Sings4Speedway

Len might be a stubborn old goat but i doubt any promotor had done more for the sport than he has. The levels of drive and enthusiasm would be worth a fortune if bottled and crazy as it sounds at 89 still had plenty of vision for the future. Enjoy your well earned retirement Len. The sport you are leaving may be far worse than when you left it but its definitely not a reflection on your efforts or actions.

Just a made up system to suit personal opinion. Flint stepped out of the league so surely should have also be ineligible?

Great idea and do think it would be to the benefit of the Ben Fund but the mafias view on 'ghost' teams has been made quite clear. That said the standard protocol is to flip flop as and when it suits so almost certainly see Heathens, Hawks and Vikings doing battle soon

Great to look through the youth list and see so many established family names competing showing that the sport is still shining through the generations.

Im pretty sure the rules this year is that it has to be unattached guests rather than guests from another team or largely pushed that way. From memory i can only really recall Morley coming in for Kent and Coles guesting for Mildenhall. I do think the idea is a positive one....however its largely been made possible by the number of teams withdrawing. RTD must have ridden for most of the NDL clubs this season but if Newcastle didn't chuck it all in would he have been able to do so.

Don't be mean......seriously though first year in would they really want to mess about with Visas etc and all the associated hoops that need jumping through

Sadly Leicester's season was over once Lawlor lost interest. The Colts on paper have riders who should be setting the league alight and whilst final averages might change Smith and Coles especially should be better than the sub 7 averages they are posting. Belle Vue signed two of the biggest improving reserves which is often key and got let down by the old guard. Wooley seems to be improving now he is settled into a team and against others who have been given chances this year he looks alright.

If the promotion at Oxford are considering a return straight into the top flight then the authorities need to be alerted as there is a lunatic on the loose. I certainly hope they are not being coerced by the mafia into a league on which they will have no say on the rules just so the "established" teams have some more numbers for their elitist league.

Just one home win all season for the Royals is both surprising and shocking. A team that has done so well on the road this year and a track with some home advantage yet the fortress that was once Central Park has fallen. Good for entertainment though and hope the numbers were food for a tenner. Shame a late surge or guests diluted the meeting further.

Some promotions insisted that they would only take part in the NDL if the matches were held as double headers "where possible" and whilst their inclusion for the league as a whole was beneficial any impact on another clubs operating model should have been taken into consideration

Apologies bugger knows how i managed that.

If Leicester go up (or more likely stay put) i still think it will be the end of the Cubs. The Thompsons won't feature any more within it and it was generated again solely for their development. Throw in the forced double headers that Leicester didn't like and that it will be a tiny league if there is no Brum or Eastie, Royals will be doubts and you can't count Mildenhall multiple times to boost the numbers.

You said that this year Plymouth are obviously trying to make some early waves and the current signings are based on form rather than reputation which makes a lot more sense. There are a lot of inflated averages at present (although final greensheets may change that) so will need a shrewd mind and deep pockets to get the bargain riders. Much will also depend upon how much value can be achieved against the visa riders vs UK based talent.

Battle for 3rd place commences with guests on either side both who have kept the race rust at bay on the vetoed IOW this year and would be nice to see that acknowledged. Whilst the power trio of Gilkes, Kinsley and Mulford may be too hot at home for the colts the tail gets ever longer and Coles plus the two Jacks have had decent meetings around Central Park in the past. The weather is predicted to be fair and the price is right so hopefully the Royals can go out on a positive.

Of the 56 starting declared riders there have been 12 retirements from Speedway that i have seen (yes amongst those are Knight and Dugard who have had multiple retirements across their years). There are also a few released riders that remain status unknown. Whilst natural attrition will always occur thats a figure approaching 25%. In the case of the NDL in its current form will it be a case of anyone with bikes gets signed next season rather than those who are sufficiently capable?

Grasstrack commitments may mean a couple of missed meetings but otherwise a shrewd signing. The Berwick promotion showing they are well in the know regarding the decisions being made for the 2022 season.

Much depends upon the team building averages but if mooted low limits and 2 x RS then mathematically all riders 'should' see an increase. 'If' the team building plans are then held the same for 2023 it will means some riders have to move up or move out whilst making way for the next progressive riders to take their place.....in theory great but in practice the riders coming in will be the better of a weakened NDL, the riders moving up will be the better of a weakened CL and those remaining will be middle of the road riders but by 2024 they will be heat leaders and the process repeats. Constantly weakening the product at lower levels will only filter into 'the top tier' eventually the current route is just delaying the inevitable.

Adding onto that as this is a CL section where are the new rising stars coming from? Take a good look at the number of rising stars that retired this year. Then look at the few who have improved remotely enough to get near the CL next season. Mulford...then its gets harder. Ablitt and Hagon have had their progress hampered by lack of meetings, McGurks & Freeman are very much the best of the rest but still early for both. The rest are yet to be solid NL riders let alone CL but its time to reap whats been sown.

Id argue that losing two teams throughout a season that started with only 8 sides is pretty disconcerting, throw in that only one stand alone team remains and they have very little say in their sole product certainly makes it hard to imagine why any new promotions would want to apply. I loved the product previously and the level was such that riders did genuinely make good strides in their progress and move into the higher tiers a more complete product. Looking at this seasons performances there are riders who were already competing at a higher level and are dramatically better than the opposition they face, once some of those are removed from next season how will the teams look? A mix of eternal NL riders and rookies with little or no credentials. The ethos of riders who want to get out there and get on with it has always been present but riding on slick 2nd half tracks is teaching them little and in some cases will end riders careers before they have barely begun.

Spot on, take a look at the NDL which is now on its knees due to the lowered points limit. The CL side above "appears" respectable because it has a few "names" on false averages. One team will get the British champ on a sub 8 ave, Heeps is sub 5 because he was injured/tripe and Clouting is struggling for points in the weakened NL. The PL team again looks better because of names rather than current form. Batch, Crump and Covatti are not the riders they one were, Kurtz is not the rider he should have become and so on. Lowering the bar to make riders Prem / Champ or even NL level isn't the way to help the sport short, medium or long term.

Congrats to Mildenhall for getting their hands on the NDL title. A team built with all riders improving their averages (as they should with the points limit) and a little bit of fortune when Ablitt became available. In truth the current side looks like it should have won far more comfortably and perhaps were it not for Edwards lack of fixtures early on and an inconsistent home surface they would have. However they have prospered as the remaining stand alone team against the other doubling up sides who called most of the shots. A bigger winter than ever now approaches for the NDL and some uncomfortable times ahead for all those who participated in it this year.

Probably depends whats cheaper the fine to not complete fixtures or the costs of a dead rubber elsewhere?

I thought the GEMS team personally was a good indicator of what can be achieved in the NDL. In my view understrength but it was a team who had decent local connections, home track knowledge and featured riders who had come through 2nd halves and could benefit from more experienced riders being around them. The benchmark of success can vary but the ethos certainly seemed right at Newcastle (and probably would have been even better with a higher points limit to help out) .

In all honesty the most reliable out of that list is Mountain

You are quite right that the NL of a few years back wasn't perfect but it was thriving. There was pay disparity between some teams but that exists across all the leagues. What did exist was a widespread league which offered opportunities to new and developing riders. Whats more is that there was often a development league running after the meetings putting riders on show, offering precious track time and supplying a genuine conveyor belt of talent. The conveyor belt being that you had to be good enough to get a NL place, reserve spots didn't come easy and were even harder to hold on to but that meant that those who did were of sufficient standard to boost the league. As plenty could see at the start of the 2020 season the NDL had been pushed down as it was far too much of a competitive and viable product compared to the higher tiers and rather than take this approach on board and really embrace it the Board decided to squash the threat to their own businesses with the narrow minded viewpoint that they would get the few riders they needed through the diminishing youth rounds and could continue to ship in overseas riders to bolster the rest. The genuine board held belief that for a sport to thrive the top tiers must take priority is simply short sighted, narrow minded and selfish. For any sport to stand a chance in the short, medium and long term it needs to be built from grass roots up rather than the current approach of letting the (insert expletive here) roll down hill.