leander

It's not designed to make the starts slicker, it's designed to stop the green light - go. it forces refs to to vary the length of time between the green light and tapes up as he has to wait until the start marshall has cleared the the back of the bikes before releasing the tapes. Newcastle, especially T J, struggled with this a bit. Though for most of them it was the first meeting it was used properly. Whereas for Redcar they used it during Barkers Testimonial and, I assume, at Leicester on Saturday. It certainly wasn't used at Redcar on friday where, For whatever reason, the green light wasn't illuminated until the Start Marshall had cleared the back of the bikes ( as per last year). It is, however, something we need to adjust to and quickly. I would have thought that it should have been done during Press/practise day so that they could get used to it. (I wasn't there so I don't know whether it was or not but the tapes haven't been used during practise in the past when I have attended).

Not according to Barker and co.

They were left dead at the tapes when off 2 & 4 as were Newcastle when they were off 2 & 4. gates 1 & 3 were by far the best for at least the first two thirds of the meeting. the new starting procedure seemed to have been thrown out of the window in this match. Starting Marshall is supposed to indicate to the ref that he is satisfied riders are ready. not sure how he is supposed to do this, does the dropping of his arms the signal. Green light is supposed to come on BEFORE he walks to the back then the tapes are released. Well that certainly didn't happen. No green light until Starting Marshall was at the rear of the bikes (as per last year). Not sure who was to blame , the ref for not putting the green light on early enough, or the starting marshall for walking back before the green light. Needs to be clarified/ sorted otherwise confusion will reign. That said it didn't spoil what was a very entertaining meeting.

If it was a polish team I'd know where they would be and it wouldn't be Sheffield!!!

Two out of seven is a shade over 28% to be more exact, so in reality it's not even 3/4.

That may be so, but it's not like they signed yesterday. Plenty of time to ask Sheffield if they could get two replacements in the three weeks since they signed. I'd much rather they practised around there 'home' track (especially Lambert) instead of somewhere where they are only going to be there twice at the most. It doesn't look good for the press ( come and meet 3/4 of our team on press day) or their sponsors ( sorry but your logo's wont be appearing in the local press as I won't be at the press day).

A poor show in my opinion. The club needs all the press/TV coverage it can get yet it would appear that at least one is missing and the other is buggering off early. No chance of the press getting team photo's etc. if they aren't all there. Then at 16:30 you've got "Meet three quarters of the team" in he bar.

I see Newcastle Diamonds' Steve Worrall and Simon Lambert are down to ride on Sunday. It's also Newcastle's press and practice day at lunchtime on Sunday. Not sure how they can do both. I'm sure the Newcastle promotion would want them to be at Newcastle!!??

Interestingly both Steve and Simon are still listed as riding at Sheffield on Sunday according to Sheffield website.

Hope not, as it gives teams who reach revised GSA's first a distinct advantage of strengthening up before the others can. it should remain unchanged so that teams can only replace like for like as I can't see how any team is going to below the points limit by the first change, unless they have a totally desperate start with at least three or more riders failing to reach there starting average.

Yes. His grandmother is british so he has a paternity visa as opposed to needing a work sponsored visa, which is why he can still come over and 'work' despite Workington closing (unlike the unfortunate Mason Campton).

Not a lot then. Carl Wilkinson , Max Ruml, Simon Lambert, Gino Manzares, and Josh MacDonald (if he's a 4.00) all fit. Not that I'm saying I'd want some of them signed up though. There are probably others I've overlooked as well. Tough on Victor as well.

Dead easy to cut down the number of guests. Each team to have a NL (2.00) no. 8. Guest for your number 1 only. R/R for nos. 2 to 5. If both teams are using R/R then your highest reserve is promoted into the team and your no. 8 takes his reserve spot.

According to this week's Star (07 feb) josh has a british grandmother. Therefore he is entitled to an Ancestory Visa which is valid for five years. All he has to do is come over and collect it. Presumably it enables him to do just about any job he wants (?) and as such he doesn't need a work sponsor.

I would think one of the reserve dates would be arranged as a challenge at a later date once the Shield matches are out of the way in case a date is needed for a rain-off.

I quote (from the article) :-"If I don't get that visa I get hit with the twelve month cooling off period. I have to be out of England for a year so I won't be able to return to racing until 2020 There's no way round that" That's next year. But he obviously feels that a year out of UK racing would mean he'd be practically starting over again, and at his age (25) it would be too much of a struggle. A great shame really.

A tier 5 Visa is valid for 3 years, and may be extended for a further 3 (as long as it continues without a break) which is where Mason is at the moment. Not sure the 7 point rule applies anymore unless it's at the end of year six. There are quite a few on visa's which didn't make a GSA of 7.00 last year.

They can base themselves in UK but they can't earn money by working in the UK. If they earn it abroad (i.e. the EU) and spend it here that's fine. As for other sports there are qualifying criteria for those as well as speedway. You don't find many non-EU footballers in the the lower leagues, only (mainly) in the top two divisions. Lower down they are not deemed good enough.

How? He would be eligible for a new visa (assuming he qualifies via a state championship in 2019) 12 months after his current one expires. Ok, he might miss the first fixtures next march, depending on the actual date of his visa expiry, but he would certainly be eligible from April 2020 onwards.

In Mason's case he has a work visa which expires towards the end of March 2019. He qualified in an Australian state championship for a new visa this year. However, it is, in effect, an extension to his current one. He needs to be in the UK before his old one expires, and have a job riding speedway (i.e. a work sponsor) for this season in order to actually obtain the visa. If he hasn't got a team place before his current visa expires then he won't get his new one for this year. This means he'll have to sit out this season in it's entirety as he won't be allowed to sign for anybody else mid season. Since most, if not all, clubs are not actually starting to ride until late (very) March or early April the chances of him getting signed up are extremely remote. A similar thing happened to Ty Proctor a few years ago. I suppose he thinks the missing a year at this stage of his career would make it hard to come back.

As far as I'm aware he could, but nobody seemed to want him. therefore no sponsor no visa. He'll be okay to ride in europe though where visa restrictions aren't as strict. last year I think his problems were more of a personal nature involving access to his son, rather than purely a work visa issue.

That's fine in principle, unfortunately it doesn't work like that. say teams 1 , 3, 5, etc are at home week one and teams 2 , 4, 6 etc. are away then vice versa week two= fine. but when team 1 plays team 3 or any odd numbered team then one of them has two weeks at home in a row and the other 2 weeks away in a row. then if the team that has two weeks away loses the next home fixture to the weather then suddenly you are looking at four or five weeks without a home fixture and fans lose interest. Footy gets away with it as there are usually at least one midweek fixture a month to keep the interest up.

Berwick, Glasgow and Edinburgh supporters would have bought season tickets on the basis of 11 league fixtures + 3 league cup =14. now it's 10 + 2. they lose out on two fixtures. At the most it's only 1 extra fixture. 10 league + 5 league cup = 15. If you are in the league cup group of five then it's no different ( 10 + 4). It solves the problem of the best placed runner-up qualifying, particularly as now the groups are uneven meaning percentages could come into play giving an advantage to the group of three.

A sad day for all associated with Workington speedway. Hopefully, the BSPA will now have a fresh look at the fixtures for 2019, as one of the major complaints from fans last year was the lack of fixtures and the breaks in continuity this resulted in. There are now potentially less fixtures than last year for some clubs with the league being reduced to 11 clubs again. At the very least the League Cup needs to be revamped into two groups (North and South) with the top two from each group going into the semi's. Or are we going to put the season start date back to May!!!

Not necessarily. It would depend on whether they had any outstanding debts (i.e. riders wages, etc.) I would have thought. If they were up to date with the required payments at the end of last season then there is no reason why the promoters shouldn't be allowed to run next year, or even transfer the license to another track. They wouldn't be the first to move because they couldn't afford to run at their current stadium. Whether they were right to declare that they were running at the AGM is another matter. Newcastle were in a similar situation last year and, it would appear, made a 'conditional' declaration to run, and didn't sign anyone until the finances were in position to run, which is why they had a team of ,supposedly, no hopers. On reflection this would appear to have been the best way to do it, as there are now seven riders out of a job at the start of the season as all the championship teams are complete. Feel so sad for the supporters ( the few who are left as there obviously weren't enough of you), and the riders.