1 valve

On the basis that doubling up would not be allowed with the majority of Premier league riders also currently due to ride for Championship clubs there will for 2018 be approximately 85ish riders available to choose from. thefore if you had 7 man team this would provide 12 teams and if you had 6 man teams you would have 14 teams. whilst both fall short of the 17 you propose there are two other significant aspects to consider. 1. at any one time there are circa 10% of riders unavailable through one reason or another (mostly injury) so reality is there would be a lot of guest riders required. 2. Safety would also be a greater issue as there is a massive skill difference between say the top 25% of the Premier league riders and the lower 25% of the Championship riders. I recall Jason Doyle a few seasons back voicing his concerns in this regard and this point should not be readily ignored. That said. As riders do improve and the reliance of doubling up is reduced by the emergence of new additional riders (Hopefully) then maybe the road which the BSPA have currently chosen to take in creating two leagues "close to one another" may produce the opportunity to expand into a larger single top tier league. This is a case of evolution rather than revolution and requires time as measured by a calendar rather than a watch before it can successfully come to fruition.

C Holder?

IIt needs to be one big league with UK based riders only on sensible pay rates and £10 admission. If that is marketed properly it might attract new fans to "speedway racing" per se. Sell on track excitement and new stars emerge from the riders pack naturally. And hasn't the One Over Eight rule stopped the existing big names returning anyway? unfortunately there are not anywhere near enough quality riders around to provide competitive racing bearing in mind doubling up could not exist.

Vaculik is a 9

They could if the remaining three riders they signed had appropriately low averages. I think the bigger challenge would be how to afford the top four and that would be the reason to rule out such a line up.

Couldnt agree more. As I said "need to do so in a manner that is affordable to their club"

No restrictions on race night only number of meetings in a year - and that's a pretty high number, well above that required.

Blimey, A GP rider apparently heading for British racing next season and the only reactions posted are negative ones (and not only by you bald bloke). Whoever he does race for, the promoter deserves credit for not giving up on trying to attempt the best riders possible. That said, other promoters do need to follow suit and need to do so in a manner that is affordable to their club.

21000 actually not the biggest attendance for a GP but a lot better than most.

Just back from practice. Track looked like it held up well with riders testing out a different lines. Looked fast and Dude was on it. Jason equally smooth and baring some really bad luck he will bring it home who knows but maybe in heat 16 when he and Dude meet up.

27c today so hope her beer is well chilled

thanks. Think we will pop along to familiarise ourselves with the place.

Does anybody know what time practice will take place?

so long as he receives the correct lease payments why not?

I hope the Lions promoters have given up on thinking Saturday night is the right night for speedway in Leicester.

Hope Doyley brings it home with plenty to spare.

I recall that just prior to the first leg v Sheffield Kim stated that he would ride for the Lions in 2018 whichever league they were in. I'm not sure how these things work in terms of riders being an asset of one club or another but I recall Doyley also was happy to ride for the Lions despite Swindon wanting him back and only the issues of Saturday racing and (possibly) not being paid forced his hand to return to the Robins. Bottom line is that being an asset of Lakeside does not automatically mean Kim will ride for them if they do return to the top flight.

Radio Leicester reported this morning that Damien Bates has said he will be willing to listen to offers for the Lions. Could be due to the abuse sent his way on Monday but also because he will be putting the Tigers forward as a top flight team for 2018. Whatever the reason let's hope something can be sorted quickly to allow any new owner the chance to plan & build a competitive team for 2018.

The Bates family were on a hiding to nothing over this situation. As can be seen from the post made in this topic many "fans" have voiced their opinion on the "fixing" of the result and or the fact that Leicester would stand no chance in this play off. The worst thing that could have happened re this promotion/relegation decider is the two teams with the same owner were in fact the two teams involved. At the very best only one set of fans (most probably those of the winning team) would ever have been happy, whilst the neutrals adopt either a "told you so" or jump on the "lets kick British Speedway in the teeth again" brigade. The losers of course complain or find an excuse to justify the loss. But did anybody really expect a team based on a 50 point average to lose to a team based on 40?? The best that could come out of this "experiment" is: a. The concept of promotion & relegation is consigned to the waste bin. b. At least four teams are added to the top flight for 2018 c.Fixed race nights on days when the second/third tier do not race therefore allowing doubling up without clashing of fixtures. d. Somebody remembers to thank the Bates family for their support of British speedway and especially that of Sheffield & Leicester. e. The BSPA decide that two clubs cannot be owned by the same set of owners - or have directors/shareholders involved in more than one club f. The Bates family are able to offload one of their clubs to an equally supportive owner in time for the 2018 season.

Very sad & at 63 years old seems too young to leave us - RIP Ila and thanks for the memories.

v Wolves on Monday There was passing (including repassing) during the first lap on 11 occasions and 7 occasions on subsequent laps. Unfortunately for the Lions ultimately this meant Wolves came out on top by quite a bit.

Yes the racing is definitely improving with riders finding lines inside and outside to make passes. The track did look like it had more shale on it than previous weeks but not sure if that is a true statement or not as clearly the rain may have helped to give it that look. The surface seemed to be more consistent with even levels of grip throughout so good job done by track staff considering the amount of rain that had fallen during the day. shame the team were well beaten by the wolves who deserved their victory, lets hope all concerned at the Lions have a plan on how to up their game although wolves are arguably the strongest (form) team in the league right now

1. As a dependent (child) of a man (his Dad) who had the appropriate visa. 2. As a professional sportsman with the appropriate visa

I think it would be safe to presume that had the Lions had Gomolski & Batesavailable instead of Verge & Hall then the final score would have been at least close enough for the Lions to have gained an away point. Lasse was a surprisingly low scorer - but King is the one not performing at the moment and he needs to be a more reliable top end contributor for the team.

Has the Lions line up been confirmed yet?