1 valve

He would be. But, does it come with the same caveat i.e. "I would like to race in the UK but not on Saturday night"

A merry Christmas to all involved in speedway, riders, fans and promoters alike. When all said and done we do love and care for this sport and in a free world its great that we have this forum to debate and voice our opinions on matters with our much loved sport. I wish all of you a happy new year and hope that in 2016 speedway here in the UK and the world over makes the much needed progress towards a healthy, worthwhile & sustainable future.

Actually, when you compare the line up to other teams and take into consideration the lack of top riders available or committed to EL, the Bees will most probably do OK. Swindon look strong at the moment, mainly because they have landed a true No.1 in Jason D. Imagine how Leicester fans feel having lost JD and knowing so many riders are just not interested in riding EL on a Saturday that they face yet another season of being the whipping boys of the EL. Might sound fun given the local rivalry, but frankly such a situation is bad for the sport.

maybe...but you know what? some people, me included actually prefer Elite League racing, or at least the concept of EL & two things need to happen in order to cement the concept. 1. Lions move their race night away from the weekend (its got to happen in 2017 anyway so why not with support from the other BSPA promoters do it this year) 2. The EL agree on a single same night racing every week i.e. a home meeting every two weeks. or back to back race nights every week (i.e.Thurs & Friday) if promoters want to stage a home meeting each week. There is a third Lions specific, and yes, its change the track, but I think the first two are more likely to happen so lets focus on them first

Do you know what mid week nights were happily offered to DH from his fellow promoters? if it was any night then frankly he has missed a great opportunity as he should have said OK Friday it is and I suspect his crowd levels would have been no lower than Saturday. If however, there were limited nights available then that would not have been such a strong proposition to DH. If Friday was offered and he said no, then frankly, he has to rethink his business, marketing and promoting acumen.

I agree the loss of JD is a massive disappointment. However, regarding Saturday night racing (agreed not good for attracting top riders to the Lions or visiting teams) does anyone know what alternative DH has on the matter? I mean, would he have been allowed to run on another night by his BSPA colleagues in 2016 and if so what night would that be?

maybe Doyle to KL & Lambert to Leicester...If the Lions remain a Saturday track and JD doesn't fancy it. Not a direct swap, but a way for managing change. Though personally I prefer things as they are which will need NKI to sign up for the stars

Are Greg & Szymon confirmed for 2016? great if so but I have missed any formal announcement if there has been one

And what would that view be? I have only made my assessment based on looking at the race where I see JD leading into the bend and coming across GH and the two come together resulting in JD straightening and narrowly avoiding a highside. Meanwhile GH attempt at avoiding the coming together see him losing the front and his back wheel coming around and hitting the lowest point of JD's back wheel which in essence puts a complete stop to JD's progress and as they say, the rest is history. To be clear at no point am I saying that this was nothing more than the outcome of what is referred to as first bend bunching and that GH tried his best to avoid the incident once he realized he had lost out to JD on the first bend.

It is not that a rider loses sponsorship because he is not in the GP's (though I'm sure it happens as sponsors move their support to a qualified rider) more that sponsors pay more because the rider is in the GP's and the extra exposure that comes wit it. BTW, I am not referring to the small local business linked to the team a rider races for, but those global/international brands where such exposure it measured by the sponsors in column inches and TV exposure.

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.