the better the product i.e. Poole v no body = no meeting. Poole v great competition = great meeting. Ford is the best promoter of the modern generation, I suspect David Helmsley at Leicester is equally ambitious and given time will be playing his part in positively developing UK speedway. I hope Ford & Helmsley can attract/influence others to work together in a like minded fashion.

Congratulations To Jason D on finishing the season as the Elite Leagues highest average points scorer which backs up his Elite League Rider Championship success at the start of the season. Great performances throughout the year...now over to DH to ensure the No1 Elite League rider returns to Leicester for 2016. Meanwhile good luck Jason for the remainder of this years GP campaign...Got a feeling that at least one rostrum place will be yours very soon.

yep you are right and thanks for jogging my memory back to life...also back in those days many of the riders held down day jobs so midweek meetings were more of a challenge for them but they did not have the need or opportunity to ride in other countries as British League was the league...oh how times have changed...and change again they must, if GB is to become a speedway powerhouse once more..

A speedway forum and we are talking National Anthems..must be the end of the season and we fans now in waiting for the mighty BSPA to meet at their AGM and come up with some ideas for us long suffering fans to debate - well lets say argue about. But please, in the meantime God save us from more discussion on national anthems!

I don't think it is a case of pandering to anybody. UK speedway has to face up and recognise other countries offer speedway to fans and employment to riders. Promoters have to provide a brand of sport that is appealing to both parties (fans & riders) and put simply, British speedway is not the "top dog" as it used to be - far from it. So lets encourage change that brings improvement rather than arguing that we should have it our way because that's what we have always had...and resulted in Poland & Sweden having better crowds, paying better wages and BTW winning World Cups!

although on the surface a good idea - and similar to how speedway ran in the "good times" i.e. top flight racing most nights of the week (I think KL & Cov were the only Saturday tracks back then) I see the big problem being the amount of traveling the "top" riders would have to engage in to meet UK commitments based on "say" two meetings per week in the UK. Sunday Poland. Monday UK. Tues Sweden. Wed/ Thurs UK Fri Off Sat Poland Practice or GP. I can see benefit of two nights together and you suggest Wed/Thurs where I prefer Thurs Fri because of the "No school" next day to boost attendances. Maybe...and this is cruel to suggest but a hard decision that teams may have to face up to. and that is, if a promoter cannot get his stadium to be available on the designated "Elite League" race nights then maybe the cold reality is then that team cannot take part in the Elite League

Yes it would and maybe the answer is that the PL teams move to a Saturday as there is the strong possibility that their riders are not required in Poland for Sunday or GP practice/meetings I appreciate that this may look like the Elite League taking presidence..and yes it is, but only to ensure that there is a basis to begin the process of reestablishing top tier UK speedway of which many steps are required. but even the longest of journeys begin with first small steps! Or as I look at it, UK speedway cannot continue to do what it is currently doing as we will finish up with only with what we have and not what we need

Any good reason why we couldn't have Elite League run on Thursdays and Fridays with all promoters agreeing that this means where possible each team rides one match at home and away each week (yes I know there will be rain offs) and teams taking a even share of race nights. The exception being when there is a GP at the weekend when no meetings will be run on the Friday. As an example (to make things simple) if the league remained as current with eight teams meeting each other four times during the season then team one rides the A fixture on a Friday at home and the away A fixture on a Thursday takes place at team two. The fixtures are then reversed so that team 2 has home advantage for the B fixture on a Friday and away on a Thursday for the B fixture at team one circuit. By adopting this approach teams would save on costly rider travel and each team have a none school next day fixture night. Recognizing that there would be some Fridays missed then maybe bank holiday Mondays could still be used as well as providing good bank holiday crowds?

Totally agree...build a strong 1 - 7. starting with a number 1...oh we already have that position filled with JD so why should DH not put up a fight to keep and then lets concentrate on getting a strong 2 - 5 to make having one of the best number one in Elite league worthwhile...Which in case anybody hadn't realised a strong team would produce much better results and the crowds will also return to higher levels - after all poor team results is the main reason crowds have appeared to dwindle.

I have already suggested earlier in this topic that race nights for Elite should be Thursday & Friday - I would suggest that when there is A GP then teams ensure they arrange fixtures so that there is equality in who misses out on Friday meetings. For Leicester this would be a better solution than they operated this season i.e. GP weekend meant no meeting at BP.

Lions race on Friday..problem solved and still a no school next day scenario...of course other speedway promoters may object...after all cant do anything that may help another club eh?