Shale Searcher

If anyone is to be blamed, blame the BSPA!!! As far as I am aware, they are in control of everything Leicester Lions at the moment...

Yes, sworn to secrecy....

Don't forget, it will be a "New Broom" Riders shouldn't carry payment issues from one promotion to another, it's just the same as moving to a different track? If we have problems, Belle Vue's are going to be pretty much insurmountable regarding signing riders, shale suppliers, landlords, etc!!! A new promotion, shouldn't show scars from the previous promotion....

I suppose another question is whether or not a speedway promotion can afford all these jobs on the periphery of the the actual core business of running speedway racing?? Promoter/s Track Curator Team Manager Electrician/Engineer Office Manager Health and Safety Officer Are all the above needed 24/7 or 365 days of the year? Or just race night.... Who else is paid at most other speedway tracks? Except perhaps on race nights? And even then, a free entry and maybe a programme is all that's offered.... The NSS seemed to have the payroll of a football club with all the stewards, H & S bods, Clipboard Brigade.. The speedway would/should just be a facet of a stadium of this size, and would ultimately need an Events Manager/Coordinator, but who pays them in the early days, until the venue becomes self funding. Surely the likes of Chris Morton and co do not have the experience, budget, know-how to pull the whole NSS dream off... Who was responsible for non speedway, funds generating activities???

Perhaps "Professional Riders" should be a title to aspire to... Maybe riders that race in the SGP are the "Total Pro's' and maybe the riders from a Countries top divisions also... Then, the second division, well these perhaps are the "Semi-Pro" riders, ride regularly for their club, but also hold down another job/income stream..... And then you're into novice/my first league type of set up, young inexperienced riders, who have full time jobs, and ride weekends only..... Just starting out and the income from speedway is a small % of their total income.. Any level below this would and should be at the unpaid "hobby" level...... (MDL) as an example..

A couple of questions for you Sheffieldites; 1) What's the injury to Steady? And how did he do it? 2) What's kicked off with Jason Garrity and Josh Bates? (fallen out) / (Lost Driving License) / (Other) Cheers.. SS

Would imagine that a few plans have had to be shelved/modified since the Polish brought in the amount of Countries it's Extraligue riders can ride in? NKI, Doyley, to name but 2 that COULD be effected?

Well, that would make the Premier League the top league, in effect the new Elite League!!!! We need the UK to have an Elite League, it's needed to develop premier league riders for GP rides/places, is a natural step on the route to the top, take it away, and speedway as a professional sport dies....

Stoke/Cradley to PL possibly?

UK riders don't seem to have much luck in Poland/Sweden do they? The UK riders names/home Country are possibly not exciting/cosmopolitan as being an "Aussie" There don't seem to be so many UK Whizzkids" Ours mostly seem to aspire at becoming and then staying as "EDR's" Maybe?

Up to EL? Somerset Kent Kings Ipswich Possibly?

I suppose these instances were only witnessed by fans if they were there as well, or if brief highlights were shown on ITV World Of Sport, in one of their two sports special slots, or via a VHS weeks after. And again, only by fans of the sport.... These instances weren't being discussed "As it happened" all over social media, YouTube, etc......... But you're right, they did happen, possibly more frequently than in modern day Speedway.

"We can put a man on the moon, but can't get a helmet cover to stay on" Or words to that effect... Priceless, best speedway commentator, bar none at speedway and darts..... Was speaking about him only this morning on the way to Beaumont Park to take down the airfence...... RIP Dave Lanning, best wishes to his family and friends..

First meeting ever, was I think Leicester Lions v Newport Wasps or Coventry Bees.... Remember the riders in white helmet and yellow and black had "Wasps or Bees" on their race jackets... Never missed a home Leicester meeting from around 1976 to 1983 when Blackird Rd closed.. I also got involved with marshalling at Leicester, the same season as Tony Steele started marshalling at Leicester, and got involved marshalling at Kings Lynn and Peterborough as well.. I them switched my allegiance to Long Eaton until they closed.. Then only went to British Finals, the odd Lions select v whoever during the Leicester barren years, oh and started going th Cardiff from the get go.. I am now involved with track prep, flagging, machine examining, mostly at Leicester, + I now flag at Cardiff, and machine examine at the UK rounds of the SWC.... Interesting times ahead, mostly worrying though....

If their are to be NO GP RIDERS in the EL in 2017, it's imperative that every club has ONE genuine No1, otherwise, the teams will be unbalanced, really need to know the outcome of the AGM before any team building can take place....

In the Golden Era of Speedway, looking behind you was an excludable offence!!! You simply weren't allowed to look back..... End Of!!!!!

Well, my DVD player hasn't worked due to a poor effort on my part (getting my HDMI, SCART, cable colours wrong!! So, watched the following last night.... Leicester v Wolverhampton (Gulf British) League 1979 I think.. Then, Sheffield v Leicester (League Cup) 1983 Then, Leicester V Hull, (League Cup) 198! Then Kings Lynn v Leicester, (British League) 198! Dave Jessup had 2 EF'S whilst in heat winning positions! The crowd at the Lions v Wolves was about 3,500 I think, Dave Lanning said it was a tad sparse! Don't think the racing was as good as I remember, think the crowd size, and interaction with riders was 100% better..... Then, topped the evening off watching "Bill Fox" smoking all and sundry in "ONCE A JOLLY SWAGMAN"!!!

Would having a minimum weight for flywheels work? I know if would be difficult to police, but I suppose they could then bring in even more exotic materials, to make them smaller, but heavier..

From what I have heard, the Lions will be running in the BEL in 2017, albeit a radically altered league... I sincerely hope they do, however, running on a week day night, will severely impact on the amount of time I spend at the track on race days, and pre-race days... As long as we survive and put the last 12 months or so behind the club, then I'm ok with that....

Steering stabilizers HAVE been used in speedway, and may still be used as far as I know...

It's happened before, in all sorts of speedway competitions, and riders/teams have gotten away with it.... Perhaps this was the straw that broke the camels back? Hancock should have made a better job of the faux pas, perhaps looked down at his engine, or cut out, fuel taps, or something, instead of just slowing and leaving a hole the size of the USA for Holder to go through!!!

I think this decision had to be made like this on the day because of the amount of critical heats leading to being a GP rider or not in 2017, it was so tight, favours could easily have been asked for, and given for race points..... And therefore GP places for 2017...

Ok, so who'll be in/on it? How many per team? Min/Max age/exp qualifying Criteria? 2016 Scheme Riders that should move into A teams 1-5? How will the schemes riders be allocated? Protected/Not protected heats? Firstly, we need to establish those that should not be included in the 2017 Scheme, due to now having been included since inception and must now either move into a teams 1-5 or are just not good enough for the Elite League? (Hard, but must be done to make room for the next batch of rising British Riders) 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10)

Track taking on water? It gets Leeched out the atmosphere this time of year at an incredible rate... Resulting in heavy shale, mid corner berm build up, difficult to distribute the shale on track in these types of conditions....

Is this another example of bike hits airbag, rider goes underneath it?? (Don't want to clog thread with this subject, so a simple yes/no will suffice) Cheers