Daytripper

The test for top flight tracks is the quality of the team, not the quality of the facilities. It has to be said though that Arena Essex which was thrown up relatively cheaply by private money nearly 40 years ago, is now life expired. The owners apparently want to sell up as costs of updating are prohibitive and a new stadium is desperately needed. Efforts are being made to find a new home, with the support of the local MP but in the meantime the club has to soldier on as best it can with the facilities it has. There is no easy answer. The fact remains that without the inclusion Lakeside, for all its faults the top flight, already down to the are minimum, would already have collapsed by now. The is the real world of modern Speedwáy,

Never understood these numbskulls that always want to have a dig at tracks they don't visit anyway, even less do I understand these obnoxious creatures who think it's good when other fans have a misfortune. Fans are fans whatever track they support. Fortunately the thread shows that these nasty pieces of work like foamfence are only a tiny minority and I think it's fair to say all Lakeside appreciate the expressions of support on the thread from the wider Speedwáy family Can't get any worse than your type

Woffinden is an exception because he has exceptional talent, nothing to do with which tracks he rode, big or small. Tai is the only one in modern times that we can really go by. There is nobody else to compare to Tai and certainly no pattern where you can say young Brits have been held back by spending too long at a certain type of track. According to Leigh Adams, who we presume knows what he is talking about, you have to ride them all and you become a better rider by doing just that. In Leighs book he says the worst track he ever rode was his home track at Mildura, but by mastering that nothing else caused a problem for him, and he was certainly one rider who could go anywhere and score well. We can also point to the example of Freddie Lindgren who says he hated the Wolves track when he first went there but stuck with it because he knew that learning to ride it properly would make him a better all round rider- and it clearly did. I once asked a former GP rider why he couldn't ride Wolves and his answer was "Its probably all in my mind " and that really is the key to a lot of things in Speedwáy where so much depends on the riders confidence and state of mind.

[quote name="Danny Smith" post="2871544" timestamp="1477933012" For me, any young Brit that's showing potential should stay away from small tracks as they just stall any riders career Yes, just look at the way Tai Woffindens career stalled when he went to Rye House and Wolves.

The most important name to get on the books, as far as I am concerned will be Kelvin Tatum. After that Kim Nilsson is probably the only one nailed on. After that it depends on how the league is structured, what happens about doubling up and how the EDR is arranged. No point in speculating until that is known. One rider may be moving South, another may possibly be moving North, one of the EDR's is dead keen to stay, and I suspect the other one may retire. Lewis Bridger will be on a bargain average if he gets a PL place and benefits from more regular racing, even more so if he gets rid of the Jawa and goes back to a GM, but that seems unlikely on his present sponsorship deal. Not sure what I think about Scott coming. I like him a lot and he is always very sociable. If he rode every or nearly every meeting as he did in the play off semi final he would be a great signing but he has guested quite a lot for Lakesside with good bad and average performances in roughly equal measure.

Middleditch and others have said it was rushed/wasn't thought properly, but that's a bit different to saying its going to be dropped which was the post I was querying. Of course it's likely to be modified or tweaked up in some way but it's highly unlikely to be dropped completely because they can't afford to drop it. That's my point about the BSF rumour mill. Someone says something, someone else mis reads it and the whole thing goes off at a tangent. It's like the six man teams, Jon Cook says publicly he is against it and we have people posting on here that they thought he was for it!

Not according to what he said in SS a couple of months back I'd like to see an exact quote on that. I would be astonished if Horton wants to put his hands in his pocket to pay normal rates instead of EDR. As I said before, the EDR might possibly be dropped in name but the general costs saving principle is unlikely to change. Rosco might have said it but he says all kinds of weird and wonderful things that don't make a lot of sense so I wouldn't pay too much attention to him without confirmation elsewhere.

Strong rumours from whom? The BSF rumour mill? I heard it direct from a promoter that they can't afford to scrap the draft, and we now know the financial situation a a lot of clubs is pretty bad. You might find that the draft gets re-vamped and re-presented in a different guise, I don't know about that, but I whatever they do, I think it's likely to be the same old draft in principle. What about 6 man teams? Is that the BSF rumour mill again, or is there any substance to it ?

Back to the point of the tread. Kim Nilsson is coming over for the Lakeside Dinner and Dance which suggests to me he is very likely lining up as a Hammer next year. I would be very surprised if Jake Thorssell is not back at Wolves, from what I hear.

I don't know what rumours you have heard of from whom, but as I understand the position from the horses mouth ( well one of the horses anyway) part of the problem involves some of the wider issues in Speedwáy. If that's correct then it seems sensible to what and see what transpires at the AGM next month, when we will know what structure the league takes and who is lining up for it. If a club had to issue a statement every time there was a rumour on the BSF they would be issuing one every other day.

The silly season comment relates to the nature of the topic. We haven't had the AGM yet, and there are 1001 things to be discussed that may have a bearing on whether top foreign riders return, or even if they can be accommodated, quite apart from the exchange rate which is at best a small cog in a very big wheel. As to the exchange rate it fluctuates all the time. These are not final figures. Over the years of coming to the U.S. I have seen it this low before and I have seen at almost two dollars, long before Brexit was ever on the table. Overall it doesn't make a lot of difference to going on holiday for most people. I've booked some fights out here next year in the BA sale at some of the lowest prices ever, which more than offsets any difference in exchange rates. There is, and always has been more to be gained by shopping around than looking at exchange rates. As I said before my only regret is that I listened to the scare stories from some of the telling me the Bank of England was going to cut interest rates when it didn't, and I got stitched up . I'll trust my own judgment in future.

That's what makes it so electrifying !

A the pound has lost a HUGE chunk of its value against the dollar ? My thoughts on that are don't believe what you read in the newspapers. From where I am sitting right now , on the edge of the Gulf of Mexico, viewing the world through the prism of a 32oz Rum Runner it doesn't seem to me things have hardly changed at all since I was last here. Like a number of others I was conned by the scare stories and bought some dollars when the so-called experts said the Bank of England was going to cut the interest rate further, and I foolishly believed them and got a rubbish exchange rate. Since then it has risen and in September I got a rate only a few cents down on what I got in January before Cam started his "tough negotiations", and it's still rising. I doubt many will be seriously affected by it in terms of going abroad. Like a lot of things in life there are deals to be had if you shop around. As always, as soon as the Speedwáy season finishes the silly season starts on the BSF !

Not Coventry. Someone else perhaps. Only if they buy him.

Amen to that. Most Speedwáy meetings are pretty good, even the "average" ones. The thing is that likes most things in life, if you go with the intention of enjoying if you probably will, and if you go with the intention of finding fault with it you probabably will also. Unfortunately we have the same ones on here- and we all know who they are - waiting with their tedious "track was crap" comments almost before the meeting starts. As you say, better some should clear off and find something better to do with their time. Without the advertisers they haven't got a business either. Professionally offended they may but the one who pays the piper calls the tune.

If you want Ellis it seems likely Matt will have to buy him. You might find that A. N. Other is on his way from Lakeside, depending on the outcome of the AGM

Since they started putting the money up to make it happen.

There are a variety of reasons why riders get paid late, not necessarily b ecause the club is in financial trouble itself. Sometimes it is because a sponsors payment is late, sometimes because another club is late (sometimes very late) with their points payment for away matches. There are certain clubs that always seem to be notoriously late payers though. Several years ago I knew of a top rider that had been waiting 2 years for his money for a guest appearance. I don't know whether he actually got paid in the end, but it was from a particular club that has a reputation for late payments. They are not all like that though.

Former Workington and Lakeside favourite Kauko Nieminen has announced his retirement from Speedwáy at the age of 37. One of speedways genuine nice guys. Never world class but the type of gutsy trier that makes Speedwáy such a great sport. A privilege to have known you and seen you ride Kake. Best wishes for whatever else you do in life.

About 5 years ago a PL No 1 doubling up as EL second string was on around £200 a point in Sweden which was far more than the No 1 in his British EL team was earning in Britain. The same British EL No 1 told me he was earning roughly 10 times more in Poland than he was in England. Of course , sponsorship varies greatly from rider to rider in any country, but for some it is a big earner especially some of the very top boys.

Buster may have said the EDR is being scrapped but that's not quite the way Jon Cook phrased it. Buster is known to shoot from the hip but we haven't had the AGM yet. My understanding is they cant afford to scrap it. Its possible we might find that its dressed up in different clothes (I don't know about that) but underneath it will still likely be some form of costs saving syastem

The draft system is here to stay. Clubs on the point of bankruptcy can't afford to bin it. It will be a travesty though if the top finishing clubs once again finish up with the best reserves. If the EDR system was operated properly it would be much more popular than it is now .

To be fair, there are only about 3 or 4 that are chronic complainers, it's just that they seem to want to put their spoke in to every thread. Half the time their complaints are because they don't understand the rules properly or because we don't turn the clock back 30 years. Pretty much the same as the BSF in that respect.

That may well be the case but it is not the way the post in question framed it. Of course there will sometimes be tensions and strong opinions when a group of strong willed people come together in any walk of life, and Speedwáy riders at the top,level are not yes men. Such tensions have at times marked my working life and no doubt they have yours as well, but grown ups learn to deal with such things, and Kelvin is not stupid. From what I have come to learn about Kelvin this year I really do not belive he is the type to write something in his programme notes if it wasnt true (although I woukd believe it of some in Speedwáy) and it beggars belief that he would concoct some story about waiting for the AGM decisions on league and team structure if the real reason was riders thinking they know it all. The post being complained of was at best misleading in its information.

Are you his doctor ?