Sings4Speedway

Have the reductions for Hopwood/Stoneman been confirmed?

The desirables from that list are either opting out of CL or UK altogether. Its not cheap to setup in the UK for Champ only, the better riders are either contractually not available (Poland) , are opting for a lesser schedule to stay fresher or simply want more than Brum can afford. As for the 4 pointers it makes far more sense to offer places to riders like Morley & Crang rather than Ruml & Keleher's on purely financial grounds. If LR has his wish list he should be making his final offers, we can afford X take it or leave it. Pandering and negotiating only further weakens the clubs position.

He must have a British passport........

Neither can i in all honesty. Hypothetically if Brum sign Kildemand for one meeting then sack him (for saying something mean about LR) could they then use guests for the remainder of the season? Terrible operating model i know BUT desperate times and all that

Realistically if the final three riders signed are lower that Morris & Nielsen the team would the 6-7 points under the limit and arguably too understrength to be signed off. 2 x 4ish pointer and a 12 would put the side closer to the limit but that is the battle Brum face right now. If the option to defer 12 months wasn't on the table then i guess pushing ahead was the right thing but it looks like a mammoth task ahead.

Depends if it was paid before or after they went pop. Before money went to the club, after assets taken back by BSPL so Glasgow would have paid the mafia board for Brennans contract.

IF there was anything left from the bond for other outstanding fees/fines to the BSPL.

Im still hoping for a competitive side to be created (as a poor team does nobody any favours) but i do feel a burst of honesty would be refreshing from the club. An announcement of we missed out on a few captures due to confidence in the club and we wont break the bank to sign riders. Our goal is to get through the season and build on foundations.......rather than the spiel that we are still looking to build a play off team blah blah. I genuinely hope that a rabbit or two contacts the club but i do feel if they were even in the wind the rumours would be out and circulating.

bless you

Is it just me or are the number of seeds creeping up? Im guessing its one semi final for the final places? have to agree its a strong line up though with everyone in with a podium chance.

The issue could be that alongside a largely unknown quantity at reserve was going ro be James Wright who would be one of the leagues strongest reserves and would have been available to cover rides for any of the 1-5 who are struggling (specifically Complin). Now its an unknown and a returning unknown at reserve which further weakens the makeup of the side.

Don't worry LR has it all sorted he is just waiting on one rider to "find" his UK passport and the paperwork for the other two is locked in his glovebox

With respect its not like LR to stretch the truth a little is it...... I sincerely hope that a couple of riders have a change of heart and decide to ride CL or are willing to sign briefly, even if they get Bjarne to sign on then retire again they have a rider allocated to book guests against. Whatever is happening behind the scenes the clock is definitely ticking.

The list of "announced" riders released thus far for the 3TT are all NDL riders. Im sure there might be a couple of fringe amateurs feature in the main events and perhaps moreso in the grasstrack classes but its a decent distance away from clubmans amateur events.

No doubting that Proctor has pedigree and if he can recapture previous form could be a top signing BUT recent showings have been dire and likely to get more points from the reserves taking his replacement rides. I guess providing he starts the season guests and R/R can be utilised if it goes wrong (again)

Build it and they will come. Belle Vue have signed riders from all over this year and in the past. The reason they sign is a good race track week in week out. Others might want a change of scenery or just no longer fit at their current team. The drop in points limit previously pushed riders out and now the raise has caused problems with shortages but over the year there should be a natural rise again (given teams built to 40 and 42 available blah blah) hopefully if the level holds there should be enough to fo round and create a nice pocket of northern rivalry.

Theres a fair few extras involved with riding two countries like doubling the number of bikes etc. 2nd tier Sweden might be lower money per night BUT cheaper to maintain for a rider over a season. Logistically the UK isn't great for any rider who isn't based or doubling up in the UK. Im sure a team will come to the tapes, im not sure its a buyers marker and whilst i really hope its a play off potential side i really don't see it (and in fact think those blinkered generic comments make LR and the promotion look more clumsy and foolish)

Has it been documented anywhere that the no.8's have to be in attendance? Even running bikes at a sub par level is still costly and they won't be turning out for nothing. Have there been any rules/regs for the PJL team building listed anywhere?

Certainly interesting discussion(s) will be taking place. It might be that the opportunity itself plus bit of team wear will be enough for some riders to turn up, others may want a bit of fuel money to stand there but at any level bikes aren't cheap to run and compensating the PJL riders is going to add onto the PL clubs bills. It hasn't been properly mapped out anywhere is the number 8's will always be in attendance anyway...

Will be very interesting to see what level the PJL is aimed at? Initial rumours was NDL reserve/second string level, the few proposed squads i saw from last year were NDL reserve / MDL level. I certainly think Perry is likely to be included but not sure Gilkes will take any part due to both ability level and costs.

Shanes and Autu to feature for gating practice and confidence boosters.

Probably not too far away with that. How many decent riders have slipped through the net over the years simply because they couldn't afford it or couldn't afford to compete with lesser riders on better equipment and those are the ones who have actually got a bike and given it a go. Money rules the roost and when GP level bikes are available to amateur level riders the results will always be skewed. To get the genuine cream to rise to the top it has to be supplied bikes / standardised kit and thats just not going to happen in this variation of the sport.

And yet one of the few things that give UK speedway any credibility is the PL fixed race nights. Yes they are restrictive and will probably keep the number of participating clubs low but prevents guest fest. I do wonder how many CL clubs would opt for Fridays if they could? Obviously I know several can't or wouldn't but its come up a number of times over the years that clubs can't run on thier optimal race night and that just seems counter productive.

Nice idea but not overly practical and the void in talent between rider levels in the same league is already alarming. The CL features a lot of the PL heatleaders down to NDL graduates and then chucked out on track together and questioned why the racing is follow the leader. Personally the level of the NDL needs to be maintained/raised to keep it strong/competitive, minimum averages need to be achieved in each league before stepping up, the proposed avaerage calculator needs bringing back in so PL/CL conversion rate is at 2.0 and if a double upper highest average is used. The decision really needs to be made to acertain if the CL is the league that everyone wants to focus on given the number of teams and that most decisions appear to be being made for the benefit of the CL. An actual focus on what is important for the sport in the UK rather than individual clubs is what is needed.

Perhaps a bit optimistic to think that 30 riders would even take up the sport let alone make it to league standard in a year BUT ther has to be a link between available track time and the number of riders picking up the sport. It can cost a fair lump of cash just to put a respectable amateur bike out on track without the added costs of practice fees, travelling et all. There are obviously some clubs who suffer with planning restrictions and curfews which offer restrictions but a lot of the resistance comes from within, track staff who want to get off home, referee's who wish to get on their way (or want double pay for more than 21 heats). Then of course there was the beating out of the ghost teams, groups of enthusiasts who heftily out of their own pocket were tracking teams to offer up available track time. There are still some great clubs out there who go the extra mile and offer track time, 2nd halves and encouraging development league racing but sadly there are others who do nothing but moan about the lack of available riders.